by Krista Davis
After lunch, I took a mug of cinnamon-spiced tea back to the tiny study that served as my office. Daisy sprawled at my feet and Mochie curled up on the sofa, both probably fearful that if they stuck around the kitchen, they, too, would soon be assigned a task by Mom.
I didn’t have a lot of information about the Auld Lang Syne Auction, but I found the website, which filled me in on details. The only contact information was for Bonnie. It appeared she’d kept the business end of things close to the vest. I made a few phone calls to allay fears of cancellation. Bonnie had booked a well-known local venue for the auction. Long a cultural center in Alexandria, it had served as a hospital during the Civil War. Now a museum, the elegant building was still popular for lectures and weddings. Word of Bonnie’s untimely death had reached the facility coordinator, who expressed relief on hearing from me.
She had the name of the auctioneer, so I phoned him next. Within an hour, I had my bearings and confirmation from most of the significant people involved—but I had no idea where Bonnie kept the items being offered for auction. I was betting on a spare bedroom in her house or a storage room in her organizing business.
Whether I liked it or not, I would have to bring up the delicate topic with Beau. He didn’t answer his phone when I called.
I snapped a leash on Daisy and told Mom I was headed for Beau’s condo. She and Hannah packed up the cake and casserole they’d made for Beau, and readily walked over to his place with me.
Located near the waterfront, in the heart of Old Town, Beau’s condo must have cost him a small fortune. The new building, combined the typical redbrick exterior of colonial buildings with sleek, modern lines.
Shawna answered the door when I rang the bell and she accepted the food graciously. If I hadn’t known better, I’d have thought she was Beau’s wife. We followed her through a cluster of people that crowded the tiny apartment. She placed the food on a dining table and thanked us for coming.
“How is Beau holding up?” I asked.
“I think he’s numb. Everyone has been so kind, but there’s a lot to do, and he’s a little off his stride.”
Mom, Hannah, and I moseyed over to Beau to express our condolences. He said the same thing to each of us, “Thank you for coming.” His eyes blank, I didn’t think he saw any of us.
“Beau,” I said gently. “In honor of Bonnie’s memory, the Auld Lang Syne Auction will go on as scheduled. I’m stepping in to help, but I don’t know where Bonnie stored the auction items.”
His eyes met mine and showed a flicker of recognition. “I forgot all about that. I guess she has them at her office. If you could leave your address with Tyler, I’ll find a key and have it delivered to you.”
I thanked him, and though I wanted to urge him to hurry, it didn’t seem the right thing to do.
I wrote my address on a slip of paper and handed it to Tyler, who hovered at the dining table, helping himself to the vast assortment of foods Bonnie’s friends had brought. “It’s the house where you picked up Shawna. Beau’s going to have a key to Bonnie’s shop delivered to me so I’ll have access to the auction items. Were you involved with the auction?”
He popped a miniature ham biscuit into his mouth and spoke before he finished eating it. “Not much. I used to lug things around for her.”
Hannah tapped my arm. “I’ve had about enough.”
We left, much more somber than we had been when we arrived. Fortunately, it wasn’t a long walk home. I tried to brighten our spirits by encouraging Mom and Hannah to keep an eye out for a Santa Claus who was missing a jacket and a hat.
Unfortunately, we didn’t see him. The house was quiet when we got home and the three of us knocked out dinner in no time. I wasn’t used to having my sister and mother helping in the kitchen, but it went very well, maybe because we gossiped about Bonnie, Phil, and Marnie.
Hannah appointed herself official chopper, which sped up everything. I scooped up handfuls of diced carrots, crisp slices of celery, and pungent onions and spread them in the bottom of the turkey roaster, along with a cup of water. After I rubbed the turkey skin with sea salt, the turkey went on the rack breast-side down and into a 425-degree oven.
Done with my share of the cooking, I pulled a couple of homemade frozen pie crusts from the freezer and let them come to room temperature while I mixed the fillings for First Murder Bourbon Pecan Pie.
An hour later, the pies had baked, the turkey and stuffing were still in the oven, and we had set the table with an elegant green holly jacquard tablecloth and red napkins. Laci and Marnie returned first, looking well rested and pampered. The rest of the crew, including Phil, arrived shortly thereafter.
We sat down to dinner in the dining room, with almost everyone in good spirits. Laci was a bit miffed that Shawna hadn’t shown up, but the point was to throw Phil and Marnie together, so Shawna’s absence didn’t make much difference. As we began eating, the knocker on the door sounded and Jen jumped from her chair. “I’ll get it!” Alice clung to her shoulder, no doubt purring.
Jen returned with Detective Kenner. I wasn’t sure if my mother remembered him, so I made quick introductions.
Kenner interrupted me. “I’m sorry. I’m not here for social reasons. I have a warrant for the arrest of Shawna Lane for the murder of Bonnie Scarborough.”
FOURTEEN
From “THE GOOD LIFE” :
Dear Sophie,
I love to send home leftovers with my guests. Some of them live a good distance away, so I don’t like to use plates or pricy containers that I’ll never get back. Any suggestions?
—Noelle in Holiday Hills, Illinois
Dear Noelle,
I’m fond of using disposable aluminum baking tins available at the grocery store. They usually come in sets of three. Pie and cake pans are great for holding the equivalent of another dinner, and the deep loaf pans work well for larger amounts. Cover with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and secure with a rubber band. Too utilitarian? Pop a ribbon around it or a bow on the top!
—Sophie
Laci shrieked and placed her hands over her mouth like a tent.
Marnie’s perfectly coiffed head rolled back and her entire body slumped lifelessly in her chair. I ran to her side and tapped her cheeks.
Phil bolted to his feet. “Let me see that!”
Kenner willingly handed him the warrant in his hand. “Is Shawna here?”
I shook my head. “We don’t know where she is.” I almost asked if he had tried Beau’s condo, but thought better of giving Kenner any leads.
“There must be a mistake,” Laci cried.
Clutching Alice and Jasper, a bewildered Jen ran to her mother’s side and leaned against her, but Laci bounded to her feet and dashed to the kitchen, Jen on her heels.
From the look on Kenner’s face, I gathered he thought Shawna might be there. He whirled and followed Laci. I left Marnie to my dad and hurried to the kitchen.
A horrified Laci clutched Jen to her, much like Jen held on to the precious kittens. In her other hand, Laci held a cell phone.
Kenner’s eyes reduced to evil slits. “Mind if I look around?”
Ouch. About the last thing I wanted was Kenner poking through my house, or even knowing the layout, for that matter. “Actually, I do mind.” I tried to sound like I knew what I was talking about. “Shawna is not here. Unless that warrant of yours gives you the right to search my house, I’m afraid I have to ask you to leave.”
His expression morphed to the angry Kenner I had known in the past. “Harboring a criminal is a crime, you know. You don’t want to go to jail with Shawna, do you?”
Laci clapped her hands over Jen’s ears. “My sister is not a criminal.”
“Your sister,” he sneered, “is a diabolical, devious murderess. So clever that she almost got away with it. I’ve never seen anything so nefarious.”
“Nefarious?” sputtered Laci. “Are you sure we’re talking about the same Shawna? My sister is a kind, generous person—anything but nefar
ious!”
I couldn’t help thinking of Shawna’s surreptitious trips through Beau’s dresser in search of a certain diamond ring. Maybe Laci didn’t want to see her sister’s less becoming side?
“I don’t understand,” I said. “You told me Bonnie died from a chemical she inhaled. Has that changed?”
“Only in that it wasn’t accidental.”
“What? What was it? Should I be checked out?”
“If you haven’t felt any ill effects by now, you’re in the clear.”
Laci’s cell phone jingled “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” Her cheeks blazed Christmas red when she answered the call. After listening for a moment, she said, “I’m sorry, I can’t talk right now. The police are here to arrest my sister for murder.”
Kenner’s eyes blazed and he lunged for Laci’s phone.
She snapped it shut and slid it into her pocket. “One more thing I don’t believe you have a warrant for.”
The old Kenner appeared to be back, angrier than ever. “The next warrant will be for you—for helping a killer escape.”
Jen burst into tears.
“I think you’ve done enough damage here.” With icy politeness, I showed him to the front door.
A gust of frigid air blew in when I opened it. Kenner turned to me. “I’m sorry to ruin your holiday, but there’s no doubt that Shawna murdered Bonnie.”
“There was a time when you were equally convinced that I killed someone,” I spat back.
He shook his head. “This is different. She planned ahead. This was no heat-of-the-moment crime of anger. She wanted to be rid of Beau’s mother, and she went to great lengths to accomplish her mission.” With a last glance at me, he strode off into the night.
In spite of the cold, I watched him walk along the sidewalk, amid the magical Christmas lights—a lonely, bitter man, who probably didn’t even notice the gaiety of the season around him.
When I returned to the kitchen, Jen had stopped crying, and my entire family clustered together, praising Laci for warning Shawna.
“So that was Shawna who called you just now, right?” I asked.
Laci nodded her head, pushed a button on her cell phone, and lifted it to her ear.
George squeezed Laci’s shoulder affectionately. “You bet it was. Do I have a clever wife, or what?”
“I don’t want them to arrest Mommy!” protested Jen.
George cupped her cheek. “Don’t worry. That was just an idle threat.”
Laci snapped her phone shut. “Rats! Shawna’s not answering.”
“Do you think she ditched the phone?” asked Hannah. “That’s what I would do. Plant it in bushes where it couldn’t be easily seen—just to mislead the authorities if they used the ping to track me.”
Laci tried calling again. “I bet that’s exactly what she did.” She looked to George. “What do we do now? Shawna needs help. It’s cold and dark and she can’t go home or to Beau’s.”
George gazed around at us and sucked in a deep breath of air. “Okay, here’s the plan. Mom, Marnie, and Laci are going to take Jen home.”
“No!” wailed Jen.
“Honey, don’t you think we should be there waiting for Shawna?” said Laci.
Jen snuffled and wiped her nose with the back of her wrist. “I guess so.”
George continued. “Dad and I will take my car, Phil will drive his, and we’ll check out logical places where Shawna might go. Soph, do you think you could call Wolf?”
“He’s in Maine with his parents and sister. What can he do?”
“He could make some phone calls. We need to know what’s going on,” said Dad.
I sighed, but Laci’s and Jen’s distraught faces tugged at my heart. “I’ll do my best.”
Hannah flicked her hair over her shoulder. “I could call Zack. Maybe he could help.”
Sarcasm dripped from George’s tone when he said, “Gee, thanks. Don’t put yourself out, Hannah. Actually, I was hoping you and Sophie could take Daisy and set out on foot. I know it’s cold out, but Shawna might be wandering the streets right now, wondering where to go.”
I nodded. “I bet she’s afraid to take her car. The police probably know her license number.”
“Is everyone’s mission clear?” asked Dad.
“Give me five minutes to wrap up the turkey,” said Mom. “I’ll slice off a nice chunk to leave for you girls. Such a shame our lovely meal was ruined. It can’t be helped, I suppose.”
Laci shooed Jen away with an admonition to pack fast. The second Jen left the kitchen, Laci pulled aluminum foil from the box. “We have to hurry before it dawns on Jen that she’ll have to leave the kittens here. Sophie, do you mind that we’re taking so much of the food? I feel like we’re stealing your dinner.”
In a normal family, mere knowledge that the police were hunting a family member might spoil appetites. I’d learned long ago that my family could eat their way through any crisis. “Don’t be silly. You’ll have a house full of people to feed as soon as they find Shawna.”
Phil, Dad, and George pulled on heavy jackets and took off. I wondered exactly what we were supposed to do with Shawna once we found her—a major chink in the big plan.
I never would have believed that the women in my family could vacate a kitchen in five minutes—but they did. Amid protests from Jen about leaving Alice and Jasper, they shuffled out to the car and were gone in a flash, leaving Hannah and me to phone Wolf and Zack.
I could do little more than leave a message for Wolf on his cell phone—a very apologetic message for bothering him during his holiday.
I collected Alice and Jasper and was shutting the doors to the study, so they would be safe from Mochie during our absence, when Hannah bounded in.
“Zack is going to make some calls and meet me at The Laughing Hound.”
“Terrific! If Bernie is there, see if he knows anything. He always has the latest news.”
She took off up the stairs to freshen her makeup and don a more alluring outfit. Meanwhile, I wrapped up in boots, muffler, gloves, and a bulky down jacket with a hood. I jammed the elf shoes into my pocket in case we went in that direction. Daisy hated wearing a coat. I hoped that her long fur would keep her warm enough. With a sigh, I slipped a harness over her head and clicked her leash onto the loop. She waited at the front door, wagging her tail at the notion of an adventure in the dark.
We stepped out into a starless night. A cruel wind blew. I wrapped the muffler up around my mouth, but Daisy seemed to thrive on the cold weather and pranced merrily under the glittering holiday lights. She led the way, her long-haired tail like a happy plume in the breeze.
She paused occasionally to investigate an interesting scent, giving me the opportunity to gaze around in case Shawna was hiding somewhere in the shadows. Several blocks later, Daisy turned down a street full of storefronts and offices. At the end of the block, in the show window of the building second from the corner, hard candies hung from ribbons in empty closet setups. A fancy script in the shape of a half-moon arc announced Clutter Busters—Bonnie’s organizing business.
What would happen to her shop now? Would Beau want to leave his lawyer job and take over Bonnie’s business or work with Tyler? Maybe Tyler could buy out Beau. Was Shawna organized like Laci? Maybe she would take over Bonnie’s position—once the mistake of her murder arrest was cleared up.
“C’mon, Daisy.” I gave her leash a little twitch, but she pressed her nose against the store window. Did Bonnie have a resident cat to declutter mice?
There certainly wasn’t a cat in the lighted window display. Cupping my hands around my eyes, I tried to focus on the interior behind the window. A light glowed briefly far in the back—so briefly that I wondered if I had imagined it. Daisy pawed at the window, confirming that she’d seen something, too. I leaned against the window to look again.
A small orb of light flashed briefly in our direction. I thought we might have been seen and my heart pounded. Fortunately, the light moved on. Ba
rely visible in the dark interior of the store, the obscure shadow of a person moved about.
FIFTEEN
From “THE GOOD LIFE” :
Dear Sophie,
My mother-in-law, a woman who lectures me endlessly about organizing my house, is visiting and nagging me to take down my Christmas tree. I hate it each year when all the ornaments are rolling around, and it looks like the tree exploded. Other than buying her a one-way ticket out of town, how can I take down the tree so she won’t see the chaos?
—Disorganized Daughter-in-law in Spruce, Michigan
Dear Disorganized,
Don’t explode the tree! Take off ornaments first, placing them in the boxes in which they came. Tuck those boxes into a bigger box and stash away. Then remove the ornaments that don’t have boxes. Wine boxes are excellent for storing them. Next tackle the garlands and finally the lights. If you take the tree down one step at a time, nothing will explode into a mess.
—Sophie
I patted Daisy and praised her for seeing the intruder. For a long moment, I debated calling the police. I loathed the idea of another encounter with Kenner. Anyone creeping around with a flashlight had to be up to no good, though. In case the intruder happened to look toward the street, I thought it prudent to move to the corner before I phoned 911.
While I waited for the police to arrive, Daisy and I peeked into the alley behind the stores. Tiny mounds of previously cleared snow gleamed against the darkness. The rear hatch was open on a large SUV parked behind Bonnie’s store. I pulled Daisy back and, glad I was wearing pants, straddled her to keep her close while I spied. I leaned forward and watched as someone loaded a box into the SUV. He returned to the store and, seconds later, pushed another box into the car.