“Come to think of it, all the councilors were in and out yesterday afternoon.” She shuddered then very quietly added, “And Rosalie Gorman was another one who seemed upset, maybe even more than anyone else. I heard her say, ‘Lewis,’ like she was mad at Mayor Frost, and then she went into his office and slammed the door behind her.”
“So she was in the mayor’s office alone with him?”
Lila nodded and moved like a shiver had raced through her. “And she didn’t come out for a long time.”
The thought made me want to shudder, too. I wouldn’t want to be trapped in a room with her for two minutes. “Anyone else visit him?”
“Let’s see, the pastor from his church, and a plumber who dropped off a bill for some work he’d done for the mayor. One or two others I didn’t know. But that was earlier in the afternoon.”
“So who was the last one or two before me?”
“Just the councilors. That I know of, but I’m not always at my desk, like if I’m making copies or delivering papers, things like that.”
“I understand. Okay, last night Officer Mark Weston let me out the back way. Is that door kept open during business hours?”
She pointed with her thumb in the direction of the door I was referring to. “Oh, you mean the one back there?” When I nodded she said, “No, that’s for employees only. You need an access card to get in.”
I’d figured as much. “One last question, Lila: Who was the last person that walked by your desk before I got here?”
“The last person that walked by my desk? Either direction? Gosh, I don’t know. Other people that work in the office here, I guess.”
“No member of the public, any of the councilors?”
“No visitors that I noticed. And the councilors would probably go out the back way, since that’s where their parking lot is.”
As would the person who needed a quick flight. And that person would not want to be seen by anyone in the city hall offices. Last night I’d surmised the killer had snuck out the back way, and now I was convinced of it. And who would be more familiar with the back way out than one of the employees?
7
If someone had posed the question, Margaret would probably name me as the one townsperson she’d least like darkening her door again. But I owed her an apology. Especially since—and she could never find this out because it wasn’t nice—the look on her face and the way she fainted when I’d come rushing in looking for help had struck me as hysterically funny during the middle of the night. I’d been dreaming about Frosty and when I woke up I needed to think of something else, and then Margaret and the look of utter disbelief and fright came to mind and tickled my funny bone. I was exhausted and overwrought and slap happy and couldn’t stop it, and it helped ease some of my tension. Margaret’s dislike for me would deepen even more if she found out I’d had a laughing jag at her expense. It was something that was best kept secret, even from my closest friends.
Margaret was at her post and looked like she’d recovered well enough from the incident. She didn’t smile when she saw me, as per normal. But she didn’t scream or faint either, so I counted that as a step in the right direction. “Hi, Margaret.”
“Camryn.”
“I wanted to tell you how sorry I am about yesterday, scaring you like that. I didn’t think about how I must have looked with the blood on my hand and everything. I wasn’t able to think about anything except getting help for Mayor Frost.”
Margaret nodded. “I understand, and I don’t blame you for what happened. I mean. about me having that fainting spell. My daughter talked to the doctor and he thinks the blood just rushed to my head when I stood up so fast like that.”
“Well you look good now.” I stuck my hands in my coat pockets, ready to leave, when I felt something in the left one I’d forgotten about. It was a stack of twenty-five dollar gift certificates enclosed in envelopes from Curio Finds. I’d tried to drop them off at the local food shelf a couple of days before, but they were closed. The volunteers there knew individuals who were in particular need, and would slip them into their bags of groceries so they would have a nice surprise when they got home and unpacked their bags. It was fun for us, and a small way to give others some happiness at Christmas.
I pulled one out of the stack and handed it to Margaret. “What’s this?” she said.
“A little peace offering.”
Margaret opened the envelope and withdrew the card. “Oh, my, how nice. But really, that’s not necessary.” She replaced the card and tried to give it back to me.
I shook my head. “It’s yours.”
“I don’t know what to say. Thank you.” And then she smiled. At me. For the first time. And for the first time I got to see how attractive she was when she did.
“You’re welcome.” I waved and made my way out the door. Then it was my turn to smile. I think the wall around Margaret may have developed a little crack.
• • • • • • • •
I drove my Subaru back to Curio Finds, parked in the lot behind the buildings, and took the shortcut through the walkway between my shop and the one to the north of it. About halfway to the sidewalk, I spotted a young woman passing by, the same one who’d been in the shop yesterday and had returned later that evening. I called out, “Hey, wait up.” But either she didn’t hear me or didn’t think I was talking to her. I picked up my pace, but wasn’t fast enough to catch up to her. She’d disappeared, probably into one of the neighboring businesses.
Before I opened the door, the window displays in our shop caught my attention and I paused a few seconds to admire them. Curio Finds was dressed for the holidays. My parents had helped me set up three decorated and lighted Christmas trees—small, medium, and larger—along with a variety of different sizes of wrapped gift boxes to set snow globes on. The garland and lights gave a festive added touch. Frosty had told me how cheery it looked when he walked by, and I smiled thinking it had given him little moments of joy.
I stepped into the shop and was greeted by the welcoming aroma of a spiced beverage and the scowling face of Rosalie Gorman who came through the archway from Brew Ha-Ha as I was slipping off my coat. One of the people on my list I had deep concerns about. She could be nasty, but just how nasty? I needed to talk to her. Eventually.
“Got a minute, Camryn?”
My instinct was to say no, but without any customers in the shop to use as an excuse, I nodded. I walked to the checkout counter and draped my coat over the stool behind it. Pinky stuck her head into my shop, gave a quick glance at Rosalie’s back then at me, shook her head, and disappeared back into her own domain.
Rosalie came toward me with deliberate steps and left little space between us when she stopped. It reminded me of the three bears in the snow globe scene, approaching the man in perceived attack mode. It was somewhat of a relief there was only one of her to contend with. “You were the one who found Lewis . . . ah . . . Mayor Frost yesterday,” she said.
Word was getting around. “Yes, I did. Sad to say.”
“What time did you get to his office?”
“Right around four thirty.”
“And you saw Lila, she was still there?” Rosalie persisted.
What was she getting at and how much information should I give her? I had questions for her, and she was the one interrogating me. Maybe if I answered hers, she’d answer mine, too. Although she might be trying to throw me off since I knew she and Frosty had had a disagreement that ended with her spitting out a biting warning to him. Out of common courtesy—not to mention the fact that I’d been firmly dismissed by her—I hadn’t eavesdropped on their conversation.
But I later wished I had. It would have been easier than trying to wheedle it out of her now. What would she own up to, and what would she leave out? Frosty was the only other person who knew what had transpired between the two of them, and he’d taken that infor
mation to his death.
I nodded as the answer to her question. Yes, Lila was still there.
Rosalie pressed on, “Anyone else that you saw or heard?” Ah, maybe she’d been there after all and had narrowly escaped before I saw her. She could have been nearby and taken off when she heard me knocking on his door and calling out to the mayor.
My chin lifted slightly and my eyes narrowed. “You mean like you?”
Her mouth dropped open and her face colored to a shade of rosy purple. “You think you saw me?”
“Rosalie, I didn’t say that.”
“You implied it, and I’m not going to stand here and listen to any more from you.” She turned and made a huffing sound as she headed out the door.
Pinky stepped through the archway. “What was that all about?”
“It seems she was on a fact-finding mission, and the reason behind it makes me more than a little suspicious.”
Pinky’s long legs carried her to my side in two strides. “Cami Brooks. Seriously. Tell me you’re not getting yourself mixed up in Frosty’s murder. I know you’re already mixed up in some of it, but I’m talking about the whodunnit part. You aren’t, are you?”
“Not exactly.”
Her graceful arms looped a wide circle on either side of me then her hands settled on my shoulders. She bent over so we were eye to eye. “You saying ‘not exactly’ is exactly what’s got me worried. Cami, we’ve been best friends practically our whole lives. I know you can’t help yourself when it comes to trying to make things right after they’ve gone wrong. But you’ve had some close calls with some scary people lately and I don’t want you to get hurt. Neither does Erin or Mark or anyone else who loves you.”
I reached up and put my hands on hers. “Thank you.” And then I was saved from further explanation or excuses when the ding of the bell on her shop door announced that a new group of customers had arrived.
Both shops were busy until early afternoon when we got our first real break. I was standing behind my checkout counter when Pinky came in and plopped down on a nearby stool. She stretched her legs straight out in front of her and pushed back the headband that had crept lower on her forehead. It could only hold up her wild curls for so long before it slipped.
“Holy moly, Cami. Now we know how much help Emmy is when she’s here.”
“We sure do. Pinky, we should think about keeping her on after the holidays. Both of us have been tied down to our shops for too many months.”
“There’s more to it than that, if I’m reading you right.”
“I won’t deny that I’m thinking about the council seat, but that’s not the main reason. When I took over for my parents, they planned to come back when Mom got better. But now I think they’ll just help with ordering and keep going to rummage sales and auctions looking for cool things. That’s the part they really love anyway. And maybe give us a little time off here and there, but I doubt they’ll ever be back to their old schedule.”
“I’ve been thinking the same thing. And let’s face it, if I was seventy-something, I’d be ready to do other fun things, too. Who can blame them?”
“Not me, that’s for sure. I know how hard they’ve worked all their lives.”
Pinky frowned slightly. “Cami, about this city council thing, it seems like it got to be a dangerous job for our mayor all of the sudden.”
“I’m not worried. If I got appointed to fill out Harley Creighton’s term, it’d only be for a year. No one has any gripes against me that I know of. If I don’t like it, I won’t run in the next election.”
Pinky waved her hands above her head then dropped them on the back of her neck. “That’s what you say now, about nobody having any gripes against you, I mean, but just wait.”
Clint and Mark came trooping into Curio Finds looking as tired as all get-out. Pinky sat up straighter and I stood up taller. “You guys look like you could use a good strong drink,” she said.
Mark shook his head. “Yeah, but we’re still on duty.”
Pinky chuckled. “You being in uniform gave that part away. No, I meant one of my special caffeinated concoctions and a fresh buttery muffin to go with it.”
Being tempted with a buttery muffin made my mouth water. The four of us headed into Brew Ha-Ha and we all had drinks and muffins in front of us in no time. Pinky and I stayed behind the counter, and the men settled on seats.
“Any progress, Assistant Chief Lonsbury?” I said.
Clint had to get in one very noisy slurp of his coffee before he looked at me with raised eyebrows over the top of his cup. “Nothing conclusive, but it’s early days yet.”
“We collected a boatload of fingerprints,” Mark said.
“Including the set you left on the mayor’s desk in full living color,” Clint added.
My response was to turn the color of the bloody fingerprints I’d unwittingly left behind.
Pinky nudged me and some of my coffee sloshed out of the mug I was holding. “I’d have done the same thing,” she said in my defense, but must have given it a second thought because she added, “Well, maybe not. I might not have been brave enough to get close enough to check the poor man’s pulse.”
Clint shrugged a shoulder then sucked in another loud sip of coffee. You’d think he did it on purpose because he knew how much it unnerved me. “I’m not blaming her, Pinky.” He looked at me and added, “And I agree, it was a brave thing to do.” And then my blush deepened. Whether it was his unexpected compliment or his striking good looks, I couldn’t say.
It was an optimal time to use the restroom. “Excuse me.” I slipped away and cautiously opened the door to our shop’s bathroom, flipped on the light, and peered inside. It had been my habit since I’d found our employee, and former classmate, inside the room, poisoned to death.
Pinky didn’t necessarily mean to scare us, but she’d convinced herself that Molly was haunting the place. Unexplained things had happened, and we had yet to get to the bottom of them. Although my head didn’t believe her, my heart had its doubts.
I noticed nothing unusual or alarming in the little—and by “little” I mean teeny tiny—bathroom. I stepped inside and locked the door. Then the lights went out and little shivers danced up my spine and down my arms. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. That was the most evident thing that happened on occasion. The lights would go off and on without explanation. And the electrician hadn’t figured out the reason.
I rejoined my friends just before both shops got popular with the shoppers once again. I’d hoped to get more information from Mark and Clint, but that would have to wait until another time.
• • • • • • • •
It was nearing three o’clock when Pinky carried a mug of hot chocolate into Curio Finds and set it on the counter. A number of snow globes and other gift items had sold, leaving gaps on the shelves, so I was reorganizing. “Here’s a mistake I know you’ll enjoy. I misunderstood a customer and added mint to it,” she said.
“Thanks.”
My shop door opened and I turned to see a young woman. Her stocking cap had ear flaps and was pulled down so it covered most of her forehead and cheeks, but I recognized her in an instant. She’d been in the shop several times and I’d called out to her from the alley walkway that morning. “Hello again, and welcome to Curio Finds.”
“Hello, thank you. I am just looking. Is that all right?” She noticeably shivered.
“Of course, take as long as you like.” She appeared too thin, even with her winter coat on. “How about a hot drink to help warm you up? Pinky, my coffee shop neighbor, just brought me a hot chocolate with mint. But I’m too full to drink it right now, and I hate to see it go to waste.” That wasn’t completely truthful, but if she thought she was doing me a favor, she’d be more likely to accept it. I picked up the mug and handed it to her.
“If you are sure?”
“All right. Thank you.” She stretched both hands around the mug and pressed them flat against it, no doubt warming them. Then she brought the mug to her lips, inhaled deeply, and took a sip with a smile of appreciation on her face. She could give Clint lessons on how to drink hot beverages quietly without the threat of alerting the whole neighborhood. “Who would think of putting mint in hot chocolate?”
Where had this girl been? “Someone who’s made a lot of people happy ever since. I don’t believe we’ve even exchanged names. I’m Camryn Brooks, the manager here.”
Her eyes had a wary look when she nodded and said, “I am Nicoline.”
I smiled. “Pretty. And unusual.”
“It is Dutch. I am named for my grandmother.”
That was it, the hint of a foreign accent. “Is that where you’re from?”
Her eyebrows shot up. “Why do you think that?”
She didn’t want to answer the question, so I decided to let it go. For now. “It’s not that I do, I was just making conversation.”
Nicoline nodded, took another sip of her drink then pushed her stocking cap back enough so a good-sized bruise was revealed on the edge of her cheekbone near her ear. I stepped within reach and laid my hand gently on her shoulder. “Gosh, that looks like it hurts. What happened?”
“Oh.” She pulled her cap back down to cover up the injury again. “I was clumsy, and . . . fell . . . and my face struck . . . the frame on the door.”
I didn’t believe her haltingly delivered explanation for a minute, especially since falling against a door frame would have produced a different shaped bruise than the one she bore—it was on the round side, like it’d been delivered by a person’s fist, or maybe a fast-pitched baseball. But I didn’t want to push too hard, not two minutes after we’d exchanged names. If I scared her away, there would be no chance of pulling out the truth and hopefully helping her.
Frosty the Dead Man (A Snow Globe Shop Mystery) Page 8