Killer Holiday
Page 1
Dedication
For Laura,
a beautiful star in Heaven
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
About the Author
By Amy Korman
Copyright
About the Publisher
Chapter One
Bootsie McElvoy burst through the front door of The Striped Awning, a bag of ice in her right hand and the biggest bottle of Maker’s Mark bourbon I’ve ever seen in her left. She dug into her L.L. Bean tote for a bottle of red wine, a shaker of nutmeg, and a bag of fun-size candy canes, all of which she deposited next to a display of 1940s barware near the front of my antiques store.
“Kristin, it’s December fifteenth, which means it’s time for you to start offering shoppers a specialty cocktail the minute they set foot inside your store,” Bootsie told me. “I’m going to mix up a batch of the Delaney family Christmas drink, the Bourbon Blitzen, which never fails to produce a White Christmas vibe. One sip and you’ll feel like you’re singing and dancing with Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye at a snowy Vermont inn. This should double your sales totals for the month.”
“Thanks!” I said gratefully, since Bootsie’s family’s boozy drinks are known throughout our village of Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, for their potency and tendency to produce unwise purchases.
“The drinks sound good, but you’re also going to need about four thousand more of these pinecones, triple the greenery, and eight hundred additional strands of lights,” Joe Delafield informed me; he’d arrived twenty minutes earlier to help me with decorating my store for the Christmas rush—though, to be honest, the holidays aren’t exactly a great time of year for antiques sales.
To lure in passing foot traffic, I’d brought in armloads of holly and spruce branches from my backyard (cost: free, thankfully), spray-painted pinecones silver (the paint was only $5.28 at the hardware store), and added some cheerful-looking blinking white lights, which I thought looked very festive. This would probably bring tons of holiday shoppers through my front door!
“After that, I’d drape these chandeliers with about seventy-five yards of silver ribbon and another carload of holly branches from those overgrown shrubs at your house.” Joe paused, eyeing the room with his signature critical stare. “The effect I’m going for is that a bunch of HGTV-crazed elves with subscriptions to Veranda magazine snuck in and decorated for four straight days. Gerda, we’re going to need the blinking lights to stop blinking, pronto. Pull the plug, please.”
Joe’s assistant for the day was the eponymous owner of Gerda’s Bust Your Ass Gym, which is housed inside the beauty salon across the street. Since Gerda stands a lofty six feet tall in flats (or sneakers, which is her usual footwear, since fancy shoes aren’t her style), she’d agreed to hang lights and ornaments, bringing her signature grim attitude to the proceedings.
“Cute idea,” Bootsie observed, casting a dubious stare at my front window, which was filled with antique silver-plated candlesticks, flatware, and wineglasses. “Is that your holiday inventory?”
I’d tied festive red ribbons around the candlesticks and wineglass stems, but even I had to admit that my gift ideas had limited appeal. I nodded, sighing. I’d been thinking of adding gift-y dog treats, but my own hound, Waffles, can vault himself into the front window area, and I knew from past experience that he’d eat the whole display the minute I turned my back. As if realizing I was thinking about him, he gave me a happy little wag from his dog bed up in the front of the store.
“Nobody going to want that stuff,” said Gerda, who moved here from her native Austria a few years back. Gerda, who’s incredibly muscular and brings in sell-out crowds at her Pilates classes, isn’t the most tactful person in the world. “People want, like, scarves and Fitbits and iPhones.”
I sighed, knowing Gerda was right. Those were the gifts on most holiday wish lists.
“Luckily, I’ve solved all your problems,” Bootsie told me. “I ran into Eddie from the Pub this morning, and he needs a place to hold some late-night poker tournaments this month, so I brokered a deal for The Striped Awning. You’ll be hosting twice-weekly games from 10 p.m. till 1 a.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays till Valentine’s Day.”
“What!” I erupted, alarmed by this idea. “First of all, that doesn’t sound legal.”
“It’s fine,” she told me, waving away my concerns. “I mean, it’s not like it will be a professional betting operation. Eddie’s limiting each night to ten players and three hours. Some cards, a few drinks, a few small wagers. What could go wrong?”
“A lot!” I said. “They’ll blow cigar smoke and drop Dorito crumbs everywhere. Not to mention get arrested for operating a casino without a license. A lot could go wrong!”
“You worry too much,” Bootsie informed me dismissively. “Plus, he’ll pay you two hundred dollars a night to use the store.”
I opened my mouth to respond, but no words came out. Bootsie knew she had me—there’s no way I can refuse an extra four hundred dollars a week, even if it puts me on the wrong side of the state gaming commission. Bootsie started to brag about how if she was running The Striped Awning, there would be pop-up Lilly Pulitzer and Lands’ End kiosks beginning in late November—and have the irresistible scent of Pillsbury Cinnamon Rolls wafting out onto the sidewalk to lure in customers (which actually sounded like a good idea).
Just then, though, the front door was thrown open by one Sophie Shields, a tiny blonde who at the moment was looking slightly wild-eyed.
“Ya won’t believe what just happened!” shrieked Sophie. “The Colketts were helping me put up curtains in my new dining room, since Joe here never finished decorating my place—and the curtains are orange silk, by the way, they’re totally Elle Decor meets a J. Lo red-carpet gown. So Tim and Tom Colkett were talking paint colors when I heard a horn honking, so I opened the front door, thinking it was the delivery boy from the Hoagie House. We were all starving and we’d ordered a couple of turkey subs, so I figured I’d go out and pay the driver, when boom!
“A guy dressed as Santa leaned out of the driver’s seat of a black SUV that had pulled right up in my driveway and aimed a gun at me and the Colketts!” The Colketts are the town’s leading landscape designers, who’ve lately turned their talents to party planning and interior design, thereby irritating Joe, who’s a professional decorator and doesn’t like the competition.
“Then the guy yelled, ‘Hey, Sophie, this one’s from your ex, Barclay!’ and shot my favorite handbag!” Sophie finished. “I was reaching into it to pay for the hoagies, thank goodness, so it acted as a protective shield. Also, I think maybe this Santa guy doesn’t have great aim.”
We all stared at her for a moment.
“Are you sure, Sophie?” said Bootsie finally. “Because this sounds like BS.”
“Yeah, Sophie, maybe you been hitting the wine bottle today,” seconded Gerda. “I know the Colketts are day drinkers. Maybe you been guzzling alcohol, too.”
“It’s true!” Sophie bleated. “Just look at this Ferragamo satchel! If it hadn’t had gold hardware to block the trajectory of the bullet, me and the Colketts would have been toast!”
She held up a beautiful and pricey-looking purse, from which emanated a faint whiff of smoke. One side of the handbag was in shreds, and the gold buckle was dented from impact. Gerda took the handbag, opening it up to pull out lip gloss, a wad of twenties, a giant pair of sunglasses, and, finally, a dinged-up bullet.
“Sophie,” said Gerda, “I apologize. I admit I thought you were drunk and made this whole story up. Did you call police?”
“I don’t need the police, since the evil Santa told me it was my ex who sent him. I’m calling my lawyers!” fumed Sophie.
She was speed-dialing her legal team (for about the millionth time, since Sophie’s divorce from a former midlevel mafia exec is going into its third year of negotiations over things like missing shrimp forks, and who gets to sit at Table 11 at Restaurant Gianni, the town’s best Italian spot) when the door of The Striped Awning opened, and we heard another familiar voice that didn’t contribute to the jolly holiday vibe.
“I’m back from the first leg of my round-the-world cruise!” sang out Eula Morris, our high school nemesis and all-around annoying girl who likes to boss people around.
Chapter Two
I’d been looking forward to a peaceful, eggnog-scented Yuletide season this year, one bedecked with swags of fresh greenery, filled with crackling logs and holiday movie binge-watches. This year, I’d thought hopefully, Joe and our friend Holly Jones wouldn’t have their annual fight about whether wrapping paper “color themes,” and Sophie and Joe would forgo arguments about whether her blinding decorations on every single tree in her yard was “Vegas-Miami bling-tastic!” (her opinion) or “something the town zoning committee should shut down” (his take on it).
Sure, there would be Bootsie’s family’s boozy annual holiday party, where you’re forced to do sing-alongs and there’s an outdoor bonfire in weather that’s absolutely freezing (the Delaneys and McElvoys all wear about seventeen layers of L.L. Bean clothes and never get cold). And there’s the inevitable problem with the New Year’s Day brunch, because none of us except Joe can cook, and once he starts drinking, no one knows if the traditional ham is done, or how long to bake a broccoli quiche.
Plus, only Joe and Bootsie like ham. But these are all minor holiday misunderstandings—plus, we’ve been eating spiral ham now for ten years, and it doesn’t seem like any of us is suddenly going to start basting, say, a roast beef.
Anyway, the holiday season had kicked off with one of those perfect Thanksgivings where everything goes right: Holly and her husband, Howard, had hired the Bryn Mawr Country Club staff to cook an amazing meal. Bootsie, who spends ninety-five percent of her time on her Bryn Mawr Gazette job and on the tennis court, actually decided to devote the day to family, and brought her ever-patient husband, Will; their adorable sons; her parents the Delaneys; and her brother, Chip, to the festive gathering. Sophie and Joe held hands at the table and refrained from bickering, with Sophie proudly wearing the pre-engagement ring Joe had given her last summer and Joe only making two comments about Sophie’s gold Gucci boots being seen from space (these metallic boots looked good on her, honestly, and gave the whole day a little extra oomph).
My own handsome, loyal, and good-hearted boyfriend, local veterinarian John Hall, had made it through the entire meal without a single cow or goat needing a house call. Even Gerda had been in a good mood, limiting her dire warnings about how an American harvest holiday had
somehow become a gravy gravy-and become a gravy-and-stuffing-fest that did permanent damage to arteries and would be better celebrated with a Tofurky and a healthfully prepared puree of pumpkin that included no butter, salt, sugar, or flour.
But then on December 1, Sophie’s lawyers had told her that they were finally days away from having papers she could sign that would officially end her marriage to her ex Barclay Shields, that former mafia exec who she’d been separated from for some three years.
Most important of all, she would be free to marry again!
Sophie had gone into a Brides-magazine-fueled meltdown and told Joe she was “over” summer weddings with gorgeous tents full of lush roses and balmy, breezy temperatures, plus she’d read in Town & Country that winter was the new wedding season, and what about New Year’s Day, which was just thirty-one short days away—and would make for totally romantic nuptials!
Because she’d checked, and they could rent out Restaurant Gianni, and have an amazing all-white decor with just-made pastas, fresh ricotta pizzas, and Umbrian wines, and probably get some guys she knew from Atlantic City to do the music from Jersey Boys plus some classic disco hits, and in case Joe didn’t know, Angelina Jolie had worn Versace for her wedding to Brad. Also, the Bryn Mawr Gazette’s annual wedding guide was coming up, and was interested in covering their nuptials.
Joe told Sophie he was busy on New Year’s Day making his famous maple-bourbon glaze for the traditional ham, and liked to both watch football and plan new paint colors that afternoon, so that day wouldn’t work. When they got to discussing the honeymoon, Sophie voted for flying nonstop to Venice and bringing an empty suitcase to tote home full of new shoes, and then spending two weeks in Miami where she could easily ship home additional handbags, sunglasses, and makeup.
Joe said he hoped Sophie would have fun, because he’d be staying at a peaceful inn while antiques hunting in Provence, or renting a cottage in rural Connecticut, which Sophie said sounded like something only someone toting an AARP card or a guy who didn’t know how to have fun would do on a post-wedding jaunt.
Things had exploded after that, and the next day, Sophie had FedExed the pre-engagement ring back to Joe at Holly’s house, where he had taken up residence after his Sophie blowup.
To fill the void left by Sophie, Joe had since signed on to a new part-time gig in Florida renovating an adorable fishing cottage owned by one Adelia Earle, a feisty tobacco heiress he frequently works for, and was now knee-deep in pink and green fabrics half of each month. This wasn’t improving his mood, since Adelia changes her mind fairly often, and requires tons of meetings about things like pompom trim on cushions.
Also on the downside, business was a little slow at The Striped Awning, and I was still trying to figure out the perfect gift for John. I’d been knitting sweaters for both him and Waffles. The one for Waffles, which was basically a scarf sewed into a basset-shaped funnel, was going quite a bit better.
However, happily, the weather was a relatively balmy forty-seven degrees in December, which was great, because my heater doesn’t work all that well. And heating bills are expensive!
Anyway, our town being quite small, and given that Sophie and Joe were bound to run into each other about nineteen times a week on the street, in the luncheonette, at the Pack-N-Ship, and at the Bryn Mawr Pub, the former couple had agreed they were just going to pretend the other one didn’t exist. Anyway, judging by the sad, longing glances Joe and Sophie frequently exchanged, I still had hope they’d work things out.
Plus, on a happier note, the whole town was getting into holiday mode! There were cute, colorful lights over the door into the luncheonette, and a funky all-white Christmas tree made from fake feathers visible through the window of Le Spa.
As I looked around at the layers of holly and silver ribbon and inhaled the scent of the bourbon Bootsie was liberally glugging into a huge pitcher for a test batch of her themed cocktail, something akin to holiday excitement started to well up inside me, and I could practically hear the strains of “Jingle Bells” wafting around town square, just outside The Striped Awning.
Oh, wait—I did hear “Jingle Bells,” I realized—the Bryn Mawr Town Singers were warming up their vocal cords for a practice session for the town holiday festivities next week.
However, the return of Eula Morris didn’t add to the merry vibe.
“Hi, Eu
la,” said Bootsie in a friendly enough manner. She and Eula share a hyper-competitive streak on the tennis court, and get along well. But for Holly and Joe, Eula was truly the Nightmare Before Christmas, and the Abominable Snowman, Heat Miser, and Burgermeister Meisterburger all rolled into one tiny package.
It’s not that Eula is pure evil, but she does tend to take over any committee or event, and run it in a less-than-flexible style. Even more irritating, Eula’s usually good at the volunteer gigs she takes on, being super-organized and a good planner. But when Eula takes over a local event, including last summer’s Bryn Mawr Tomato Show, which she cochaired with Holly, everyone involved usually quits.
Things didn’t go exactly smoothly as Eula and Holly struggled to agree on the best way to create a stylish celebration of the glossy red salad ingredient. Since Holly is heir to a poultry fortune and her husband runs a trucking conglomerate, she ended up hiring the Colketts to turn the tomato shindig into something along the lines of the Vanity Fair Oscar party, but starring nightshade vegetables. Eula obviously didn’t approve of the crazy soiree, but had to suck it up, because Holly paid for it.
Finally, Holly and Joe were so desperate to get rid of Eula that they’d bought twenty dollars’ worth of Powerball tickets and anonymously left them in Eula’s mailbox. A week later, Eula had been one of five winners of the mega-jackpot, and their plan had come to fruition.
Eula, now worth millions, had immediately embarked on her lifelong dream of sailing around the world. In September, she’d boarded a cruise ship called the Palace of the Seas for a twenty-four-month voyage, and our town had been blissfully Eula-free for a glorious autumn season.
“Nice tan,” Bootsie added, observing the glowy hue of Eula’s skin, which did look as if she’d been spending plenty of time tanning on the poop deck over the past four months.
“And I like your hair!” said Sophie. “Ya look a lot better since you hit the jackpot,” she added to Eula, who gave her a happy little nod.