Miss Frost Solves A Cold Case

by Kristen Painter

  “Could be,” Juniper said. “I hear that happens a lot.”

  I liked them thinking this way. It felt safer to me. At least until I knew more. “That’s probably what happened.” I hooked my thumb back toward the warehouse door. “I’m supposed to go talk to Toly about a change in the schedule. But I can come back after that.”

  Juniper smiled limply. “Lilibeth, it’s your day off. Go enjoy it. There’s nothing you can do anyway. Nothing any of us can do. Trust me. This is the fifth time an employee has skipped out since I’ve been here. We’ll get through it.”

  “I know, but—”

  “She’s right,” Buttercup said. “Take today while you can because until we get a replacement for him, there won’t be any more days off for anyone.”

  “Okay, but let’s get together tonight. Just the three of us. My place. I’ll order Salvatore’s pizza. My treat. Cool?”

  They both nodded. “Cool.”

  I waved and went to face Toly, hoping I could keep from throttling him. I knocked on his office door. “Toly? It’s Lilibeth.”

  “Come in, come in.”

  I opened the door. The mess I’d seen by the light of my phone was nothing compared to seeing it in all its well-lit glory. “Wow, you keep a lot of stuff in here.”

  “Hmm?” He looked around, blinking behind his glasses. “Oh yes, yes, I suppose I do.”

  That whole scattered tinker-brain thing wasn’t playing with me right now. I took a deep breath and remembered this was not the time to start questioning him about his part in the elves going missing.

  There was nowhere to sit, so I leaned against the filing cabinet. The same one I’d broken into twice. “I hear Owen went the way of his predecessors.”

  “Yes. Sad, isn’t it?” Toly shook his head and sighed. It was Oscar-worthy. “He was a good worker. Sorry to see him go.”

  “Did he say anything to you?”

  “No, just left a note.”

  “Can I see it?” Actually, I could already see it. Sitting front and center on his desk. Written on what looked like the same paper as the others.

  That gave Toly a moment of pause. “I don’t know if that would be proper—”

  “Has anyone compared the notes he and the other workers left? I mean, you have to admit that it’s pretty suspicious how this keeps happening.”

  “That’s not your concern.”

  “Um, it is totally my concern. I’m an elf, and I work here. If something bad is happening, I don’t want to be the next victim. Or do you think maybe they’re all leaving so suddenly because they don’t like working for you?”

  Toly tugged at his apron and sat down, looking as angry as a flea-infested yeti. “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “Let’s be honest, here. You’re not exactly boss of the year. You don’t give us decent breaks, you make us run the Snowy Saturdays when it’s really your job, and you overload us with petty chores.”

  “I’m the manager. I make the rules. If you don’t like it—”

  “What? I can quit?” I leaned in. “Hand over my keys and leave all my stuff behind?”

  Toly jumped to his feet. “Now see here.”

  “Oh, so now you’re upset. But not about how many of your workers have left under odd circumstances. What if someone bad is targeting your employees? Do you even care?” I didn’t wait for an answer, just straightened and held out my hand. “I’ll take that new schedule and leave you alone so you can give that some thought.”

  His jaw dropped, but a second later he put the new schedule in my hand. Maybe I’d scared him. Or intimidated him. I was told I had that quality at times, but I wasn’t sure it had transferred to Lilibeth.

  I reached for the door knob, then stopped. “One more thing. You can put Greyson Garrett on your approved visitors list. He’s going to be coming to see me.” I smiled. “Just thought you should know.”

  “He-he’s a vampire.”

  I tilted my head. “Is he? I thought he just had an overbite.” I sailed out and slammed the door behind me.

  I shook with anger all the way back to my apartment. Toly was going down. I fired up my laptop and was about to run a few searches when someone knocked on my door.

  If Toly thought he was going to fire me, he was so wrong it was painful. I yanked the door open, “Listen here—”

  Cooper’s brows shot up. “Bad time?”

  I slowed my roll. “I thought you were someone else.”

  He grinned. “That’s good. I’m glad I’m not that other person. You sound mad.”

  I leaned against the door jamb. “I was, but not at you.” Who could be mad at Cooper in his fireman’s uniform? Technically, I’m sure I could manage it, but right now I was happy to forget the past and enjoy this momentary distraction of eye candy. “So what’s up?”

  He lifted one muscled shoulder in a pretense of indifference. “I was in the neighborhood. Thought I’d see if you wanted to grab some lunch with me.”

  His timing was pretty good, but I had work to do. Although I might be able to think better if I calmed down. And what situation did food not make better? Because I was hungry. Still, I needed a little more convincing if I was going to take a break from figuring out this mess. I crossed my arms. “Where did you want to go?”

  “How about pizza at Salvatore’s?”

  “As good as that pizza is, I’m having that tonight.”

  “Burgers at Howler’s?” He waggled his brows. “We could split a peach cobbler.”

  “Sold.” This would give me a chance to talk some things out with him, maybe get another perspective. And lunch out with him would keep me from storming back into Toly’s office and strangling him until his eyes bugged out of his fat tinker head. Which was good because being a princess wouldn’t get me out of a murder charge. “Let me get my purse.”

  Howler’s was busy—it was lunch after all—but we got right in. Cooper explained that since his boss, the chief, was Bridget’s brother and Bridget was also dating a fireman, firemen got priority seating. It was good to know people.

  We slid into our booth and immediately ordered drinks, burgers and cobbler to follow. Menus were for tourists.

  Cooper seemed pretty pleased that I’d agreed to join him. “How’s your day going? You seem a little frazzled.”

  I took a moment to gather my thoughts. There were far too many of them. “I don’t even know where to start.”

  “The beginning?”

  “I guess.” Except I didn’t really want to tell him about my descent into a life of crime. I had a hunch he’d frown on my decision to break into Cookie’s office. “How about I hit the highlights? Or should I say the lowlights? Another employee left today.”

  His mouth gaped. “Really? Who?”

  “Owen.”

  He seemed relieved it hadn’t been Juniper or Buttercup. I knew the feeling. He made a noise of disgust. “What the hell is going on in that shop?”

  I shook my head. “I wish I knew. I’m starting to think it’s Toly. He’s not easy to work for.”

  Cooper splayed his hands on the table. “Could be. What other theories do you have? Because I know you have them.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Can you blame me? I work there. I deserve to know what’s going on.”

  “You’re right. You absolutely do.”

  I sighed. “Well, I thought maybe the Ellinghams were poaching workers, but I don’t think that now.”

  “Yeah, that’s highly unlikely. That’s just not their style. Anything else?”

  “Not really. But something is very off. I know that much.”

  “Like what?”

  Our drinks arrived, so I held off answering until the server left. I stripped the paper off my straw, stuck it in my Dr Pepper and took a long drink. So much better. “It feels like something…bad. But I can’t tell you more than that because that’s all I have. A feeling.”

  And Greyson working the underweb angle, but I’d lay good money Cooper didn’t know anything about someth
ing that nefarious.

  “Feelings are valid. You have to listen to that stuff.”

  “I am. But it’s like trying to put a puzzle together in the dark with half the pieces missing.”

  He nodded and drank his water. “Anything I can help you with? Anything that doesn’t involve the elevator you’re not authorized to use?”

  I laughed. If only he knew Greyson had already helped me out with that one. Of course, after seeing Owen head down to the Basement, I’d love another visit, but I knew Cooper wasn’t going to be my tour guide for that trip. “You know anything about the Gingerbread Inn?”

  He sat back, a curious look on his face. “Why?”

  “Just wondering. I know it’s owned by the store manager’s granddaughter. A woman named Cookie Featherstone. You know her?”

  His expression darkened. “Is this some kind of game?”

  I put my hands up. “I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Some of that darkness went away. “You’re not asking me about her because you found out I dated her?”

  Now my mouth gaped. “Uh, no. I had no idea. None.” I stared at him. “Wow. I never would have guessed. I suppose Juniper knows.”

  He shook his head and looked a little sheepish. “No. Neither does Buttercup. I thought you’d talked to Elena, and she’d mentioned it—”

  I bent forward as a familiar chill socked me in the gut again. “Who?” But I already knew.

  “Elena. Cookie.”

  His answer confirmed my suspicions. I bit back a curse as he kept talking.

  “I know everyone calls her that, but it felt weird calling a grown woman Cookie.”

  I rubbed my forehead, my mind racing. Cookie owned the cleaning company. No wonder Toly was using her services. He’d want to help his granddaughter out as much as he could. But why hadn’t he notified the Financial Department of the change? Sure, that wasn’t mandatory and he didn’t need authorization to make the switch, but he was so by-the-book with everything else. Was it because he was using her to clean up after employees left? That implied guilt, didn’t it?

  Cooper nodded. “Yeah. Anyway, it’s not like I’m the only guy from the station she’s dated, but that was a long time ago.”

  “Got it. And your business is your business.”

  “Thanks. What did you want to know about the inn?”

  “I don’t know.” I stared into the bubbles of my Dr Pepper. How did this all fit together? What was I missing? And why was Will working at the Gingerbread Inn but had no idea who he really was?

  “Hey, you okay?”

  I glanced up. “I’m not sure yet.”

  “You want to talk about it?”

  I sort of did, especially because he knew the town so well, but I wasn’t going to do it here. In fact, maybe I just needed to wait until Greyson was free again. Either way, I couldn’t just sit here. I had to put everything I knew on paper and see if I could connect it in a way that gave me something more to go on. “Thanks for inviting me to lunch, but I have to leave.”

  Cooper, being Cooper, got our server to pack everything up to go, and as a result, we were back in my apartment and I was pacing the floor with a double bacon cheeseburger in one hand while I tried to think.

  The cheeseburger may or may not have been helping, but there was no way I was putting down something this delicious. Except maybe to get some fries. (Which were good but not fried in duck fat good. That bar had been set.)

  Cooper was at the dining table eating his burger like a sane person, while Spider sat in the chair next to him, patiently waiting for attention. Or a taste of the burger. It was hard to tell. Cooper waved a fry at me. “Why don’t you join me at the table so we can eat like normal people and talk this out?”

  “I can’t sit. I’m too wound up. I’m full of energy that has no place to go.”

  He got a twinkle in his eyes I recognized.

  I shook my head. “Calm down, charm school. Not that kind of energy.”

  He lifted his burger. “Worth a shot.”

  “I need to make sense of what I know.”

  “I can help with that.” He pulled a pen out of his pocket, then smoothed his big hand over the takeout bag to flatten it. “We’ll diagram it.”

  I stopped pacing and came to the table. “I have a notebook.”

  “This’ll do.”

  “Okay. Where do we start?”

  He held his pen above the bag. “Who do you know the most about?”

  “Toly.” I finished the last bite of my burger and went to the sink to wash my hands.

  Cooper wrote his name down. “Tell me what you know about him.”

  I dried my hands and took a seat at the table. “He’s been the manager for three years. The first employee left two and a half years ago. The same time Cookie’s divorce happened.”

  Cooper jotted that under Toly’s name while I ate some fries. “What else?”

  “Put Cookie slash Elena on there.”

  He added her name. “Should I put that she owns the Gingerbread Inn?”

  “Yes. And the Thrifty Maids cleaning service. Which connects her to Toly by more than blood because that’s who he hired to clean the apartments.”

  Cooper looked up. “How many apartments are there?”

  “Seven, but one’s reserved for visits by management and of the six for employees, only five are currently occupied. Well, four now that Owen’s gone.”

  “Even so, she can’t be cleaning that many apartments in one day by herself. She must have help.”

  “Good point, but I don’t know who else works for her. I was working in the shop last Wednesday, so I didn’t see the crew. That’s the day the cleaners come.”

  “Are you sure Cookie is even part of the cleaning team? How could she spare the time when she’s running the B&B?”

  I took a breath. “I have to tell you, I don’t think the B&B is as busy as people think. I went by there, and for a place with no vacancies, there were also no people there except for the gardener. The only car in the lot was a beat-up truck with the inn’s name on the side. What does Cookie drive?”

  “A black Mercedes.”

  For a woman who’d had money troubles, she didn’t seem like a woman who’d had money troubles. “That car wasn’t there either.”

  He thought a moment. “Maybe all the guests were out when you went by.”

  “Maybe. But it was a rainy day. This morning, actually. And it was early enough that you’d think someone would have been there.”

  His gaze shifted to me. “Were you snooping?”

  “Why does everyone think I snoop? I was just checking into things.”

  “Mm-hmm.”

  “Hey, somebody’s got to figure this out.” And technically, that was the whole reason I was here. “The sheriff wasn’t interested, so that leaves me.”

  “Well, it’s not exactly a crime to quit your job, and leaving town without notice doesn’t point to foul play.”

  I put my elbows on the table. “No, but don’t you think it’s weird that they’ve all quit and left everything behind? And that all the notes were written on the same paper? And that none of these employees can be found? It’s like they’ve all disappeared. Well, I think at least two of them are still living in town. They just don’t look like elves anymore.”

  Cooper’s brows were stuck in an upward position for about ten seconds. “How do you know all this?”

  I stuffed a couple fries in my mouth to buy some time, then settled on the answer least likely to arouse suspicion. “I snooped. Happy?”

  He laughed. “Okay, what else do you know?”

  “Toly’s not the easiest boss. Besides skimping on breaks and loading us up with work, he also seems to regularly turn over the responsibility for handling the shimmer on Snowy Saturdays.”

  “Oh, yeah, I’ve been in the store on one of those days. It’s pretty cool. Does that take a lot of magic?”

  I nodded. “Yes. And frankly if he can’t handle
it himself, he shouldn’t be making us do it. If something were to get damaged in the store because of the snow, or if a customer was to slip on some and fall, you can bet the employee on duty would be the one who got into trouble.”

  As Cooper scrawled, I huffed out a breath. “Corporate wouldn’t like it much either, which is probably why Snowy Saturday isn’t a companywide policy.”

  He glanced up. “Anything else? The only picture I’m seeing right now is that Toly’s a hard boss, but nothing that really points to anything besides employees quitting and not wanting to be found, which is weird, but not criminal.”

  I turned sideways and put my feet on the chair next to mine. “There is the whole elevator thing…”

  “Nope. Not taking you down there. Already told you that.”

  The way he shut that topic down made me instantly decide to keep the rest of it to myself. I would have loved to get back to the Basement and look around, especially since I was sure that’s the last place Owen had been, but Cooper wasn’t about to help me get there. And Greyson might, but he was already working the underweb angle for me.

  “Hey, I have to get back to the station.” Cooper stood, putting me eye level with his utility belt. And the keycard dangling from it.

  Bad thoughts started to form in my head. Good bad thoughts. I stood up and did my best to look seductive, which wasn’t as easy as it sounds, considering I’d just downed about three thousand calories worth of protein and carbs. “Thanks for the lunch date.”

  He tucked his pen away. “You’re welcome.”

  I sidled closer, fluttering my lashes. “You want to come back tonight and we can finish the cobbler?”

  He smiled. “That would be nice. Except I won’t have another evening free for four nights.”

  I trailed my finger down his chest. “You get a dinner break, don’t you?”

  His hands went to my hips. “I’m sure I can work something out.”

  And then, right on plan, he leaned in and kissed me.

  I put my hands on his waist and kissed him back with everything that was in me. I even moaned a little, which wasn’t that hard to do. I might have mentioned Cooper was a good kisser. But I laid it on heavy, pressing myself against him and running my hands over him to be as distracting as possible.