Deck the Halls with Fudge

by Nancy CoCo

  “Sounds like we have our work cut out for us, young man,” Douglas said and patted Shane on the back. The two of them got to work. It took two hours, but we knocked out the setup and decorations just as the craft brewers began to arrive.

  They set up their tables and booths offering beer to taste and for sale by the glass or the bottle.

  “We didn’t have time this year,” Jenn said, “but next year I’m going to buy some tankards and sell them at the door to raise money for that year’s cause.”

  “Wonderful idea,” I said. “That way they can take their mugs home and save a lot of cleanup.”

  “Well, the plastic beer cups will have to do for now,” Douglas said. “It’s all we could come up with given the short notice.”

  “It’s perfect,” I said and kissed Douglas’s cheek. “Thank you.”

  “For what?”

  “Supporting me. I sure hope Rex is able to get Barry to confess. Then I’ll know Leigh Ann has justice for her family.”

  “Do we know if West is coming?” Shane asked.

  “Warren’s brother?” I asked.

  “Yes,” Shane said. “I heard from Sophie that he had flown in today. I wondered if he would make it tonight for the fund-raiser.”

  “I heard he wasn’t in to craft brew,” Allie said as she came in with a handful of paper. “Here are the ballots for everyone to vote most popular.”

  “Oh, most popular,” Shane said. “I didn’t put that category in my betting pool.”

  “Speaking of the betting pool,” Douglas said, “I’d keep that on the sly. I’m not sure that’s exactly legal.”

  “What?” Shane said and held out his hands in innocence. “What’s a little wager among friends?”

  “A couple of guys is ‘among friends.’ Over fifty becomes something else.”

  “Sheesh.” Shane put his hands in his pockets. “You take away all my fun, Mr. Devaney.”

  “Don’t you forget it,” Douglas said with a slap on Shane’s back.

  “What’s left to do?” Allie asked.

  “The brewers are starting to come in and set up,” Jenn said. “I’ll show them where to do that if you guys want to go home and get ready.”

  “What’s ready?” Shane asked. “I have my jeans and plaid shirt on under my coat. I think I’m prepped for a craft beer taste-off.”

  “We girls might have different ideas of what to wear to a party,” Jenn said and smacked his arm.

  Shane teased her by stepping out of her reach. “Fine, go get dressed. I’ll stay here until you get back.”

  “Keep us posted on what Rex does with Barry,” I said as Douglas and I left the center.

  “Barry?” Allie said and turned to Shane. “What is Rex doing with Barry?”

  We were out in the twilight and quiet of the streets before we could hear Shane telling his story to Allie.

  “To think,” I said as our boots crunched on the snowy sidewalk as we walked to our cottage. “I thought Barry might have done it for the way Warren took away his business contacts. I never would have suspected an affair. Emma is a mother of two, for goodness’ sake. This is a small island. You can’t keep cheating quiet here for very long.”

  “Everyone knows everyone else’s business,” Douglas agreed.

  When we arrived at our cottage, a man was standing on the porch waiting for us.

  “Can we help you?” Douglas said.

  “Yeah, you can tell me why you sent Rex out to my house today.”

  “Excuse me?” I asked. “Do we know you?”

  “I’m Barry Elmwater,” he said. Barry was over six foot tall and stocky. He looked like a bear of a guy who could take me down with one blow of his stocky fist.

  “Nice to meet you, Barry,” I said and held out my hand.

  “Frances—” Douglas tried to put himself between me and the big angry man.

  “I’m Frances Devaney. This is my husband, Douglas,” I said and persisted in treating the man like he wasn’t terrifying. “Why do you think we sent Rex Manning to your house?”

  “I know what you’re doing,” he said and ran a hand through his thick hair. “Everyone on the island knows what you’re doing with this so-called fund-raiser.”

  “What’s that?” Douglas asked and crossed his arms over his chest. “Besides raising scholarship money for Warren Engle’s girls?”

  “You’re trying to pin Warren’s murder on me.”

  “Now I think that’s a little paranoid, don’t you?” Douglas said.

  “Now, dear, let’s not get testy,” I said and put my hand on Douglas’s arm to calm him down. When he felt protective of me, he got a bit grumpy. “Mr. Elmwater, I’m sorry you feel as if we’re somehow trying to make you guilty of murder. All I wanted to do was raise some money for the girls’ scholarship fund and possibly start a new winter tradition on the island to bring in tourists.” I paused and lowered my head. “You are right, though. I did hope you would come. I wanted to talk to you about Warren to find out about how he was able to blackmail you out of your supplier contracts.” I gave him my best little-old-lady look. “Why don’t you come in and have some tea with us? I have cake. Think of it as my way of apologizing.”

  “Frances—”

  “Douglas, really, we owe the man an apology.” I turned back to Barry. “I’m so sorry for the misunderstanding.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Are you telling me you didn’t tell Rex I was having an affair with Emma?”

  “No,” I said, my eyes wide. “I didn’t even know about it until I heard Rex was at your house talking to you.”

  “Then who told him?”

  “I don’t know that either,” I said with a shrug. “What I do know is that it’s freezing out here and we could all go into the warm house and have tea and cake if you’re willing.”

  “I can’t,” he said and ran his hand over his head. “Listen, I accept your apology. I’m sorry about coming on so strong, but Emma and I have been close ever since she discovered Warren was doing these things to people. She came to me to apologize. You see, we had Warren in common. He didn’t treat her right. Sometimes I could tell she was hiding bruises. It really made me mad. No guy should ever bruise a girl, and I told Rex Manning that. If anyone deserved to die it was Warren, but I didn’t do it. I wasn’t even on the island then. In fact, I just returned this morning to see if Emma was okay. I wanted her to know I was here if she needed anything. Warren might have treated her bad, but he was her husband. It’s hard to lose a spouse—even a bad spouse.” He shifted. “Anyway, I’m keeping you out in the cold. So I’ll say good bye. I just thought you should know I have an airtight alibi. Got the plane tickets and receipts to prove it. I didn’t hurt anyone.”

  I took his hand. “Thank you for letting me know. Leigh Ann Engle is a friend of mine. I was simply trying to look out for her and her family.”

  “We’re on the same side here, lady.” He looked at Douglas. “You guys have a good night.” Then he stepped off the porch. Douglas opened the cottage door and we went inside. He locked the door behind us.

  “Stay here a minute, okay?” he said as he took off his coat.

  “Okay,” I said and unbuttoned my coat. “Why?”

  “I want to check the house,” he said and handed me his coat. He kicked off his boots and went through the house turning on lights and looking in closets.

  I hung both of our coats in the closet and took off my boots and left them alongside Douglas’s in the boot tray near the door. I highly doubted there was anyone in the house, but I knew Douglas would feel better if he checked. So I went and sat down in the armchair closest to the door and waited patiently.

  “Okay,” he said as he came back into the living room. “No one’s here but us.”

  I stood and patted his cheek. “Of course no one’s here. We’re safe. There’s an hour and a half before we need to be back at the senior center. I’m going to go make some tea and cut us some of that chocolate cake. Do we have time to make a fire?”<
br />
  “We can use the gas fire. Then it will be out and cool when we leave.”

  “Wonderful.” I loved our new home. It was cozy and big enough for two without being too big to clean. I poured the tea into a pot and plated the cake and took it out to the living room. The fresh Christmas tree was up in the corner. I always waited a few days before decorating a fresh tree to allow the branches to settle.

  Douglas had the fire going and took the tray from me. We sat in our favorite chairs and sipped tea and ate cake and talked about our day.

  Finally, when I thought Douglas was calm enough, I brought things back around to Barry. “I had no idea Mr. Elmwater would be at our home tonight,” I said gently. “I’m sorry it upset you so much.”

  “I’m glad I was here,” he said and took a sip of tea. “I don’t want to think about what could have happened if you had come home alone to find him here.”

  “Most likely nothing more than what happened,” I said. “It was merely a misunderstanding. I’m glad to know he had an airtight alibi. That marks two of my suspects off the list.”

  “That leaves Henry Higginboom,” Douglas said. “I know he doesn’t own a sleigh.”

  “It does seem highly unlikely he did it. He was the only one of the three suspects who was able to keep his equipment.”

  “Only because Warren died before he could do more than begin the repossession process.”

  “Warren seems like such a hateful person. I’m so sorry for Leigh Ann. She was a good mother. Emma seems like a good person. Still, she should have left him before she had an affair with Barry. A spouse should be honest when things aren’t working out.”

  “I agree,” Douglas said. “We promised to come to each other first before anything happened. Right?”

  “Yes,” I said. “And I promise not to keep secrets from you again unless I’m planning a surprise party.”

  Douglas grumbled into his teacup. “I hate surprise parties.”

  “Duly noted,” I said with a smile. “But I’m not making any promises that I’ll never throw you one.”

  Chapter 10

  “You guys got here just in time,” Jenn said when we walked in the door. It was five minutes to eight and we were dressed for a party. “People have been showing up for the last ten minutes.”

  “I thought we said it started at eight. That usually means no one comes until eight thirty or nine,” I said. Douglas took my coat and went to hang it and his in the coatroom.

  “Everyone is excited about this,” Jenn said with a twinkle of pride in her eyes. “I keep hearing about what a great idea it was and how wonderful that we were able to pull it off so quickly.”

  “I see you have Mary Emry at the door with the donation box.”

  “She asked if she could help, so I stationed her there. She’s great at soliciting donations.”

  “Who knew?” I said. Mary was known for not speaking often, but when she did speak it was usually important. “Is that a live band?”

  “They just showed up and asked if they could play a few sets before and after the tasting.”

  “Well, you can’t turn that down,” I said. The band started playing bluegrass music. “Looks like there are six or seven vendors.”

  “And two tables groaning with donated food.” Allie came up and pointed at the tables. “One has hams and entrees. The other is filled with desserts and fudge.”

  “You girls have outdone yourselves,” I said and clapped my hands. “Where do you need me?”

  “We’re going to have you over at the food tables,” Jenn said. “Could you serve desserts and help people who bring in food? The tables are full now, so we’ll put anything else that comes in into the kitchen and replace food as it gets eaten.”

  “I think this will give you an opportunity to talk to your suspects as they fill up their plates,” Allie said.

  “Oh, on that note,” I said, “we had a run-in with Barry Elmwater when we went back to the house to get dressed.”

  “What happened?” Allie asked. “Are you and Douglas all right?”

  “We look all right, don’t we?” I teased.

  “Of course you do. Now tell us what happened!” Jenn said.

  I went through a brief summary of the encounter. “So you see, he has an airtight alibi.”

  “Darn,” Jenn said. “That only leaves Henry.”

  “Unless someone else comes out of the woodwork,” I said. “I really need to talk to Emma. She might know something.”

  “She’ll be here tonight,” Allie said. “I called her and she was touched by what we’re doing for her girls. She promised to be here at the announcement of the winners to thank everyone for coming out.”

  “Good,” I said. “When I see her come in, I’ll fix her a plate and have a little chat.”

  The girls gave me a thumbs-up and then they were pulled in different directions to answer questions and help make the party start off grand.

  The first hour sped by as I greeted people I hadn’t seen since the winter had started. Many of the younger people were off snowmobiling and hunting during the early part of winter. The old folks stayed home waiting for good weather to come out to the senior center.

  This event brought everyone out of their homes for a good cause. I kept my eye out for Henry Higginboom. I knew him only by sight. I taught him in fifth grade like so many other boys, but that was fifteen years ago. We hadn’t spoken since then except to say hello when he passed me by on the sidewalk. Henry was the kind to keep to himself.

  I spotted Leigh Ann and Emma as they came into the center. Someone took their coats and carried them to the coatroom. Another senior citizen walked them over to the food tables. “Leigh Ann, Emma,” I said and gave them both a hug. “I’m so glad to see you here. Let me fix your plates. The judging has begun.” I pointed to the tables that had been set up with blind taste tests for the judges. For the most-popular contest, people were given a ballot at the door and each vendor had little tasting cups at their tables.

  “I can’t believe you did all this,” Leigh Ann said.

  “My daughters will be set for college,” Emma said with tears in her eyes. She tugged at her sleeves until they covered her hands. “I’d forgotten how wonderful the Mackinac Island community is when they come together.” She began to cry, and someone brought her a box of tissues.

  “Come on, ladies,” Jenn said. “I’ve got a table reserved for you. Frances will bring you some plates of food. We have coffee, tea, and craft brew. What can I bring you?” She took them away. I filled two plates with good food, not dessert. My mother always told me when people are grieving they forget to eat. You needed to make sure they had nutritious food or they would linger in grief and depression.

  “Can I help you take those over?” Douglas said over my shoulder.

  I jumped and gave him a wide-eyed look. “You startled me.”

  “I didn’t mean to,” he said and nodded toward the plates with his hands up flat. “You looked like you could use a hand.”

  “Thank you,” I said and handed him the two plates. Then I filled a small plate with rolls and butter and followed behind him.

  Allie got up when we arrived. “You ladies take care now.” She gave them both a hug and walked off.

  Douglas put the plates down on the table.

  “Thank you, dear,” I said and gave him a soft kiss.

  “Ladies,” he said and took his leave.

  I pulled out the chair Allie had occupied and put down the plate of rolls and butter. “How are you doing?” I asked Emma and put my hand on hers.

  “I’m overwhelmed,” she said and sniffed.

  I could feel her trembling. “You should try to eat. When was the last time you had any food?”

  “I don’t know. Yesterday, I think.” She dabbed at her eyes and tugged her turtleneck up closer to her chin. “I can’t believe you all are going through this much trouble for my girls. I know Warren didn’t treat people the way a good man should. Still, you all have
opened your hearts and pocketbooks to us.”

  I squeezed her hand. “Mr. Elmwater came to see me this evening.”

  “Oh!” She covered her mouth in surprise and blushed. “Why?”

  “Rex Manning went to see him. Mr. Elmwater thought I had something to do with that.” I tilted my head. “I promise I didn’t. I didn’t know that you and he . . . well . . . are friends.”

  “Barry is the best man I have ever known.” Her eyes went soft with emotion. “I wanted to tell Warren I was leaving him. But Barry was worried about my safety and the girls’ safety.”

  “Was it Barry’s idea to have a secret affair?” I asked.

  “It wasn’t really an affair. It just happened,” she said and sighed. “Only one night. I needed comforting and one thing led to another.” Her shoulders slumped. “I know it was wrong, but I needed it. Warren was doing terrible things. Ruining peoples’ lives. I asked him to stop. He didn’t understand how his actions were affecting me and the girls. Then I had a run-in with Henry Higginboom’s wife. She treated me awfully. I couldn’t take it. Barry called and heard me crying and asked to meet me. I went to talk, only to talk.”

  “Mr. Elmwater told me he was off the island this week on business.”

  “Barry didn’t hurt Warren. He wouldn’t do anything so horrific, even knowing what he did. Barry is a good man.”

  “Yes, I got that impression from our meeting tonight. Rex Manning also must have gotten it because he didn’t even take Mr. Elmwater down to the station.”

  “Rex Manning is also a good man,” Leigh Ann said. “He is going to find who did this and see that he pays.”

  “What do you mean he?” I asked. “Do you know who did it?”

  “What? No, no, I don’t know,” Leigh Ann said and fiddled with her fork. “I just sort of figure it was a guy.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because Warren’s dead body was stuffed up in a sleigh. Seems like whoever did that had to be strong.”

  “Yes,” I said with a nod. “I could see that.” It made me more certain that Henry Higginboom was the clear suspect.