by Alayna Fox
“I’d better get home. I’m ten weeks pregnant and feeling a little queasy,” she told us.
I remembered those days. Trying to cope with three kids while pregnant with my youngest. “It was nice seeing you.” I turned to the little boys. “I hope Santa is especially nice to you both this year.”
The boys giggled.
We said our goodbyes and headed down the street to Mason’s grocery store. While we walked, Tessa grumbled, “the little one’s getting coal in his stocking.”
I shook my head. “Don’t be so hard on the child. He can’t be more than four.” Archie pulled on his leash, obviously in a hurry to get his weekly treat from Mason. Mason always kept a jarful of dog treats next to the cash register.
“At four I was cleaning the house. Kids these days,” she said as she stepped over a clump of snow. “And who in the world cleared these sidewalks?”
“I don’t know.” We’d had so much snow over the last few days that I wasn’t surprised the streets and sidewalks were a mess. “Look on the bright side. Chunks of snow make a boring walk more exciting. Think of it as dodging obstacles.”
Tessa huffed. “Dodging obstacles. At our age, everything is an obstacle. I must have slammed into my dresser six times last night.”
“Don’t exaggerate. I heard you get up three times not six.”
“Yeah, but I walked into the dresser both ways.” She pulled off her mittens and started to count on her fingers like Luke had attempted to. “Six,” she shouted in her bingo voice. “I have so many bruises on my legs that I’m starting to think my natural color is purple.”
I stepped over a dirty clump of snow that had obviously been pushed up onto the sidewalk from the road. “Why don’t you put a nightlight in your room?”
Tessa frowned as she kicked the snow out of Archie’s way. “I can’t sleep with a light on. Besides, it’ll keep Archie up. I wouldn’t want to interrupt his snoring.”
I felt as if I were back at college arguing with Tessa that she took too long in the bathroom. I never won that argument, and I didn’t see the point in attempting to win this one.
Just as I was about to change the topic, I noticed something strange in front of Mason’s Grocery Store.
Before I could say a word, I heard Tessa yell, “Is that a snowman?”
It sure was. But I had a bigger question.
Why was Foster taking a selfie with it?
Chapter 5
“P epper … Tessa … Archie. What a surprise?” Foster said as he continued to click a few more selfies. “Why don’t you ladies get into the picture with me? I’ll hold up Archie.”
I never understood the selfie fad, but I couldn’t complain. We had our own weird fads back in the day. Like waitressing on roller-skates. I wondered if Tessa put her roller-skates in one of the boxes she kept in our storage locker. Would Foster consider them a vintage item?
Thinking about vintage items. Was there a stolen item on this snowman? And why was Foster taking a selfie with it? Was he admiring his own work? Was he our secret snowman?
We got in the picture with Foster and smiled. He looked at the picture and laughed. He showed it to us. Archie was sticking his tongue out at the snowman.
“Did you make this snowman?” Tessa asked as she looked up at Foster. She was a good foot shorter than him, but she made up for his towering figure with her mighty tongue.
Foster shook his head. “Wish I did. It’s perfect like the one in front of my store. Whoever is making these snowmen is a genius.”
“It’s a nice snowman,” I said as I checked for stolen items. I couldn’t see anything abnormal on it. No necklaces, unique hats, or brooches. Nothing but black buttons, a normal snowman hat, and a carrot nose.
Maybe this was just a simple snowman that Mason had someone build for his grocery store. There didn’t seem to be a mystery here. The only correlation between the snowmen was the perfect roundness of them. Which only Asher and Foster had noticed.
“Did you ask the pretty girl out last night?” Tessa drilled for more answers.
I almost laughed when Foster’s mouth dropped open. Tessa had that effect on people. “I never got a chance to speak with her, if you really need to know,” he told her.
“Why? Did you chicken out?” Tessa grilled him again.
Normally I would have jumped in to save Foster, but I wanted to hear his answer. Who did he talk with after saying goodbye to us? Did he leave the building to put the locket on the snowman?
Foster put Archie down on the ground then brushed off some snow that had fallen on his jacket from the snowman. “If you really need to know, as I was making my way over to her, Mason stopped me. We ended up talking about our stores, the business committee, and engineering. It turns out that Mason and I both studied engineering at the same school.” He put his phone in his jacket pocket. “Of course, he studied almost thirty years ahead of me. But we did have the same teacher, Mr. Straight Line, as we affectionately nicknamed him. Mason couldn’t believe he was still teaching after all these years.”
“Engineering? I thought you were both shop owners,” Tessa said as she played with the zipper on her jacket.
“Mason worked as an engineer until his father got ill. Told me he wanted a change and thought it would be nice to move his family back to Dream Cove and take over the store.” He looked at his watch. “As for me, I never graduated. Money was tight, so I dropped out after my first year.” Foster’s eyes drifted to the ground as he explained their history.
I could tell that Foster was embarrassed about not finishing his education. I wanted to tell him that Tessa and I were also dropouts, but I didn’t want to bring anymore attention to it. Instead I asked him, “Is Mason working today?”
He nodded his head. “Yes. He’s stocking shelves. Like an engineer,” he teased. He patted Archie’s head, then said goodbye to us before heading down the street.
I turned to Tessa who was still fidgeting with her zipper. “Did you notice something missing?”
Tessa looked at me. “No.”
I pointed in Foster’s direction. “He doesn’t have a grocery bag.”
“So?”
“Foster said Mason was working today. He had to have gone into the store. Where’s his grocery bag?”
“He probably looked in the store window while he was building the snowman to make sure he didn’t get caught,” Tessa said. “Foster’s our secret snowman.”
“But there isn’t anything on this snowman,” I pointed out.
She smiled. “That’s because we caught him in the act. He took those selfies to conceal himself hiding the stolen item.”
I hadn’t thought about that. “Last night you thought Asher was the secret snowman.”
“I did. But today I think Foster is.”
I wanted to hug Tessa. She changed her mind like I changed my socks. One thought at a time. “Let’s go inside and see about that ivy cap.”
But just as I was opening the door to Mason’s Grocery Store, Willa came out. She was dragging a two-wheeled cart that she took everywhere. “Hi girls,” Willa said as I held the door open for her. “Thought I’d get some snacks for our movie night.”
I looked in her cart. There were enough snacks to feed an army. Willa was the smallest resident at the home, so I knew she was feeding more than herself with her loot. But the most intriguing thing about her grocery haul was the ivy cap I saw peeking between the junk food.
“Willa, what’s with the cap?” Tessa blurted out.
For once I was grateful for Tessa’s forwardness. I was very interested in Willa’s response.
Willa’s cheeks reddened. “I …” she stammered as she stared straight ahead at the snowman. “I’d better get going. Don’t want to let out all the hot air,” she pointed out.
I stepped aside so she could drag her cart out of the store. “See you at the baking class,” I said.
She simply nodded her head, then turned and hurried down the sidewalk.
“I bet
she bought that hat for Bo Philips. She’s had a crush on him ever since he moved to the home. Must be twenty widows clamoring over the man,” Tessa said as she stepped inside. “Don’t understand the attraction. The guys got more ear hair than Carl had on his head.”
Did Mason sell ivy caps? Was Willa the thief? Was she stealing from our dear neighbors and friends? Or was she simply buying a gift for her crush?
“Merry Christmas,” Mason said as we walked into the store. He was rearranging knickknacks on the shelves next to the register. Foster was right. He sure did arrange things like an engineer. He lifted the lid off the jar next to the register then walked around the counter and bent down to give Archie a treat.
“Mason. Do you happen to sell ivy caps by chance?”
He pointed in the direction of the variety items. “Second shelf from the bottom next to the metal detectors,” he told us. “Should be one left. They’ve been flying off the shelves.”
I thanked him and walked over to where he had pointed. Sure enough, there was the ivy cap. It looked just like the one on the snowman in front of Drop by Vintage.
I walked back to Mason. “Do you remember who you sold the hats to?” I asked.
“Willa just bought one, and I sold one to Asher last week. I think Nora bought one, too. But I’m not exactly sure. It’s been so busy that I can’t keep track of who buys what.”
Nora had a cap. She also knew about Helen’s brooch. Could she have liked the brooch and wanted it for herself? But why put it on the snowman?
What about Asher? He was spotted at two of the three snowmen spots. He could have done it.
Then there was Foster. He was my prime suspect. He had motive and was caught taking a selfie with the snowman. As for the ivy cap, Foster could have bought one when Mason wasn’t working a shift.
Plus, there were the minor suspects like Willa and Louisa. Willa could have bought another hat to replace the hat she put on the snowman. She was also spotted near two of the snowmen. One at the retirement home, and the one just outside.
As for Louisa, she could have stolen the necklace and put her family picture in it. But why put it on a snowman? I still wasn’t sure about that one.
No. Foster was sure looking like the culprit. A very handsome culprit with his green speckled eyes and charming smile. Mr. Selfie King was still my number one suspect.
“Mason, do you have any idea who built the snowman outside of your store?”
Just as he was about to answer, the bell above the door jingled. I turned around to see Nora entering the store.
“Tessa … Pepper. It’s so nice to see you again,” Nora greeted us. “I didn’t get a chance to speak to you at Asher’s party. It was so packed with people, I thought I might miss myself,” Tessa said as she grabbed a grocery basket.
“The man’s got more friends than a dolphin has teeth,” Tessa grumbled.
“He sure does,” Nora agreed.
I wanted to ask Nora about the ivy cap, but never got the chance as several more people came into the grocery store. Before I knew it, the place was teeming with folks.
I realized my questions would have to wait. Besides, we were due back at the retirement home in less than an hour, and Archie was getting restless with the crowd.
We bought our groceries, then Tessa, Archie and I headed back outside into the cold. As we were walking by the snowman, Tessa grabbed the carrot off the snowman’s face and took a bite.
“Yuck,” I said as I watched her chew the orange vegetable. “That’s dirty.”
Tessa shrugged her shoulders. “I’m hungry. Besides the peel has a ton of nutrients. Might be bitter but I don’t mind.”
I would have lectured Tessa about germs but something shiny distracted me. “What’s that?” I asked as I walked over to the snowman. Luckily, Archie didn’t mind as he was already doing his bathroom duties on poor Mr. Snowman.
I pulled the shiny object out of the snowman’s head and showed it to Tessa.
“It’s a key,” she shouted.
Chapter 6
“O ur secret snowman hid the key behind the carrot. Brilliant,” I said as Archie finished his business and turned around to head back home.
We followed behind him as we discussed our find.
Tessa shifted the grocery bag from her right hand to her left so she could take the key from me. She looked at it closely. “Wow. It’s one of those custom keys. Has a nice fancy sailboat on it.”
“Is there a name?” I asked as I held onto Archie’s leash. Archie seemed in a hurry to get home and so were we. It was way past his nap time, and we had to get back so we could hide the baking soda from Missy before our baking class started.
Tessa flipped the key over. “Nope. Just a sailboat on one side. Maybe we should ask Bo if he recognizes it. He used to work down by the docks. In fact, he lived just a few blocks from Louisa. I think they used to be neighbors.”
It sounded like a good plan. This snowman mystery was building by the day. Stolen items seemed to be the secret snowman’s calling card.
After our baking class, we headed over to the billiard room to speak to Bo. I didn’t bother to bring cookies for the guys. Milly had accidently switched the baking soda label with the flour label. Everyone’s cookies had been ruined.
Tessa wanted to start her own petition banning Milly from the kitchen. All the bakers wanted to sign it, but I was able to work out a compromise. From now on, Milly wasn’t allowed in the kitchen until class started. Someone else would be responsible for restocking our supplies.
Tessa and I walked into the billiard room and spotted Bo leaning over the pool table, his cue in his hands and his glasses sliding down his nose.
“Ear hair alert,” Tessa whispered as we walked over to him.
I shot her a don’t start look. We waited as Bo finished his shot.
He gave us one of his charming smiles. “Well hello ladies. Aren’t you two looking beautiful today.”
Tessa wasn’t having any of it. “Bo, this is business, not flirting hour.”
I stifled a giggle. Bo looked as bitter as we did a half hour ago taking our first bite of our freshly baked cookies. “Bo, we were wondering if you’d ever seen this key before?” I asked.
He placed his cue against the wall then shoved his eyeglasses back up the bridge of his nose. He took the key from me and looked at it. “Sure. I know this key. It belongs to Axel.”
“Are you sure?” Tessa asked as she tripped over his cue sending it flying to the ground.
I thought Bo was going to kill her, but his frown quickly turned to a smile as he recomposed himself. He picked up the cue and leaned it back against the wall. “Yes, I’m sure,” he said politely. “I know a beauty when I see it.” He winked at Tessa. “The boat’s a beauty, but not as beautiful as you, Tessa.”
If there was one thing about Bo. He was a charmer. But his talents were wasted on Tessa.
“Bo Philips, you might be able to charm a bat out of a cave,” Tessa said as she walked around the pool table, this time barely missing his cue stick. “But I’m no bat,” she grumbled as she walked out of the room leaving a bewildered Bo standing with me.
Instead of feeling hurt, he turned his charms on me. “I didn’t know you were into sailing. Why don’t we take a moonlight sail next summer? I can rent Axel’s boat from him. Imagine just the two of us under the stars, the wind in the sails…”
I held up my hand to stop him. “Thanks for the offer Bo, but I’m landlocked now.” I took the key from him. “Does Axel still hang out at the Rowdy Chowder?”
“Every Friday morning. Meets his old boating buddies for coffee and a little chowder.” He flashed me one of his toothy grins.
I’d had enough of his flirting and wanted to head back to my suite to take a nap. Archie was an hour ahead of me and I felt a little envious. “Thanks for the help, Bo.” I nodded to his pool partner then headed out of the room and down the hall to my suite.
The next morning, we got up and did our stretching
class before heading for the breakfast room. It was almost nine o’clock before we had changed and headed over to the Rowdy Chowder for a little chat with Axel.
Rowdy Chowder used to be an old fishing shack decades ago. I remembered it when I first moved to Dream Cove. It was nothing but four walls, a door, and a smell that took days to get out of your clothes. The fish guts and scales had been cleaned up. Rustic barn planks covered the floors. Instead of fish nets and lobster cages hanging from the walls, the owner had taken them down, and replaced the walls with fresh pine wood that still held its smell. Picnic tables lined the walls, with a center aisle housing a buffet table of ten different chowder recipes. My favorite was the potato and corn chowder.
The Rowdy Chowder sure lived up to its name. Even at this time of the morning, the place was crowded and loud. Men and women were talking above the country music booming from the ceiling speakers. It was Dream Cove’s gathering spot, and a favorite with the old fishing clientele.
I saw Axel sitting in the far corner next to the window. He’d aged since I last saw him. I guess the years of sailing with the sun beating down on him had damaged his skin, like an old leather handbag that had seen too many years.
Tessa and I said hello to several people as we made our way over to Axel. He looked at us as we approached his table.
“Hi girls,” Axel said. He gestured for his buddies to make room for us.
“Don’t move, guys,” I quickly said, not wanting to bother the men. “We won’t be long.” I glanced down at the chowder in front of Axel. Calamari. I’d have to try that on my next visit.
Tessa pulled the key out of my jacket pocket and showed it to Axel. “Do you recognize this?” she asked, interrupting my chowder thoughts.
“That’s my key. Thought I’d lost it for good.” He took the key from Tessa and showed it to his buddies.
When his friends had snuck a peek at the key, he turned his attention back to us. “My granddaughter, Louisa, gave it to me on my eightieth birthday.”