by Amy Boyles
I groaned. “How could I forget? Great. The woman who wished death on Axel’s family is going to open her house and spread good cheer. I can’t wait.”
Cordelia grinned widely. “Maybe she’ll be sick in bed and we won’t have to see her.”
Amelia opened the door. A burst of cold air flew into the cottage. “Fingers crossed.”
“We can only hope,” I mumbled.
Turned out, neither hoping nor crossing fingers did anything to dampen Cookie Mobley. At least not when it came to showing off her Magnolia Cove mansion at Christmas—I mean, the holidays.
My cousins and I had steered a cluster of townsfolk down Witching Way and Eye of Newt Avenue before landing on Pointed Hat Lane, the street in front of the Mobleys, who, from what I gathered, considered themselves the Mayflowers of Magnolia Cove—meaning their family had been among the first to establish the town.
All the other houses we’d visited had been beautiful—real garland, lots of fresh mistletoe, even live magnolia blossoms as bows above doorways. The interiors were filled with Christmas trees in every theme imaginable—Christmas witches to Halloween Christmas (don’t ask, it’s pretty weird) to traditional Christmas to Witch Country Christmas—again, its own original sort of theme with lots of gingham and flannel.
But mostly the whole touring thing had been fun.
Then we arrived at the Mobley’s.
I could hear Arsenal yipping from behind the front door. Suddenly it swept open. Cookie Mobley popped into view. She was dressed like Santa’s little helper from thirty years ago in a red minidress with white fur trim, black boots and dark stockings.
“Where’s her neck brace?” Amelia whispered.
Cordelia sniggered.
“She must’ve left it with an elf,” I said.
Cordelia and Amelia burst into laughter. Cookie’s gaze narrowed on us. For the briefest of seconds I figured Cookie was trying to decide if she could get away with murder in front of a crowd.
Ellis charged outside wearing a Santa outfit. Where he’d been skinny the day before, now he’d been spelled to look jovial. He even sounded jovial.
“Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas! Come in and see what Mrs. Claus and I have in store for you.”
Were we in kindergarten?
“Yes, come in,” Cookie said.
The crowd trickled past her, leaving me and my cousins last. We moved to go inside.
Cookie clamped a hand on my jacket. “Not so fast there. Just what do the three of y’all think you’re doing here?”
“Giving the tours,” Amelia said. “We’re on the committee.” She pointed to our name tags. “See? It says so.”
Cookie’s gaze narrowed. “I don’t believe you. I think you’re here to sabotage my house tour.”
Arsenal yipped at Cookie’s feet. Now, I can hear animals in my head. I can communicate with them when I want to. I’ll be honest, the last thing I wanted to do was talk to Cookie’s yippy dog.
Cookie wasn’t finished slugging accusations. “Y’all have shown up to ruin this for me. I know you have. Ever since I had that monstrous RV towed, the three of you have been plotting how you’ll destroy me. Oh, don’t think I don’t know.”
That you’re delusional? I mean, who thinks that folks sit and obsess about them?
Cookie Mobley, obviously.
“Mrs. Mobley, I can assure you that we’re only here to do our job—see the house and that’s it.” I smiled kindly.
Cookie snarled.
“Mrs. Claus, I need you in here!”
Cookie’s head whipped in the direction of Ellis’s voice. “I’ll be inside in a second.” She gave the three of us a once-over. “Fine. Come on in. But don’t touch anything, and if one of you makes even a tiny peep, I’m throwing the three of you out.”
“Sounds like a promise,” Amelia said.
I started to laugh. Cordelia elbowed me. My laugh became a cough. “We’ll be on our best behavior.”
We scooted inside, and Cookie strode off in those high-heeled boots. Arsenal followed.
“Talk about paranoid,” Cordelia said.
My gaze drifted around the room. “Yeah. If you’re going to think everyone is out to get you, maybe you shouldn’t do things to tick them off.”
“That’s right.” Amelia’s eyes flared. “Wow. This place is amazing.”
It was. A chandelier glowed in the foyer while a twenty-foot tree sat in one corner. Bulbs blinked and garland shimmered. Each window had been trimmed with red bows and finished with an emerald-colored wreath.
I whistled. “Cookie sure does know how to decorate. Too bad she’s horrible.”
Ellis clapped his hands. “Now everyone, if you look around, you’ll see little wreaths marking the hallways. You’ve got five minutes, and you’re welcome to explore the parts of the house that are indicated. But only those with the wreaths. Santa has left lots of little surprises for you, so have fun. Remember to return when we call.”
The crowd dispersed. “I guess we’re not allowed to go.” Amelia’s bottom lip pouted out.
“Do you really want to find something Cookie left for you?” Cordelia said. “You’d probably walk right into a lawsuit.”
I laughed. “That sounds about right.”
Folks milled about. After a couple of minutes I decided, to heck with it. I didn’t see Cookie or Arsenal around. If the old bat wanted to sue me for nosing around her house when everyone else had been invited to do so, well she could.
I pushed off the wall. “I’m exploring. I’ll be back in a sec.”
“You’re braver than I am,” Amelia said.
“Or stupider.” I winked at Cordelia. “Beat you to it.”
“There’s hope for you yet,” my cousin said, laughing.
I ambled down the first path I saw, figuring I’d only go a few steps in and come back. After all, I might’ve talked a big talk, but I didn’t want Cookie Mobley as an enemy. There was no telling what that woman was capable of. I mean, to tow an RV at Christmas? It took a certain kind of person to do that—the bad kind.
The hallway led to the kitchen. Lying on a desk sat a plate of cookies. “Hmm.” I picked it up and started munching. It was surprisingly good. I prayed it wasn’t poisoned.
Something crashed nearby. “Hello?”
A light glowed in what looked like a pantry. I peered around the sliding door and gasped.
Lying on the floor was Cookie Mobley’s lifeless body. Blood pooled beneath her.
“I…I just got here.”
My gaze flickered right. Standing beside Cookie was Karen, Axel’s mother. She was holding a knife.
I sucked air and slowly backed away.
“I can explain,” Karen said. “I came upon her. I picked up the knife.” The look of absolute panic on her face made my heart lurch.
“Save it for the cops.”
I turned to find Ellis standing behind us. He held a cell phone. “I’m calling them right now.”
SIX
Garrick Young arrived and took Karen’s statement. This looked bad, y’all. So bad.
“She was holding the knife.” I gripped Axel’s arms. “Your mother was holding it and standing over Cookie’s body.”
Axel’s face darkened. “I need to see her.”
I pointed toward the house. “Your mom’s inside.”
Axel stormed toward the house while my cousins and I stood outside in the chilly air.
“This is horrible,” Amelia said.
“I can’t believe it.” Cordelia rubbed her hands together.
I inhaled sharply. Cold air assaulted my nostrils. “Is it just me or has it gotten chillier?”
“It’s gotten colder,” Amelia said. She glanced at the sky. “Must be a front moving in.”
I tucked my chin in my scarf. What I wouldn’t give for a cup of hot chocolate filled with jelly beans. That sounded delightful.
“Yip! Yip!”
I glanced down at Arsenal.
“Yip! Yip!”
“Can’t you talk, dog?” I said.
“Yip!”
“Can he?” Amelia opened her palm for him to sniff.
I stopped and waited, listening to the silence that was the beagle’s mind.
“Hello?” I didn’t know why I was talking to the dog. For all I knew he was the Mobley’s secret spy and would tell Ellis things we’d done.
Cookie.
I hadn’t liked her, but she hadn’t deserved to be murdered in her own house right before Christmas. No one deserved that.
Arsenal tilted his head. One floppy ear perked. But the dog said nothing.
“I don’t think he talks. Or if he does, not to me.”
Amelia scratched his back. “Poor little guy. Maybe I should see if Ellis misses him.”
“Good idea.”
Amelia strode back to the house. Axel walked toward us with Karen’s elbow pinched in his hand. He scowled while Karen looked simply shocked to the point the blood had drained from her face.
I nodded to Cordelia. “Here they come.” I rushed over. “Are you okay?”
Karen shook her head numbly.
“Garrick’s letting her go for now.” Spite filled Axel’s voice. “He’s questioning everyone in the house. It’ll take a while.” He draped a hand over his mother’s shoulder. “Come on. Let’s get you home.”
“I’ll come with you,” I said.
Cordelia tipped her head toward the house. “I’ll wait for Amelia. See you back here.”
I gave her a quick hug. Let’s face it, our first foray into giving the holiday house tours had turned deadly. Put a pretty nasty taste in my mouth for giving any more.
Axel reached for me, and a flood of comfort washed over my skin as I slid my hand over his. We headed into his truck. Within minutes we were at his house. The RV was parked in the driveway. All the lights were on, and I could see Roger’s shadow as he paced.
“Go inside,” Axel said. “I’ll get Dad.”
I held Karen as we climbed the steps. Axel headed into the RV.
“Roger has a beast of a temper,” Karen murmured. “If he’d gone to the house tonight, he would’ve ripped the place apart in his human form.”
“He must be some werewolf.”
Karen locked her eyes with mine in a gaze that sent of bolt of ice straight to my heart. “You have no idea.”
We stepped inside, and Karen peeled off her coat. I did the same with my jacket and pegged both of them by the door.
“Is it cold in here?” Karen said.
I found the thermostat and cranked it up a couple ticks. “That should help.” We stood in the uncomfortable silence. “I’ll make coffee.”
Good. Now I had something to do. While I ferreted for the grounds and filter, the door opened.
Roger rushed inside and swept Karen into his arms. The amount of love in that gesture made my heart balloon. My gaze slashed to Axel, who met mine.
Heat flooded my face. It was like his expression said, I feel that way about you, too, and the emotion filled me to bursting. But to distract myself I dropped the filter in the holder, spooned grounds on top and filled the carafe with water.
“Karen, what happened?” They sat on the couch.
Axel drifted to my side. “Thank you.”
“I thought coffee was appropriate.”
“Not that, for being here.” Our eyes locked. Grief hid behind the lines of worry. He was reliving something—his brother’s run-ins with the law? Some other family crisis? I didn’t know. It didn’t matter. I snaked my arm around Axel’s waist and leaned into him far enough to smell the musky pine of his cologne.
Karen’s hands trembled. “I went inside to leave Cookie some fudge. I didn’t want to make a big deal about it. I knew the tours were going on. I’d timed it wrong. I thought theirs would be over by the time I arrived, but it wasn’t. So I decided to sneak in and leave the fudge with a note. Cookie could call me later and discuss it. I wanted to apologize, to put all the nastiness behind us.”
Her face crumpled. Roger handed her a tissue. Karen dabbed her eyes, gulped down a few inhales and gave him a shaky smile. “It’s Christmas, you know? We shouldn’t hold grudges or be angry with people. Life is too short. So I thought, I’ll make her some fudge as a peace offering. That’s what I was doing; I was delivering it.”
She took a staggered breath. “I dropped the fudge on the counter and heard something.” Karen wiggled her fingers in front of her throat. “It sounded like someone was drowning or gargling. That’s when I noticed the pantry light. I peeked inside, and there…there she was. On the floor.”
Karen looked like she wanted to fall to the floor and weep. Roger laced his arms around her shoulders. She took a moment and nodded at him as if to say she was fine.
“I was so shocked to see her that I didn’t know what I was doing. There was the blood and the knife. I just—picked it up.” Her gaze lit on my face. “That’s when you found me.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “It looks so bad. Like I did it. Then Ellis walked in and he called the police as if I was already guilty. I didn’t do it. I didn’t touch her.”
Karen dropped her face into her hands and cried. Roger hugged her tight. Tears pricked my own eyes. I couldn’t watch someone cry without crying myself. It was this weird thing with me. I looked away and pushed any and all thoughts of weeping aside.
Axel squeezed my shoulder. “It’ll be all right.”
Those were the same words Roger murmured to Karen. “I promise. You didn’t do this, my love. They’ll discover who the guilty party is.” Roger shot a pointed look to Axel. One that I took to mean that Axel would be doing everything he could to discover the real killer.
Out of the corner of my vision Axel nodded. He would do anything he could, obviously. This was his mother we were talking about.
Roger rocked Karen back and forth. He whispered words I couldn’t hear.
After a minute Axel crossed to them. He placed a hand on her crown. “Rest now. Get some rest.”
Karen blinked and yawned. She wiggled from Roger’s grasp. “I’m so tired.”
Roger helped her stand. She leaned against him as he wrapped his arms around Karen’s shoulders. “I’ll help you to bed.”
Karen locked gazes with me. She reached out. I crossed and took her hands. “I didn’t do it.”
I smiled gently. “I know you didn’t. I know you didn’t hurt her.”
Axel’s jaw tensed. “We’ll find out who did, Mom.”
She nodded absently and then let Roger guide her from the house and into the RV. I peeked through the window. Karen rested on Roger as if he were the only thing holding her up in life.
“What’d you do?”
Axel had poured himself a cup of coffee. He wiped down the counter where a puddle had sloshed from the carafe. “I put a resting spell on her. She needed to sleep.”
I crossed my arms. “Reliving it over and over won’t help.”
“Not unless she saw someone.”
“Axel, there were twenty people in that house. It could’ve been any of them.”
He raised a finger. “But only one who committed murder.” He poured another cup and opened a jar. A trove of jelly beans glinted in the porcelain container.
A smile coiled on my lips as he slid a full cup and the beans to me. “I don’t want to presume I know which flavors you like in your coffee.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “It doesn’t matter. They all taste good.” I dropped some brown and white ones in, stirred and waited a few seconds before sipping. “Yum. Vanilla and chocolate.”
“And I thought you’d be happy with cherry and lime.”
“Okay, so it does matter a little when it comes to coffee. Tea not so much.”
Our gazes locked. Emotion swirled around us. The air thickened. Axel took a step toward me. “Thanks for coming over.”
I dragged my gaze to the coffee. Boy, suddenly this cup of joe was so interesting. Like, the most fascinating thing I’d ever seen.
My gaze flickered back to Axel.
He still stared at me.
“Are you using magic to make sure I look at you?”
He laughed. It broke the tension volleying between us. “No, I wasn’t. I was simply hoping that my pure sexiness would keep you looking.”
It was my turn to laugh. He slid his fingers lightly up my arm. The hairs stiffened. Goose bumps flooded my skin like the worst rash imaginable. Axel brought his hand to my neck and rubbed his thumb over my lips.
“I missed those lips.”
I laughed nervously. “Luckily they haven’t gone anywhere, ’cause boy, I sure would miss them too if they disappeared.”
“Am I making you nervous?”
I closed my eyes and exhaled a shot of air. “This whole thing makes me nervous. You’re back. You’re not leaving again.” I opened one eye and shot him a scathing look. “You say you aren’t and I believe you. I’m here living my life, owning my own business and getting better at it every day. I just want to take things slowly.”
A flash of pain flared in his eyes. “I know you do. We need to. All I’ve wanted ever since I returned was to spend time with you.”
“Then you got called on business.”
He lowered his head. “Then I did.”
I shifted my back to the counter and tapped a fist against it. “There’s stuff there.”
He quirked a brow. “Stuff?”
I hitched a shoulder. “You know, things between us.”
“You could say that again.”
I poked his chest. “I’m being serious.”
“Who said I wasn’t?” He eased himself forward and flattened a palm on either side of me, boxing me in.
“What’re you doing?”
“Smelling you.” He pressed his nose to my hair. “It’s like inhaling heaven.”
I laughed and started to push him away, but my emotions warred. All I’d wanted—to be near Axel, touch him, taste him—collided in my gut. I pushed him back.
Then I tugged him toward me. I didn’t come up for air for hours.
Now a nice girl doesn’t kiss and tell, so I’m not going to tell. All I’ll say is that when Axel dropped me off at my house, I was beaming.
Until I stepped inside and came nose-first with the tip of Betty’s shotgun.