A Yuletide Wallop Read online

“Well, I know I’m no detective, but I can’t think of any reason why someone would kill Al. With Dotty out of the equation and no affair to be spoken of, I can’t think of a single person that would want him dead,” Cookie started.

  “I don’t disagree,” Gideon said nodding. “We keep coming up empty as well.”

  “What if he wasn’t the intended target?” She asked with a smile. Gideon and Abel looked at her like she might be onto something.

  “How does someone get killed accidentally?” Verny asked with a raised brow.

  “Well, he was killed in his Santa costume, right?” Cookie asked. “There are two other Santa’s. Maybe one of them was the real target and the killer thought that Abel was someone else. He got hit in the back of the head. The killer might have never seen his face, or if they did it was already too late.”

  “What made you think of that?” Gideon asked, considering it.

  “Well, a few days before Al died, we had two of the Santa’s in for lunch and I could only see one of them from the front. The other was facing the other way and I thought that he was Al. It was only until he turned around that I realized it wasn’t him,” Cookie spoke quickly. Josie had remembered that day. She had also made the same mistake of thinking one of the Santa’s was Al, making her think that maybe Cookie had a point. They had been in costume for rehearsals, something Al didn’t have to do any longer. He had been Santa long enough.

  “So you’re thinking that maybe the killer made the same mistake?” Abel asked skeptically. “That’s kind of a stretch, don’t you think?”

  “Probably,” Cookie replied with a shrug.

  “Why’d you even bring it up then?” Verny asked her as though she were annoyed that Cookie had wasted their time.

  “It’s a theory, isn’t it?” Cookie asked rhetorically. “It’s more than what they’ve got!” She said defensively.

  “We’ll see if we can look into it,” Gideon said, but he said it in a way that they all knew he wasn’t really going to look into it. He was only placating Cookie.

  “You don’t have to, because I will,” Cookie replied indignantly.

  “That’s good,” Gideon replied unexpectedly. “I was going to ask if you girls might keep your ears to the ground, keep an eye out. Try and learn more about what Al might or might not have been doing. People talk in this town, just not to me.” He shook his head, gossip annoyed Gideon, hence why people didn’t share it with him often.

  “We’ll let you know if we hear anything,” Josie assured him.

  “Don’t go out trying to find anything, mind you,” he said, shooting Cookie a look that would whither anyone. “Just what people might be saying in the shops and to each other, that’s all. You’re not detectives or police, you’re not investigating.”

  “You want us to be informants?” Verny asked, sounding excited by the prospect despite herself.

  “Basically,” Gideon said with a nod. “Informally though,” he added.

  “People gossip in here every day,” Josie said with a wave of her hand. “I’m sure we’ll hear at least something that might end up being useful.”

  “I sure hope so,” Abel said. “Because right now, we’re not too sure what to do.”

  Chapter Eight

  Cookie knew exactly what to do, it was just a matter of convincing Josie and Verny to go along with her that was the difficult part. Perhaps it was just stubbornness, but she hadn’t taken too kindly to how dismissive Gideon and Abel were about her theory. She didn’t press it because as soon as she spoke it aloud and saw their reactions, she knew no matter what she said they wouldn’t actually consider it.

  “I’m just suggesting that we do what Gideon and Abel asked of us,” Cookie insisted. Verny scoffed and rolled her eyes.

  “No, you’re suggesting that we go bother a grieving woman,” Verny replied. “I won’t do it!” She was adamant that they were not going to go see Dotty and Cookie was adamant that they were. Cookie could go on her own, but the idea wouldn’t even cross her mind.

  “I just want to ask her a few questions,” Cookie groaned.

  “Shush, would you?” Verny replied in a harsh whisper. They were currently spying on Cici and the boy that she was seeing.

  “I mean, you’ve got a problem looking into a murder, but don’t see anything wrong with spying on your own daughter?” Cookie asked in an equally harsh whisper. Verny groaned, she felt guilty about watching Cici, but it was driving her crazy that she hadn’t told her anything about the boy. Cici had always been so open with her, she couldn’t understand why this was different.

  “I already feel bad about it,” Verny said. “I just want to make sure that she isn’t seeing someone... unsuitable,” she grimaced at herself as she spoke. She felt she sounded like her mother. They were walking a few blocks behind the kids, pausing to make sure they didn’t catch up with them at any point. Cici had told Verny that she was going to go to the Winter Wonderland at the town square since it had reopened already.

  “You know who you sound like, right?” Cookie asked, with a hint of a smile.

  “My mother,” Verny replied tersely. “I know. I guess that’s what happens when you have kids, you turn into your mother.” They stopped, watching Cici and the mystery boy as they popped into The Candy Shoppe. “We should follow them in.”

  “We should?” Cookie asked surprised by how far Verny was willing to go. “Are you sure? They’ll probably see us.” Cookie was starting to worry about Verny’s sanity at this point. They already looked like fools, watching Cici and the boy from afar.

  “I don’t care,” Verny replied. “I don’t see why she won’t just tell me about him. If they do spot us, then we can just say we are there buying candy for Dotty,” Verny added.

  “So, you’ll go with me then?” Cookie asked with new enthusiasm.

  “I didn’t say that,” Verny said shaking her head.

  “Well, then I’m not going to The Candy Shoppe with you,” Cookie crossed her arms in stubbornness.

  “Oh, come on,” Verny threw her hands up. “Please.”

  “No, only if you come with me to see Dotty,” Cookie insisted. She wasn’t going to give in until Verny did.

  “Fine, I’ll go with you,” Verny conceded. “I won’t take part in your pestering her though. Come on,” she said walking quickly towards the store. Cookie followed, though she was considerably slower than her long-legged friend.

  “I’m not planning on pestering her,” Cookie shouted in a whisper after Verny as she chased her down the street. “I just want to ask her a few questions is all.”

  “Yes, pestering,” Verny insisted, turning her head over her shoulder.

  “I want to bring her some baked goods, see how she is doing,” Cookie said, trying to sound as innocent as possible.

  “I don’t buy that act for a second,” Verny laughed. “We invented that act together.” She pushed against the door to The Candy Shoppe. “I hope Caroline isn’t here. She’s the worst.” Verny grimaced.

  “Oh,” Cookie said quickly to keep Verny from saying anything else. “Hi, Caroline. How are you?” Caroline was standing right behind the till at the front of the store and by the purse of her lips she had heard Verny as they went inside. Caroline was a typical PTA mom and made sure that Verny knew exactly what she thought about single mothers, which was not much at all. They had gotten into more than one public argument.

  “I’m great, thank you,” she said glaring at Verny. “How are you?” She asked feigning politeness.

  “Doing very well, thanks,” Cookie replied. They all stood there for an awkward moment before Verny and Cookie excused themselves and went further into the store. Cici and the boy were standing towards the back of the store, which was where the penny candy was. Verny paused near the chocolates, as far from them as they could stand. She stopped strategically behind a pole so that even if Cici looked around, she wouldn’t see her.

  The Candy Shoppe was just as garishly decorated inside as it was on the outside, a
t least in Verny’s opinion. The inside wasn’t specially decorated for the Christmas season, it looked the same all year long. It was split into sections, chocolates, sour, sickly sweet and the back wall of penny candies. The chocolate section where Verny and Cookie were hiding out was all brown, and the pole that Verny was hidden behind was painted to look like a bar of chocolate with a bite taken out of it. Even the floors were made to look like wrappers. The sour and the sickly sweet were decorated in similar themes, but to match popular candies from each. Verny would be impressed by the décor if it had been done by anyone other than Caroline.

  “Cookie?” Cici asked, spotting Cookie who had not hidden herself as much as Verny had been able to do. “Is that you?” She started walking towards her. Verny pushed Cookie and backed against the pole to hide more.

  “Cici! Hi, how are you?” She asked with a smile after recovering from being pushed by Verny. She tried making the move look as natural as possible to keep Verny’s secret.

  “I’m alright,” she said, looking suspicious. “Did my mother send you?”

  “Verny?” Cookie asked with a nervous laugh. “Oh no, definitely not.” She wasn’t very convincing, and Cici wasn’t buying it. She crossed her arms and gave her a look.

  “Tell her I say hello, then,” Cici said with a roll of her eyes, a look she couldn’t have learned from anyone other than her mother. “This is my friend, Mike.” The boy she was with stood a pace behind her and waved awkwardly, giving Cookie half a smile.

  “Nice to meet you, Mike,” Cookie said returning the wave. “Do you know each other from school, then?” She asked, trying to get some of the information that she knew Verny would be after. She also knew that Verny was nearby and could hear the entire conversation. Cici was aware of that too.

  “No,” Cici responded. “Mike goes to a different school than I do.”

  “What school?” Cookie asked, directing the question at Mike. Still it was Cici who answered.

  “Just a town over,” she said, being unspecific, with a tight grin. She was clearly hiding something, Cookie didn’t much care what, but she knew that Verny wouldn’t be very happy with her if she didn’t at least try. She wanted to make sure that she stuck with her promise and would go see Dotty with her. The thought of Dotty made her mind wander from the task at hand.

  “Have you heard anything about Al?” Cookie asked. Cici looked sad at the mention of the man, this would be her first year without him as Santa. Mike looked like he knew the name but didn’t have the same emotional connection as Cici did.

  “I’ve been so broken up about it,” Cici said looking down. She kept herself together the same way her mother did. “I heard from mom that it was a murder, but I just can’t imagine it. It’s so terrible.”

  “I know,” Cookie agreed. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up.”

  “No, it’s alright,” Cici said with a shrug. Mike smiled empathetically, still looking awkward as ever.

  “I’ll go pay for these,” he said quietly, only talking to Cici. He seemed a little uncomfortable, unsure of how to talk to Cookie. Mike gently took her bag of candy and walked towards the check out. Cici mouthed a thank you to him before he walked away. Cookie appreciated the interaction and knew she would dissect it with Verny later on. They seemed sweet together, comfortable with one another. Cookie suspected that they might have been hanging out for longer than Verny knew.

  “I did hear that they had to scramble to find two more Santas and are short staffed missing an elf. The Santa and the elf just seemed to vanish. I guess that happens when someone gets killed,” she said pragmatically. She looked around as if to punctuate her point. The Candy Shoppe was relatively quiet, especially for this time of year. Cookie had noticed that the entire town seemed a little sleepier than usual.

  “I guess so,” Cookie agreed. She still felt that there was something odd about them high tailing it out of town, though she couldn’t say for certain that she wouldn’t do the same.

  “Can you tell my mom,” Cici said the word ‘mom’ loudly and addressed it to the pillar that Verny was standing behind. “That I say ‘hi’ and that I know she would never be so crazy as to follow me around town since she trusts me so much and knows that she raised me to be a smart and independent woman.” She addressed all this to where she knew her mother was hiding. Cookie stifled a giggle as Cici rolled her eyes and smiled. She wasn’t angry with her mother, just annoyed at her.

  “I’ll make sure I let her know,” Cookie said. “Enjoy the rest of your day.” She pulled Cici into a quick hug before waving goodbye. Before getting Verny from behind the pole she watched Cici smile as she reunited with Mike and his blank face widened into a kind-hearted smile as he handed her the bag of candy. Cookie couldn’t help but smile herself, her heart swelling with happiness for the show of young, quiet love that she witnessed. They might not know it yet, but she could see that they loved each other. Cookie had always had a knack for these things, though only when it came to others. Her own love life had been nonexistent for the majority of her lifetime.

  “What was he like? Do we know him?” Verny peppered Cookie with questions as soon as the two left. Caroline watched the encounter with a self-righteous smile on her face. Cookie made sure to shoot her a glare on Verny’s behalf, who was too preoccupied trying to get as much intel as she could.

  “I think he seemed very sweet, definitely the quiet type,” Cookie said leading Verny out of The Candy Shoppe. “I think he likes her a lot.”

  “What about her?” Verny asked, biting her nails in worry. The only time Verny was not pulled together and rational was when it came to Cici, especially when she wasn’t telling her everything. “Did she seem like she liked him?”

  “I think she likes him a lot too,” Cookie said with a shrug. “You heard everything that I did.”

  “But I didn’t see it!” Verny said, exacerbated. As if it made all the difference in the world. Cookie expected that but didn’t want to give it away too easily. She thought Verny should just talk to Cici or trust that her daughter had a good reason why she didn’t want to talk to her yet. Cici was practical, just like her mother and would talk to her about Mike when she was ready to.

  “I think they like each other a lot. They seem very sweet together,” Cookie said with a smile. “From what I saw and what they said, they are a good match.”

  “You think they are really together then?” Verny asked. “Why won’t she tell me about him?” She sounded frustrated.

  “Maybe because you are crazy enough to follow her around town while she’s on a date,” Cookie said with a blank face. Verny made a small shrug as if to say what else was she supposed to do, though she didn’t argue with that point.

  “Where are you taking me?” Verny asked looking around. Cookie had been basically herding Verny in the direction she wanted to go while she was distracted by the conversation.

  “I’ve got to go home and bake something to take to Dotty’s,” Cookie replied. She didn’t live too far from the town center and wanted to make sure she brought something fresh that Dotty would actually like. She was certain that the poor woman was probably drowning in sympathy casseroles.

  “Well, let’s call Josie and see if she will come with us,” Verny suggested. Cookie nodded her agreement. Josie would want to come with them, growing up so close to the police force she always had a knack for knowing the right questions to ask. She had taken Gideon’s request seriously as well and made sure that both Verny and Cookie were listening closely to the town gossip. Neither of them was sure that Josie wanted to go the extra mile and question people, but they were sure her curiosity would convince her otherwise.

  Chapter Nine

  “You’re sure that’s what you want to make?” Verny asked skeptically watching Cookie get the ingredients out. They were sitting in the kitchen of her rental and Josie said she would meet them there soon. The kitchen was the only reason Cookie still lived in her apartment...it was updated with a new stove and a larg
e center island that she could bake on. If she could find a house that had as nice a kitchen, then she would move.

  “Yes, I’m sure that’s what I want to make,” Cookie replied pulling the heavy mixer from out of a cabinet. “Everyone loves pie!” She threw her hands up to punctuate her point as if it was obvious why she had chosen pie. “Especially apple pie, it’s un-American to not like it.”

  “I guess, but it’s kind of an odd choice to make for a grieving widow,” Verny scrunched up her nose. Buttercup kept trying to jump up onto Verny’s lap, and she kept pushing the puppy off. When she thought Cookie wasn’t looking, she scratched the dog behind the ears when she jumped and leaned on her with her front paws. Cookie did notice, but was smart enough not to say anything. If she did then Verny would never warm up to the animal out of sheer stubbornness alone.

  “Why? It’s the perfect comfort food,” Cookie argued. “You really think it’s the wrong thing to make?” She was suddenly self-conscious about her choice. She didn’t think that Verny would be critical of it if she didn’t actually mean it. That was one thing that was off limits, Verny didn’t make fun of Cookie’s baking. They had made a pact to not make fun of each other for things they were passionate about.

  “I think it’s fine,” Verny said, backtracking. “She’ll love it.” Before Cookie could protest any more, Verny grabbed one of the apples she had set on the counter and started peeling it. Cookie smiled at Verny, appreciating the gesture.

  “Make sure you get all the peel off,” Cookie said, micromanaging. She found it difficult to give up control when it came to baking. She just knew that if even one thing was just a little off it would mess up the entire final product.

  “Yes, your majesty,” Very replied with a small bow.

  “Sorry, you know how I get with baking,” Cookie said, even though she didn’t really mean her apology. She weighed out all of the dry ingredients for the pie crust using a scale instead of measuring cups and spoons as it felt more accurate to her.