Santa Sleuth (5 page)

I looked at the clock. I needed to get going if I wasn’t going to keep Scooter waiting.

“This gives me a starting place,” I informed Kelly. “If you think of anything or anyone else please call me. I really want to figure out who did this. Not only did whoever started the fire kill Jason, they almost killed us.”

“That thought has crossed my mind. My sister is going to stay with me for now, but she wants me to come home with her for good. I think I might. There really isn’t a good reason for me to stay in Ashton Falls. My boyfriend is dead and I no longer have a job. I think a fresh start might be just the thing I need.”

I hugged Kelly before I left. “If you do decide to move don’t leave without saying good-bye.”

“I won’t. I’m not sure I even
can
leave yet. I imagine that until we get things figured out I’m still a suspect in Jason’s murder. I imagine we both are.”

Kelly was right. Finding Jason’s killer wasn’t just an option. One way or the other, I was going to track the son of a gun down.

I decided to stop off to talk to Wayne about fostering some of our puppies before I headed over to the elementary school to pick up Scooter. Ideally, we didn’t like to adopt our pups to new families until they were eight weeks old unless we knew the adoptive parents well and were certain of their ability to care for a younger dog. Wayne didn’t have any pets of his own, but more often than not his house was filled with dogs and cats that needed a short-term place to stay.

“Afternoon, Wayne,” I greeted him as I entered the pharmacy.

“Zoe. How are you, dear? I’m glad to see you out and about.”

“I’m doing better, thank you. I’m here to ask if you would have room to foster some five-week-old pups.”

“As it happens, I have an empty house at the moment. What kind of pups are we talking about?”

“Golden retrievers. They’ll need to have their meals supplemented with puppy formula for a week or two.”

“I think I can handle four or five. Do you want me to stop by after I close for the day to pick them up?”

“That would be great. I’ll call Jeremy to tell him to expect you. By the way, I wanted to thank you for coming by the hospital to check on me. Dr. Westlake told me you stopped in while I was sleeping and didn’t want to wake me.”

“When I heard what happened I wanted to be sure my favorite animal rescue worker was being well cared for.”

I smiled.

“Shame about the Beach Hut. It was one of my favorite places to have lunch during the summer. Did you ever find out how the fire started?”

“Salinger is still looking into it, but he did say it appeared to be intentional,” I told him. “He thinks whoever killed Jason started the fire to hide any evidence they may have left behind.”

“That fire could have killed you, and Kelly too.”

“Trust me, the thought has crossed my mind.”

“I mentioned this to Salinger already, but I figure you’re investigating, so I suppose I should mention it to you as well…” Wayne began.

“Mention what?”

“A man came in here on Saturday evening. He bought a bunch of salve and bandages. He said a buddy of his had burned his hand trying to add more lighter fluid to a simmering BBQ, but the whole thing seemed odd, considering it was snowing that day.”

“Do you know the man’s name?”

“No. He paid with cash and I hadn’t heard about the incident at Ellie’s yet, so although the BBQ thing seemed a bit odd, I really wasn’t on high alert.”

“Do you remember what he looked like?”

“Tall. About six two or so. Thin. Light-colored hair, from what I could see under the knit cap he was wearing.”

“I’ll ask Salinger about it. Thanks again for taking the puppies. I’ll feel better when we can get them all into homes.”

“Might ask Wiley. He was in a couple of days ago and mentioned that all the kittens he’d been fostering had been adopted, so I’m guessing he has room.”

“Thanks; I’ll do that.”

Wiley Holt just happened to be a firefighter, and one of the first responders to the fire at Ellie’s. Maybe I’d pick his brain about the fire while I was at it.

Chapter 4

“I’m going to be an elf,” Scooter informed me the moment he climbed into the car outside the elementary school.

“An elf?” I asked as I waited for him to stow his backpack and get buckled up.

“In the school play. Jimmy Grogan was going to do it, but he got sick. I’m going to need a costume.”

“But the play is on Friday and this is Wednesday. Aren’t the parents making the costumes this year?”

“Miss Maxwell is going to e-mail you, but she said you can get a kit at the Christmas store. Can we go there now?”

I pulled out into traffic and headed toward the holiday store. I could kill two birds with one stone if Tina was working. Now that I had a list of people to interview I was anxious to get started. I just hoped the costume wasn’t too complicated. I really didn’t have time to learn to sew before Friday.

“I’m not very good with a needle and thread,” I admitted as we headed toward the store.

“Maybe Ellie can make it,” Scooter suggested. “Miss Maxwell said the pieces are all cut out; you just have to stitch them together. She said anyone could do it.”

Maybe anyone who didn’t happen to be me
.

“So how was the rest of your day?” I asked as I veered onto Main Street. As it was every year, the entire length of the main drag that ran along the lakeshore was decked out with holiday lights, huge evergreen wreaths tied onto the lampposts with big red bows, and enchanted windows depicting a holiday theme.

“It was good. I got an A on my spelling test and Miss Maxwell put my science paper up on the bulletin board.”

“That’s wonderful. How did your speech about your favorite book go?”

“It was okay. I talked about a comic book and Miss Maxwell said the assignment was to talk about a
real
book we had read, but then I said that a comic book
was
a real book.”

“Did she get mad?” I hoped not. Scooter had been doing so well this year.

“No. At least she didn’t seem mad. The speeches were graded pass or fail and I passed. I really did know a lot of stuff about the story I read, even if it was a comic.”

“That’s good.” I slowed as I made my way through town. “I’m so proud of how well you’ve been doing this year and I’m glad you had a good day.”

“I did, and the best part of my day was that there are only two more days until break. Me and Tucker want to hang out. His mom has to work and he gets bored at his aunt’s.”

“I’m sure we can work that out,” I said as I pulled up to the curb at the front of the store. “I spoke to Tucker’s mom about him spending Christmas Day with us. His mom has a new job at the ski resort and has to work and his aunt is going to visit her husband’s family. She’s going to bring him by early on Christmas morning, so I thought we should get him some presents to open with the rest of us.”

“Awesome. Can we get him a bike?”

“Does he need a bike?”

“He doesn’t have one. His mom doesn’t have a lot of money, so Tucker doesn’t have a lot of stuff like I do.”

I opened the car door and stepped out onto the street after instructing Scooter to step carefully onto the sidewalk. “How about if you and I go shopping this weekend and buy some things you think Tucker would like?”

“Video games. Tucker really wants video games.”

It seemed all little boys wanted video games these days.

The Christmas store was as loud and crowded as it had been every other time I’d been there during the month. It was just nine days until Christmas, so you’d think everyone would already have all the decorations they needed. Of course there were decorating-obsessed individuals like Zak, who seemed to come home with a green bag with red lettering almost every night. It was a good thing we lived in a big house on a large piece of land; otherwise the quantity of decorations he had put up would be bordering on gaudy.

I looked around the large retail space. Ornaments, indoor lights, and fake trees were displayed to the left. Lawn décor, outdoor lights, and rooftop statues were to the right. In the center of the store was wrapping paper, boxes, and tabletop displays. I’d thought about getting a cute little Santa’s village, but I wasn’t certain we had any unadorned tabletops left.

Once I located the kit for Scooter’s costume at the very back of the store I looked around for Tina. Luckily, she was shelving merchandise, which would make talking to her easier than if she was at the cash register.

“Why don’t you run next door and get us both an ice cream?” I suggested to Scooter as I handed him a ten-dollar bill. “I’ll take mine in a cup. I’ll pay for this and meet you in the car. I left it unlocked.”

“Okay.” Scooter grinned. “Chocolate?”

“Always.”

I watched him run out, then headed over to the aisle where I’d seen Tina. I’d need to talk fast because I doubted there was much of a line at the ice cream counter at this time of year and I didn’t want to leave Scooter waiting out in the cold.

“Hey, Tina. Do you have a few minutes?” I asked as she stacked Santa towels on a shelf next to the reindeer hot pads.

Tina looked up at me and then glanced at the long line at the front of the store. “Do you want me to ring you up at the layaway counter?”

Even better. “Thanks. That would be helpful. I sent Scooter next door for ice cream and I don’t want to keep him waiting.”

“After all the money Zak has spent in the store buying decorations, I consider the Donovan-Zimmerman family to be our best customers. I’m happy to help out.”

I smiled and followed Tina to the back of the store. I didn’t think she’d been working at the seasonal store all that long. I wasn’t sure she was even here at Halloween. Still, I had to admire her dedication to taking care of the retail outlet’s customer base.

“I heard about what happened to Ellie’s restaurant,” Tina said, conveniently opening a dialogue that would lead to the questions I wanted to ask. Maybe my luck was finally turning around.

“It really is a tragedy. I guess you heard about Jason as well.”

Tina’s lips tightened. “I heard.”

“Did the two of you know each other?”

“I hate to admit it, but I went out with the snake for a while.”

I tried to sound as if this was news I was hearing for the first time. “I hadn’t realized. I thought he dated Kelly Arlington.”

Tina looked around the store after she slipped my purchase into a bag. She leaned forward and lowered her voice. “He did, but he told me that they broke up. He seemed nice at first, but it turned out the guy was a toad. He had a charming way about him until you got to know him and realized it was all a front.”

“So you broke things off with him?” I asked.

“He broke up with me. Apparently, he met some floozy at Lucky’s. He told me he was fine with sleeping with both of us, but Riley had a problem with it, so he was going to end things with me. I was pretty upset until I found out the dirtbag hadn’t really broken things off with Kelly and was sleeping with all three of us. I swear, I’ve given up on meeting a nice guy in this hick town. I’ve pretty much decided to move home to LA after the first of the year.”

I gave Tina a twenty-dollar bill and she handed me my change.

“Do you think he was still seeing this Riley when he was murdered?” I asked.

“I know he was. I saw them together at Lucky’s on the day of the fire. I’m sorry Ellie’s place burned down, but I’m not sorry someone killed the scumbag. He totally deserved everything he got.”

“Do you know who might have been mad enough to kill him?”

Tina shrugged. “He used women like they were rags to use and discard. I imagine there were a lot of people mad enough to kill him, but my money is on Riley. I’m betting she found out he planned to get back together with Kelly and offed the guy. Based on what Jason and others have told me, she seems superpossessive.”

“You know Riley?”

Tina shrugged. “Not really, but I did sort of begin to stalk her after Jason told me about her. I learned enough to realize she wasn’t going to put up with some guy sleeping around. That chick is scary. I mean
really
scary. She looks exactly like the sort to stick a knife in some guy’s back if he strayed.”

I figured Scooter must be out in the car by then so I wrapped things up and headed out. It sounded like Tina had just given me the suspect I was looking for.

“Is this dog lost?” Scooter asked as I slid into the driver’s seat. He was holding one of the flyers I’d printed of Cupcake.

“Yes, unfortunately she is,” I answered as I accepted my ice cream cup. It was beginning to snow and I felt just a bit silly sitting in a parked car eating ice cream, but then again, I suppose it’s always a good day for a frosty treat.

“Can you find her?”

“I’m going to try. I printed those flyers to put up around town. Do you want to help me when we’re done with our ice cream?”

“Okay. It sucks that a dog is lost at Christmas. Are we going to put the picture in all the stores?”

“I thought we might. We’re already parked on the east edge of town, so we’ll take a stack and walk to the other end of Main Street. Do you have your gloves? It’s getting pretty cold.”

“In my backpack.”

Scooter was an enthusiastic helper and we managed to distribute most of the flyers I’d printed before we returned to the car. We had a nice afternoon, stopping along the way to look at all the store windows that were decorated for the upcoming holiday and talking about plans for Hometown Christmas the following weekend. The only dark spot during our excursion was the sorrow that gripped my heart when we passed the charred structure that used to be Ellie’s Beach Hut.

“How are you feeling?” Zak asked after we’d had dinner and were working to clean the kitchen after the kids had gone to do their homework. Spending this time with Zak as we worked together was one of my favorite times of the day.

“Okay. Tired and a little headachy but not bad, considering.” I poured a small amount of water in each of the twelve poinsettias Zak had displayed along the window in the dining nook. They really did bring a festive feel to the house.