3 Christmas Crazy (10 page)

Earl was weeping by this point.

“I didn’t know what to do, so I took him in and promised I wouldn’t tell anyone he was there. Betty and I decided to go visit her family for the holiday. We figured we’d use it as an excuse to sneak Toby away, and no one would ever know. We planned to make up some story about marital problems and eventually use that as an excuse to move ourselves.”

“But his mom found out and ran you off the road.”

“It looks like, although she hasn’t said anything to Salinger about the possibility that I might have Toby, so I’m not certain what’s going through her mind.”

“Where is Toby now?”

“In Minnesota, with Betty. They left shortly after I sent you on your wild-goose chase.”

“Why did you do it?”

“Because you’re too perceptive for your own good. I was afraid you’d figure it out before I could get Betty and Toby on the road.”

“Do you think Toby’s mom killed Tanner, thinking it was you?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

I sat back in the chair and tried to figure out my next move. On one hand, if Toby’s mom killed Tanner, she needed to be brought to justice, if for no other reason than she was obviously a danger to herself and others. On the other hand, if I told Salinger about Toby’s mom’s role in the murder, I’d have to reveal what I kn
ew about Earl helping Toby. He could be charged with kidnapping. The fact that Betty had taken a ten-year-old boy across state lines without his parent’s permission could even be a federal offense.

I didn’t blame Earl and Betty for what they’d done. I’d probably have done the same thing. Earl had taken the legal route twice and had gotten little result. I knew in my heart that Toby was better off with Earl and Betty, and I certainly didn’t want them to end up in prison for trying to help the boy.

Earl watched me as I tried to sort everything out in my head.

“I have to go.”

“You won’t tell,” he insisted.

“I’ll keep my promise.”

Earl looked relieved.

“I’ll come by to visit tomorrow. Get some rest.”

As I made my way back to my truck, I tried to figure out my next move. How was I going to catch a killer without breaking my promise to Earl? The only thing to do, it seemed, was to pay a visit to the woman in question to see what she had to say for herself.

Toby and his mom lived in a house in the shabby part of town. The front yard was littered with cigarette butts and beer cans, and there was a distinct smell of marijuana in the air. I carefully made my way across the rotted front porch and knocked on the door.

“I was wondering when you’d be by,” Toby’s mother said.

“You were?”

“Everyone in town knows that if there’s a murder, you’re right in the middle of it. Come on in.” She opened the door and invited me into her worn but clean living room. “Can I get you some water?”

“No. I’m fine, thanks.”

“Have a seat.” She motioned toward the sofa.

“Are we alone?”

“We are,” she confirmed.

I sat down on a sofa so tattered, a secondhand store would throw it away. The cushion had a huge dip in the center, causing me to sink into its softness. As a result, my short legs didn’t even reach the floor. Not exactly the position of power I was going for.

“I didn’t kill that man.” Jennifer jumped right in. “In fact, I was nowhere near the community center at the time of the murder.”

“Can you tell me where you were?” I asked.

“Trying to save Earl.”

“Trying to
save
Earl? By running him off the road?”

“Maybe it wasn’t the best plan, but it was the only one I could come up with on short notice.” Jennifer picked up a pack of cigarettes. “You mind?”

I did, but I said that I didn’t. It was, after all, her home, so I supposed she could do as she pleased.

“My old man came home drunk, as usual. When he realized that Toby was gone, he put two and two together and figured that Toby would run to Earl. Earl has gone to the pigs on two other occasions, and the last time it resulted in Drugger’s incarceration. He said he was going to take care of things once and for all.”

“So your boyfriend went to kill Earl?”

“It looked like. I freaked and called Earl’s house. Betty said he’d already left for the community center. I needed to stop him without my old man realizing what I’d done. I figured if he was involved in a minor accident, he wouldn’t show up to get himself killed, and Drugger would never know I’d intervened. I didn’t mean for him to get hurt. If he’d ended up in the field, like I planned, he’d
have been inconvenienced but fine. I didn’t plan on him hitting a tree.”

“So you stopped Earl, but Drugger didn’t know it, so he went to the community center and killed Santa, who he thought was Earl?”

“It seems that way. I guess I didn’t think it through. I just wanted to save Earl without getting myself involved. The guy’s been real nice to Toby.”

“Where is Drugger now?”

Jennifer shrugged. “Out. He comes and goes.”

“You know that Betty has Toby?”

“Yeah, she called. I talked to him. He said he was happy. I ain’t got no use for a kid. I told him he could stay.”

That was something, but I wasn’t sure it was enough to keep Earl and Betty out of prison if the entire truth came out. I needed to figure out a way to nail Drugger for Tanner’s death without bringing the rest of the story into play. Maybe if I had the murder weapon or a bloody shirt, some piece of hard evidence that wouldn’t require much of an explanation. Drugger might spill the beans about his suspicions regarding Toby, but he didn’t have proof as far as I knew, and if I had
Jennifer’s cooperation, everything might just work out fine for everyone involved.

“Drugger. What’s his real name?”

Jennifer blushed. “I honestly don’t know.”

“So how’d you convince Salinger that Drugger was his guy?” Zak asked later that night.

I was curled up in bed, with Charlie, Lambda, and the cats sleeping around me. It was snowing outside, and the flicker from the fire in the living room danced on the ceiling, exposed by the half wall separating the loft from the main part of the cabin. Soft music was playing on the stereo, giving the room a relaxing feel. It was a perfect romantic evening. Or at least it would have been, if Zak had been at the boathouse in person and not on the phone.

“It was easy. Drugger is an idiot. I found a bat with blood on it propped up against the bedroom wall. Add that to the fact that Salinger knows that Earl was responsible for sending Drugger to jail last summer and it was a slam dunk.”

“And Toby?”

“He’s with Betty. Jennifer told Salinger that Toby had run away but returned home, so she sent him to live with a relative out of state. The missing-persons report has been closed. I spoke to Earl, and he said he’s going to pay to fly Jennifer to Minnesota for Christmas. Among the three of them, they’re going to work it out, but it seems like Jennifer is willing to turn legal custody over to Earl and Betty.”

“That’s probably for the best.”

“Yeah, it looks like things are working out for everyone. How’s your software problem?”

“Almost fixed. I should be home late Wednesday night, if all goes as planned.”

“Just in time for Hometown Christmas
and
the largest pet adoption event in county history. We’re up to over a hundred animals.”

“So the event is back on?”

“Yup. Salinger opened the community center, and Santa and his elves are moving back over starting tomorrow, leaving the gym free for the adoption event.”

“That’s fantastic news.”

“And such a relief.”

“I’ve missed you.” Zak lowered his voice.

“I’ve missed you, too.”

“How’d the pet adoption go?” Ellie asked as I chopped greens to make a salad to go with the soup she’d brought. It was, she assured me, her third and final attempt to duplicate my grandmother’s recipe.

“Fantastic,” I answered as I picked up a piece of garlic bread off the cooling rack and took a bite. “We started the day with over a hundred animals and we’re down to ten, which I’m confident we can place tomorrow.”

“Wow. That’s wonderful. When all those animals showed up this morning, I was sure I was going to have a houseful tonight.” Ellie had volunteered to pet sit any animals that hadn’t been adopted if I needed her to.

“Honestly, even I’m amazed we had so many people stop by. It helped that the adoption was held the same weekend as Hometown Christmas. We ended up with a lot of folks from off the mountain. If all goes well, we should have the remaining animals adopted by noon tomorrow.”

“That’s good because I was thinking about going shopping for a dress tomorrow afternoon, and I’d love for you to come with me.”

“Dress?”

“For the ball. I’m thinking of driving down to the mall in Bryton Lake. I’d like to find something shocking.”

“Shocking?” I laughed. Ellie was definitely not a shocking type of dresser. Levi
had
gone to New York with the
shockingly
beautiful Barbie, and I suspected Ellie was taking the whole thing a lot harder than she was letting on. “Do you have a date for the ball?”

Ellie nodded her head in the affirmative. “Rob asked me to go with him.”

“Rob?” I questioned. “As in your ex-boyfriend Rick’s brother Rob?”

“That’s the one. He was in a bind a couple of weeks ago, and I volunteered to watch Hannah,” Ellie said, referring to Rob’s one-year-old daughter. “We’ve hung out a few times since then, and he invited me to attend the moonlight stroll and spend Christmas Eve with him and Hannah, since it would just be the two of them. He and Rick usually spend the day together, but Rick is going out of town this year, so Rob’ll be on his own. And with Levi gone, I figured our plans might change as well.” Ellie paused to take a breath. “Anyway, we got to talking about the fact that neither of us had a date for the ball, so we decided to go together. It’s really just a friend thing, but I figured I might as well go all-out.”

“Are you sure going out with Rob is a good idea?” I asked. “I mean, you just recently ended it with Rick.”

“Rick is going to the dance with someone from work. And the two of us ended things as friends. He won’t mind.”

I hoped Ellie was right. The last thing we needed was a scene at the dance. Rob was a really great guy, and I could see how he and Ellie would be friends. He was Rick’s older brother and so was a few years older than us. Like Gina, when his girlfriend had gotten pregnant, she’d made it clear she wasn’t ready to be a mother, so Rob had taken on the responsibility and was raising Hannah on his own. He’d started the single parents group as a way for others in his situation to help each other out, and it seemed the group had developed into a supportive family.

I could see why Ellie would be attracted to a guy like Rob. She was the type of person who was born to be a mother. She’d spent many Friday and Saturday nights babysitting during junior high and high school, while Levi and I had been out tearing up the town.

“Besides,” Ellie continued, when I didn’t respond, “I’ve been thinking, and I’ve decided it’s time to stop mourning things I’m never going to have and get on with my life. Going to the dance with Rob and spending Christmas Eve with him and Hannah will be good for me.”

“You’re talking about your feelings for Levi.”

“Yeah, I guess it’s been pretty obvious.”

“Not obvious,” I assured her. “But I am your best friend, and best friends know these things.”

“Do you think Levi knows?” Ellie blushed.

I suspected he did but didn’t want to ruin our relaxing evening. “He hasn’t said as much.” At least that was true; Levi had never come out and admitted that he knew Ellie had developed feelings for him.

“Good. I’d really rather he doesn’t find out. He has Barbie now, and they seem really happy. I heard they were even talking about moving in together. I don’t want to ruin our friendship by introducing a hopeless crush into our relationship.”

“Your secret is safe with me,” I assured her.

“Here, taste this.” Ellie held up a spoonful of the soup for me to taste.

“Wow! I think this is it,” I praised after I’d taken a sip. “What’s different from the last batch?”

“Cream cheese,” Ellie said. “I wrote everything down for you so you can make it for your grandpa for Christmas.”

I took another sip. “This tastes exactly like the soup Grandma made. He’s going to love it.”

We carried our dinner to the small dining table that was tucked in a corner, near a widow overlooking the lake. It was a beautiful night. The snow that had blanketed the area had let up a bit, so that only flurries filled the air. The lights Zak and I had hung on the deck railing gave a festive feel to the exterior of my small home.

“I like this music,” Ellie commented on the Christmas instrumental playing in the background. “It’s Christmassy without being overpowering.”

“It’s actually an old CD I fished out of the Christmas decorations box. I forgot I even had it, to be honest, but after Zak and I finished the tree we decided to string lights around the cabinets in the kitchen, so I dug out my backup decorations. The CD was in a box I haven’t used in a few years.”

“The lights look nice,” Ellie complimented. “It’s so cozy and relaxing with the lights and the fire. You’ll have to have Zak over when he gets back.”

“If he ever gets back,” I complained.

“I can’t believe he still hasn’t made it home,” Ellie said sympathetically.

“Tell me about it. This whole thing has been bizarre. First he misses his flight due to an accident on the freeway, and then he can’t find another flight until the next day, by which time a huge storm that has been blanketing the country decides to hit the East Coast, closing all the airports. I just hope he makes it back for the ball.”

“He’ll make it,” Ellie reassured me.

“I hope so. I’ve really missed him.”

Ellie smiled. “I’ve always known the two of you would end up together.”

“How could you know? I’ve barely even been civil to him until a couple of months ago.”

“Like you said, a best friend knows these things. Besides, your disdain for Zak has been so bizarre that the only explanation there could have been was repressed attraction. You guys are good together. I hope I can find someone who adores me as much as Zak obviously adores you.”

“He is pretty great.” I got up and began clearing the dishes. “I have cookies left from the exchange. Snowballs, chocolate peanut bars, and chocolate oat cookies.”

“I’ll take a chocolate oat cookie with coffee. Decaf, if you have it.”

I started making the coffee while Ellie put the leftover food away. “Do you care if Charlie and Lambda finish off this salad?”

“No, that’s fine. Charlie loves salad, although I’ve never tried giving it to Lambda.”

“It looks like he enjoys it,” Ellie said after she’d scraped the leftover veggies into the dogs’ bowls. “Of course, Marlow and Spade are giving me the evil eye for not putting something yummy in their dishes.”

“The cats don’t like salad anyway. I have some leftover tuna in the refrigerator. I’ll divide it between them.”

Ellie took her coffee and cookie and sat down on the sofa in front of the fire while I dished out the cats’ treat. “It seems like Hometown Christmas is going well in spite of the snow,” Ellie commented.

“I talked to both Hazel and Willa today, and they’re ecstatic,” I shared. “There’s just enough snow so that our visitors are getting a real feel for an old-fashioned mountain Christmas, but not enough to close the roads or cause delays. Having the event sandwiched between the community center and the park has worked out fantastically.”

“You’d better be careful or they’ll nominate you to do it again next year,” Ellie teased.

Spade jumped up onto the sofa and curled up into Ellie’s lap after he’d finished his treat. Ellie scratched him behind the ears and he began to purr. Marlow contented himself with the catnip mouse Ellie had brought with her, while Charlie and Lambda curled up on the rug in front of the fire. It was a perfect evening. Or at least it would have been if Zak had been there. I have to admit I was missing Levi as well. Christmas is a time for family, and not having
everyone
in attendance made me feel a little sad.

“Your phone is buzzing,” Ellie informed me.

I glanced at my cell, which I had changed over to vibrate earlier in the day.

“Hello,” I greeted.

I listened while Sheriff Salinger deflated the cloud of self-importance I’d been riding on since I’d once again solved a crime and caught the bad guy.

“But the bat?” I asked. I grimaced as Salinger replied. “Okay, thanks for the call.”

“What’s wrong?” Ellie asked.

“The blood on the bat I found in Drugger’s bedroom didn’t belong to Tanner.”

“Oh God.” Ellie cringed. “Who did it belong to?”

“
It belonged to one of the guys on Drugger’s baseball team, who was hit in the face by a wild pitch. Salinger didn’t even realize the mistake until he finally caught up with Drugger and brought him in for questioning.”

“I don’t get why it took Salinger so long to realize that the blood on the bat didn’t belong to Tanner. I mean, it’s been days,” Ellie pointed out.

“You know Salinger.” I rolled my eyes. “He thought he’d tied up the case and basically moved on. He didn’t even read the lab report until today. That guy is such a tool.”

“So what now?” Ellie asked.

“I’m not sure,” I admitted.

“I feel like we’ve explored all the possibilities in this case,” Ellie said. “I suppose we could just leave it up to Salinger to figure out. It is, after all, his mess. I assume he isn’t planning to reclose the community center?”

“No, it’s too late for that. He agreed to leave it open. He’s hoping I won’t mention the mix-up to anyone until we can find the real killer.”

“
We
?” Ellie asked.

“I guess he’s pretty desperate.”

“Okay, then, who, other than Drugger, would want to kill poor Earl? We’re still operating on the assumption that Earl was the intended victim, right?”

I thought about it. I
was
certain that the intended victim was Earl after we’d exhausted the suspects who might want to kill Tanner, but now I wasn’t so certain. Earl was the sweetest man in town. Everyone loved him. But Tanner? Tanner was a crotchety old guy who rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. The more I thought about it, the more I realized that he made the better victim. Now I just had to figure out who he’d aggravated enough to make them want to kill him.

“I’m sorry to call so late,” Zak apologized from the other end of the line.

“No problem.” I yawned and looked at the bedside clock. It was almost one a.m. and I was just preparing to get into bed. “I’m still up. Did your flight get in?”

“Finally. I’m in Bryton Lake. I figured you’d be asleep, but I’ve missed you and thought I’d call.”

“Belinda?” I knew his assistant had gone to New York with him, and they’d ridden to the airport in the same car.

“She stayed on the East Coast to visit family.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “Why don’t you stop by on your way home? I’ll make you something to eat.”

“Are you sure it’s not too late? I could just come by tomorrow.”

“I’m sure.”

“Okay. I’ll see you in thirty minutes.”

After I hung up, I brushed my teeth and pulled on the sweats I’d been wearing that evening. I ran a brush through my hair, made the bed I had just turned down, and made my way downstairs. I tossed a log on the fire and plugged in the tree and lights. I lit a few candles and turned on the stereo. The serene and romantic atmosphere in the room in no way represented the fact that I’d had the most bizarre evening I’d had in quite some time. After Salinger’s call, Ellie and I had gone over the list of suspects one final time, and all of a sudden it occurred to me exactly who the killer was. I’m not sure why I hadn’t seen it before. I suppose I’d been distracted with the impending doom of the pet adoption and had my attention focused more on speed than anything else.

With the mood set, I wandered into the kitchen to put on a fresh pot of coffee and then began rummaging around for something to make Zak for dinner. Deciding that it was closer to breakfast than dinnertime, I quickly assembled a hash-brown casserole and put it in the oven. Then I set to mixing up a batch of cheesy bacon biscuits.

After I’d given it some thought, I’d realized that if Tanner were indeed the intended victim, then the killer had to be someone who knew about the change. The killer could have recognized Tanner when he or she waited for their little darling while they sat on Santa’s knee, but my gut told me the killer most likely wasn’t a parent. The only people who knew
for
certain
that Tanner had replaced Earl were myself, Hazel, Ellie, and Penelope. Penelope never had liked Tanner, and it occurred to me that the idea that the man was trying to have her sister committed to a mental institution probably didn’t sit well with her. Especially since Agatha would most likely lose control of her half of the money from the sale of the house and boat if Tanner could convince a judge that she was incompetent. I’d called Salinger, who brought Penelope in for questioning. She didn’t even put up a fight when Salinger accused her of the crime. She insisted that the man had gotten what he deserved for abandoning his wife after forty years of marriage.