Winter Festival Murder Read online

  "Tessa, I need to ask you a big favor," Mandy said quietly, keeping her head snuggled up into the crook of my neck.

  "Anything Mandy," I said. "You know that you are more like a sister than a friend. I would do anything to help you."

  "I need you to find something that shows that Trevor didn't do it," Mandy said. "I know he didn't do it and I need you to help me prove that to the police."

  I sucked my breath in through my teeth before I could stop myself, causing Mandy to start sobbing a bit more again. I knew I would have to investigate, which was turning into something I was doing way too often. I mean, I like true crime podcasts, but somehow I kept falling into real life true crime to figure out.

  "I know you don't like him," Mandy said when I didn't answer her. "But I love him. I love Trevor and I can't imagine my life without him."

  "Isn't love funny?" I said, voicing what should have been a silent musing. Mandy didn't seem to notice. "Of course I will help you. No matter what my thoughts are on Trevor, I will help because I love you."

  "Thank you Tessa," Mandy said.

  The smell of the pizza wafted towards me again and I realized that I hadn't even finished my first slice of pizza. I stood up from the armchair and grabbed our plates. I got us each another piece of pizza and I sat back down on the couch, handing one plate to Mandy. The next step we took needed to be making some sort of plan.

  It was almost too late to do anything that night besides talk about investigating. January in Minnesota was dark almost all of the time, which meant time to investigate was limited. But we decided to go together the next day to check out the scene of the crime.

  "Are you going to be alright Mandy?" I asked after our second slices of pizza were gone. It was getting later and I knew I should be getting back to the bed and breakfast, but I wasn't going to leave if Mandy was in distress.

  Mandy sniffed a few times and wiped her face once more with a tissue. She took a few deep breaths to calm down and then nodded her head.

  "I'll be alright Tessa," she said. "I need to get to bed anyways. It is almost my bed time and the donuts won't bake themselves tomorrow."

  I stood up and cleaned up the plates and leftover pizza while Mandy sat and collected herself. When I came back from the kitchen, she stood up and walked me to the entryway. She grabbed a stick of gum from the bowl in the entryway. Only Mandy would chew a piece of gum right before she brushed her teeth, but whatever she needed to do to feel better.

  As I put on my jacket, Mandy rifled through my purse and pulled out the large, metal flashlight I kept in there. Ever since Peter died, I found myself scared of the dark. To combat that, I kept flashlights everywhere. Once my jacket was on and zipped and my hat placed firmly on my head, Mandy handed me my purse and the flashlight.

  I walked out of her door into the little donut hallway with the staircase, but I turned and wrapped her in one last hug. Mandy has always been smaller than I am and I tend to smother her with my love, but she usually doesn't mind.

  "I will come as early as I can tomorrow to see how you are doing," I said. I couldn't promise to come when she was awake because she woke up in the wee early hours of the morning to make donuts for the town. But I would come early to see how she was doing and help out if she needed.

  Mandy nodded and waved goodbye. I stood in the little hallway until I heard her lock the door. I wanted to make sure she kept herself safe, even though Shady Lake typically didn't have much crime.

  I pushed the little rubber button on the flashlight and took a deep breath before I walked down the stairs, slowly plunging myself into the winter darkness. At the bottom of the staircase, I tentatively opened the door and shone my flashlight around the alley. There was nothing there except my station wagon and some dumpsters.

  I dashed to my car and unlocked it as fast as I could, which was never fast enough. I fumbled the keys a few time as I could feel my nerves start to make my hands shake and my stomach start to feel sick. Finally, the key went into the lock and I was able to turn it. I shone my flashlight into the backseat to make sure there wasn't someone back there, which was something I always did after hearing a story of a killer waiting in someone's backseat for them to get back in the car.

  As I slid into my seat and shut the door, I quickly turned on the car and my headlights. Only then was I able to sit and grip the steering wheel, taking a few deep breaths to calm myself after the tension of the darkness that felt like it had been closing in.

  Once I felt calm enough, I pulled my car out of the alley and onto the street. I glanced up at Mandy's apartment window and I was happy to see that the lights were out, which meant she was going to bed. She needed to rest and try to get her mind off of Trevor and his problems.

  The lake was dark, with only moonlight to illuminate it. It was quite calming, especially because hardly anyone was out on this cold, cold Minnesota night. I was the only car on the road on the way home and I was happy with that. It meant I could drive as slow as I wanted while looking at the lights.

  I spent the drive home thinking about the murder. This one might be tough because in one sense, anyone who had been looking for the medallion could be a suspect. But I don't think just any casual medallion searcher would kill over it.

  Gerald must have found the medallion, but someone must have been following him and killed him for it. Now the only question was who would do that? And why was the medallion worth killing over?

  Chapter Ten

  The next morning, I stopped by the Donut Hut bright and early. As I walked in, I spotted Donna in the small corner booth. I normally would have just given her a little wave, but she looked quite upset, so I stopped by her booth because I could see that Mandy was busy behind the counter. Donna didn't even notice I was standing there at first.

  "Donna, are you alright?" I said quietly. I knew from experience how embarrassing it was to be caught crying in public and I didn't want to draw a bunch of attention to her.

  Donna looked up, a look of surprise on her face. She opened her mouth to speak, but instead, she whimpered a bit and a few more tears rolled down her face. I quickly sat down in the spot across from her so that I would partially cover her from anyone else.

  "You don't have to tell me what is wrong, but just know that I am here if you need to talk," I said.

  After nodding a few times, Donna took a drink of coffee and finally spoke.

  "I know everyone wonders who Bobby's father is," Donna said. "And I'm not ready to share that, but I did get some bad news about him. I had been hoping he would pay more child support to help, but he isn't able to. Between that and the medallion hunt going wrong..."

  Donna trailed off as the tears started to flow again. I reached across the table and gave her hand a firm squeeze. She grabbed a napkin and dried her tears while I tried hard to shield her from everyone else at the Donut Hut.

  "Thank you Tessa," she said. "I really should be getting to work. I was just feeling sorry for myself this morning and thought I'd be able to sit in public, but it all really just hit me."

  "You must be disappointed about the medallion hunt," I said. "I know you were really getting into it."

  "Yes I am," Donna said. "Poor Gerald."

  Donna's face fell as she thought about Gerald, which was surprising to me. While obviously any sort of murder is not condoned, Gerald wasn't exactly someone who seemed like he was going to be missed. I wondered if Donna had some other connection to Gerald, but I wasn't going to ask her that now.

  We both stood up and said our goodbyes. Donna headed towards the door and I headed towards the counter. Mandy seemed to be mostly back to her cheerful self when I got to the register. She sent me off with a travel mug full of coffee, a donut with blue frosting and snowflake sprinkles, and a promise to text me when the shop closed for the day. I took out my phone and made sure the ringer was on. I had switched to a flip phone and I liked it, but the worst part was that I continually hit the "silence" button that was inexplicably on the outside of the phone
. I'm not sure who designed this phone, but they did not do a great job of it.

  When my phone dinged with a message later on that morning while I was cleaning the living room at the bed and breakfast, I was surprised to see that it was from Trevor, not Mandy. I only had Trevor's number in my phone in case Mandy ever had an emergency and I'm sure it was the same sort of reason that he had my number. We had never called or texted each other before. But today, he sent me a message.

  Tessa, I need to meet with you. You need to help me. For Mandy. Meet me for some tacos for lunch.

  I sat back for a moment and thought about it. If nothing else, I do need to do what I can to help Mandy. Plus I could really go for some tacos for lunch. I sent Trevor back a message telling him I would see in a bit.

  An hour later, I walked into the Taco Queen and spotted Trevor sitting at the table in the window. I gave him a wave and went to order my lunch. I wasn't sure if he picked that table on purpose, but it was the exact same table that Max and Mandy and I had eaten lunch at every day in high school. Trevor went to high school with us, but at that point we hardly knew him. It was only after I left town for college that he and Mandy started dating.

  I ordered my taco salad and brought my plastic number to the table. Trevor was leaned back in his chair, slumping over occasionally to sip his pop. I plopped down across the table from him and waited for him to talk.

  Trevor had been a skateboarder in high school with long, shaggy hair and the baggy clothes to match. I honestly hadn't known anything about him back then, but I don't think he's changed much. His dark hair was still shaggy, but shorter as his job as an emergency dispatcher required him to look somewhat professional. Since he wasn't at work, he was wearing a baggy pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and a zip-up hoodie. If you didn't know he was thirty years old, you never would have guessed it. I wondered if anyone had ever accused him of skipping school after he had already graduated.

  "I need your help Tessa," Trevor finally said. He spoke quietly and I had trouble hearing him over the din of the lunch crowd, so I leaned forward. "I can't tell Mandy what I was doing but I promise you that I didn't kill Gerald."

  "What exactly were you doing?" I asked.

  Trevor grabbed his pop and took a sip. I sat back and waited. I could almost see him weighing what to do back and forth in his mind.

  "I will tell you," Trevor said. "But you have to promise not to tell Mandy."

  A few thoughts raced through my head. Mandy and I told each other everything. I wasn't going to keep something bad from her. I know I thought of Trevor as an idiot, but what if he told me he was cheating on Mandy? Did he really expect me to keep something like that from her?

  The waiter came over and delivered my taco salad and I used that as an excuse to take a little more time while I put my dressing over the top. As much as I love plain old tacos, the taco salad at Taco Queen was to die for. It came with both ranch dressing and salsa to top it with along with tortilla chips which I crumbled on top of it all.

  Trevor ate another taco, seemingly nonplussed about the fact that I hadn't yet answered him. To get any further with him, I would have to agree to not tell Mandy. But I hated the fact that I may have to break that promise depending on what he told me.

  "Okay, hit me with it," I finally said. I took another big bite of salad so that I couldn't mouth off depending on what he said.

  "I know I've made kind of a big deal about searching for the medallion," Trevor said. "But I actually haven't searched for it because I've..."

  Trevor trailed off and I mumbled a bit, which I couldn't hear over the din of lunchtime noise around us.

  "What?"

  "I've been studying," he said.

  "Studying for what?" I said, a bit too loudly. Trevor looked around furtively, as if he didn't want anyone to know he had been studying.

  "Studying for the entrance exam at the community college," he said through his teeth, trying to keep it so that no one could hear him, as if going back to school was something to be ashamed of. I guess it seemed like that if your entire personality had been based on being a slacker.

  "I think that's wonderful," I said. I wasn't sure what else to say. I was glad he wasn't cheating on Mandy, so that was something.

  "Yeah, but I don't want to tell Mandy yet, just in case I fail," Trevor said. "I need to pass the exam and then when I do, I'm going to surprise her. She's been pushing me to go back to school because I've been talking about it for a while, but it's taken some time to actually do anything about it."

  Trevor and I both went back to eating for a moment while I thought things through. Trevor munched through another taco while I took a bite of salad.

  "Trevor, I have to say that I really admire you for going back to school," I said finally. "I think I've underestimated you and I apologize for that. So now I'm wondering what you'd like me to do."

  This time, it was Trevor's turn to stall. As I spoke, Trevor's face broke into a genuine smile that he let quickly slide back off of his face. But I would take it. I would take that smile and know how hard it was to get that from him. I wasn't even sure if he smiled for Mandy. I filed that away to ask her sometime when Trevor wasn't being investigated for murder.

  "I need you to help prove that I didn't do it," Trevor said. "Look, I know you don't like me but I know you and Mandy are like family so if you don't do it for me, please do it for her."

  I looked out the window at Main Street. If a frozen tundra had a downtown, I'm sure it would look the same as what I could see outside right now. The snow was beating down and even though it was the middle of the day, it was dark and cloudy enough for the streetlights to be on. Everything was covered in ice and snow and it was the kind of day that you could just see how freezing cold it was simply by glancing outside.

  The only saving grace was that the Below Zero decorations were also lit up. The buildings were still lined with Christmas lights and the snowflakes on the lampposts were bright and offered a bit of happiness in the cold.

  "Okay, I will help you," I said, turning back to face him. There was an innocent, unabashed happiness in his face that made me feel better about helping him.

  "There's only one problem," Trevor said. "I don't really have an alibi. Well I do, but it can't really be corroborated. See, I was at the library studying, but when they closed I left and studied in my car because I didn't want anyone to see me. The cops said they thought Gerald was killed around 7 or 8 that night and I can tell you that I was definitely in my car parked by the lake, by myself, studying at that time."

  Well, there was the wrench in the plans. Now I would have to find a way to prove he was innocent without corroborating an alibi of any sort. I guess I could stop by the library and make sure he was there earlier in the afternoon. I'd just have to hope that I actually found something out at the crime scene when Mandy and I ventured out there later this afternoon.

  We finished our lunches in silence. Trevor stood up to go, but as he walked by to leave, I grabbed his arm to stop him. He jumped a bit in surprise, which I couldn't blame him for.

  "Trevor, it isn't that I don't like you," I said. "I just don't think anyone will ever be good enough for Mandy. But I promise you that I will help you. For Mandy."

  "Thank you Tessa," Trevor said with a quick smile. With that, he walked out of the Taco Queen into the cold. I knew that was probably the only time he would say that and I watched his back as he retreated to the apartment he and Mandy shared.

  I just couldn't stop getting myself wrapped up in these things, but as hard as it is for me not to blurt out things, it is even harder to say no when my family needs help.

  Chapter Eleven

  My phone rang as I pulled into the driveway and I grabbed it quickly, thinking Mandy may be ready sooner than I thought to go out and investigate. It was quite a surprise when Clark's deep voice came out of the other end. Clark is an incredibly handsome man who didn't grow up in Shady Lake, but moved here to teach social studies at the high school. Despite the fact
that he could have his pick of the young women in town, for some reason he chooses to date me, which is an absolute delight to my high school, low self-esteem self.

  "Hey Tessa," Clark said. "We need to start planning soon."

  I put the car in park and sat for a moment, trying to figure out what he was talking about. All of a sudden, I realized that we had talked about entering the snowman building competition later this week. It all came rushing back through the veil that the murder had put up in my memory.

  "You forgot, didn't you," Clark said. I could almost picture his disappointed face on the other end of the phone.

  "No, no, no," I said, trying to save face, but it was no use. "Okay, yeah. I have been really busy trying to figure out this whole murder thing."

  "Did the police ask you to help again?" Clark teased. "That Max just can't do it without you, can he?"

  Clark and Max both knew that I casually went out with each of them. While they teased each other and enjoyed a friendly rivalry when it came to me, they actually didn't really mind. They both understood that I wanted to casually date instead of settle down, at least for a while. I honestly think that if they hadn't been in a friendly competition over me, that they would be pretty good friends.

  "Oh geez Clark," I said. "But we really do need to make some sort of plan. The competition is in two days and we have no idea what we are doing."

  "Well, I think the first thing we need to do is decide which direction we are going to go in," Clark said. "Do we want to build a typical snowman shape into something or do we want to make a snow mound shaped like something? I tested the snow this morning and as of right now, it is good rolling snow."

  I stifled a laugh because Clark was getting way more serious about this than I had thought. I felt a bit like I was looking behind the curtain of Clark. I knew he was very competitive, but I'm pretty sure there wasn't even a prize for this competition besides a ribbon and some bragging rights.