Christmas Shop Murder Read online

  My mother's smile lit up the dusky light and she nodded before folding her hands in her lap. The police judges gathered around her chair, some bending down to hear her better.

  "Well our bed and breakfast here is bird themed, so I wanted to incorporate that into our display," my mother said. "But when that part was done, it just wasn't good enough. And then I had a thought: if birds were going to be decorating, wouldn't they be decorating at the North Pole too?"

  She smiled for a moment before continuing. The judges were all nodding politely and I tried to read their expressions. Most of them were doing a pretty good poker face, which I assumed came with the territory of being a cop. A few seemed quite pleased, which made me hopeful that we would win a prize this year.

  "I think this year our display has done a nice job of being something that can be enjoyed by all ages," my mother said as she gestured towards the display. "The kids will be delighted by Santa's Workshop while the adults will enjoy the inclusion of birds we see every day here in Minnesota. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask."

  The judges all looked at each other to see if anyone had a question, but after a few shakes of the head, it was apparent that my mother had said all they needed to hear. My siblings and broke out in raucous applause while a few of the judges offered a polite clap.

  After some thank yous and a few handshakes, the judges climbed back up into the back of the truck so they could continue on to the next display they needed to judge. I gave Max another shy wave as they started rolling and he winked back at me.

  We all rushed back inside to the living room where we had pulled out and plugged in the giant, old radio we kept mostly for emergencies. The winners of the decorating contest would be announced on Shady Lake's radio station, WARG. It was the only way that made sense because television programming couldn't be preempted for the announcement and no one wanted to go gather in the cold just to find out they potentially didn't place. So everyone tuned in and once the police made their decision, they drove to the radio station and announced it live on air.

  While we all waited, the station was playing Christmas carols broken up every once in a while by the announcer coming on to say that the police were still not there to give the announcement even though that was what we were all waiting for.

  As we picked at the snack tray and Tank kept checking his watch to make sure he wasn't going to be late to help Sue close up the Christmas Shop, we sipped the batch of hot cider we had whipped up. It warmed us back up after being outside with the judges and gave us something else to nervously fiddle with.

  Finally, after an old rock and roll Christmas song, the announcer came back on the air.

  "Well folks, the police have just walked into the studio here, so I'm going to turn it over to them," the announcer said. "So without further ado, here is the moment we've all been waiting for."

  There were some sounds of someone at the radio station fiddling with the microphone. Then Max's voice came booming over the air. I smiled at the sound of the familiar voice.

  "Hello there everyone," he said. "I'm Officer Max Marcus and I've been given the wonderful job of announcing the winners of this year's contest. First, I'd like to say that we saw so many wonderful lights displays this year and it is always hard to pick the winners. So I'd like to congratulate everyone for their wonderful displays and the hard work they put into them."

  Clark sighed behind me. He and Max got along fine, but obviously they weren't really friends since I was casually dating both of them. Sometimes Clark got a little tired of Max's local yokel, good boy personality, which was exactly what I liked about Max. I shot him a look and he gave me a guilty smile back.

  "So in third place is the Santa's Workshop Backyard scene put up by the Shady Lake B&B," Max announced.

  The living room erupted in cheers. We were hoping for first place of course, but any place was worth celebrating since we'd never been able to crack the top three. My father gave my mother a big hug and Tank picked me up and squeezed me so hard that I could hardly breath.

  After much celebrating, Tank said a goodbye and ran out the door to deliver the good news to Sue who probably had already been listening at the shop. The rest of us decided that we needed to order some pizza from Mike's to celebrate.

  As we sat around eating the cheesy, greasy slices of pizza, I didn't feel guilty for once. It had been a lot of hard work to get that display up and while I still had a lot things to do before the holiday season was over, at least the decorating contest was over and the police had settled on their murder suspect.

  Chapter Twenty

  The morning after the decorating contest, I met Sue outside of the Christmas Shop to help her open up. This time though we didn't walk into the scene of a crime. It was Saturday, so I had volunteered to help her on what promised to be a busy day. Of course, that had been before my mother had broken her leg. Thankfully my sister Trina was done with finals and agreed to stay the night so she could look after the B&B desk and my mother. With some juggling, I got all of my bases covered.

  After we got all of the lights on in the store and made sure the shelves were straightened, I volunteered to run and grab us some coffee and donuts. It was a mild November morning, cold enough for the snow to stay while not so cold to take away my breath while I walked. It was cloudy and gray, but all of the Christmas lights downtown were lit so it wasn't a gloomy sort of morning.

  I pushed open the front door of the Donut Hut and waved hello to the regulars while I made my way to the counter where Mandy was standing. When she spotted me, she gave me a big grin.

  "I haven't seen you here recently," she said teasingly.

  "Yeah, my waistline needed a break," I said while she gave a laugh. She knew my weakness for sweets. "But I can't stick around. I'm working at the Christmas Shop this morning and I came for some coffee and donuts for Sue and I. Can you get that packed up?"

  "Of course, coming right up," she said. I watched her pack a cardboard box with four seasonal donuts and two big to-go cups with coffee. That was exactly what I needed for this cold, cloudy morning. I gave her a big thank you and left, waving to Ronald and avoiding a glare from Chelsea along the way.

  Once I was back at the Shop, Sue was just finishing up with a customer. The store was empty for now, so we sat down on the two stools she kept behind the register and ate our breakfasts. I silently cursed Mandy for giving me so many donuts as I reached for my second one. I promised myself that I was most definitely not going to eat a third.

  "Tessa, I've been meaning to ask you how you've been doing since last week," Sue said. She started to ramble a bit while I tired to finish the bite in my mouth. "You know, since we found Claire. Have you been alright? I know you were trying to help Tank out, which it seems like you did."

  "I've been okay," I said. "Of course it was upsetting to find her, but I've been able to get over it. And I had to help Tank. I just knew he didn't do it."

  Sue picked at her donut and I noticed a glint of gold on her wrist, but it was quickly covered by her sleeve. I tried to watch it while not looking too weird for staring at her arms. Could it possibly be a charm bracelet?

  "And what do you think about Rich doing it?" she asked quietly. Her sleeve stayed just low enough that I couldn't see her arm. "Do you really think it was him?"

  I took a bite of donut and then a drink of coffee. I thought about what I wanted to say, but first I really wanted to see what was on her arm. Then I spotted a tissue box on the shelf behind Sue's head.

  "Could you please pass me a tissue?" I asked.

  As she reached up for one, her sleeve fell down her arm revealing a bunch of bangle bracelets and right in the middle, a gold charm bracelet with charms similar to the one I had found on the floor next to Claire. I tried not to react. Was Sue asking me about what I thought of Rich because she was the killer and she wanted to make sure I didn't investigate any further? I blew my nose a few times to stall even more while I
tried to figure out what to do.

  "Well, I was pretty sure he didn't do it when the police initially brought him in, but now I'm not so sure," I said. "He was pretty angry when Claire came and from what I heard, they found some of his cigar ash here in the store. What do you think? You were pretty good friends with Rich weren't you?"

  Sue looked around as if someone may have materialized in the store without us noticing. Of course, we were the only two in the place. The bell on the door would have definitely told us if someone else had come in.

  "Rich and I have been friends for a long time," Sue said. "We've known each other since we were in school. I just don't think he would do it, but I don't know. Will you be investigating any more?"

  "No, if the police are satisfied, then I am also," I said. Of course, I had enough on my plate and while I wasn't actually sure if Rich had done it, I needed to focus my attention elsewhere.

  Sue looked unhappy for a moment, but quickly covered it up by taking another sip of her coffee. I wasn't sure how to read her face. I studied it over my coffee cup as I took another drink. Just then the bell over the door rang as another customer came in. Sue jumped up off of her stool and scurried over to greet them while I was left to clean up and puzzle over what had just happened.

  I gathered up the garbage and went to throw it away in the warehouse where I could stand for a moment and collect my thoughts. I needed to think about what had just happened. The warehouse was a bit cold because it wasn't as insulated as the front of the store. I hugged my arms around myself as I ran through the conversation Sue and I had just had.

  Sue had been wearing a gold charm bracelet with charms just like the horse one I had found on the floor. Had it come off as she struggled with Claire? Was Sue really the killer? She seemed awfully interested in the investigating I had done.

  But of course she would be interested. The murder had happened in her store and now a friend of hers had become the main suspect. It made sense that she would ask some questions. Sue had seemed to be hinting that she didn't think Rich was the murderer. Was that because she was the killer or just because she had known Rich for so long?

  I would need some more time to puzzle this all out and I would once I got home this afternoon. I made a quick decision to also do a bit of my own investigating in Claire's room. I know I had told Sue I was done with investigating, but now I wasn't so sure.

  For now, I had to keep on with my work at the Christmas Shop. I headed back out front to see if Sue needed help. She was talking to someone who was looking for some specifically colored ornaments for their Christmas tree and there was another customer waiting at the counter.

  I rushed over and started to ring up the woman's purchases. As I waited for her to rifle through her wallet to find the card she wanted to pay for her purchases with, I stole another glance at Sue. She was smiling at the woman she was helping while they sorted through ornaments on one of the shelves. She looked like a happy, middle aged woman. Could she really be the killer?

  I was snapped out of my thoughts by the customer I was helping waving her credit card under my nose a bit aggressively. I took it from the customer with a smile despite the woman's sneer and told myself I needed to just keep my head in the game. If Sue was the killer, I couldn't let her know I was on to her because that would just put me into even more trouble.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Tank came in to the shop around noontime and we traded off. I drove back to the B&B to let Trina get back to her Christmas shopping. My mother had convinced my father to take her out to do some of their gift shopping as a way to thank me for all of my hard work on the outdoor display. Once I watched them drive off, I was all alone in the B&B. Now was my chance to do a little investigative work in Claire's room.

  I tip-toed up the stairs, freezing as the stairs creaked under my feet. Even though I knew I was the only one there, it still made me nervous to be breaking into yet another police taped area. At least this one wasn't a murder scene. But I still really did not want to get caught in Claire's room. I took the key that I had grabbed from the front desk out of my pocket and unlocked the door, glancing around one more time before ducking under the police tape and shutting the door behind me. I used a tissue to avoid touching the door handle just in case the police would come back and re-dust it for prints or something.

  The gloomy, cloudy day outside was making it somewhat dark in the room and I thought briefly about going out to grab a flashlight before I realized how foolish I was being. No one would notice if I turned the lights on because these rooms backed up to a mostly wooded area. Even if someone noticed, they would just think one of the guests had turned the light on. It was no reason for someone to call the police. So I flipped the switch by the door and looked around.

  The police had been pretty considerate with their search. It wasn't what I would call neat, but it also wasn't like they had come in and thrown everything around either. When I thought of a police search, I imagined them rifling through drawers, throwing things all over the floor and dumping out suitcases onto the bed. Thinking about the police, I really needed to call them and ask if we could come in and clean up the room officially.

  I pulled on a pair of winter gloves I had grabbed just in case the police did need to come back in. I didn't want to contaminate the scene with my fingerprints or DNA. The last thing I needed was to be even more involved than I already was.

  I didn't really know what to look for. I knew I wanted to find the necklace for Jill, but otherwise I just figured I'd look around a bit to see what I could find. I started with Claire's personal things.

  Her suitcase was open on the bed. I wondered if she had left it there or if the police had put it there. I shifted things a little, not wanting to move anything too much. I found a small jewelry bag and decided to look inside. There was a lot of jewelry inside, so I dumped it out on the night stand.

  One thing that wasn't there was anything resembling a gold charm bracelet, which made sense considering that if the charm was from Claire's bracelet she would have been wearing it when she died. But judging from her other jewelry, a charm bracelet wouldn't fit with her style.

  As I spread everything out, I found the necklace that Jill had been wanting me to find. It was a gold chain with a little green wire Christmas tree hanging from it. It was a beautiful piece, but as I picked it up, I noticed that it was broken. The Christmas tree fell off of the chain each time I tried to pick it up.

  I left it on the nightstand and put the rest of the jewelry back into the bag which I replaced in the suitcase. Jill said Claire had taken the necklace and promised to pay later. But when had she done that? Had Jill been the last one to see Claire alive then? When I gave Jill the necklace back, I figured I'd ask her when that happened. I didn't think Claire had interacted with anyone more than for that five minutes, but I must have been wrong. Jill had been so shaken up that I hadn't wanted to ask her much of anything.

  I decided to do one more sweep of the room to see if there was anything else missed by the police. They typically did a pretty thorough job, so I tried to think of places they may forget to look. I looked under the bed and was somewhat pleased to see that there weren't even any dust bunnies underneath. We were doing a pretty thorough job cleaning then. Then I looked behind the TV stand. Nothing back there except the television wires.

  Then it clicked with me. If they thought this was all cut and dry, they may have just looked through her things. The police may have ignored some of the elements of the room that were more standard for the bed and breakfast, like the decorations and such. I glanced at the pictures on the wall, but they all seemed to be in place. So did the little knick-knacks on the shelves and nightstands.

  I looked at the small coffee table in the sitting room area of the bedroom. On the table was a stack of magazines and other things that may be of interest. Whenever the room was cleaned, the magazines were fanned nicely on the table. But when I looked at them now, they were in a stack.

  Either the
police had gotten in the habit of tidying up as they went or Claire had put them like that. Maybe there would be a clue inside. I crept over, still trying to be quiet despite the fact that I was the only person in the bed and breakfast.

  I looked at each magazine carefully and picked them up one by one, shaking it by the binding to see if there was anything hiding inside. Usually the magazines we left in the room were related to local things to do, bird watching, and interior decorating. But three magazines down the stack, I ran into a celebrity gossip, tabloid style magazine. One of these things is definitely not like the other.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  As silly as it seemed, I held my breath for a moment, resisting the urge to sit down. I was fully aware that I may have been getting excited over nothing, but what if there was something in there? Something besides gossip about celebrity babies and cheating spouses.

  I grasped the binding and shook it upside down once again but unlike the others, this time a piece of paper fluttered out. It landed on the floor, a piece of lined paper like the kind they used to write reports on in school. My heart was beating so hard that I was sure it would come right out of my chest. I tried to steady my breathing, but the butterflies in my stomach were making that hard to do. I stood and stared at the paper on the floor for a moment before I picked it up.

  The paper was folded up into fourths and I could vaguely see the writing on the inside through the paper. I wondered what Claire was trying to hide. I didn't think she would go to the trouble of folding up her grocery list and hiding it in a celebrity magazine in a stack of other magazines.

  I carefully started to unfold the note, taking care to not rip it or crease it in any way. Just as I got it open and saw that it was addressed to Claire, I heard the door to the garage slam downstairs.

  "Tessa?" my father called. "Could you come here? I need some help getting your mother and all of the things inside."