Dead Gingerbread Man Walking by London Lovett

Author:London Lovett [Lovett, London]
Language: eng
Format: epub

Nineteen

I'd gone home to eat buttered noodles and came back to pure pandemonium. A dead man, brutally stabbed, was tied to a tree trunk. It didn't take long for word of the horrific scene at Green Lake Park to get around. Something about having the victim dressed in a gingerbread costume and bound to the tree with holiday lights made the whole thing even more macabre. People were hurrying out of the fair to head up to the safety of the resort. Even some of the vendors decided it was time to pack up their wares and skedaddle. It would make the job easier for Dalton. It made my job easier too. There was time to do a little snooping around the area before the official investigator arrived.

I walked around the tree Abel dangled from and moved some of the forest debris with the toe of my shoe. I expected loamy soil, dried pine needles and leaves, but I was surprised when I spotted something white. I stooped down and brushed the debris off a cellophane-wrapped candy cane. It was the same type of mini candy cane that Greer supplied Myra to hand out to the kids. The candy cane evidence made just about everyone at the fair a suspect. But I knew only a few people in attendance who had possible motive.

I found a rock and placed it near the candy cane as a marker. It could have been dropped by anyone. After all, dozens of candy canes had been handed out this weekend. But since it was directly behind the tree that was, without a doubt, the center of the crime scene, it might very well have been dropped by the killer.

The one piece of evidence that I dared not touch was the knife jammed in Abel's back. I was sure it was from Tony's set. It seemed odd that neither Tony nor Myra had showed up at the scene. People cleared the area fast, including Jack Lucas, but I had yet to see Abel's coworkers. I hiked back to the path leading around the lake and headed toward the campers and vans parked in the lot. Some of the vehicles were being packed up. Myra and Tony weren't sitting under their shade awning. I didn't see them anywhere. I noticed the back door on Abel's box van was open.

I glanced inside. A long line of costumes hung on one side of the van. A cot, a small sink and cabinet and a hot plate took up most of the other side. Everything looked neat and in order until I noticed a muddy shoeprint on the floor of the van. It had a distinctive tread, a repeating pattern of triangles followed by long wavy lines. I took a photo of the print. It could easily have been made by Abel. If not, it would be easy enough to match the tread to someone's shoe.

Tony and Myra didn't seem to be in the park. It made little sense. Their

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