Death by Yule Log by Lee Hollis

Author:Lee Hollis [Hollis, Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2018-08-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Hayley spun around and gasped at the sight of Kimmy standing at the bottom of the stairs, gripping a large knife in her hand.

Hayley slowly backed away. “Kimmy, please put the knife down . . .”

Kimmy glanced down at the knife in her hand and smirked. “Relax, Hayley. I told my parents I had company and would call them back. I was just going to cut you a piece of my homemade cherry pie. Edie Staples isn’t the only one in town who likes to bake sweets.”

Hayley felt a wave of relief wash over her.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to freak you out,” Kimmy said before noticing her loving shrine to Ryan Toledo in plain view. “I can see why you’d be so jumpy after seeing that.”

“What you do down here is your own business,” Hayley said, throwing her hands up.

“Then why did you sneak down here?”

She had a point.

And it was time to come clean.

“I was looking for the Yule log Gemma delivered to you at your office. You said you put it in the freezer down here and it’s not there. Why did you lie to me?”

“Because I didn’t want to admit to you that I regifted it.”

“You what?”

“I gave it away. To Ryan. I know he loves chocolate, and I’d already put on a few unnecessary pounds after one-too-many holiday parties, so on my way over to Liddy’s party that night, I left it on his doorstep with a little note.”

A love note, no doubt.

“I thought he might appreciate it. I missed him terribly, so I invited him to come around on New Year’s Eve for a little party I was planning on having. But I neglected to mention in the note that only two people were going to attend. . . me and him.”

“Oh, Kimmy . . .”

“I know, I’m a damn fool. I’ve never gotten over him. After we got caught and I was forced to resign from the high school, it was only a few weeks after that when Ryan turned eighteen, so it was no longer a crime to be together. But I guess I was too intense, too much in love, and it scared him, because he dumped me. Since then, it’s been a long road trying to get over him.”

Kimmy noticed Hayley eyeing the shrine of photographs on the poster board.

“Obviously,” Hayley sighed. “Did you talk to him when he showed up at Liddy’s party?”

“Briefly. He was too focused on talking to your daughter. I asked him if he got the Yule log, and he said no. He told me there was nothing on his doorstep when he got home, which isn’t surprising, given the sketchy neighborhood where he lives. Anybody on the street could have swiped it.”

Hayley nodded, still not sure whether Kimmy was telling her the truth or not.

“I didn’t kill him, Hayley. I loved him. I still love him. If that Yule log I left at his house was the murder weapon, the killer could be anybody in town.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.