Midnight in Christmas River by Meg Muldoon

Author:Meg Muldoon
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Vacant Lot Publishing
Published: 2018-10-26T04:00:00+00:00

Wondering why, despite being more afraid than he was before, Ashcroft Black was turning us away.

Chapter 23

“Well, you know what they say,” Kara said right before cramming in a massive bite of Honey Apple Pie dolloped with ginger ice cream. “Famous people are crazy.”

The last part came out muffled and practically unintelligible behind all that pastry, but somehow, I managed to understand what she was saying.

I stood over the stove, stirring a pot filled with cranberries, sugar, apple cider, vinegar, and apple slices. I turned up the heat a little, watching as the juicy liquid turned to a sunset shade of pink.

“I suppose you’re right,” I said, looking up and staring out the window at the rain dripping down from the angry skies overhead. “Still, I can’t stop thinking about it all. I guess it’s really none of my business anymore. But I can’t help it. I’m worried about him. I’m worried that one of these days, Daniel’s going to get a call from paramedics saying that Ashcroft...”

I trailed off, leaving the thought unfinished.

Kara paused, chewing and thinking.

“Well maybe it’s not as serious as you guys are making it out to be, Cin.”

“What do you mean?”

She cleared her throat of phlegm in a fashion that might have been un-lady like, but which I appreciated.

I always enjoyed that about Kara — that she ate the way her hunger dictated and didn’t give a hoot whether people were watching.

“I mean, what if it is just a prank? Maybe there are kids behind it. Everyone in town knows Ashcroft’s renting the cabin for the fall. Maybe some kids read his books and are just pranking him, the way kids do. It’s kind of a Scooby Doo thing to do anyway, right? Dress up as a ghost to scare somebody?”

“Yeah, but this goes way beyond TP-ing a house, Kara. I mean think about it — to dress up as a character from one of Ashcroft’s books and try to scare him? Knowing he has a heart condition?”

Kara shrugged.

“Maybe they don’t know he’s got a heart condition. I didn’t know until I heard Don Wharton say it at the cabin that night. Most of the town still thinks he was hospitalized last week with a bad stomach virus.”

People in town thought that because it was the official story from Ashcroft’s publisher concerning the incident. The news media had then spread the misinformation.

For some reason, Ashcroft and his publisher wanted to keep his heart condition a secret.

“Maybe whoever’s behind this is thinking it’s all in good fun and doesn’t realize that Ashcroft’s an ill man,” Kara added.

The tea kettle whistled. I went over and turned off the burner, then poured the piping hot water into two cups containing chai tea bags.

“No,” I said after a while. “I saw that woman pretending to be Lorna. And it didn’t look like an innocent prank to me, Kara. There’s maliciousness there.”

I looked out the window again, sighing.

“I just wish I could figure out who’s behind it. It’s really bugging me.

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