Murder Spoils the Sweets by Thea Cambert

Author:Thea Cambert [Cambert, Thea]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Summer Prescott Books
Published: 2021-01-06T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

After checking to make sure things were running smoothly in their shops, Alice, Owen, and Franny reconvened at the café table in the garden—along with baby Theo who didn’t have a lot to contribute to the discussion because he was sound asleep after his walk with Granny Brown.

Alice took out the notebook and opened it on the table.

“Jackpot!” said Owen. “It’s a list of names.” He took a closer look and pointed at the page. “And that confirms why Faith was giving Elmer free scones.”

Faith Lindor was the first name on Elmer’s list, followed by Patrick Sullivan, Arnold Zwicke, and Sonny and Peyton Kingsley.

“Looks like Elmer had been into Faith the longest,” said Alice, looking over the neatly written list of dates and payments.

“Seems like Elmer was surprisingly well organized for a blackmailing criminal,” said Owen.

“It makes me sick that these people—all of whom are friends of ours—have been silently carrying this burden around,” said Franny.

“No wonder someone killed the guy,” said Owen.

“Someone had finally had enough,” agreed Alice.

“We have to show this to Ben and Luke,” said Franny.

“We will,” said Alice. “Very soon. We’ll all be together tonight when they get home from work. We can tell them then.” A slow smile spread across her face. “But wouldn’t it be even nicer if we had more information to share by then? I mean, we have the day off. What if we spend it going through the people on this list—talking to them, feeling them out, checking for alibis. We know almost exactly when Elmer was killed, because we were there.”

Owen clapped. “Ladies—and baby—” he pointed at the snoozing Theo, “the game is on! Where do we start?”

Alice closed the notebook. “We start by finding out who on this list was in the maze when Elmer was killed.”

As they walked down Main Street, pushing Theo in his stroller, they passed the Gothic Trolls, who were making the rounds, singing carols. They saw Queen Victoria and Prince Albert posing for photos with festival goers. They saw a large crowd gathered at the Christmas Hound, sipping cocoa from commemorative mugs and walking through the Victorian England history exhibit—minus Jack the Ripper’s knife. Trinkets, the souvenir and ice cream shop had drawn quite a crowd with its special holiday treats, including a Make Your Own Snow Ice Cream class, where children were gathered around a table that had been set outside, and were stirring sugar and vanilla into shaved ice.

When they got to Crumpets, they went right inside, and were greeted by a warm waft of wonderful aromas.

“Cinnamon,” said Franny, sniffing the air. “And nutmeg.”

“That’s my holiday eggnog cream scones you smell,” said Faith Lindor with a smile.

“Sounds delicious,” said Alice. “We’ll take half a dozen.”

While Faith bagged the scones, Owen gave Alice and Franny a quick wink and stepped closer to the counter. “So sorry about Elmer,” he said quietly. “I know you two were good friends.”

Faith looked confused. “Elmer and—” She stopped abruptly. “Oh. Yes. Thank you. Very sad.”

No one

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