Rewriting Christmas: A Hopeful Tale by Ann Stang

Author:Ann Stang
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2022-12-08T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-five

“The truth?” I was starting to sound like Ted’s echo. “The truth about what?”

“About what happened back then.” Ted sounded so matter-of-fact.

Oh yeah. That should’ve been obvious. “Well, I wish you luck.”

As we walked out to Ted’s car from the restaurant, it hit me how what I’d just learned would affect me. “Knowing Sadie was murdered, putting that in my blog will completely change it. Right now, it’s lighthearted and fun. But murder─”

“I wouldn’t rush to tell about that,” Ted said quickly. “I’d keep going as you are. If you notice any clues in the diary, you could start to include them.”

“Clues? About the identity of the killer?”

Ted nodded.

“Well, I’m not writing a murder mystery. Do you think the diary will tell us that? Isn’t that in the obituary?”

Ted unlocked the car, and we got in before he spoke. “News reporting was sketchy at best and highly unreliable back then. We can’t necessarily trust everything we read.”

“But that and the diary are all we have.” I paused. “And Jake’s journal. When did he write it?”

“At the end of his life.”

“His memory probably wasn’t good by then.”

Ted didn’t comment. He was quiet until we turned into my driveway and were halfway to the house. “It’s too bad you didn’t leave the lights on. I could use a little Christmas.”

“Yes, this dead grass and mud aren’t very festive.” I started humming, “We Need a Little Christmas.”

Ted sang, “We need a little snowfall.”

I stopped humming. “Very little. Anyway, isn’t that pushing it? We’re barely into December. We don’t need snow yet.”

Ted rolled down the window. “Don’t you feel it? In the air?” He breathed in deeply.

I admitted it was invigorating, the cold, fresh air. Until I thought about my nonworking furnace.

“Unfortunately, yes. The last thing my icy house needs is temperatures dipping into snowfall range. My grand opening is soon enough for snow. That reminds me of another thing that should be on the list: A way to make reservations. I’d better get a move on if I’m going to finish getting my website live. I need to be able to take reserva─” I broke off in midsentence as the motion light came on as we approached my house.

The ribbon I’d wound on the columns was strewn around the yard.

Ted slowly pulled up in front of the house. I got out, ran up the steps, and immediately activated the flashlight on my phone. Shining it on the porch, I could see the remaining ribbon was in tatters.

“What happened? Could an animal have done this?” I examined a piece of it in the light from my phone. “No. It was cut.”

Ted was gathering up the pieces from the yard. “This is weird. Who’d pull a prank like this, way out here?”

“And I just put it up a few hours ago. How did anyone know it was even up?” I shone the light on my fence. “There’s more.” I gestured toward my other ruined decorations. Some of my garlands hung from the fence posts. The rest was on the ground.

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