Spoonful of Christmas by Darlene Panzera

Author:Darlene Panzera [Panzera, Darlene]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780062305121
Goodreads: 17860221
Publisher: Avon Impulse
Published: 2013-11-26T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

* * *

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree: the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.

—Burton Hillis

“STOLEN AGAIN?” ANDI demanded. “How is that possible?”

She looked around the vacant shop, trying to quell the uneasiness in her stomach. The day before, Creative Cupcakes could have been mistaken for Santa’s workshop with all of the colorful new gifts, toys, candies, and little “elf” kids running around. Today, there was nothing left to suggest Christmas was only two days away—no tree, no red stockings, no mistletoe. Worse, the handmade gray bakery mouse ornament her mother had made her so many years ago had also been taken.

As the room spun, she gripped the counter. Her mother’s ornament was irreplaceable, one of a kind. Something she’d never get back.

“There’s no sign of breaking and entering,” Ian Lockwell informed her. “The thief must have had a key to come into the shop and then lock the door on his way out, unless he dropped down from the roof. But since you don’t have a chimney, I think we can rule that out.”

“How would this thief get a key?” Rachel asked. “From one of our employees?”

Kim shook her head. “Eric, Heather, and Theresa deny losing or giving their key to anyone.”

“And if it wasn’t any of us,” Andi said, trying to think, “or the guys . . . that means somehow someone got a key to this shop without us knowing about it, or he found a way to magically appear inside.”

Rachel pursed her lips. “Should we ask Mike for ideas? He knows about magic tricks.”

“Yes,” Kim agreed. “But why would he take our tree?”

Andi frowned. “It’s as if the culprit shanghaied the tree and all the new gifts I’d collected for the foster children. Except our shop doesn’t have a trapdoor or a hatch leading out of the building like the Captain’s Port.”

“He must have used the side door of the back party room,” Ian explained, “because the interior security camera showed he didn’t use the front door. Whoever did this came up to the camera from the inside and smashed a cupcake into the lens before it could get a clear shot of him.”

Andi pointed to the pages of the Cupcake Diary spread out on the counter next to the glass display case and looked at Rachel and Kim. “Did you leave this open?”

Both shook their heads and drew closer.

Rachel’s eyes widened as she read, “Got Grinch?”

“This person isn’t just being funny,” Kim said, pointing to the green lettering. “He wants to be known.”

Rachel waved her hand toward the coatrack. “Can you believe it? The Grinch even stole Mike’s red Santa suit.”

“He really is a Grinch!” Kim said with a scowl.

“I guess you don’t have to worry about Mike wearing the Santa suit at your wedding,” Andi said, glancing at Rachel.

She’d meant the comment as a joke, but the crack in her voice ruined the humor. All she could think about was that she’d failed again, failed to gather the gifts she’d promised those poor foster care children.

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.