Sweet Christmas Conundrum: A Sweet Cove Mystery Novella by J A Whiting

Author:J A Whiting [Whiting, J A]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: J A Whiting Books and Whitemark Publishing
Published: 2023-12-25T16:00:00+00:00

7

Pale winter light filtered into the Victorian home's cozy kitchen. Angie stood at the stove flipping pancakes while Ellie removed stoneware dishes and mugs from the dishwasher.

"That maple syrup I bought from the Christmas market at the tree farm is so good," Courtney declared, drizzling liberal pools over her short stack. "Nothing beats your homemade pancake batches, Angie."

Her older sister laughed while blotting some grease splatter spots on her snowflake embroidered apron. "Well, luckily your sweet tooth will get its fill this season."

As the sisters bantered over breakfast fixings, Mr. Finch wandered in leaning on his cane. “Good morning, all.” After taking a seat at the table next to Courtney, the elderly gentleman's eyes scanned the morning paper’s headlines.

"It’s going to be a bitter one today," he predicted. "We better bundle up tight when we go outside."

"My bones already feel the cold after the odd dream I had last night," Angie said with a little shiver. She halved a grapefruit, the knife clinking against the etched crystal bowl. "In the dream, I was wandering all alone without a coat in some snowy, scary forest and the trees kept crashing down all around me. I could feel someone was after me. It was terrifying. I woke up in a cold sweat shaking.”

Ellie paused pouring coffee from a French press, blinking hard. "How strange,” she murmured. “I dreamt I was lost in the woods, too, with trees toppling all around and barely missing me. It was awful."

Holding the knife in mid-air, Angie stared at her sister. “You had the same dream that I did?”

The cats hissed from the fridge.

Ellie scurried around putting plates and mugs on the wheeled cart along with covered dishes of scrambled eggs, crispy bacon, and buttery croissants. "I have to get these things out to the bed and breakfast guests. We’ll puzzle out this dream thing later,” she whispered to Angie, touching her arm briefly before whisking away the food items toward the dining room.

“Another strange detail in this conundrum,” Mr. Finch acknowledged as he stirred his oatmeal.

With a worried expression, Angie sank into the chair across from Courtney and the older man. “Having the same dream must be because we’ve been working on this case, right?”

“It’s the most logical explanation,” Mr. Finch said, “but perhaps, it would be best to discuss the dreams with Miss Ellie later. There may be something your minds are trying to alert you to.”

“How did it go with Alex Biggs yesterday?” Courtney took another bite of her pancakes.

Angie and Mr. Finch took turns reporting on the meeting with the man.

“It seemed like he was being truthful, but I felt like he was holding back.” Angie lifted some pancakes from the platter in the center of the table and placed them on her plate.

“I believe the man doesn’t want to incriminate any of his friends,” Finch added.

“What about Alex himself? He has plenty of motive to go after Bart.” Courtney added more maple syrup to her plate. “Did you sense he might be a suspect?”

“Miss Ellie told me she is sure the man knows more than he’s telling,” Mr.

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.