Evergreen Chase by Juneau Black

Author:Juneau Black [Black, Juneau]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2021-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

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The Bamboo Patch was set back a little ways from the street and screened by a thick stand of bamboo still lush and green even in deep winter. The light snowfall had coated the leaves with a glistening frost, and as Vera walked down the little path, she felt a wee bit calmer.

“I read your article, Vera. Terrible news,” Sun Li commented as he brought tea to Vera’s and Lenore’s table. “It’s an especially cruel thing to do because it hurts everyone during the darkest season of the year. That tree is a symbol. The town square looks so barren.”

“I just don’t know how they did it!” Lenore said. “Who can make a gigantic tree just disappear overnight?”

Vera sighed, wishing she could answer that question. She picked up her blue-and-white teacup, which was decorated with a little scene of a frozen pond. (Sun Li liked to match his dishes to the seasons.)

She sipped the chrysanthemum tea slowly, then said, “It’s not magic. Someone did it, and we need to figure out how they did it, which will reveal who did it.”

“There were no identifiable tracks, just the wide marking in the snow that the birds saw, the one that led to the river. But no animal is that big. And even if it was some bird, no species is strong enough to fly away with a felled tree,” Lenore said.

Vera nodded. “Callum assured us that he checked on the tree the evening before. It did snow during the night, which erased most tracks.”

“Okay, but that still doesn’t explain where the tree went,” Lenore said. “It’s more than fifty feet tall! Where do you hide a tree like that? Why would you hide a tree like that? Do you think it was just vandalism?”

“What, by someone who hates the holidays?” Vera asked.

Before Lenore could reply, Sun Li returned with a tray. When he set it on the table, Vera was surprised to see what appeared to be a plate of snowballs.

“Um, did you run out of food, Li? You had to pop outside and grab a bucket of snow?”

The panda just smiled. “Try one.”

Vera picked up a snowball and found it warm. It was a perfectly white round bun dusted with the tiniest amount of sugar to mimic snow. She took a bite; it tasted like a sweet cloud. Another bite revealed a center of red bean paste, which was deliciously sticky and tasty.

“Oh, this is perfect,” she said, her words slightly garbled as she chewed. “I’m sorry I doubted you.”

Sun Li gave a laugh. “It’s good to know my trick works! I’m calling them snowballs. They’re a variation on the recipe I always made for lunar festivals back home. I just added a sugar coating this time.”

“It’s a great fake, that’s for sure,” Lenore said, examining a bun closely. “I’d love it if someone threw this at me during a snowball fight!”

“A fake,” Vera murmured. “Maybe that’s what happened.” She looked up at her friends. “How can you hide a huge pine tree? Perhaps by making it look like something else.

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