Maisie's Christmas Cottage Murder (Mistletoe Falls Book 1) by Julie Ecker

Author:Julie Ecker [Ecker, Julie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-11-30T16:00:00+00:00

Maisie drove the few blocks from the police station to Peppermill’s downtown. The Christmas spirit was very much in evidence here, with most of the shop windows festively decked for the holidays. There was a big decorated tree on the town square, and as she emerged from the car, Maisie saw that it wasn’t a tree that had been erected for the occasion, but rather a naturally growing pine draped in lights and ornaments.

The hardware store was a small old-fashioned place, with a key kiosk where an elderly man in a crisp plaid shirt made polite conversation with Maisie while he cranked the ancient key machine. She had him copy the full set of Cottage keys.

“Do you know what this might be a key to?” she asked as he looked for a blank for the final, mysterious key. “It doesn’t open anything on the property that I’ve found so far.”

“All I can tell you is that it’s most likely a padlock key, not a house key.” As he turned around with the blank, he smiled at her. “Oh, you’re the lady who’s opening up the Cottage again, aren’t you?”

“I can’t get over how the small-town grapevine works around here. Yes, that’s me.”

“Do you think it’ll be open by the end of the year? Me and the missus always used to treat ourselves to an overnight up on the hill for New Year’s.”

“I’m afraid I can’t say for certain, but I hope so. Oh,” she added as she tucked the freshly cut keys into her bag along with the originals. “I need to find Don Robles’ real estate office. Can you tell me where I might find it?”

“Sure can. Just about a block toward the big Christmas tree, in the office building on the corner. Second floor. You can’t miss it.”

“Thank you very much,” Maisie told him.

She stepped out into the sun. The sidewalks had been cleared reasonably well—shoveled and salted, starting to melt in the warmth of the day—so she decided to walk.

It was easy enough to find. Robles Realty was in a nice two-story office building, not merely in the direction of the Christmas tree, but facing it directly. It had a beautiful view, the tree framed by snow-covered hills and the lake beyond. The building also housed an insurance broker and a closed travel agency.

Maisie climbed the steps to the second floor. There were no decorations at all up here, as if despite the festive view, Christmas had passed the building by entirely. As she approached the door with Robles Realty in large black letters on frosted glass, she heard shouting from inside.

“—all your fault, as usual! You can’t even be trusted to do a simple thing, can you? Stupid, incompetent—”

It was a woman’s voice, raised in anger. A male voice replied, lower. Maisie recognized Don Robles’s voice, tense and angry.

“Keep it down, Sylvia, the whole town can hear you. Do you want to broadcast our private business to all of Peppermill?”

“I should! They ought to know how useless you are.

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