Mistletoe and Murder by Daryl Wood Gerber

Author:Daryl Wood Gerber
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery
Publisher: Beyond the Page
Published: 2019-10-29T16:00:00+00:00

Eleven

A pointed comment like that could not be ignored. Jaymie wrapped her coat more tightly around herself as she descended, a cold wind blowing up the stairs. She needed a friend’s company right that moment, someone to talk to, to confide in. Valetta was busy in her pharmacy, three people lined up at the counter when Jaymie snuck a peek. She got out her phone as she exited the Emporium, but slipped it back in her purse, unused. She didn’t want to pull Jakob away from work at this busy time of year.

But there was one person who would not only be overjoyed to see her but would be thirsty for information on the murder. Someone she could trust implicitly. Someone who might know the players better than anyone else in town.

Mrs. Stubbs was, as usual at that time in the morning, sitting in her room near the window in her mobility wheelchair, book on her lap. It was a Sue Grafton, Q is for Quarry. But she wasn’t reading, she was looking out the sliding doors to her private patio and beyond, to the tumbling brown leaves along the lawn, and one small oak, still stubbornly clinging to its leaves.

“Hey, Mrs. S.!” Jaymie said and gave her a hug.

The woman’s eyes were watering, and she swiped at them with a tissue she held in her hands. When Jaymie commented on the book and the tears, asking if they were related, she nodded. “So sad that that woman died, and yet an old lady like me lingers on.”

Such melancholy—something Mrs. Stubbs was occasionally prey to—could not be allowed to continue. The book-loving world of devoted readers had lost a giant in Sue Grafton; there was no getting around it. But . . . “I for one don’t think Ms. Grafton would want you or any one of her readers to be downhearted. I think she’d love and appreciate that you are still reading her books.”

The woman sighed and nodded, setting the book aside, careful to ensure her bookmark stayed in place. “Maybe you’re right.”

“I know I am,” Jaymie said gently, dropping a kiss on her friend’s forehead.

She made tea then, wondering how she could cheer Mrs. Stubbs up, and brought it on a tray with mugs to the small table. Mrs. Stubbs used the joystick of her mobility chair to wheel up to it. “How about I tell you what we’re doing for Christmas? Grandma Leighton is coming to Queensville this year, and she’ll be staying right here at the inn. We booked the same ground-floor room for her as last year. That means you’ll be able to visit! Invite Miss Perry this time, and her niece Morgan. The whole family is going to be doing Christmas dinner in the restaurant, and we’d love for you to join us. Grandma would like that.”

Mrs. Stubbs smiled and put her hand over Jaymie’s, veins crisscrossing it, showing as raised blue paths veiled by thin spotted skin, soft and smooth as silk. “My dear, I can see right through you, you know, trying to cheer me up.

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