Sugarplums and Murder (Borrowed Pages Cozy Mysteries Book 3) by Maggie Benton

Author:Maggie Benton [Benton, Maggie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Summer Prescott Books
Published: 2023-08-15T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

The Wine Cellar lived up to the buzz. The place was gorgeous yet comfortable, with wide windows offering views of the lake and a deck for al fresco dining right on the water. As it was a chilly evening, the threesome opted to stay inside, near the windows but with a view of the crackling fire in the huge stone fireplace.

There were glistening Christmas trees clustered into every room, and with the overhead lights dimmed, the dining rooms were all magical. Helen ordered a delicious roasted salmon on a bed of mashed potatoes studded with caramelized onion. It came with a crisp salad topped with homemade sourdough croutons. Annie opted for the chicken piccata, which smelled amazing with its buttery sauce. Kacia, naturally, ordered the stuffed lobster with a caviar appetizer and chocolate mousse for dessert. She picked at all of these, mentioning that as she was grieving, her appetite wasn’t back to normal.

After dinner—and way too much idle small talk—Helen and Annie dropped Kacia off at the inn.

“I guess I’ll be in town for a few more days,” said Kacia as she opened her door. “The police don’t want me to leave until Kai’s killer is caught.” She looked Annie up and down, narrowing her eyes a bit, then stepped out of the car and walked into the inn.

Helen dropped Annie off next.

“Thank you for going with me,” said Annie. “I don’t know how I would’ve gotten through an evening with Kacia without you.” She tapped the ceiling. “I like your car. The top comes off, right?”

“It’s been stuck since I bought the old girl.” Helen patted the steering wheel. “Maybe Hal can fix her up this spring when the weather warms.”

Annie laughed. “Hal and his crew can fix just about anything. See you tomorrow.”

Helen drove two houses down and pulled into her gravel driveway. Her house glowed, with lamps on inside and twinkling lights strung along the front porch railing. She parked the Land Rover in the garage and walked down the driveway.

She heard the door to Adam’s house next door open and close, and Ian saying, “We should put these around the door.”

Then Adam said, “I thought you wanted to put those along the roof.”

Helen walked over to find the two holding strings of holiday lights.

Adam spotted Helen and waved. “Hi Helen.”

“Hi Miss Helen,” Ian echoed.

“Hello,” said Helen. She joined them on Adam’s porch. “I see you’re decorating the house.”

“Ian helped me with the tree and now we’ve decided to do the porch.”

“I like your hair,” said Ian, grinning big enough that Helen could see where he’d lost one of his teeth on the bottom, just to the right of center. “It looks more poofy than before.”

Helen reached up and patted her hair. It had been a challenge to get it even this calm after the attack of the curling iron. She thanked Ian kindly for the compliment, and would normally have wished them good luck and gone inside to her warm fire and a good book, but she had a sudden urge to hang out with the guys.

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