Hollis:I have to step away for a minute, back to the cafe! Apparently, Rose left to go see her boyfriend. *grimace emoji* Left a sign up on the stall.
“Maybe that was her,” I wonder as I retrieve the spiced wine mix.
At least I don’t see anything missing from the stall. But I don’t believe that was Hollis—there’s no way she would run past me like that without saying hello.
I hear something jostle behind me.
Is it the intruder?
“Josie!”
“Hi!” My friend hugs me. “Finally got away from the kids. Oh! Are those the peanut butter truffles?”
“Sure, you can have one.” I roll my eyes but can’t help grinning at my friend.
“Is this the wine mix for the party? You can’t let me drink too much,” Josie warns.
“You’re coming still?”
“Yeah, duh,” she says around the gooey truffle. “I never miss your granny’s party. I already told Mace he has to watch the baby.”
“Mace can come, too, if he wants,” I tell her, trying not to be the possessive friend. I can hear Taylor Grace in my head.
“He’s not a big party person anyway. Though maybe I’ll get him to come out. Whoo! Par-tay! It’s going to be epic. I’ll come early to help set up, and also you have to tell me which ugly sweater you think is best. I have one that says, ‘I’m a ho ho ho,’ but maybe that’s more trashy than ugly.”
She chatters as I fill orders for people, carefully wrapping up gift boxes of truffles.
“Speaking of trashy, any progress on the murder?” She looks excited.
“Not much.” I fill her in on the earring, the phone, and Lenore.
“That’s progress,” she says. “Baby steps.”
“I don’t have time to make baby steps.” I show her one of Taylor Grace’s flyers. “She’s trying to ruin me. She wants to steal the business, and she’s trying to get me arrested. She’s batshit insane!”
“We need to find that phone. The murderer clearly took it.” I glance around. “I don’t even know where to start looking.”
“The scene of the crime. No, I mean thescene of the crime.” She makes porno-music noises and gyrates her hips.
“Oh, barf, gross,blech.”
“We need to sneak into Dr. Merriweather’s office. The police must have missed some clues there.”
“Yeah, just let me see if I can get Hollis back over here to—Rose! Hey!” I wave.
“Hollis sent me over to help.” The teenager touches up her lip gloss. “You really should hire another person.”
“Yeah, if Taylor Grace hadn’t burned through our financial reserves chasing stupid product ideas, I might be able to. Thanks, Rose.”
She’s bouncing up and down.
“If you want your boyfriend here, then he needs to help.”
Josie links arms with me,skipping along next to me through the Christmas market.
“I also told Mace I’m going to be out tomorrow afternoon and to make arrangements. I need to make sure I can fit in my little black dress.”
“You’re going out?”
