“But you should bring a warm blanket. The ovens will come on at 3 a.m., but still.”
I don’t want to tell her what I was about to ask: Do you think our grandmothers could have had something to do with Dr. Merriweather’s murder after all?
13
WILLOW
“Are all the drunk people really going to appreciate these garlands?” I complain to myself as I haul the sled full of evergreen boughs through the Christmas market. Maybe I should have taken Hughes up on his offer for a date.Not a date.Just beer and pizza. “You can’t let a man buy you food then insist he perform manual labor for your granny.”
Breathing hard, I adjust the pull on the sleigh and make sure I’m not about to lose any garlands. I need to lay off the cookies. Though, speaking of cookies, a gingerbread latte would be really good right now. A girl needs caffeine if she’s going to perform unpaid labor for her grandmother.
The Jingle Bites Café is bustling.
It’s a small town, and I’m not the only one with a sleigh, carriage, or dog stroller of packages from the Christmas market parked outside.
“Oh!” Rose exclaims when she sees me. “Did you come to get Hollis’s bag? She left it here.”
“Oh, uh, no, but I’ll take it to her,” I promise Rose before she can protest.
I bus a few tables then grab a tray and extra napkins and take them out into the café, wondering if it would be super un-feminist of me to try wheedling Hughes into lugging all my garlands home to Gran.
Weird… there’s that tall, svelte woman with the glossy hair again. Where do I know her from…?
“Oof! Sorry, Mrs. Levensworth!” I apologize as I drop Hollis’s bag, my phone, and the napkins all over the floor. “Shoot, shoot, shoot.” I scoop everything up to dump Hollis’s stuff back into her tote.
Then stare.
There, at the bottom of the bag, is a tiny toy train.
“What the what?” I take it out.
It’s a model train like Gideon sells in his shop, still in its little plastic box.
No freaking… no way. Is Hollis the murderer?
I dump the napkins on the nearest table and hurry outside.
“Oh, hey, Willow.”
“Hughes, oh my gosh.”
He gives me an odd look and adjusts the duffel bag over his shoulder. “Gran made me clear out my murder clues. I thought I could stash them here. If that’s still okay…”
“Here, with Hollis?” I squawk. “Um, actually—”
“Oh, I mean, it’s okay if I can’t stay here.” He shuffles his feet.
“Uh, no, I’m not leaving anyone out in the cold.” I laugh nervously, looking over my shoulder. “But actually, I think you’re just going to bunk with me and Gran tonight. Yep. That’s the plan.”
“Aren’t you busy? I know you were party planning.” He gives me a quizzical look.
“Yes, I have a thousand pounds of garland here.” I gesture wildly. “We need to talk.”
“About the case? Did you find another clue?”
“Not here,” I hiss and pull him to the side entrance of the shop and into the kitchen.
We’re enveloped by the heat and the smell of cookies. I immediately start sweating.
