“Beautiful,” Lacy said.
“Thanks.I love the holiday festivities.”
Lacy had pretty much kept to herself and hadn’t participated in holiday fun for the last couple of years, mainly because of dating Timothy, who hated the holidays because of his dysfunctional family—so he said.He had never told her anything about them, even when she asked.
She liked the holiday atmosphere—the decorations, caroling, parties—but he had avoided all that nonsense, his words, and hadn’t liked it when she decorated for the holidays.
Even when the café she had worked at held a Christmas party for employees and their families, he didn’t want her to attend, and he wouldn’t go either.But she did.She wasn’t about to forgo the one party she got to go to a year, which made him furious.She’d tried to break up with him after that, without success.
“We have a big Christmas dance coming up next weekend and a Christmas bazaar where cougars sell their crafts and treats for Christmas,” Mrs.Fitz said.
“Oh, how fun.”
“We have Santa visit with the ladies in town at a special event, the proceeds going to our library.”
Lacy smiled.“I feel like I’m in Santa’s Village.”
“We love the holidays, but we also love the camaraderie.We have several community events throughout the year.”
Inside the house, Mrs.Fitz turned on her Christmas tree lights and strings of lights on the mantle and on the banister, covered in garland, and red and green plaid bows.
Then they went into the kitchen and worked together to make stir-fry sugar snap peas, miniature corn on the cob, bell pepper slices, and onions.Mrs.Fitz cut up strips of steak to add to the pan.
“You can’t know how much I enjoy your company and that you’re a cook who can help out in the kitchen.”Mrs.Fitz added seasoning to the pan.
“Yeah, this is fun.My ex-boyfriend didn’t cook so it’s fun to share tips in cooking with a fellow chef.”
Then they sat down to eat, and Mrs.Fitz asked, “You really don’t want to let your grandfather know where you are?”
“I blame him for my grandmother’s death.”Lacy didn’t want to talk about it.But since she was Mrs.Fitz’s guest, she figured she might as well get it out in the open.
“Oh?”Mrs.Fitz took another bite of her stir-fry.
Lacy sighed.“They went on a cougar run.Three hunters shot my grandmother, and my grandfather hid.”
“As a cougar, he couldn’t have fought three armed hunters,” Mrs.Fitz said.“They would have killed him too.”
Deep down, Lacy knew that.But she had wanted her grandfather to kill the hunters so badly for what they had done that she couldn’t see past her upset.Her grandmother and grandfather had raised her from a toddler, and she couldn’t see not having her grandmother around any longer.
“Just like if the roles had been reversed, if the hunters had shot your grandfather, your grandmother couldn’t have fought them without getting herself killed.Neither would have wanted that to happen to their mate.”
Lacy moved her food around on her plate.
“Your grandmother must have turned into her human form at death.”
“She did.The hunters had finally reached her body and were in shock that the cougar they thought they had shot had turned into a naked woman.They buried her with leaves, and my grandfather pursued them then.He followed them to their camp, where they hurriedly broke it down, loaded it into a pickup, and took off.He should have killed them then.”
“Did he report it to the police?”
“Yes.He returned to his clothes, shifted, dressed, and called 911.He also set her clothes nearby.He couldn’t dress her, or he wouldn’t be able to explain that the bullets hadn’t gone through her clothes or that she didn’t have blood on them.”
“He was smart to do that.”Mrs.Fitz drank some of her water.
“He’s a retired FBI agent.But yeah, I guess anyone could have figured that he couldn’t dress her.”
“Then the police arrived and…?”
“They thought my grandfather had shot her.You know how it goes.Family members closest to the victim are always suspected of committing the crime.He found the body.He was the one at the scene of the crime.”
