The skeleton bride grins at us from her casket, her rhinestone tiara catching the purple spotlights. For a dead woman, she looks remarkably amused by our conversation.
“Plus,” Nadine adds with what sounds suspiciously like relish. “Delora was the one who insisted on using those marble rolling pins for the merchandise display. Said they were authentically weighted and perfect for demonstrating proper technique. Awfully convenient that she knew exactly how heavy they were, don’t you think?”
She’s really going for the throat now,Chip notes.This woman could sell snow to penguins.
Or rolling pins to a killer,Chip counters.
“That does seem suspicious,” Ree agrees, still scribbling madly.
“Oh, I’m not accusing anyone,” Nadine says quickly, but her expression suggests she absolutely is. “I’m just saying that both Savvy and Delora had excellent reasons to want Dilly gone, and they both had access to the murder weapon. Meanwhile, I was the one person who actually benefited from keeping Dilly alive. She was my business partner, my livelihood, my entire career.”
“Except for the part where she was cutting you out of future deals,” I point out.
Nadine’s smile falters for just a moment. “Well, yes, there was that. But I would have found a way to work things out with her. We always did. Thirty years of partnership doesn’t end over a few contract disputes.”
From the stage comes more ghostly laughter. “Partnership is such a lovely word for indentured servitude, don’t you think?”
Several tourists look uncomfortable and start drifting away from the photo line.
“I should probably go shut that down,” Nadine says, nodding toward the crowd. “The hologram seems to be getting a bit too much for family entertainment.”
“Of course,” I agree. “Thank you for talking with us. This has been very... illuminating.”
“Anytime, dear. I want whoever did this to Dilly to be caught just as much as you do. More, even.” She pauses, her expression turning almost wistful. “Despite everything, she was my oldest friend. We may have had our differences, but I never would have hurt her.”
As Nadine walks away toward the stage, Georgie immediately pounces. “Oh my goodness, did you hear all that? She just threw both Savvy and Delora under the bus with a steamroller!” Georgie says, stepping away from the fog machine finally.
“And backed up over them for goodmeasure,” Ree adds, reviewing her notes. “The affair, the threatening phone call, the rolling pin details—she had answers for everything.”
Too many answers,Fish observes shrewdly.Like maybe she’s been preparing for this conversation.
Also, she seems awfully cheerful for someone whose best friend just got murdered,Chip adds.Even I’m sadder when my food bowl is empty.
It’s true,Fish says.I’ve watched him weep rivers.
So have I.
I watch Nadine approach the hologram technician, her vintage apron swishing with each step. There’s something about her performance that doesn’t quite ring true—like watching community theater where all the actors are slightly over-enunciating their lines.
“You know what bothers me?” I muse aloud. “She knew exactly what to say about both suspects. Almost like she’d been thinking about it for a while.”
“You think she’s lying?” Georgie asks, the lingering fog still creating ominous swirls around her.
“I think she’s telling us exactly what she wants us to believe,” I reply, watching as Nadine gestures emphatically at the hologram technician. “The question is why.”
From the stage, Dilly’s voice drifts over one last time. “The truth has a way of revealing itself, doesn’t it? Even when people think they’ve buried it six feet under.”
The remaining tourists hurry away, apparently deciding that ghost wisdom isn’t worth the psychological trauma.
And standing in the glow of purple spotlights next to a skeleton bride who’s seen better centuries, I realize that Nadine Halbrook just handed me two solid leads on a silver platter—wrapped up in flour-dusted aprons and genuine concern for her murdered business partner, delivered with the helpful precision of someone who truly wants justice for her oldest friend.
Or so it seems.
CHAPTER 14
Nadine finished up with her dissertation on what men that women should choose and why—oh, and she threw in a really good recipe for Bourbon maple pumpkin trifle with candied pecans and cinnamon whipped cream.
After that, Fish and Chip were escorted to the Pawprint Hollow to finish up with one of their last meet and greets for the day. And lucky for me, I have just enough time to squeeze in a hot date with Detective Dreamboat all by my lonesome.
