Peppermint Fudge Killer: A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 13 by Kathleen Suzette (universal ebook reader .TXT) 📗

“I borrowed fifty dollars and now I’m going to pay it back?” Christy asked, looking at me.

I chuckled. “I needed to borrow fifty dollars. I guess I should have asked instead of pulling that little stunt, but I promise I’ll get back to you on payday.”

She snorted and rolled her eyes. “You bet you will. Otherwise, I’ll have Mom dock your check.”

 “It’s good we stopped by. Now we know that Katrina was at the bazaar on opening night.”

“We sure do,” she said.

Chapter Six

“What are you going to have?” Ethan asked, looking over the menu. He looked up and smiled at me, but there was a crease in his brow as he went back to looking over the menu. He wasn’t fooling me. He’d been working extra hours since Suzanne’s murder case had begun and he was tired.

“I’m thinking about the sirloin steak with sweet potato fries,” I said, looking over the menu. We were at the local steakhouse and I was starving. Along with the steak and sweet potato fries I was going to get the salad with ranch dressing.

“That sounds good,” he said, nodding. “But I think I’m going to get the ribeye steak with sweet potato fries. I have a man-sized appetite tonight.” He looked up at me and smiled again, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“A man after my own heart. How can I not love a steak and potato guy?”

He chuckled, but it came out sounding as tired as his eyes looked. “How can I not love a steak and potato woman?”

“You look so tired,” I said quietly. “You need some rest.”

He smiled again. “That’s because I am tired. What happened to Suzanne was pretty awful and I’m going to catch her killer, whatever it takes.”

The waitress came and took our orders and left us glasses of iced tea. When she had gone, I turned back to Ethan. “Have you found out anything that will help you with the case yet?”

He nodded. “It was a murder. She was stabbed.” He grinned.

I rolled my eyes and took a sip of my iced tea. “What kind of knife?” I glanced around after I had said it, but the tables nearest us were vacant. It was still early in the evening.

“It was a fancy pocketknife with a seatbelt cutter and glass breaker.”

I stared at him. “Seatbelt cutter and glass breaker?” I asked.

He nodded. “Yup.”

Ethan had a couple of those kinds of knives, and he usually carried one with him. “Does it have a brand name on it?”

“Techbuilt.”

“Don’t you have one like that?”

“Yes I do, but I didn’t kill her,” he said, sitting back in his chair. He smirked at me. “It’s similar to one that I have with a black and red handle. It’s the sharpest knife I’ve ever owned. The blade is sturdy and is a good size for a pocketknife.”

“Well, you aren’t on my suspect list. Yet. It makes me wonder if it was a man that normally carried that knife around in his pocket and decided to take advantage of her and killed her, or if it’s a woman who planned the murder and had to buy that knife. It sounds like a man’s knife.”

“Don’t make assumptions. A woman might own a knife like that,” he said. “But some men carry them when they go fishing or hunting. Or someone that’s involved in safety, or an EMT. Those knives come in handy if you need to break out an automobile window and cut an accident victim free.”

“Did you check out the EMTs that came that morning?”

He chuckled. “I think Casey and Greg are okay guys. They aren’t on my suspect list.”

I nodded. “I’m voting that it was a crime of passion.”

“I suppose it could have been a murder that came about because someone was angry or jealous, right now I’m kind of betting it was premeditated. I could be wrong, but I don’t think I am.”

“Is there someone you’re looking at that might have a reason to commit premeditated murder?”

“Not yet. It’s just a feeling I get.”

“And what about fingerprints? Were there any fingerprints left on the knife handle?” I was thinking of all the things that I needed to ask him. Most of the time Ethan didn’t mind if I did a little sleuthing on my own, but sometimes he did. That might have been because I occasionally put myself in danger.

He picked up his glass of tea and took a sip before answering. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” he teased. He smiled at me, but I could see his heart wasn’t in it. “But no, there were no fingerprints on the knife and that’s not surprising. Almost everyone is wearing gloves this time of year.”

I considered this. “What else do you know?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I really don’t want to talk about that.”

I sighed. “Okay, I understand. You don’t want to tell me everything you know.” I filled him in on what I had found out from Brittany Wilson and Katrina Hill. It wasn’t much, but I wanted him to know what I’d found out in case it would help with the investigation.

“Sorry,” he said after a minute.

“No fingerprints on the knife makes me think it was premeditated, regardless of how cold it is and whether everyone is wearing gloves these days. The killer had to have wiped down the knife before using it, right? If the knife was something they carried around with them all the time, then it would have all sorts of fingerprints on it.”

“That is a wise deduction and probably accurate. It’s kind of cruel, killing an elf at Christmas time,” he said, looking around the room at the other diners.

“It is. I wonder if she was killed someplace else, or if they killed her