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

and Ethan need to get married so you can have one, too. I wish they could be closer together in age, but if you get married this weekend, you can get started on that baby and they can be in the same class together when they go to school.”

I stared at him and gave him a shove. “You keep that kind of talk to yourself. We aren’t ready to get married yet.”

He laughed at me.

“Why not? We need another wedding, and another baby,” Amanda said from the table. “There’s no reason to wait.”

“Are you kidding me? We’ll have your baby shower to celebrate and that will be enough for everyone.”

I sat back down at the table and picked up my coffee and took a sip. “I really am excited for you guys, though.”

“I swear, you need to get married,” Amanda said and took a sip of her coffee.

“Wait a minute, are you supposed to be drinking coffee?” I asked. “Isn’t caffeine bad for the baby?”

“It’s decaf. I hate it, if you want to know the truth. But I’ll survive. After I have the baby, I’ll load up on caffeine to make up for the nine months I couldn’t drink it.” She chuckled. “But I’m serious about you and Ethan getting married. Don’t change the subject.”

She had caught me. I wasn’t ready to talk about getting married, no matter how much I loved Ethan. “I tell you what, when we get married and we decide to have a baby, you can have your second baby then. That way they’ll both be able to be in the same class together.”

“Deal. And don’t you dare try to go back on that.”

Brian went back behind the counter and made himself a coffee. “I hear Ethan’s on a new case.”

“Yes, Suzanne Wilson. It’s a shame.”

He nodded. “I heard she was dating Steven Brown. I never liked that guy. I hope Ethan will have a nice long talk with him.”

“I heard he was the jealous type,” I said.

He nodded again. “And he has a bad temper. I hope if he’s the one that killed her, Ethan arrests him soon.”

“I know he’s going to do everything he can to catch the killer quickly,” I said.

I’d heard enough about Steven to wonder about him. They hadn’t been dating long according to Patty George, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t already possessive of her. Maybe possessive enough to kill her if she accidentally looked at the wrong person in the wrong way.

Chapter Eight

I knew I wasn’t going to get any sleep until I got some answers. The Christmas bazaar had ended, but the carousel was a permanent fixture in the plaza, so I drove over to see what I could see. I parked my car and got out. We had had another light snowfall overnight, and it added to the winter wonderland feel of the place. The lights the city had strung across the plaza were twinkling brightly beneath the ink-black sky. The carousel was turning and there was a long line of people waiting their turn.

The snow crunched beneath my boots as I moved toward the carousel. The shops that lined the plaza were decked out for Christmas, with tree and light displays in their windows. I stopped a moment, taking it all in. People milled about, shopping, or watching the carousel turn. I could hear Up on the Rooftop playing on the carousel from where I stood.

There was a coffee shop here, and although it wasn’t Amanda’s, I was cold standing there in the chilly night air, so I headed over to see about getting some hot cocoa. I pushed the door open and blinked under the bright lights. There was a stuffed snowman and children made of felt rolling fabric snowballs in the front window. Tiny white twinkle lights lined the window and there was a Noble fir Christmas tree that looked to be eight feet tall in one corner. The tree was decorated in red and silver and I headed over to it to get a closer look. Nestled in its branches were tiny antique toys from a bygone era. I saw red sleighs, scooters, and ball and Jack sets glued onto tiny red and white woven rugs. There were tiny rag dolls scattered among its branches as well as a few crocheted snowflakes. Beneath the tree sat three wooden pumpkins in honor of Pumpkin Hollow’s Halloween theme.

I turned back to the counter and got in line for my hot cocoa. Someone tapped my shoulder, and I turned around.

“Hi Carrie,” I said, smiling. “How are you this evening?”

“I’m great. My husband, and I are out shopping. Tom is waiting in line for the carousel with the girls right now.”

Carrie was our part-time employee at the candy shop, and she had four-year-old twin girls that were cute as could be with their blond hair and blue eyes.

“I bet they’ll love the carousel,” I said.

She nodded. “We’ve been here every night since it opened. You better believe they love it.”

I chuckled. “Well if you’ve been here every night, it sounds like they do really love it,” I said.

“So I guess Ethan is working Suzanne Wilson’s murder case?” she asked.

“Yes, he’s tied up doing that these days.” I had gone to school with Carrie, and she knew Suzanne well.

“I just couldn’t believe it when I heard the news,” she said shaking her head sadly. “It’s terrible when somebody your own age is murdered. She was way too young to die like that.”

“I feel the same way. Carrie, had you spent much time around Suzanne after we graduated?”

“Not a lot,” she said. We took a couple more steps forward in line. “I would run into her from time to time, and a couple of years ago we had lunch together. But it’s not like