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

“Sounds like you need some TLC. Tell Brian he needs to rub your feet at night,” I said.

“Oh I have,” she said laughing. “Believe me, I’m sucking up all the spoiling he’s been doing.”

“I would do the same thing,” I said and turned to the front door as it opened. Katrina Hill walked in.

“Hi girls,” she said. “Brr, it’s cold outside!” She rubbed her gloved hands together and chuckled.

“It really is,” I said. “I think it’s going to snow any minute.”

“I bet you’re right,” she answered.

When I had paid for my order, I went to find a corner table to sit down for a minute before heading back to the candy store. Katrina stepped up and placed an order for herself. Amanda made her a coffee, and then Katrina came over to my table. “Hi Mia,” she said. “How are things going? Is Ethan close to catching Suzanne’s killer?”

She sat down at the table and Amanda came and sat down with us.

“He’s still working on things,” I said, wondering if she had anything to do with Suzanne’s death. “How are you enjoying your role as lead elf at the plaza?” I changed the subject, because I needed to know something.

“It’s a lot of fun,” she said. “I really enjoy interacting with all the people, especially the little kids. Sometimes at the haunted house they’re afraid of me because I’m a witch, but I do try to show them that I’m a good witch.”

I nodded. “How is Lawrence Deal to work with?” I asked.

She rolled her eyes. “Lawrence Deal is no big deal to work with,” she laughed. “I made a pun.”

I chuckled. “So you don’t have any problems with him?”

She shook her head. “I told you that he can be a little bossy, but really, he’s an old softy. And besides that, he might have a little bit of a crush on me. But don’t tell my husband, he would have a fit.” She laughed. “Really, Lawrence is fine.”

And there it was. “So, that’s how you got the job?” I asked it as nicely as I could, but it’s hard to ask something like that and still have it perceived as nice.

She looked at me. “Well, it isn’t any secret that he has a crush on me. My husband actually already knows that, and he did help me to get the job. But that’s as far as it goes. Why? Did you hear something?”

“Not exactly. It just seems like Lawrence was really intent on you getting that job. There’s nothing wrong with that, I was just wondering is all.”

“You heard he had an argument with Suzanne Wilson, right?” She eyed me.

I nodded. “I did. He denied it at first, but then he got angry when I asked again, and he admitted to it.”

“He didn’t get along with Suzanne. He complained about her quite a bit, but I don’t think he had anything to do with Suzanne’s death. It’s just that Suzanne was kind of pushy and liked to argue with him. Heck, she liked to argue with people at the haunted house, too. That isn’t any secret.”

I nodded. “I just wondered.” I took a sip of my coffee.

“Honestly, if you wanted to wonder about something, why don’t you wonder about her cousin? The two of them couldn’t get along. Suzanne complained about her all the time. They got into arguments quite a bit, from what I hear. And one day Suzanne went through the haunted house with some friends and they were making hateful remarks about Suzanne. Right out there in the open. I wasn’t there of course, Suzanne was filling in for me, but some of the other actors at the haunted house told me what happened. Suzanne was very upset about it and went to the ladies’ room to cry.”

“Brittany did that?” I asked, surprised. Katrina had mentioned that the two were rivals, at least where guys were concerned, so maybe it shouldn’t have been that surprising.

She nodded. “The two couldn’t stand one another. If I were Ethan, I would take a closer look at Brittany Wilson. She’s just so catty, or at least that’s my impression of her.”

I hadn’t heard this about her. I thought the two of them got along reasonably well, other than the arguments they’d had in high school. But that was when they were in their teens. They had to have changed since becoming adults, right?

“I overheard Brittany saying some mean things about Suzanne about six months ago. I was at the grocery store when I overheard it. Brittany said that she was loose and made fun of her because she had a crush on Sam Connor and he didn’t want anything to do with her,” Amanda spoke up.

I sat back in my seat and took a sip of my white chocolate mocha. “I thought Brittany and Suzanne had outgrown that after high school. Maybe I was wrong.”

And maybe Ethan really did need to have a long chat with Brittany.

Chapter Seventeen

I glanced up at the clock above the door. It was almost time for lunch. My stomach growled, and I glanced at the fudge in the display case. If I ate some now, it would ruin my appetite, but I was starving.

“I heard that,” Christy said, glancing at me and chuckling. “I’m starving, too.”

“Forty-five more minutes and we can go to lunch,” I said as I cleaned the top of the front counter.

“Want to go and get something at the Ghostly Grins Café?” she asked me.

“Sounds good,” I said. Christmas was just over a week away and I had managed to do a little shopping, but I had a lot left. Including buying something for Ethan. There was no reason this was as hard as I was making it out