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

She loved that job too, but she just really enjoyed playing the witch at the haunted house. I wish Charlie would have hired her on permanently. It just made her happy to play the part.”

“I think working at the haunted house would be fun,” I said. “It’s hard for me to think of Katrina as being a murderer though. She doesn’t seem the type.”

“Who is the type?” Brittany asked with a shrug. “I mean, I don’t think most people set out to be murderers. It’s something that happens in the heat of the moment. At least, when I watch those true crime dramas, that’s what it appears to be most of the time.”

“I know what you mean,” Christy said. “I’ve seen all kinds of shows where somebody gets jealous of somebody else, and they end up murdering somebody.”

Jealous or not, I was having a hard time picturing Katrina killing anyone. I was having a hard time even picturing Katrina being mean to somebody. But it was something to think about. Ethan would be interviewing everyone that might have had anything to do with Suzanne, but I didn’t know if he would think about interviewing people at the haunted house. If, as Brittany said, Suzanne had problems with Katrina, then that was definitely someone he needed to speak to.

“Well, I appreciate you girls coming to see me. I don’t mean to rush you off, but I need to get to the funeral home and make arrangements. Can you believe it? I just keep telling myself over and over that she’s gone and I’ve got to go down there and do this. I want to put it off, but I know I can’t.” Her eyes teared up as she spoke and it broke my heart.

I nodded. “She was far too young for you to have to be making her funeral arrangements,” I said. “I know Ethan is going to find her killer. It won’t bring her back of course, but it’s all we’ve got.”

She nodded. “You’re right. It will never bring her back, but at least she’ll have justice and I’ll be able to sleep at night knowing the killer is behind bars.”

Christy and I left. I was going to have to have a talk with Katrina and see what she had to say about the situation with Suzanne.

Chapter Five

“What do you think about what she said?” Christy asked me as we drove away from Brittany’s house.

I shook my head slowly. “I just can’t imagine it. I mean, she’s talking about Katrina Hill. She’s always been nice and pleasant when I’ve spoken to her. Have you ever known her not to be?”

She shook her head. “Nope. Never. But, I keep thinking that you don’t always know a person until you know a person.” She looked at me. “Know what I mean?”

I chuckled. “You’ve got a point. And I really hope Katrina is not the murderer here.” I knew better than to allow my opinions of people to interfere when there was a murder at stake. Even the nicest of people could end up committing murder, and if Katrina and Suzanne had problems at work, there was a possibility that things had blown up. I would never think Katrina could plot someone’s murder, but I could see if emotions were running high, she might have done it accidentally. But was Katrina even at the bazaar? I couldn’t remember seeing her there, but I might have missed her.

We pulled into the parking lot of the bank. “What are we doing here?” Christy asked.

“Katrina works here part-time,” I said. The parking lot looked nearly deserted, and I hoped it stayed that way, at least for a few minutes. I didn’t know if I would get a chance to talk to Katrina privately, but I was going to see if I could find out any information if I got the chance.

We got out of the car and headed to the entrance. To my delight, I saw that the bank was empty of customers. Katrina was standing at one of the teller windows working on some paperwork, so we headed right over to her.

“Good morning, Katrina,” I said. Christy and I leaned on the front counter.

She looked up and smiled at us. “Well, hello girls. What are you two up to today?”

“I have to make a deposit. My sister here borrowed fifty dollars three weeks ago, and now that she’s finally paying me back, I need to deposit it into my account before something bounces.” I didn’t look at Christy when I said it, I just kept smiling at Katrina.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Christy turn to look at me. I slowly turned my head to look at her now and I smiled. Then Christy turned back to Katrina. “That’s right. I borrowed fifty dollars from my sister and I’m going to pay it back now.”

Christy made no move to get her checkbook from her purse, and Katrina stood there smiling at us. “Well then, you came to the right place,” she finally said after Christy continued to stand there.

Christy sighed and finally took her checkbook out of her purse and began writing a check out to me. I picked up a deposit slip from the counter and began filling it out with my account information.

“Did you get to go to the bazaar opening night, Katrina?” I asked.

She nodded. “I sure did. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. I love all things Christmas and that carousel was so pretty! Sam did a great job on it.”

“He really did. It was a shame to hear about Suzanne Wilson, wasn’t it?” I asked as I finished filling out the deposit slip.

“Oh my gosh, yes. I just can’t imagine who would kill Suzanne,” Katrina said. She looked at me wide-eyed.

I glanced up from the deposit slip. “Did