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

She hesitated a moment. “Well, I don’t know if you can say that I knew her well. But she filled in for me at the haunted house. It wasn’t often that I needed someone to fill in, of course. I really only worked evenings and weekends during the Halloween season and Pumpkin Hollow Days, but occasionally I couldn’t make it in, so she would work for me.”

I nodded. “With you working here during the day, and the haunted house in the evenings and on weekends, I bet that made for a very full Halloween season.”

“Oh, it did,” she said and smiled. “Luckily I only work part-time here at the bank though. Otherwise, I would have lost my mind working all those hours.” She chuckled. “But it’s fun working at the haunted house, so I don’t complain about the hours.”

“I’ve always wanted to get a job at the haunted house,” Christy said, looking up from her checkbook. “I think it would be so much fun to get to play one of those characters.”

“I love it,” she said, nodding. “Honestly, I can’t imagine not doing it.”

Christy slid the check across the counter to me and gave me the evil eye. I ignored her and handed the check along with my deposit slip to Katrina. “Christy and I were talking about that not long ago. I think it would be a lot of fun to work at the haunted house. I bet those positions are at a premium, aren’t they? I mean, there are a limited number of positions, right?”

She nodded. “Oh yes,” she said. “Sometimes we get some flaky actors in there, and they don’t last long, so if you keep asking Charlie, I’m sure something will open up. You should try it during Pumpkin Hollow Days next summer.”

“That’s a great idea,” I said. “So, I bet you were surprised when you heard Suzanne was murdered.”

She nodded again and began my transaction. “I was so shocked. Poor thing. She was so young, and it seems like such a shame when someone that young is killed.”

“Yes, she was my age,” I said. “I went to school with her. She was just the nicest person.”

Katrina glanced at me and her mouth made a straight-line. “Was she? I guess I didn’t know her that well, but I’m surprised that you describe her as a nice person.”

“Why do you say that?” Christy asked.

She shrugged. “I guess I had a different experience with her.” She looked up at Christy and smiled. “To tell you the truth, we didn’t get along very well. She wanted my job at the haunted house, and as you can imagine, that didn’t make me too happy.”

“I had no idea,” Christy lied.

She nodded. “She did. She told Charlie that I was lazy, and I didn’t do my job. Can you believe that? I was so shocked when Tim Gray told me that when I came back after I had been out sick for a few days.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe she did that to me.”

“She really said that?” I asked her.

She nodded. “She sure did. It made me so angry. I mean, why would she say something like that? If Charlie had had a problem with me, he would have seen for himself that I wasn’t doing my job. But it was completely untrue. Charlie has never had a problem with me.” Her cheeks were turning pink as she spoke.

 She had a point, though. If Charlie had thought she wasn’t doing her job as an actor there at the haunted house, wouldn’t he have talked to her directly? He was the owner, after all. “Did you confront her about it?”

She stopped for a moment as she was entering the deposit on her computer. “I did. I regret having done it, of course. I should just let things alone. Charlie knows that I do a great job down there at the haunted house and if he had any complaints, he would talk to me. But I let her get the best of me and I went to her house and told her that she had better keep her mouth shut about me.”

I nodded. “I think I might have done the same thing if someone was talking about me behind my back,” I said.

“I know I definitely would have confronted her,” Christy said. “It’s kind of childish to do what she did.”

Katrina nodded. “That’s exactly what it was. It was childish and immature. I really am sorry that she was killed though. Please don’t take it that I don’t care that she died. We just couldn’t get along.”

She finished my transaction and slid the receipt across the counter to me.

“I don’t blame you for being angry about it. Sometimes working a job is hard enough, but then when you add a coworker that would do something like stab you in the back, that just makes it so much harder,” I said.

“You can say that again,” she agreed. “I asked Charlie whether he thought I was doing a good job though, and he said he had no complaints about me.” She shrugged. “All the drama was for nothing. I should have just let it go.”

“I wouldn’t let it go,” Christy said. “Honestly, people like that have nothing better to do with their time than cause trouble and confronting them is sometimes the fastest way to get them to stop.”

Another customer walked into the bank and got in line behind us. I glanced over my shoulder at her and then I turned back to Katrina. “Well, it was nice seeing you, Katrina. If you happen to hear anything about Suzanne’s death, will you let me know?” I whispered so the customer behind me wouldn’t hear me.

She nodded. “I sure will. I hope Ethan finds her killer quickly.”

I picked up my receipt, and we