They seemed to be friends, like Daisy and I are. They had a history. They reconnected when Margaret asked Glenda to come here to produce the play. Glenda seemed to be thankful for that.”

“Really?” the detective asked.

“Why? Do you doubt it?” Daisy wanted to know. He seemed to be eking out information to her, little by little. If she asked enough questions, maybe she’d learn something.

“What’s that old saying?” he asked. “Keep your friends close but your enemies closer?”

“Do you think that’s what Glenda was doing?”

“What do you think?”

“I think you can’t always tell someone else’s motive,” Daisy responded.

Tessa leaned across Daisy to ask the detective, “What’s the word on the street about Glenda and Margaret?”

That was an interesting way to ask the question, Daisy thought. Maybe he’d answer.

After hesitating, he did answer. “The word on the street is that maybe Glenda Nurmi had something to gain from her friendship with Margaret. The word on the street is she’s become helpful to Rowan Vaughn ever since Margaret died. That’s the word on the street.”

He hadn’t told them anything new. He’d told them about gossip he’d heard. The truth was Daisy had heard that same gossip from Vanna and Tamlyn. Possibly Glenda did have a motive. Possibly Glenda was the murderess.

* * *

The whole tea garden smelled like gingerbread on Saturday, which was no surprise since this was gingerbread house–making day. Tonight, she’d be attending the premier performance of Christmas in the North Woods along with Jazzi and Vi. Foster had pushed the idea of his wife going to the opening night of the play. In an aside, he’d told Daisy that Vi hadn’t been dressed up with makeup on since before the baby had been born. It would do her good to leave Sammy with him and just be a woman on the town again.

From the moment Daisy had met Foster, she’d considered him mature. This commonsense approach to what was happening in his marriage proved it. Daisy’s mom and dad would be joining them at the theater, and it would be a real family night.

But now she had to put thoughts of the Little Theater aside while she accepted the tickets of the tearoom guests appearing at the doorway to the tea garden and show them to their tables. Foster had come in early this morning to help Daisy, Iris, and Tessa make the sheets of gingerbread that would be needed. Cora Sue and Eva had been on icing duty. Now they were distributing squeeze bottles of it to each table to help “glue” the gingerbread houses together.

At the same time, Pam and Jada were filling bowls on each table that the gingerbread house builders could use for decoration. There wouldn’t be any judging of the final creations because Daisy didn’t want any of her child guests to feel that theirs wasn’t the best gingerbread house in the room. The Zook daughters would be helping the children when necessary and also serve tables in the main tearoom when tourists or other tea lovers came in for a scone or a cup of tea. Daisy knew she’d taken on a huge endeavor, but if today was successful, it could become a yearly tradition.

At the door, welcoming her customers, she suddenly gasped. “What are you doing here?”

Gavin Cranshaw grinned at her and pointed to his daughter Emily beside him. “Emily thought this would be fun.”

Emily didn’t hesitate to offer her opinion. “Dad does more stuff with Ben than with me. So I’m just trying to even things out a bit.” She winked at Daisy. “Maybe you could teach Dad how to make gingerbread.”

Daisy laughed. She’d met Gavin’s daughter at the rehearsal picnic for Vi and Foster’s wedding. Emily was fourteen and didn’t hesitate to say what she thought. To Gavin’s credit, Emily seemed to be confident in herself and unafraid to face the world.

Since the tea garden spillover room where they held private tea functions was almost full, no one came in behind Gavin.

“Come on,” Daisy said. “I’ll show you to your table.” She addressed Emily. “Do you mind sitting at a table with smaller children? My guess is, you’ll be finished before they will, and you can help them.”

“Unless I make our house really complicated,” Emily teased. Then she added, “I don’t mind. I like kids.”

Gavin just rolled his eyes and leaned close to Daisy. “As you can tell, she doesn’t consider herself a kid anymore. Turning fourteen did that.”

Daisy laughed and showed them to a table for six with two moms and their daughters who were about eight. She introduced everyone and said, “Have fun.”

After they all assured her they would, Gavin asked, “Can I talk to you for a couple of minutes?”

Daisy looked around and saw that all was under control. “Sure. Do you want to go to my office?”

“No, Foster would probably see us there and think we’re hatching a plot. How about that quiet corner over there?” He nodded to the corner by the bay window where a service cart stood.

“Sure,” Daisy agreed, wondering what this was all about.

Gavin put his hand on his daughter’s shoulder. “I’ll be right back. Draw up the plan you want to use, and then I’ll see if we can execute it.”

His daughter gave him one of those oh-Dad looks.

Over by the serving cart and out of earshot of the general population, Gavin stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Foster came to me to talk about Vi and the baby.”

“Did he just need to vent?”

“I think so. He’s feeling powerless. I just wanted to check with you to see if there was anything in particular either he or I could do to help. I’ve hesitated to interfere or even to stop in too often. He explained postpartum depression and everything they’re trying to do to help Vi. I never realized it was so complicated.”

“Did you ever have to deal with it?”

“If Annie ever experienced it, I didn’t know about it. But I was working long hours building up

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