I stared at her. As much as I didn’t like John at this point, I couldn’t imagine him sexually harassing anyone. “He was fired? I thought he quit?”
She smirked. “Fired, or laid off, one of the two. But he most definitely didn’t quit.”
I was stunned. Christy had told me he was laid off due to cutbacks. Why hadn’t she told me he was fired? Unless she knew he had gotten into trouble because of Olivia? And now maybe he had gotten his revenge on her and Christy was covering for him. “I didn’t know that,” I said dumbly.
She nodded. “I’m sure he wouldn’t want that to get around. Well, I better get going. If I stay out too late, I’ll be too wound up to go to bed on time and then I’ll be cranky all day tomorrow at work.”
“It was good seeing you, Carla. Congratulations on the promotion.”
“Thanks, I’ll be stopping by to get some of your mom’s fudge in the next day or two. I love that stuff.”
I watched as she pushed her shopping cart away. If John had killed Olivia to get revenge on her and to get his old job back, then he missed out on getting her cubicle.
Chapter Twenty
“Hey, Christy, that casserole you brought over was delicious. Ethan loved it, too. Not to mention Boo and Licorice got a little taste, and they purred like crazy over it. It was a real hit.”
Christy sighed loudly and picked up the tray of candy she had just finished making and took it out to the front without speaking to me. I turned and looked at Mom. She had her eyes on Christy’s back as she went, then she looked at me, puzzled.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“I’m not sure.” But the truth was, I was pretty sure I did know. I sighed softly to myself. I knew Ethan was going to talk to her again, but I hadn’t thought it would be this soon. Biting my lower lip, I knew I needed to talk to Christy about it. The front of the candy store was filled with customers and I didn’t want to follow her out there where everyone could overhear our conversation.
I started packing a candy order, and I waited for Christy to come back into the kitchen, but when she didn’t, I finally headed out front.
“Mia, this place is hopping,” Linda said as she filled the bulk bins with candy.
I forced myself to smile. “It sure is. Isn’t it wonderful?”
“Wonderful is the word for it,” she agreed. “Makes me excited for the holidays to get here.” I loved Linda’s positive attitude. There were times I could take lessons from her and this might be one of them.
Christy was straightening the imported candy shelf, and I headed over to her, weaving between customers standing in line, waiting to be checked out. Carrie and Lisa were acting as a team, ringing orders up and bagging purchases. I sidestepped the life-size ghost in the middle of the room that Mom had just bought. It reminded me of Casper, and it was a cute addition to our decorations, but it was a little cumbersome to maneuver around.
“Hey,” I whispered when I stood next to Christy.
She glanced at me, but didn’t say anything.
“Hey, Christy, we need to talk.”
She shrugged. “So, talk.”
I glanced over my shoulder at the customers. “Can we step outside?”
“It’s kind of busy right now to take a break.”
I nodded. “It is, but it looks like the girls have everything covered. One of our newest employees, Missy Pritchard, was assisting another customer at another shelf and I knew she and Linda would step in if Carrie and Lisa needed help.
She sighed and set down the box of imported Swiss chocolates she held in her hand, and turned to me, her mouth making a hard line. “Look, I’m busy right now. Maybe later.”
“Please, Christy,” I said. “You’re obviously angry at me and I hate that. We need to talk.”
“In a bit,” she said, turning back to the shelf.
I stared at the side of her head a few moments then headed back to the kitchen. If she wasn’t ready to talk to me, it was pointless to try to force her. There was too much work to be done anyway, and I couldn’t stand around just hoping she’d speak to me.
“Is everything all right?” Mom asked slowly.
I nodded. “Everything’s great. Or it will be. But one of your daughters is extremely stubborn and I’ll leave it to you to figure out which one it is.”
She smirked and went back to stirring the fudge in the saucepan. “I bet I can take a really good guess at which one that is.”
***
When the customers had left, I headed over to Christy. “How about now? Do you have time to talk to me now?”
She glanced at me, and then at the other employees. I may have spoken a tad sharply. “Sure.”
We headed out front so no one would overhear our conversation. “You’re angry with me?” I said when the door closed behind her.
She sighed and folded her arms across her chest. “You told Ethan I was covering for John.”
“I did not tell him that. Did he say I said that? Other people told him they’d seen John and Olivia together. It kind of looks like you might be covering for him when you said he was with you, but didn’t mention he was with Olivia first. Ethan can’t let anyone interfere with the investigation. You can understand that, can’t you?”
Her brow was
