Chapter Four
“Any word from Ethan?” Christy asked.
I glanced at her. The candy store was nearly filled to capacity with tourists. It was good to see, but it was wearing me out. It was almost four o’clock in the afternoon now and I really needed a break. Unfortunately, it didn’t look like I was going to get one before we closed this evening.
I shook my head. “No.” Then I turned to the customer at the counter. “That will be twenty-three dollars and sixteen cents.” I waited as she dug in her purse for the money.
Christy went back to waiting on customers. I was itching to call Ethan, but I knew he was busy and wouldn’t appreciate it. I hoped that whoever that was lying on the sidewalk, they had met their demise by natural means. I finished with my customer and glanced at the clock again.
“I love this shop. You all have the best candy in the state. Maybe the world,” the next woman said as she stepped up to the counter. She was dressed as a witch and she had an assortment of candy in her hands. She laid it all on the front counter.
I smiled at her. “Thanks, we love to hear that. Did you find everything you needed?” I asked, trying to sound cheery. My feet were well past being cheery, but I was going to give it my best effort.
She nodded. “I just need a half a pound of pumpkin spice fudge to make my day perfect.”
“A half-pound of pumpkin spice fudge coming right up,” I said and slipped over to the display case. I removed the tray and weighed out the fudge for her.
“I heard someone died on the parade route.” She placed her hands on the front counter and eyed me.
“Really? I wonder what happened?” It didn’t surprise me that rumors had already started, and I wondered if she knew anything concrete about what had happened.
She nodded and raised her voice. “A woman was stabbed. Right there on the parade route.”
I glanced up as some of the other customers turned in the woman’s direction. “I haven’t heard that. Maybe it’s just a rumor.” Now I was having second thoughts about wondering if she had heard anything. I didn’t want the other customers frightened.
She nodded. “I heard she was stabbed. Right there on the sidewalk. And there was blood everywhere.” She glanced around to make sure she had an audience and she looked pleased with the looks of horror on the other customers’ faces.
I narrowed my eyes at her as I wrapped her fudge. There hadn’t been any blood that I could see. She was clearly embellishing and if she was embellishing, she probably didn’t have any real information about what had happened.
“Really? Because we were all in the parade and we never saw that. Sometimes rumors fly around here. Small town, you know.” I looked at Christy for backup, but she was staring at the woman, wide-eyed. I cleared my throat and when she looked at me, I gave her a look.
“Oh, yeah, we were all over the parade route and there wasn’t any blood. I bet someone got confused about what really happened. If anything did happen, that is.”
The woman looked at her doubtfully. “I know something happened. The police were there with their flashing lights on.”
“Maybe someone got hurt. There were so many people out there, it would be easy to trip and fall. It’s hard to see where you’re going with all those people,” I suggested.
“I heard it was a murder, too,” another woman stepped up and confirmed.
I glanced at her, then back to the customer in front of me. “Well, let me ring up your candy and we’ll put it in one of our cute Halloween bags.” I glanced at the clock again. If Ethan was available, he hadn’t made any effort to call me. Maybe I could slip into the kitchen and call him.
“Do you think the police would come for someone tripping and falling?” the second woman asked. There was a challenge in her voice when she said it, but I smiled at her in spite of it.
“Well, the police were in the parade. I can’t imagine them not stopping to help.” I didn’t want to argue with these ladies, but they seemed determined to spread the rumors around and I rang up the woman’s purchases as quickly as I could.
She looked at me skeptically. “Maybe. I suppose they couldn’t just walk off if someone was hurt.”
“My mother just made a fresh batch of maple nut fudge. It’s really good. There’s a sample of it over on the sample plate.” I nodded in the direction of the small table Mom had put out with two sample plates. If a customer tasted my mother’s fudge, they’d buy it. There was no way it could be passed up. Christy placed the candy into a bag for the customer at the counter.
The other woman turned and moved toward the table, forgetting about the possibility of a murder victim. I smiled at the woman in front of me as she counted out her money to me.
“I bet she died. I bet it was a terrible, violent murder.”
I forced myself to smile. “Thank you so much for your business. I hope you’ll stop in again.”
She smiled and nodded, picked up her bag of candy, and headed for the door. I turned to Christy.
“You need to find out what happened,” she whispered.
“I’ll call Ethan right now.”
Before I could get to the kitchen, the front door opened, and Ethan stepped inside. His eyes searched for me and I gave him a little wave. He smiled and headed toward me, weaving in between
