He nodded. “He has the flu, so his route was divided up amongst several of us mail carriers. I volunteered for this part of the route of course, because of all the wonderful candy.” He stepped closer to the display case and looked in. “That fudge looks delicious.” He still held our mail in his hand.
“Well, I can tell you, it is delicious. My mother makes the best fudge in the whole world. I might be biased, but I’m pretty sure it’s true.”
“Oh, I know it’s true. I’ve had enough of your mother’s fudge to know exactly how true that statement is.” He grinned. “If you don’t tell anyone, I think I might buy a quarter pound of the white peppermint fudge. Just as a little snack to tide me over while I walk my route.”
“Well since you’ve got a longer route this morning, you probably need something to keep your strength up,” I told him. “A quarter pound of peppermint fudge coming right up.”
I went to the back of the display case and pulled out the tray of fudge and wondered how I could bring up the argument he’d had with Suzanne.
“Say Mia,” he said slowly glancing around the shop. The customer that had just left was the last of the morning rush and we were alone. “How is the investigation into Suzanne Wilson’s murder coming along? I’m assuming Ethan is on the case?”
And there it was. My entrance into that conversation. Everyone in town wanted to know how the latest in a murder investigation was going because of course, almost everyone knew everyone else in Pumpkin Hollow. It was the beauty and the curse of a small town.
“Yes, Ethan is on the case. He’s still investigating of course, and I’m sure he will make an arrest soon. I really hope that it’s before Christmas because it will give her family closure. I just can’t imagine losing a loved one to murder right before the holidays. Of course, it doesn’t really matter when it happens. Losing a loved one is horrible.”
He nodded slowly, his eyes on the fudge as I cut a piece for him. “You can say that again. I don’t know what could have happened to her. Who would want to kill Suzanne?” His eyes went to mine. Was that guilt I saw?
I began wrapping his piece of fudge. “I guess that’s the question of the day, isn’t it? Tell me Lawrence, what happened the night that Suzanne died? I know you pointed at Sam Connor, because she had an interest in him, but other people have said that the two of you argued that night.” There is no use beating around the bush. It had been brought up by enough people that he had to know people were talking about it.
His eyes went wide. “What do you mean we had an argument?”
Okay, maybe he didn’t know everyone was talking about it. But I had asked him before, and he had told me there was no argument. “You told me there wasn’t an argument when I spoke to you, but other people said that there was. You had some kind of disagreement with Suzanne when you were taking a break behind the Santa’s workshop backdrop. Honestly, there are enough people that know about it that I can’t imagine why you think people don’t.”
His mouth made a hard line, and he stared at me a moment. “Okay, maybe we did have an argument. But you don’t understand how Suzanne was. She thought she ran the whole show. And I’m Santa Claus! She had no right butting in on things that weren’t her business. She thought I should be jollier. Can you believe that? I’m as jolly a Santa as we’ve ever had in this town!” His face had turned red as he spoke and he clutched our mail in his hand, curling the red envelopes up.
I was a little surprised by his outburst. “She thought you weren’t jolly enough?” What else was he going to tell me?
He nodded. “That’s what she said. She said I was a drag. Can you believe that? I love the little kids. I love making them happy and telling them that Santa Claus is going to bring them their greatest wish. So when we took a break, I told her that she needed to keep her opinions to herself. And she was the one that needed to be happier around the kids. I swear, she would stand out there and frown at them when they got loud or cried. Of course little kids are going to get loud while they wait in line to talk to Santa Claus. What did she expect?”
“So it was a disagreement about how you were playing your part?”
He nodded again. “Yes, what else would it be? I didn’t have any reason to kill her, I just couldn’t stand her. She was annoying and pushy, and so full of herself. Honestly, she acted just like a spoiled brat. I’ve seen two-year-olds that acted more mature. If I’d had my way, I would have hired Katrina Hill to play the lead elf to begin with. At least she’s somebody that’s reliable and that would have done the job to the best of her ability.”
“You wanted Katrina to play the elf? Did you request that she be hired on to play the part?” I knew that she was now playing that part, and I had wondered how she ended up with it.
He nodded. “I sure did. She applied for the job when Suzanne did, and I told Gretta Downey at the city that we needed to hire Katrina. She has so much experience from playing a witch down at the haunted house. She knows how to entertain people and keep them happy while I do my
