Pumpkin Spice Lies: A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 16 by Kathleen Suzette (you can read anyone .txt) 📕

“I’m sure it will be. People love coming here to take a look around and enjoy themselves. Even if it isn’t fall or Halloween yet, it’s still a lot of fun.”

“Pumpkin Hollow is the best place to be. I’m glad we live here.”

He nodded. “Me too.”

“So have you gone for your tuxedo fitting yet?” I asked him.

His eyes widened. “I still have to do that. I have to make an appointment. I’ve been so busy that I haven’t gotten around to it yet.”

“I’ll make the appointment for you, just give me an idea of a time that might be good for you.”

He nodded. “I appreciate that. October is going to be here before we know it.”

“It will be here so fast,” I agreed. “I can hardly wait though. I’ve been looking at different floral arrangements, and we’ve talked to the florist. And, are you ready for this?”

“I don’t know, am I?”

I nodded. “I have an appointment next week for a dress fitting.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “Wait a minute. Aren’t wedding dresses supposed to be ordered like six months in advance?”

I sighed. “I’m surprised you know that. But, yes, you’re supposed to buy a wedding dress at least six months in advance, especially if they have to alter it. But Amanda’s mom is an excellent seamstress, and if I have any issues, she will take care of it. Besides, I don’t want a really expensive, fancy dress. I just want something pretty and that I feel good in.”

He studied me for a minute. “You’re having second thoughts, aren’t you?”

My eyes went wide. “Second thoughts? What are you talking about?”

He shrugged. “It seems like you’re dragging your feet a little.”

“Me? You’re dragging your feet about the tux fitting. Are you having second thoughts?” I narrowed my eyes at him and leaned forward.

He chuckled and shook his head. “Never. Maybe we should have had a simpler, smaller wedding.”

“I’m kind of thinking that that might have been a better idea. I mean, we’re having the reception in my mom and dad’s backyard. How fancy does my dress have to be?”

“Only as fancy as you want,” he said.

We turned as a couple approached our table. It was Hailey Strong’s parents. They looked tired and worn out.

“Hi Ethan,” Jenny Strong said, and then she turned and nodded at me. “Hello, Mia.”

“Hi, Jenny, Arnold. I’m so sorry about Hailey. It’s just so awful.”

There were dark circles beneath her mother’s eyes. “It’s unbelievable. I still can’t get over it.” She clutched her purse against her body. “Ethan, are you any closer to making an arrest?”

Ethan shook his head. “Not yet. But I promise you that we will find her killer as soon as possible.”

She nodded. “There was something that we forgot to mention to you.” She glanced at her husband and then turned back to Ethan. “A few weeks before Hailey died, she and her best friend, Shayna Gates, got into a fight. Hailey said she never wanted to see Shayna again. I couldn’t understand it because the two had been friends since kindergarten. But she insisted she would never speak to her again.”

“Did she say what the issue was?” Ethan asked.

“She wouldn’t say what it was,” her father said. “I don’t understand it either. The girls had been friends forever. Sure, in junior high and high school they would occasionally have spats, but they usually patched it up within a few days. But this time, Hailey said she was done with her, and she hoped that she would die.”

My eyes went wide. “Hailey said she hoped that Shayna would die?”

He nodded somberly. “I thought she was just being melodramatic. She couldn’t mean anything by it. But it was something that was out of character for her. You know? She wasn’t the sort of girl to say something like that.”

I glanced at Ethan, his brow was furrowed.

Ethan nodded. “I’ll certainly talk with Shayna and see if she can offer any insight into what happened to Hailey. Hailey didn’t give you any hint at all as to what happened?”

They both shook their heads. “No, none at all. I asked her about it several times, and she would just get quiet and say she didn’t want to talk about it,” her mother said. She looked at her husband again. “Well, we don’t want to disrupt your evening. We just wanted to let you know about this in case it’s helpful to the investigation. Not that we really believe Shayna could have done something like murder Hailey. She’s a nice girl.”

Arnold Strong nodded. “It’s just something that we remembered and thought maybe you should know about it.”

“I appreciate you telling me,” Ethan said. “You never know where something might lead.”

They both nodded, and moved across the room to an empty table.

I looked at Ethan. “That’s weird. I mean, I know Hailey was still young, and people her age can be dramatic, but saying she wished her best friend would die? And yet it was Hailey that ended up dead.”

He nodded. “It was Hailey that ended up dead. I haven’t had a chance to talk to Shayna yet, so I’ll definitely be stopping by to talk to her.”

“Makes me wonder what they argued about.”

He nodded. “Makes me wonder, too. I’ll find out and get to the bottom of it.”

I didn’t doubt that Ethan would find out who killed Hailey. What Betty Mays said about Hailey setting Shayna up and telling her she had helped her get her job back made me wonder. I could see where Shayna would be angry. But would she be angry enough to kill Hailey over it?

Chapter Eleven

I grabbed Ethan’s hand when we got out of his truck. The craft fair was going