Peppermint Fudge Killer: A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 13 by Kathleen Suzette (reading list txt) 📕

The concession stand line had gone down, and we went and got in line for popcorn and drinks. Santa Claus had a lot of explaining to do.

Chapter Twelve

I looked up as Katrina Hill walked into the candy store. She was dressed in an elf costume and she grinned at me. I stared back at her.

“Hi Katrina,” I finally said, looking her up and down. The green outfit was paired with red tights and green boots that had curled toes at the end. Around her neck was a necklace made of jingle bells and as she moved, the bells rang. “Aren’t you looking cute tonight?”

She chuckled. “Aren’t I? There’s nothing like being an elf for Christmas. It’s like a dream come true.”

“Well, as cute as you look in that costume, I think I have to agree with you. And I love your makeup.” She had drawn red circles onto her cheeks and used a black eyebrow pencil to color in her eyebrows.

“Thank you,” she said. “I told my husband I was thinking about wearing my make up like this every day. It’s cute for a Christmas elf, so why not?”

I laughed. “You’d certainly get people’s attention. Actually, now that I think about it, here in Pumpkin Hollow you probably wouldn’t. Everyone would just act like you were dressed normally.”

“You’ve got a point there,” she said and stepped up to the display case. “I’ve got my eye on that peppermint fudge.” She pointed at the tray of fudge. “I just know it’s going to be tasty.”

“Which kind? White chocolate or regular chocolate?” My mother had added the regular chocolate variety to our offerings, and it was selling almost as well as the peppermint white chocolate.

“Oh no, now you’ve made it hard for me. How about you give me a quarter pound of each flavor? You can’t go wrong with peppermint fudge.”

“You can say that again,” I said and opened up the display case and removed the trays. “So, I’m assuming you have a job as Santa’s elf down at the plaza?” It was quite a coincidence that the person she had had some issues with was murdered and now she had her job.

She nodded. “I sure do. Can you believe it? I’m a witch during the Halloween season, and Santa’s elf at Christmas time. I swear, if I could get a year-round job doing this, I would take it in a heartbeat.”

“It’s a lot of fun, isn’t it?” I asked as I cut her fudge.

“It really is. Maybe we need to come up with some kind of event that goes on year-round here in Pumpkin Hollow. Then I could dress up as one character or another and play a part every night.”

I looked up at her. “Now you’re talking. We should try that. Think of all the tourists that would come. It would bring so much more business to the town.”

“See? What we need around here are people that put their heads together and come up with a plan.”

I laughed. I didn’t think I could handle a tourist season that ran all year long. We had tourists that stopped in during the off seasons, but it wasn’t nearly as many that came during the annual events we had. And while it was fun during the Halloween season and during Pumpkin Hollow Days, I thought dressing up every day would get old fast. But maybe I was wrong. Maybe it would get more fun than it already was.

“We’re doing so much business since we opened up a shop online these days, that I don’t think I could handle much more business than what we’re already doing around here.”

“I guess you’re right,” she said. “But it’s fun to think about, isn’t it?”

I nodded and weighed the fudge for her and then wrapped it up. “Is there anything else you’d like?”

She looked at the basket of the filled reindeer my mother had made. “These are cute. I think I’m going to take one each of the eggnog and the peppermint ones.”

“Those reindeer are really tasty,” I said. “My mother did all the work on them.”

“She did a great job. They’re really cute,” she said and set two of the reindeer next to the fudge.

I rang up her candy and turned to her. “So, how do you like playing an elf?”

“It’s great. I hate that someone had to die for the position to open up, but I’m having a good time with it.”

She paid for her candy and I pushed the paper bag across the counter to her. “I’m glad to hear that. It’s nice when you get to do something you enjoy.”

She nodded. “Mia, has Ethan caught Suzanne’s killer yet?”

I tried to read her face. I didn’t see any guilt written there, but she might be good at hiding that sort of thing. “No, he’s still working on the case.”

She was quiet a moment. “I hope he catches her killer soon. But you know, I’ve been thinking about it, and I’m wondering if Ethan has talked to her cousin, Brittany Wilson.”

“Yes, he’s talked to her. Why?” I leaned on the counter. Would she spill something that she knew?

She shrugged. “Well, maybe I’m speaking out of turn, but the two of them never could get along. Whenever I’d see Suzanne, she complained about Brittany. Apparently the two were rivals and during the summer Brittany had her eye on Suzanne’s boyfriend. As you can imagine, it made her angry.”

“I had no idea,” I said. “I remember them having a bit of a rivalry back in high school, but I thought they would have outgrown that by now. Did Suzanne happen to mention anything recently?”

“Well, I overheard a conversation,” she said glancing over her shoulder at the empty shop. “She was on the phone with Brittany, and she told her she was going