“The fair judge in me wants to say that they all may have deserved it. Maybe she was overly cautious, but a part of me wonders if she was getting a benefit out of it.”

  “Like a kickback? From a social worker? How could a social worker afford such a thing?”

  “From a district manager,” he says. “Maybe they were trying to get their own record looking good—or lining their pockets with bonuses and perhaps even some of the funds intended for the children.”

  “I hate this so much for the families that have suffered. Why is this world so cruel?”

  “Because people are greedy, and they’ll do anything to get ahead in life—at the expense of others included.”

  My phone bleats in my hand and so does Everett’s.

  “It’s a text from Noah,” I say, nearly dropping my phone like a hot potato. I quickly read it. “He’s attached a photo of dozens of names of children who were affected by Dr. North.”

  “Second page, third name down,” he says, holding out his phone and zooming in so I can see the name. Dalton Angelo. “Look at the date. Seventeen years ago. Dr. North must have reported him when he was just an infant.”

  “Oh, we’ve got the evidence we need, Everett.”

  “And we’re going to wait for Noah to do his job. He said not to move a muscle, that he’d be right over.”

  I take a breath as I look out at the room and spot her speaking to my mother.

  “There she is,” I say and Everett looks that way as well.

  Virginia is wearing a demure black dress with a necklace comprised of miniature blinking Christmas lights. She looks festive—and more to the point, happy, as she and my mother share a laugh. Coming up from behind are Roux and Wiley, and both women jump at the sight of them.

  “Look at that,” I say to Everett. “Mom just pulled Roux in to say hello to Virginia. The three of them went to high school together, and she’s been trying to get them in the same place at the same time for weeks.”

  Roux goes in for a hug and Virginia shrinks back, shaking her head at him before bolting out of the room.

  “What was that about?” Everett inches back as we watch Virginia hit the exit.

  “I don’t know, I don’t think we have time to wait for Noah,” I say, taking him by the hand and heading in that direction.

  We’re about halfway to the exit ourselves when Chris Kringle appears next to me in a spray of red and green stars.

  “Here I am, present and accounted for.” Chris gives a mock salute my way, dressed to impress the holiday masses in his red velvet suit. “Reporting for duty.”

  Carlotta stumbles after him and inadvertently blocks our path.

  “What’d you do that for, Lot Lot? Chris was just telling me all about his wild mall Santa days. And he was just getting to the good part. You know I have no one living that I want to talk to, and I hate standing around all by my lonesome just waiting for someone’s wallet to fall to the ground so I can make a few dollars.”

  “Carlotta.” I shake my head at her as I push my way past her. “Everett and I are busy. And so is Chris. Maybe you should go find Mayor Nash?”

  “He’s busy officiating this shindig,” she grouses. “The prices on those silent auctions aren’t going to hike themselves. He’s got to juice them now and again.”

  “Nice to know who I can thank when I pay a mint for my tree.” Although I’ll gladly pay it since it’s for a good cause. Juice away, Mayor Nash.

  We hit the entry and spot Virginia Angelo standing in the hall to our right, near the restroom, as she rummages through her purse.

  “She’s taking off,” I say as we speed that way.

  “Ha!” Chris pats his jelly belly. “I knew it. I knew she was the killer. It’s always the redhead.”

  I exchange a glance with Everett and shake my head at the lunacy. Although in this case, it appears he’s right.

  “Virginia,” I say as I come upon the woman and she quickly turns around to see Carlotta, Everett, and me.

  “Oh, there’s no line for the restroom,” she says as she steps aside.

  “That’s not why we’re here,” I say, breathless from the jog over.

  “Speak for yourself, Lot,” Carlotta says as she barrels past me into the ladies’ room. And I’m more than thankful for it.

  “Virginia, why are you leaving so soon?” I give Everett’s hand a squeeze because I couldn’t think of a better segue.

  “Yes.” She glances past us into the ballroom with a look of genuine fear in her eyes. “I made a mistake coming here tonight.”

  “A mistake?” Everett asks, surprised by her word choice, and so am I.

  A mistake? I look up at Everett and gasp.

  “Virginia?” I look at the woman, stunned. “Have you been avoiding Roux Wheatley?”

  “Yes.” Her eyes close a moment too long.

  Everett inches back. “Virginia, it’s certainly not my place to ask, but I’m going to anyhow. Did you have a romantic history with the man?”

  She swallows hard as she slits a glance in the direction of the party.

  “I did.” Her voice shakes when she says it. “It was many years ago, and it ended abruptly. I made mistakes. And it only got messier from there.”

  “That was seventeen years ago, wasn’t it?” I ask as gently as I can, and her eyes round out the size of Christmas ornaments. “Virginia, is he the father of your son, Dalton?”

  “How do you…?” She looks from me to Everett in a panic before digging rabidly into her purse once again. “I have to get out of here. I have to get back to Dalton. None of this matters anymore.”

  “You left Honey Hollow seventeen years ago rather abruptly,” I tell her, still trying to catch my breath. “My mother told me as much. I know your secret, Virginia. And Dr. North knew it, too, didn’t she? She’s the one that caused you to have something so horrible to keep from the world in the first place. You said that she thought you didn’t have any class, that she took so much away from you, that she stole what was sacred. You left because you were going to have a baby, and then Dr. North took baby Dalton away from you.”

  All movement halts in her body as her eyes move slowly toward mine.

  “And there you have it.” Chris claps his white gloves together. “Now send me back to paradise. I’m heading straight for the buffet line. Although, I will miss your cookies, Lottie. Glad I got to try them, though. They’ve garnered a rather stellar reputation in the hereafter.”

  Good to know. But back to my suspect.

  The poor woman begins to shake. “You can’t tell him. Nobody knows. Don’t you see? That’s why I left town. That woman had no right to take Dalton from me.” She shakes her head furtively.

  “Why did she do it?” Everett asks in a tone that matches the one I just invoked.

  Virginia swallows hard as if she was swallowing down a painful memory. “I was an older mother, no one to help, doing everything on my own and trying to hold down a job to support us. He wasn’t thriving on the formula I had him on, and she accused me of willfully causing malnutrition. The woman was heartless. She thought she was better than me, I could see it in her eyes.”

  “Why not ask Roux for help?” I ask. “He owed you that much.”

  “Because I didn’t want anything from him. He broke up with me before I could tell him the news. I was heartbroken but too proud at the same time. So I moved to Ashford—a move I would live to regret.”

  “And when you saw Dr. North the other night, it fueled your fury, didn’t it?” I nod as if prodding her to admit it.

  “It did.” Her fists clench at the thought of it. “I hated her all these years for stealing precious time from my boy and me. It took a year and a half to get him back under my roof. We needed to bond all over again. You’re a mother, Lottie. You can imagine how painful it would be to be separated from your baby girl right now. A year and a half.”

  Tears come to my eyes. I can’t bear being apart from Lyla Nell for a couple of hours, let alone a year and a half. It would have killed me.

  Chris growls, “Ask her if she did it. My stomach is rumbling. And right about now only a celestial meal can satisfy it.”

  I nod as I look her way. “Virginia, I’m so sorry,” my voice breaks as I say it. “Is that why you did it? Is that why you killed her?”

  “Killed her?” Virginia inches back, her tone flat as if my question woke her up out of a stupor. “I didn’t kill the woman. Are you nuts? I’ve crossed every T and dotted every I ever since I got my boy back. That woman wasn’t worth prison. But as soon as I find out who did the deed, I plan on shaking their hand. As far as I’m concerned, they did the world a favor.” She glances over my shoulder and gasps. “I have to go.” She darts out the back exit, into the snowy parking lot, just as my mother, Roux, and Wiley run this way.

  “Virginia,” Roux calls out as he runs after her.

  “Where is she going?” Chris floats down the hall after her.

  “Where is she going?” Mom echoes without realizing it, gagging as she watches him run out the door. But Roux stops abruptly as a car flies past the exit. “What’s happening?”

  “She had to leave,” I tell her. “It had something to do with her son.”

  “Well, I hope he’s okay.” Mom shudders.

  “I’m sure he’s fine.” Roux grabs my mother by the waist. “How about a dance? Rumor has it, this guy has two left feet.” He nods to Wiley as he says it, and Mom and Roux laugh as the three of them head back to the ballroom.

  Everett ticks his head to the side. “Roux had better watch out. Wiley looked fit to kill.”

  I wince at the thought. “I’d hate to have Noah arrest his father so soon. And I doubt he’d let him get away with murder.”

  “Someone is getting away with murder,” he says, pulling out his phone.

  “Not on my watch,” I say.

  “Or mine,” Chris growls and sounds every bit the angry menace he was when he showed up in our lives to begin with.

  The door to the restroom opens up and Carlotta stumbles our way. “It’s out to get me!” she shouts as she staggers my way.

  “What’s out to get you?” I glance past her in the event another spirit decides to materialize next to her.

  “The thingamajig.” She points wildly behind her. “I tried to step out of the stall and a dark force was pulling me back. I could feel it, Lot. It was like a pair of cold, hard hands tugging at my bottom, trying to land me right back on the throne so it could flush me down the sewer system.” She straightens. “That entity wouldn’t be the first to try their hand at it.”

  Everett shakes his head as he inspects Carlotta from behind.

  I’m terrified to ask what he sees.

  “Carlotta”—Everett nods to the ground—“that dark force would be a roll of toilet paper. It seems you’re still attached.”

  I glance down, and sure enough, there’s a white paper scarf that leads from Carlotta’s rump to the inside of the restroom.

  “Well, look at that,” she marvels. “It seems Naomi doesn’t skimp on the TP like some people.” She shoots Everett and me the side-eye. “In fact, I’m gonna go track that big spender down and get the deets on the white stuff. As soon as I find out what brand it is, I’m going to buy you a roll for the new place as a housewarming gift—or borrow one from the Evergreen.” She takes off for the ballroom and the tissue paper finally breaks off, but not before leaving her with a twenty-foot tail.

  “Where’s the killer?” Chris riots, and the hall we’re standing in begins to shake.

  “The dead are getting ornery,” I say as Everett and I scan through that list once again that Noah sent us.

  We hit the end of the second page and start in on top of the third.

  Something catches my eye and a breath hitches in my throat.

  “Everett,” I hiss.

  “I see it,” he says as he looks toward the ballroom. “I guess we have another suspect to question.”

  I nod. “And I have a feeling this one is the killer.”

  Lottie

  The ballroom here at the Evergreen Manor is still thumping and jumping. I spot my mother and a few of her friends handing out Santa hats with bells attached to the giant cotton ball on the end, and the cheery sound of chimes enlivens the air.

  “No sign of Noah.” Everett glowers at the crowd as if it were Noah himself. “He’s most likely on his way.”

  “That’s good,” I say as I scroll through the social media feed of the exact person that just bubbled to the top of our suspect list and I spot something unnerving. But before I can present it to Everett, Chris Kringle reels toward us with the force of a hurricane, and Everett holds me tight before we both blow away.

  “Who cares about Noah?” the enraged Santa riots and his face flickers back and forth between this glowing version and the haunted skeleton I saw that first night. “Now where’s that killer before I kill someone myself.”

  I think it’s safe to say, Chris has a few anger issues. Although, if paradise is as grand as he says, I’d have anger issues about being stuck down here, too.

  Everett’s chest puffs up as he looks sternly to my left, but before he can have a talking-to with a certain spirited specter, Evie pops up with a worried look on her face.

  “Dad, Mom, you guys have to come and bid on our tree.” She takes up Everett’s hand and tugs him in that direction. “Mayor Nash says I’m not allowed to bid on your behalf and Cormack is trying to outbid you.”

  “She’s a witch.” The words spill from me before I can stop them.

  Everett takes a breath. “All right, we’ll go.” He looks my way. “That should buy Noah a few minutes.”

  I open my mouth to protest, but Suze wobbles this way as she tries to flag me down like a 747.

  “There you are,” she grumbles. “I suppose you and Essex found a dark corner to cavort in while the world burns down around you.”

  “What’s happening?” I ask, half frantic. “Is it Lyla Nell?”

  “No, it’s not Lyla Nell.” She tosses her hands in the air. “It’s the cookies. We’re just about out of them, and everyone is clamoring for more. We’re going to have a riot on our hands if we don’t run back to the bakery and pick up a few more batches.”

  “There’s no need. I put extra bins in the back of the van.” I glance up at Everett as I pluck the keys from my purse. “Why don’t you and Evie go put out that fire while I put out this one?”

  “Sure thing.” He lands a kiss to my lips. “Remember, we’re waiting for Noah.”

  Suze groans hard. “I’d ask exactly why you were waiting for Noah, but since there’s a minor present, I’d hate for you to answer.”

  We split ways and I tell Suze to man the fort with Lily while I head out of the ballroom and down the hall where Virginia just shot out of like a bullet.

  A sprinkling of miniature red and green stars materializes to my left and fills the darkened hall with its holiday glow.

  “Where are you off to?” Chris speeds alongside of me, and if I had to guess, I’d say it was his anger propelling him.

  “I’ve got a cookie emergency,” I say just as I step out into the arctic night. “But as soon as Noah gets here, we’ll get right back to bus—”

  Chris steps in front of me, fully formed and larger than life, his fisted white gloves planted firmly on his hips.

  “Enough with the cookies, Lottie. There’s a killer on the loose.”

  “But I promised—”

  He swoops in close as his face morphs into a skeleton. “You’ll find the killer,” he growls, his voice registering as deep as the ocean.

  A flicker of light catches my eye from the woods that line the back end of the parking lot. My bakery van just so happens to be parked in that direction, so I slowly make my way over.

  Pressured voices emanate softly from that area, and the glimmer of a gold dress clues me in on exactly who that couple is.

  “It’s Cole and Tannen,” I whisper. “It’s her, the exact woman I’m interested in speaking with.” I press a hand to my chest to steady my breathing. “I just looked her up on social media. There were more than a few heartbreaking posts to her mother who had passed away. It broke my heart to read them. I had thought Tannen was well into her twenties, but as it turns out, she’s just a couple years older than Evie.”

  Chris groans as he nods. “Yup, they can age up with just a little mascara. A lesson I learned the hard way back in the day. What can I say? I had a hankering for the women.”

  “Not a lot has changed,” I say. And it looks like Cole has a hankering for the women, too.

  Cole presses his hand in the small of her back before taking off for the front of the building. An icy breeze blows by and shakes the snow out of the trees above.

  Tannen stands still for a moment as if collecting her thoughts before she heads in our direction.

  “Here she comes,” Chris gravels it out like a threat. “Don’t ruin this for me.”

  For him? I make a face at the thought.

  I jangle my keys and take a few steps as the woman comes at us.

  “Tannen?” I call out with a cheery inflection, jerking slightly as if she had startled me. “Fancy meeting you out here. Aren’t you freezing?” I ask with my own teeth beginning to chatter. I thought I’d only be a minute.

  “I could ask you the same thing,” she says, rubbing her bare arms.

  “Well, I just stepped out to get some more cookies for the party. They’re in the back of my van.” I’m about to ask her what her excuse is, but she lifts a finger.

  “Let me lend you a hand. If anything, it’ll help me warm up. But I have to warn you, it’ll cost you a cookie.” She laughs and I chuckle along with her—albeit nervously.

  I lead the way and open the back of the van just as Chris stubbornly sits right on top of the bin I was about to pull out.

  Tannen gives it a tug. “It seems to be stuck on something.”

  “Stuck on evicting the truth from this woman,” Chris rumbles.

  For the love of all things good, I’ve never met a more stubborn or uncooperative ghost in all my days.

  All right, fine.

 

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