but if you have another vision about the lipstick or anything, I need to know,” he all but whispered in my ear.
I cocked my head, my stomach turning flips. “Stiles, we’ve been friends for a thousand years. I’d tell my secret before I’d tell one of yours. What’s going on?”
There was a heavy pause and then he said, “That lipstick had fingerprints on it.”
Blinking, I dropped the rake and inhaled with a sharp breath. “The killer’s fingerprints?”
I heard him sigh and probably cup the phone with his hand to muffle his response. “No. The fingerprints of a seventeen-year-old girl who’s been missing for three days.”
Oh, holy night…
Chapter 5
It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Written by Edward Pola and George Wyle, 1963
I gasped, realizing not only was the lipstick real, but that my vision had been more accurate than I’d first thought. “The fingerprints… Doesn’t she have to be some kind of criminal to be in the system?”
At least that’s what the explanation always was on one of my true-crime shows.
“She was in the system because of a background check for a position as a part-time babysitter. When I heard the forensics team did, in fact, find a lipstick and it had prints lifted from it, I asked what color it was, and it was for sure hot pink. Actually, it’s called Flamingo Flame, made by Christy of Paris, according to the label.”
I gripped the phone tighter, my knees shaking. “Do you want me to ask Darling anything else about it? He said it isn’t his. He claims he didn’t bring any makeup with him this trip.”
“He said the same thing to the cops on the scene.”
“Wait. Uncle Darling knew about the lipstick?”
“No, Kitten. Because he was a drag queen, I asked him if he had one after I knew it was found, and he said he didn’t have any makeup with him.”
“So who’s the girl, Stiles? Is it anyone we know?”
Dear Goddess, it was horrible that a girl was missing, but if we knew her… Though, that was unlikely. If she was someone missing from Marshmallow Hollow, I’d have heard about it.
“We don’t know her. She’s from Chester Bay.”
The next town over. Chester Bay was bigger than Marshmallow Hollow by at least twenty thousand people, and not nearly as touristy. Though, most folks who wanted to experience my little town but couldn’t book a room during the busy holiday season, often opted to stay in Chester Bay.
So close to home, it chilled my already chilled bones. “What’s her name, Stiles? Can you tell me?”
“Secret squirrel again?”
“Till death.”
“Kerry Carver. Last seen walking to the local bus stop from her after-school babysitting job three days ago. Her parents reported her missing, but as usual it got back-burnered because she hadn’t been missing long. Even though, according to the report I got from Chester Bay’s guys, her parents were adamant she always came home from work without fail. She wasn’t, in their words, the kind of girl who stayed out late or partied.”
My heart crashed against my ribs. This felt so close to home—so close. “Anything else?”
“Just that the shotgun the killer murdered Gable with might have been Mr. Feeney’s. We finally located him and had him come to the store. He was understandably distraught, especially when he found out his gun is missing and it could be the one Gable was killed with.”
“He kept a shotgun at the store? A shotgun?” I asked in surprise. I knew Mr. Feeney was a hunter, so were his sons, but I guess I never realized he kept a gun at the store.
Though, it made complete sense to have a gun at a convenience store—even in little old Marshmallow Hollow—because hello, Hannah, look at how many murders we’d had in just a few days.
“He did. He was licensed to carry, though in Maine, you don’t need a permit to own one—or carry it, for that matter. But you know he and his boys loved to hunt in Iowa, and you need a permit to cross state lines with a gun.”
Grimacing, I bit my lower lip. “I think you know my specialty is tinsel and talking Santas, not guns. So I didn’t know that. But how did the killer get his hands on it?”
“I don’t know. Though Mr. Feeney says Gable knew where it was and he had access to it. Our best guess is, Gable pulled the gun on the killer, but he wrestled it away from him in the fight that ensued, ending in