Eggnog Trifle Trouble (Murder in the Mix #28) - Addison Moore Page 0,79

to her phone. “Speaking of which, I have to wrangle up the elves. Santa is taking to his throne, and without Mrs. Claus there to greet the crowd, we’ll need an elf or two to step in.”

“No Mrs. Claus?” I grimace as I say it. “Oops, I just realized that Gloria was Mrs. Claus.”

“Oh, we’ve got one. Suze is wearing the costume tonight. Isn’t that ironic? Our first Mrs. Claus was murdered and her replacement is the killer.” She rolls her eyes. “I can’t wait until we get on the other side of the holidays. I’m going straight to Vail.” She takes off, and Kringle takes me by the hand as he pulls and tugs at me with all of his supernatural might.

“Come on, Lottie, before Ethan decides to huff and puff and blow this entire town down. We must find Suze and detain her.”

“Ethan obviously loved Gloria very much to come back and make sure her killer was captured. I mean, Gloria did kill him—even if it was inadvertently. You’d think he might have turned a blind eye to this one.”

Kringle lifts his head a notch. “It is strange, isn’t it? Do you suppose there’s another purpose in him being here?”

“I can’t imagine what it would be.”

The lights in the ballroom dim to pitch a moment before drifting back to where they were, much to the crowd’s delight.

Naomi Turner lets out an aggravated huff as she stalks on by me. No doubt as the manager, she feels responsible for the electrical glitches on such an important night.

“Lottie,” a familiar deep voice calls from my right, and I turn to see Chris Holiday holding up a plate of my eggnog trifle. “It’s excellent. I didn’t get a chance to try it the day of the—well, you know. But now that I’ve tasted this culinary perfection, I’m sorry I missed a month’s worth of eating.”

A laugh bumps from me. “Don’t worry. I keep the holiday desserts around until mid-January. You’ve got a ways to go.”

“Good to know. I saw you talking to Candy. She didn’t bring up anything about Suze, did she?”

Kringle nods. “Look at the man. You can tell he’s sick just mentioning it to you.”

A polar opposite of Candy’s near glee.

“She did,” I say, glancing around for signs of her. “It’s hard to believe. But I guess the proof was all there. I mean, Noah mentioned she was logging into your accounting software quite a bit.” I figure it couldn’t hurt to mention at this point.

Kringle lights up a bright shade of pink. “That was sort of a fib, Lottie, but don’t worry. The big guy probably isn’t keeping track of that one. You like heat, don’t you?”

I shoot the furry phantasm a look.

Chris tips his head to the side. “You know, Suze shared her login—with Elodie, I think. So if that’s all the sheriff’s department is basing their case on, they’ll have to dig deeper.” He holds up his plate. “I’m off to tell everyone I know about this. Great job. Expect to see me at the bakery.” He takes off, and I’m dazed by what he just told me.

“Kringle, we need to find Elodie Frost,” I say as we begin to thread through the crowd, and I spot her over by the exit bobbing her head to the cheery tune blasting through the speakers. “Elodie,” I practically spit her name out. “How could you?”

Of all the ways to interrogate a suspect, I have yet to go down this abrupt yet brutally honest path, and something tells me it won’t bode so well for either of us.

Kringle smacks his forehead with his paw. “I’m no expert, kid, but you should probably ease into these things.”

“Pardon?” She squints as she leans her ear my way.

“Elodie, can I ask you a question? Did you owe Gloria Abner twenty thousand dollars?”

Her mouth falls open, and her cheeks grow ruddy.

“Where did you—” She shakes her head. “So what? I was in a tight spot, and Gloria was happy to help.”

“Was she buying your silence?” I ask.

Kringle jolts as he looks my way. “Ease up on the gas, kiddo. If we move any faster, we’re bound to collide with a stationary object. And it just might be a bullet.”

My lips pinch tightly because I’m suddenly feeling remorseful that I didn’t bother to bring Ethel along for the ride tonight. Ethel and I have been sort of having a long-distance relationship for quite some time now. I really don’t like the idea of carrying