Murder in the Mix Boxed Set 28-30: Cozy Mystery Addison Moore (the reading strategies book .txt) 📖

you made that trifle Gloria was raving about the night she was killed.” He sheds a full smile, and his teeth glint in the light like knives. “I guess I should thank you for giving her one last ray of happiness before she went off to the big sleigh in the sky. “It’s odd, though—about her being happy. Gloria wasn’t exactly the jolliest soul.” He clutches at his belly.

“It sounds like you knew her well. Wait a minute.” I pretend to have an epiphany. “I think she mentioned you were her fiancé?”

“Oh heavens no. Boyfriend would be the correct term, but it seems silly to me. That term seems better suited for someone in their teens. We were seeing one another for a time. She was thinking marriage. Things were a bit unsettled there in the end, but such is life. Truth be told, I’ve never been able to hang onto a woman.”

“I’m sorry to hear it.”

He belts out a hearty ho ho ho of a laugh. “Well, it’s been both a blessing and a curse. As much as I like having a woman around, I like having a couple of women around, if you know what I mean. It doesn’t make the woman I’m with all that happy. But such is life. Some women take it harder than others. And some take vindictive behavior to another level.” He glares out into the darkness a moment, and I get the feeling Gloria fell into that vindictive category.

“Ebenezer, what do you think happened that night with Gloria?”

“Many things happened that night with Gloria.” He ticks his head wistfully. “First, I heard her threaten an old friend of hers—Elodie Frost. Something about you’ll never hold that over me again. I’m not sure what that was about, but Gloria was always very secretive about her past.”

That visual of Gloria outright slapping Elodie comes to the forefront of my mind. Whatever Elodie knows about Gloria, it must be huge.

He gives that giant belt buckle of his a quick tug. “And then there was that incident with Chris—he’s the accountant with Christmas Angels. Boy, she let into that kid.”

Chris was the man in the pale gray suit with the honey-colored hair. He’s the one who said he spotted Suze heading out into the parking lot that night. In fact, he’s the one that could put Suze away for a very long time if she is the killer.

“Why would Gloria let into him?” I don’t hesitate to ask.

His lips curl as he takes a deep breath. “Accounting errors. I don’t know. The kid is reputable. He works with many charities. He’s a big wig at some accounting firm somewhere, I think. But Gloria thought he was helping himself to the pot. Don’t ask me where she got that nonsense from. Gloria was already worked up that night. She could have accused any Angel of lying, and I mean that in the heavenly sense, too. She had the wrath of the wicked one in her.”

“I guess Elodie really worked her up.”

Or Ebenezer himself. If I found out Everett was being unfaithful, it would sour my mood right along with breaking my heart. I’m pretty sure I’d take it out on everyone, too. Not that Everett is even remotely capable of doing something like that.

He shrugs. “Elodie had a hand in it, sure. I guess you could say it was a perfect storm.” He rocks back in his enormous boots. “I must say, though, the one thing that sticks out in my mind about that night was her reaction when she saw that painting.”

“I think I noticed that, too,” I say out loud without really intending to.

Kringle’s little mouth falls open as he looks my way. “The man in the painting? The one who’s been roaming the halls of your home at night moaning and groaning?”

Now it’s my mouth falling open.

Kringle flicks his wrist my way. “He scares the cats half to death. I’d burn the thing if I were you. And he’s not in the least interested in eating your trifle. I suppose that’s the good thing about him. I don’t have to share.”

I shoot the ghostly mouse an intense look because we are going to have one serious conversation about this mystery phantom roaming my halls at night.

“Odd”—Ebenezer holds his finger to his nose and looks every bit like the man in red he’s set to emulate tonight—“I’ve never seen that painting before. I don’t think Gloria has either. But it was such a strong reaction, you’d think she knew the man.”

Could Gloria have known the man? Was that a modern painting? Hey? Maybe the man from the painting, aka the man who sat for the portrait, killed Gloria? No, wait, Kringle just said he was a ghost. And if he is roaming my halls, he’s a ghost that owes me some answers.

Ebenezer shrugs and his overstuffed belly jiggles just the way it’s meant to.

“I don’t know.” He sighs. “Maybe it was the idea that the painting was haunted that sent her reeling. The funny thing is, I would have sworn on my life that woman wasn’t afraid of anything.”

A small group of elves begins to stir in this direction, and along with them is Candy Brighton bundled in a sleek red coat that cinches at the waist and makes me wish I still had a waist to cinch myself.

“Lottie? Hi!” Her face lights up as she hugs the clipboard in her hand. Her caramel-colored hair is pulled back into a twist of some sort, and she has glitzy diamond earrings catching the light like stars. Her lipstick matches the same cheery hue as her coat, and she feels like a breath of fresh air in this somewhat cloying conversation Ebenezer and I have been having. “I’m sorry to interrupt, but Mayor Nash is just about to start the countdown.” She looks to the man before us. “As soon as the tree is lit, we’ll move the kids in for a picture with Santa. Remember what