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

green miniature stars appears between us, and Kringle the revenant rodent materializes, looking a little green around the gills—or chubby cheeks as it were.

“Oh, Lottie.” Kringle grips the adorable roll of fat around his waist. “It looked like a good idea at the moment. I thought it would be like that hamster wheel Gloria put in my cage. But it was more like the time I snuck into a dirty sock and ended up in the spin cycle. That’s what did me in, you know. The last words I heard my Gloria say as she held my lifeless body in her hands were, ‘Poor Kringle. He’s all washed up.’”

A mournful smile comes to my lips. She wasn’t wrong. And just hearing about young Gloria makes me that much more motivated to catch her killer.

Chris gives a side glance to the crowd bustling past us.

“That was an unfortunate fundraiser. Didn’t do much fundraising with the exception of selling that painting. Wait a minute…” He squints past me. “I think that’s the woman who won that monstrosity.”

“That’s my mother.” I’m not typically so quick to claim Carlotta as my anything without an in-depth explanation that involves a side trip to the Honey Hollow Fire Department and the Lemons, but for the sake of brevity, that’s all I’ve got. “And she loves the painting. We live together, so it’s hanging in my living room—ghost and all.”

His brows flex. “Ghost, huh?”

Kringle floats in front of him. “He’s not a believer, Lottie. I can see it in his eyes.” Kringle wiggles his front paws in front of Chris and blows a raspberry with his tongue as if he were mocking the man.

“Ghost.” I nod. “So where did you get the painting anyhow?”

His lips part as he takes a breath. “Let’s just say it fell into my hands.”

Kringle shakes his head. “He’s not revealing his sources. But we’ve got bigger fish to fry. Ask if he killed Gloria and then let’s head to the kitchen and see if they have any fried fish.”

My stomach growls, indicating it’s not a bad idea.

“I take it you knew the victim.” I shrug his way.

“Gloria?” He frowns as he says her name. “Yup. I knew her. She always had a hand in every fire. Sad to say it, but I’m not terribly surprised she got burned.”

“Really? What kind of fires? My boyfriend’s mother is a part of the Christmas Angels, too. I’m always looking out for her, and if there’s trouble in that group, I’d love to be made aware of it.” I spouted off so many inadvertent fibs in that little ditty, I lost count. But then, who the heck cares? If you take enough U-turns in that conversation, the fibs are mostly true.

Chris shrugs. “Gloria, God rest her soul, was a bit of a drama mama. She needed to be in control of all things, but the thing she didn’t realize was that an organization like the Christmas Angels had a lot of moving parts and we relied on many different people. It’s a volunteer effort and I hate to say it, but she chased off a lot of good people, too.”

“She didn’t chase off Elodie Frost.” I try throwing her under the bus first. Here’s hoping Chris is in on her secret.

A dull laugh bounces through his chest. “She wouldn’t. You ever hear that saying, keep your friends close and your enemies closer? Elodie had some dirt on Gloria. I don’t know who was driving that crazy train, but those last few weeks they were really going at it. I happened to be coming around the corner one day when I heard them bickering about it. Something to do with Gloria’s ex and the time she lived in Colorado. Gloria was trying to shake Elodie down for money. From the feel of the conversation—or argument if you want to get technical—I think maybe Elodie owed Gloria some serious cash.”

“So Elodie knows something about Gloria’s past and Elodie owed her money,” I muse to myself as I try to keep track.

“That’s right.” He shakes his head. “But I don’t think she killed Gloria.”

“Did you and Gloria get along?”

Kringle groans and slaps his palm over his forehead. “You were doing good, kid. But you hit a little too close to home with that one. You knew I was kidding when I said ask him if he was the killer, right? Right?” His little tail lashes side to side and I offer a guilty shrug his way.

Chris belts out a hearty laugh. “I’ll be honest, the woman wasn’t the easiest to work with. But I didn’t pull the trigger. I don’t even have access to a weapon like that. You’d think with the tough gun restriction laws these days, the sheriff’s department would have no problem in tracking down the killer.”

Kringle makes an odd choking sound as he shakes his fists to the sky. “Why didn’t we think of that?”

“I’m sure the sheriff’s department is on it.” And covering for the killer, too.

I shoot Noah a quick glance, and a thought comes to me.

“What about her boyfriend?” I ask. “He played Santa that night, right? I’m no relationship expert, but boy, she looked pretty angry with him.”

He chuckles again. “Gloria was always angry with Ebenezer. I think that’s why he was stepping out on her. Poor guy was so afraid of her wrath, he was terrified to leave her. I asked him about it once, and he said something about not wanting to end up like the last guy.”

“The ex in Colorado?” Huh. Maybe it’s the ex in Colorado I should be speaking with. “Any idea what his name was?”

He shakes his head. “I prodded Ebenezer about it and he took off in an angry rant. He warned me to stay away from unbalanced women. And that was the end of that.” He blows out a breath. “Candy Brighton took over as acting chair of the Christmas Angels, and she’s doing a great job. There’s another event coming up at