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

well,” she says, holding up her loot for me to see. “I bought the bags as gifts, and I only loaded them down with more gifts. I’m going to have to run this upstairs.” She cranes her neck. “I’ll need Wiley to help me with the endeavor.” Her lips curl with approval at the mention of my mother’s boyfriend’s name. “He is a looker.”

I’d remind her that he was taken, but to be honest, I would be Elodie’s biggest cheerleader if she could usher Wiley away from my mother.

But my mother does profess to love him. And there’s no way I’d willingly bring the misery I feel on anybody, least of all the saint that raised me.

“Elodie, can I ask you a question about the Christmas Angels?”

“Sure, anything.” Her eyes narrow in on mine as if to get a better look at me.

“I heard someone at the event the other night mention that they were looking for a new accountant.” I lift a brow, wanting to see if she’s heard a rumor about Chris stealing. “I happened to know of one, if you’re in need.” I’ll leave it at that. I’m not really believing Chris was pilfering the funds. Hook vouched for his character, and that’s good enough for me.

Her shoulders hitch a notch, and it sends Kringle sliding off her shoulder as he curls his tail around the pendant swinging from her necklace in an effort to keep from falling.

“That wouldn’t surprise me.” She whispers as she leans in, “I heard a lot of funds have suddenly up and disappeared.” Her eyes dart to the dessert table, and I glance over to see Suze whispering to Serena Digby. I can’t help but make a face. And I certainly want to corner Serena before I leave. I’ll leave Suze to Noah.

“Really?” I startle for a moment as I turn back to the conversation at hand. “You don’t think Chris is dipping into the cookie jar, do you?”

She shrugs. “It’s hard to believe, I know. I really like the man.” She shakes her head with a look of disappointment. “But he’s got a great job working for some fancy firm. Maybe he thought we would be too stupid to notice. But it’s been uncovered, and I’m afraid an internal investigation is going to ensue right after the holidays. Candy is seeing to it herself. Gloria knew about the theft, but all she wanted to do was rant. She never took action. Candy knows how to get things done. But the accounting has always been carefully guarded. Not carefully enough, I suppose.”

“How’s that? I mean, I run the bakery. I’d love to monitor things a little bit more carefully myself.”

“Well, for starters, all of the accounting needs to be done on site at the Christmas Angels’ office. It all goes onto the hard drive and into some computer cloud. That way there’s less of a chance of someone cooking the books.” Her lips invert as if keeping a vital tidbit to herself.

“Good to know. I guess that makes sense. It’s all done on site, less of a chance for someone to fool around.”

She shrugs. “People get away with things. Gloria being one of them.”

“You really didn’t care for her, did you?” I wince as I say it, and her eyes close a good long while.

“Let’s just say Gloria wasn’t the angel she wanted others to think she was.”

“Oh? So she was keeping things from people?”

Her chocolate brown eyes widen. “Big things.”

“That’s quite a feat. It’s hard to hide things in such a small town like Honey Hollow. Unless, of course, she moved here from out of state.” Like, say Colorado. But I’m hoping Elodie will fill in the blanks for me.

“She did. She came from Plum Creek, Colorado.”

Plum Creek, Colorado. I make a mental note of it.

I nod. “And I bet that’s where she dragged the baggage with her from.”

Her chest bucks. “More like the body,” she mutters.

Kringle stands straight up on his hind legs. “Body?”

“Body?” I echo, but Elodie doesn’t know that.

She gives a quick nod. “I guess it doesn’t matter now that she’s dead herself, but Gloria Abner sailed right into town with a little deadly secret of her own.”

“What’s that?”

Elodie’s thin pink lips contort. “It’s nothing that bears repeating. Not during this time of year. Not with the reputation of the Christmas Angels at stake. I’m sorry, Lottie. I’ve said so much already.” She cranes her neck past me. “Please excuse me. I just have to have a half dozen or so of those candles. And by the looks of it, they’re about to sell out. Not only could Wiley help me carry them to my room, he might just help me try out a few.” Her shoulders dance suggestively before she darts off toward Carlotta’s table.

Kringle floats on over. “Say, could body be a euphemism for something?”

“Yes, for a body,” I whisper just as Suze strides up, glaring at me as if I were the one who was caught red-handed with the murder weapon.

“You’re noseying around, aren’t you?” she snips.

“Why yes, the baby is doing well, thank you for asking,” I snip back. I couldn’t help it. Suze is just asking for a piece of my hormonal pie, and boy, am I ready to give it to her. A part of me wants to blame her for everything that’s gone wrong in my life, and even though it makes very little sense, I decide to go with it.

Her lips cinch. “That baby is none of my business because not a drop of it belongs to my son. Now what were you shaking Elodie down over?”

“You can relax. It had nothing to do with the fact your weapon was found at the scene of the crime.”

She gasps and jumps back a notch. “Noah told you?”

“Noah tells me everything. We’re close, and nothing or no one will ever break that bond.”

Suze sniffs at the thought. “Men don’t take too kindly to their wives cavorting with other men. You keep up