Dear Sophie,
I would love to have a cookie swap. But most of my friends are on diets or will be going away for the holidays and don’t need a hundred cookies. Still, it seems like so much fun.
Cruising for the Holiday in North Pole, Idaho
Dear Cruising,
Bake the cookies and have a lovely evening or afternoon sharing them. Then pack up the rest and take them to a homeless shelter or a senior center where they will be much appreciated.
Sophie
Alex loped out the door and the rest of us followed.
Unlike Patty, who flitted like a nervous bee, Alex was the consummate professional. He walked into the Babineaux house the picture of composure.
Patty watched with us. “I bet they’re going to kick him out!”
“Does anyone else think he’s sexy when he’s in control like that?” asked Nina. “I think it’s the military stance with the shoulders back and chin up.”
“The kids are still asleep!” Patty flung her hands back and forth when she talked. “They’ll be terrified when the cops barge into their rooms.”
“Patty!” I exclaimed. “Go tell Alex that right now.”
Nina and I hung back on the sidewalk.
“It’s cold out here.” My turtleneck was far too thin for hanging around outside. I was about to suggest we go home when someone screamed.
Nina and I flew to the doorstep in a flash. Wearing what appeared to be a man’s pajama top with a cartoonish moose print on it, Sugar ran past us from the living room to the dining room. When we heard a second scream, Nina and I ventured inside.
Sugar held clenched fists in midair and stared at the table, still decorated with the orange tablecloth.
Wolf bounded in. “Who’s screaming?” His gaze flicked my way. “What are you doing here?”
Alex raced into the dining room and came to a halt.
“It’s gone!” Sugar’s voice quavered. “The sterling silver sleigh is gone. And the reindeer candleholders are missing, too.”
“When did you see them last?” asked Wolf.
“I don’t know.” Tears ran down Sugar’s face. “I don’t remember! With everything that happened, I didn’t notice them until just now.”
Alex stepped over to Sugar and placed an arm around her. “It’s okay. Take a few minutes to think about it.”
She turned and buried her face in his suit.
Nina elbowed me. What did she expect me to do? It wasn’t like I could separate them. Though I was a little annoyed by the sight of those long, bare legs. At least the shirt covered her derriere.
Sugar sniffled. “Someone must have stolen them. They were worth a lot of money! I bet that’s why Mom was murdered. She was so proud of them. I mean, they were sterling and everything.” Sugar gazed toward Nina and me. “You were here for the cookie swap. Weren’t they beautiful?”
Wolf eyed me. “You saw them?”
I nodded. “They were amazing. Very detailed.”
Alex gently pried Sugar off his suit. “Think back to last night. Do you remember seeing them then?”
Sugar leaned her head against Alex’s chest and placed one hand on his suit jacket. “It’s all such a muddle. We were in the kitchen mostly. Patty . . .” Sugar screeched. “Do you think Patty took them? You know, out of jealousy? For the money?”
Patty emerged from the kitchen. “Oh, very nice, Sugar. After all I’ve done for you guys? You can search my car. That sleigh was huge. It’s not like I could have slipped it under my coat and snuck it out of here.”
“Patty has a good point,” I said. “Someone would have had to make a couple of trips to carry all the pieces out.”
Patty flashed me a grateful smile.
I looked around. Baxter and Elvin were noticeably absent from a house in which so much was happening.
Alex stepped away from Sugar and sidled over to me. “Did anyone take pictures of this incredible sleigh?”
Sugar turned toward him. “You’re so smart! I bet Gwen put them up on Facebook. Or has pictures in her camera.”
Wolf frowned. “Camera? Where is it?” He followed Sugar and Patty toward the kitchen.
“I owe you dinner,” said Alex. “Several, in fact. Lunch today?”
“Sure.”
“I’ll call you.” He hurried off to the kitchen.
Nina and I showed ourselves out. The front door closed with a snap behind us.
Nina said, “Elvin’s sleigh could hold the big silver one.”
“Bet it’s not in the alley anymore.”
“Me, too. We should check.”
We dashed down the street and through Nina’s yard to her gate. One look told the story. It wasn’t as though Elvin could hide his big camper anywhere. It was gone.
“I’m freezing.” Nina shuddered, and we headed back to my house.
In the kitchen, I pulled macaroni out of the cupboard and put on a large pot of salted water to boil.
“Where are your cookies?” asked Nina.
“In the dining room.”
She returned with an orange box tied with a pink ribbon. A tiny silver sleigh ornament hung on it. “Double Chocolate Caramel Bars,” she read. “That would hit the spot with a second cup of coffee.”
She slid off the ribbon and sampled one. “These are to die for. Seriously. Who made these?” She examined the box.
“Gwen.”
Nina choked. Coughing, she reached for her coffee. “That’s not funny,” she croaked.
“It’s an orange box with a pink ribbon, Nina. There are only two people with that strange Christmas color combo going—Natasha and Gwen. And Natasha made an herb cookie dipped in chocolate.”
Nina stared at the rest of the bar. “There’s something gross about eating a cookie that a dead person baked.”
I opened the fridge to look in my cheese drawer. Luckily I had an assortment of cheeses. A lovely triple cream, extra sharp cheddar, and Gouda. I set them on the counter in time to see Nina swallow the last bite of Gwen’s Christmas bar.
She gave me an innocent look. “What? They’re very good. Gwen wouldn’t want to see them go to waste!” She helped herself to another one while I poured the pasta into the boiling water and heated the milk. “Why would the police need a search warrant to see the victim’s home?”
“Because Alex told them they couldn’t go inside and look around.”
“Exactly. And why would he do that?”
We both said it at the exact same time, “Because that’s where the killer lives.”
“Baxter,” I said.
“Or Elvin.”
“Why would Elvin kill Gwen?”
“Probably for the same reasons as Baxter. Maybe he thinks he’s helping his brother by getting rid of her.”
“Yesterday, Sugar ran into the garage and, Nina, when she saw Gwen, I swear she screamed, ‘Mom’!”
“I thought I misunderstood her when we were over there a few minutes ago. You’re just telling me this now?”
“Hey, a lot has happened in the past twelve hours or so. It slipped my mind that you weren’t there. Do you think it’s possible?”
“Sugar must be right around thirty, don’t you think?” asked Nina. “A thirty-year-old daughter and a six-year-old daughter? I guess it could happen. Gwen met Baxter, already had an adult daughter from her first marriage, and then had Kat with Baxter.”
“So that would put Gwen at fifty-ish?”
“Something like that. If Sugar was her daughter, I hardly think she’d kill her. Maybe Gwen didn’t like her being with Elvin.” Nina wrinkled her nose. “That is kind of creepy. Imagine your husband’s brother sleeping with your daughter.” She stuck out her tongue. “Ick!”
I poured the macaroni into a colander and shook it to drain. While it cooled, I stirred the cheese, watching the colors melt into the hot milk. “I guess Natasha is glad she’s off the hook.”
“Are you kidding? They don’t eliminate anyone until they have the perpetrator. They could decide that it wasn’t a family member who killed Gwen.”
I poured the macaroni into the cheese, stirred it all together nicely, and dumped it into a long casserole dish. I preheated the oven and mixed panko bread crumbs with Parmesan cheese for a crusty crunch on top.
Minutes after I slid it into the oven, Nina took off for home. I spent the next fifty minutes taking care of work in my study, glad things were slow at the moment. When the timer dinged in the kitchen, I withdrew the golden cheesy wonder from the oven. The police might still be at the Babineaux house, but either way, the Babineauxs would probably appreciate something hot to eat for lunch.
I plopped a piece of aluminum foil over the top to keep the cold out, slid on a lush, white Polartec jacket, and carried the mac and cheese across the street.
Baxter opened the door, haggard and drawn, his skin the color of gray skies.
“I’m so terribly sorry, Baxter. I brought you something for lunch.”
He nodded lamely, as if he couldn’t function right yet. I stepped inside and followed him to the kitchen. It wasn’t as spotless as it had been when I’d seen it a few days before. The island counter brimmed with kitchen items. Foil, spoons, bowls. A few dirty dishes and an orange box like the one that held Gwen’s bars for the cookie swap. But the house was still. The police must have left.
I located a dish towel that I could use as a trivet and set the hot casserole atop it on the island. “Is there anything I can do for you?”
He rubbed his forehead with a fleshy hand in an odd jerking motion. “I don’t know what needs to be done. I’m just trying to get my footing.”
“Well, don’t worry about Kat. Twiggy and Jonah are taking good care of her.”
His eyes flicked. “Kat! How could I have forgotten about Kat? I don’t know what will happen to her now.”
“I don’t understand.”
He licked his lips. “I’m not her father.”