Sunday, January 3: twelve days after the murder
6:30 p.m.
I marched Avery back to get the poor cat still waiting in the trap, then brought them both out to my car, which was parked in Whitney’s driveway. I put the cat in the backseat with the other one and Avery in the front and called Mick Ellory.
Thankfully, he answered.
“Sergeant, it’s Maddie James,” I said formally. “Sorry to bother you but I have a couple of cats that need a place to stay from Sea Spray. Can I bring them over?”
“I’m a little tied up right now,” he said. “Can it be later on?”
“I guess, but I also have another issue—”
“Maddie, I have to go,” he said. “Bring them by later. Around six.” And he disconnected.
I gave the silent phone in my hand a dirty look, then tried Craig. No answer.
I turned to Avery. “Stay here. Do not leave this car or I’ll call the cops on you. Got it?”
She crossed her arms sullenly across her chest. “Fine.”
I slipped back into the woods through the Hacketts’ again, but I wasn’t going back to the cat area. I was curious now.
Avery said the gnome belonged to the Barneses. She also said she’d seen Edie putting her sleigh in her garage. Had Avery been mistaken? Why would Edie hide her own sleigh and then go to the trouble of reporting it stolen? Maybe she’d gotten a new one and that’s what Avery saw? But that didn’t make sense either. Why wouldn’t she have put it back out with the other decorations?
I slipped into the Barneses’ backyard. The house looked dark. Hopefully they were out. But Trey was already on my bad list, and my spidey sense about him had kicked up a few notches. I crept over to the garage. It was attached to the house, but hopefully not visible since the windows I was peeking in were farthest from the house. I wished I had a light, but I knew that would’ve called a lot more attention to myself.
I couldn’t see much except a black Jaguar. But there was stuff piled up in there. And a tall object covered by a tarp, much like the one Avery had used. Frustrated, I jiggled the knob on the side door.
It opened.
Holding my breath, I paused and looked to see if anyone was around or if any lights had gone on inside. Nothing moved around me. Next door, the Prousts’ house was quiet. The U-Haul was gone and it didn’t look like anyone was home.
I stepped into the garage, staying low, and looked around. It was dusty and smelled like gasoline, which wasn’t surprising. I saw a snowblower in the corner. I stepped past it and tugged at the tarp. It wasn’t tied down because it came right off.
And then I just stared. Avery had been right. Edie’s sleigh was standing up in the corner of the garage, and had been covered by a tarp.
Why had she pretended her own sleigh had been stolen?
A noise behind me caused me to jump. As I started to turn around, something went around my neck. As I instinctively reached up to pull it away, it tightened. A cord of some sort, and it was biting into my neck. I tried to work my fingers under it and pull it loose, but it was too tight and my head was starting to spin. Gasping for air, I flailed and kicked at whoever was behind me, still trying to pull off the thing choking me.
“I believe your grandfather would call this burglary,” a voice I vaguely recognized as belonging to Edie Barnes crowed triumphantly in my ear. “And of course I had to defend myself.”
I felt like my whole body was starting to float away. My legs were shaking and I could barely stand up. I knew I wasn’t getting enough oxygen and it was really likely this crazy woman was going to kill me. Just when I’d gotten things fixed with Lucas too.
That was the last thought floating through my mind before I felt myself sliding to the floor. Then, suddenly, blissfully, the pressure came off my neck. I heard a cry and a thud behind me but I couldn’t really process it. I was on the ground myself, choking and trying to shake the stars from my eyes. When my vision cleared, I saw Avery standing over Edie with a rake. On the floor, Edie moaned.
Avery panicked and it looked like she was going to hit her again.
“No!” I jumped up, my voice hoarse, seeing stars again. But I knew the last thing I needed was someone else bludgeoned to death.
“She was trying to kill you! With Christmas lights!” Avery kicked at the abandoned string of lights on the ground.
I rubbed at my throat. “She sure was. What are you doing here?” I croaked, but I was thankful she’d come. Edie had been a few seconds away from seriously snuffing my life out.
“You were taking so long I figured you were over here poking around. I told you she hid her own sleigh.” She waved at it triumphantly, then pointed outside as sirens wailed. “I called the cops. But hey, one thing?”
I looked at her expectantly.
“You gonna tell them about the other decorations?”
I smiled. “Your secret is safe with me.”