Page 10 of Christmas Fudge Fatality

Stacy shrugs as she leads us over to the Christmas tree in the corner. “Free tree courtesy of the Jolly Holly Tree Lot. They felt so bad they wanted to do something. Just like you nice folks.”

Lainey pulls her old friend in for a quick hug. “How are you holding up? Have you heard from Scott?”

She sniffs hard and nods. “He came back last night and packed a bag. He said he couldn’t believe I threw him under the bus like that.” Her face falls into her hands and she sobs silently a moment while Lainey rubs her back. She sniffs as she straightens once again. “I mean he did it.”

“He confessed?” I hiss it out so fast Noel pops up from thin air and barks up a storm.

“Did he do it, Lottie? Did he?” The ghostly pooch dances in a circle around the three of us.

I shake my head down at him before looking back to Stacy. “Did he?”

Stacy rolls her eyes. “Of course not. But he obviously did it. He’s just running scared right now. I told him if he confessed, they’d go easy on him.” Her eyes grow cold as she looks to the corner of the room.

Lainey wraps an arm around Stacy’s shoulders. “What is it?”

She shakes her head. “I guess I can tell the two of you. I mean, Scott and I are basically over.” She swallows hard, briefly looking over her shoulder. “He has a dark side. I didn’t see it at first. And Tamara tried to warn me. But I thought she was just trying to keep us apart. I couldn’t blame her if she was. It wasn’t right what Scott and I did, but I suppose that’s all in the past now. Anyway, he has a temper. You both saw it last night.”

Lainey’s fingers fly to her lips. “Has he ever hurt you?”

Stacy closes her eyes a moment. “He shook me once. Mostly his abuse was verbal, but he always begged for forgiveness, and of course, I always gave it to him. And to think, I thought we were soulmates.”

She swallows hard again and blinks several times dramatically, but my guard is up and I haven’t seen a genuine tear yet. Although, when my father died, my little sister Meg couldn’t cry. She was shaken and angry, but tears never came. I guess you can’t really judge someone by how they choose to grieve—and she is grieving a relationship in a way. Maybe even the former friendship she once had with Tamara.

Heck, Scott turned out to be a loser and Stacy didn’t care for Tamara. Maybe she doesn’t have a reason to shed a real tear.

Noel sniffs around her boots. “I smell bull. Ask if she saw him push her off that embankment.”

“Stacy?” I say her name quietly. “Did you see the altercation between Scott and Tamara?”

Her gaze flits across the room. “I think we all did. But if you’re asking about the big heave-ho he gave her”—she takes a quivering breath and holds it—“I did.” Her gaze floats to the ceiling. “It was terrible. I didn’t know what I was seeing. I thought maybe she fell in the bushes—that he would help her up. I headed back out of the woods, and that’s when I stumbled upon Joyce and Bonnie.” She shakes her head. “And now that I know what really happened—that look in Tamara’s eyes will haunt me forever.”

Noel growls and the faint blue aura around his fur picks up until he’s glowing a brilliant shade of blue.

“Ask if she knows what they were arguing about,” he ruffs it out in a heated growl. Noel is so piping mad I’m sure he’d like to bite an ankle or two. And I’ll be the last to clue him in on the fact he just might be able to do it.

“I’m so sorry, Stacy.” My hand floats to my chest. “Did you happen to hear what they were arguing about?”

She cocks her head to the side as if reliving it. “Something about the land, I’m sure. That’s all they ever fought over. Scott was determined that she wouldn’t get an inch of soil.”

Lainey shifts. “What about money? You know, their bank accounts? I know the farm generates quite an income for them. Do you know if they ever hashed that out?”

Noel barks at my sister and it sounds as if he’s cheering her on. “Good question!”

Indeed.

Stacy shifts her gaze from one end of the room to the other before leaning in.

“That’s the thing”—she whispers—“Tamara never asked about it because she thought she was getting an even split every month.”

“Shethought?” I ask, stunned by what this implies.

Stacy nods. “Scott was siphoning funds to a secret account she knew nothing about.”

Something burns inside of me. “And you weren’t going to tell her either.”

She lifts her chin as if I had struck her. “I was investigating it, Lottie. I had a feeling Bonnie was in on it. She’s the accountant here.”

“Bonnie?” both Lainey and I say in unison.