Diva Wraps It Up, The (18 page)

Dear Natasha,

You are my idol. I’m always asking myself, “What would Natasha do?” I’ve been hand-stamping my wrapping paper for years. Now I’m wondering how to make my Christmas letter special.

Crafter in Garland, Pennsylvania

Dear Crafter,

Each person should receive a personal handwritten card. Surprise them with a little pop-up. Write your Christmas greetings on the inside of folded craft paper. Adorn the front of the card. Use a glue gun to attach the ends of a short string on opposite sides inside. Cover the glue with a bead. Attach a tiny round or rectangular photograph of each family member to the string, and you have a spectacular Christmas card!

Natasha

I almost lost my own footing at that revelation. “Who
is
Kat’s father?”

“I don’t know.” He scratched the back of his neck. “Kat was about three months old when I met Gwen. I wanted to adopt Kat, but somehow we never got around to making it official and, after a while, it just didn’t seem to matter. Her biological father never came around or called or anything. I didn’t give it any thought in recent years.”

His head fell forward. “I don’t know if they would even let me adopt her now. My world is falling apart,” he sobbed. “It’s over. There’s nothing left. My wife is dead. I don’t have a job. The kids’ college funds are gone. I’m out of money, so broke I’m going to have to sell this house.” He crumpled to the floor and sat with his head in his hands, his entire body shaking.

I knelt next to him and wrapped my arms around him. There was nothing to do but hold him and let him cry.

“I wish I had died instead of Gwen. She was the strong one. I have nothing to live for anymore.”

“Don’t say that! You have something very important to live for—Bethany and Bradley. You have the one thing no one else can give them, Baxter—a father’s love. They need you now more than ever before.”

He clutched my hand. “I’m of no use to anyone.”

“Then you have to pull yourself together for them. You have to be the strong one now. You know you can.”

“I can, can’t I?”

“You’ll pull through this together. You and Bradley and Bethany.” I omitted Kat’s name on purpose. Poor baby. She had no idea how her life would change.

He sucked in a deep breath. His chest heaved. I stood up and handed him a tissue. He took my hand and rose slowly, like a very old man. “I apologize. I’ve never had a meltdown like that before.”

He hugged me to him, still sniffling. “You’re so right. I have to figure it all out for my children. I owe them that. Life might not be as sterling as it was, but, actually, that might be good for them. Elvin and I had summer jobs at their age.”

“See? Everything will work out.”

He released a long, shuddering breath. “I guess it’s lucky that Patty’s here, huh? At least they didn’t lose their mom.”

It probably wasn’t the time to ask, but I went for it anyway. “Did I understand correctly that Gwen is
Sugar’s
mother?”

Baxter huffed. “I didn’t know that myself until yesterday.” He winced and massaged the back of his neck. “I’m discovering that Gwen had quite a few secrets, and I don’t mean the guess-what-I-got-you-for-Christmas kind. Now that she’s gone, the truth is slithering out. I wonder if I knew her at all. Maybe . . . maybe Gwen didn’t mention Sugar because she wanted everyone to think she was young. The cops are telling me she lied about her age. Gwen told everyone she was forty when she was really fifty.”

“She looked great. I know she worked out a lot.”

“She wanted to go to Paris,” he said sadly. “The one in France. We couldn’t afford it. I promised her we would go for our tenth anniversary. And now she’s died without ever seeing Paris.”

“Don’t beat yourself up. You couldn’t have predicted that.”

He placed his hands on my shoulders. “Sophie, don’t put off your dreams.”

He turned and walked away.

I wandered out through the living room, pausing only long enough to notice that the shade from a floor lamp was missing. A pang ripped through me. It must have been the one atop Gwen’s head.

I let myself out of the house, shaken by Baxter’s deep depression. What had I expected? Of course he was sad and probably numb, too. I’d had no idea there were money issues. Poor Baxter.

While I was out, I went next door to check on Natasha. Mars and Daisy answered the door. The big tail-wagging hug from Daisy was just the canine therapy I needed to cheer me up.

“How’s Natasha?” I asked Mars.

“Indignant. Gwen really pushed her buttons.”

“Sounds like our Natasha.”

He led me to their kitchen. Not a single item lay on the spotless stainless steel countertops. A huge square wreath of glistening silver ornaments hung in the window, adorned by an airy black bow. It was striking in a high-tech sort of way.

Natasha stood on a ladder, holding a long garland of silver stars. “At least it’s not the police again. I hate your Wolf, Sophie.”

“He’s not
my
Wolf.”

“I hate him anyway.”

Mars sighed. “Why don’t you tell Sophie what happened?”

Natasha turned. “Mars thinks you can help me.”

I shot him a doubtful look. “Was it your wrapping paper that covered Gwen?”

“Of course it was! There’s not any point in denying it because I make it myself. You can’t find paper like that in stores.”

“You make the paper?” asked Mars.

“No! I
have
made paper before, but I usually buy the paper and then hand stamp it with something appropriate for the recipient.”

“Like what?”

Natasha gazed down at me. “Didn’t you teach Mars anything when you were married to him? I might stamp it with a French horn or a note for a musician, or trains for a little boy.”

“Must have taken quite a bit of paper to wrap a whole person,” I said.

“Doesn’t matter. I changed my color scheme, so I didn’t need it anyway.”

I hoped she hadn’t said it that way to Wolf! He might think she had used it instead of throwing it out. “Why do you think Gwen was wrapped?”

“Mars, I told you Sophie couldn’t help.” Natasha sighed. “Isn’t it obvious that the killer wanted to pin it on me?”

A reasonable assumption.

“Tell her what you did.” Mars was insistent.

Natasha tilted her head upward, her chin jutting forward. “It was a natural reaction. I didn’t know she would be killed!”

Mars left the kitchen for a few seconds and returned with an iPad. He flicked to a page and showed it to me. Gwen had posted a photo of Natasha on her website. Natasha’s almost black hair stuck out from her head. If she had placed her finger in an electrical outlet she wouldn’t have managed as much static in her hair. It must have been from the pantyhose and balloon game. Even worse, Natasha’s chin was tucked in, and she looked up, with an absolutely devilish expression. I had never seen her like that before. If I hadn’t known Natasha, I would have been terrified of her.

Mars flicked the page up. In the next photo, Natasha wore the balloon antlers on her head. The pantyhose bottom smashed her hair tight to her head and the balloon-filled antlers curled like ram’s horns. I bit my lip as hard as I could to keep from laughing. “Well, let’s hope that Gwen doesn’t have a big following on her website.”

Natasha glared at me. “Oh, that’s right. No one will go to that page now that she’s dead.”

Oof. Of course they would.

“Not to mention that she posted the same charming pictures on her Facebook page!”

Mars flicked the screen a couple of times. “And there they are again.” He flicked it one more time. “And here’s what Natasha did.”

“I had to retaliate! I wasn’t going to stand by and watch her grind all my hard work to dust!”

Mars zeroed in on a message from Natasha.
Heaven help me not to kill the woman whose deranged jealousy of me led her to post such unflattering photos, which were clearly Photoshopped to present me in a way I have never looked. It’s a shame that liars and untalented copycats have access to worldwide audiences who have no knowledge of their true character and believe the trash they post.

I was stunned. “Why would you do anything so incredibly juvenile?”

“What was I supposed to do?”

“The mature thing would have been to say nothing and let it slide. This is a direct threat! No wonder the police are looking at you. They had opportunity, and you handed them motive. Why didn’t you just leave your signature on her corpse? Oh, I’m sorry. You did! You wrapped her in your personal private stash of wrapping paper.”

“You think I killed her.”

“No, I don’t think that at all.” I really didn’t. “I know you better than that.” At least I thought I did. “But this does not look good for you.”

Natasha finally climbed down the ladder. In a very small voice, she asked, “Will you help me?”

“I’ll do what I can. But you have to promise never to be so incredibly stupid and hotheaded again.”

I watched Natasha carefully for her reaction. “Wouldn’t you have noticed someone in your workshop?”

She didn’t flinch. “Carriage house. It’s a
carriage
house. I was out front, changing the decorations, and then I had to sew a black tree skirt and black stockings in my upstairs sewing room.”

Horrified, I looked to Mars.

He closed his eyes briefly, as though resigned to the black décor, and nodded his head. “What do we do first?”

“We’ll have to do some poking around to see if we can figure out who really killed Gwen. And you”—I pointed at Natasha—“stay home and finish decorating. No more posts on the Internet of any kind.”

“Oh, I know who killed her,” Natasha said casually. “Claudine. I saw her sneaking around the carriage house when she should have been at work.”

Dear Sophie,

As much as I would love to pour a glass of wine and spend some time having fun with my friends at a cookie swap, my husband always complains about being “thrown out of the house.” Is there a way to include husbands that wouldn’t be a lot more work?

Harried Mom in Christmasville, Tennessee

Dear Harried Mom,

Make it a family affair. Invite your friends, their spouses, and their kids. Instead of asking everyone to share a dozen cookies that day, maybe they can all bring two dozen. Set up two tables, one with cookies and drinks for children and one for the adults. Be smart and hire a couple of high school kids to entertain the children!

Sophie

“Why would Claudine want to murder Gwen?” I asked.

Natasha gave me a look like she thought I was too stupid to live. “Obviously, Gwen was a despicable person. The fact that she posted those hateful photos proves that. She thought nothing of ruining the career I’ve worked so hard to establish. And, by the way, I’m a little miffed at you because you’re the one who told me to play nice.” She shifted her focus to Mars. “And you, too! You nagged me until I went to that cookie swap.” She switched to a nasty little tone of voice. “
You must be nice to the neighbors or they’ll think you’re a snob
. Look where that got me!”

It got
me
out of their house about as fast as I could go. Mars barreled after me, attaching Daisy’s leash as they went. “Where to, Sherlock?” He handed me the leash and pulled on a brown leather jacket as we walked.

“Mars, what possesses you to stay with her?”

“That’s what we’re going to talk about now? Don’t you think that’s better suited to a glass of wine by the fire?”

Actually, I didn’t think so at all. In fact, it sounded too cozy and romantic for me. Like a complete chicken, I changed the subject. “Yesterday morning, Baxter asked me if Gwen was having an affair.”

“Whoa-ho!” Mars chuckled. “Why am I not surprised? Gwen liked attention.”

“Oh?”

“Don’t look at me that way. If she was seeing someone, it wasn’t me. But she liked to dress to show off her figure. You know what I mean. And she was good at flirting and being seductive. Sugar is like that, too. The Babineaux men must like that type.”

“Like mother, like daughter.”

“Huh?” He stopped walking. “You’re kidding!”

“I wish I were. I don’t know why they kept it quiet. Turns out Baxter is broke, too. There was a lot going on under their roof that no one knew about.”

“How can he be broke? They bought that house less than a year ago.”

“I guess they overextended. Didn’t Gwen do a lot of renovating?”

“I know they redid the kitchen, because Natasha was so jealous that she wanted to rip ours out again.”

“Why? Natasha acts like she has the perfect kitchen.”

“She says stainless steel is out.”

“Then what’s the new trend?”

“Please,” Mars groaned. “Like I listened to her that long? I said no more renovating. She chose what she put in our house and now she has to live with it.”

“Natasha and Gwen were a little bit alike. I have a feeling that Gwen might have been extravagant. She bought some incredible candleholders and the most amazing sleigh. They’re sterling silver. They would have cost a bundle.”

“Living beyond their means, eh? So what do we do next? Interview Claudine?”

I shot Mars a skeptical glance as we walked. “Seems like there could be other, more likely candidates. What do we know for sure? Gwen was killed after the cookie swap and before the next evening. It would help if we knew exactly when. It seemed to me that Wolf was most interested in the evening before I found her. Who had a motive?”

“Baxter, for one.” We paused so Daisy could sniff a gate. “If Gwen was running through their money, it’s a good bet they had some major fights. Maybe one got out of hand. What about Baxter’s ex-wife, Patty?”

We walked again, and I drew in a deep breath. “She seems very nice. But if anyone was angry with Gwen, it was Patty. She feels like Gwen stole her children. Apparently Gwen wasn’t very generous about sharing them. And there’s one other thing.” It pained me to say it. “Patty slipped out of the house that night. I have no idea where she went, but it doesn’t look good for her.”

Mars stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk. “That’s it! You’re brilliant! It was Patty. Let’s call Wolf and tell him.”

“Slow down, Mars. We don’t know that. Besides, I’m sure he interviewed her. After all, she spent the night at Baxter’s . . .”

“That ties it up even tighter. Maybe they killed her together.”

There was a horrible thought that hadn’t crossed my mind. “It’s possible. But I think she felt everyone was in shock and she needed to help out, especially with the children.”

“You don’t have to make her out as a nice person, Sophie. She obviously murdered Gwen.”

“Mars,” I said casually, “what time did you finish working on my roof and go home that night?”

“You suspect me?” He snickered.

“No. But answer the question.”

“I knew Natasha was at the cookie swap, so I went down to The Laughing Hound with Bernie for a beer. There were loads of witnesses in the bar.”

I smiled at him. He didn’t realize where I was going with my questions. “What time did you get home?”

“Natasha had prepared a pumpkin, blue cheese, and radish quichelike thing for dinner, so I was in no hurry to go home. I split a pizza with Bernie, then hung around because he asked the chef to whip up crepes filled with vanilla ice cream and topped with a chocolate hazelnut sauce. Have you tried them? I could eat them every day. Why can’t Natasha cook things like that? But to answer your question, I wasn’t home until ten. And I can give you the names of witnesses.”

Did he really think I suspected him? I was a lot more interested in knowing just how much time Natasha had in the privacy of her workshop and garage. Not that I thought Natasha would intentionally kill anyone. Still, it was worth ruling her out. The garage and workshop were detached from their house. If Natasha had been inside their home decorating for extended periods of time, anyone could have slipped into the garage or workshop to steal the wrapping paper and hide Gwen’s body. Including, unfortunately, Natasha.

“Did you notice anything different in your garage? See anyone hanging out in the alley?”

“No on both counts.”

“This is the store where Gwen bought the sleigh . . .” I blinked. Silver reindeer pranced before a sleigh full of glitzy round white Christmas ornaments. Either they had another one just like the one Gwen had bought or it was back. I handed the leash to Mars. “I’ll just be a second.”

I entered the store and approached a bald man with a precisely trimmed mustache who was polishing a deer-head candlestick exactly like the ones that had graced Gwen’s mantel. “Excuse me. The sleigh in the window—did you have two of them?”

He had the nerve to look me over top to bottom. “You must have had your eye on it to notice. Someone bought it, but it was returned to the store.”

“When?”

He raised an eyebrow critically. “I’m quite sure that’s none of your business.”

“Is it sterling?” I asked.

“Are you interested in purchasing it?”

What a pill! “Yes,” I lied.

He forced a smile, showing pointy little teeth. “It is indeed sterling silver. We have these coordinating buck antler candlesticks that go with it.”

“How much for the set?”

When he told me the five figure number, my knees nearly buckled. I could renovate both of my bathrooms for that kind of money. I thanked him and hurried out of the store, making a mental note not to patronize it. Not that I had that kind of excess cash anyway.

“It was returned,” I said to Mars. “It costs a small fortune.”

He didn’t appear interested. “Guess who’s next door working at Rocking Horse Toys.”

“Claudine? Will you let that go? Unless we ferret out a reason for her to have wanted to kill Gwen, you’re wasting your time on her.”

“What about Gwen’s brother-in-law, Elvin?”

“He’s working at the toy store?” We edged over to the store window and peered inside.

The buttons on a Christmas red vest threatened to pop off of Elvin’s tummy. He wore jaunty pointed elf ears and a green elf hat with red accents in the shapes of stars. Elvin laughed with a customer while he wrapped a gift.

“I wonder if he knew Gwen was Sugar’s mom. There must be more to that story, don’t you think? Why would they hide their relationship?”

“We can add Sugar to the list of suspects, too.” Mars cringed. “Although I can’t imagine killing a family member. How are we going to find out what the deal is with Sugar?”

“I guess we’ll have to ask her. But maybe we should start with Elvin. He probably knows something about what was going on in that household.”

All smiles, Elvin’s customer left.

Mars started for the door.

“Wait! How are we going to bring it up?”

Mars tilted his head at me. “Sophie. I deal with slick politicians all the time. Do you really think I don’t know how to weasel information out of someone?”

I was game to let him try. He must have learned something in his years as a political consultant. Mars held the door for Daisy and me. She led the way into the store.

Elvin couldn’t have been more jolly if he’d been Santa himself. “You’re Baxter’s neighbors. Right?” He placed a pudgy finger aside of his nose. “Sophie, you helped Baxter the day he fell off the roof. And I know Mars because he lives next door. What can I help you with today?”

Mars thought he was so clever. I let him handle that question.

He let it slide. “I didn’t expect to see you working here.”

“Aww, I’m just a big kid. If there are two things I know about, it’s kids and toys!” Elvin lowered his voice, his tone a bit less cheery. “Need to make a little money for Christmas presents. Now that Gwen is gone, Sugar and I are extending our trip to help take care of things around the house. Poor Baxter isn’t himself. It’s terrible to lose someone close to you, but at this time of year it’s twice as hard. Everyone wants to embrace the joy of the season. Instead, poor Baxter feels like nothing will ever be right again. We thought we’d be a comfort to the kids. Make things a little merrier, so the house doesn’t feel so empty without Gwen.” He gazed at the floor. “I guess I should have waited until after the funeral to start working, but we don’t know exactly when her body will be released.”

“Such a tragedy,” murmured Mars. “Do the police have any leads?”

I tried to act casual and picked up a baby doll.

Elvin’s lips twisted inward. “Not that I know of. Gwen seemed like a warm and loving person to me. I can’t imagine why anyone would do her in.”

Was that really how he felt? Gwen had said he couldn’t stay with them and had instructed Baxter to hide Elvin’s bus immediately. Hardly warm and loving.

“I heard she kicked the family out for the cookie swap.” Mars laughed.

Elvin grinned. “Guess she was afraid we’d eat all the goodies. Everyone except Sugar, that is. She got to stay because she’s a lady.
Just for women
is what I was told.”

Sugar! Sugar was the only person left in the house with Gwen after the cookie swap. She had the best opportunity of anyone to kill Gwen. They must have been alone together once the party broke up. Then again, anyone could have slipped inside after the guests left.

Mars leaned toward Elvin like he was confiding something. “Is it true that Sugar is Gwen’s daughter?”

Elvin’s eyes went wide, and he slapped his thigh. “Who’d have thought
that
? Came as a surprise to everyone. Sugar lost track of her mom a few years back. Gwen married Baxter and moved, and the name Gwen Babineaux didn’t mean anything to Sugar. Can you imagine their surprise when we drove up? I’m just glad they had a chance to see each other again before Gwen died.” He stared at the doll in my hands. “Funny how life works out sometimes.”

Lost track? Who loses touch with her mom? I chided myself immediately. Just because I was close to my mom didn’t mean everyone was. I thought back to Sugar’s arrival. Had Gwen and Sugar acted like long-lost mother and daughter? Gwen had hustled Sugar into the house very quickly. Why would she have done that? I tried to recall if they had hugged. I thought they had. Still, there had to be more to that story. Something didn’t smell right to me.

“Must be awkward having Patty around,” said Mars. “The ex-wife? Oof!”

I groaned inwardly. Mars had failed to read my mind and pursue questions about Sugar.

Elvin grinned from ear to ear. “It’s not like that at all. Patty’s a great gal. Baxter never should have dumped her the way he did. She’s the best. True-blue, you know?”

“Sounds like you have a soft spot for your former sister-in-law.” Mars winked at Elvin.

Eww!
How creepy. Since when did Mars wink at people?

“It’s not like that.” He leaned toward Mars and whispered again. “But from what I hear, Gwen put the moves on most of the men in the neighborhood. At least Patty didn’t sleep around.” Elvin raised his palms. “I shouldn’t be speaking ill of the dead. Gwen’s gone and Baxter sure misses her.”

Mars asked him a question about a train set as though he were interested in purchasing it.

My phone rang and I stepped outside with Daisy to answer the call.

“This is Mrs. Horace Scroggins calling. May I speak with Ms. Winston?”