Deadly Traditions, page 23
I glanced around, then leaned forward to whisper in her ear, “You know he’s not the real Santa, right?”
“I know that, Glory,” she responded with a huff. “That’s Billy Mills from down at the tire store. He dresses up as Santa every Christmas for their holiday sales promotion. He stands out on the street, waving a plastic sign telling passersby if they buy three tires, they get the fourth one free. It’s a great deal, and if you’re really nice, he’ll throw in an oil change.”
While we were watching him, he looked up and matched Beverlee’s stare with an eyebrow wiggle. He raised the champagne bottle with a flourish and downed a healthy swig.
Beverlee returned his toast with a finger wave.
“Please don’t tell me you dated Santa,” I said, pressing my fingers into my temples.
“It wasn’t a date, Glory,” she responded, brushing crumbs off her shirt. “But he bought me a hot dog once at the Founder’s Day Parade and he splurged for relish.” She let out a dramatic sigh and splayed her hand to her chest. “I just adore a man who goes the extra mile.”
“Providing condiments isn’t going the extra mile, Beverlee.” I nudged her toward the deck chairs. “But you get to question the big spender because you already know him, and he gives me the creeps.”
Beverlee didn’t hesitate. Instead, she flounced across the deck, motioning to Billy to scoot over in his sleigh before dropping down on the seat next to him. I followed reluctantly behind her.
“Ho ho ho, ladies,” he said. “Are you here to invite Santa down your chimney?”
“Gross,” I muttered under my breath, earning a scowl from Beverlee.
Beverlee spun back around to face him. “I don’t want you anywhere near my chimney, but I will tell you what I want for Christmas.”
His eyes lit up. “You’re finally taking me up on that set of whitewalls for your Volkswagen?”
She shook her head. “Glory and I are hoping you can help us figure out who took Mia’s engagement ring, and since you’ve been lingering here all night, we figured you might have seen something.”
He rested his plate on his thigh and ran his fingers along his beard, stretching out the white elastic cord that attached it to his head. “I’d like to help you, ladies, but I was sitting on my sleigh for most of the party, and I didn’t have a good view of the tree.”
I glanced over to the sleigh, and my stomach dropped. Billy was right: he had been angled away from the tree and probably hadn’t even seen Eliza hide the ornament at all. “Did you notice anyone behaving strangely?” I asked.
He tilted his head and regarded me with a chuckle, his hand against his padded belly. “It’s a Christmas party on a boat with a bunch of uppity people who think it’s romantic to hide an engagement ring in a pickle and make the bride-to-be hunt for it like she’s rummaging for psychedelic mushrooms.” He motioned to the area surrounding the tree, where Mia and her friends were still on their hands and knees, searching for the missing ring. “The whole thing is strange.”
I chewed the inside of my lip as I looked around, scouring the guests’ faces for hints that one of them was a criminal. My gaze landed on Chad, who was leaning against the railing apart from the crowd. Aside from his brief stint on the dance floor with Beverlee, he had mostly kept to himself.
“I will say, though,” Billy continued, interrupting my thoughts. “Mia’s friends all seemed jealous of the attention she was getting. Especially the lady in the slinky black dress…” He pointed to the group of young women.
“That’s Jordan. What was she doing?” I prompted.
He shook his head to no doubt clear the full parade of inappropriate thoughts that were marching through it. “She had her arms crossed the whole time the boyfriend was up there making his grand gesture. And when it became obvious he was going to propose, she looked like she wanted to stab Mia with one of these fancy party picks.”
He held out a silver olive pick from his plate, and I shook my head. Beverlee, however, accepted it and swiped one of his oysters. When she returned the pick to his outstretched palm, she gave him a saucy wink. “The zinc in oysters is good for a woman’s va-va-voom.”
I groaned and tugged her back across the deck before Santa could get handsy and test her theory. Not even four free tires were worth that. I steered her toward the group of Mia’s friends, who had finally gotten off the deck and were milling around next to the chocolate fountain. I spotted Jordan and approached her. “Crazy night, isn’t it?”
She dipped a strawberry under the chocolate stream, her expression bored. “This party is lame.”
I took a moment to collect my composure, tempted to shove her face into the fountain. Unfortunately, doing so would result in the colossal waste of imported Belgian chocolate. “How’s Mia holding up? This whole night must have been a shock to her.”
Jordan nodded toward the bride-to-be. “She’s right there. Ask her yourself.”
“Oh, honey,” Beverlee said. “That would be rude, and we don’t want to upset her. So why don’t you just tell us, girl-to-girl, what happened behind the scenes?”
Jordan raked her gaze over Beverlee, disdain dripping from her overly contoured cheekbones. “She’ll be fine. She didn’t need a ring that big—she wouldn’t have appreciated it, anyway.”
Beverlee turned to me with a knowing look before spinning back toward Jordan. “It sounds like you might be jealous.”
That got Jordan’s attention. “Jealous? Of what?”
“I saw the ring,” I said. “And Hampton seems like a catch. He’s handsome and charming…”
“And rich,” Beverlee added.
“Maybe.” Jordan wrinkled her nose with such force I was worried her makeup was going to crack. “But have you met his mother? You couldn’t pay me to marry that man.”
I couldn’t disagree. I had no interest in seeing Eliza Bullard’s perpetual scowl across the Thanksgiving table every year. It was hard enough to muster up a smile when she was cutting me a check for the deposit to plan this event.
Jordan glanced over her shoulder, then leaned in close so only Beverlee and I could hear her. “And she doesn’t even like Mia. I wouldn’t be surprised if Eliza herself was responsible for the missing ring. It would solve all her problems—she’d get a Christmas party full of drama and wouldn’t have to watch Hampton propose to someone she didn’t pick herself from the country club catalog.”
Beverlee’s eyes widened, and before she could blurt out anything, I said goodbye to Jordan and ushered my aunt to a dark corner beside the stairs leading to the yacht’s galley.
“Did Eliza hide the ring before everyone else arrived?” Beverlee asked.
I shook my head. “Eliza and I arrived at the same time this afternoon, so she wasn’t ever alone on the boat. You, the caterer, and Santa weren’t far behind, and then Hampton and Mia and some of their friends boarded. The captain and several deck hands were also nearby.”
Beverlee tapped a well-manicured fingernail on the railing as she considered the list of suspects. “Did you actually see Eliza put the ring into the ornament?”
“When the kids went inside the main salon, Eliza flashed the ring like she was a game show hostess and then insisted we all turn our backs when she was hiding it in the tree. She didn’t want any of us to give its location away during the big reveal by accident.”
“What if Jordan was right? What if Eliza never put the ring in the pickle in the first place?” Beverlee asked.
I considered that for a moment. I saw the ring, and I saw the pickle, but I wasn’t watching when she put them together and hid them in the tree. “She’s a piece of work, but would she really make this whole thing up?”
“Look at all the attention she’s getting.”
I glanced across the boat’s deck to find Eliza dabbing her cheeks with a napkin while half a dozen party guests consoled her. She was certainly soaking up the sympathy. “But wouldn’t Hampton want to see the ring before he proposed to Mia?”
Hampton was huddled with his friends on a deck chair only a few feet away from his mother watching a basketball game on Chad’s cell phone screen. “You’ve seen that boy,” Beverlee said. “He’s tucked so far in his mama’s pocket it’s a wonder he can brush his teeth on his own. If she told him she had handled it, I’ll bet he wouldn’t even question her.”
I skimmed a gaze over the rest of the party guests, my heart thumping as I saw the lights of the Flat Falls marina coming into view. Hollis would be waiting on the dock, and I was running out of time to find the ring.
I walked over to Eliza. “Pardon my interruption, Mrs. Bullard, but I was wondering if I could have a word with you.” She looked annoyed at the disruption that caused her minions to scatter, but I stepped forward anyway.
“What is it, Glory? Do you have any information about my missing ring?”
Beverlee, who had trailed me across the deck, peeked her head around my shoulder. “Your missing ring? I thought it was Mia’s ring.”
Eliza brushed her off with a wave, but not before a glare flashed across her face. “Of course it’s Mia’s ring. Don’t be daft.”
“We haven’t found the ring yet, unfortunately,” I said, wondering how to accuse someone who still owed me money of being a liar. But there was no way to go about it delicately, so I just plunged in. “Are you sure you put the ring in the pickle?”
“Yes, I’m sure.” Her incredulous laugh was loud enough to turn heads from across the deck. “What are you implying?”
“I was just curious. I never saw you hide it, and I was wondering if, in the evening’s chaos, you forgot to put it into the ornament.” Or, you know, you’re lying.
Eliza didn’t have a chance to respond, because the High Tide bounced against the dock and Chief Goodnight climbed aboard, grimacing when we made eye contact. “Good heavens, Glory,” he said, straightening his duty belt. “Why doesn’t it surprise me to discover that you’re in the middle of this?”
“Merry Christmas, Hollis,” I said, motioning to the buffet table on the far side of the deck. “Can I offer you a plate?” The least I could do if I was going to get blamed for losing an engagement ring was soften up local law enforcement with some brie and crackers.
Hollis shook his head, but all the irritation had left his features as he turned to speak with Eliza, who stood with her arms crossed tightly across her chest and her lips pursed. “Good evening, Mrs. Bullard. On the phone, you mentioned that a priceless piece of jewelry has gone missing. Can you tell me what happened?”
She jutted her chin toward me. “Ask her.”
“All I know is that Eliza hid a ring in a pickle and the pickle in the Christmas tree,” I said with a shrug.
He blinked slowly as he studied the tree. “Is that some sort of euphemism?”
Beverlee sidled up next to him and slipped her arm into his. “That’s what I said. But it turns out there was a pickle ornament, and it appears to have eaten a fifteen-thousand-dollar ring.”
He let out a low whistle. “How did you become aware of the value of the ring? Was Mrs. Bullard advertising that the…um… pickle contained such an expensive item?”
“She showed me a picture,” Beverlee said with a shrug. “And I know my jewelry.”
That was the truth. Beverlee had a string of ex-husbands and was on a first-name basis with every jeweler in the Carolinas. She had even flown out to New York City once on a whim when one of her exes said he’d buy her a tennis bracelet.
“But none of us saw her put the actual ring in the pickle,” I said. “And I was just asking Mrs. Bullard if perhaps there could have been some sort of mix-up.”
Eliza shoved past me and strode up to Hollis. “I’m not an idiot. I put the ring in the ornament just before I hid it in the lower branches of the tree.”
“Who else was on board that could have seen you hide the ring, ma’am?” Hollis asked.
“Well, it was mostly just Hampton, Mia, a few of their closest friends, and the hired help at that point,” she said, scowling at me. “The caterer was putting the finishing touches on the food tables, and the event planner and the tire guy were setting up.”
Hollis lifted a brow, and I raised a finger toward Santa, who gave a jolly wave with a chicken wing from his perch on the plywood sleigh.
“I sent Hampton and Mia and their friends inside the cabin to look over the menu while I slipped behind the tree. By the time I had found a suitable spot for the grand reveal, the guests started to arrive, and I got distracted playing the dutiful hostess for my boy’s big surprise.” Eliza’s voice quivered. “I should have kept an eye on it, but I didn’t think any of our guests would stoop so low as to steal such a sentimental piece of jewelry.”
She seemed so sincere that I wondered if I was wrong and she actually had hidden the ring, but when she fixed her icy glare on me, all my sympathies vanished. I glanced at Hampton, who was now watching his mother with rapt attention.
“Did you see anyone take the ring from the tree?” I called out to him as I walked across the deck.
He shook his head. “There aren’t any windows in the cabin that have a view of the Christmas tree, so I just sat on the sofa and watched the end of the basketball game until the party started.”
“Were you with him?” I asked Chad, who was too busy ogling Beverlee to realize I was speaking to him. When he still didn’t respond after a few seconds, I clapped my hands. He snapped his attention back to me and rose out of the chair. I wondered if Chad had taken the ring to keep his friend from proposing. After all, nothing ended the frat boy life faster than a wife.
“I’m sorry, what?” he replied, his cheeks brightening as red as Rudolph’s nose. He would have been cute if he didn’t look like a puppy who had just been caught having an accident on the rug.
Beverlee stepped forward until she was toe-to-toe with him, her arms crossed in front of her chest. “Where were you before the party started, Brad?”
His hopeful expression turned into a dejected pout. “It’s Chad.”
“Of course it is.” She straightened his bow tie and let her hand rest on his chest. “Now, where were you?”
She spun back to face me with a quick wink, and I realized she was toying with him. The strategic use of feminine wiles was one of Beverlee’s areas of expertise, and that poor kid had no idea what hit him. If he wasn’t careful, she’d know his high school locker combination and bank PIN before the night was over.
“Um… I was… um…” His face got even redder, and he stumbled over the words, unable to form a coherent thought.
Hampton tugged his friend roughly back toward the deck chair. “He was with me the whole time.”
I turned to Jordan, who was leaning against the boat’s railing, her frosty pink lips drawn in a thin line. “Were you with them, too?”
“No. Mia and I were in the bathroom. Parties make her nervous, and her stomach was hurting.”
A flush spread across Mia’s cheeks, so I nodded in sympathy. Parties gave me stomachaches, too. If I could just eat the food and hang out with the family dog, I was okay. When you added all the other people and the expectation that I could make small talk, I tended to get twitchy.
As Hollis continued interviewing the rest of the guests, I stepped away from the crowd. Something didn’t add up. Except for the people Eliza had told, most of the party guests didn’t even know there was a ring, so that marked them off the list. And Santa was too busy hitting on everybody to waste time treasure hunting.
Mia joined me at the edge of the crowd. “Quite a party, isn’t it?” she said with a brittle laugh.
“I doubt anyone will forget it.” Suddenly, I felt the need to escape. I’d thought this party would be an easy one, but it was evolving into just another disaster for my party planning portfolio. Maybe I needed to get away before I had a panic attack. “While everyone is occupied, I’m going to sneak off to the ladies’ room. Can you point me in the right direction?”
“Step into the main cabin and it’s the first door on your right.”
I glanced over my shoulder and raised a finger. “Right there?” I asked, although I knew exactly where the bathroom was. I had stocked it with plum-scented lotion and ritzy monogrammed soap before the party began and admired the tinted one-way glass that allowed me to make faces at Eliza through the window without her seeing me in return.
When she nodded, I wrinkled my forehead. “That’s where you were before the guests arrived?”
“I suppose so,” she said with a shrug. “Why?”
My gaze bounced between the Christmas tree and the bathroom window. The High Tide had a standard layout, with the galley and bathroom being two of the first areas guests would encounter when they entered the main cabin. I hadn’t thought about it before, but both rooms had clear views of the main deck, and the tinted windows would have prohibited Eliza from knowing she was being watched. “Because you would have had the perfect view of Hampton’s mother hiding the ring.”
Mia’s smile disappeared, and she stuffed her hands in her pockets. “I’m not sure what you’re insinuating, but I need to get back to my party.” She started to walk away, but her shoe caught on an uneven deck board. Before I could reach out to steady her, she stumbled, slipping to her knees. When she reached her arms out to catch herself, the contents of her pockets tumbled out around her.
A crumpled-up tissue.
The wrapper from a piece of Christmas candy.
A three-carat diamond ring.
She gasped and closed a fist around it, peering over her shoulder to make sure it hadn’t been spotted. But the guests were all watching Hollis as he made the rounds and not paying any attention to Mia.
“I do love a dress with pockets,” I remarked, remembering her hands in her pockets earlier that evening, too.
Mia’s panicked gaze darted between me and Eliza, who appeared to still be complaining about me to Chief Goodnight. “You can’t tell her I have the ring.”
“Why not? Do you think she’s going to let any of us leave this boat until she finds it?” I asked. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to spend Christmas anywhere near Eliza Bullard. She’s the worst kind of Grinch.”
