Pumpkin Spice Lies: A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 16

He turned to me. “I bet you’d like to have it?”
I chuckled. “It’s almost like you can read my mind. It would look cute on my fireplace mantle. I don’t know what I’ll do with it other than just sit it there, but I really like it.”
He nodded and handed it to the man. “Go ahead and wrap it up and I’ll pay for it.”
I looked over the rest of the items in the booth and found a small tin toy that had Halloween decorations on it. “I think I have to have this too,” I said to the man.
He nodded and wrapped it up in a piece of newspaper and slipped it into the bag that he had put the bottle into. “You bet. I tried to dig up all the Halloween themed items I had, but I didn’t have nearly as much as I’d hoped for. I own a little antique shop over in Truckee. I was real happy to hear about this craft fair. It’s fun to get out of the shop now and then.”
I nodded. “I bet. I would think it would be a lot of fun to own an antique store.”
“I’ve owned it for nearly forty years, and I can tell you it is a lot of fun. It’s interesting seeing all the different things that come my way.”
I looked at Ethan. “We need to open an antique shop here in Pumpkin Hollow.”
Ethan shook his head and laughed. “We’ll have to think about that.”
We looked at the man’s booth for a few more minutes and then we headed on. When we got to the end of the line of craft booths, we stopped and turned around. There were some vendors selling hotdogs, tri-tip sandwiches, nachos, and an assortment of fair food.
“I’m hungry,” I said to Ethan.
He nodded. “I could use a bite, too. What are you thinking about getting?”
“The hotdogs smell amazing,” I said turning to the hotdog booth. “I know we could have tri-tip sandwiches, but those hotdogs smell so good.”
“Hotdogs it is,” he said, and we went and got in line. We ordered onion rings and sodas to go with the hotdogs, and then took our plates and found a shady spot beneath a tree. We sat down on the grass, and I took a bite of my hot dog.
I nodded. “I’m so glad we got hotdogs. This is perfectly cooked and tastes so good.”
He nodded. “You can say that again. There’s just the right amount of charring on them.”
“Nothing beats a slightly charred hotdog,” I said and chuckled. My eyes went over to the playground where Hailey’s body had been buried. They had placed a rubber surface all around and underneath the playground equipment that would absorb some of the shock from a fall. I sighed.
“I heard that sigh. I’ll find her killer. It’s the only thing I can do for her at this point.”
I nodded and took another bite of my hot dog. And then something in the grass caught my eye. I swallowed and put my hot dog down on my plate, and leaned forward, picking up a white object. I held it up. “Look at that.” It was a kid’s white plastic barrette.
“Look at that,” Ethan said in surprise. “I think I have the match to that.”
I held it out to him. “Oh, I got fingerprints on it now.”
He picked up a napkin and wrapped the barrette in it. “That’s okay, we’ll just discount your fingerprints when we send it to the lab to get prints off of it.”
“What about the other barrette? Were there any fingerprints on it?”
He nodded. “Yes, but they were all smudged. I had hoped we could get one clear print off of it, but we couldn’t.”
“I hope I didn’t ruin your chances of getting one off of that one. Do you think it belonged to Hailey?”
He shrugged. “It’s a possibility. Or it could be anyone’s.”
“You don’t see barrettes like that in the stores anymore,” I said. Ethan hadn’t shown me the other barrette, but he described it as being something that looked vintage, and he was right. It was in good condition, but it looked like it had been around for a while.
He nodded and took another bite of his hotdog. “Maybe we’ll get a break with this barrette.”
I looked over at the man with the antiques booth. “Can I see it?”
He gave it back to me, and I trotted over to the man’s booth.
He smiled at me. “Did you come back for something else?”
I nodded. “I was hoping you could tell me something about this?” I unwrapped the barrette but left it laying on the napkin. “Does this look vintage to you?”
He leaned over, looking at it. “I believe those were popular in the 1960s or 70s. They aren’t worth a lot, but they’re fun to look at now. Why?”
I shrugged and wrapped it back up. “I just wondered. Thanks for the information.”
I couldn’t imagine why a pair of old barrettes would be near the murder scene of a young woman, but hopefully, this one would have some prints on it. I hoped Hailey Strong’s murder would be solved soon so her family could get some closure.

Chapter Twelve
“Guess who moved into my apartment complex?” Christy asked me as we packed up candy orders to be mailed out.
I turned and looked at her, a roll of packing tape in one hand and scissors in the other. “Who?”
“Frank Gillespie.”
My mouth dropped open. “The Frank Gillespie? The one that Joey Harper said might have been trying to hit on his girlfriend, Hailey?”
She smiled and nodded. “The one and only. I spotted him unloading a small U-Haul truck yesterday evening. I would have gone over there to talk to him, but I was afraid I’d