Pumpkin Spice Lies: A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 16

I turned back toward the candy store.
“Wait a minute, where are you going?” Christy asked.
I turned and looked at her. “Back to the candy store.”
“Why? The clothing store is only two blocks away, and it’s this direction,” she said, nodding her head down the sidewalk in the opposite direction.
“Christy, we’re not doing very well today. We practically accused two people of murder, and I’m reasonably sure that we were wrong. Actually, you did accuse Joey of murder. Besides, we’ve got to get back to work.”
“What do you mean get back to work? We just eliminated two suspects. The odds are in our favor.” She stubbornly crossed her arms in front of herself. It was cute, her being dressed as Dora.
I groaned. “Christy, Ethan’s going to have a fit if we go down there and accuse Betty Mays of killing Hailey. Besides, she’s mean. She isn’t going to let us walk away if we’re wrong.”
“Now, we won’t tell Ethan unless she really is the killer. Then we’ll tell him and he can arrest her. He’ll thank us for doing his job for him.”
I looked at her incredulously. “Are you out of your mind? Ethan does not want us running around accusing people of murder.”
She shrugged. “Possibly. But I’m also on the trail of a killer. Don’t give up now. Good things come to those who wait.”
“Good, let’s wait for the police.”
“Wait, that was the wrong idiom. It’s supposed to be something about people who don’t give up receive the prize. I know I heard something like that somewhere.”
I chuckled. My sister could always make me laugh, but going after one more suspect today might be the death of us. Literally. “I think it’s a bad idea.”
“I know, I know. But look on the bright side. We could help put Hailey’s killer behind bars. Justice is calling.”
I may have thought it was a bad idea, but I walked with her down the street toward the clothing store anyway. What if it was true? What if Betty Mays really had killed Hailey Strong? Yes, we should have allowed the police to handle this, but the temptation to catch a killer was too great.
I sighed.
“Sometimes I like bad ideas,” Christy confided as we walked.
“No, really?” I said sarcastically.
“Hard to believe, but true nonetheless.”
My phone rang, and I pulled it from my pocket. It was Ethan. “Hey,” I said answering it.
“Hey yourself. I saw I missed your call. What did you want?”
Uh-oh. Now I had to come up with a story. “Oh, I was just checking to see how you were. How are you?”
“I’m great. Still working on the case and hoping to have a break shortly.”
I stopped. “You’re hoping to have a break shortly? Like today?”
“Well, you never can tell when a break is going to present itself.”
“Okay, so nothing definite.”
Christy and I started walking down the sidewalk again.
“Wow, that’s not very supportive,” he said, chuckling. “What are you up to?”
“Right now? At this very moment?”
“Yes, right now at this very moment. Why are you talking like that?”
I shrugged, but of course, he couldn’t see me over the phone. “I have a hunch about Betty Mays. What about the security cameras at the park? I know they don’t point to the playground, but they do point to the parking lot, don’t they?”
“Yeah, there are cameras on the parking lot. Why?”
“Who all came to the park that day that Hailey died?”
He chuckled. “Everyone. It was the two nights before the vendors’ fair so there were the construction workers, people from the City Council, and lots and lots of vendors going to check out their booths. Why?”
“And Betty Mays? Was she there at the park?”
“We identified as many of the people as we could, but the cameras were set quite a distance from the parking lot and some people couldn’t be identified. Why?”
We crossed the street and stood in front of the store next door to the clothing store. I didn’t want Betty to catch sight of us standing in front of her store and get suspicious.
“Well, I believe Betty Mays may have killed Hailey. I think she was terrified that Hailey would tell her husband about the affair, and so she killed her to keep her mouth shut.”
“I think that is a fair suspicion. And I’ve talked to her twice.”
“So you don’t think she’s the killer?” I asked, disappointed.
“No, I didn’t say that. I think it’s a very good possibility that she is the killer, and I have my eye on her. Mia, what’s going on? Tell me where you’re at right now.”
I took a deep breath. “Christy and I are standing in front of the store next to the dress shop.”
“Why? What are you doing? You’re not going to go in there and accuse her of murder are you?”
There was panic in his voice and I glanced at Christy, who put her hands up in the air in an attempt to let me know that she wanted to know what was going on.
“I talked to Joey Harper, and he says that Hailey got a call from Betty the day before we found her body. It was her day off, and she was annoyed that Betty was calling her at home. She wanted her to come to the park, to look at the booth they had been assigned.”
Ethan was quiet for a moment. “Why didn’t anyone tell me this?”
“Joey said he forgot and was going to call you and tell you about it.”
There was a heavy sigh. “Mia, don’t go in there. I’m going to come down there and have a talk with Betty.”
“Okay, we’ll wait for you.”
“No, don’t wait for me. Go back to the candy store. I’m sure there’s lots of pumpkin spice fudge that