Pumpkin Spice Lies: A Pumpkin Hollow Mystery, book 16

“It turned out hot today,” I said and took a sip of my iced tea. Christy had made a run to the local burger joint and bought us iced tea.
She looked at me and nodded. “That’s the one drawback to having Pumpkin Hollow Days in the summer. The heat. But that’s all right. We’ll survive. And I got some new candles in, so if you get a minute, pop over to my booth and see what I’ve got.”
“I will. You know I can’t resist candles. Maybe I should have gone into business making them.”
She chuckled. “I’d buy them from you to sell in my shop. But for now, how about I place an order for a pound of pumpkin spice fudge? I know your mom has been working her fingers to the bone making candy, so she can let me know when she gets it done next week, and I’ll stop by the candy store and pick it up. No rush.”
“Thanks, Polly. Mom will appreciate an order she doesn’t need to make right away.” I picked up a blank order form and began filling it out for her.
“I think I’ll take this piece you have here, so at least I get a little taste of it right now,” she said, indicating a quarter-pound slice beneath the glass cover.
“You got it.” I finished filling out the form and got the piece of fudge for her and took her money for it. “I’ll try to stop by your booth in just a bit.”
She nodded absently, her eyes going to the barricade nearby. “What’s going on over there?”
I glanced at it. “They’ve been working on the playground for a while now.” I hated not telling Polly the truth. She was a friend, but I didn’t feel right saying anything just yet. Someone’s loved one had been found in that hole behind the barricade, and it would be awful for them to find out about it from someone other than the police.
She glanced at the barricade, and then nodded again. “Well, thanks for the fudge. I’ll see you later.”
“See you,” I said.
Christy returned from the candy store with another ice chest of candy and set it down in the booth. “There. That should hold us for a while.”
I sighed and picked up my Styrofoam cup of iced tea and took a sip. “I’m ready for fall weather. I am not a fan of the heat.”
“Me too,” she said, wiping the sweat from her forehead.
It didn’t get as hot here in the mountains as it did in other parts of California, but each summer, we had a period that warmed up, and this was it.
Christy glanced at the barricade and sat down next to me. “Anything new on who was buried back there?”
I shook my head. “Not a word. Ethan said he would stop by the booth today. Maybe he’ll know something then.”
She nodded. “Seems like someone should have reported someone missing.”
“You would think so. But maybe they weren’t dead long when we found them, or maybe they were scheduled to go someplace this weekend, and their family hasn’t even missed them yet.”
“Wonder what would happen if we slipped back behind the barricade?” she asked, eyeing the formation.
“The police would stop you from being nosy. I saw Officer Chu hanging out around there.”
She brushed back her long brown hair and turned to me. “Ethan needs to get us the details. How can we investigate without details?”
I chuckled. “Have patience, sister. He’ll give us the details. Or at least, enough of them to start snooping.” Ethan wasn’t fond of us looking around and asking questions, but he had become resigned to the fact that it was going to happen whether he wanted it to or not.
I looked up as Angela Karis from the Sweet Goblin Bakery approached us. She was dressed as a cupcake, the costume covering her torso, and her head popped out from the fabric frosted top. The costume looked bulky and hot.
“That’s a cute costume,” Christy said, eyeing her.
Angela frowned, putting her hands where her hips should be. “Do you like it?” She glanced down at herself.
Christy hesitated. “It’s unique.”
Angela’s lips curled. “Yeah, I’m not much of a seamstress.” Her eyes went to the candy on the table. She sighed loudly. “I don’t need more sugar, but I’ll take a quarter-pound of pumpkin spice fudge.” She nodded at the plate, then eyed me. “This has been one heck of a week.”
“Oh?” I asked as Christy got the fudge for her.
She nodded, sighing again. “I didn’t think I’d ever get this costume finished. I poked myself with a sewing needle at least four hundred times, and had to remove every seam. Twice. I don’t know what I was thinking. Vince said I was nuts for making it, but I’m proud that I actually finished it.”
I nodded. Vince Moretti owned the bakery, and Angela had been a friend of his now-deceased wife. A lot of people around town had suspicions about their relationship before Stella had died, and now that Vince and Angela were living together, their suspicions were confirmed. “I’m sure it was a lot of work. It’s cute, though.”
She nodded absently, her eyes on the candy again. “And then my sister called me in a panic late last night when my niece didn’t come home the night before.” She shook her head and looked at me now. “Between the three of us, the girl has always been a little wild. I don’t know why my sister is getting excited about it anyway, she’s eighteen. She has a right to stay out as long as she wants. But my sister was a blubbering mess when she called and kept me on the phone until nearly one o’clock in the morning.” She yawned.
It took everything in me not to look at Christy. I