Murder Fir Christmas Read online

  Murder Fir Christmas

  A Christmas Tree Valley Mystery

  By

  Joyce and Jim Lavene

  With Chris Lavene

  Copyright © 2015 Joyce and Jim Lavene

  Book coach and editor—Jeni Chappelle

  http://www.jenichappelle.com/

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors’ rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  * * *

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Acknowledgments:

  The authors want to acknowledge Patricia Tucker for her help in choosing the name for the wolf in this book, Cynthia Chappelle for whom Bonnie Tuttle’s new life was inspired by.

  Also Jeni Chappelle and Emily Andreis for their help or this book would not have been finished.

  Dedication:

  This book is in memory of Joyce Lavene who passed away on October 20, 2015

  We will miss her and hope her memory and works live on as she would want them to.

  Table of Contents

  Murder Fir Christmas

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  RECIPES

  Traditional Stollen

  Sausage and Potato Casserole with Cheese

  Almond Crescent Cookies

  About the Authors

  Chapter One

  Bonnie Tuttle braked abruptly for the tiny, old man in the white robe. He appeared out of nowhere and was standing in the middle of the road with a greenwood staff in one hand. The other hand rested on the side of the biggest stag she’d ever seen. The antlers had sixteen points. The man’s long, white hair whipped around his aged Cherokee face as the stag pawed at the blacktop.

  She didn’t turn off the truck engine since she wasn’t sure it would start again, but she got out to address the man. Old snow was heaped on the sides of the road where it had been pushed by a plow, and salt grated under her tennis shoes. The area had readied itself for another snowstorm.

  “Excuse me, sir.” The wind whipped at her short, sun-bleached blond hair and her jacket that had been adequate when she’d left Alabama. “It’s not a good idea to stand in the road. Why don’t you come with me and we’ll find out where you belong?”

  “Unega Awinita.” He bowed his head elegantly toward her. “I have awaited your return. Welcome home. We have great need of your presence.”

  She started to speak, but the man and the stag were gone. It was as though they disappeared right before her eyes. A few snow flurries swirled around her as she scanned the nearby woods for any sign of them.

  Bonnie rubbed her eyes. She was more tired than she thought. Good thing she was close to town. What was that he’d called her?

  She got back in her pickup, glancing around one last time before she headed into Sweet Pepper, Tennessee.

  It was two weeks before Christmas, and the small town was decorated with plenty of holly—both fake and real. There was a huge Douglas fir tree at the VFW Park in the center of town decorated with lights and gleaming, colored ornaments.

  She parked in front of town hall, glad to turn off the engine that had been overheating for the last fifty miles. She hadn’t been sure if the old truck would make it from Alabama, but she was finally here.

  A cold wind swept down from the Great Smoky Mountains that surrounded the town, and she shivered, not used to the colder temperatures anymore. She was originally from this area—Christmas Tree Valley, just past Sweet Pepper and down the mountain. But she hadn’t lived here in ten years. Her visits were during the summer when it was warm. She’d forgotten how cold it could be or that there could be so much snow.

  Bonnie hurried into the warmth of the building. Snow, ice, and cold were going to take some getting used to, but since her job was primarily outside as a Federal Wildlife Agent, she’d get used to it pretty quickly. A new coat would help. Maybe some boots besides her rubber wading boots would be good too.

  “Good morning!” A woman with teased-high, fifties hair, dressed as though she’d never left that era, greeted her. “Can I help you?”

  Bonnie looked around. There were plenty of people moving back and forth, in and out of the offices. She didn’t recognize any of them. Even though Christmas Tree Valley was the next town over, she hadn’t grown up here. This was somewhere her mother shopped once in a while, and they always came to the Sweet Pepper Festival. But that brief acquaintance didn’t help now. She was still a stranger.

  “I’m Bonnie Tuttle.” She pushed at her hair that had a tendency to swing into her face and pulled out her federal ID. Maybe it would’ve been better to wear the uniform. “I’m here to meet with Chief Don Rogers and Agent Harvey Shelton. Could you tell them I’m here?”

  The woman behind the desk got up and smiled. “Well aren’t you a tall drink of water! You’re going to get along just fine with our fire chief, Stella Griffin. At least you two will see eye to eye, if you’ll forgive the joke.”

  At slightly over six feet, Bonnie was used to being taller than most women and quite a few men. She nearly always felt as though she was towering over everyone.

  “Thank you.” She was really tall compared to this woman who offered her hand.

  “Sandie Selvy. It’s very nice to meet you.” She patted her slightly stiff hair. “Let me find out where they’re going to hold this shindig. I’ll be right back.”

  “Nice to meet you, Miss Selvy.”

  “Just call me Sandie. We’ll be seeing a lot of each other since you’re taking Harvey’s place. It’s very exciting to have another woman involved in town business.”

  Bonnie started to correct her. She had nothing to do with town business besides the formalities of working with the police and sheriff from time to time. Mostly she spent her days giving wildlife education classes and in the woods and on the lakes. In Alabama, that included a lot of swamps too. The weather was warmer, and there were plenty of gators.

  Here she knew it would be black bears, deer, bobcats, and such, with a helping of rattlesnakes on the side.

  A tall woman who equaled her height came into the building. Her fiery red hair was pulled back in a ponytail. She wore jeans and a heavy jacket with a Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade T-shirt under it. This had to be Stella Griffin, the fire chief.

  She looked tough, despite the freckles and curious, brown eyes. She glanced aside for a moment and said a few words to an empty place beside her. As soon as she noticed Bonnie, she moved forward and stretched out her hand.

  “You must be the new Wildlife Agent. I’m Stella Griffin. Welcome to Sweet Pepper.”

  Her accent wasn’t from Tennessee or anywhere in the South. But her smile was as
warm as her hearty handshake.

  “Bonnie Tuttle. Nice to meet you. You must be the fire chief. Miss Selvy said we’d see eye to eye. I know what she means now.”

  Stella laughed. “Yeah. Like you didn’t have enough jolly green giant jokes growing up, right? But Sandie’s nice. And she won’t bring it up all the time. It’s probably hard for someone as short as she is to constantly look up.”

  “I suppose that’s true.” Bonnie already liked Stella. It wasn’t just the height thing either. She hoped they’d be friends. She wasn’t sure how many of those she had left in this area.

  Harvey Shelton came out of an office accompanied by another man. When she saw the shield on his belt, she assumed this was Chief Rogers. He was in his fifties, she guessed, with pale blue eyes and graying, blond hair cut in a flat top.

  “You made it right on time and before the snowstorm they’re predicting.” Harvey shook her hand. He had bushy, dark brows and brown eyes, and his dark mustache wasn’t quite centered on his face, a curiosity she had noticed when she’d met him in Alabama. “Welcome. This is Chief Don Rogers of the Sweet Pepper Police Department. Chief, this is the very hard working and astute young woman who is taking my place so I can retire—Agent Bonnie Tuttle.”

  They shook hands. Chief Rogers seemed to want to sum her up in a glance.

  “Welcome to Sweet Pepper,” he said. “I see you’ve already met our fire chief. Let’s take this in the conference room. We have a lot to cover.”

  It was easy to tell during the briefing that the Sweet Pepper Police Department had a much closer relationship with Harvey than Bonnie had enjoyed with the police departments in the area she’d been responsible for in Alabama. She guessed it was because the mountainous area was sparsely populated compared to the many small towns where she’d worked.

  Even though Federal Wildlife Agents were able to investigate almost any crime in their jurisdiction, knowing she had backup that was closer than the next state didn’t bother her. She’d worked mostly on her own but welcomed the assistance where ever she could get it.

  At the end of the meeting, she gave her cell number to the fire and police departments, who gave her their information as well. She had a bag full of brochures and Welcome to the Community coupons and notepads for her refrigerator. The people seemed happy to have her here.

  “I understand you still have relatives in Christmas Tree Valley and Sweet Pepper,” Chief Rogers said as the meeting was breaking up.

  “Yes. I’m actually here to help my mother. She lives in the valley. She hasn’t been well for the past few years.”

  “I’m sorry I have to ask, but who is that?”

  She smiled. That was one thing that never changed. If you lived in a small town, everyone wanted to know everything about you.

  “Her name is Rose Tuttle now, but she was Rose Addison growing up. She was raised right here in Sweet Pepper.”

  The lights in the town hall flickered, and the front door blew open. A gust of air carried papers from desks to the floor.

  “Might be that storm coming this way.” Harvey glanced around the room.

  Stella turned her head to the side again and muttered a few words before looking back. She appeared to be upset about something more than some flickering and the door coming open. She wondered if the fire chief had some issues—talking to herself being one of them.

  “I’ve met your mother,” Stella said. “I didn’t realize she was in bad health. I’m sorry.”

  Since these people were recent acquaintances, Bonnie thanked her but didn’t go into detail about her mother’s health. “My brother, Eric, has taken an overseas position in Germany with his company. It’s not a big deal.”

  It had been a big deal leaving her friends in Alabama, but she understood that her brother couldn’t pass up the opportunity. And maybe it was good for her to start again. She’d thought a relationship she’d cultivated was going somewhere, but it seemed she’d been mistaken. Saul Chase wasn’t ready to settle down.

  “Well, you let us know if we can do anything to help,” Chief Rogers said. “We’re family here in Sweet Pepper and Christmas Tree Valley. We work together.”

  Bonnie thanked him and gathered everything together. Sandie gave her a canvas Sweet Pepper tote bag to carry it in. She walked toward the door to leave, and it opened unexpectedly. What was even stranger was that it closed behind her. They obviously needed someone to fix that door.

  Harvey came out right after her. He was laughing as he put on his uniform hat. “I think it’s official. Eric Gamlyn likes you.”

  She thought back to the group of people she’d been introduced to. She didn’t remember anyone by that name. “I’m sorry. Was he there? Is he the mayor or something?”

  He kept laughing. “No. Sorry. You’re not exactly from here, so you don’t recognize the name. He’s the former fire chief. He’s kind of famous, so everyone knows him.”

  “I still don’t remember him. There weren’t that many people in the room, but it was a long drive.”

  “You probably wouldn’t have seen him. He’s been dead for about forty years. I only know a lot about him from his folklore. But Stella lives with him full time. If she says she met your mother, so did Eric.”

  “A ghost?” She was having trouble with that. Not that the valley didn’t have ghosts. They had ghosts in Alabama too. But usually people didn’t talk about them like they were right here. “Is this some kind of initiation?”

  “No. I expect it’s a lot to take in, especially on your first day. Let’s go down to the Sweet Pepper Cafe and grab some lunch. We can talk about getting everything set up before I leave.”

  She remembered the cafe. The smell of hush puppies and fried chicken drifted down the street with the last brown leaves of autumn and a few snow flurries. There was nothing to worry about yet. She had plenty of time to eat.

  They got settled in around a table, and a young woman who looked like she was in high school came to take their orders. Everyone stopped by to say hello to Harvey and was introduced to Bonnie. She was sure she’d know the entire town before she left. There was friendly—and then there was Sweet Pepper.

  “Naturally you’ll take the Hummer. The government bought that for us a few years back. It will get in and out of anything.” Harvey added sugar to his coffee. “There’s the house too, but you said you don’t want that. I’ve arranged to rent it out through a real estate company so you won’t have to bother with it. The office is right next door. I’ve already taken my stuff out of there. The basics are still in there—chair, desk, telephone, and fax. I’ll give you the information to get in touch with whoever you need from the feds.”

  “Thanks. I’ve never moved around like this, so I appreciate the help.”

  “You’ve been in Alabama since you started?”

  “Yes. You were already established here when I finished training, and you didn’t seem ready to move to something else.”

  “I wasn’t then, but I’ve been doing this for the last thirty years. I’m ready to retire.” He laughed.

  “That’s understandable.”

  The waitress brought back their meals, both with hushpuppies. Bonnie had gone for the chicken rather than the fish as Harvey had. No offense, but there was no way they could make fish like they did in Alabama.

  “Why didn’t you tell them that your mother has Alzheimer’s? You might need their help with her sometime.”

  “I don’t know. I’m not used to sharing personal information with people I barely know.”

  “Don’t worry. You’ll get used to it. That’s the way folks are around here. I thought you’d know that, being from here and all.”

  “Sometimes they’re a little too friendly,” she muttered.

  They heard fire engines coming down Main Street. Everyone in the cafe stopped to speculate as to what was going on.

  A police officer rushed into the cafe, quickly scanning the tables until he found us. “Harvey, some fool started a fire out on the little is
land in Sweet Pepper Lake. The chief wants to know if you’ll come out there to help.”

  “Sure, Skeet. This is my replacement, Agent Bonnie Tuttle.”

  “Rose Tuttle’s daughter?” the plump, balding officer asked. “Pleased to meet you, ma’am.”

  “Let’s get going,” Harvey said to her as he pushed away from the table. “Never a dull moment.”

  Chapter Two

  She left her pickup at the curb and got in the Hummer with Harvey. She didn’t know what she expected from the vehicle—she’d never ridden in one. But it operated smoothly, even though it took up half the narrow streets in the downtown area.

  Sweet Pepper Lake was one place Bonnie remembered. She’d spent many sunny afternoons out there on the beach when she was in high school. It looked just as she remembered it, with the tall mountains ringing it. The cloud cover was hanging low on the mountaintops, making the water appear as gray as the sky. The wind was colder here, coming off the lake with no trees to slow it down.

  Both fire engines as well as two police cars were at the shore. A large boat outfitted with hoses and a water cannon was at the dock. It looked as though it was ready to leave.

  “We have our boat docked over here by theirs,” Harvey said as we got out of the Hummer. “We don’t have the water power they have, but we have more maneuverability since we have to get in and out of the coves and up close by the dam to check fishing permits.”

  Bonnie followed him to a HydraSports boat, and they jumped onboard. It was much nicer than the boats she was used to in Alabama. Clearly there was more money in the area that was allotted to the agency. She untied the boat as Harvey got on the helm. The fireboat, Tennessee Teardrop, was almost to the little island before they were on the water.

  Smoke from the fire added to the heavy clouds. The air was full of it, playing havoc with their noses as they got closer.

  “I see someone on the shore,” she said. “Something must’ve happened to his boat.”

  “I see him. Radio the Teardrop that we’ll pick him up. I’d like the opportunity to kick his butt for being so stupid. It’s always dry this time of year. Everyone knows that.”