Page 103 of Only One More Lie

Juniper observed the tub. “You’re right. I’m surprised you’d notice a minor detail like that.”

“I was in the Army CID. Old habits die hard, I suppose.”

Out of curiosity, he moved the other bins aside and opened the one on the bottom.

Sure enough, bags of reindeer dust were inside.

But he squinted when he saw the bags had been disturbed.

Out of curiosity, he moved some of the magic dust away to see what was under them.

His heart skipped a beat when he realized what was hiding beneath the magic dust in the bin. It was magic all right . . . but not in the way Juniper had probably intended.

As Duke stared into the tub, Gibson called.

“Hey, man.” Duke kept his eyes glued to the tub.

“Everything okay?” Gibson asked. “You don’t sound like yourself.”

Duke carefully picked up one of the hidden bags inside the tub and held it up for a better look. “I think I may know what’s been going on here. At least part of it.”

“What’s that?”

“It looks like someone may have been using the camp to smuggle drugs.”

Juniper gasped behind him. “What?”

He hadn’t had a chance to explain anything yet, and all he had were theories.

“Let me put you on speaker.” Duke did that and placed the phone on a nearby shelf.

As he did, Juniper and Simmy walked to the bin and peered inside. Juniper moved more of the magic dust aside, revealing more bags.

Her eyes grew wide. “What is that? And how did it get in there? It’s definitely not reindeer feed.”

“Looks like crystal meth, if you ask me,” Duke stated.

“Crystal meth?” Juniper’s voice climbed a few notches as she backed away. “Why are drugs in there?”

He turned toward Juniper. “Didn’t you say you set up some reindeer appearances around town?”

She nodded.

“Whose idea was it originally?” he asked.

“Peppermint brought the idea up to me. Why?” She shook her head as if confused.

“I’m guessing part of the reason she dreamed up this idea was so she’d have an innocuous way to hand off these drugs to people.”

“What?” Juniper’s hand flew over her mouth. “Peppermint wouldn’t . . .”

“Who was responsible for the appearances?” Duke continued.

“Peppermint and Caleb were in charge of them.” Her face paled as her voice drifted off.

“That would explain the fairy dust I saw by one of the reindeer also,” Duke said. “I assumed it was some type of reindeer food you used as a gimmick for the kids.”

“We do have that. But . . . the drugs are what got Peppermint killed, aren’t they?” As Juniper seemed to go weak at the knees, Simmy wrapped her arms around her. Juniper sagged against her. “Then she got Caleb involved. Or maybe this was all Caleb’s idea. I don’t even know. But they were in on this together. They had to be. I was being played this whole time—being played for a fool.”

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