Page 52 of Christmas Mittens Murder

“Oh, just an old friend. I hadn’t seen her in ages. We went to school together and she’s home visiting family. It’s the holidays. You never know who you’ll run into.” Abigail started out to her SUV, starting it as she talked about the rumors from the front desk. It matched what James had told her about Tasha being hopelessly in love with the cad, Geoffrey. Abigail leaned out the window to chat as she dropped Mia off at the house. She needed to run home to water her plants and to grab some clean clothes. “I’ll pick you up at one. I made us an appointment with Mrs. Brewer at one-thirty. She told her secretary to be expecting my call. I’m not sure how they knew.”

“I’m thinking Edward.” Mia thought a lot about the man who’d come to meet her in Boise. He’d had to know she was standing in for Christina if he was tied into the coven. She assumed everyone here knew about Christina’s run-in with the Christmas mittens. She told Abigail that she’d be downstairs waiting when she returned, and then closed the door. She was already halfway upstairs when she realized Abigail hadn’t told her the name of the woman she’d gone to school with.

Had that been an oversight? Or was Abigail hiding something from her?

She went into the apartment and decided to do some laundry while she waited. She wasn’t hungry, since they’d just eaten. Instead she found herself sitting at the table, her laptop open. She started searching for information on Geoffrey and Kate.

And she found the mother lode.

The local paper had devoted the entire front page to the death and the couple’s life. She was still reading when she saw Abigail pull back into the parking lot. She checked her watch. It was time to go chat with the source—Kate Brewer.

Chapter Seven

The “small” second home the Brewers kept in Sun Valley was the size of the school but a lot nicer. Mia estimated that it must be over five thousand square feet as they parked in front of the house, which looked a lot like a Swiss ski chalet. Abigail leaned up to get the full effect of the glass-covered front.

“I’d hate to have to wash those windows.” Abigail took her arm as they made their way to the oversized front door. “Of course, Thomas hires out washing our windows, so I guess that’s no different.”

“Thomas spoils you.” Mia took in the dark wood and stone building. The windows lightened it, but the effect was dazzling, especially in the sunlight. “Just think, if I hadn’t jumped at saving the school, I could have owned a miniature version of this. Okay, maybe not this, but a small cottage on a mountain somewhere. Probably across the mountain ridge from Magic Springs.”

“You love the school, I can tell.” Abigail reached out and pushed the doorbell. “And when you decide to settle down, you can rent out that apartment for a nice chunk of your mortgage.”

“Or I might just stay an old maid and keep the apartment,” Mia teased.

Abigail shrugged. “I’m not sure my son’s going to let that happen.”

The door latch buzzed, and the door unlocked. The door cracked open a tiny bit. They heard a woman’s voice on the intercom. “Come down the hall to your left. I’m in the sunroom.”

“Okay, thank you.” Mia felt weird trying to explain why they were there, but she wasn’t being listened to. The monitor showed a red light on the top. She turned to Abigail. “Let’s go find the woman behind the curtain.”

“Nice twist on a Wizard of Oz theme.” Abigail took in a breath. “This isn’t intimidating at all. We can do this.”

“She’s a grieving widow, not a supervillain,” Mia reminded herself as they wandered through the house, finally landing in the small room that had three walls of windows. Topiary lined the outside windows that looked out on the mountain range. “Beautiful day outside,” she said to the woman who sat on the bench, watching them approach.

“I haven’t noticed.” The woman stood. Mia took in her first glimpse of Kate Brewer. Her platinum blond hair was pulled back into a clip. She had on a black shift dress and black tights and shoes. Her face was devoid of makeup, and the only piece of jewelry she wore was a large diamond set in a platinum ring on her left hand. “I’m sorry for not greeting you. I don’t seem to have much energy.”

“We’re sorry to bother you at such a sad time.” Abigail stepped closer. “I’m Abigail Majors, and this is Mia Malone.”

“The coven told me you two would be looking into Geoffrey’s death. You don’t think this has anything to do with magic, do you?” Her eyes were gray, but they weren’t as sedate as her outfit. Instead, they were bright and watchful.

“We don’t know. My friend, she picked up a mitten. We need to find its mate. You didn’t find anything like that in your husband’s effects, did you?”

“The Christmas mittens? They were in play that night?” Kate covered her mouth with her hand. “I know about them, of course. Everyone does. But I’ve never known anyone to have been killed with the mittens.”

Mia took out her phone and showed Kate a picture of the mitten. “Have you seen one of these? We really need to find one to save my friend.”

Kate took the phone and barely glanced at it. She shook her head. “Sorry, I haven’t seen it. The local police haven’t turned over Geoffrey’s personal items yet. The issue of the murder is holding everything up. I don’t even know when I’ll be able to plan a funeral.”

“I’m sorry.” Mia glanced at Abigail, who gently shook her head. Mia decided to ignore her friend’s nonverbal advice. “Can we ask you a few questions?”

“If you think it might help, please. I loved my husband. I didn’t want him dead. No matter what you might hear.” Fire burned in those gray eyes, and Mia wondered if Kate had known about the affair. It didn’t seem to be as open of a marriage as people had gossiped about.

“You weren’t at the party on Friday,” Mia started.

Kate held up a hand. “Look, I want to be up front with you. I knew about the affair. I didn’t approve or appreciate it, but Geoffrey told me he was shutting it down. In fact, he told me he was going to do it Friday night. He wanted to talk to her in a public place. I guess she could get very physical and had distracted him several times when he’d tried to end the relationship.”

Mia pressed her lips together. If a man wanted to end a relationship, he couldn’t be tempted back into keeping it going. If he was determined. But she wasn’t going to talk bad about a dead man. “Geoffrey went to the party to end the affair.”

“Yes. He texted me about seven saying it was over. I got on a plane and came here to meet him for the week. I told him that until that situation was handled, I was staying in California. I arrived about two that morning, and the police met my plane at the airport to tell me about Geoffrey.” She looked around the room. “I’ve been here since then. I can’t seem to make plans to go back to California. I suppose I’ll sell the house now. I just don’t know.”

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