Page 11 of Christmas Mittens Murder

Let the cake sit for about 30 minutes to absorb the glaze.

Slice and enjoy!

Chapter Five

Word spread fast through the crowd that had been herded like cattle into the basement of the Congregational church that poor Esther Willey had been discovered dead in the cemetery outside. There was a constant chatter as the people began to realize that not only was there a thief among them, now there was a cold-blooded murderer who had wielded a knitting needle to stab his or her victim to death.

Sergio tried to get the chaos under control by announcing that more officers and county detectives would be arriving shortly to help him interview everyone again, but that did little to assuage their already frayed nerves. After all, there was no guarantee the killer would not strike again at any opportune moment.

“Excuse me, Chief Alvares!” Ed Willoughby shouted above the din of the crowd. “I have a question!”

“Yes, Ed, what is it?”

“I am sorry about what happened to poor Esther. Really I am. But does this mean you will be shifting focus away from my stolen ring and concentrate all your efforts on finding who speared her with that knitting needle?”

Sergio stared at him, dumbfounded. “Uh, yes, Ed, that’s correct. I’m sorry, but right now I’m afraid murder trumps theft.”

“I don’t mean to sound insensitive to what happened to Esther, but that ring was worth a lot of money and it would be a shame for the culprit to just get away with it because the police department dropped the ball.”

“To be honest, Ed, whether you mean to or not, you are coming off as completely insensitive,” Hayley scolded as she huddled with Liddy and Mona at their gift basket table.

“That’s easy for you to say, Hayley. No one wanted to steal your measly basket of baked goods,” Ed huffed.

“Shut up, Ed!” Mona roared. “Stop making a damn fool of yourself.”

“Nobody asked for your opinion, Mona Barnes!” Ed clapped back.

Sergio raised a hand for order. “Okay, everybody, let’s just freeze out for a minute!”

The crowd exchanged baffled looks.

Randy stepped forward. “What he meant to say is, let’s all chill out for a minute.”

English was Brazilian native Sergio’s second language.

“That’s what I said!” Sergio barked defensively.

“No, not really, but why quibble?” Randy whispered.

Sergio spun back around to face off with Ed. “We will do our best to recover your ring, Ed. Trust me, my department can multitask, but right now my top priority is finding out what happened to Esther, which unfortunately means that we need to go through the interview process all over again with everybody here.”

There were a lot of discontented moans and groans.

Woody, Helen Woodworth’s bald, plump and scruffy-faced husband, shot a hand up. “Do you think we’ll be out by six? There’s a Patriots game on TV that I think we all want to be home to watch!”

Sergio sighed. “I will try to work as fast as possible, Woody, but let me reiterate, a woman has been murdered! ”

“A woman nobody really liked,” Mona muttered.

Hayley elbowed her in the rib cage.

Rosana Moretti piped up. “You should start by interrogating Betty Dyer! I heard her missing mitten was found stuffed in Esther Willey’s mouth!”

There were surprised gasps from the crowd.

Betty’s eyes widened in despair. “How could you be so cruel and say something like that, Rosana?”

“Because it’s no secret there was a lot of internal strife inside your quaint little knitting circle, and maybe you had reached a boiling point with Esther and thought it would be easier just to take her out!” Rosana cried, pointing an accusing finger at the entire Crochet Mafia, who were huddled together, hugging one another, sobbing.

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