Page 30 of Christmas Mittens Murder

It was a plausible theory.

And Hayley was determined to find out if it was true.

And in any way connected to the murder of Esther Willey.

Chapter Thirteen

Hayley and Bruce had an annual tradition during the holidays of spending an evening the week before Christmas driving around the island and marveling at all the Christmas light displays. People usually went all out decorating their homes. But the one house everyone saved for last and agreed was peerless in its pageantry was the Scooter Beauchemin estate. Usually the five-acre gilded-age property with its sprawling waterfront mansion, ten-car garage, caretaker cottage and two guest houses was closed to the public thanks to an imposing locked iron gate. But during the holiday season, the Beauchemins kindly opened their home to everyone who wanted to enjoy their opulent, Disneyesque Christmas light display. An endless parade of cars would be parked along the road, and families would file in to take in the magnificent, over-the-top, most elaborate presentation in Maine, maybe even in all of New England, featuring thousands of dazzling white lights, a candy cane lane lined with edible sweets like gumdrops and gingerbread cookies for the kids, festive displays of the nativity scene, Santa’s workshop, a brightly lit sleigh and reindeer suspended in the air over the main house, a giant snowman that also served as a bouncy house for kids to play inside. The estate was more like a carnival than a private home during the month of December.

By the time Hayley and Bruce arrived and parked their car outside the gate just before ten o’clock, their last stop on the tour, the nightly party at the Beauchemins’ was just winding down, and a few stragglers were strolling out past the gate and heading to their cars. A guard stood watch outside to make sure everyone left in an orderly fashion.

“Hey, Pete,” Bruce said, waving at the guard.

Pete was a twenty-five-year-old local paramedic who did double duty as part-time security for Scooter Beauchemin.

“Evening, Bruce, Hayley. Sorry but we’re getting ready to close things up for the night.”

“We just want to take a quick look around. Won’t take more than five minutes,” Bruce promised.

“Okay, but I gotta clear out the last people and then get to the hospital. I’m on duty at eleven. Could you close the gate behind you when you leave?”

“Sure, no problem,” Bruce said.

Pete trusted them enough not to fear they might make off with some of the more expensive decorations. He then bounded over to the snowman bouncy house where, not surprisingly, the young couple with the twins whom Hayley had met at the Crimmonses’ Christmas Tree Lot were having a devil of the time coaxing the two rambunctious girls out. The little devils were screaming and laughing as they jumped around inside the snowman’s belly. The parents refused to yell at them to get out, that it was time to go home, so Pete had to play bad guy.

Hayley gaped at the wondrous display as they made their way down Candy Cane Lane. “They really do go all out, don’t they?”

“I would too if I had their money,” Bruce cracked, plucking a gumdrop off a squishy white fence made of marshmallow and popping it in his mouth. “Their electric bill alone could probably pay down the national debt.”

Hayley watched as Pete climbed into the snowman bouncy house and started chasing the two girls around, stumbling and falling and bouncing around as the twins’ far too lenient, pampering parents laughed hysterically.

“I wonder how much one of those bouncy houses cost?” Hayley asked.

“Doesn’t matter. Tawny probably stole it,” Bruce snorted, chewing on his gumdrop.

“Bruce, don’t make light of it. Kleptomania is a serious affliction. I feel sorry for her. She must have some real emotional issues.”

“Yeah, I guess what they say is true. Being rich doesn’t necessarily make you happy. But I sure would like to test that theory for myself.”

All the lights were on inside the main house, and Hayley and Bruce could see Tawny standing in the living room near a massive-sized white Christmas tree. She sipped from a mug as she rearranged a few ornaments from branch to branch, never seeming satisfied. There was no sign of Scooter.

“I’d say she has more than a few emotional issues if she stabbed Esther Willey to death,” Bruce remarked.

“She may have stolen Ed Willoughby’s ring, but that does not necessarily mean she killed Esther. The two crimes may not even be connected.”

Pete had finally managed to corral the twins, and he handed them over to their parents. Dad picked the girls up, one in each arm, and the family finally made their way off the property and to their car. Pete turned and waved goodbye to Bruce and Hayley as he hustled off to get to his night shift as a paramedic.

Bruce stared inside the house at Tawny, who was now pacing back and forth in front of the Christmas tree, appearing to talk to herself. “Do you think Sergio has already been here to question her?”

Hayley shook her head. “I don’t think so. There was a town budget meeting tonight, and Randy mentioned that Sergio had to be there to argue for an increase in the police funding, and given the Beauchemins’ status in the community, I’m reasonably sure he was not going to hand over the reins of the investigation to Lieutenant Donnie. He would most likely want to handle this himself with a little discretion.”

“Makes sense,” Bruce said. “Well, we’re definitely not discreet. Should we go talk to her?”

“Bruce, it’s late. We can’t just drop in unannounced.”

“Why not? I’m a crime reporter. That’s what I do. You always want to catch a subject off guard, that way they’re far more likely to reveal a piece of info they were not planning on sharing.”

Hayley could not argue with him.

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