Page 39 of Christmas Mittens Murder

“Okay then, stay close.” Abigail walked through the sliding doors and into the night. The snow was still falling, but it hadn’t worked its way into a strong storm or blizzard, yet. The flakes looked lovely, wafting down in front of them to land on the still-black asphalt.

Mia just hoped the surface wasn’t hiding black ice. They went around to the back, where employees were directed to park, and she watched as Abigail remote started the vehicle. She’d still have to clear the windows, but the inside might start warming up as soon as they climbed inside. “I call shotgun.”

“That’s not fair. I would have if my teeth weren’t chattering so much,” Christina said as they moved as a group toward the first row of cars. Abigail’s car was in the second row, so they didn’t have far to go. Christina paused and reached down, picking up something.

Mia paused as she turned to look at Christina’s find. The item was a mitten knitted in a bright Christmas red. A picture of a snowflake was in the middle of the mitten.

“Look, someone dropped a mitten.” Christina held it out for Abigail to see.

Abigail turned, and a small scream popped out of her mouth. “Don’t pick up that . . .”

Christina froze, holding the item in front of her. “It’s just a mitten.”

“It’s not just a mitten.” Abigail stepped toward her and groaned. “You’ve already made contact.”

“What do you mean?” Now Mia was worried about Trent’s mom. It was just a mitten. “We should get in the car. I’ll take the mitten to the front desk for lost and found.”

“No. Don’t you touch it too.” Abigail dug in her tote and pulled out a plastic bag. “Here, put it in this. The mitten has powers.”

“Oh, it’s magic? Am I going to be a witch then?” Christina followed Abigail’s direction and looked up at her hopefully. “Is it a Christmas wish mitten?”

Abigail cautiously sealed the bag and put it in her tote. Then she carefully stepped toward the car. “We need to get out of here.”

“Okay.” Mia shrugged and shook her head at Christina, indicating they should follow Abigail, only to be stopped again when Abigail pulled out her phone.

“Stay back.”

“What are you doing?” Mia asked, looking around. “Is there ice on the road?”

Instead of answering, Abigail spoke into the phone. “I need to report a dead body. Please send Mark Baldwin to the Lodge. We’ll be inside the lobby waiting for him.”

Chapter Two

Mia pulled Abigail to the side after informing security that there was an issue in the parking lot and that the police had been called. They sat on a bench, trying to warm up. Mia could hear Christina’s teeth chattering. So much for a fun evening out. The large Christmas tree sparkled by the lobby fireplace. “So who was out there? Who’s dead?”

Abigail glanced over at Christina, then whispered to Mia, “Geoff Brewer.”

“Professor Brewer?” Christina had heard. “He’s dead?”

“It looked that way. He might have slipped on the way to his car and hit his head.” Abigail threw out ideas on ways he might have died. “He was just lying there, blood seeping from his head.”

Mia shivered. It wasn’t because she wasn’t cold, she was. But from Abigail’s tone, Mia didn’t think Professor Brewer had died accidentally. She leaned back, then remembered the mitten. “Abigail, why didn’t you want Christina to pick up that mitten?”

Abigail glanced around the lobby. For the moment, no one was nearby or watching them. She took the bag holding the mitten out of her tote, keeping her gloves on as she stared at it. “There’s a legend about a lost mitten. It’s red with the snowflake design on it. It shows up only in December of each year. It’s cursed. Whoever touches it will die within a week.”

Christina gasped and pulled off her gloves. She studied her hands. “No rash, no lines going through my veins. Are you sure?”

“We need to get Christina back to the apartment and get your grandmother there. I don’t want to involve the coven, not yet. They’d want to isolate her and probably wouldn’t be able to solve this before, well . . .” Abigail met Mia’s gaze. “Let’s just get her home before there’s an issue.”

“I’ll let Carl, the head of security here, know that Christina’s sick and we need to take her home. Security can handle the body and the questions. Mark can come to the school if he wants to talk to us.” Mia pulled Christina to her feet. “You take her to the car, and I’ll meet you at the valet area.”

Mia headed over to Carl on the other side of the lobby by the door. He had already moved his men out to the parking lot to protect the scene. He was on the phone when Mia arrived at the concierge desk. He looked up at her and shook his head. “Bad night. Frank’s not going to be happy when I finally get ahold of him.”

“You haven’t talked to him yet? Isn’t he supposed to be at this party?” Mia scanned the lobby. Most of the staff were still in the ballroom at the party, but she saw the questions on people’s faces as they came into the Lodge after parking.

Carl made a face. “He called in late. Apparently, he and the girlfriend aren’t getting along, so he didn’t want to be here when she was here. He’s not a strong people person anyway. And this isn’t the first time he’s been unavailable at night. He’s not like the previous manager. I couldn’t get Corrina to go home. He doesn’t seem to want to be here at all.”

Not my issue, Mia thought. She saw Abigail’s car pull up. “Hey, Christina isn’t feeling well. We’re taking her home and I don’t think I’ll be able to come back. Can you let Mark know to call me on my cell if he needs to talk to me? I’ll be up for a while.”

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