Read Online Christmas Cookie Murder #6 by Leslie Meier - Free Book Online Page B

asked.
    â€œNope. Not a thing.”
    â€œSue says she had a pink agenda, one of those organizer books, and she kept it in her backpack.”
    â€œI’ll pass that along, but I’m pretty sure they would have found it if it was there.”
    â€œWell, I can give you the information on her emergency card,” said Lucy, pulling out the file folder and opening it up. “Mr. and Mrs. John Whitney,” she read, trying very hard not to think of the smiling couple in the photograph on Tucker’s desk.
    â€œThanks, Lucy,” said Barney, when she had finished.
    â€œWho’s going to call them?” asked Lucy. “Will it be you?”
    â€œI hope not.” Barney sighed. He had knocked on too many doors late at night, bringing bad news. “I sure hope not.”
    â€œMe too,” said Lucy, feeling a surge of anger as she replaced the receiver. It was bad enough the murderer had taken Tucker’s life, but whoever it was had done more than that. So many people would be affected: the little children in the day-care center who had come to trust and love Tucker; Sue would not only have to cope with her own grief, but she would have to find a new assistant; the police officers would have to struggle with their own emotions as they investigated the case. Everyone in town would be touched by this violent death in some way. Women who had walked alone at night without giving their safety a thought would now look uneasily over their shoulders. At home, they would be extra careful to make sure the windows and doors were locked at night. Children would be warned not to talk to strangers. No one would be able to rest easy, Lucy realized, until the strangler was caught.
    She refiled Tucker’s emergency folder and snapped the cabinet shut, making a little vow to herself. Tucker’s murderer would be found and punished.

CHAPTER SIX
    14 days ’til Xmas
    T he next morning, after Bill had left for work and the bus had carried the kids off to school, Lucy found herself alone in the house. Usually she enjoyed these few quiet early-morning moments, sitting down at the kitchen table with a second cup of coffee and planning her day. She reached for her calendar and opened it—Christmas was only two weeks away, she realized with a shock, and her shopping was far from done. She still only had one present for Elizabeth, the earrings, and didn’t have the slightest idea what else to get her.
    Lucy pushed the calendar away. It might be December, all right, but it sure didn’t feel like Christmas. Not with Tucker dead. Things like that shouldn’t happen. Young girls shouldn’t die, but it was especially cruel when it happened this time of year.
    Tucker had a mother and father who had undoubtedly been making their own Christmas plans. Her father perhaps looking forward to a game of indoor tennis with his best girl, or maybe even a skiing trip. Her mother had probably been fussing over what to buy her for Christmas, just as Lucy was worrying about what to give Elizabeth. Or perhaps she had found just the right present and had tucked it away, carefully wrapped in jolly, holiday paper.
    How did people stand it, wondered Lucy. How did they manage to go on living after losing a child? Worst of all for Tucker’s parents, thought Lucy, was the fact that she had been murdered. It would be hard enough to accept the loss of a child in an accident, but how did you deal with the knowledge that somebody had killed your precious daughter on purpose?
    Unable to sit still any longer, Lucy pushed the chair back and stood up. She reached for the sponge and began wiping the counter, pacing back and forth the length of the kitchen. She tossed the sponge in the sink, spotting a gaily decorated tin that had gone unnoticed in the ever-present clutter, tucked away on top of the cookbooks.
    Curious, Lucy opened it up and found a carefully arranged assortment of cookies from the cookie exchange. Puzzled,