Muffin But Murder (A Merry Muffin Mystery) Read Online Free PDF Page B

shuddered. “Was that town ever anything but a gloomy hole in the wall?”
    “Sure was,” Doc said. “Used to be a happening place. When I was young we went there for the church dances. That’s where I met my wife in ’47. Since the main bank closed up, the whole town has gone into decline. Only thing there now is a couple of ATMs and a teenie branch office of Wells Fargo.”
    “Pish is doing his best to keep the Feds from closing AVCB down. Maybe Wynter Castle will be the happening place now,” I said, handing him his official invitation to the party. “Gogi will bring you, or Virgil will.”
    He grinned, yellow teeth exposed. I was curious, given his penchant for weird headwear, what he would decide to come as—a vintage scuba diver was my first thought; he would love an antique diving helmet, no doubt—but I looked forward to it.
    I had other locals coming, too. Hannah, the local librarian, was coming as Clara from the kid’s book
Heidi
. She is a tiny young woman confined to a wheelchair, and though she has some physical disabilities, they are overcome by her huge heart, deep intelligence, and sunshiny personality. Her parents were coming as Heidi’s grandfather and Clara’s housekeeper, Fräulein Rottenmeier.
    So far, Hannah had not been able to convince our young teenage friend Lizzie Proctor to come as Heidi herself. Lizzie would die rather than be seen in braids and a dirndl. She would be there, though, along with her new friend, Alcina, an oddly fascinating child who flitted through my forest wearing faery wings. I assumed
she
would be coming to the party in her normal garb. The teenagers were not guests; I had promised to pay them if they would empty ashtrays in the smoking court, take coats, and report back to me any weird goings-on. It was Autumn Vale; I
expected
weird goings-on but wanted to know about them anyway. Gordy and Zeke would be my doorman and unofficial parking valet, respectively.
    “Doc, have you thought any more about Melvyn and Violet, what you remember about their courtship?”
    He nodded, slowly. “Seems to me Vi might still have some family in these parts. She left and moved to New England, but her family might have kept in contact with her and be able to tell you what’s what.”
    “Can you write down whatever you remember?”
    “I sure will.”
    “Good. Thanks.” I finished my coffee. “I’ll check in with Hannah. If anyone can track them down, she can.”
    “Don’t let that Higgins fellow take the castle away from you, Merry,” Doc said, taking my hand in his gnarled fingers. “You’re a good girl,” he went on, patting my hand, “and Melvyn always regretted not having contact with you over the years. But your mom . . . she just wasn’t having it.”
    “I know. I wish I knew why.”

Chapter Three
    I HATED S HILO ’ S CAR . It was decrepit, held together by duct tape and hope and fueled by desperation. I needed another one but couldn’t bring myself to spend any of my quickly dwindling resources on something that was only going to cost me more and more as I went. When I had time, I was going to have someone come out to the castle to look at the two cars my uncle had stored in the garage—the 1940s car I remembered riding in at the age of five was still there and might be worth something to a collector—and I did hope that his 1970s Cadillac could be rescued. Until then, I had to use Shilo’s beater.
    I tootled along to Binny’s Bakery and parked in front. This wasn’t a delivery; Binny would die before she would sell something as prosaic as muffins in her shop. The girl was capital-
S
stubborn. Autumn Vale would have devoured cookies and muffins, but instead she gave them brioche and mille-feuille at cut-rate costs to try to educate their palates. I kept trying to tell her that it wasn’t education they needed; they liked her stuff
once in a while
, especially since she was selling mille-feuille at oatmeal cookie prices. But the citizens of Autumn