This one is an added Christmas Eve Bonus! Written in 2014, it was originally published in a Christmas Anthology and became the inspiration for my Sugarwood Mystery series. Drop Dead Cowboy, will be relaunched for Halloween 2026, so keep watching for Audra and the gang to return! Dead Man’s Doll will follow soon.

Death of a Christmas Witch by Diane Bator

Chapter One

It started with a lump, then a barrage of herbal treatments from Miss Claudia which made Audra’s lightly tanned skin turn green. Okay, so she wasn’t actually green, just a tinge that gave her skin an eerie glow. The “vitamins” were supposed to be healthy and help detoxify her forty year old body. Instead, they made her nauseous and too shaky to do her one sacred hour of evening needlepoint for the first two nights. At least the essential oils make her feel better, even if it was only mentally for now.

Breast cancer. The words clawed their way into her soul and ate her spirit away in nibbles. She’d already blinked back enough tears than Hoover Dam held and had stitched nearly and entire Christmas stocking just to keep her hands busy.

Her husband, Rex, had been away on business all week and hadn’t been with her at the doctor’s office for the official pronouncement. Every time Audra had tried to tell him, he’d be off talking about work, his co-workers, and the lousy restaurant food he’d had to endure.

“Honey, I’m home.” Rex, suave in a tailored suit and magenta tie, strolled into the house and dropped his suitcase on the floor as eighty pounds of dog ran across the hardwood floors and skidded to an awkward halt at his feet. For Drake, their Golden Retriever-Husky mix, jumping up on his master was unacceptable. Lately, Rex wouldn’t ever allow the dog to be as demonstrative as he used to. “I hope you made something good for dinner. I’m starving. Let me tell you, the food in some of those places is worse than your mother’s cooking.”

When she didn’t laugh, he paused and narrowed his baby blue eyes. “What’s wrong with you? You look a little green.”

“I have cancer.” Audra blurted out the horrific news without a second thought, relieved she could finally tell him in person.

Rex raised his dark eyebrows, swallowed hard, then asked, “Are you serious? This isn’t very funny, you know.”

“Would I joke about something so serious? This is my body. I’m the one who has to fight this. What would make you think I’d find it funny?” Since she hadn’t dissolved into a mound of sobbing goo, he didn’t seem to believe her. She’d already cried herself hoarse several times that week and was sure she had no fluids left in her body anyway.

“Oh, crap. Like this hasn’t been a long enough day.” He paled, ran a hand over his dark hair, then sat on the couch and scrubbed his face with both hands.

Drake whimpered, his golden eyes on Audra.

She sat on a nearby chair, not sure which male to comfort. In the end, Drake came to her and rested his head on her lap. A lump swelled in her throat.

“Did they tell you how much longer you…?” Rex cleared his throat and rubbed his jaw. “What are they going to do? Do they have to cut your boobs off?”

“They? You mean the doctor?” She rubbed one of Drake’s velvety ears. “No. They’re too busy planning my death by chemotherapy just like they did to my aunt. I’m sure they’re hoping I’ll be a model patient.”

His eyebrows rose fast and high. “And you’re not? What are you going to do?”

“I’m seeing a…natural healer.” Technically, Miss Claudia was more a witch doctor than a natural healer, not licensed or with any formal training, but Audra had done some research of her own and had some suggestions for the next form of treatment.

“Let me guess. You’re going to see that voodoo lady Miss Claudia again. I wish you’d quit going to see her, she’s a loon.” He shook his head and nudged Drake away from his suit. “Besides, you never follow through with those things.”

“This time is different,” Audra said. “I’m going to do whatever she says to fight this.”

Rex grimaced. “And when that doesn’t work?”

Audra’s shoulders sagged. Getting him onboard with her plans wasn’t going to be easy. He was so conservative his button-down shirt and meticulously knotted designer tie had cut off all circulation to his brain years ago. Her eyes welled with tears.

If the cancer was as bad as her doctor hinted, she would have to sell her store. The thought hit her like a sucker punch to the solar plexus. Stitch’n’Time was the only thing that kept her busy and happy now that the children were on their own and she had nothing left to do at home, but clean the house and stare at walls. Not that she wasn’t good at either. Needlepoint had always been her passion, and it had taken a tidy lump of money inherited after her aunt’s death to prompt her to rent a tiny store front on Main Street.

“Did you call Merilee?” Rex asked, dragging her out of her mental fog.

“Not yet. You were the first person I told.” What a liar. Of course she’d told Merilee. Merilee Rutherford was her best friend and helped her in the store during the Christmas season. Not that the store was overly busy, but the hours were long, and she welcomed the company. Besides, Merilee worked for needles and thread, especially the golden needles Audra brought in just for the holidays.

“I think you need to tell her,” he said. “I’ll be out of town all next week. You’ll need a shoulder or two to cry on. You should probably tell your mother too.”

Audra’s jaw sagged. “I’ve been diagnosed with cancer and you won’t even hang around for a day or so to come to the doctor and learn more about it?”

“I’ll Google things when I have time.” Rex rolled his eyes and patted the curls on the top of her head. “Look, honey, I’ve been on the road all day so you’ll have to take what you can get. I’m here now, so let’s talk about it. Besides, it’s only breast cancer. What’s the big deal? If you lose one boob, you always have the other one.”

She tensed and thought of all the things he had two of that he might miss.

“Look, I can’t think on an empty stomach and it doesn’t look like you’ve spent time in the kitchen today. I’m going out to grab a bite and head into the office for a while.”

Audra sighed. So much for talking while he was there. At least she’d already eaten earlier and could wait until he got home. “I need to go back to the store to help Merilee close up anyway. I’ll be home in half an hour then we can sit down and talk.”

He flashed a quick smile. “Oh, good. I’ve got some paperwork to finish up before next week. What are you making for dinner, I’ll make sure I’m back from the office on time.”

“You’re going to the office?” she asked. “But you just got home. I thought you’d work from your office here.”

Rex shrugged and picked up his briefcase. “I could, but what’s the point? You’re running off to your little store to avoid me anyway. I’ll try to be back by nine.”

He turned and walked out of the house in silence.

Had he always been so callous and she’d never noticed? Lately, Rex being home was more stressful than him being away since he was always tired and cranky. She wondered if he was eating enough fiber. One day, he’d want to retire. Then she’d be stuck with him twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Of all the things going wrong in her life, having Rex underfoot constantly was sure to drive her insane.

Audra left Drake a doggie treat then tugged on her parka. She locked up the house behind her then headed up the sidewalk with the snow crunching beneath her boots. The cold air was a welcome distraction. The nip of frost on her nose made her feel more alive than anything else had today. Walking the four blocks to her store through downtown Sugarwood at Christmas was usually a pleasant experience, but today she was too distracted to enjoy the twinkling lights and ornate trees.

Merilee glanced up when Audra walked through the front door of Stitch’n’Time. “Hey. How’s his highness King Rex?”

Audra glanced around at the packages of bright threads, shiny needles and kits of embroidery patterns awaiting loving hands and sighed.

“That good, huh? I’m assuming you still didn’t tell him about your diagnosis yet.” Merilee hung a package of embroidery floss on a hook.

She blinked back a flood of hot tears. “I told him. Then he went to work for a few hours.”

“So you came here? What are you crazy?” Merilee asked, tossing back her shoulder-length white hair. “I would’ve been calling someone to change the locks on the front door.”

Audra forced a laugh. “I thought you did do that, actually. What was his name again?”

“Jerkface Rat, and he totally deserved everything I did to him,” she said. “Any man who would run off with his mistress then come back home to beg money off his wife…” Merilee picked up a piece of paper and tore it in half. “So. What are you going to now?”

“Nothing.” Audra shucked off her coat and hung it on the back of her chair. “I’m going to humor him this weekend until he flies out again Sunday or Monday then go back to see Miss Claudia. She has to have something that will counteract the green color.”

Merilee smiled. “I was going to mention that. It seems to be a different shade today. You look more mossy than that lime hue you had a couple days ago. I imagine that’s a good thing.”

She checked the sales receipts and groaned. “No one has come in since I left?”

“Nope.”

Audra shook her head. “This isn’t good. Doesn’t anyone do needlepoint anymore? Last year we had a lot of people come in to buy kits for their moms or grandmas. Even a few grandmas buying them for their kids.”

“You can thank the big box stores for that,” Merilee said. “Everything you could possibly need all under one roof. No one wants to go out and get cold or lose Wi-Fi for any longer than they have to.”

“I suppose you’re right.” She sighed. “You might as well go home. At this rate, I may have to think about having a going out of business sale before the end of the year.”

Merilee frowned and hugged her. “Don’t even joke about that. We’ll get through this. All of this. Cancer and a few less customers are not going to get the best of us.”

Audra wished she could be so sure.

Chapter Two

Audra fell asleep just after midnight, leaving the dried out rotisserie chicken and prepackaged potato salad on the cupboard. She’d taken the bottle of white wine upstairs and finished every swallow before she’d snuggled up with a pillow in her arms and eighty pounds of dog on her feet.

When dawn broke with shards of light dancing through the snow-covered trees onto her face, Audra groaned and pulled the blankets over her head. “Ugh! I’m not getting up.”

Drake was unconvinced. He nosed beneath the blankets until he’d unearthed her then gave her several head butts to the abdomen before he whimpered.

“All right. Breakfast it is.” She threw the covers over his head before she realized Rex wasn’t in the bed beside her. He never would have allowed Drake to stay on the bed, let alone in the bedroom. “That’s weird. He did come home last night, right?”

Drake licked her face before he pushed her with his nose toward the edge again.

She nudged him off the bed. “Stop that. You’ve got worse morning breath than I do.”

Audra shuffled to her closet and pulled out her fluffy pink bathrobe and slippers. She didn’t care if she did look like a pink elephant, as Rex repeatedly told her. She was warm and cozy. The house seemed unusually cold, even for this time of year. She guessed the furnace had gone out again. Maybe Rex could actually take care of having someone fix it before he left on his next trip.

Drake led the way down the stairs, his nails clattering on the hardwood. He paused at the bottom of the stairs and whimpered again.”Oh, come on, scaredy cat, go out and do your thing while I whip up a delicious pâté for you.” Audra yawned. “What’s your preference today? You can pick from chicken or beef.”

The dog stepped back into her legs, nearly knocking her backward onto the bottom steps.

“What is wrong with you?” Audra gave him a half-hearted push and climbed over him. As she crossed the livingroom, loud snoring assaulted her ears amid the glittering Christmas decorations.

Rex lay sprawled on the couch, a bottle of scotch on the floor beside him next to one shoe. At least that solved the mystery of where he’d been all night.

“Come on, Drake.” She tried to coax the dog toward the back door, but Drake cowered near the stairs. “Stop being so silly. Get outside before you…”

Drake peed on the floor.

Audra groaned. “This is turning out to be a pretty great day so far, don’t you think? You were a lot easier to clean up after when you were a puppy, you know. Wait there. I’ll get the mop.”

She pulled out the mop and filled a bucket with water and biodegradable cleaner then lugged them both into the livingroom. At least Drake hadn’t moved aside from climbing to the bottom stair and lying down to whine.

“What is with you?” Audra cleaned away the puddle. “You haven’t had an accident on the floor since we had that wild thunderstorm two years ago. I thought you’d be glad Rex was home.”

Drake put both paws over his nose.

When Rex moaned, Audra turned toward him. His tailored suit was rumpled, and his tie undone. His usually sculpted hair style stood on end in a slightly punk appearance. The skin around his left eye looked bruised and a thin gash gaped across the top of his left cheek. The poor guy had to have been exhausted, and then he’d come home to Audra’s horrific news…

A twinge of pity tugged at Audra’s heart. She set the mop in the bucket and picked up a blanket off the back of the loveseat. As she unfolded the pale gray fabric, her attention was captured by a single spot on Rex’s shirt.

The one inch red dot seemed to scream out at her in the dim light. Wine. It had to be. Rather than going to the office, he’d probably gone to the bar for a glass of wine to absorb the news she’d broken to him. The gash on his face probably came from falling onto the couch and hitting his head on the coffee table. She hoped.

Audra leaned closer and sniffed. Wine would have soaked into the fabric and been more watery. The red dot was thick and dark with no fermented smell. Actually, it smelled more like wet dog.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Rex mumbled.

She shrieked and jumped back, dropping the blanket on the floor at her feet.

Drake bolted across the room and barked.

“Stop the racket.” Rex clutched his head and sat up as he growled at the dog.

Audra let Drake get in a couple more barks before she ordered him to lie down. Instantly, the dog stopped barking and sat at her feet.

Rex rolled his eyes. “Wow. You’ve trained my dog well. Apparently he doesn’t even listen to me anymore.”

“Not when you yell at him.” Audra stared at the red spot again not bothering to mention that he was never home to train Drake anyway. “You got something on your shirt. Why don’t you go take a shower? I’ll see if I can get the stain out.”

He snorted. “Stain. Is that all you’re worried about? My whole world is caving in and you’re worried about a stain on my shirt?”

His whole world? She frowned and brushed the comment off. “I can’t do anything about the cancer until Monday when the doctor gets back into the office. I might as well worry about the stain for now. What happened to your face?”

“I walked into a door in the dark.”

She strained for a closer look at the odd lines of bruises. Someone had hit him. Hard. “Since when do doors have fingers?”

Rex stood and shrugged off his jacket, tossing it over the back of the couch. When he started to unbutton his shirt, Audra walked back to the stairs and picked up the bucket of dirty water. Her entire life was in limbo and her husband’s only worry was how it affected him. She could worry about the stain on his shirt if she wanted to.

Alone in the kitchen, Audra reached for her supplement powder from Miss Claudia. The canister was almost empty. Good thing Miss Claudia’s shop was near Stitch’n’Time. She could pick up a fresh batch before the store got busy today. Miss Claudia always mixed up refills on Friday nights so her customers could pick them up Saturdays while they did their shopping.

Once she heard the shower start upstairs, Audra returned to the livingroom where Drake sat still staring at the couch. She patted his head. “It’s okay, honey. He’s just had a bad shock. He’ll be okay soon and things will be back to normal.”

Whatever that was. She doubted things would ever be normal again.

She reached for Rex’s dress shirt and stared at the spot of blood on the fabric. “He must have gotten a nosebleed or something. He gets them all the time when he travels.”

On a whim, she searched his suit jacket. Only a couple of small specks of what she thought was blood. That gash on his face definitely could have been the cause. Relieved, she draped the jacket over her arm to take to the laundry room. She got about halfway before a folded sheet of paper fell from one of his pockets. After scooping the paper between two fingers, she’d barely walked through the laundry room door when Drake gave a sharp bark.

“Oh, now you want outside.” She placed the jacket and shirt on the washing machine to deal with later and tucked the paper in the pocket of her robe. “Okay, buddy, but you’re going out back. I don’t need any steaming piles on the front lawn. Rex is already upset enough.”

Audra opened the backdoor, but Drake sat on the floor. She groaned and shoved him outside to tend to his business then turned, trying to remember what came next.

Breakfast. Audra stirred the last of her green powder into her orange juice then plugged her nose to drink the concoction. Horrid, but if it helped the way she hoped… She sighed and plugged in the toaster. She’d soak Rex’s shirt when she got home later. He wouldn’t need it until Monday, and she already had enough to do before work.

Scratching at the back door alerted her to the end of Drake’s tolerance of the cold. He flew through the open door and headed straight for the fireplace. Unlit or not, the very thought of fire seemed to warm him. He huddled in front of the hearth leaving small puddles of melting snow in his wake.

Once more, Audra pulled out the mop.

“Didn’t you think to dry his feet off before he came inside?” Rex asked from the staircase.

“No. He was too cold and moved too fast.”

He rolled his eyes and sauntered into the kitchen buttoning the sleeve of his dress shirt. “Serves you right then. Where’s the coffee?”

Audra hesitated, counting to ten before she said something she’d regret later. “I don’t drink coffee anymore. Miss Claudia says it’s bad for the pH balance in my body. Too many toxins and chemicals and stuff.”

Rex raised both eyebrows. “And stuff? Sounds like she’s a real pro. Is she the ‘natural healer’ you’re seeing? Lord, I hope not. She’ll probably turn you into a toad or something before she’d ever cure you.”

She flared her nostrils. “Are you calling Miss Claudia a witch?”

“If the broom fits, honey.”

Audra huffed and went upstairs to have a fast shower and change. She could grab a bagel and still get to the store in time to quickly tidy up before opening.

Chapter Three

“He said what about Miss Claudia?” Merilee’s eyes widened. “Has he ever even met her?”

“No. At least I don’t think so.” Audra frowned. “He just knows all the rumors and makes sure everyone else hears them too. It makes me mad because she’s such a sweet old lady and you know she helped my grandma through her fight with cancer and kept her from getting worse.”

Merilee grinned. “Not to mention she makes a mean potion.”

“You’re not helping.” Audra threw a pincushion in her direction. “Speaking of which, I need to go over to Miss Claudia’s for more green powder. Do you mind if I go right now?”

Merilee waved a hand. The shop was still quiet and would probably stay that way until lunch time. “Go ahead. I think I can handle things here.”

Audra grimaced then headed up the street to a narrow shop with a tall, thin front window and a black door. Miss Claudia’s Curios may have been a curiosity shop for all the tourists, but for those who believed in natural healing, she was the best.

She opened the front door and walked through the clean, white patch of snow in front of the door. She kicked the white powder off her boots before stepping inside into the darkness. Miss Claudia had hung heavy black fabric over every window to help maintain the integrity of her oils, as she told the story. To compensate, she’d strung colorful lanterns above every display case and table.

“Hello, Miss Claudia. How are you today?” Audra shivered. Normally, the blocked windows kept in the heat. Today, it seemed colder inside than out. “Mighty cold out there, isn’t it? I hear there’s another cold snap coming this weekend, just in time for Christmas.”

Only dusty silence greeted her. Odd. Miss Claudia usually sat perched on a tall stool behind the cloth-draped table near her assorted herbs and powders surrounded by a string of colorful Christmas lights. Today the stool was bare and the elderly lady was nowhere to be seen.

“Miss Claudia?” Audra picked her way across the store, careful not to disturb any of the glittering crystals and colored potion bottles. “It’s Audra Clemming. I just wanted to get more of that green powder you sold me last week. I’ve run out already. Not that it’s very tasty or anything. It actually tastes like…”

A boot lie on the floor behind the cloth-draped table. As Audra moved closer, the boot laces and a black stocking covered leg came into view. Audra swallowed hard and fanned her face. “Oh no. Miss Claudia? Are you okay?”

When she spied the bloody gash across Miss Claudia’s forehead and the odd blue of her skin, Audra knew things were not alright and hadn’t been well for several hours. She reached into her pocket for her cell phone. “Merilee.” She gasped. “Merilee, Miss Claudia’s dead. What do I do?”

“Dead?” Merilee squawked then lowered her voice. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah. Pretty sure.”

Merilee hesitated. “So why are you calling me? Why didn’t you call the police?”

Good question. Audra hung up, hustled out of the musty shop, and dialed 9-1-1 as tears flooded her eyes and spilled over her cheeks.

The officer who showed up first on scene tried to take down her name and address, but Audra couldn’t seem to remember either. Partly from the sight of the woman lying on the floor and partly because he was one handsome devil. Blond hair, pale brown eyes and a smile that made her stomach flutter and nearly ignore the angry scratch along his jawline. The smell of what she assumed was his cologne seemed familiar, but she couldn’t place the name.

Finally, he took her hand and led her to a bench to sit. “It’s kind of cold out here and I don’t want to keep you any longer than I have to, but—”

“But you have to ask what I was doing here and if I killed her,” she said.

“You’re right.” He smiled, dimples burrowing into his tanned cheeks. He’d either been on vacation somewhere sunny or was an avid skier. “I also have to make sure you’re okay before you go back to whatever you were doing. What were you doing?”

Her cheeks warmed against the cold. “I came to Miss Claudia for a powder she made me last week.”

He raised his eyebrows, his green eyes crinkling at the corners. “A love potion?”

Audra shook her head. “It was to help me get better.” She paused. “I have cancer.”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I know people who have used her potions to feel better. I’ve heard Miss Claudia makes some very powerful stuff.”

She held out one green tinged hand. “I’d say so.”

The officer chuckled, pulling out a small notebook and a bright yellow pen. “Did you remember your name yet?”

“Audra. Audra Clemming. I live up the street in the yellow house.” She winced. What did he smell like? Spices. Herbs. Something exotic. “I guess you can only get away with an address like that in a small town, huh?”

“Yes, but the sheriff still likes things done the old fashioned way. With house numbers and all that.”

Audra looked away. “I guess so. Thirty-seven Springer Road. I run a shop up the street, Stitch’n’Time. Do you have a name? I mean, I know you have a name, I just mean… I’m going to shut up now. I’m sure I’m already in enough trouble.”

“Tyler Grant,” he said. “And no, you’re not in trouble. You found Miss Claudia, and I’m sure she’d appreciate that. I do need to ask you if you saw anything unusual. Strange people coming or going, disgruntled customers, that sort of thing.”

She shook her head and shivered. “There were no footprints in the snow. I was the first customer today. Since Miss Claudia lives upstairs, she wouldn’t have gone outside yet either. It looked like someone hit her in the head. Do you think that’s what killed her?”

Tyler shrugged. “I’ll let the M.E. figure that out. I just need to figure out who killed her.”

“That’s so sad,” Audra said. “Rex thought she was a witch. He’ll be glad she’s dead. He thought she was a fraud and took people’s money while she gave them fake medicine.”

“And what do you think?” He made a note in his little book.

What did she think? When was the last time anyone had actually asked her that besides Merilee when they ordered lunch?

Audra swallowed hard. “I think she sold them hope.”

Tyler smiled, but only with his mouth. His eyes seemed unconvinced. “I’ll buy that. Look, why don’t you go back to your shop and get warm? I’ll stop by in a little if I have any more questions, okay?”

She blinked back more tears. “Okay.”

Merilee met her at the entrance of Stitch’n’Time with a cup of tea and a dozen questions.

Audra walked past her in a daze and slumped into a chair. She ached to run home and snuggled on the couch with Drake and a carton of Haagen-Dazs, but the thought of Officer Tyler Grant appearing at her house with Rex home gave her a stomach ache.

“Tea?” Merilee handed her a warm mug that smelled like peppermint. “I added honey for the shock. That must have been awful. So what happened?”

She blinked rapidly and cleared her throat. “I went to get more green powder, but Miss Claudia wasn’t there. She was lying on the floor behind her table with all the powders and herbs and stuff. Someone had hit her in the head and left a huge gash. Her skin was a really weird shade of blue.”

Merilee frowned. “Is it possible she fell and hit her head on something?”

“I never thought of that.” Audra sat back. “I suppose it is possible. It just looked so awful yet fake at the same time. You know, like those wounds the kids used to make with clay and ketchup at Halloween.”

“Ew. Those things used to creep me out.” Merilee shuddered. Her two boys were usually the ringleaders in creating the zombie makeup. Her oldest was now a makeup artist in New York City. “Too bad Miss Claudia’s wasn’t fake.”

Audra nodded. “I know, but who would’ve wanted to kill her?”

“A disgruntled customer, most likely. Did she have any family or anything?”

“I have no idea,” she said. “All we ever talked about was her herbs and powders and which ones she thought would make me feel better.”

Merilee patted her shoulder as Audra blew the steam off her tea. “That’s okay. I’ve known her for twenty years, and I’ve never even asked about her family or anything. All I know is she was already a widow when she moved to town.”

“Sad how little we know about our neighbors, even in such a small town,” Audra said.

The door opened, and a tall, figure dusted with snow walked inside. Tyler took off his hat and nodded. “Ladies.”

“Hello there.” Merilee straightened her sweater and swept her white hair back over one ear. “What can we do for you, Officer?”

“I think he’s here for me,” Audra said.

Merilee turned slowly toward her. “Excuse me?”

Tyler flashed a dimpled smile. “I’m investigating the death of Claudia Fellows. I need to ask Ms. Clemming a few more questions.”

“Oh. Okay.” Merilee didn’t look convinced but gathered her purse and coat. “I’m going to grab lunch. You want anything, Officer…?”

“Grant. Tyler Grant.”

Merilee’s eyebrows rose, but she said nothing—just shot Audra a loaded glance.

Once she’d gone, Tyler leaned on the counter and met Audra’s gaze. “Actually, I mostly just wanted an excuse to get warm and check out your shop.”

Audra managed a weak smile. There was that smell again. Could it be something from Miss Claudia’s shop that he’d touched? “I didn’t think you were into embroidery.”

Tyler chuckled. “Not me. My mom likes to do them though. I thought I might find something here she would like.”

Hugging her parka around her shoulders, Audra showed him some of the new kits she had for sale. “Does she like flowers or birds? Seascapes, maybe?”

“She loved the sea,” he said. “I mean, she still does, but…she can’t get there anymore.”

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that. I’m glad she’s still able to do needlepoint though.”

Tyler hesitated. “Me too. So, I need to ask how long you knew Miss Claudia.”

“A few years,” Audra said. “I went to her once for a skin rash. She cured it within a couple of days. Then I saw her when I had pneumonia, and now for my…” She fought back a fresh batch of tears, suddenly unable to say the word.

He averted his gaze and shifted in his wide-legged stance. “I understand. She gave you hope. You bought it.”

“And now I’ll never know if it would’ve helped to cure me.”

“No,” Tyler said. “I guess you won’t.”

Audra went back to the counter for a tissue, surprised when he didn’t follow. Instead, he stood and studied a couple of embroidery kits. She took the opportunity to catch her breath and wipe her eyes. What on earth would Rex say when she told him about her day today?

Chapter Four

Rex and Drake were having a showdown in the middle of the living room when Audra walked through the door at quarter after five that afternoon. Between them lay the Christmas tree on its side, all the ornaments strewn across the floor, and a chewed piece of clothing that was formerly a pair of Rex’s pants.

Audra cringed. More stress to add to her day. “Drake, what’s gotten into you?”

“That’s it.” Rex threw a cushion at the dog who ran to cower behind Audra’s legs as she shivered. “I can’t take another piece of chewed up clothing. Last weekend he ripped one of my dress shirts, while I was still wearing it. I’m tired of coming home to chaos caused by an undisciplined dog. Either he goes, or I do.”

She gasped. “You can’t mean that. This is the first time he’s ever touched the tree or your clothes. He’s always such a good watchdog when you’re gone.”

Rex narrowed his eyes. “Really? So you’re saying I’m the one who causes him to act up like this?”

Audra stared, afraid to deny or confirm his remark.

Drake sauntered away from her, grabbed the tattered pants in his jaws, and then gave them a vicious shake. Several more glass ornaments broke in the attack.

Rex lunged for the front door and ordered Drake outside. With a snort, the dog took the remains of the pants with him.

Audra frowned. “He’s never reacted to you that way before. First he was afraid to go near you this morning, then he was barking at you, now he’s tearing those pants apart like they’ve done something nasty to him. Did you spill something on your pants that he doesn’t like?”

Her husband gave a snort, sounding a lot like Drake, then went to the cupboard to pour two fingers of scotch into a glass. He tossed back the drink and poured another.

Audra leaned in the doorway. “Rex? I think we need to talk.”

“Really?” He swallowed the second drink. “I work all week to put food on the table, keep our kids in college, and make sure your little hobby shop doesn’t fold. All I want every weekend is to come home and relax. I don’t want to have to worry about anyone or anything, especially a sick wife and a schizophrenic dog.”

She nodded. “I see. So what you want is a bachelor apartment, a maid, and a chef.”

Rex flinched as a tense silence fell between them.

“Well, you go right ahead and live that life while I’m trying to save mine,” Audra said. “I’m sure the guilt won’t consume you when the kids ask why you abandoned me when I got sick.”

She started to walk away then paused. “By the way, Drake’s not schizophrenic. He’s trying to get your attention just like everyone else around here.”

Audra let Drake back inside the house, tattered pants and all, then paused. They were the pants that matched the jacket with the blood stains. She coaxed Drake to hand the pants over, trading him a handful of treats as a reward, then took the pants into the laundry room for a closer examination.

Not only were there splatters of blood on the legs, but they also had an oddly familiar smell. An odor that reminded her of something in Miss Claudia’s shop.

Audra tossed the pants into the same drawer as Rex’s shirt and jacket before she closed the laundry room door. As she made her way up the stairs to take a hot bath and think, she vowed to call Tyler after dinner.

After a bath and a brief nap, Audra heard voices. She swallowed hard and crept down the stairs, afraid Tyler had already arrived at the house for a chat before she could call. Instead, a short, bald man handed Rex a large bag of Chinese food. She blew out a sigh and realized the tree stood back in its corner, and no more ornaments littered the floor.

“I wasn’t sure you’d come back down.” Rex glanced up the stairs. “I got a peace offering.”

Wary, she joined him in the living room. “Where’s Drake?”

“Eating leftover chicken in the kitchen.” He sat on the couch and pulled out several containers. “I hope you’re hungry. I got all your favorites.”

“Why?” she asked. “I thought you were leaving.”

Rex sighed and handed her a pair of chopsticks. “I’d thought about it. Then I realized all the things I’d be missing, besides torn up clothes. You, the kids, the stupid dog… You were right. I’d feel like crap if I left, especially with your diagnosis. I can’t stay home this week, but I took next week off. Once I get back from Chicago, we’ll go talk to this doctor about options and stuff. I’ll even go with you to see Miss Claudia.”

Audra’s stomach churned. Was it her imagination that she could still smell the scent from Miss Claudia’s shop? “It’s been such a crazy day I never even told you.”

“Told me what?”

“Miss Claudia’s dead,” she said. “I found her body earlier when I went to pick up a new batch of powder from her.”

Rex paled, and his chopsticks clattered to the floor. “She’s dead? Are you sure?”

“Very.”

He got up and paced the livingroom. “That’s awful. Who’s investigating? What do the police think happened?”

“Tyler Grant. He says she was probably…”

“Grant?” Rex’s eyes widened. “Isn’t that a conflict of interest or something?”

Audra stared. “What do you mean?”

Rex sat across the coffee table from her. “Tyler Grant is the son of former Mayor Roger Grant. The guy who went to see Miss Claudia about migraines and died a week later.”

“He died from a brain tumor.”

“Yeah, but she told him not to go to the doctor.”

Audra rolled her eyes. “Merilee told me that Miss Claudia told Roger there was nothing the doctors could do for him, and she was right. His tumor was the size of a grapefruit. It was inoperable, and all they could have done was fill him with drugs.”

Rex opened a container of chow mein. “All I’m saying is Tyler Grant has no business conducting the investigation.”

After dinner, Audra went to the computer to do a little digging. Sure enough, there were several on-line articles about Roger Grant and his tumor, images of his teenage son Tyler at his funeral, as well as about an act of vandalism in Miss Claudia’s shop shortly after his death. Tyler Grant had stood accused of the act but was acquitted.

Audra called Merilee. “Do you remember when Roger Grant died?”

“Yeah,” she said. “The gigantic tumor, right? Miss Claudia gave him some weird tablets to control the headaches, but he died a week later.”

“Did you know his son was accused of vandalizing her shop after the funeral?”

“Tyler. The cop. I knew there was something about him that bugged me, but I couldn’t put my finger on it,” Merilee said. “He didn’t do it. He went away with his mom right after the funeral and didn’t come back until a year or so ago. It was a big scandal because they’d left after the service before Roger was even buried.”

Audra’s stomach gurgled, more from suspicion than the Chinese food. “So why did Tyler come back? Does he still have family here?”

“An aunt, I think. Roger’s sister and her family. Seems to me they moved into one of those new places up near the hills.”

Audra hung up to do a little more research.

Chapter Five

The doorbell rang early Sunday morning, sending Drake into a barking frenzy. Audra pushed him to one side and held his collar while she unlocked and opened the door with one hand. “Officer Grant.”

Tyler stood on the front porch, his hat in his hand. “Ms. Clemming. Could I have a word with you?”

Audra stepped back and waved him inside, but Drake began to bark again, straining at his collar so hard she had to grab it with both hands. “Maybe we’d better chat out on the porch.”

“Good idea.”

She shoved Drake inside and managed to pull the door closed behind her. “Sorry about that. He’s been acting weird for a couple of days now. Rex came home with some new smell on his clothes, and now you show up and he goes ape all over again.”

Tyler’s eyebrows raised. “Really? What sort of smell?”

Audra closed her eyes. She didn’t want to suspect Rex, but they all needed to find out the truth for Miss Claudia’s sake. “I think he was in Miss Claudia’s shop Friday night. His clothes smelled like her incense and there were blood spots…” Her voice crackled. “I didn’t wash them. They’re in a drawer in the laundry room.”

He averted his gaze while she regained control of her emotions. “You know I’ll need to ask you for those clothes.”

“I know.” She bowed her head and prayed Rex was either still asleep or in the shower. “I’ll have to ask you to wait out here so Drake doesn’t eat you.”

Tyler smiled. The scratch on his jaw seemed so much darker than before that she almost offered him some cream to take down the swelling. “Not a problem.”

Audra eased the door open a crack. Drake lay near the couch, and his gaze followed her across the room. The second she reached the laundry room, he bounded toward her. She held him off with one foot as she grabbed the clothes from the drawer and shove them into a bag.

Rex would be upset that she suspected him, but Audra had to follow her gut instinct. After all, finding a killer was important, and if Rex had nothing to do with Miss Claudia’s murder then…

“What are you doing?” Rex stood in the doorway.

Audra shrieked, fumbling the bag until a sleeve stuck out. “Um. Tyler is here and…I…”

“Tyler?” He frowned. “You mean Officer Grant? The guy out on the front porch Drake keeps barking at.”

“That’s the one.”

Rex’s nostrils flared. “What’s in the bag?”

Audra’s mouth became a desert. “Nothing special.”

His eyes narrowed. “You’re giving him my clothes, aren’t you? You think I killed Miss Claudia.”

“No, I—” She was saved by the ringing of Rex’s cell phone. When he turned away to answer, she ducked out of the laundry room and out the front door with Drake hot on her heels. She shoved the bag at Tyler, horribly out of breath for such a short dash. “Take it. His suit and a shirt. There’s blood and dog saliva.”

Tyler’s mouth gaped. “Dog saliva?”

“You don’t have a dog, do you? They drool. Take the clothes and get out of here before Rex comes out.”

The front door opened, and Drake flew out of the house, knocking Tyler off the porch and onto the sidewalk. Within seconds, he’d torn the paper bag apart and gnawed on the clothing.

“Oops.” Rex didn’t look the least bit sorry.

Tyler cursed then froze when Drake turned his attention on the officer. For a long second, the two stared at each other before Drake let out a low snarl. As Tyler reached for his gun, Audra stepped between them and grasped Drake’s collar.

“I think you should go before he makes his move,” she said. “I won’t be able to hold him back much longer.”

Tyler nodded and slowly got to his feet.

Rex stood on the front step with a grin. “You can hand me back my suit while you’re at it. I’d like to have it cleaned for work next week.”

Audra glanced down at the shredded pants and torn jacket covered in dog slobber. “You might want to get a new one.”

He snorted then returned to the house and slammed the door.

Tyler picked up the tattered bits of pants next to him. “I’ll take these and the shirt for evidence. I’d like the jacket as well.”

Drake growled and lunged for the jacket.

Audra winced. “I think that’s out of the question unless you want a few bite marks.”

“Just take the dog inside. I’ll collect it when he’s gone.”

“If he’ll drop it. Give us some space.” She tried to coax Drake toward the house, but he stood his ground. Finally, she motioned for Tyler to leave the yard. Only once he’d returned to his cruiser did Drake follow her commands, the jacket clenched in his teeth. She shrugged and allowed him to take it inside. The second he dropped it on the floor, she snatched the scrap of fabric and threw it out the door.

“I can’t believe you gave him my suit.” Rex glowered from the kitchen. “Do you really think I’d kill some harmless old witch?”

Audra swallowed hard. “You were covered in blood spots, smelled like incense, and had a black eye and a cut like you were in a fight. Besides, Drake won’t come near you because of the smell.”

Rex raised both eyebrows. “You were in Miss Claudia’s shop, but he still comes to you.”

She frowned. He was right. Miss Claudia had anointed her with patchouli and other weird oils. So why didn’t Drake take after her and the clothing she’d worn in the same way he did after Rex and Tyler?

She sagged onto the sofa and sighed. “What have I done?”

Chapter Six

After a huge breakfast of sausages, waffles, and eggs to try to make things up to Rex, Audra sat and sipped one last cup of tea while she flipped through Saturday’s paper. More coverage of wars, budget cuts, and upcoming holiday sales.

As she flipped, one item caught her eye. “Miss Claudia was going out of business. Why wouldn’t she say anything?”

From where he lay beneath the table, Drake sounded mildly interested. When Audra glanced toward him, he groaned and dropped his head back onto his paws.

Rex finished drying dishes and walked around behind her. “She was what?”

“Closing the shop,” she said. “There’s a quarter page ad saying everything will be half price this coming week including the fixtures and that everything must go.”

“She was old. I guess she was finally retiring.” He sat next to her and frowned. “Did this paper come out before or after she died?”

“After. It’s Saturday’s paper. When I saw her, she looked like she’d been dead for several hours. She must have died sometime Friday night.” Audra’s heart raced. “Either someone already knew she was selling out and wasn’t happy about it or they wanted to speed up the process.”

Rex whistled. “That’s harsh.”

She drew in a slow breath. “How did you get blood all over your clothes?”

He winced. “After you went back to work Friday night, I went to see Miss Claudia. She told me what she’d given you, which was some weird mix of seaweeds and vitamins. She said it was harmless and had no idea why you were turning green. She thought maybe it was more a mental thing than a physical one.”

Audra snorted. “Did you argue with her?”

“No. I told her you wanted a refill. I put it in the cupboard behind your old one, by the way. She gave me the new one for no charge and handed me a sheet of paper that listed all the ingredients.”

Audra clapped a hand to her forehead. The sheet of paper that fell out of his pocket. She’d never taken a moment to even look at it. “So where did the blood come from?”

“I told you. I ran into a door. When I went to leave, someone opened the door and clocked me in the face. I didn’t really see who it was. I was too embarrassed to stay.” Rex paused. “I do remember one thing. They had this really weird smell.”

“Weird like what?”

“Kind of spicy and musty all at the same time. I’d know it if I smelled it.”

Audra nodded. “I need to ask Tyler to let us in Miss Claudia’s shop. She has a whole bunch of oils she prescribes to people. If we can find the smell, maybe we can find out who she sold them to.”

Rex smiled. “Look at you. You’re a grown up Nancy Drew.”

She sipped her tea, trying not to smile.

“Do you still suspect me?” he asked.

Audra’s good mood faded. “I can’t rule you out just yet. Not after I found you looking like you’d been in a fight.”

“I was, actually,” Rex said. “After the smack with the door, I went to the bar. Some guy made a comment about my face and I got mad. Embarrassed really, but I took my frustrations out on him. I managed to get out of there right after the bartender called the cops. All Tyler’s going to find on my suit is my blood and a bit of beer.”

“And dog drool,” Audra added. “Lots and lots of dog drool.”

Rex came over and patted Drake’s head. “I’d hate to be in that poor lab guy’s shoes.”

Drake flinched and inched out of Rex’s reach.

She sighed. “I’m assuming this means you two still aren’t friends yet.”

“No.” Rex scratched his chin. “I guess I have a lot of making up to do on all counts. So what do you want to do today?”

Audra had a couple of ideas. One of which Rex wouldn’t like at all.

Chapter Seven

Merilee didn’t ask any questions when Audra phoned. She just offered to drive. Once Audra was strapped into the passenger seat, Merilee giggled. “This is crazy. It’s just like the movie Thelma and Louise. So what are we doing? Going to a strip bar? Breaking into Rex’s office to search for clues he’s been having an affair?”

“What?” Audra’s mouth dropped open. “No.”

She shrugged. “Oh. Sorry. I just assumed things were still… So what’s up then?”

“Miss Claudia was planning to sell the curio shop. She was holding a big sale this week. Either someone was angry at her for giving them bad medicine or someone really wanted her gone sooner.” Audra went on to tell her about Rex’s run in with the front door of Miss Claudia’s shop. “We need to find out what the smell was and search her records to see who she prescribed it to.”

Merilee frowned. “So if Rex can identify this mystery person, why isn’t he coming to the shop with us?”

She sighed. “He wanted to bring Drake with him and Drake doesn’t want to cooperate. They’ll meet us there once they can both get into the car without incident.”

Merilee put the car into gear and laughed all the way down the street. “I don’t know what he ever did to that poor dog, but I hope he learns his lesson.”

They pulled in behind the curio shop a few minutes later. Audra took one last breath of warm air and stepped out into the cold. When Merilee pulled a key out of her pocket and unlocked the back door of the shop, Audra froze.

“Why do you have a key to Miss Claudia’s shop?” she asked.

Merilee’s eyes widened. “My dad owns the building. He has a renter upstairs that I have to check on regularly now that he’s in Florida for the winter.”

Audra’s stomach slithered into a knot. Merilee—or anyone in her family—could have snuck into the shop at any time, killed Miss Claudia, and snuck out the back door unnoticed. She gave her head a shake. Merilee’s family had pretty much founded the town. Besides, she’d known Miss Claudia for twenty years. There was no way she’d ever do anything to harm the old lady.

When the two women crept inside the shop, the interior was still as dark as the inside of a chimney. Since no one had taken down the heavy fabric that covered every window, Merilee turned on a flashlight. “Ok. Where do you want to start looking?”

Audra held a hand to her churning stomach and pulled aside a curtain covering a doorway. “We need to find her sales records. There’s no way she could have sold potions and powders to so many people without having sales records and patient records.”

Merilee shone the beam into a back room and illuminated a set of file cabinets. “Bingo.”

Audra flipped on the light and opened one drawer. “We still don’t know who or what we’re looking for though. It could be anyone in these files. We need Rex to find the right scent so we know what exactly we’re looking for.”

Merilee closed the drawer. “Then he’d better get here soon. This is going to take all day. I sure hope he has as good a nose as Drake does.”

“Me too.” Audra walked halfway through the dark store before she realized she was holding her breath. She closed in on the shelves full of oils and leaned close to read the labels in the dim light. “I’ve smelled something on Rex’s clothes too. It was something familiar, yet I just couldn’t place it. Kind of spicy and musty. I thought I smelled something similar on Tyler too.”

When Merilee didn’t answer, Audra turned. Her friend stood with her flashlight beam aimed at a black spot on the wood floor. “This is where she died, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.” Tears sprang to Audra’s eyes. She’d been so focused on the scent that, in the dark, the room hadn’t seemed so familiar as the place where a woman died.

“I’m glad you found her,” Merilee said. “With the holidays coming, it might have been days before anyone noticed she was even missing.”

She nodded. “Someone would have found her.”

“I knew I should have locked the door.” A man’s voice came from the front door.

They both turned. Merilee’s flashlight shone onto Tyler Grant in the front entrance. He held a bag in one hand and a gun in the other.

“Oh, you did,” Audra said. “Merilee has a key. Her family owns the building.”

Merilee cleared her throat. “I don’t think that’s quite what he meant.”

Audra knitted her brows together then sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh.”

Tyler’s odd smell. Drake’s instant dislike of him. The insistence to gather Rex’s clothes as evidence. Tyler Grant had killed Miss Claudia and tried to frame her husband. He was probably the person who had tried to knock Rex out.

He shook his head. “You’re a sweet lady, Ms. Clemming. I’m sorry it has to come to this. I should’ve just killed her then followed your husband to the bar, got him drunk, and framed him then and there. As it was, your dog did a great job of raising your suspicions of him. You handed me exactly the evidence I needed to make my case.”

Audra wanted to vomit. “What was Miss Claudia treating you for?”

“The same thing she was treating Rex for,” he said. “She gave me a myrrh and frankincense blend to cure my insomnia. I rubbed it on my temples every night.”

“Rex never said anything about having insomnia.” Audra took a step back. Of course, she’d hardly seen him lately between his business trips and her long days at the embroidery shop. Her shoulder sagged.

Tyler chuckled. “I’m going to have to ask you ladies to step out to my cruiser. I’m going to arrest you for break and enter and threatening a police officer.”

Merilee held up her keys. “It’s not break and enter. I own the building.”

“And nobody’s threatened you,” Audra added.

“Yet.” He grinned, waving his gun toward them. “Let’s go. It’s cold, and I don’t have all day. I need to get some sleep. I’m on graveyard shift.”

Merilee led the way to the door. “If you think you’re getting away with this, you’re wrong. I’m related to half the local police force.”

“Oh, I know.” Tyler shoved her out the door. “Don’t worry. I’m not taking you to jail. I have a much better idea. No one is out ice fishing just yet since there’s still a soft spot in the middle of the lake. I’ll just walk the two of you out there. You’ll either drown or die of hypothermia. Either way. I win.”

Audra glanced up in time to see a blue sedan pull up to the curb. Rex. Her breath stuck in her throat. She’d have no time to warn him of the danger they were all in.

Tyler grabbed her by the arm and pushed her out the front door. “Let’s go. You’re going on a long, cold walk.”

The instant Rex’s car door opened, Drake flew from the vehicle and streaked across the sidewalk. He barreled into Tyler, knocking him against the brick building and onto the sidewalk.

Tyler barely had time to look up before the dog sat on his chest and barked. He gasped for breath beneath all eighty pounds of dog. “Get this thing off me!”

“Not a chance.” Audra kicked his gun away while Merilee pulled out her cell phone. “You’re going to jail, buster.”

“Buster?” Rex asked. “Honey, we have to work on your people skills.”

The police arrived before Merilee had even dialed 9-1-1. Two officers rushed past Audra and Merilee then froze.

Audra called Drake to her side. He cast her a “do I have to?” look then snorted in Tyler’s face and trotted to his mistress. She knelt in the snow and hugged him. “Good boy. You’re getting a few treats when we get home. You save the day.”

“What about me?” Rex asked. “I called the police and drove him over here.”

She glanced at Drake then shrugged and gave the dog another hug. “We’ll see.”

Chapter Eight

Back at Audra’s house, Merilee dunked a cookie in her coffee. “So when all was said and done, why exactly did Tyler kill Miss Claudia?”

“We know Tyler Grant is the son of former Mayor Roger Grant.” Rex sat across the kitchen table from her. ” When his widow moved away right away, Tyler didn’t get the time to grieve and learn what really happened. All he knew was the old witch gave his dad medicine. His mom ranted for years about how Miss Claudia had killed his father—she just couldn’t prove it.”

Audra nodded, Drake’s breath warming and cooling her right foot in perfect rhythm as he dozed on the floor beside her. “So when Miss Claudia told Roger there was nothing the doctors could do, he was right.”

Rex sipped his coffee. “Like I said, Tyler Grant had no business conducting the investigation. He was too close.”

“Especially since he’d killed her,” Audra said. “So when did you start seeing Miss Claudia?”

His face reddened. “When I started having problems sleeping at night. I’d get up grouchy and not able to focus on what I was doing. All I wanted to do was come home and sleep all weekend, because this was the only place I could get any sleep.”

“Frankincense and myrrh.” Merilee mused. “Who would’ve thought?”

“Drake, obviously.” Audra slipped the dog a cookie. “He smelled something different about Rex when he came home Friday, and when he smelled the same thing on Tyler, he reacted the same way. What I don’t get is why I didn’t recognize the same smell on both Rex and Tyler.”

Merilee handed her a sheet of paper. “I know why. I snooped some more in the file cabinet after you guys left. Rex and Tyler had similar prescriptions, but Miss Claudia mixed them in slightly different ratios. Rex’s had more myrrh than Tyler’s did. Tyler’s was also blended with a hint of peppermint and lavender to make the smell a little more tolerable to the public he dealt with. According to her records, he’d been using the same medication before his father died and came back for more when he moved back to town a few months ago.”

The back of Audra’s neck prickled. “Since before he died?”

Rex nodded. “Apparently Tyler Grant always was a bit high-strung. He’s been on anti-depressants for years.”

Audra blew out a breath. “So he used the excuse of getting back on the natural medication to get to know Miss Claudia’s habits and found a prime opportunity to murder her. She always blended her orders on Friday nights for everyone to pick up on Saturday mornings. Everyone in town knew that.”

“Case closed, ladies.” Rex raised his coffee mug. “I think we did a pretty good job solving this one.”

Merilee and Audra exchanged glances.

Drake sat up and tilted his head, his golden eyes focused on Rex.

“Fine.” Rex rolled his eyes. He got up and reached into the cupboard for a dog treat. “Good job, Drake. You saved me from rotting in prison.”

The dog sneezed and reached for the treat then trotted into the living room. Within seconds, a loud crash and several tinkles shook the house as the tree fell to the floor again.

Rex sighed as he met Audra’s gaze. “Your turn.”