2 Yule Be the Death of Me (4 page)

Monday, December 2nd

When Vivienne
drove past the front of her bakery, her eyes locked onto a single piece of red
paper that was taped to the front door. She had seen several of the same bright
red papers attached to utility poles, trees, and a few tucked under the wiper
blades of cars parked along Main Street. Someone was papering the town with a
new marketing campaign and they certainly were doing a thorough job.

Once she
turned on the ovens and lights to start the day, she decided to take a look at
whatever it was that someone wanted to drum up business for. She thought the
town codes had forbidden such tactics. As she pulled the paper off her glass
door, she almost felt sorry for whoever was going to get hit with the nasty
fine and the scorn of the town council for defying their directive. ‘Thank
goodness it’s not me.’ She thought as she studied the paper in her hand.

‘
You better
watch out!
’ That’s what the paper said with bold green lettering and a
large size font that commanded attention. Vivienne had to agree that it
certainly was catchy and she was eager to read the rest of the contents. ‘
Santa
is not happy with you, Eddie Robertson. You are a chronic gambler who spends
far too much time in the bar and not enough time trying to be a father to
Connor.
’

Vivienne
couldn’t believe her eyes. This certainly wasn’t an advertisement for a holiday
special in town. She continued reading. ‘
I’ve been watching and keeping tabs
on all the bad things you do. You’ve been a naughty boy, hitting Natalie
whenever those silly and illegal bets fail to pay off or threatening to cancel
Christmas because you don’t want to spend any of your own money on gifts. Find
the true spirit before yours is set free. You have been warned. Sincerely,
Santa Claus.
’

Vivienne
reached the end of the paper and turned it over to see if there was anything
more. There wasn’t. She walked outside to one of the cars that had a flyer
under the wiper and removed it to check if said the same thing as hers. It did.
Everywhere she looked there were little flashes of red. Someone had a wicked
sense of humor and wasn’t afraid to take action. She stepped back into her
bakery when her telephone rang.

“Vivienne, you
won’t believe the note I found taped to my door this morning.” Kathy’s voice
eagerly explained from the phone.

“Eddie
Robertson is on Santa’s bad list.” Vivienne replied. “So now we know his last
name.”

“So does
someone else.” Kathy replied.

“Who would do
such a thing?” Vivienne wondered.

“I wonder if Natalie
took matters into her own hands.” Kathy replied. “If so, I have to give her
points for originality.”

“Natalie.”
Vivienne worried. “Oh my God, what if Eddie sees this and thinks the same
thing?”

“Should we
call Joshua?” Kathy asked.

“I’ll call him
and find out what to do next.” Vivienne stared at the paper in her hand in
disbelief. “I
  just
hope Natalie and Connor are
okay.”

“Keep me
posted about this.” Kathy ordered. “You always forget to do that and I end up
hearing the news from your mother.”

“I promise.”
Vivienne answered.

“You better or
you might end up on Santa’s bad list too.” Kathy joked.

Vivienne hung
up and dialed the direct line to Joshua’s office. He answered on the second
ring. “Hi honey.” She said.

“I already
know about the Santa note.” Joshua interrupted.

“I figured as
much. They’re all over town.” Vivienne explained.

“We’re on top
of it. We’ve got a unit dispatched to their home to make sure everything is
okay.” Joshua informed her. “I can’t say anything more.”

“Just let me
know that Natalie and Connor aren’t hurt.” Vivienne asked.

“I’ll let you
know as soon as I find out. I better go now.” He replied.

“Love you.”
She finished.

“Love you
too.” He hung up.

Vivienne
stared at the note on her counter and wondered if Natalie really did make them
up to shame Eddie into becoming a better man and father to Connor. It would be
a bold move to say the least, but sometimes people did bold things when backed
into a corner.

*         
*         *

She had just
placed her second batch of blueberry crumble muffins into the oven when two
police cruisers sped down Main Street followed by an ambulance.

“Looks like
they’re in a hurry.” Stephanie quipped as she dropped a new roll of thermal
paper into the credit card printer.

“They sure
are.” Vivienne closed the oven door and set the timer. She didn’t like this one
bit.

Stephanie ran
an inch of the paper and then tore it off. “I’m sure you’ll hear all about it
after work tonight.” She crumpled the scrap paper in her hand into a ball.

The sound of
crinkling paper reminded Vivienne of the Santa note from earlier. With the
morning rush over, she knew Stephanie was perfectly capable of running the
store for an hour or so. Just enough time to see what was going on. “I’m going
to go take a little drive.”

Stephanie
hurled the little ball of paper into a nearby trash can. “Better bundle up.
That wind is still pretty nasty out there.”

Vivienne
walked into the back room and pulled her coat and purse off the wall hooks.
“I’ll have my cell phone on if you need me.”

“I’ll be
fine.” Stephanie called back from the counter. “If you think of it, you might
want to pick up some more holiday sprinkles from the Monarch. We went through
most of our supply last week.”

“I’ll pick up a
few to get us by until the delivery comes Wednesday.” Vivienne buttoned up her
coat and slung her purse over her left shoulder. “Anything else you think we
need?”

“I think we’re
okay with the rest for now.” Stephanie tied on her baking apron and moved into
the kitchen area. “You want two dozen cranberry orange muffins this morning
too?”

“Yes, but be
sure to set aside six for Mrs. Fell. I think her bridge club meets this
afternoon.”

Stephanie
nodded. “No problem.”

Vivienne
hurried out the back door and stepped into the brisk morning air. The wind was
still quite strong, even in the alley, and it made the temperature feel well
below the freezing mark. She hurried to her car and climbed inside.

As she drove
along Main Street, she had to pull over the side as another police cruiser
roared past with its blue and red lights flashing. She quickly pulled back onto
the road and gave chase to follow along.

She felt
guilty for speeding a good ten miles above the posted limit of thirty miles an
hour through town, but it was the only way she could keep up with the police
car as it hurried toward its destination. Besides, she was quite certain there
were no officers parked at the usual speed trap locations this morning.

They were a
good two miles outside of town when the police car made a sharp turn onto Old
Cemetery Road, which was one of those country lanes which was rarely plowed.
She fishtailed slightly, as the road was slick with packed snow. They passed
the ruins of the Fitzpatrick farmstead which had burned down last year after a
lightning strike ignited the dry wood of the abandoned property. The vegetable
stand was still perched near the edge of the road, now leaning and covered up
to the counter with large snow drifts.

As they came
upon the old Cayuga Union Cemetery, she found the scene hauntingly beautiful.
The aged stones were tipped this way and that, some broken and in pieces on the
snow-covered ground. There were several civil war veterans buried in the
center, between two large cannons that were tilted skyward, along with a stack
of cannon balls welded together.  It hadn’t been used for decades, as most
of those who came to mourn the dead had passed on themselves. Yet, as they
passed by the front entrance her gaze fell upon a simple green wreath with a
red bow tied to the front gates. It was comforting to think that someone still
cared for the property.

As they
rounded a rather sharp corner, Vivienne could see the small collection of
double wide trailers that were clustered along the empty fields.  It was
intended to be Tall Pine Grove, a planned community that never materialized
when the housing bubble burst back in 2008.

After a few
years, the developer gave up and decided to use the utility hookups for
trailers. The natural gas boom had started and many out-of-state workers were
in need of cheap housing.

The police car
joined a throng of other emergency vehicles alongside a blue doublewide that
had a rusty metal swing set in the front yard.

Vivienne
pulled off to the side and felt her heart sink in her chest. She wasn’t sure,
but she had a feeling this was where Eddie Robertson lived along with Natalie
and Connor. She stepped out of her car and joined a small group of neighbors
who were gathered in front of a single green trailer that had a gaggle of faded
pink plastic flamingos stuck all over the yard.

A woman
dressed in a rather-worn looking jacket, pulled over a pair of pink fleece
pajama pants and a faded tee shirt with a beer logo approached Vivienne. “Are
you a reporter for the news?” She asked as her hands went up to her hair, where
pink curlers were poking through a thin blue scarf she had tied atop her head.

Vivienne had
never thought of that. She was just going to gawk and try to hear what was
going on with everyone else, but if they all thought she was a reporter she’d
be able to get people to talk easier. She decided to go with it, fishing around
in her coat pocket and pulling out a small pad she kept for writing down
grocery lists. “I’m Vera French.”, she lied.

“From the
local news station, I knew it.” The woman with the curlers gave her a big
smile. “You look better in person, does anyone tell you that?”

Vivienne shook
her head. “I work for the newspaper.”

“Oh.” The
woman’s smile faded. “I must have seen your picture in the paper that I line
the bird cage with.”

Vivienne was
glad she didn’t work for the paper as a verbal slap like that would be quite
painful. She kept a smile on her face and pressed further. “But if the story is
big enough, I can get it picked up for the local news station. I have some
connections.” Vivienne winked.

The woman’s
face brightened. “Really?”

“Sure.”
Vivienne leaned forward. “Bryce Starr, the local radio personality is a good
friend of mine.  He might even ask for a radio interview. “

The woman
reached out her right hand. “My name is Sally Rollins. Do you need me to spell
that?”

Vivienne
pulled the cap off her pen and scribbled the name down on the pad. “Two L’s,
right?”

“Yep.” Sally
continued. “Well, I was inside wrapping up some Christmas presents for my
grandkids when I heard a woman screaming.”

Vivienne
pointed to the trailer where the emergency vehicles were gathered. “From over
there?”

“Yes.” Sally
nodded. “It was something awful, just like out of those horror movies.”

“Who lives
there?” Vivienne asked.

“That would be
Natalie Burdick and her son Connor.” Sally waved her hand to the trailer two
away from hers.

“Was she
injured?” Vivienne began to worry.

“No, but she
had blood all over her so I thought she was at first.” Sally shook her head. “She
must have got it smeared on her from Eddie.”

“Who’s Eddie?”
Vivienne pretended not to know.

“He’s her
boyfriend. They moved in about six months ago.” Sally shook her head. “I never
did trust the guy. He just had a real mean look about him.”

“What happened
to him?” Vivienne pressed further.

“I don’t know
for sure, but Gus Holt who lives on the other side of them said he thought he
was shot. He went in to help when Natalie started screaming.”

Vivienne
scribbled her description down. “You didn’t hear any gun shots?”

“No, it
sounded like a clap of thunder to me.” Sally folded her arms against her chest.
“Weird, huh?”

“So, Eddie was
conscious when Gus went in?”

Sally
shrugged. “I wish I knew.” She clucked her tongue at the scene. “That Eddie was
a mean cuss, that’s for sure. I’d hear them fighting and screaming at each
other all the time.” She glanced warily at Vivienne. “
Ain’t
you going to write any of this down?”

Vivienne
blinked and nodded. “I’m sorry. I guess I was just processing the whole story
in my head.” She started writing some of the names down on the paper for her
own use.

“So are you
going to call the news station? Because if you are I’ve got to change clothes
before they interview me.” Sally’s eyes widened.

Vivienne
shrugged. “I’m going to need more to go on before I can make that call.”

“What about
talking to Connor? He’s inside with my grandkids right now.” Sally asked.

“He’s in your
home?”

“Yes, Gus
brought him right over after he calmed Natalie down and called the police. I
usually babysit him during the day when they’re working anyway.”

Vivienne heard
some of the assembled neighbors gasp as the emergency workers emerged from the
trailer with Eddie strapped to a gurney. They were performing CPR as they
climbed into the ambulance and sped away. “Mind if I park my car in your
driveway?”

“Go ahead and
I’ll meet you inside. You want some coffee?” Sally asked.

Vivienne
nodded. “That’d be great.” She hurried back to her car to park it in the
driveway just in case Joshua was at the scene and saw it along the road. She
was fairly certain he wouldn’t pay attention to it if it were parked at one of
the trailers.

The crowd of
gawkers began to break up as Vivienne pulled into the driveway and hurried
inside the double-wide that Sally Rollins called home. It was neater than she
had envisioned, but there were several children’s toys scattered along the
floor that she had to step over carefully to avoid tripping.