A Catered Christmas Killer (A Sinful Sweets Cozy Mystery) (11 page)

“And it took you all night to figure it out. Too bad there’s no one here to know the truth but you.”

“Actually, you’re under arrest, Mr. Eduardo Perez.” The grip on Sydney’s neck tightened with Detective Moore’s words.

“I’ll kill her first!” Eduardo shouted. “I will! I did it once and I’ll do it again!”

Eduardo spun Sydney around so they were facing Detective Moore. Sydney was grateful for his presence, but confused about how he’d known to come upstairs to find her. Then she saw Grace and Austin come out of the shadows. When she hadn’t returned to the kitchen, they must have stealthily come up the back stairs to make sure she was okay.

Detective Moore had his gun trained on Sydney and Eduardo. Fear oozed from her, pleading him with her eyes not to shoot. She knew he’d have good aim, but she didn’t want to take the risk. A knife at her throat was preferable to a bullet in her heart.

“Eduardo, there’s no need for this. No need for more blood to be spilled. Sydney had nothing to do with this, just let her go.”

“She had everything to do with this. If she had kept to herself, I’d still be a free man!”

“If you hadn’t killed Julia, you’d still be a free man,” Moore countered.

Sydney felt Eduardo’s arm around her neck suddenly loosen. She had no idea why until he’d completely released her and she turned around. A second detective had come up the front stairs and surprised Eduardo from behind. The knife was on the floor, still bloody from last night, and Eduardo was in handcuffs before Sydney had looked back up.

“I have to extend my most sincere thanks, Sydney,” Marcus offered on Sunday morning
after all of the guests had left and the few people staying overnight had gotten a couple hours of rest.

The chaos of the previous night had ended quickly after Eduardo was arrested. Maria was arrested as well as an accomplice. She’d given Eduardo the key to the Durans’ house and had concocted a story to cover for him once she’d figured out what he’d done by planting the knife and lingerie in Marcus’ office. She’d tried to get Sydney off of Eduardo’s tracks, but she didn’t succeed in the end.

Maria had known that Marcus and Stacey were having an affair and planted her hairs in the clothing as well.

“I was just doing my job,” Sydney said shyly.

“No, your job was to cater the best Christmas party of the year, but you ended up finding justice for my wife. I can’t thank you enough.” There was evident pain in Marcus’ eyes.

“Well, I only did what any person would do.”

“But you did it.”

Sydney smiled, not knowing how else to respond. She continued cleaning up the kitchen. She and Grace had huge piles of dishes to do. Originally, Julia had asked that they stay through Sunday, but Marcus was releasing them at noon.

“Just one last question,” Sydney said, looking back up.

“Anything.”

“How did you not notice that Julia never came to bed that night?”

“I take sleeping pills.” Marcus turned and left the kitchen, likely avoiding any more questions.

“Overall, a success?” Grace asked after Marcus had left.

“I’d say so. I gave out a few business cards and kept my record clean. I doubt that we’ll be catering that Super Bowl party for Ryan and Stacey, though. He was devastated when he found out about her affair. I don’t know how he didn’t see it coming. She couldn’t stay away from Marcus all night!”

“Some people only see what they want to see.”

***

“Auntie Sydney!” Addison and Ariel called from the open door of Mia’s house. Sydney walked through the door and could smell Christmas in the air—the tree, eggnog and sugar cookies.

“Hey girls. Did you have a good weekend with Maple?”

“Yeah! And Mom said we can get a dog!” Addison was beside herself with joy.

“That’s great!”

“Come see our Christmas tree,” Ariel demanded, leading Sydney into the living room. Mia was lying on the floor with Aiden. She looked up and smiled. Maple was asleep on the couch, wiped out from days of constant playing.

“It’s beautiful,” Sydney gushed for the sake of the kids. “Did you decorate it all by yourselves?”

“No. With Mom and Dad,” Addison said, smiling. “We have a present for you.”

Ariel ran to the tree and picked up one of the few gifts that were already wrapped and waiting to be opened.

“Santa brought it early?” Sydney asked.

“Because he knew you wouldn’t be here on Christmas morning,” Addison explained.

Sydney carefully opened the gift wrapping and then the box.

“A cookbook! How appropriate!” She already had a bookshelf full of them, but she still loved getting new ones.

“And something else,” Mia said. “I let the kids choose the book. I think they picked based on the cover. But I chose this other gift.”

Sydney opened the envelope and found a gift certificate to the fanciest restaurant in town. “You shouldn’t have.”

“I thought it’d be a nice place for you to take Austin,” Mia said, defending her choice. “You know, for the holidays.”

“Thanks.” Sydney was speechless, and looking forward to the impending date her sister had planned for her.

Whether buying organic or not, fruits and vegetables attract unwanted grime in their transportation from the farm to your table. Water doesn’t get rid of nearly as much as you’d like. To easily remove that sticky waxiness on apples and tomatoes and the unseen dirt on nearly everything, consider making this super easy rinse part of your routine:

INGREDIENTS: