I had to smile. Murderers and crime waves wouldn't stop Dead Enders when there was a festival to attend.
We'll be there.
After we cleaned up the kitchen, I stretched and yawned. "Some birthday, huh?"
"I've had worse. And this was my first-ever surprise party, so I'm counting it as a big win."
After that, I brushed my teeth, curled up next to Jack, and was out like a light.
I might have tried to stay up later if I'd known how deadly the Holiday Lights Festival would be.
38
Tess
The Dead End Christmas Eve Holiday Lights Festival never disappointed. Somehow, every year, the weather was always clear and beautiful; the food was amazing, and everybody was in a wonderful mood.
Except for this year.
Darryl's unsolved murder and the rash of crimes hung heavily over the town and everyone in it, except for the kids too young to understand. I didn't expect there to be that much holiday feeling at the holiday festival today.
We went, anyway. I dressed in a black sweater and blue jeans, with boots and a red jacket, and left my hair loose for a change. Since I wasn't going to work at the shop today, I wore the pendant Jack gave me on the outside of my sweater. Jack wore a heather-gray sweater, jeans, and boots.
I smiled at Jack and took his hand. "We look pretty great."
"You always look great." He kissed me, and I almost suggested we just hide out in the house and watch movies and eat popcorn all day. But we needed to help Andy, and we needed to find justice for Darryl.
Most of all, we needed to stop the criminals who'd invaded our town.
After a breakfast that neither one of us really wanted, we headed for town. People were subdued, which I'd expected, but there were still crowds of them in attendance, which I hadn't.
We wandered among the booths and the food trucks. We oohed and aahed over the art the second graders displayed in the lobby of city hall. The air smelled like pine trees, cinnamon, and hot chocolate, three of my favorite things, and I kept taking deep breaths to pull the yummy smells inside. I saw Deputy Underhill, probably on patrol or crowd control, and waved. She waved back and smiled, but we didn't stop to talk.
Instead, wandering, we waited to hear. From Andy, from the twins, from Aunt Ruby and Uncle Mike; from anybody who might have information for us. We needed to lay out our theory for Andy, and that was better done in person.
When I sighed for maybe the seven thousandth time, Jack put an arm around my shoulders and dragged me to a funnel cake cart.
"Listen. If we can't solve everything right now, we can at least make up for that breakfast we didn't eat."
"I wasn't in the mood for eggs."
"Speaking of eggs, did you know geese are as good as guard dogs for protecting chickens?"
I stared at him. "No, they're not! Nobody wants to cuddle with a goose and watch TV. Or play fetch with a goose. Or take one to the beach." I shuddered at the idea of a goose chasing me across the sand. "What a truly horrible thing to say."
Jack raised his eyebrows. "Rooster is the one who told me that, so blame him."
I rolled my eyes. "Rooster has had a lifelong love of all things poultry. Did he tell you why they call him Rooster?"
"No, but now I've gotta know."
We reached the front of the funnel cake line and Jack held up two fingers.
"Because he kept chickens starting way back when he was a tiny little boy," I told him. "When he started school, his flock would follow him down the road like hens following a rooster. So, the other kids called him that, and it stuck."
We took our funnel cakes, paid, and wandered off toward the Snowflake Selfie Stand to eat them.
"Huh," Jack finally said. "I admit the hardest part for me to believe is that Rooster was ever tiny."
