Bacon Caramel Murder Read online

“In fact, not many people know, but Principal Heins was petitioning the school board to have her removed from the committee altogether.”

  At the mention of Principal Heins, Sonja gasped, losing her grip on the paint and sending the can spilling all over the plastic table cloth and her hands. “Oh, darn.”

  “Sonja, I’m so sorry. I’ve upset you with my gossip.” Placing a hand over her mouth, Mrs. Crawford shook her head.

  “What’s going on over here?” Donna demanded, walking over and seeing the mess.

  “I was just being a bit of a butter fingers. That’s all,” Sonja admitted, holding out her wet fingers.

  “Oh, dear. You’ve ruined the tablecloth.”

  “I really am sorry.”

  Donna pursed her lips. “No problem, dear. Let’s get you to the bathroom and washed up. Ms. Crawford, you and some of the other ladies take this out to the dumpster.”

  “Thanks,” Sonja said.

  “Do we have a spare tablecloth?”

  “We do,” Mrs. Crawford answered.

  “Would you also get it please?” she requested, guiding Sonja through the side door of the gym and into the girl’s restroom.

  “I really am sorry, Donna.”

  “Oh, these things happen, even if it does mean we’ve wasted good school funds on both the paint and the ruined cloth.

  Sonja had a feeling the comment, while sounding sincere, was supposed to have a hint of rudeness about it.

  Putting her hands under the faucet, Donna helped to turn the water on.

  “If you can’t get it off with just the soap, especially on your nails, you might try this,” she offered, digging into her purse and pulling out a bottle. The pink label indicated it was nail polish remover. As Donna unscrewed the cap, the room instantly filled with an all too familiar smell.

  Sonja held back a gasp of realization, so as to not alert Donna. What she’d been smelling this whole time, at the crime scene and faintly in the bathroom, wasn’t rubbing alcohol. It was nail polish remover.

  “Do you always carry that with you?” Sonja asked in as innocent a tone as she could muster.

  Donna held up her hands, showing off her nails. They were a different color than the last time Sonja saw them—a deep hue of red. “You never know when you’re going to want to change your nail color at the last second.”

  “Why would you need to do that?” she pressed the issue.

  “Oh, you know. A swing of mood or maybe meeting with a man who you know prefers one color over another. I’m sure you’re familiar with that.”

  “I do. I sometimes enjoy putting on makeup and nail polish when I’m going out on a date with Frank.”

  A moment of recognition swam over the woman’s eyes and—if Sonja wasn’t mistaken—a glint of panic. “Oh, yes. I forgot you were dating Sheriff Thompson.”

  Finishing up washing her hands with no need for the polish, Sonja grabbed some paper towels and dried them. A sudden idea popped into her head.

  “Hey, I think I forgot something from the van. Do you think you could help me grab it and carry it inside?”

  Donna sighed, her face twisting up in irritation, but ultimately, she relented. “Sure thing, honey.”

  “It’ll only take a minute, I swear.” Stepping out of the bathroom, Sonja headed down the hall a short way and into the auditorium.

  “Where are you parked?”

  “Just outside the stage door. I got the auditorium and gymnasium confused this morning.”

  “But I thought you’d said you’d catered here multiple times.”

  “Oh, I have, but I can be a bit forgetful,” she laughed awkwardly, hoping that Donna would buy the little performance.

  Donna squinted her eyes skeptically, but followed anyway.

  Mounting the steps onto the stage, Sonja found the back door in question and opened it, allowing Donna through first and then stepping outside behind her. Purposefully, she let the door shut and lock.

  “I don’t see your van anywhere,” she demanded.

  “Whoops. I guess I moved it. Oh, well. No worries. Let’s go back inside.” Turning around, Sonja gripped the handle of the door and pulled. It didn’t move. “Oh, no.”

  “What is it now?” Donna complained, her patience clearly growing thin.

  “I think I accidentally locked us out.”

  Rolling her eyes, Donna stepped forward. “Let me give it a try. Sometimes these old doors can stick.”

  Sonja watched with knowing eyes as Donna gripped the handle, pushed in hard, and pulled, unlatching the door. “There. You see? It wasn’t locked.”

  Turning, she looked back at Sonja, expecting her to just walk back inside. “What’s wrong?”

  Sonja hesitated, letting out a disappointed sigh. “It was locked, Donna. You just knew the trick to get it open since the latch is bent out of place.”

  Donna’s jaw dropped in horror.

  “You did it, didn’t you? You killed Principal Heins.”

  CHAPTER 15

  * * *

  “Excuse me? I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Donna defended herself, closing the door on the building. It slammed into place and the woman stood in front of it with her hands on her hips.

  “Maybe Ally was right. Were you having an affair with him? Was it Principal Heins you changed your nail polish for at the last minute the other night?”

  Donna folded her arms in a motion of defiance. “How dare you? How dare you accuse me of not only having an affair with a married man, but of murdering him?”

  Sonja shook her head. “I thought it was lipstick on his collar, or blood even. It wasn’t either. Your nail polish hadn’t fully dried and rubbed off a little when you were chocking him to death. You tried to get it out with the nail polish remover from your bag, but didn’t have time to finish the job because someone was coming down the hall. The janitor maybe?”

  “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  “Decker Partle was so drunk, he didn’t even realize the man was dead. He assumed he was being ignored when he asked for his job back and stormed out. No one saw you because you’d snuck out the back way. You knew the secret to get in and out of this door and you also knew the security guard rarely chained this door well enough to keep it shut all the way. You’re small enough to slip through the open crack.”

  “I don’t have to stand here and listen to this.” Donna began charging past Sonja with intentions of walking around the building.

  “Are you heading to your car? Planning on skipping town now that someone knows your secret?”

  “Leave me alone.”

  “What happened? Did Packer choose his own wife over you?”

  Donna stopped cold, her hands balling into fists.

  “That’s what happened, isn’t it?”

  Donna turned, tears of fury building up in her eyes. “What do you know? You have no idea what it is to love a man you can’t have.”

  “Then I’m right. He told you it was over, and you were making one last ditch effort to win him back. When he refused, you killed.”

  “He wasn’t spending time with her, anyway. He was trying to drown himself in work, to forget how strained his marriage had become. But I was there to comfort him, to love him, to give him the attention he needed.”

  “And Cherry?”

  “Was an overly needy woman who spent her life sobbing about one thing or another. No wonder he pursued me.”

  “But he didn’t choose you in the end. He realized he still loved his wife, didn’t he?”

  Donna sneered. “That woman ruined everything. He had told me that he was going to tell her everything, confess his mistakes and try to reconcile with his wife. So, I showed up that night to talk him out of it, to convince him to run off with me.” She paused, her lips twisting in anger. “I was too late. He’d already told her and she’d run off crying. I tried to tell him she would never forgive him, but he wouldn’t listen. He said he only loved her and would do what it took to earn her tr
ust again.”

  “A man was trying to fix his mistakes, trying to fix his marriage. You had no right to take that away.”

  “If I couldn’t have him, neither could she,” Donna barked, the tears finally exploding from her face. Turning, she ran as fast as she could around the corner of the building.

  Sonja knew she was heading for her car.

  Without a moment’s hesitation, Sonja dug into her pocket and dialed Frank.

  CHAPTER 16

  * * *

  Students from the middle school were all filtering into the gymnasium from their respective classrooms, getting ready to participate in the day’s events and games.

  There were booths for apple bobbing, donuts on a string, a bean bag toss, darts, and even a harvest walk past the big fake tree. There were real pumpkins and crunchy leaves along the ground to give the feeling of being outside. At the end of the walk was a tall wooden façade that looked like a woodland cottage, electric candles burning in the windows. Students stepped through the door to get to the food tables.

  The only thing really missing, besides the ghosts, witches, and vampires, was the kid’s costumes. Sonja missed that part.

  “If I wore nail polish more often, like other women, maybe I would have realized it earlier,” Sonja admitted to Alison as they sat behind the table the next morning. She looked at the chipped polish she had worn the night of her date with Frank.

  “You still might not have known it was Donna just by recognizing the smell of nail polish remover,” Ally admitted, setting out the basket with assorted candies on the table.

  “I know that nail polish remover and rubbing alcohol have the same base, but they don’t smell exactly the same. I couldn’t have expected Frank or any of his men to spot the difference. I should have been able to, myself.”

  “Don’t beat yourself up about it. The important thing is, you realized it in time to save Decker Partle from wrongful imprisonment.”

  “I’m just glad one of Frank’s men was able to catch Donna before she got out of town.” She placed out another basket filled with individually bagged candied acorns. Sonja shook her head. “I would have hated to see her get away. I can’t help but feel angry for Cherry. Her husband was really coming around.”

  “You’re just feeling sympathetic because you know you’d be furious if someone killed Frank.”

  “I’d be furious if he’d cheated on me as well.”

  “I think Cherry probably forgave him. I think I’d rather spend a life together in happiness, rather than anger.”

  Sonja shrugged. “I guess it just depends.”

  Alison sighed. “It’s true. I can’t imagine Alex cheating on me, and I’m not sure how I would react if he did.”

  Sonja clicked her tongue. “Oh, well, let’s not think about that. I’ll take Cherry some candied acorns and a waffle later this afternoon after the party. I’m betting she could use a friend right about now.”

  “You’re probably right.”

  Sonja put on a big smile as she noticed the swarms of kids heading toward the table. “Okay, no more talk of murder. I know these kids might not get a Halloween party, but let’s make the best of this festival.”

  “Sonja, you love autumn just as much as Halloween.”

  She smiled. “You’re right. I do.”

  Carefully drizzling warm salted caramel from the hot crockpot over the first waffle, Sonja sprinkling bacon on top. She handed out the first mini-waffle of the day to a beaming young girl with pigtails.

  Sonja knew it was going to be a great festival.