Page 16 of A Whisker in the Night

“But thankfully, Hammie Mae was quickly gifted to me as a nickname,” she laughs as she goes on. “How did you get your name? I just love it.”

Don’t let her change the subject, Bizzy.Fish’s whiskers twitch with the warning.We’ve got her right where we want her!

Where do we want her?Jellybean sits up straight in Hammie Mae’s arms and the alarm is clear in her voice.You don’t think Hammie Mae killed my precious Hamish, do you?

I bite my lip, unable to offer the sweet cat any reassurance. The odds seem low, but in Cider Cove, stranger things have happened. Usually around holidays. And usually, they somehow involve me.

Sherlock gives a soft woof.Don’t worry, Jelly Belly. Jasper will get to the bottom of this.

Jelly Belly? I fight the smile curving my lips until it occurs to me that he might have been referencing yours truly.

“My name is Elizabeth, same as my best friend Emmie,” I offer up. “We’ve always gone by the nicknames our families gifted us, to avoid confusion.” I wince a little. “And... I’m so sorry about your father.”

“Thank you,” she mouths the words. “You know, he wasn’t perfect but…” she trails off, absently pulling Jellybean close. “Things changed between us after the divorce. After my mother found out he was having an affair with our longtime manager at this place.” Her face darkens. “That would be his new wife.” She rolls her eyes. “Our longtime farm manager. Can you imagine? Thirty years of marriage, and he throws it away for someone who could hardly tell a blueberry from a blackberry. My mother wasfurious.”So much so that she threatened to kill the man nearly every single day thereafter.

I gasp as that last thought she let fly.

Hammie Mae blinks my way.

“Oh”—I pat my lips—“I’m sorry to hear it. My own father blew apart my family in the exact same way. My mother was pretty furious, too.” Thankfully, a homicide was averted, but not by much. Everyone gets along today, although it took some time to heal from the trauma. “My father proceeded to marry every woman in sight,” I tell her and she gives a mournful giggle.

“Oh dear. Well, my father stopped at Verity.” She pauses to lift her finger as if an idea just sparked in her mind. “Although they were on the brink of divorce.”

“They were?”

“Oh yes.” She nods furtively. “Verity is a pill and super hard to get along with. And she’s materialistic to the hilt. I mean, you can tell just by looking at her. That orange spray tan? Those tissue paper white teeth? They’re all capped by the way. She had my father pay for them along with her boobs and her new nose. The woman is a walking, talking testament to plastic surgeons everywhere. In fact, rumor has it, she had an affair with her plastic surgeon, that womanizer from Brambleberry Bay, Dr. Stanton Troublefield. Have you heard of him?”

I give a little gasp. “I have. My cousin Hattie works up at the country club in Brambleberry Bay and he’s a member. Believe me, I’ve heard every story about Stanton Troublefield. I guess his wife dumped him and took off to live on a cruise ship.”

“Nowshesounds smart.” Hammie Mae gives Fish a quick scratch on the back. “I’d like to think my father was about to give Verity the boot any day now.” Her lips clamp up and I can tell she’s thinking about something.My poor mother. I can’t let it end like this for her. I have to protect her.

A breath hitches in my throat as I listen in on the thought. She obviously thinks her mother is guilty! And well, according to that wrought iron gold foil bunny left at the scene of the crime, she very well might be.

The baby kicks again, harder this time. Even they can sense there’s more to this story. My sweet baby is intuitive just like their parents.

Hammie Mae presses her lips tight once again.Focus.

“Verity had all these grand ideas,” Hammie Mae continues, her voice far more bitter than before. “Expanding the gift shop, adding the factory tours, building a chocolate empire. Mom just wanted to keep things simple. Traditional. But as it turned out, they were pretty great ideas.” She gives a humorless laugh. “I guess we know which vision won out.”And who won my father’s black heart.She averts her eyes with the thought.My mother didn’t deserve that. And it’s exactly why my father landed in the morgue. How am I ever going to live with this?

I pause a moment to absorb the thoughts that just flew through her mind.

“Verity does sound like a lot,” I say. “I’m so sorry you and your mother had to go through all that.” I nod, hoping to spur her thoughts along regarding her mother once again.

“Oh, Verity is a living, breathing nightmare.”

Okay, so she didn’t lead with Matilda, but I’ll take Verity for now.

“She actually had an employee sue her and my father to the hilt,” she continues. “She had this bright idea to pit her employees against one another in a competition to see who could work the hardest for a month solid, and in exchange she said she’d give them a Corvette.”

I gasp. “Wow, talk about an incentive. That was generous of her.”

“More likewicked,” she points out. “At the end of the month, she gave some poor girl a Hot Wheels instead of the real deal. And well, that woman sued and, rumor has it, she can now afford to buy an entire fleet of Corvettes.”

My mouth rounds out.

Hammie Mae nods. “The woman is a dingbat if she didn’t see that coming.” She curls the cats in her arms. “And get this, for my dad’s last birthday, she gifted him one of her wisdom teeth dipped in gold.” She rolls her eyes.

“She gave him a tooth?” I balk.

---