Christmas Cocoa Murder Read online

  Books by Carlene O’Connor

  Irish Village Mysteries

  MURDER IN AN IRISH VILLAGE

  MURDER AT AN IRISH WEDDING

  MURDER IN AN IRISH CHURCHYARD

  MURDER IN AN IRISH PUB

  A Home to Ireland Mystery

  MURDER IN GALWAY

  Books by Maddie Day

  Country Store Mysteries

  FLIPPED FOR MURDER

  GRILLED FOR MURDER

  WHEN THE GRITS HIT THE FAN

  BISCUITS AND SLASHED BROWNS

  DEATH OVER EASY

  STRANGLED EGGS AND HAM

  Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries

  MURDER ON CAPE COD

  Books by Alex Erickson

  Bookstore Café Mysteries

  DEATH BY COFFEE

  DEATH BY TEA

  DEATH BY PUMPKIN SPICE

  DEATH BY VANILLA LATTE

  DEATH BY EGGNOG

  DEATH BY ESPRESSO

  DEATH BY CAFÉ MOCHA

  Furever Pets Mysteries

  THE POMERANIAN ALWAYS BARKS TWICE

  Published by Kensington Publishing Corporation

  CHRISTMAS COCOA MURDER

  Carlene O’Connor

  Maddie Day

  Alex Erickson

  KENSINGTON BOOKS

  www.kensingtonbooks.com

  All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.

  KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by

  Kensington Publishing Corp.

  119 West 40th Street

  New York, NY 10018

  Copyright © 2019 by Kensington Publishing Corp.

  “Christmas Cocoa Murder” copyright © by 2019 Mary Carter

  “Christmas Cocoa and a Corpse” copyright © by 2019 by Edith Maxwell

  “Death by Hot Cocoa” copyright © 2019 by Eric S. Moore

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

  Library of Congress Card Catalogue Number: 2019940163

  Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.

  ISBN: 978-1-4967-2360-4

  eISBN-13: 978-1-4967-2362-8 (ebook)

  eISBN-10: 1-4967-2362-7 (ebook)

  Table of Contents

  Also by

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  CHRISTMAS COCOA MURDER

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  CHRISTMAS COCOA AND A CORPSE

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-one

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Chapter Twenty-four

  DEATH BY HOT COCOA

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  CHRISTMAS COCOA MURDER

  Carlene O’Connor

  Chapter One

  It happened during the Christmas season, in the not-so-distant past, when Siobhán O’Sullivan had just graduated from Templemore Garda College, Macdara Flannery was still living in Dublin, and rumors of snow swirled in the Irish air. The new year would bring many changes, the most exciting of all, Siobhán would become Garda O’Sullivan right here in Kilbane, County Cork. She had been advised to enjoy her last few weeks as an everyday citizen, and as usual life was filled with a thousand things to do. After all, tonight was the first showing of the Christmas panto in the town square.

  Siobhán opened the door to the back garden of Naomi’s Bistro, wielding a fat bone fresh from the butcher’s. She waved it around, hoping to entice the family pup in from the cold. “Trigger. Come on, boy.” She was late for the Christmas extravaganza in the town square, but worry had her rooted to the spot. Their Jack Russell terrier had never been away from home this long. “Trigger. Look what I’ve got. Straight from the butcher’s shop.” She sounded like a right eejit, waving a dog bone and talking to an empty garden. “Come on, luv. Come home.” Had he wandered into someone’s door last night, and they’d simply yet to let him out? She prayed that he was curled up in an oversized armchair, snoozing away, being well looked after, and he’d be home as soon as they realized they’d forgotten to let him out . . .

  Preposterous. Everyone in town knew Trigger was their pup and they knew to return him straightaway. Perhaps he’d wandered into someone’s shed or outbuilding, or even the boot of a car, and Trigger would be home as soon as whatever door he was trapped behind was opened again.

  Those were the best-case scenarios.

  “Enough,” Siobhán said into the crisp night air. Her siblings were going to be in the Christmas panto. She could not afford to have her imagination running dark. Trigger would be home soon. At least her brood hadn’t realized he was gone. They had been at rehearsal all day. She’d been keeping it a secret, if they knew they’d never be able to concentrate on the play.

  She had already searched their back garden and shed, tried to see if there were any little paw prints to follow out back, but if there had been, the overnight rain had washed them clear away. She wondered if not being able to find the family dog was a bad omen for becoming a guard in the new year. He was such a homebody she’d often mistaken him for a rug in front of the hearth rather than a dog. Siobhán left the bone by the step, and sent a little prayer that he would be tail-wagging on the step when they arrived home, glaring at her for leaving him out in the cold. If he wasn’t home by the time she returned, she and James would go on an all-out search. She locked the back door, and then exited through the front.

  Sarsfield Street was beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Up and down the footpath white lights danced and pine wreaths sang from doorways. Garland and bows wrapped themselves lovingly around the iron street lamps. Fresh-cut Christmas trees were propped up outside Liam’s hardware shop, their branches reaching out for their new homes. Siobhán had taken to explaining to people that Naomi’s Bistro was slightly behind in their holiday decorating, and by slightly behind she meant she hadn’t even started. Shopping. Cooking. Decorating. Baking. Entertaining. And unless Eoin and James were taking care of it, she hadn’t even begun to think about Christmas supper. She had batches and batches of brown bread to bake, not to mention cookies, and maybe a sherry trifle this year. After all, she had a bit of competition.

  Declan O’Rourke had made his mam’s hot cocoa this year, and supposedly it was to die for, both with and without the added kick of Irish cream. He was outselling even Siobhán’s brown bread, and several times she’d glanced out the window to see long lines of folks waiting to get into his pub for a hot cocoa fix.
“You buy the finest squares of chocolate and melt them down with sugar, and powdered cocoa, dat’s me mam’s trick,” Declan crowed. “Then, of course, there’s the Irish cream, then top it with fresh cream. You can’t beat it.” She had yet to try it, but that would soon be rectified as O’Rourke’s was going to have a tasting booth set up at the winter carnival. It was all starting this evening in the town square.

  Up ahead she saw a wheelchair stopped in the footpath. Soon she recognized Adam Healy’s mop of blond hair. A tall weed of a man stood next to him taping a flyer to the street lamp. As Siobhán neared, she saw it was a photo of Adam’s new golden retriever puppy, with capital letters splashed across the top: GOLDIE MISSING.

  “Missing?” Siobhán exclaimed. Adam turned to her as Siobhán gently touched his shoulder. Just ten years of age, Adam was the butcher’s son. Ed Healy had just sold her the bone for Trigger and he hadn’t mentioned Adam’s pup was missing. Come to think of it, she hadn’t mentioned Trigger was missing either, for she’d been afraid saying it out loud would somehow make it real. She realized now how silly she was. She should have told her siblings, and they should be putting up flyers as well.

  “Someone stole him,” Adam said, his bottom lip quivering.

  Siobhán turned to the man next to him. He was a man into his late sixties, with a haggard but kind face. “Are you Adam’s grandfather?”

  The man held out his hand. “Dave Healy. I’m the uncle.”

  She could see it now. He looked like an older, thinner version of Ed, the butcher. “Nice to meet you. Where you from yourself?”

  “Mayo,” he said. Mayo was in the west of Ireland, and it had been ages since Siobhán had been. One of these days she was going to go on a holiday around Ireland. And then everywhere else.

  “Ah, lovely,” Siobhán said. “It’s nice to have you here.”

  He gave a nod and then lifted the flyers in his hand. “Didn’t expect Christmas to start off with such cruelty. What kind of person would do something like this?” He glanced at Adam. The poor lad had had a rough start to life. In a wheelchair since five years of age after an illness left him paralyzed. Then last year his nana died at Christmas. His mam was called away this year to visit her sister, who was in hospital in America. Now this. That’s why it took a village to raise a child; the world could be a cruel place indeed.

  Siobhán knelt next to his wheelchair and placed her hand on his shoulder. “Tell me everything.”

  “He was an early Christmas present from Uncle Dave. Even though he’s allergic.”

  Dave laughed. “The chemist will sort me out, lad, don’t you worry about that.”

  “Goldie was in our garden last night. He likes it out there and Da said puppies need to get out their excess energy, so we let him be. When I went to call him in for the night, he was gone.” His voice trembled and tears welled in his eyes.

  “Is it possible he just wiggled out on his own?” Siobhán wanted to make it sound like everything was going to be fine, but she had a feeling that two missing dogs was no coincidence.

  Dave Healy shook his head. “The garden is well fenced-in, I went around and checked before we let the pup roam about. And I did a second check after he went missing. There’s no signs of him rooting around under the fence. Someone stole him.” He, too, was trying to sound calm for Adam’s sake, but Siobhán could hear the worry in his voice.

  What does it mean? Did they have a dognapper running around Kilbane? Some kind of Grinch stealing family pets? She shuddered to think of it. Siobhán wanted to scoop Adam up and make everything better. She stared into his worried blue eyes, which seemed even larger through his thick glasses, and she tried not to melt into a puddle of goo at his feet. “Sometimes doggies have their own little adventures, do a bit of wandering around.”

  “But Uncle Dave said somebody stole him.”

  “We’ll tell the guards, then. I’m going to be a guard myself in the new year. Finding Goldie can be my first case.”

  “You’re going to wait until the new year?”

  “No, luv. I’m going to start looking right after the panto. I promise.” Along with Trigger. Where could they be? She squeezed his shoulder. “Try not to worry.”

  Adam bit his lip and gave a curt nod. “That’s right. Nothing to worry about,” Dave echoed. “We’ll find him.”

  “Do you need help posting those flyers?”

  Dave shook his head. “I’m taking him to the panto and we’ll pass these out at the carnival.”

  “Ah, brilliant.” She took a few from the pile and promised to do the same as she hurried on. She’d only managed a few steps when her eye caught another poster taped to a street lamp. This one was for a black Lab named Blackie. The next lamp featured a missing collie named Lassie. And the one after . . . a wolfhound named Wolfy. She was starting to think the Irish were a bit simple with their names, but it was no time for humor. What on earth is going on? There was a serial dognapper on the loose. Trigger hadn’t run away. She knew it. And unless they found the culprit soon, it was beginning to look a lot like a blue Christmas.

  * * *

  As soon as Siobhán passed King John’s Castle, she could see that the town square had been transformed. An enormous Christmas tree stood proudly midsquare, lights shining. Santa’s throne, an elaborate golden affair, was set up in front of a red carpet. A manger was erected to the left, complete with stuffed sheep, a donkey, and Wise Men. A white tent was erected in the middle of the square, its flap closed tight with a banner above reading:

  HOT COCOA DUNK TANK!

  THROW SNOWBALLS!

  DUNK SANTY!

  “What in the world?” Siobhán said out loud. There had been some rumors about the shenanigans Paddy O’Shea, otherwise known as the town Santy, had been up to with this year’s festivities. Last year, Charlesville’s town Santy had brought in live reindeer from Wales. Paddy had been obsessed with besting him, and it looked as if he was attempting to pull it off.

  “A dunk tank of hot cocoa,” a male voice said behind her. “Wild.”

  She turned to find Chris Gordon behind her, holding a candy cane in one hand and a mug of hot cocoa in the other. He was their token American, a younger man with movie star good looks and enough money to bankroll the comic-book shop he’d opened down the street.

  “What exactly is a dunk tank?” she asked, figuring if anyone knew it would be him. She was more familiar, unfortunately, with the term drunk tank from her brother’s drinking days.

  Chris smiled down at her. Siobhán was tall herself, so it was a rare experience. “Haven’t you ever been to a carnival?”

  “Apparently, not the kind you’ve been to.”

  He grinned in response, flashing a perfect dimple. He was way too handsome for his own good, and nothing ever seemed to knock the smirk off his face. He laughed. “I’m surprised to see one in the winter. At night. And hot cocoa—that is bizarro. Normally, it’s a dunk tank of cold water on a hot sunny day. You throw balls at a target and try to knock the person in.”

  Was he pulling her leg? “Now, why would anyone be going and doing that?”

  “For fun. To get them wet. Sometimes the proceeds go to charities.”

  “I see.” She didn’t. The rumors had been correct: Santa was flying higher than his reindeer this year. She glanced around. The Kilbane Players had erected a stage in front of the tent, and booths selling holiday wares were set up on the outskirts. She could smell the heavenly scent of hot cocoa steaming out of Chris’s mug.

  “Is that Declan’s?”

  “You bet. It’s phenomenal.” He thrust the mug at her.

  “I couldn’t.”

  “Don’t worry, I haven’t put my lips to it yet.”

  She wanted to remain polite and refuse, but she couldn’t resist. “Thank you.” She took a sip. It was the absolute best she’d ever tasted. Smooth and sweet, and he’d ordered his with the Irish cream. “Wow,” she said. No wonder he had lines out the door. She wanted everyone to disappear so she co
uld be alone with this mug of hot cocoa. If she could marry this hot cocoa right now, she would.

  Chris laughed. “If only you looked at me like that.”

  Siobhán ignored the comment, although she could feel her cheeks light up, and his grin widened. She distracted herself in the sights and sounds. Next to Declan’s tent, Annmarie was selling a colorful collection of nutcrackers. Handmade from Sligo, a coastal town in the west of Ireland, these particular nutcrackers were the talk of the town. One of them was rumored to come with some kind of prize, something about a shining star, but Siobhán was vague on the details. All she knew was that everyone seemed mad to have one. Once again, she felt the weight of everything she needed to accomplish by Christmas. Maybe she could do some of her shopping after the show. No. First things first—she would start looking for the missing dogs.

  Christmas music blared from speakers hidden within the square, and folks started taking their seats for the panto.

  “I hear they’re going to roll the dunk tank out at intermission,” Chris said. “I can’t wait.”

  Siobhán found a seat toward the front of the row. Cormac Dooley was in an elf costume handing out programs. He was the shortest man she’d ever seen in Kilbane, and she felt bad that he was being exploited as an elf, but maybe he enjoyed it. The delusion lasted until she saw the scowl on his face.

  “Dunk Santa at intermission,” he barked at everyone who took a program. He seemed to be enunciating extra loud, and as Siobhán glanced around, she soon saw why. The Santa and Mrs. Claus from Charlesville were here, sitting behind Eileen O’Shea, who played Kilbane’s Mrs. Claus.

  Cormac Dooley caught Siobhán’s staring, and he leaned in, holding the programs up to his face like a curtain. “Paddy is praying the dunk tank of hot cocoa beats last year’s real reindeer.” Siobhán didn’t have to ask if men were putting real money on this bet, this was Kilbane. Folks around here put money on everything. The competition between the town Santas was ratcheting up.