White Colander Crime by Victoria Hamilton Page B

alive who has a complete pair of gloves or can keep track of them if he does have them.”
    â€œGood thought! I’ll inspect Brock when I see him and try to finagle out his glove situation.”
    â€œOr maybe a personalized mug!”
    â€œOoh, I like that better. You know how I feel about mugs.”
    Jaymie got dressed and walked Hoppy, fed the animals and baked some treats to take to the manor, all the while thinking of Shelby. Just as she was taking a tray of brownies out of the oven, the phone rang. It was Jakob!
    â€œHey,” she said softly, smiling just thinking about him.
    â€œHey,” he said, his tone husky. “I heard what happened last night, that girl being hurt and you finding her. Are you okay?”
    â€œI’m all right. It was awful, but I’m grateful I found her. She was hurt so bad.” She told him what she had heard about Shelby lapsing into a coma. “Maybe the coma is her body’s way of healing. I know doctors sometimes put someone in a coma so they can get better.”
    â€œPoor kid.” He paused for a moment, then said, “I’ve been thinking about you all night.”
    A warm glow kindled in her heart. “It was so nice to see you and Jocelyn. Are you at the store?”
    â€œI am, and someone is with me and wants to say hello.”
    There was a pause, and a high voice said, “Hello?”
    â€œHey, Jocie, how are you?”
    â€œI’m very good, thank you,” she said, her manners impeccable. “Miss Jaymie, my oma asked if you would like a
Lebkuchen
.”
    â€œUh . . .” What did one say when one didn’t know what you were being offered?
    She heard a whisper, Jakob’s voice in the background. Jocie protested, then came back on the line. “It’s a spice cake, Daddy said to tell you, but I said you’d know what it is because you know how to bake.”
    Ah, the reliance of a child on an adult’s all knowingness! “I think I would love a
Lebkuchen
. My family is coming just before Christmas and I could share it with them.” A new tradition perhaps;
Lebkuchen
for Christmas.
    â€œI’m putting Daddy back on. See you later!”
    â€œHey, me again,” Jakob said. “My mom told me to tell you that if you’re staying in Michigan, you’re welcome at her home for Christmas Eve, or
Heiliger Abend
. That’s when we do our big Christmas thing.”
    She felt a tug at her heartstrings. “I won’t be able to,” she said, with real regret. “I’ll be on my way to Canada Christmas Eve morning. We’re headed to London to have Christmas with my grandmother and sister, Becca.”
    â€œOh. Of course. We’ll see you before then, though,” he said.
    â€œI hope so.”
    â€œI have to go. Take care today. I’ll keep that girl in my thoughts and hope she recovers.”
    As he hung up, Jaymie clicked the off button on the phone in a thoughtful frame of mind. As much as she looked forward to her family Christmas, she would have given much to be with Jakob and Jocie on Christmas Eve, and to meet his family, as nervous as that made her. It was frightening how fast that imminent meeting had become so important to her.
    She roused herself from her reverie; today was a big day, one she had been working toward for a while, and she had to get moving and focus. Today was the grand opening of the Queensville Historic Manor.

Eight
    S HE WALKED, BECAUSE she knew that if everything went as hoped, parking would be at a premium. The heritage committee had paid a local landscaping company to mow the field beside the manor and pound fence posts into the still unfrozen ground, along which they strung several rows of wire to form a parking lot. Volunteers would direct traffic and keep it relatively orderly.
    As she approached she could see the blow-up gingerbread man, a menacing look on its manic face as it wavered and gesticulated in the wind