“No. Listen to me. Did you find Faith’s suitcase?”

CHAPTER

ten

I decided to sleep in and hit Canadian Tire when the store opened at ten. Glory’s non-negotiable list put me in charge of decorations for the food bank fundraiser and I was going to get everything done in one stop.

Monday morning’s sky was more grey and desolate than Sunday’s and, while the snow had tapered off during the night, the frenzied wind still blew off the lake. The parking lot of our national icon to tacky Christmas crap, as well as everything else a Canadian needs the rest of the year, was almost deserted. I planted my feet gingerly in six inches of fresh snow.

I took one step and windmilled desperately before falling to my knees. Under the snow lurked a layer of ice. I skated to the entrance and tumbled through the automatic doors.

By the time I found Chico in the paint section re-filing colour chips, I had formulated the perfect plan to separate him from some of his better-quality seasonal home decor. I explained my mission to my old high school buddy.

Chico placed the customer service desk between us and pushed back his black ringlets. His hair was even longer than in high school. He pursed his lips and aimed his pale grey eyes at the twelve-inch fake tree in front of him. He plugged it in, and tiny coloured lights blinked on, reflecting off the lenses of his black-rimmed glasses.

“I don’t know, Bliss. We still have three weeks until Christmas. After our year-end inventory, I can give you some leftover merchandise, but right now, I don’t know …”

“It’s not like I’m asking you to contribute decorations for my own house. This is for the food bank. Think of all the little hungry children. Think of their excitement when they see the lights and decorations at the greenhouse. Imagine the huge sign at the entrance that acknowledges the Leeds family for their generous donation.”

He pulled the collar of his trademark red golf shirt away from his neck and remained mulishly unconvinced. “Well, maybe a string or two of twinkle lights.”

“Do you have a chair I can sit on, Chico? I fell in your icy parking lot and feel a bit dizzy. I’m sure I’ll be fine, though.” I smiled and let my lower lip tremble, just a little.

After that, Chico couldn’t fill up a cart fast enough.

“Try to keep up,” I called over my shoulder as I wheeled the cart through the aisles. I tossed in not only indoor and outdoor twinkle lights galore, but reindeer, snowmen, elves, and every damnable Disney creature from Micky to Ariel, the red-headed mermaid with the improbable mammaries.

When one cart was full, I left it for Chico to push and nabbed a second one away from a shopper whose back was turned. Bonus. The cart already contained a few tasteful decorative items. I halted in front of the artificial Christmas tree display and contemplated a ten-foot monstrosity. Behind me, Chico made a soft mewling noise. I reached for a box, then hesitated. Glory hadn’t mentioned a tree. I suspected she’d make us sacrifice a real fir. I pulled my hand back and heard a shuddery sigh from my helper. The hell with it. I reached for a pre-lit twelve-footer and laid the box over my cart. Behind me, the whimpers turned into bleats.

There. Done. Two shopping carts heaped to the tipping point with the best of Christmas cheer. I promised Chico a second sign of gratitude set up inside the greenhouse and scored a seventy-two-piece place setting of “Seasons Repast” china. What the Bitch of Christmas Present would do with that was anybody’s guess, but I looked forward to the look on her face when she saw it.

Chico insisted we had to go through the checkout where he would put in some mysterious code and void the sale. Standing in line, I unzipped my parka and fanned my face with a box of tinsel. In my book, power shopping was right up there with jogging in the fitness department. And about as fascinating.

Chico sweated, too, but I’d guess not from exertion. It was more likely he was wondering if he should write this off as a charitable donation, or if it would be more advantageous to use it as an entertainment expense. If I remembered correctly, he was not great at numbers, so hopefully he had a good accountant.

The checkout lady didn’t seem to care that she was checking her boss through. She scrutinized each item as I handed it to her, turning it over as though she had never seen the like before, then turned it again until the bar code could be ever so slowly scanned. I added a couple of rolls of duct tape from the rack. Duct tape always comes in handy when sticking things to walls, or trees. My phone chirped nonstop in my purse. It was bound to be Dougal wanting to know why I wasn’t at the greenhouse yelling at deadbeat customers.

Chico leaned on his cart and panted like he had done all the work. “Say, Bliss, I guess you heard about the body they found in our old school. Who do you think it is?”

I stopped fanning. My fellow decorating committee member from high school could have some memories rattling around in his brain that might help me figure out this puzzle. Or might help Redfern, I should say.

I reached into my tote bag and extracted a yearbook. I opened it to the pictures of the now-infamous grad party and shoved it in front of Chico’s eyes. “You took all these pictures, right?”

He took the yearbook and smiled appreciatively. “I haven’t looked at my copy in ages. Hard to believe it was fifteen years ago, right, Bliss?”

“It seems like a lifetime ago to me. Especially since I can’t recall anything after the ceremony. What about you?”

“I took a lot of pictures that night. Don’t you remember? I had my regular Nikon, and a Polaroid. Fang and I …”

The cash register bleeped and the cashier shrieked. She held up a box of gold balls. “Oh, my God! The register doesn’t recognize the bar code.” In an instant she had gone from laconic to dangerously anxious.

Behind us, the line had grown to five customers, each with a heaping shopping cart. In Lockport, that’s a riot in the making. The customers muttered and glowered.

Chico tossed the offending ornaments over my head onto the pile of goods already scanned. “Never mind,” he told the cashier. “Keep going. I’ll call in someone to open another register.”

Since our scanning lady was about to go ballistic, and while Chico was calling on the intercom for Rick to present himself at Register Four, I scooped up my remaining items and deposited them on top of the carts waiting on the far side of the war zone. My eyes met the clerk’s, and we nodded. Screw the year-end inventory.

A bright red parka hung by the door and Chico put it on before helping me out with his donations. Halfway to my car, my feet lost traction. I clung to the side of the shopping cart, but Chico fell against me. The weight of his body took us both down, me on the bottom.

“Get off me!” When I raised myself to my knees, I left a red stain behind on the ground. “Ow, my nose. It better not be broken.”

“Oh, my God, look at you! I’m so sorry, Bliss.” Chico squawked in abject contrition as we crawled toward my Matrix, dragging the carts along by their axles. “Although, if you wore boots with sensible soles instead of three-inch heels, you might not fall so often.”

“What’s your excuse?” I shot back. “Your sensible soles almost killed me.”

It was a long crawl, long enough for me to formulate another clever plan. I pulled myself up and opened the hatchback. Chico had to use one hand to empty the carts while clinging to the back of my vehicle with the other. I stood by and held a wad of tissues to my nose.

“Tell me, Bliss, what else can I do for you?”