Free Gingerbread Man by MAGGIE SHAYNE Page A

when she was little. Mom says her parents were killed in
some kind of accident. Poor thing."
    Vince seemed deep in thought. She wasn't even
sure he was still listening. "So, do you want to meet him, or
what?" she finally asked.
    "Yeah," he said. "I do."
    Odd, how his attitude seemed to have changed
all of the sudden. He'd been almost relaxed—or as close to it as
she figured he was capable of being—and now he seemed tense and
tight again. Even more tense and tight than usual.
    Go figure. Normally, she and her mom would be
enjoying snacks with Uncle Marty and Aunt Jen by this point in the
festivities. But not this year. Nothing was normal this year, nor
had been since O'Mally had come into town.
    They continued to where Reginald D'Voe sat.
They had to pick their way among the small bodies all around him.
Most of the kids were sitting. Bethany was saying, “Tell us the one
about the werewolf, Reggie. Like you did when you came to story day
at school!"
    "No, no," another child piped in. "The
vampires. Tell us one of the vampire stories."
    Reggie held up a hand as he saw Holly and
Vince approaching. "Be patient, my friends, be patient. We have
grown-ups to contend with first." But he said it with a smile, as
he nodded hello to Holly.
    Bethany jumped off his lap to run up to Holly
and grab her hand. "Holly's here!" she said, grinning ear to ear.
Then in a conspiratorial whisper to Reginald, "She's gonna help me
make my costume for your party, Reggie! It's gonna be the best one
in town."
    "I can't wait to see it," Reggie said in a
stage whisper.
    Amanda D'Voe sent Holly a smile, as well. But
she didn't hold her gaze long. She never held anyone's gaze long.
Her eyes were usually cast slightly downward. Amanda was slim and
pretty, with hair a light shade of brown that was almost blonde,
but not quite. Sweet and painfully shy, she was as much a recluse
as her uncle.
    "It's so good to see you both here," Holly
said to the two of them.
    "And you, as well," Reginald replied. "Holly
Newman, isn't it?"
    Holly smiled. "I'm surprised you
remember!"
    "I try to make it a point to know all my
neighbors." The man was thin, his face harsh and lined, but he
still had that star quality that had made him so famous, and the
distinctive appearance with the sculpted features and angular
brows. His hair was silver now, but his eyes were just as clear and
blue as ever they had been on the big screen. And he still spoke in
that unidentifiable accent that was some cross between British and
Romanian. "How is your dear mother?" he asked.
    "Oh, she's great. She's here," Holly gestured
toward her mom, who was unloading a picnic basket with help from
Chief Mallory. She leaned down to Bethany. "My mom brought some of
those oatmeal chocolate chunk cookies you like so much."
    "Really?" The little girl's eyes widened.
Then she spun on her heel and ran toward Doris and the chief.
    Reginald laughed softly, a deep, quiet sound
she'd heard a thousand times in his films. Usually with a
diabolical undertone to it, though. There was none tonight. "Your
mother is luring my audience away with those cookies," he said, his
tone teasing. "She shouldn't make me angry." And that time he used
his most menacing inflection, narrowing his eyes and bending those
angular brows in a way that had sent shivers up countless spines in
the past. The kids seated on the ground around him laughed with
delight.
    Amanda shook her head. "Uncle Reggie, you're
impossible."
    He patted her slender hand on his shoulder.
"Fortunately, I'm quite possible. Now, as for you,"—he said,
addressing Holly again—"do you intend to introduce us to your
companion or did you bring him as some kind of offering?"
    "Oh, yes, right," she said with an apologetic
glance at Vince. "This is Vincent O'Mally. Vince, Reginald D'Voe,
and his niece, Amanda."
    Vince extended a hand, and Reginald took it,
still smiling. But his smile seemed to freeze when Holly said,
"Vince is a detective from the Syracuse Police