Free Holly and Homicide by Leslie Caine

light for me to seethat someone in a dark coat was lying facedown in the snow, and the sight terrified me. Wordlessly, both Henry and I broke into a run. Henry reached the foot of the bridge a step before me and grabbed the person’s shoulder.
    “Oh, my god. Angie?” Henry cried. He rolled her onto her back. Angie was motionless—and lifeless. She’d been strangled with a string of lights that had been yanked off its hooks.

Chapter 7
    T his is Erin Gilbert,” I said to the 911 dispatcher, my words coming out in a mindless rush. “There’s been a murder at the Goodwin estate in Snowcap Village. I’m here with Henry Goodwin, and we found Angie Woolf’s body. Outside by the creek.”
    She said something, but I only caught a couple of syllables.
    “Your voice is breaking up. What?”
    “Are you two the only ones there on the premises?”
    “No. But we’re the only ones outside. I think.”
    She said something that sounded like: “Stay where you are. You’ll be hearing the sirens soon.”
    Henry had already walked a short distance up the hill, partway back toward the house. I followed and told him, “The dispatcher says we’re supposed to wait where we are.”
    He stopped. “I’ll watch for the police vehicles from here.”
    The dispatcher said something else, but our weak connection failed completely. I hung up and stuck my cell phone in my coat pocket. Filled with dread, I kept an eye on the house, watching for familiar silhouettes in the window. Cameron and I had been gone for a couple of hours; maybe Angie wasn’t the only victim.
    Henry was popping Tic Tacs in his mouth every few seconds, pacing three or four steps and then turning—like an animal in a small cage.
    “Henry, how long were you outside before I arrived?”
    “I can’t—What?”
    “How long has it been since you were inside?”
    “I don’t know. Ten, fifteen minutes.”
    “Are you sure Audrey’s all right?”
    “Yeah. She’s fine, Erin. We’d just spoken as I headed out the door. She was with Mikara.”
    “Mikara has no idea that her sister’s dead.”
    “Oh, God.” He put his hand to his head. “That’s right! I didn’t … this was such a shock, I didn’t think of that. Damn it! I need to go tell her now, so that …” He let his voice fade as sirens cut through the wintry silence.
    A small chartreuse ambulance, with lights flashing,pulled into the circular portion of the driveway behind the inn. A pair of EMT’s emerged. Seconds later Audrey and Mikara burst through the back door, donning their coats as they ran toward us.
    “Erin?” Audrey called. “Is that you? What’s wrong? What’s going on?”
    “There was an accident … down by the creek,” I called back.
    “Are you hurt?” Mikara cried.
    “No.”
    “Is Henry?”
    One of the paramedics hustled them back inside as the other approached Henry and me. I couldn’t overhear what was being said to Mikara. Was he telling her about her sister? Henry spoke to the second EMT and started to lead him to Angie’s body, but the EMT flicked on his powerful flashlight and told us both to wait for the police where we were. I watched from a distance as he checked Angie’s vitals, which I knew was pointless.
    A patrol car arrived. Two sheriff deputies emerged and quickly separated us; one led Henry into the patrol car and one stayed with me on the high point of the path that led down to Angie’s body. The deputy took my name, birth date, address, and phone before asking me what had happened. Shivering uncontrollably despite my warm parka, I told him that I’d gone to the pub for about two and a half hours with Cameron, and had returned and spotted Henry. Then I described our grim discovery.
    A crunch of car tires on gravel distracted me, and Irecognized the headlights of Steve’s van. He abandoned his car in the middle of the parking area. Another vehicle pulled into the driveway behind him—a second patrol car.
    “Erin, are you okay?” Steve started to trot