Free Silent Knife (A Celebration Bay Mystery) by Shelley Freydont

borrow the TAT Santa suit.”
    “I didn’t think about that.” Miss Ida pressed her fingers to her lips. “What’s Hank going to wear if his suit is ruined?”
    “Heck, what are we going to do for a Santa if Hank is in jail?” countered her sister.
    “Come on.” Dolly pulled herself up from her chair and shooed Liv out the door.
    Whiskey tried to follow.
    “Stay,” Liv commanded.
    Whiskey stopped but he whined piteously and gave her the nobody-loves-me look.
    “I’m sorry,” Liv said guiltily. “Soon we’re going to have a treat day—all day long.”
    Whiskey yipped.
    Edna managed to clip on his leash before he tried to follow. “Go on. We’ll be fine.”
    “Thanks.” Liv took off after Dolly, who was already halfway across the kitchen.
    “Do you need help, dear?” Miss Ida called after her.
    Edna let out a gruff laugh. “Yeah, we can distract the police, while you sneak in and steal the suit.”
    “Edna, you are not helping with that attitude.”
    “
Do
you need help?” Dolly asked seriously as she unlocked the back door of the bakery.
    “Thanks, but I’m not going to do anything devious. I’ll just ask politely and hope for the best.”
    “Well, just say the word.” Dolly opened the door. “We’ve got your back.”
    “Thanks.”
    “I’ll just watch to make sure you get there okay.”
    “I appreciate it.” And she did. Though TAT was only a few stores away, and the alley was mostly well lit, tonight Liv felt eerily alone, even with Dolly watching from the bakery door.
    Her cell phone rang. She fished it out of her pocket. Looked at caller ID.
    “Ted, what’s up? Are you at the station?”
    “No, I’m in the car with Hank.”
    “They let him go?”
    “Yes. Where are you?”
    “Uh . . .”
In the alley about to remove something from an active crime scene.
“Well . . .”
    “Liv?”
    “I’ve called everywhere. I can’t get anything until Monday. Though I’ll start calling in the morning again. But it won’t be in time for Breakfast with Santa.”
    The door to the Trim a Tree shop opened and a policeman stepped out. “Ms. Montgomery, is that you?”
    She nodded, smiled, waved.
    “You really can’t be back here, ma’am.”
    “Liv, who was that? Where are you?”
    The officer was headed her way.
    “Ted, hang on for a minute.” She covered the phone with her hand. Just as the officer met her.
    “Ma’am, you know better than to be out here alone, especially after—” He jerked his head toward TAT.
    “I know,” Liv said. “I was hoping Bill was still there. I wanted to borrow the Santa suit. They confiscated Hank Ousterhout’s.”
    “Yes ma’am, I heard. Darn shame. What’s he gonna wear for breakfast tomorrow?”
    “That’s what I was hoping to see Bill about.”
    “Liv, where are you? Who are you talking to?” Ted’s voiced squawked into her palm.
    “I’ll call you back.” She hung up.
    “I was hoping to borrow the one that Mr. uh, the TAT Santa wore. Just for a couple of days,” she added quickly. “I have one arriving on Monday.”
    The officer bit his lip, looked back at the store. “I sure wish I could help you. But it’s a”—he lowered his voice—“crime scene.”
    “Can you just tell me this? Is it still there?”
    He shrugged. “I’m just stationed outside the door, making sure nobody tries to get in. I haven’t even been inside.”
    Her cell phone rang.
    “Well, thanks.”
    “Maybe if you called the sheriff . . .”
    “I’ll do that. Thanks for your help. Good night.” She started back toward the bakery and answered her phone.
    “What is going on?”
    “Nothing, unfortunately. I was hoping to borrow the TAT Santa suit for tomorrow, but unless Bill okays it—”
    There was an explosion on the other end of the line. Ted was laughing. “You were going to steal a Santa suit from a crime scene? Liv, I think that’s probably some kind of felony.”
    “Of course I wasn’t going to steal it.”
Unless I had to
, she added