Chapter 4 #2
“Thanks, but no thanks,” Noel responded. “I have dozens of your cards.” Actually, the kids ran most of them to the trash can as soon as the bell jingled on Walter’s way out each time.
“Happy Thanksgiving, Noel,” Walter offered. “I look forward to enjoying some of your delicious pies and fudge.”
Noel forced a smile. “Happy Thanksgiving,” she uttered and then caught a glimpse of the kids roaming around with a group of police officers communicating on their walkie-talkies.
A while back, Officer Rainey, a guy she grew up with who married her good friend Chelsea, found a channel for them to reach the officers.
Ever since, Levi and Laney believed they were junior officers.
“The kids are helping us track down a missing turkey,” Officer Rainey relayed seriously to Noel when she neared his position at the far corner of the tent.
“Oh really,” she laughed.
“This is important police business,” he rebutted.
“I bet,” she replied with raised eyebrows.
“Noel, it is Thanksgiving Day; we can’t have missing turkeys wandering around the streets of Beaufort. People need to eat.”
Noel chuckled. “Are you sure the kids are not bothering you all?” she asked seriously.
“Ma’am, you are the one impeding this investigation,” he remarked with a smirk.
Noel shook her head and watched him press a button on the radio attached to the shoulder area of his uniform.
While studying her from head to toe, he spoke into the receiver.
“Detectives Levi and Laney, be on the lookout for a woman about five feet and six inches, wearing a pair of brown pants, a tan turtleneck, and a Santa Claus hat,” he relayed. “She may be involved in the heist.”
Noel swatted him on the opposite shoulder with the back of her hand. “Stop it,” she spewed. “The instigator here is the man in uniform with broad shoulders about six foot four, maybe 250 pounds, and a slick bald head from which all his hair fell onto the rest of his body.”
“Copy that,” Levi interrupted through the radio, and then Laney followed suit.
Rainey pressed the button again. “Word on the street is that this woman assaulted an officer,” Rainey added, trying not to let out the snicker tickling his insides.
“Are you attempting to turn the kids against me?”
“Just doing my job, ma’am.”
“Quit calling me ma’am; we are the same age.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
She held up her fist. “No pie, fudge, or candy for you today,” Noel teased.
“Is that also what you just told Walter Benson?” he inquired. “The way you were looking at him I thought I might have to break up a fight,” he chuckled, knowing the history.
“Nope, I only banned you,” Noel retorted.
Rainey reached for the button once more and turned his mouth toward his shoulder. “This lady is also withholding desserts from police officers.”
“Is it Mommy?” Levi’s voice asked while snickering.
“She’s a possible suspect,” Officer Rainey confirmed.
“Want us to arrest her?” Laney’s voice questioned authoritatively.
“Yes, but approach with caution; she may be armed and dangerous.”
Noel snuck away into the thickening crowd and began talking to folks; some she saw regularly and others she hadn’t seen since last year’s event.
She remembered that particular Thanksgiving feast all too well.
She and her elves had brought in the pies, and then she hid from everyone as best as possible.
Noel quickly found that sitting alone at a secluded corner table caused her to stand out like the nearby Cape Lookout Lighthouse with a light swiveling on top of her head every fifteen seconds.
People followed that beacon right up to her table, and as she quietly pushed the food around on her plate, they insisted on offering their well-meaning condolences.
Meanwhile, the kids played as usual; however, they checked in more frequently due to newly acquired insecurities from their recent losses.
When the kids were occupied, Noel often excused herself and ducked around the corners of nearby buildings to release the built-up tears.
A couple of times, she wandered into a vacant restroom and dropped her head into her hands.
She eventually went back to the candy shop early and left the kids with Mrs. Madelyn, who understood without question.
Shaking away that memory, Noel spotted Chelsea—tall with long blonde hair, beautiful blue eyes, and a lean figure—walking from a nearby parking spot. Once her friend made it to the shelter, the two became lost in conversation.
Suddenly a handcuff circled Noel’s dangling wrist, and before she could turn around, it clicked.
“You are under arrest,” Levi announced proudly.
Laney grabbed Noel’s other wrist assisting Levi in the capture and pulled her aunt’s hands together behind her back. “You have the right to remain—” she trailed off searching her memory for the word.
“Silent,” Rainey’s wife whispered.
Noel shot her friend a look of betrayal.
“Silent,” Laney copied.
“If you talk, we will tell on you,” Levi stated while securing the second cuff on his mother’s other wrist.
Noel and Chelsea laughed out loud.
“You can hire a lawman,” Laney added.
Levi turned his attention to Mrs. Chelsea. “Do you know anything about the missing turkey?” he interrogated.
Chelsea held up her hands. “No, don’t arrest me, I don’t even know this woman,” she uttered, smirking. “In fact she tried to tempt me with the dessert table before the meal started.”
“You traitor,” Noel declared, shaking her head although unable to keep a straight face.
Rainey walked onto the scene, but before he could speak, a boisterous and familiar voice caused Noel’s head to turn.
“Hey, Sis, I’m usually the one in handcuffs,” Keaton Bradley protested.