Holly and Horror

Hold on to your snow beanies for an exciting crossover event! Lacey and James take off for a ski weekend in the Rocky Mountains. To Lacey's great surprise, she discovers that her friend and fellow sleuth, Sunni Taylor, has booked a room at the same inn for a getaway with her boyfriend, Detective Brady Jackson.

The delightful, cozy and romantic weekend turns into chaos when a large storm interrupts all the festivities. When James and Brady are stranded up the mountain, Lacey and Sunni are left alone to figure out who is killing the other guests. Worst of all, they wonder, who will be next?

“Don't look at me like that, Kingston. I'll only be gone three days and besides . . ." I walked to the door and swung it open. "Look who's here to take care of you." The crow immediately danced back and forth along the top of his cage, his black head bobbing in rhythm with his feet all while releasing a low cooing sound, the sound he made only for Lola.

Lola stepped inside with her oversized beach bag on her shoulder and a small pile of picture books. Her new husband trudged in behind her with two pieces of luggage.

I stepped out of the way, so they could carry their load of belongings into the front room. Lola's dog, Late Bloomer, trotted in behind Ryder and found his favorite spot in front of the television. He turned in a tight circle three times, found just the right place and flopped down.

I surveyed all their bags. "Oh—my—didn't expect you guys to come with so much gear. James and I are only going to be gone for three days."

Ryder took a deep breath after relieving himself of the heavy bags. "Yes, I explained that to her several times, even pulled out a calendar and put little stars on the three days and counted them for her."

"It's technically four if you count today, Thursday," Lola said succinctly. She strolled over to pet Kingston before he fell off his perch in his excitement to see her. "This is my first time babysitting my godchildren. I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed. You can't be too prepared when it comes to little ones."

"Except they're not little ones or godchildren, they're a crow and a cat and today, Thursday, is already mostly over. The setting sun outside sort of solidifies that fact." Ryder was unusually snippy. My two, dear friends were definitely in that post wedding adjustment period of their relationship, but on this, as with most things, I had to side with Ryder.

Briggs and I had a seven o'clock flight to Denver where we would pick up our rental car and drive two hours into the Rocky Mountains for our much anticipated, much deserved romantic getaway at the Dewdrop Inn. It promised to be a weekend of skiing, eating and snuggling in front of a fire, and I was beside myself with excitement.

I glanced at the stack of children's picture books Lola had tossed onto the coffee table. "Goodnight Moon?" I asked wryly, then smiled. "Actually, I used to love that one. My mom would read it to me whenever I couldn't fall asleep." I swept out of my nostalgic musings. "I hate to disappoint you, but Kingston won't listen to bedtime stories. You just toss the cover over his cage, and he tucks his little beak under his wing and floats off to dreamland."

"How cute," Lola said.

Ryder brushed his bangs out of his eyes. "You both realize you're talking about a crow and not a toddler dressed in fuzzy onesies."

Lola waved off his reminder as unimportant. She glanced around the room. "Where's Nevermore? I brought him some special salmon flavored cat treats."

"I'm sure he's just making sure Bloomer is deep asleep before he comes out from the bedroom." I walked into the kitchen. "I put their feeding schedule on the fridge, and one of you can expect to share your pillow with Nevermore. It's his new place of preference. Not sure why but then I've found with cats it's best not to ask why and just accept their decisions. They are, after all, our overlords."

A knock on the door pulled me back out of the kitchen. "Why is James knocking?" I opened the door. "Elsie. Didn't expect to see you but I see a prized pink box in your hand, so please, come inside. I'm just filling in the godparents on proper care for the kids."

Elsie's brows bunched into puzzlement as she stepped inside. "What kids?" She grew more confused when she saw the stack of picture books. "Did you suddenly remember you had children, or have you just been hiding them from me?"

I laughed. "Just the two usual ones, Kingston and Nevermore. Their godmother came very prepared." I looked pointedly at the box in her hand. "Is that, by any chance, for the weary travelers?"

She handed me the box. "Squares of gingerbread cake and I put in a few lemon bars too, in case James doesn't like gingerbread."

"I could tell it was gingerbread," I said "but lemon bars solves the mystery of the second scent. Thank you so much. We have quite a journey ahead of us between the flight and the drive through the mountains. These goodies will come in handy."

"I've been tracking the weather in the Rockies." Ryder pulled out his phone. "I think the drive tonight will be fine, but you'll probably see some snowfall this weekend. The forecast keeps shifting from light snow to possible blizzard. I've read weather in that region is prone to rapid changes."

"I'm hoping for some snowfall, once we're tucked cozily into our room," I added. "I know James is hoping for some fresh powder on the slopes." I pulled out my phone. "Look at this photo of the Dewdrop Inn. Isn't it dreamy? The owners go all out in the Christmas season." The photo showed a large A-frame cabin with floor to ceiling windows, glowing golden against the snowy backdrop. The steeply pitched roof looked as if it had been frosted with piles of white meringue and glistening icicles hung from the eaves. Tall pines, frosted with just the right amount of snow, stood behind, like stoic guards standing watch over the two-story cabin.

Elsie and Lola admired the photo while I continued with my description. "The owners take pride in being excellent hosts. According to the reviews, the food is over the top. I should come back just a little more snug in my parka. And, as a bonus to all the hospitality, some of the reviews insist the place is haunted."

Everyone's face snapped my direction. "Haunted?" Lola turned to Ryder. "We have to go."

Elsie handed me back the phone. "Maybe the owner paid a few people to mention that in reviews just to trigger some more reservations. You know, appealing to weirdoes like this one over here." She leaned her head in Lola's direction.

"It's probably more PR than anything, but it makes the whole trip more intriguing." I glanced at my phone. "I wonder where James is? I don't want to be late for the flight."
"James has been dreaming about that ski slope for days," Ryder said. "Every time I saw him, he mentioned it. Glad he was able to finally get some time off. It seems like they never give him a break. Are they ever going to find another detective?"

"This might be the best test for any officer who wants to move up. After all, they won't be able to call James in if there's a murder. He'll be out on the slopes."

Lola had moved to the kitchen to scan the list of feeding instructions. "They won't even be able to count on his unofficial partner, Miss Super Nose." Her finger pointed to something on the list. "It says only two treats for Nevermore each day. How am I supposed to spoil my godchild when I can only give him two treats a day?"

"Well, you could give him more, but as you might remember me mentioning the pillow sharing situation? You'll wake up with more than just a drowsy cat on your pillow if you give him too many treats."

Lola nodded. "Duly noted. Two treats max."

"Let's hope there's no murder this weekend." Elsie had slipped back to the earlier conversation. "So far, everyone who has tried for the position of detective has failed. We don't need murder and mayhem with our detective out of town." Elsie laughed. "Since you aren't going to be here either, we should be fine. Murderer's don't seem to bother when Lacey Pinkerton isn't in the vicinity." Everyone had a good laugh except me.