Death of a Christmas Caterer by Lee Hollis Read Free Book Online

caramel-apple topping. I was eight months pregnant and expecting right after the New Year holiday, so I was having serious sweet and savory food cravings for the last three months. Normally, I wouldn’t be eating so much. Yeah, let’s go with that. I sat down to catch my breath and watch the weather on the news when I suddenly realized we were right in the middle of a severe blizzard warning. Six inches of icy snow and sleet had already fallen outside, and we were expected to get at least six to eight inches more. The wind outside howled and the snow was coming down hard and fast. Just like the pain that was building in my stomach. Probably just the baby kicking or moving around. I didn’t want to panic, so I called my friend Mona, who was expertly trained in calming me down. After describing my increasing discomfort, she suggested I might be in labor. I laughed and told her she was crazy because I wasn’t due for another three more weeks. Mona wanted Danny to take me straight to the hospital to be safe, but I told her he wasn’t there. Suddenly there was a loud crash outside. I jumped and screamed. The phone went dead. I went to the window and saw that a giant tree had fallen on the power line right outside and everyone’s electricity had gone out in the neighborhood.
    I didn’t bother to light any candles and decided just to lie on the couch and try to get comfortable with my aching belly and wait for the electricity to come back on and my husband to arrive home. The pain, however, kept getting worse. Maybe I was in labor. No. Don’t even think about that, I told myself. How would I ever get to the hospital with no car and a raging storm outside? By dogsled?
    I lay there for maybe twenty minutes, when suddenly my front door burst open and a bright light blinded me. A giant shadow covered in ice and snow came bursting through the front door. I screamed again. It appeared I was being attacked by the Abominable Snowman! As the monster stepped into the light, grabbing at my arm and yelling at me to stay calm, I realized it was Mona, her wet hair standing straight up in the air like frozen icicles.
    She hauled me up off the couch and threw my boots on my feet. Wrapping my winter coat around me, she then half carried, half dragged me. She pulled me right out the front door, the whole time shouting at the top of her lungs about how she had already called Liddy, who was contacting the Bar Harbor Hospital to put them on high alert, and how Liddy was about to call the Bar Harbor Police Department and have them intercept Danny on his way home so he could drive immediately to the hospital.
    I glanced around for Mona’s truck, but it wasn’t there. Apparently, she couldn’t back her truck out of the driveway because of all the snow. Instead, she had jumped on her trusty snowmobile with her ice-fishing sled attached to the back and immediately snowmobiled over to my house. She ignored my protesting as she lowered me into the sled, threw a blanket over me, and screeched for me to hold on. Then she jumped on the snowmobile and we roared off like a bat out of hell, slipping and sliding all the way to the hospital while I held on for dear life to the sides, praying that I wouldn’t fall out of the sled and deliver the baby in a snowbank on the side of the road!
    As Mona sped into the hospital driveway, I lifted my head to see the sliding glass doors to the emergency room ahead of us. I prayed we wouldn’t smash right through them. I saw Liddy jumping up and down inside by the admitting desk while waving her arms, frantically warning Mona to slow down. She mercifully let up off the throttle and began applying the brakes and skidded to a stop.
    Behind us I heard police sirens blasting full force as a squad car squealed into the driveway, followed by Danny’s truck. He had gotten a police escort all the way to town after crossing the Trenton Bridge.
    The next thing I knew, Mona was running