The Pumpkin Muffin Murder by Livia J. Washburn Read Free Book Online

Powell had her fourth-grade students working long-division problems on the whiteboard when Phyllis and Carolyn got to her room. She waved them in, told the kids to keep working, and went to her desk to get the key to her SUV from her purse.
    “Phyllis, it’s good to see you again,” she said with a smile as she handed Carolyn a ring of keys with an attached remote control fob.
    “Phyllis wants to help set up the decorations,” Carolyn explained.
    “That’s great. We can use all the volunteers we can get.”
    “It’s nice to see you, too, Dana,” Phyllis said. “I ran into your husband at the park yesterday.”
    “Logan? What was he doing there?”
    “He said he was looking the place over and deciding where to put the decorations,” Phyllis explained, a little surprised that Dana seemed surprised. She would have thought that Dana would know what her own husband had been doing. Although there were some couples who just didn’t talk much, she reminded herself. Whatever it took to make a marriage work . . .
    “All of that’s been pretty much decided already,” Dana said.
    Phyllis shrugged. “That’s what he told me.”
    “Oh, it doesn’t really matter,” Dana said with a wave of her hand. She wore rings on several of her slender fingers. “I guess he just wants to feel like he’s being helpful.”
    Phyllis wasn’t convinced that was what Dana really thought, but as Dana had said, it didn’t really matter, at least where the Harvest Festival was concerned.
    “Phyllis is going to help me deliver canned goods and turkey dinners on Thanksgiving, too,” Carolyn said.
    “Well, you’re really getting into the spirit.” Dana smiled.
    “I have a lot to be thankful for,” Phyllis said. “I’d like to pass some of that along.”
    “That’s a good attitude.” Dana motioned at the keys. “You can just drop those off at the front desk if you’d like. I can pick them up later.”
    Carolyn nodded. “All right. I’ll see you after school.”
    They said their good-byes and left the classroom. As they walked out of the building, Phyllis said, “You’ll be helping with the preparations after school?”
    “Yes. I’m sure it’ll take until sometime tonight to get everything ready,” Carolyn replied. “We may be working late.”
    “I’d offer to help you, but . . .”
    “I know. You have Bobby to take care of. What you’re doing this afternoon is plenty, Phyllis, really. Having the two cars means I won’t have to make two trips.”
    Carolyn knew what Dana’s SUV looked like. It was bright red and easy to spot in the parking lot, so she had parked nearby and Phyllis had followed suit. Carolyn pushed the button on the remote to unlock the vehicle as she and Phyllis came up to it, then pushed another button that opened the rear gate. With a loud beep, it started to rise.
    At the sight of the scarecrows that filled the back end of the vehicle, Phyllis said, “They look almost like a bunch of bodies piled in there.”
    Carolyn frowned. “That’s a rather gruesome thought, isn’t it? Of course, given your predilection for finding bodies . . .”
    “Don’t even start,” Phyllis said in a tone of mock warning.
    The scarecrows had been made by stuffing overalls and flannel shirts with crumpled newspaper with wire running through them, so they were lightweight and flexible. The heads were stuffed burlap bags on which button eyes had been sewed. Noses and mouths had been drawn on with markers, and straw hats were pinned to the heads. The feet and hands were made of dried johnsongrass leaves that Carolyn had collected from a friend’s family farm. They had been happy to get rid of the troublesome weed that reduced crop yields.
    As Carolyn had predicted, they were able to put two scarecrows in each of the car trunks. Phyllis put one in the front seat of her car, on the passenger side, then lined up three more in the backseat.
    “We could use the HOV lanes, if there were any in Weatherford,” she told