Criminal Crumbs by Jessica Beck Page A

said, “Let’s be clear about something. Just because I suggested this idea doesn’t mean that I was the one who wanted to do it.”
    “It’s not going to work, anyway,” I told her. “I tried to get a signal yesterday while I was touring the grounds so I could call Jake, but I couldn’t get through anywhere.”
    “Then why are we out here in the freezing cold?” Grace asked me.
    “We need to talk, and I figured this was the best way to get a little privacy,” I said.
    After I brought her up to date on what Celia had told me while I’d made breakfast, Grace nodded. “You’ve still got it, don’t you?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Suzanne, you always could get people to open up to you. At least now we can take one name off our list.”
    “Only if it’s true. Besides, it’s still too early to celebrate,” I said. “We still have Dina, Georgia, and Janelle on our suspect list.”
    “Three is always better than four unless we’re talking about donuts,” she said, rubbing her hands together furiously. “How long do we have to keep up this charade?”
    “A little bit longer, I think,” I said.
    “What do we do in the meantime?”
    “I want to go back to Pine Cottage and see if there are any clues I missed yesterday as to who might have tried to get rid of Nicole. Are you game?”
    “Lead the way,” Grace said, and we trudged through the snow in search of something that might be able to tell us where to look next.

Chapter 12
    “W hat exactly are we hoping to find?” Grace asked me as we took our first steps off the porch.
    “If I knew that, we wouldn’t have to look, now would we?” I asked her with a grin. At that moment, I saw something that sent chills through me, and I put a hand up to stop Grace.
    “What is it? What’s wrong, Suzanne?”
    “Look,” I said as I pointed at the freshly fallen snow just behind the overhang of the veranda’s roof.
    There were footprints in it, leading toward the cottages.
    The problem with that was, at least in theory, none of us had left the lodge all morning.

Chapter 13
    “I s someone else up here?” Grace asked me as she quickly looked around us.
    “How can it be anything but a stranger among us?” I asked her as I studied the prints. “If you weren’t watching the group, then I was. Nobody could just take off on their own and start exploring without at least one of us knowing about it.”
    “I’m afraid that’s not entirely true,” Grace said softly.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Suzanne, once everyone was awake, they all scattered looking for bathrooms. I couldn’t keep track of everyone at the same time. You were making donuts in the kitchen, so I couldn’t get you to help me watch every last one of them. I’m afraid it could have been any one of them, except Celia, of course, since she was with you.”
    It was clear that she felt bad about it. “Grace, it’s not your fault. I just assumed the buddy system we put in place last night would still be working this morning.”
    “Getting this group to follow rules is like trying to herd cats,” she said.
    “So these could have been made by just about any one of us after all,” I said as I looked more closely at the nearest print. Though it was still quite cold out, the sun had already begun to melt the snow, and the tread marks had partially thawed into obscurity as to specific ways to identify their maker. I put my foot inside one of the prints for scale, but that wasn’t really any help, since there was no way I could know how small it had started. I glanced back at the lodge, but no one was watching us, though I could see the window I’d peered out earlier clearly enough. “At least we can be pretty sure that it was one of us,” I said as I stood fully erect.
    “How could you possibly know that?”
    “I can’t be positive, but I believe that I would have noticed if there had been tracks in the snow when I first looked out this morning.”
    “That doesn’t necessarily mean