He watched Ella drive away, then something caught his eye and he wandered down a side street. It was a parking lot that had been turned into a Christmas tree lot. What had caught his eye was the string of lightbulbs, like an old-fashioned Christmas tree lot. He walked over. The lot smelled wonderful. Overwhelming evergreen; very Christmas.
"Fabian!" Autumn Mowery ran over and hugged him around the waist.
"Hey, Autumn!" he laughed, giving her wild red hair a tug. "Hi, Dennis!" Dennis Mowery grinned.
"Hey, Fabian. Are you here to pick up Lisa's order?"
"No, but I can," he said. "I just wandered over here to look around."
"Oh, sorry. Do you have room for a tree?"
"I doubt you have one as small as I need," Fabian laughed. "I have a tiny artificial one."
"You'd be surprised," Dennis said. "It benefits the fire department, and we try to have a very large selection. Over here's our collection of tiny trees." Dennis showed him to a table where wreaths, garlands, window swags, and very small trees were displayed. Fabian laughed again, delighted.
"You sold me," he said. "I'll take a little tree. It ought to make the vardo smell wonderful for a few weeks. What is Lisa's order?"
"She ordered a six foot fraser fir, eight window swags, and a wreath," Dennis told him. "We can take it to her -- it's not a problem."
"No -- I'll go get my truck. Throw in a wreath for me, will you please? Is Lisa's order paid for?" He pulled out his wallet.
"We were going to settle with her later."
"Put her order on my bill," Fabian told him. "I've been meaning to tell you. Thank you so much for taking such good care of her. You and your family. She was really afraid that she would be lost after her grandmother died. She's had a few stumbles, but thanks to all of you she's mostly doing well."
"She's terrific, Fabian. And we should be thanking you. It's going to take all of us to get through this thing with her uncle."
The bazaar moves from church to church each year. This year St. Mark's has it, and the craft people from the autumn fair really add a lot! -- Overheard on Main Street
Lisa was helping at Felicia's family stand -- they were selling yarn and other crafting supplies that came from the Mill. She and Felicia took a break when Carlos took over for a while and went shopping together.
"Oh look!" Lisa said. It wasn't quite a squeal, but it was highly enthusiastic. Madame Fatima sat behind a table with a sign that said Madame's Wild Things. Lisa saw several lions like the one Fabian had given her years ago and all sorts of other animals. There was even a creche set up with stuffed camels, a donkey, sheep and a cow in scale to the people.
"Oh, my word!" Felicia sighed. There were teddy bears made from baby washcloths and bears shaped like real bears made of felt and fur. "These are incredible!" she said, picking up one of each kind of bear and handing them to Madame Fatima, who handled the sale.
"Aren't they? Oh, Felicia, look at this rhinoceros! It has eyelids! The detail of these animals!"
"I enjoy making them," Fatima smiled. "And I try to have a very wide selection in my embraceable zoo."
"Fabian gave me his lion when he was here that summer," Lisa said. "I still have it."
"He told me. That was one of the first animals I made. When I discovered I love to do this. I have Christmas ornaments, too." She gestured to a small tree at the corner of the table.
"Oh!" Lisa found the lion ornament and bought it. "I owe Fabian a lion," she said.
"I think Carlos wants us to come back," Felicia said. When the girls returned to the Moreno stand, Madame very quietly moved the rhinoceros under the table and marked it sold.
Boxes of other people's Christmas decorations sometimes contain treasure for all year around.
"Let me take that." Fabian and Lisa were in her attic. Lisa had found her grandmother's decorations and wanted to go through them. Fabian took the box that Lisa had been carrying. It wasn't very heavy.
"Where will you want it?" he asked her.
"I guess on the second floor," she said. "I want it someplace warm where I can go through it and decide what to keep and what to pitch. Oh, here's another box. I can take this one, Fabian. It's not very heavy, either." They both went downstairs, carrying the cardboard boxes. The attic stairs opened into the second bedroom, and Lisa put down her box and closed the attic door. She and Fabian opened their respective boxes.
"Oh," Lisa said. "This isn't just decorations. There's a photo album in here. That's odd."
"It does sound sort of strange," Fabian agreed. The album contained a few family pictures, and Lisa explained to Fabian who they were. Then the pictures changed. They were mostly pictures of William. As though someone had been following William around with a camera and caught him in all sorts of incriminating activity.
"What on earth?" Lisa said.
"What did your grandfather do?" Fabian asked her, looking over her shoulder at the pictures.
"Besides keep the orchard? He was Chief of Police."
"Honey, I think we've stumbled on William's grudge," Fabian told her. "Look at this. Some of this stuff William should have been arrested for. This was not all boyish mischief. Instead, whoever was following him around with a camera took pictures, which I suspect were to be used at a later date. I wonder if William knows these pictures exist?"
"I wonder, too. You're right, though. It would explain why Uncle William didn't like this set of grandparents. If they saw through him, he wouldn't like that one bit. Mom told me that Uncle William used to be a charmer. He could talk his way into or out of practically anything. When Dad ran against him for Mayor the first time, he was really afraid he wouldn't be able to beat Uncle William. Uncle William had a gift for saying whatever he thought people wanted to hear. I seriously doubt that if Uncle William hadn't been caught on camera, that he would have been a suspect in any of this."
"No, you're right. He's the kind of guy who can position himself to be the last person anyone would suspect. I used to see a lot of that sort of behavior from Franco when we were kids. Franco used to do some serious bullying."
"What should we do with this, Fabian?"
"I think we should give it to your mom and let her decide what to do about it. Wait, sweetheart. Look at this." It was a letter.
Dear William:
I've been keeping track of you for quite some time. Some of these things I witnessed; some were witnessed by other police officers. I had you followed, but I never had you arrested. Although I could have. Instead, I will make sure that these photographs are placed with my Will. I know you want this property, William. I know you want to "make something of the place". I do not want you to do that. It is my wish that you never have anything to do with this property.
Some day you will go too far.
Grandfather
Lisa swallowed hard. "Fab, you're right. My mom needs to see this stuff."