Hullabaloo and Holly Too ( A Cozy Cash Mystery Christmas Novella) (The Cozy Cash Mysteries) by D. D. Scott

like the ones our Santa Claus here grows, have the highest caffeine content of any plant. In fact, here in the States, Native Americans used these holly-based teas as ceremonial stimulants that they called “the black drink”.”
     
    “Why was it called the black drink?”
     
    “Let’s just say it has a rather strong purgative property,” Roman said.
     
    “What the hell does that mean?”
     
    “He’s gonna be on the john for hours,” I said, still laughing so hard I could hardly answer her.
     
    “Oh my God!”
     
    We all said in what seemed an eerily choreographed way.
     
    We watched the screen, hardly able to focus on what was happening.
     
    All at once, Father Time’s face contorted, and he began to gingerly poke at his stomach.
     
    “Oh my. If you girls will excuse me for a moment, there’s something I need to take care of,” he said, practically launching off the couch. “Make yourselves at home.”
     
    We could hardly make out the last of his words as he ran out of the living room.
     
    My mother leaned over to Grams.
     
    “What did you do to that tea?”
     
    “I told ya. Laxatives in brownies are sooo yesterday.”
     
    My mother made the sign of the cross and sat there shaking her head while Kat sprung into action with the Cellebite device and began to capture everything we needed from Father Time’s phone.
     
    “Hurry up over there,” my mom said, looking more and more nervous by the minute.
     
    “Really, Suzie Snowflake. I’m tellin’ ya. We got all the time in the world. That asshole ain’t gonna be comin’ outta the loo for a long, long time,” Grams said, taking another cookie off the tray and putting her feet up on the edge of Father Time’s coffee table.
     
    Several minutes later, Kat disconnected the Cellebite from Father Time’s phone and gave us a thumbs-up.
     
    The Squad left Father Time on his throne, climbed back into my mom’s car and headed for home. We cheered and high-fived right along with them, well…with all of them except my mom, who still appeared to be rather traumatized by what she’d just taken part in.
     

CHAPTER ELEVEN
    Sometimes the only way to stop a vicious enterprise is to use the perps’ own tactics against ‘em. And that’s exactly what we were about to do.
     
    Standing with my entire extended family, next to the gorgeous golden-star-topped evergreen trees my mother had decorated in ruby reds and over-the-top gilded splendor, we waited for the showdown to begin.
     
    Any minute now, Dad would have his team of reindeer hooked to his favorite sleigh for his annual flight-simulation run.
     
    With Christmas Eve only two days away, this was his final shot to make everything a “Go” for The Big Night.
     
    Watching Rudolph’s mesmerizing back-lit nose cast out its GPS signals, I giggled inside. He looked as if he had a Tavernier Stone-sized ruby attached to his real nose.
     
    Speaking of dazzling carats, I glanced at my mother, still amazed she and I had managed to keep our secret worries from my dad. He certainly had enough on his mind and didn’t need the added stress of our concerns.
     
    Thankfully, though, Mom and I had already made up our minds that after the holidays, we’d tell Roman and R about our problem.
     
    I took a deep breath, letting the crystal cold lake air rattle my lungs and shake me back into our present quandary.
     
    “You think Father Time is dumb enough to bite on Zoey’s message?”
     
    I overheard Kat asking R.
     
    “Oh, he’ll bite all right,” R answered her, standing way too close to Kat to any longer be able to deny their growing relationship. “When I used this technique to bust the private investigator who was feeding stories to the London tabloids about Roman and Ross, it worked like a charm.”
     
    I had to admit, R’s plan was brilliant.
     
    He’d had me call my dad’s phone and leave a message with a fake story about tonight’s test flight. It would lead anyone who might be tapping