White Magic Christmas

Chapter 21: December 15-20

Ivy awoke the morning after the snow storm to skies that - if not exactly sunny and blue - held only half-hearted clouds and not a falling snowflake to be seen. She heaved a sigh of relief. Apparently she had not brought the apocalypse after all.

"Have you heard of Melvin Slate?" she asked Geri as they worked on breakfast.

"The crabby old man who keeled over up at the big house a dozen years ago?" Geri asked. "I mean, he's a town legend, mostly because of his family's name and the way he died, but I don't know much else."

"Do you know anything about his brother?"

"Didn't even know he had one."

Later in the day, she checked in with Jeffrey. "I want to find Melvin. Or Marvin. Whichever brother disappeared."

"That again?" Jeffrey asked.

"You might be right," Ivy said. "He might be dead after all, but I want a real answer. Do you think you can help?"

"In fact, I already tried," Jeffrey said. "Most of my sources are word of mouth, on something like this. It's not too hard to disappear from on oral record if no one wants to find you. You need to talk to someone who has access to things like official documents. Private eye stuff." He wiggled his claws at her, practically daring her to go hire a PI.

"I'll call the department of health," she said.

On Thursday, Ivy finally got a ride out to the lake with one of the inn's guests, where she watched people drill holes in the ice. Despite knowing better, she was a little disappointed that water didn't immediately come gushing out of the holes. The lake was as beautiful as Ivy had imagined, bound in on all sides by the steep, tree-covered slopes of the surrounding mountains. If she hadn't known for sure it was a lake, though, she could have mistaken it for a flat, snow-covered field.

The drilling done, many people settled in for an afternoon of ice fishing, but most of the onlookers headed back to town to get warm. The man who had won the fruitcake-eating competition invited Ivy to join him and a buddy at their hole, but while she would have appreciated being able to tell the story later, no amount of natural wool or magical fluff had been able to stop her toes from going numb, so she politely declined and went back to the inn with the other tourists.

Back at the inn, she discovered that informational copies of birth certificates for both Marvin and Melvin Slate had arrived in her inbox, along with a death certificate for Marvin. Cause of death was listed as heart failure at the age of 53. A little more digging revealed he had died without a will, which meant all his assets would have gone to the next of kin, and next of kin was listed as Melvin Slate.

"I knew it," Ivy said, but the victory was short-lived, because the public record ended there. No contact information had been given for Melvin.

Ivy decided to try the direct approach. She pulled out Mr. Mraz's business card and used the inn's landline to place a call. The number reached an office, not a cell phone, so Ivy left a message with the secretary.

On Friday, she accepted Emily's invitation to the children's Christmas program. Slate Hollow no longer had a dedicated school building, so classes were conducted in the church's Sunday school room, and the small concert took place in the church's rec room. Twenty-three children in all - the ones who attended classes here plus the ones who bussed to Central City - sang a program of familiar carols and kept surprisingly good tune. One of the youngest girls sang a solo of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" and left the entire audience in awe.

"That one's got a future," Geri whispered. Ivy had been pleased that Geri was willing to leave the inn completely unattended for this outing, and Brynn looked unabashedly delighted to see them in the audience. Ivy was sorry she had not thought to invite Shep.