Mystified in music city, p.1
Mystified in Music City, page 1
CONTENTS
About The Book
1. Jayne
2. Sinclair
3. Jayne
4. Sinclair
5. Jayne
6. Sinclair
7. Jayne
8. Sinclair
9. Jayne
10. Sinclair
11. Jayne
12. Sinclair
13. Jayne
14. Sinclair
15. Jayne
16. Sinclair
17. Jayne
18. Sinclair
19. Jayne
20. Sinclair
21. Jayne
22. Sinclair
23. Jayne
24. Sinclair
25. Jayne
26. Sinclair
27. Jayne
28. Sinclair
29. Jayne
30. Sinclair
31. Jayne
32. Sinclair
33. Jayne
Newsletter
Other Books By Kristen Painter
About The Author
Mystified In Music City
A Frost And Crowe Mystery
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Copyright © 2023 Kristen Painter
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from the author.
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This book is a work of fiction. The characters, events, and places portrayed in this book are products of the author’s imagination and are either fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any similarity to real person, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author.
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Princess Jayne Frost and Prince Consort Sinclair Crowe have been called back to Nocturne Falls for Christmas so that Jayne can help out at the short-staffed Santa’s Workshop.
Being back means seeing some old friends, but also finding new trouble that Jayne just can’t stop thinking about. Are the random break-ins really someone trying to ruin Christmas? Because as Santa Claus’s niece, that feels personal to her.
But when the real reason for the break-ins gets unwrapped, Jayne decides to do everything in her power to put an end to the problem.
Too bad it might also mean the end of her.
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Published in the United States of America
Jayne Frost and husband Sinclair Crowe are off on another adventure, this time to Nashville, aka Music City, to pay a royal visit to one of the Santa’s Workshops toy stores. Once that’s done, they’ll have a little time to sightsee and play tourist.
Which they do. Until something rather peculiar happens in the Country Music Hall of Fame that leaves Sinclair feeling all shook up.
Suddenly, they have a new mystery to solve. And time is ticking for Sinclair. Even a necromancer can only take so much.
Can Jayne and Sinclair get to the bottom of things before it’s too late?
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Many thanks to the Country Music Hall of Fame for inspiring this book
I was sad to say goodbye to all of our friends in Nocturne Falls, but I’ve never been one to turn down a new adventure, so after lots of hugs and a few tears, we were off to our next stop. Decatur, Illinois, to be exact. The Santa’s Workshop toy store there hadn’t had a royal visit since it opened.
They were thrilled to see us, and they treated me and Sin like … well, royalty. We kept going north for a bit after Decatur, hit a few more places, then looped around and started making our way south again. I didn’t mind the crazy route. I love seeing the country.
But now it was March and we were back in the RV, headed to a place I’d never been before but was very much looking forward to exploring: Nashville, Tennessee. Also known as Music City. I wasn’t necessarily a huge country music fan, but I did enjoy live music, history, and good food. Three things Nashville was supposed to have plenty of.
Sin, however, was especially excited because, as I was just learning, he was a big Elvis Presley fan. And Elvis spent a lot of time in Nashville.
Sin had been streaming an Elvis channel on his music app since we’d found out Nashville was our next stop. Honestly, he was about as jazzed as I’d ever seen him, except for maybe when I’d told him I was pregnant. To say he was excited about being a dad was definitely an understatement. He was beyond thrilled. Although he’d suddenly become Mr. Cautious when it came to me.
He’d always been exceptionally kind and considerate in his treatment of me, but he’d gone a little overboard now. He’d started treating me like I was this fragile, delicate thing who needed to be waited on hand and foot.
I hadn’t said anything yet. I figured he just needed to get used to the idea of me being pregnant, then he’d calm down. But I was ready for him to get used to it. He’d actually woken me up in the middle of the night last night to see if I needed anything.
I’d been sound asleep.
As it turned out, being woken up from a really good sleep made me want triple fudge ice cream, which he was more than happy to bring me a bowl of, but I could have just slept, too. According to both my mom and Sin’s mom, men didn’t always handle pregnancy as well as the women who were actually pregnant.
I had a feeling these remaining months were going to be long. At least the morning sickness seemed to be over. Brief as it had been, it had not been fun. I was totally done with the nausea and the inability to keep anything down. I love eating, and I love food. So, yeah, I was happy to have that behind me.
I was hoping that Nashville might be a good distraction for both of us, but especially for Sin. I figured it would be nice for him to have something else to focus on for a while. Because of that, I was down for anything Sin wanted to do, including all the museums and tourist attractions he wanted to see. Johnny Cash Museum? Bring it on. Hot chicken? Serve it up. Grand Ole Opry House? Sell me some tickets. Live music at one of the venues on Broadway? Give me a Dr Pepper and I’d sit there as long as Sin wanted to. I was in.
Of course, we still had our official royal duties to perform, namely a visit to the Santa’s Workshop toy store to meet the employees and spend a little time in the shop. As it turned out, our visits to the shops were having a good effect. Sales seemed to rise by ten to twelve percent after one of our visits.
My dad and my uncle, Jack Frost and Santa Claus respectively, were thrilled.
I’d sort of been thinking we might retire after the baby was born, maybe split our year between the North Pole and Las Vegas, where Sin’s parents lived, but now I wasn’t so sure. There were a lot of Santa’s Workshops we’d yet to visit.
I loved meeting the employees, too. Reminded me of my days in Nocturne Falls. What fun times those has been.
But life in an RV with a baby? I had my doubts about how that was going to work out. We didn’t even have room for a crib. As RVs went, ours was pretty spacious, especially when we were parked and the slides were out, but when we were on the road, it was more cramped.
And that wasn’t taking into account the spots that Spider and Sugar had already claimed as their own.
I glanced over my shoulder. The two cats were curled up on the couch asleep. The hum of the road often did that to them.
“Everything all right?” Sin asked.
I nodded at him and smiled. “Just checking on the cats. They’re asleep.”
“They have been pretty quiet.”
“You know how driving wears them out.”
“Well, we’ll be there in about half an hour. The campground is supposed to be really nice. Maybe one of the nicest we’ve stayed at. Music City KOA. They have their own bowling alley. Just two lanes, but still.”
“Really?” I blinked in surprise. “Snowballs. That is fancy.”
“Yep. They have all the regular stuff like a laundry room and a general store, but they have some extra things. Like the bowling, bike rentals, a meeting room, a pool—which it’s too cold to use, obviously—and their own café.”
“I love that they have a café.” In case I hadn’t mentioned it, food was pretty high on my list of necessities. “This place really sounds good. Even if it’s not pool weather yet.”
Mid-March in Nashville still meant fifty to sixty degrees. Balmy if you grew up in the North Pole. Arctic if you were from Vegas.
Sin smiled. “I thought it was important that we have a good spot. You need to have access to … things.”
I suppressed a laugh. “Sin, I’m pregnant. I don’t think bowling or biking are going to make a difference one way or the other. The café, on the other hand, that might prove very useful.”
He shrugged. “You never know. The baby might need some activity.”
“True,” I said. But I had my doubts about the baby wanting to bowl. I put my hand on my growing belly. “What the baby needs is lunch. Or early dinner. Or whatever you call a meal at 3 p.m. Maybe we can check out the café after we get set up?”
“Whatever the queen wants, the queen gets,” Sin said. And he meant it. He’d never really treated me like the heir to the winter throne that I was until now. I didn’t mind his previous treatment, but this extraness of his? It was genuinely sweet. And made me think he was going to be an amazing father.
Regardless if the baby was a boy or a girl. We’d decided not to find out and let it be a surprise.
Neither my parents nor his paren
I sighed, thinking about how incredibly spoiled this child was going to be. Maybe life on the road wasn’t such a bad idea.
“What was that for? You okay?”
I laughed softly. “It was just a sigh. I was thinking about how our parents are going to spoil this child silly.”
That got a sigh out of him too. “You’re right about that. It’s the first grandchild for both of them. And the future heir to the winter throne. This kid is going to be a big deal, and there’s not much we can do about it.”
“I was thinking that maybe there is. Maybe we should stay on the road for a while.”
Sin’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve thought about that too. But I’m not sure we have the room.”
“It would probably mean getting a new RV.”
“We’ve only had this one two years.”
“I know, but the baby will need his or her own space. And don’t say the crow’s nest. It’s not enough room, and I do not want them falling out of it.”
“Point taken.”
“We don’t even have a place to put a crib.”
“Don’t you think we can fit one in the bedroom?”
I snorted. “Not if you want to be able to walk around the bed.”
He frowned. “We need to figure this out. You’re still planning on us taking a couple months in the North Pole, right?”
I nodded. “I want to have the baby there, then get through at least the first two months. After that, we can spend some time with your folks, although they’re always welcome at the palace, too. I know time off isn’t as easy for them, though. Anyway, that means some traveling for us, as well. So we have about seven months to work out how that’s going to happen. And what we’re going to do after that.”
He glanced over at me. “Do you really think you’re going to want to keep traveling after the baby’s born?”
I took a moment, but I already knew the answer. “I feel like I will. Growing up in the palace was a good life. I have no complaints. But growing up while seeing the country? That would be pretty amazing too.”
He smiled. “I agree. There’s a lot of good in both of those experiences. I probably lean slightly toward seeing the country.”
“And you know, the day will come when I take the throne and travel won’t be as easy for me. It’s possible I could change my mind after the baby, but right now, I like our life on the road a lot.”
It was a lot to think about, but thankfully, it wasn’t a decision we had to make now.
Ahead of us, a big blue and orange guitar came into view. It was attached to a sign that read Music City KOA. On the other side of the road, small log cabins sat among the trees. Farther back, I could see rows of parked RVs, but the registration building was fast approaching on the right-hand side.
Sin slowed as he pulled in front of it and parked. “We’re here.”
My stomach rumbled. “Just in time, too.”
“You stay here. I’ll get us signed in and take care of the paperwork. I’ll be as quick as I can.”
“Don’t rush just because of me.”
He hopped out, and I watched him go inside. The general store was next door and looked a lot bigger than the tiny shops most campgrounds offered. It had automatic sliding doors like a grocery store. I’d never seen those on any campground store.
Spider jumped into my lap. “Mama pet.”
I scratched his head. “Did you have a nice nap?”
“Mm-hmm.” He pushed his head into my hand. “Spider hungry.”
“So am I. I’ll feed you as soon as we get set up, all right?”
He leaned into the scratches a little more, then flopped down on my lap. There wasn’t as much room for him as there had been. And soon, there wouldn’t be any room for him at all. “Mama pet.”
“I am.” I scratched him more vigorously. “You know you’ll always be my baby, right? Even when the new baby comes.”
“Spider still the baby.”
“Yes, Spider is still the baby. But you’re going to be a big brother, too. You have to love the new baby. And I’m going to have to give him or her a lot of my attention.”
“Spider love Mama. Spider love baby, too.”
“Good boy.” I had a feeling it wasn’t going to be quite that easy, but time would tell.
Sin returned shortly, paperwork in his hand. “Our site number is J1, and it’s a pull-through.”
“Excellent.” Sin loved those. They made setting up so much easier. No need to back in. Just pull through, which explained the name.
“The café is open from 6 a.m. until 11 p.m., so that’s good too.”
“As long as they’re serving lunch, I’m happy.”
“They are. I checked.”
He drove us to our spot, which wasn’t far from where all of the activities were, and immediately went to work getting us hooked up. While he did that, I fed Spider and Sugar half a can each of Chicken Party. While they ate, I rinsed out their water bowl and filled it with fresh.
At last, Sin came back in and took care of getting the sliders open. Now it felt like home. “All right. Let’s go eat.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. I put on my jean jacket over my long top and leggings and followed him out the door. I wasn’t in maternity wear yet, but the number of pieces from my existing wardrobe that were still wearable got smaller every day. As I got bigger.
He took my hand as we walked over to the café. It was next to the general store. “How are you feeling?”
“Hungry,” I answered. “Otherwise? Great. Ready to do some exploring. After we make our shop visit, of course. You?”
“Same. You need anything?”
He had that worried look in his eyes. I smiled at him. “Possibly some maternity clothes. Things are starting to get snug.”
He grinned. “How about a trip to the mall? There’s a nice one here.”
“Sounds good to me. But not until after lunch.”
“Agreed.” He got the door for me, and we went inside.
The café was small and looked like a tiny diner. A small counter with four stools fronted the kitchen. One man sat there, having coffee and reading a paper, but the place was empty other than the young woman behind the counter and the cook in the kitchen.
Across from the counter was a wall of three booths. There was a takeout area next to the register, along with two covered stands that held fruit pies. Apple and blackberry by the looks of them. There was another plexiglass display of muffins and cookies individually wrapped in cellophane.
The girl behind the counter brought us menus. “Hi there. I’m Shelby. What can I get you guys to drink?”
“Water,” I answered.
Sin nodded. “That’s fine for me too.”
She left, giving us a chance to look at the menu. Not a ton of choices, but that was understandable. I put it down as soon as I saw what I wanted. “Chicken salad sandwich.”
Sin glanced at me, a spark of amusement in his eyes. “You realize you’ve had chicken salad for the last four of your six meals.”
“I have not. Have I?” I tried to think. Pregnancy brain was real, and sometimes, things got foggy. But he was right. I had eaten a lot of chicken salad lately. It was just what I was craving.
“It’s all right,” he said. “You can eat whatever you want. Whenever you want. And as much as you want.”
“In that case, maybe I should get one to go and put it in the fridge in case we don’t make it out for dinner.” We had some groceries but not the makings for chicken salad. We probably could stand a run to the store.
