Speaker 1: The Evergreen Murders Returned to Evergreen Part one, Mackenzie Returns.
McKenzie Monroe opened the door to Wedding Wonderland in downtown
Los Angeles and heard her best friend Cameron Stack squeal
with delight. Mackenzie had been humming jingle bells, but stopped
as some actual jingle bells rang out as the door
closed behind her, and she surveyed the scene in front
of her. The bridal boutique was decorated for the upcoming
Christmas holiday, which Mackenzie couldn't even believe it was just
a few short weeks away. Twinkling white lights hung from
the ceiling, and a small, tastefully decorated Christmas tree took
up residence in the corner of the room. Underneath the
tree were brightly wrapped gift packages. Mariah Carey saying all
I want for Christmas is you softly from speakers placed
strategically around the vast showroom, and as far as the
eye could see was a sea of white, white wedding
dresses to be specific. Tool and beads and pearls and
sequins adorned the dresses, and Mackenzie blinked in surprise. She
had never seen so many gowns in her entire life.
Back when she was in high school, she was never
one for homecoming dances or prom so she had never
been to any and had never shopped for a dress.
Her mother thought things like high school dances were frivolous,
and so Mackenzie had never thought to ask her mother
to go shopping with her. But here she was engaged
to be married in less than two weeks, so she
desperately needed to find an appropriate dress. That is why
she had asked Cameron to accompany her for what she
felt was a truly daunting task. Cameron was a famous
movie actor, true, and because of that fact, her star client.
But he was also the gayest person Mackenzie knew. And
who better to help one shop for one's wedding dress
than a gay best friend? And said gay best friend
was standing in front of her, holding out a full
glass of champagne and grinning from ear to ear. He
placed the flute into Mackenzie's hand and gestured wildly around him,
almost spilling his own glass of the bubbly and cell
libratory liquid. There she is, the blushing and beautiful bride,
Cameron almost screamed, with excitement as he hopped up and
down and made the motion of quick hand claps. Eeke,
I can't believe you are getting married? Can you believe it?
You are getting married to the hunky and delicious Nick Tennenbaum.
If I wasn't so happy for you, I'd be insane
with jealousy. Okay, who am I kidding? I'm currently totally
insane with jealousy. But because that gorgeous dream of a
man claims to be straight. Cameron made air quotes with
two fingers and winked and ice blue eye. I'll try
to be happy for you. Mackenzie took a sip of
her champagne and playfully hit Cameron on the shoulder. Thanks, bestie,
I appreciate the support. Mackenzie sometimes could not believe that
she was gettingetting married to Nick Tennenbaum, her boyfriend of
almost two years, and had to literally pinch herself once
in a while. Mackenzie had met Nicholas Kringle Tennenbaum the
fifth two Christmases ago in the tiny town of Evergreen, Ohio.
Mackenzie had flown there to be on location with Cameron,
who was filming the movie Coming Home for Christmas. For
the Candy Cane Network. Mackenzie, as his high powered Hollywood agent,
sometimes accompanied Cameron on his shoots, but back then was
not excited in the least about spending her holiday in
rural Ohio. Back then, Mackenzie did not get excited by
much of anything, and she had absolutely hated Christmas. She
was a self proclaimed grinch, a real Ebenezer Scrooge. That
is until she met Nick, who was the attorney in
Evergreen in charge of legal representation for the movie. At first,
Mackenzie was wary of Nick. He was a nice enough guy,
but Mackenzie didn't like how he had given her the
nickname of mac and playfully made fun of her and
her big city ways. Also, Nick loved Christmas, and Mackenzie
did not. His mother, Diane, who had lived in Evergreen
all her life and raised her son there, also loved Christmas,
and Mackenzie didn't know if she should trust a woman
who had grown up on a Christmas tree farm and
who had literally named her only son after one. But
just as soon as the filming for the movie had started,
people in the quaint and quiet town of Evergreen started dying.
It didn't take long to realize that there was a
murderer among them, and that everyone was in danger. First,
Denver Sebastian, the town's mayor, was killed. Nick had been
good friends with Denver and had taken his death pretty hard.
Not long after Denver was killed, his ex wife, Miranda
was also murdered. That's when Mackenzie and Nick teamed up
to do some detective work and sleuthing on their own.
Mackenzie uncovered a cover up and a murderous plot that
was being carried out by Denver Sebastian's own wife, Miranda Sebastian,
who had seduced an accountant by the name of Tom
de Witt, carried on an illicit affair with him and
entrusted him with helping her carry out the murders. Miranda
and Tom were worried that Denver and his ex wife
would get in their way of getting paid millions of
dollars for a new development to be built on Denver's land,
a Christmas tree farm that had been in his family
for generations. Denver and his ex wife, Miranda Wanda refused
to sell the land, and Miranda and Tom were greedy.
Miranda and Tom were mere minutes away from killing Nick
in the Mayor's mansion when Mackenzie caught the killers and
saved the day. And sometime during all that detective work
and saving the day, Mackenzie and Nick had fallen in love.
They had made the long distance thing work for a
whole year until the next Christmas, when Mackenzie accompanied Nick
to Mistletoe Manor, which was owned by Maxwell and Magdalena Mistletoe.
True to its name, it was the largest exporter of
mistletoe plants in the Midwest, and the Mistletoes had been
in the business for over a hundred years. Nick's uncle
John had been the caretaker of the manor for years,
and right before Christmas, he had died under mysterious circumstances.
Once again, Mackenzie found herself in the midst of a
holiday mystery when not only John died, but a prize
racing horse that belonged to their son also died, as
well as another family member. It turned out that Magdalena
Mistletoe had been poisoning the horse and the two men
with mistletoe juice as part of a diabolical scientific experiment.
Her persian cat Snowball, had been plagued with cancer, and
Mistletoe had been used in treating various varieties in an
extremely controlled and medical environment, but given in two large
of doses, mistletoe is poisonous to the animal in human body.
Mackenzie and Nick were once again able to catch the
killer before Magdalena murdered again and Christmas was saved. After
Magdalena had been apprehended by the authorities, Mackenzie and Nick
had driven back to Evergreen to see Nick's mom, Diane,
and to attend the annual Christmas Eve ball. It was
that night that Nick had proposed to Mackenzie. One minute,
Mackenzie recalled, she was in Nick's arms, slow dancing to
the band's rendition of hav yourself a merry Little Christmas,
and the next Nick, looking devastatingly handsome in his tuxedo,
was down on one knee, his eyes wet with tears.
Mackenzie's hands flew to cover her mouth as she stood
there and shot. Here was her boyfriend, Nick Tenenbaum proposing
to her on Christmas Eve in front of all of
their friends, and his mother, Diane, burst into tears as
well when she saw her son pomp the question. Mackenzie
couldn't remember one word of what he said, as it
was all a blur with the partygoers clapping and cheering,
she simply remembered saying yes and being swooped into Nick's arms.
The revelers cheered, and Mackenzie spent the rest of the
night receiving well wishes and congratulations from the residence of Evergreen,
drinking champagne, and staring down in wonder at the small
but fiercely sparkling diamond on her finger. Her engagement ring
was shaped like a snowflake to remind her of the
snow covered festive times she spent with Nick and Evergreen,
and that even in the sweltering heat of Los Angeles,
Christmas was never too far away, much like today in
mid December in southern California, where the temperature was nearing
a record breaking ninety eight degrees. As if Cameron could
read her mind, he reached into his leather messenger bag
that was beside him on an upholstered chair and produced
a sparkly fan. He began to fan himself dramatically as
he said, it is hot as balls to day, Am
I right? He stopped and looked around worriedly as he
lowered his voice. Can I say balls in a fancy
bridal boutique. I'm sure it's fine, Mackenzie answered, you are
Cameron Stack. You do realize you're right? I am, Cameron replied,
I can do and say whatever I want. Balls, he
called out again, looking around the store, as if daring
someone to stop him from yelling out crass things. His
outburst worked, and he got the attention of a skinny
sales clerk of an indeterminate age, with short brown hair, trendy,
oversized tortoise shell glasses, and a black business suit that
looked much too warm for the hot weather. The girls
scurried over, and when she realized that the man standing
in front of her, fanning him himself with a sparkly fan,
was none other than the actor Cameron Stack, she did
a double take. Are you? She stammered, smoothing her neatly
pressed pants. Are are you? Cameron shook his head solemnly
and replied to the girl very seriously, Yes, it is
I Timothy Shallowy, and this, he gestured dismissively towards Mackenzie
is my girlfriend Kylie Jenner. The girl looked confused, and
Mackenzie rolled her eyes. Don't mind him, she piped up,
that is Cameron Stack, and he is an idiot. Cameron
laughed and shook the girl's hand, who quickly regained her
composure and let out a too loud, shrill laugh. Oh
that is funny, good joke. I am very pleased to
meet you, mister Stack. Oh call me Tim or Timmy.
Everyone else does. Mackenzie turned toward the girl. Once Cameron
is done with his comedy routine that literally no one
finds funny. Maybe we could try on a few wedding dresses.
I'm McKenzie. By the way, I'm Cameron's agent. I'm the
one who needs the wedding dress. So nice to meet you, Mackenzie.
The girl said, I'm Suzanne and I will be helping
you today. What kind of dress are we looking for?
Cameron piped up before Mackenzie could open her mouth to speak.
The wedding will be in Ohio, so cold weather, so
we're thinking long sleeves, right, babe. He turned to Mackenzie expectantly. Sure,
whatever Cameron thinks is best. I love a long sleeve
moment for a wedding dress if it's done correctly, he continued.
If not, you end up looking like a nightmare bride
from the mid eighties, and we definitely don't want that.
Suzanne nodded aggressively, vehemently agreeing with him. And let's not
go too crazy on the sequence or sparkos, please, Even
though it will be a Christmas wedding, we don't need
to look like we're trying to be younger than we are,
do we. Cameron cocked his head at Mackenzie. She is
an older bride, you know. Mackenzie rolled her eyes for
the millionth time that day, but suppressed a smile. I'm
thirty five, like I said, older bride. Suzanne ignored him
and clapped her hands excitedly. You mentioned a Christmas wedding,
so are we looking for a dress for next Christmas?
Correct twenty twenty five? Uh no, Cameron said, Unfortunately, Miss
Monroe here is getting married in two weeks in Ohio.
Mackenzie and Cameron took in. Suzanne incredulous and panicked. Look.
I tried to tell her, Susie, I did, but Mackenzie
here just would not listen. Everyone knows that you need
to order a wedding dress at least six months out,
but since my incredible agent has been so busy furthering
my already fantastic and lucrative career. She has not been
able to procure a wedding dress. So Cameron sighed dramatically
and leaned in towards Suzanne theatrically as he whispered, we
are looking for a wedding dress off the rack. Being
the professional she was, Suzanne took one look at Mackenzie,
sized her up, and nodded, all right, then we can
do that. We have plenty of dresses on the rack,
no problem, need alterations, We can get those done within
the next week as a favor to mister Stack. Of course,
Mackenzie smiled apologetically and told Suzanne that she trended more
towards this simple side of things. She didn't want too
much glitz or glamour, and that she was perfectly fine
with finding a dress off the rack. She was busy
and it was a hectic time of year, and truth
be told, Mackenzie didn't really have time to worry about
her wedding dress. There had been enough to do with
trying to plan a wedding in a location two thousand
miles away from where she lived. Luckily, Nick's mom, Diane
had been a huge help with the wedding preparations, as
had Nick. They were to be married at the small
church in the town square early in the evening on
Christmas Eve, and then we're going to attend the annual
Christmas Eve Ball, which Diane was in charge of every
year year the ball would double as a reception, which
was easy enough because anyone who was anyone came out
for that party on Christmas Eve. Mackenzie was just glad
that the whole thing was no fuss and they could
keep things simple. The wedding dress was the last thing
she needed to cross off her list of things to do.
Then she would be off to Evergreen next week with
the final preparations in the days leading up to the wedding,
and then Mackenzie had anxiety just thinking about it. And
then Mackenzie and Nick would have to decide where to live.
For the past two years, their relationship had been long distance,
and while it started out well, the past couple of
months had been stressful. Nick couldn't leave his law practice
in Ohio, and he didn't want to leave his mom,
who was getting up in age and required more care.
But at the same time, Mackenzie wasn't ready to leave
her agency job in California, and there wasn't much in
the way of entertainment jobs in Central Ohio. Mackenzie and
Nick had had some serious discussions about living arrangements after
they were married, and they had also had some outright fights.
Mackenzie hoped they could come to some conclusion after the
first of the year. Cameron smiled and turned to Mackenzie,
which broke her out of her reverie. Hello Earth, to Mackenzie,
I was just saying that also, I informed the boutique
that cost was no object and that this was my
wedding gift to you. So get on in their scut
and let's see some wedding dresses. Mackenzie hugged Cameron as
a thank you, set down her champagne, and headed toward
the dressing room. Four hours later, Mackenzie and Suzanne were
thoroughly exhausted after being forced by Cameron to try on
what seemed like every single wedding dress in the boutique,
but the fruits of their labor had paid off. Mackenzie
had found the perfect dress. It was a mermaid square,
sweep train lace chiffon dress with long sleeves. The low
back was intricately decorated with a lace trim and settle
sequence running along the inner edges. It was simple, yet elegant,
and fit Mackenzie's figure perfectly. The seamstress would shorten it
a bit and make a few tweaks, and after that
it would be ready for Mackenzie to take with her
to Ohio. Mackenzie thanked Suzanne and hugged Cameron again, after
telling him she would see him for a meeting with
her boss, Harriet and her after noon tomorrow. She walked
out into the southern California sunshine, whistling the last refrain
of jingle bells. Days later, Mackenzie was on a flight
from lax into Columbus, Ohio. It was one week until Christmas,
and Mackenzie would spend the next few days in Evergreen,
staying at Nick's town home and finalizing the last minute
wedding plans. Mackenzie had left the agency yesterday afternoon, bidding
farewell to her coworkers and to Cameron and her boss,
Harriet Hirsch. Both Cameron and Harriet had been invited to
the wedding, and Mackenzie suppressed a giggle when she imagined
the fur coated fire engine red, lipstick wearing Cruella Deville
doppelganger Harriet Hirsch spending a few days in Evergreen, Ohio.
Mackenzie had a feeling she would not enjoy her time there.
The woman was the head of the Hirsh Agency LA
office and was definitely a big city girl. She had
probably never seen snow in her life or had been
in weather colder than fifty degrees, but McKenzie was grateful
she had rsvpede yes to the invitation. Cameron, who had
recently come out to the public a few months ago,
was planning on bringing his new boyfriend, a whip smart
and nerdily handsome screenwriter for a TV show on which
Cameron had guest starred. Mackenzie really liked Kevin and was
happy he would be attending as well. Because her parents
had been dead for a decade, and because only child,
Mackenzie didn't have too many friends in LA, she was
excited to have her friends in Evergreen in attendance at
her nuptials. Besides Harriet Cameron and Kevin, Diane Nick's mother
would be there, of course. Sheriff Cutler, the head of
the police department with whom Nick and Mackenzie had worked
to Saulve Denver and Wanda Sebastian's murders would be there,
as would Roland Hayes, the manager of the Bow's Bed
and Breakfast in town, as well as his front desk manager,
Bernadette Roberts. The rough and tumble bartender at the Reindeer Pub,
the only bar in town, had been invited and he
went by just bub. Jesse Thompson, the production intern who
had worked on coming Home for Christmas for the Candy
Cane Network when Mackenzie and Cameron first got to Evergreen,
had been invited. Because Jesse was in film school. Mackenzie
had not only invited her to the wedding, but had
hired her to be their videographer. Jesse would videotape the
cocktail party, the wedding, and the reception. Jesse had been
more than happy to take on the job. Steve Shapiro,
the twenty sonthter local kid who was Tom DeWitt's associate,
had also been invited. When Tom was found to be
complicit in the murders and had been found out to
be having an affair with Marie and a Sebastian. Steve
had been out of a job. When Nick had suggested
they invite him to their cocktail party and wedding, Mackenzie
readily agreed. Steve had had a crush on Mackenzie when
she first came to Evergreen. Some other friends of Diane's
were invited, and Nick's best friend from college, Mike Flynn,
was flying in from New York City with his wife Kathleen.
The cocktail party a few nights before the wedding, and
the wedding itself would be an intimate affair, and then
the Christmas Eve ball that would double as the reception
would be almost all of the town of Evergreen. Mackenzie
was starting to get excited and a little nervous too.
It wasn't that she had cold feet. She knew she
wanted to marry Nick Tenenbaum more than anything else in
the world, but she hoped that all of the festivities
would go off without a hitch. She also hoped there
wouldn't be any murders to sow this year. Mackenzie wished
for one holiday season where she could just be herself
and be with Nick and only worry about wedding plans.
As the plane took off, she said goodbye to sunny
Los Angeles and almost immediately fell asleep. Four hours later,
the plane touched down in Columbus, and Mackenzie practically skipped
off the plane. She retrieved her check baggage in record
time and went outside to wait for Nick to pick
her up. About five minutes later, she saw his SUV
pull up into the center lane. He was one of
only three cars there. That was one thing she liked
the best about Columbus. The traffic was much better than
the freeways of LA and the airport was almost never crowded,
so much different. An anxiety reducing from hectic lax, Mackenzie
dashed across the street and threw threw herself into Nick's arms.
I missed you so much, Nick said, hugging her tightly
and then drawing her back to plant a long kiss
on her lips. Welcome home, er, I mean welcome back,
Mackenzie laughed, even though she couldn't tamp down the worry
that she and Nick might never agree on a place
to live and that they could be long distance forever,
even when they were married. But she soon shook that
thought from her mind and squeezed Nick's hand. I'm so
glad to be back too, and only one week until Christmas,
Nick snorted, Christmas, bah humbug, who cares about stupid old Christmas?
Only one week until our wedding, Mac, Now that's something
to look forward to. One week until both. Nick finally
let Mackenzie out of his embrace and slung her suitcase
into the back of the suv. Ugh, he complained, rubbing
his shoulder. Your suitcase is so heavy. What do you
have in there? A dead body? Mackenzie playfully glared at
him as she hopped into the passenger seat. Nick took
her hand as he maneuvered the car into the right
lane and headed out of the airport. Okay, okay, too soon,
my bad, bad joke. Hey, are you hungry? My mom
is like insanely excited to see you and demanded I
bring you by the diner. On our way back to
my place. She told me that Raoul would cook you
anything you want as usual. Sorry, but you know how
my mother is. Oh, I know, and that is completely
fine with me. Mackenzie answered, I'm actually starving. I'd love
a cheeseburger and fries. Okay, great, Nick said, we'll be
there in about half an hour. Why don't you rest
until we get there. Mackenzie didn't argue with him and
closed her eyes for the next half an hour. When
she awoke, she looked out the window and noticed that
snow was starting to fall, big, fat, beautiful flakes, just
like the first time she had come to Evergreen. When
Mackenzie saw the sign for the exit for Evergreen, with
its population of one thousand, two hundred and fifty one
and its cheesy but endearing slogan where every stranger who
arrives is a friend upon leaving, she perked up. Finally
the town came into view. It was all there. The
movie theater with the Marquis announcing the showings of its
A Wonderful Life and a Christmas Story, the general store,
the post office, the library. At the end of the
lane was the Bows Bed and Breakfast hotel, the Reindeer Pub,
and the Evergreen Diner. This year, same as ever before,
the qua little town was decorated with twinkling lights strung
up above the miniature Evergreen trees that line the sidewalks.
The trees were decorated with colorful bulbs and bright red
Christmas bows. Shoppers ducked in and out of boutiques carrying
their shiny wrapped packages. Others held steaming mugs of hot chocolate,
and children ran around in mittens and hats, licking candy canes.
Through the window, Mackenzie could hear the sound of Santa
ringing his bell for charitable donations. Above that, she could
hear the sounds of carollers singing Hark the Herald Angels sing.
As the snow continued to fall, Mackenzie pressed her head
against the glass and sighed, content she was back in Evergreen.
She had returned. The Evergreen Murders returned to Evergreen. A
Mackenzie Monroe Christmas Mystery as written, per Due, used and
performed by Me Katie Accardo. Sound mixing and editing by Me.
God Rest you marry gentlemen. Instrumental music written, recorded, and
performed by Jack Hire, Steve Bain, Jim Vanrieth and The
Angel Wire. Tune in in one week on Tuesday, November
twenty six for part two of the series. Make sure
to check out our first and second seasons, The Evergreen
Murders and Murder at Mistletoe Manor available wherever you get
your podcasts, And for you true crime fans, check out
both seasons of True Crime and the fifty podcasts for
some crazy true crime stories from all of the great
states throughout this country. Thank you so much for listening.
Above it ple