Murder Under the Mistletoe

by K. J. Emrick

  “I was talking about Zane,” Colby said with a teasing smirk.

  Her brother stopped petting Cha Cha and looked around at everyone. “Huh?”

  Colby rolled her eyes again, and Darcy and Jon laughed, but it was all in good fun. Zane even smiled, realizing he was the focus of the joke without being upset by that fact. Their family teased each other. It was all in good fun.

  “Come on, Zane,” Colby told him. “I’ll explain it all to you when you’re older, like I am. How about we go back to bed and let the grownups have some time alone.”

  “You’re not that much older than me,” Zane grumbled. “Just ‘cause you go to older kids’ school doesn’t make you smarter than me.”

  “Uh, it’s called ‘middle school,’ and yes it does mean I know more.”

  “Does not.”

  “Yes, it does. I know lots of things you don’t.”

  “Do not!”

  “Do so,” Colby insisted as they started off down the hall. Cha Cha followed right along behind the two of them.

  “Like what?” Darcy heard Zane asking.

  “Like…what kissing is like,” was the almost-whispered answer.

  Darcy traded surprised looks with Jon. She felt her jaw drop. “Did our little girl just say she knows what it’s like to be kissed…?”

  Jon sighed, and rolled over onto his back to stare up at the ceiling. “She’s not a little girl anymore.”

  “She’s too young to be that old!” Darcy tried to keep her voice down. She didn’t want to wake the whole house up again, and she didn’t want Colby hearing her. “You know what I mean. She’s too young to know about things like…things like kissing.”

  “Oh, you think so, do you? Then tell me this. How old were you when you first kissed a boy, Mrs. Sweet?”

  “That’s not the point!” Although she supposed it was. She would have been…yeah. She would have been right around Colby’s age when she had her first serious kiss. It had been a disaster. There had been all this slobber, and then the boy hadn’t spoken to her for a week after that. She didn’t want Colby’s first time to be that awkward. “I’m just saying there’s things she needs to know before she tries…all that.”

  Jon shrugged, obviously less concerned about it than she was. “Colby sees the way we are to each other. Loving. Respectful. Affectionate. All the right things. We set a pretty good example for our kids about what love is supposed to be, I think. She’s looking forward to having something like that in her own life.”

  “Yeah, but we’re married, and we’re going to be together forever. We don’t just kiss because it feels good.”

  “Oh, I don’t know. Kissing you feels pretty good to me.”

  “You know what I mean!”

  He rolled over again to face her. “Do I?”

  “Yes you… Wait. Jon! What are you… Stop it. Hey! You know I’m ticklish there!”

  His hands found all the right spots until she was laughing uncontrollably, trying to defend herself.

  She was just about to tell him to turn off the light when they heard a little voice at the bedroom door. “Um. Mom?”

  Zane was back. Jon let go of her, mumbling something about remembering to lock the door next time. Darcy slapped his thigh under the sheets to let him know he was going to pay for that later, when there weren’t any little children around. “Hey, honey. Don’t worry. Mommy wasn’t screaming again.”

  “I know. Um. Can I ask a thing?”

  “A thing? Oh. You mean can you ask something. Sure, kiddo. What’s up?”

  “Um.” Whatever it was, he seemed really upset. “If we go away to the fun place with the small golf, then…um.”

  He lost the words, and started playing with the buttons on his pajama shirt instead.

  “Hey,” Jon said. “What is it, big guy? You can tell us. It’s okay.”

  “It’s just…” Zane took a big breath, and then made himself say it. “If we go away for Christmas is Santa still going to be able to find us?”

  Darcy made sure to keep the smile off her face. Zane still believed in Santa, and she wanted to keep that part of the magic alive for him as long as they could. Some people thought it was wrong to let kids believe in a lie, even a fun one like this, but in Darcy’s opinion there wasn’t enough imagination left in children’s lives anymore. They needed more of that, not less. Colby knew the truth about Santa, and had for a long time, but Zane still believed. Darcy liked that.

  “Yes, honey,” she told Zane, putting real sincerity into her voice. “Santa always knows where to bring the gifts. That’s why he’s Santa.”

  “That’s right.” Jon swung his legs over the edge of the bed and sat up, holding his hands out for Zane to come over. “Santa won’t forget you just because you go somewhere else to have some fun over the holidays. Besides, we’ll be back here the day before Christmas. Tell you what. I’ll leave a note to let the jolly old elf know all about our plans. That way he’ll know right where we are.”

  Zane rushed over to give his daddy a hug. He was excited for a vacation away with the family, but he was even happier to know it meant he wouldn’t miss Christmas. Jon mussed his son’s already messy hair, and squeezed him tight, until Zane started to squirm and pretend to be choking.

  “Ack, I can’t breathe!” Then he laughed, and wrapped his arms around Jon. “You give the best hugs, Daddy.”

  “Hey,” Darcy protested. “What about me?”

  “Um, you give good ones, too, but Daddy’s are the best.”

  Jon hugged him again. “I sure do…because I know all the best tickle spots!”

  He made Zane squeal like a little hyena as he tickled him over and over, and then finally tossed him up in the air and caught him on the way down. Zane laughed and laughed until tears rolled down his face.

  Worried that something might be wrong, Cha Cha came padding back into their bedroom to see what was going on, his ears swaying, his nose sniffing the air. When Jon tossed Zane up again, the brown Bassador hound yipped and bounced side to side on his front paws, not sure what to do about this odd situation.

  “It’s okay, Cha Cha,” Zane told him, leaning upside down now over his father’s leg. “Dad’s just being funny.”

  Cha Cha whuffed.

  Zane giggled. “No, silly dog! I’m not flying. Birds fly, not boys!”

  Darcy listened in amazement as those two had another one of their little conversations. Zane knew not to do this anywhere but at home. They didn’t want anyone suspecting he was really talking to animals. Her boy was special. The world wasn’t ready for that kind of special. Not yet.

  She sat there with her knees up to her chest, her arms wrapped around her legs, watching her two men. Jon was such a good father. She really lucked out when he came into her life and they fell in love, and he gave her their two wonderful children. Not all of the good ones were gone. One of them was right here, with her.

  Reaching out, she smoothed a hand along Jon’s shoulder. “You should let our son get some sleep now. That is, if he can even get to sleep after all that.”

  “Hmm,” Jon mused. He bounced Zane up again, and then made the noise of an airplane landing as he set the boy down on his feet again. “Maybe your mom’s right, kiddo. It’s late. Time for bed. Can you take Cha Cha with you and you two snuggle up in bed?”

  “Sure thing, Dad. And don’t worry, Mom. Now that I know Santa can still find us I’m gonna sleep just fine. I had all the worries, but now I don’t.”

  He picked Cha Cha up in his arms, telling him that now he got to see what flying was like, too. The dog was a pretty big load for him, but he managed. Back paws dangling, head bobbing, he wagged his tail wildly. His tongue lolled in a doggy smile. He was flying in his boy’s arms, and he was loving it.

  A movement in the shadows, over in the corner, caught Darcy’s eyes as Zane left the room. An old woman appeared there, wearing a wide-brimmed hat, smiling back at her. She waited until she knew Darcy had seen her, and then she was gone again in an in
stant. That was Great Aunt Millie, checking in on her, and the family, making sure everything was all right.

  These brief glimpses were as much of Millie as she’d seen recently. She used to visit in Darcy’s dreams all the time, but lately it had been just a flash here, or maybe a whispered word there. It was like her aunt’s ghost was slowly fading out of her life. Forever.

  That made Darcy a little sad, but she had always known it would happen eventually. All of Millie’s old business had been taken care of long ago. She couldn’t stay around forever to spend time with her family, no matter how much Darcy might have wanted it to be otherwise. The longer a ghost stayed in the land of the living, the less stable their spirit became, and the angrier and more unpredictable they got.

  Death was part of life, and there was no reason to fear it. Passing over to the other side was just the next step in what it meant to be human.

  The shadows became nothing more than shadows again as Jon got back under the covers with her and turned out the light. She pressed herself into his side, laying an arm across his chest, getting comfortable for the night.

  “Sleep tight,” he told her, his voice already drifting away. “We’ve got a lot of planning to do tomorrow.”

  Yeah, they did. “I love you, Jon.”

  “I love you too, Darcy.”

  The road leading up to the Hideaway Inn had been recently plowed after the morning’s snow squall. It was a relief to see. When they woke up before five o’clock this morning, and the snow was coming down that hard, Darcy had been worried they would have to delay their trip. The plows got out to do their jobs quickly though, even if it was Monday. Their car still slipped at times even though Jon was taking it slow and steady. Landing them in the ditch would put a very quick end to their vacation plans.

  What was supposed to be a two-hour drive down seldom used New England roads turned into almost three with the weather the way it was. They spent the time singing songs like “100 Bottles of Ketchup on the Wall” and “Baby Shark” and playing games like I-Spy. Jon made sure to stop once for donuts and bottles of milk from a coffee shop as a special treat for the kids. Not that Darcy didn’t appreciate her glazed cruller. After all, donuts weren’t just for kids. They were for grownups with a sweet tooth, too.

  Now, after a series of turns down county highways and narrow country roads, they were driving up a slippery hill along a road the GPS unit labelled Valleyview Lane. The tall pine trees crowding in on either shoulder didn’t allow for any view at all, let alone one of a valley. The branches were heavily laden down with clumps of white snow that kept dropping off into the road in front of them, now that the sun had risen to warm things up. It had been fifteen minutes or so since they’d seen a house or anything at all.

  “I think we’re almost there, guys,” Jon said to the kids in the backseat. “Keep looking up the road. The little map on my phone says it’s just a few minutes away.”

  “Yay!” Zane cheered. In his booster seat he was big enough to look over the back of Darcy’s seat, and he craned his neck to try and get the first look. “We’re gonna get unpacked and go play golf, right?”

  They had passed through the little town with its playcenter not that long ago, with signs for mini golf and a trampoline zone and other fun stuff. Zane had begged them to stop right then but Jon had pointed out that it wasn’t even open yet. Their son had pouted until Darcy promised him they would go today, after unpacking and getting settled in their room at the Hideaway Inn.

  That had been mostly the truth. In reality they would have to wait until after lunch, when the place opened. Zane would just have to be patient. Darcy was already planning on further bribing him with pizza for lunch to make the waiting easier.

  “Is that it?” Colby asked, pointing ahead of them to a clearing in the trees, up on their left. A wooden sign hanging from a post had the name painted in green letters between two carved, cartoonish pine trees. The Hideaway Inn. Next to the sign was a long, plowed driveway that lead all the way up to a huge, sprawling house.

  “Yup,” Jon said, leaning forward to get a good look at the place. “There it is. Man, it’s big, isn’t it?”

  “Uh huh.” Darcy felt herself getting excited, now that they were this close. “The website says it used to be a private mansion, oh, about two hundred years ago. It’s been renovated a few times since then. It’s been an Inn for a few decades now but there’s a couple of rooms on the first floor that have been preserved just like they used to be as sort of a museum to the past. It’s really cool.”

  Jon was slowing down for the turn onto the driveway. As he did, he turned to give Darcy a look.

  “What?” she asked him.

  He raised a meaningful eyebrow.

  “Jon…”

  He added a smirk.

  “It is not a haunted house!”

  “The house is haunted?” Zane asked from behind her. “Huh. Cool.”

  Colby sighed loudly. “Mom, you didn’t say anything about us going to a haunted house for our vacation. That’s not my idea of fun, you know?”

  “Kids, no,” Darcy tried to explain herself. “For Pete’s sake. This is not a haunted house. I didn’t bring us here for ghosts. Honestly. I just wanted us to have a getaway for a few days. Just a nice, normal vacation.”

  Jon was still looking at her when he dramatically dropped a hand to click on the signal light.

  “It is not,” Darcy said again, “a haunted house!”

  Zane clapped his hands in glee. “When can we see the ghosts?”

  “Dufus,” his sister told him. “You can’t see ghosts. Only me and mom can see ghosts.”

  Her brother stuck out his bottom lip. “No fair. I want to see ghosts, too.”

  “There’s no ghosts,” Darcy insisted. “We’re not going to see any ghosts on this vacation. Zero. None. Like I said, this is going to be a nice, normal vacation for a change.”

  “In this family?” Jon said with a laugh. “Not sure I’d take that bet.”

  “Hmph,” Darcy told him. “We’re due for some good luck for a change.”

  Jon nodded. “I’ve heard that one before.”

  She stuck her tongue out at him. She was going to give them a normal vacation if it killed her…

  Uh, no. Maybe she wouldn’t use that phrase. Good luck or not, saying things like that, even in your own mind, was just plain tempting fate.

  The Hideaway Inn really was huge. Two stories tall with a smaller third story over the middle section. Two wings spread off the main part of the building, facing East and West, angling toward the road like arms reaching out to welcome them in. Snow clung to the tiled roof. The façade was brick, with stonework arches built around each and every window, and the front door too. The steps leading up to the entryway were flanked by honest-to-God stone lions. It had a very Gothic look to it, all in all.

  But it was not, Darcy told herself again, a haunted house.

  The driveway had been plowed that morning, leaving huge banks of snow to either side. Up near the building it became a roundabout that brought them up to park near the stairs. Past that was a parking area, plowed out and waiting for visitors. It was empty.

  “Are we the only people checking in?” Jon asked.

  “I guess so.” Darcy shrugged. “I didn’t ask. I was just glad to find someone who was still taking bookings this close to Christmas. As it is, that fun center is only open for the next three days.”

  “What!” Zane started bouncing up and down in his seat. “Then we need to go today. We need to go today!”

  Colby rolled her eyes. “Calm down, will you? You’re acting like such a little boy.”

  Zane stopped his bouncing long enough to give Colby a withering look. “I am a little boy. You wish you was a little boy.”

  “As if,” was his sister’s immediate response. “I like being a girl just fine, thank you.”

  “Do not.”

  “Do so. Girls can do anything.”

  “Nuh-uh. There’s lots of st
uff girls can’t do.”

  “Oh yeah?” Colby said, folding her arms with an expression that made her look very much like her dad. “Name me one thing that boys can do that girls can’t.”

  Darcy was quick to interrupt before Zane could come up with an answer to that one. She wasn’t sure she wanted to hear it. “Okay, you two. We’re here, let’s just agree that each of you is happy being who you are.”

  “Yeah!” Zane said, as if he’d won some personal victory. “Happy, happy, happy.”

  “Ugh,” was all Colby had to say. “Come on, Dad. Let’s get the luggage. I hope our room is cool.”

  “And haunted,” Jon said with a teasing wink for Darcy.

  “It’s not…!” she tried to argue, but Jon was already outside, closing the door and going around to the trunk with Colby. “Hmpf. You believe me, don’t you Zane?”

  “Um, sure. But I kinda want to see the ghosts.”

  Darcy couldn’t help but laugh. Her children were already becoming their own people, so much more self-possessed than she had been at their age. She liked to think she had something to do with that, but really, the credit went to them. In a world where they could choose to be anything, they chose to be Zane Tinker and Colby Sweet. She wouldn’t want it to be any other way.

  Colby held the door for them as they went inside, into a large room with hardwood floors and dark wall paneling that served as a sort of lobby. Electric lights in wrought-iron sconces with glass flutes gave the illusion of old-timey gas lamps. A fireplace was set into one wall, alight with tiny orange flames emanating from a gas-fed burner. At the far end, a short counter topped in white marble had a little plaque on it that read “Welcome, Friends.” A computer sat on the counter, next to a sign-in ledger. The whole place was a mix of the modern and the old. Darcy fell in love with it immediately.

  There were Christmas decorations everywhere. Silver tinsel was strung along the walls. A small and artificial Christmas tree was tucked into one corner, with a white cloth wrapped around the base and red glass balls hanging from the branches. Colored lights reflected off the ornaments. A shining star was on top. Blue ceramic snowflakes hung along the edge of the service counter. The fireplace had a cardboard pop-up of a waving Santa Claus in his classic red suit standing in front of it. Figurines of the three wise men, accompanied by two sheep, sat on the mantel.