by Kathi Daley
“He did seem to care a lot about the bar, and the lawsuit had put the bar owner in a position where he might have to sell. Maybe Dave was trying to save the bar,” I suggested.
“Okay, then how was drugging Holly going to save the bar, unless Dave knew she had a heart condition and planned to kill her?” Trevor asked. “That seems pretty risky. Even if he knew about her heart condition, there is no way he would actually know that she would die.”
“And the idea that he was partnered up with Ms. Valdez isn’t really working for me either,” Woody said.
“Yet, it does seem that we have circumstantial evidence to suggest that he was in the Santa House at some point. I suppose we could match the diamond I found to the ring to further confirm that,” I suggested.
“I feel like a lot is going on, but none of it fits,” Trevor said. “Holly went to the bar on the night she died. She ended up with drugs in her system, which eventually stopped her heart, and we assume she ingested the drugs at the bar since she remembers that she began to feel dizzy while she was there.”
“And the cocktail waitress said she told her that she wasn’t feeling well,” I added.
“The bar owner brings her to the Santa House so she can get her phone,” Trevor continued. “It sounded like he dropped her off and left.”
“She came in and sat down in the chair. She fell asleep. At some point, she heard voices and someone at the door, so and ran and hid. That’s all she remembered until the cleaning lady came in. She tried to talk to her, but was already dead,” I added.
“Which means it has to be the people who came in and caused her to run to the dressing room who moved her body,” Trevor concluded.
“Unless she was already dead before she heard the voices at the door,” I said.
Trevor raised a brow.
“Holly told us she was asleep in the Santa chair when she heard the voices that caused her to run and hide. We assumed she was alive at that point, but what if she wasn’t? What if she had already died and her body had already been moved, and it was her ghost that had been asleep in the chair? What if she ran and hid when she heard voices, but since she was already dead, she wasn’t actually there to find?”
“So, she died, and someone moved her before she heard the voices?” Woody asked.
“Perhaps,” I nodded. “And if that is true, then perhaps the voices she remembers hearing actually belonged to the cleaning lady. She said that she heard voices and ran and hid, and the next thing she remembered was the cleaning lady and trying to talk to her, so what if this all happened a lot closer together than it sounded at first?”
“That does make sense,” Woody said, “but if that is what happened, who killed her, or at least who moved her?”
“My money is on a joint effort between the bar owner and the bartender,” I said. “We can conclude that Dave was at the Santa House at some point due to the presence of the diamond under the chair. And Holly told us the bar owner dropped her off there, but why would he just drop her off at an empty building if she was dizzy?”
“He wouldn’t unless he knew she would pass out and planned to come back for some reason,” Trevor said.
“Exactly.” I paused and rolled the idea around in my mind. “It makes sense to me that Dave slipped the drug into Holly’s drink, and when she began to feel dizzy and wanted to leave, Rowen gave her a ride. He dropped her off at the Santa House, knowing she’d pass out at any moment and planned to come back with Dave after the bar closed and do whatever it was they planned to do. When they arrived, they found her dead in the Santa chair, so they panicked and drove her up to the top of the jeep trail where they dumped her body.”
“That all makes sense,” Woody said. “But how did they get in?”
“Maybe he rigged the door so he could get back in,” I suggested.
“So, how does Ms. Valdez fit into this?” Trevor asked.
“Maybe she doesn’t,” I said. “Maybe she was never even there. If Holly was already dead when she heard the voices at the door, it could very well have been the cleaning lady. She might have brought a helper, or maybe she was talking on the phone, which is why she fumbled the code.”
“So, are we saying that Ms. Valdez isn’t involved in illegal activity?” Trevor asked.
“I don’t know,” Woody answered. “I still suspect that something is going on, but so far, she’s been able to provide invoices and an explanation for everything. Maybe she really isn’t doing anything wrong in spite of the nagging feeling I have in my gut that tells me she is.”
“Okay, so how do we prove our theory?” I asked.
“We play Dave and Rowen against each other,” Woody suggested. “I’ll pick them both up, offer both a deal and make sure they know that whoever talks first, will get a slightly lesser sentence than whoever holds out.”
Chapter 14
“Who bogarted all the green ribbon?” Mac demanded as Cooper nipped at her feet.
“There was a whole spool a minute ago.” I looked around the table where Mac, Trevor, and I were wrapping gifts for the disadvantaged children’s toy drive. “Maybe it rolled onto the floor.” I bent over to look, but the floor, unlike the table, chairs, and countertop, was clear of ribbons, boxes, and wrapping paper. “Just use the red ribbon. I’d go and look for more green, but we’re almost done.”
“Finally,” Mac groaned as she bent over and picked up the puppy I had definitely decided to keep. “When you said you were going to pick up a few toys for the toy drive and needed help wrapping, I figured you’d have a bag or two full of goodies, not a truckload.”
I shrugged. “What can I say? I am an impulse buyer. Always have been. Did you remember to label all the packages with boy or girl and the appropriate age? I’m going to take them and drop them off once we are done here.”
“I did,” Mac confirmed.
I glanced at Trevor. “Mine are all wrapped and labeled. I’m going to take a short break and call into work to make sure everything is going smoothly.”
“And I’m going to go up and get ready for my date,” Mac seconded.
“Since you’re going to The Nutcracker in Portland, will you be staying at Ty’s tonight?” I said.
“That’s the plan, but I will be home tomorrow afternoon. I have some work I want to finish up before Christmas. Ty is going to drive me back and then just stay through New Year’s if that’s okay.”
“Of course, it’s okay. This is your house too.”
“That isn’t technically correct,” Mac pointed out, “but I appreciate the sentiment.”
“Mom and Donovan should be back from Seattle tomorrow night, so everyone will be here for Christmas week.” I glanced at Trevor. “You should bring a bag. You can sleep on the sofa bed in the attic. That way, you won’t have to go back and forth to your place and won’t have to worry about driving. I think more snow is in the forecast.”
“I might just do that, but tonight I’m cooking, and you are coming to my house with me.”
I smiled. “Sounds perfect.”
Mac tore off a piece of tape and secured the red ribbon she’d settled on. “By the way, did you figure out what happened to Holly?”
“We did,” I answered. “Or at least Woody did. His plan to play the two men against each other worked out perfectly. Dave finally caved and admitted that he put the drugs in Holly’s drink. The plan had been to get her wasted, and then take incriminating photos of her that they could use to blackmail her into dropping the lawsuit. Dave planned to put the drugs in her after-dinner drink, which would have worked out in terms of a timeline since the bar would have been closing about the same time she was ready to leave, but then Chris had to leave early, and Holly announced she was going to leave as well, so Dave panicked and gave her the drugs early. When she got dizzy, Rowen offered her a ride. He dropped her at the Santa House. He said she passed out in the Santa chair before he even left. He jimmied the door, so he could get back in, and once the bar closed, Dave and Rowen went back with a
camera, but she was already dead. They panicked and moved the body.”
“And the Santa House supervisor?” Mac asked. “Was she dealing in illegal goods?”
“Woody doesn’t know. He has a hunch she was, but he never found any proof, so that might be a dead-end at this point. After Trevor, Woody, and I discussed that it might have been the cleaning lady who Holly heard on the night she died, Woody spoke to her again, and she did say that she’d been on the phone when she arrived and that had caused her to mess up the keypad. We suspect that by the time she showed up, Holly was already a ghost, but just didn’t know it. At first, it seemed like there was a time lag between Holly hearing someone at the door and seeing the cleaning lady, but time seems to work differently in the between world.”
Mac stood up. “Well, I’m glad everything was worked out. I’m heading up to make myself irresistible. If you’re already gone by the time I come down, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
After Mac went upstairs, Trevor helped me to load his truck. We took the wrapped packages to the community center and dropped them off. Trevor and I discussed what to do next, but eventually decided to just head to his place, so he could begin the prep work on the dinner he had planned. Neither Mom nor Mac would be home this evening, so I didn’t want to be too late. Someone needed to be there to let the dogs out.
“I could just take the food to your house and cook it there since no one will be there,” Trevor suggested. “I really want to bring Mac’s desk over and set it up while she’s out. It will be a surprise when she returns tomorrow.”
“That might be a good idea,” I answered. “I hate to leave the dogs too long. If you want to bring a bag, you can just stay tonight.”
Trevor hesitated. “Really? Are you sure? It will just be the two of us and well...” he let the thought hang.
I crossed the room and put my arms around Trevor’s neck. I stood on my tiptoes and kissed him gently on the lips. “I’m sure it’s time to take a chance and see where our relationship might take us. I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I think I’m ready for whatever comes next if you are.”
Trevor tightened his arms around me. He didn’t reply, but based on the way his lips captured mine, I was willing to bet that he was as ready to move our relationship forward as I was.
USA Today best-selling author Kathi Daley lives in beautiful Lake Tahoe with her husband Ken. When she isn’t writing, she likes spending time hiking the miles of desolate trails surrounding her home. She has authored more than a hundred books in twelve series, Find out more about her books at www.kathidaley.com
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