by Lilly York
She hobbled to the bathroom then back to dress herself. Doing so, nearly put her right back in bed. Judy had been a lifesaver and had packed her a bag then helped her put on her pajamas, so she didn’t have to humiliate herself in front of Rudy. She could take him tucking her in, but seeing her change? She didn’t think so. Although, she did smile at the thought that maybe someday… She let the feeling dissipate. She had no idea if he was developing feelings for her as she was for him. She shrugged. There was too much to do to keep her down. She said aloud, “Only 4 days until Christmas Eve. She was going to have to rethink her outfit. She had planned on wearing a long shimmery red gown that twinkled beneath the lights. She looked down at her cast. “You’re kind of an outfit killer, you know that, don’t you?”
She looked at the log walls of the lodge and was suddenly struck by the thought, the lodge was homey, down to earth, family…it wasn’t uptown or trendy. Here, it was okay to wear a great fitting pair of jeans and a comfy sweater. Just as it was okay to serve pigs in a blanket or a good hearty steak rather than sashimi or tapas. Here, people are just people. They live their lives. They go to work. They go home. They love their families. They love God. God…is there a God? People like Mildred made her doubt it. People like Rudy? Made her want to run to God. She smiled thinking of Rudy and his love for people. She may just have to give God a chance.
She sighed then glanced at the time. She didn’t have time to lollygag. It was going to take her twice as long as she’d normally take to get all the work done that needed doing.
When Nik entered the lobby, she noticed Dash talking—no flirting—with one of her reception hostesses. She approached them without being noticed and overheard her ask him if he needed a room again. Again? She couldn’t remember Dash staying at the lodge.
“Good morning. Did I just hear you spent the night at the lodge? When did that happen?”
Her hostesses turned red in the face and said, “His heater went out in his apartment” at the same time Dash said, “My apartment pipes burst, and I needed…”
He turned to her then said, “I needed a place to say because my heater went out and my pipes burst. It was late, and I left early. Not many people saw me.”
“Oh? How come I didn’t know this? Dash, you’re a valuable asset to this community. I would have let you stay for free. Next time you have an emergency at home, please let me know.”
The hostess cleared her throat. “Ma’am. I know your policy, so I let him have one of the empty rooms for free.”
She nodded at her. “I’m glad you were thinking on your feet.” She turned to Dash. “And they must have gotten your heater working right away. You haven’t needed a room since, right?”
“Uh, yeah. The landlord came over that day with the heating guys and they had it fixed before I got home from work.”
She began to pivot with her crutches. “Just remember what I said. If you ever need a room again, just let me know.” She got half way across the room then turned back to Dash. “Hey Dash, can I talk to you in private for a moment?”
He nodded then joined her.
“I just want you to know I know why you left me at the bar that night. All is forgiven. If I were in your shoes, I probably would have had a worse reaction. You took it well, considering what has been happening at home.” She placed her hand on his arm. “You are among friends here. If you need anything, just let me know.”
Dash’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Um, thank you. I better get back to the station.”
Nik felt sorry for him. He’d completely lost his sense of humor with all that had been going on. She supposed it was quite natural. How do you find something funny when your father has been arrested for heinous crimes?
A couple hours later she had just finished discussing the changes she wanted to implement for the Christmas Eve menu when officers Rudy and Dash came through the kitchen door. Rudy looked at her, trying to apologize with his eyes before saying, “Felix, I’m taking you in for questioning in the murder of Will Winters.”
Felix looked confused then shocked. “What are you talking about? I didn’t murder anyone.”
Rudy replied, “We’re not arresting you nor did we say you murdered anyone. We just want to ask you a few questions down at the station.”
Felix looked to Nik for help. She didn’t know what to do, besides talk to Rudy and see what they had on him. They had to have some type of evidence or they never would have considered him a person worth talking to. She smiled at him, hoping to reassure him she would do what she could.
She heard Felix muttering under his breath as they marched through the lobby and out the front door.
Chapter 14
By the time Felix returned, Nik was fuming. Her ankle was killing her, and her pain pill had worn off hours ago. She knew she needed another, but she also knew she better be ready for a nap if she swallowed the powerful little pill. She needed to be fully awake and her facilities on full alert in order to find out what was going on.
Felix knew nothing. They only asked him if he’d returned to his house since the night of the murder. He told them he hadn’t been in several days because he’d been so busy at the lodge. He’d also been taken back to his house to have a look around to see if anything was out of the ordinary. A police officer was guarding his home when he’d arrived with Officers Blitz and Donner.
Nik was impatient. “Well, did you see anything?”
“Yeah. A pair of black boots, a red Santa sack, and a thin piece of rope were on the kitchen counter. I told the police officers I’d never seen those before.”
“So, someone else put those things in your house?”
He shrugged. “They must have. I sure didn’t do it.”
“Did anything else happen?”
They asked me what I was doing the night of Will Winters’s murder. I told them I have an iron clad alibi. I couldn’t have done it. I was in Denver. My grandmother had flown in to give me the keys to the house. The roads were bad, so she insisted I spend the night. We sat up talking until the wee hours of the morning then she hugged me goodbye the next morning after breakfast.”
“I thought you came to Christmas Tyme the day before Enrique to take care of some business.”
“Yeah, I did. But I passed through Christmas Tyme to get to Denver then I drove back the next day. I had nothing to do with Will Winters’s death.”
“So, who knew you had come into town earlier that day? Who could have used your place to frame you?”
“No one. I mean, no one who would use the knowledge to frame me. I got pulled over by Officers Blitz and Dash, but I was only issued a warning. I had a broken tail light. I took care of it when I was in Denver.”
“I’m glad you’ve been released. I need you here.”
He nodded. “And I’m glad to be here. I’ve finally come home, and I don’t want anything to interfere with that.”
Nik returned to her room as fast as her crutches would allow. She plopped down on the bed and started a search for Will Winters. She didn’t find anyone with that name. Her next search had to do with James Donner Teagan and his past alleged crimes. She searched through a throbbing ankle as well as hunger pains. She read article after article. She’d read numerous accounts of a witness who’d gone missing, but she’d not seen any pictures of this witness. Finally, she hit pay dirt. In front of her was a picture of the man she knew as Will Winters. He’d witnessed James Donner Teagan commit murder in cold blood. He knew if he volunteered to testify, he was a dead man. In his eyes, the only thing he could do was run and hide and hope they wouldn’t find him. He was wrong. They found him. And Nik would bet the lodge Dash Donner had something to do with it. She shuddered to think she was alone with a stone-cold killer. She picked up the phone and dialed Rudy’s number. He answered and said he’d be right there.
She paced as much as her armpits and hands would allow as she waited for Rudy to arrive. She had her laptop open to show him the story on Will Winters when he got there. He’d put it
all together just as she had. She was sure of it.
The second he walked through the door, she began talking. He placed two fingers over her lips. “Quiet. I believe these walls have ears.”
She nodded and whispered. “Look at my computer screen.”
There was a full picture of Will Winters, also known as Jay Conwright, in a California paper. “Looks as if our Will Winters was more than he appeared. Poor guy. All he did was be in the wrong place at the wrong time.” She looked alarmed. “Rudy, you have to arrest Dash. He did this.”
“He took off a couple of hours ago for the Denver Airport. He asked for some time off to go see his father. I thought it only right I give him the time.”
“If I’m right, he’s not going back to see his father so much as to coerce a judge to give him bail. Once that is done, I believe Mr. Donner will leave the country with his father and we’ll never see either of them again.”
“I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. It’s also the reason I already have calls in to the Denver police station and they have already picked up Dash Donner and have read him his rights.
“What? How did you know he murdered Will?”
He threw his head back and chuckled. “Do you think you’re the only one who knows a clue when you see one? Remember, I was around him all day just about every day. We were also investigating behind the scenes. I meant what I said about not being able to share details of the case with you. I take my job very seriously. Although, you helped more than once. And for that, I am so appreciative.”
He took a bite his pig in a blanket then continued. “He killed Will Winters, so he couldn’t testify against his father. No other reason. Your roof was the perfect set up. He got a room at the lodge and when all was quiet, he used the storeroom to move the body to the roof. He didn’t care who he made look guilty as long as his father was let go. It would appear in this case the apple certainly didn’t fall far from the tree.
Christmas Eve the lodge was full. After Dash had been arrested and charged, Nik confronted Mildred and fired her. She could not have staff who undermined her and wanted to cause her harm. Judy had given a statement letting them know Mildred had messed with the step, hoping to send Nik a clear message to leave. She thought about pressing charges, then decided against it. The woman had enough pain in her life. She did however let her know if she ever saw her on the Mistletoe Bed and Breakfast Lodge property, she’d call the police.
Nik was an expert at getting around on her crutches. Not so much using crutches while carrying a plate of food. Rudy set the two heaping plates of food down. “Now this is what I’m talking about.” His plate had a large pulled barbecue pork sandwich with coleslaw, weenies in barbecue sauce as well as pigs in a blanket stacked high. He added in a few carrot sticks to say he ate his vegetables. Her plate was similar in composition. She might have had a few more veggies though.
Santa moved around the crowd offering envelopes with gift cards to her employees. She’d given them their Christmas bonuses earlier, but she wanted to give them something. Even with adorable shops in town, Nik still ended up buying the gift cards from Amazon. People were laughing and enjoying the music and the company—not near as much as they enjoyed the buffet though. Felix made sure the stacks of food were plentiful. He’d expressed his displeasure at the turn of events with their menu until she assured him every week he could add a few culture menu items to get the people used to the idea of eating well. It was a happy compromise.
Nik looked around the lodge. This, this is what she wanted when she though of owning her own place. She glanced at Rudy. She knew she was falling in love with him. He was leaning back with his hands on his stomach. When he saw her, he grinned and stood up. “Come here a second. I need to show you something.”
She followed him through the doorway when he suddenly stopped and turned to her. “I’ve been wanting to do this since that night you ran into the patrol car.” He lifted his eyes to the mistletoe hanging from the trim then bent down and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him right back.
He whispered in her ear. “As soon as everyone’s gone, I’ll drive you around town so you can see the lights.”
THE END
THE 12 MYSTERIES OF CHRISTMAS
Enjoy the entire series…
BOOK 1: IN THE NICK OF TIME by Susette Williams
BOOK 2: GABRIEL’S SECRET by Alexa Verde
BOOK 3: GUARDING CANDY KANE by V.B. Tenery
BOOK 4: MURDER: UP ON THE ROOFTOP by Lilly York
BOOK 5: TIDINGS OF JOY by Susette Williams
BOOK 6: HOLLY IN HIDING by P. Creeden
BOOK 7: STARR WITNESS by Susette Williams
BOOK 8: NOELLE ON THE RUN by Alexa Verde
BOOK 9: GOLDEN BELLES ARE WRINGING by Gina Conroy
BOOK 10: DEATH BY FIGGY PUDDING by P. Creeden
BOOK 11: SWEET REVENGE by Lilly York
BOOK 12: MERRY WITHOUT MALICE by P. Creeden
Copyright Info
©2018 by Lilly York
lillyyork.com
All rights reserved.
This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means without prior written permission of the author or publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.
Interior Layout: Daniel Mawhinney
40daypublishing.com
Published by: Wide Awake Books
wideawakebooks.com
The following is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are fictitious or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, to factual events or to businesses is coincidental and unintentional.
Author Bio
Lilly York? (aka Darlene Shortridge, author of Contemporary Christian Fiction) How about Lilly Belle; a mis-plant northerner, living in a southern world. Southern charm is lost among late nights with a two year old granddaughter, heat flashes competing with hell, copious re-runs of Murder She Wrote with Jessica Fletcher catching the bad guy, and a vivid imagination keeping insanity at bay.
In both humor and mystery, Lilly draws inspiration from terrible twos, a 26 year old daughter who questions her sanity, a son who constantly spews bad puns, and a husband who has selective hearing. Though, that’s perfectly alright with her, because what can you love more than a good laugh and a family so dysfunctional they almost seem functional?
Make sure you visit her at:
LillyYork.com
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