by Lee Hollis
“You know what I want! I want you to stop seeing Tiffany. Don’t call her. Don’t text her. Don’t e-mail her. Just stay the hell away from her! Or else I drop by the Island Times and sit down with Bruce Linney and spill everything! That’s right. Just try maintaining your six percent body fat in a friggin’ jail cell!”
“Hayley! Hayley!”
Hayley spun her head around to see Mr. Streinz holding up two plastic tumblers of his famous Feuerzangenbowle and searching for Hayley, who was suddenly AWOL.
She frantically waved at him to be quiet, but he didn’t see her mashed up against the tree like a mosquito on flypaper.
Rusty Wyatt stared at her in shock.
Hayley stepped out of hiding and slowly approached him.
He just stood there, speechless—his mind obviously racing—worried about how much she heard.
“Rusty, can I talk to you for a second?”
“I need to get back. I’m supposed to hand out the presents to the kids after the tree ceremony.”
“Rusty, why did you lie about working out with Ken on the night of Garth Rawlings’s murder? The gym closed early that day because of Midnight Madness. There was no way you and Ken were there. What are you two hiding?”
Rusty stared at her for a few moments and then suddenly bolted away as fast as his cute tiny felt elf shoes could carry him.
“Rusty, wait!” Hayley yelled, chasing after him past Mr. Streinz, who just held out the two plastic tumblers, a perplexed look on his face.
Rusty was in shape and could easily outrun Hayley, but he was in a panicked state and wasn’t thinking clearly. Instead of trying to lose Hayley on foot, his frantic mind decided the best course of action was to hijack Santa’s sleigh.
Hayley dashed across the village green, leaping over children, hurtling herself toward the horse-drawn buggy, which Rusty was now trying to climb into. The bells on his pointy shoes were still ringing.
The festive crowd hardly noticed the hubbub of the chase as they circled around the tree, anxiously awaiting the lighting ceremony hosted by Santa and Mrs. Claus, who now used microphones to address the crowd. Santa encouraged everyone to join him in a chorus of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”
Rusty finally made it onto the seat of the carriage top and tried untying the reins as fast as he could, but he made the knot too tight and it was a bit of a struggle, which allowed Hayley enough time to make up a few precious seconds. However, it wasn’t enough. Rusty managed to loosen the knot and unfurl the reins, snapping them hard against the horses’ holiday fleeces. They jumped with a start, whinnying and shaking their manes, before setting off. Their hooves clomped as they galloped away from the village green, pulling the buggy behind them.
Wheezing, leg muscles burning, only inches from the back of the buggy, her arms outstretched, Hayley grabbed the back of the carriage just as it soared away. She lifted herself up, swinging one leg onto the trunk area, which held the enormous gunnysack filled with presents.
She wished Rusty had tried to escape in the much slower tractor trailer that pulled a makeshift train behind it for the kids to ride in, which was the special surprise from last year’s tree lighting instead of the horse-drawn Santa sleigh.
As Hayley mounted the bag of presents, praying she wasn’t crushing a fragile doll that some poor little girl would unwrap later to a flood of tears, she saw Aaron watching her ride away. He had a stupefied look on his face.
She would have to explain later.
That is, if he was still speaking to her.
Hayley tried balancing herself. The cold winter winds blew the sporty hat she was wearing right off her head. “Rusty, please! Stop this thing!”
The sound of her voice spooked Rusty and he jerked his head around to see Hayley on top of the Christmas presents. His mouth dropped open; without thinking, he let go of the reins.
At that moment something snapped.
The horses kept galloping forward at full speed, but the carriage disengaged. It rolled down the street, out of control.
Hayley watched in horror as everything happened in slow motion.
The buggy sideswiped a parked car.
Rusty jerked his head around, his mouth open in a silent scream.
A police cruiser rounded the corner from Cottage Street onto Main Street.
Hayley was able to make out Sergio behind the wheel. His eyes almost popped out of his head at the sight of the unhitched carriage barreling toward him.
The cruiser and the buggy were about to crash in a head-on collision.
The cruiser stopped.
The buggy didn’t.
Hayley leapt out of the buggy, landing on the hard pavement, bashing her knee against the cement sidewalk.
She couldn’t look.
She just heard the sickening crash, followed by a few seconds of silence.
Then Sergio, hollering all sorts of Brazilian swear words, snapped handcuffs on Rusty Wyatt and read him his rights.
In English.
Chapter 23
Hayley finally forced herself to watch as another cruiser arrived on the scene and Sergio ordered Officers Donnie and Earl to haul Rusty Wyatt down to the station and book him on suspicion of drunk driving.
Okay, it was a horse and buggy.
But it was still driving under the influence.
Hayley was about to intervene and explain the facts of what really happened, but she stopped herself.
Even though she knew for a fact that Rusty was stone-cold sober, the threat of jail time and a heavy fine might get him talking to Sergio.
Perhaps he even might offer the information Hayley wanted to get out of him in order to secure his release and make sure he was home in time for Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Besides, she would rather not be the one to highlight her own role in the fender bender that was going to cost the department some serious cash to repair the front grill of the police chief’s cruiser.
Officer Donnie put a hand on top of Rusty’s curly blond head, his elf hat blown clear across town by now, and guided him into the backseat of the car. Officer Earl was already in the driver’s seat starting the engine while Sergio talked on his cell phone, presumably to someone with a tow truck.
Hayley limped back to the village green, her right knee throbbing.
She saw in the distance the lights on the giant pine tree flick on to wild applause.
The town band started up again, playing “O Christmas Tree,” as the red and green lights blinked on and off, almost in time with the music.
When Hayley arrived at the park, she made a beeline for Mr. Streinz and quickly paid for the plastic tumblers of Feuerzangenbowle; then she carried them over to the now-thinning crowd, where Aaron waited patiently for her.
She handed him a tumbler.
“That didn’t take long at all,” Aaron said with a smirk.
“I suppose I should explain—”
“That’s all right. You don’t have to.”
“No, I really should.”
“It’s fine. I know what’s really going on here.”
“You do? What?”
She really wanted to know.
“You have an elf fetish.”
Hayley nearly spit out her Feuerzangenbowle.
“Aaron—”
“No, I get it. You’ve got this thing for guys with pointy ears who like to wear tights. You go wild when one’s around, and you lose yourself, and you get so excited you wind up chasing him around, trying to play with him, like an overexcited kitty with catnip.”
He was a vet, so he could be forgiven the metaphor.
“No, really—”
“Seriously, Hayley, let me believe you have an elf fetish. Otherwise, I’m going to have to know the truth of why you just did what you did, and, frankly, I’m not sure I’m emotionally ready to handle that.”
“Okay.”
“You want to grab some dinner? The tree lighting is pretty much over. FYI. You missed it.”
“I know. I
’m sorry. Dinner sounds great.”
They walked down Main Street to Geddy’s, one of the few local establishments open during the winter months, passing a tow truck driver using a dolly to slot the damaged cruiser’s two front tires in order to drive it up onto the trailer hitch of the truck.
Aaron shot Hayley a look.
He instinctively knew she had something to do with this.
Hayley kept her eyes straight ahead, feigning innocence.
A couple of beers, a plate of nachos, and some fried shrimp later, Hayley and Aaron were laughing over some silly joke, holding hands across the table, both remembering what had attracted them to each other in the first place.
It was so easy with Aaron.
And those eyes.
And that smile.
Hayley took a deep breath. She had to control herself. They were in a public place.
Her cell phone in her back pants pocket buzzed. She chose to ignore it.
Their date was finally back on track and she was not going to jeopardize it again by becoming distracted. The buzzing finally stopped.
Hayley flagged down the waitress and asked her for a dessert menu. She knew Aaron had an insatiable sweet tooth.
Plus she wanted to prolong their date—she was having such a nice time and didn’t want it to end.
Her butt began buzzing again.
She shifted in her seat.
No. She was not going to answer it.
More buzzing.
This time it was coming from across the table.
Aaron reached into his own pants pocket, pulled out his phone, and checked the screen. “I have to take this. It’s Mrs. Delaney calling me. I have to break the news that her collie has parvo. It’s always a tougher call when it’s this time of year. I’ll be right back. Order whatever you want.”
Aaron grabbed his coat and headed out the door to talk to his patient’s owner. Hayley immediately reached into her own back pocket and retrieved her cell.
It was Sergio. She hurriedly answered.
“Sergio? Did you question Rusty Wyatt? What did he say?”
“Good evening to you too.”
“I only have a few minutes to talk, so make it fast.”
“You know when I talk fast, I slip into Portuguese.”
“I’m on a date, Sergio!”
“I cut a deal with Rusty. I told him if he paid for the damage to my cruiser and came clean about why he lied for Ken Massey, I would drop all charges. So he sang like a caterpillar.”
Canary.
Not caterpillar.
Canary, Sergio.
But they were short on time, so she was not going to bother correcting him.
“It turns out the grieving widow, Tiffany Rawlings, was not only cheating on her husband, Garth, with Ken Massey, she was also sleeping on the side with Rusty Wyatt.”
Hayley gasped. “Are you kidding me? My God, the woman gets around!”
“Rusty admitted he was with Tiffany at her house at the time of Garth’s death. He went so far as to tell me they were in her bed, cuddling, when he got the call that there was a body at the warehouse and they needed a paramedic at the scene.”
“Why did he agree to lie for Ken?”
“Because Ken came to him in a panic. He didn’t have an alibi on the night of the murder and he knew suspicion would fall on him, given his rocky past with Garth. Also, if it came out that he was having an affair with the victim’s wife, the public would bury him. But he didn’t tell Rusty that part. He didn’t want anyone to know. He just convinced his good buddy to help him out so he wouldn’t be arrested for a crime he didn’t commit.”
“So Rusty must have found out the truth about Tiffany and Ken, became enraged with jealousy, and threatened to go to the cops with the truth if he didn’t end his affair with Tiffany. That’s what they were arguing about on the phone when I approached him at the village green.”
“So, if Rusty is telling the truth and he was with Tiffany the whole time, then Ken is the only one left standing without an alibi.”
“Which means he could more than likely be the killer,” Hayley said as she spotted Aaron coming in from outside and pocketing his phone. “Got to go, Sergio. Talk to you later.”
Hayley hid her phone underneath a napkin as Aaron returned and took his seat across from her. “Sorry about that. I know it’s rude.”
“You’re forgiven this time,” Hayley said, winking.
Ken Massey.
She was sure it was Ken Massey.
But unless he was a master magician, Bar Harbor’s very own David Blaine, how did he get in and out of a locked warehouse without a key?
Chapter 24
Hayley and Aaron sat in his Ford Explorer in the driveway outside of her house. Their arms were wrapped around each other; their warm bodies were pressed together; their lips were locked. Hayley’s knee still throbbed in pain from the tumble off Santa’s sleigh, so she focused on the tingling sensation that swept through the rest of her body.
She felt like she was in high school all over again—the good part of high school, like when she made out with the tight end from the football team in his father’s Chrysler LeBaron after the victorious homecoming game senior year. Not the bad part, when her face broke out with acne three days before junior prom and her date dumped her in favor of her archrival Sabrina Merryweather, with the model-worthy complexion.
Aaron moaned softly as he devoured Hayley.
It felt so satisfying to be back in his arms.
She opened her eyes to look at his face.
His eyes were closed.
His hair was slightly mussed from their intense groping.
But there was no denying just how good-looking he was.
She couldn’t believe this incredibly sweet and handsome man had come so unexpectedly into her life.
She could go on like this all night.
However, whenever a thought like that crossed her mind, there was always something that interrupted the game plan.
And something moving outside, dashing past the car’s headlights, was tonight’s hitch. Hayley pulled away from Aaron and stared into the darkness of the driveway, past the reach of the lights.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“I thought I saw something.”
Aaron reached for the door. “Want me to check it out?”
“No, it’s probably nothing. We get deer foraging around the neighborhood all the time. Last week I had to honk my horn to shoo one away, just so I could back out of my garage. Forget I said anything.”
She leaned in to start kissing again, but she wasn’t fast enough.
Aaron checked his watch.
“It’s getting late. My first appointment is at seven tomorrow morning.”
See? The best-laid plans!
He brushed his lips across hers and whispered, “I had a really nice time tonight.”
“Me too.”
Then he gently placed the palm of his hand on the back of her neck and pulled her closer for one last intoxicating kiss.
“Let me walk you to the door.”
“No, you go home and get some sleep. I still have to write my column and walk Leroy. Good night, Aaron,” Hayley said, opening the passenger-side door and nearly floating out. She was so high from the evening.
“Good night, Hayley,” he said, smiling.
She shut the door. Aaron waited for her to reach the back door to her kitchen safely before he waved, backed his Explorer out of the driveway, and sped off. Hayley was delighted with how the evening had gone. After a few missteps maybe this relationship—for lack of a better word—was now on track to developing into something more serious.
Hayley was halfway inside the house when she heard a noise coming from behind her detached garage.
Is that another deer? A raccoon? Maybe a neighbor’s dog?
She flipped on the porch floodlight, illuminating most of the backyard, but she saw nothing. She walked over to the side of the garage, checking
to see if she could see anything.
Just darkness.
The only movements she could make out were some trees swaying with the night breeze.
She pivoted to head back to the house, when suddenly a hand clamped tightly over her mouth and an arm, which felt as if it were made of steel, wrapped around her waist. She struggled mightily, reaching back with her hand to claw at her assailant’s face, but he was sturdy and strong as he flung around and backed her up against the sidewall of the garage so she was facing him.
Hayley screamed through his meaty palm as she recognized her attacker.
It was Ken Massey.
“Shhh, Hayley, please, I didn’t come here to hurt you. I just want to talk to you. Please be quiet.”
Hayley was having none of it. She already felt discomforted by him after their run-in at the gym. Plus she was reasonably confident he had something to do with Garth Rawlings’s death, given his debunked alibi. She struggled in his grip, but Ken was sinewy and big. He had more muscles than Stallone in his prime.
He kept his hand pressed over her mouth as he pinned her to the wall with his thick free arm, holding her in place. “Listen to me. I just heard Rusty’s been talking to the cops. I know he’s blowing my alibi to bits because he’s jealous I was having a relationship with Tiffany Rawlings, just like he was. So you were right about me not being at the gym the night Garth died. I was home. Watching TV. Alone. Not a soul can back me up. When I heard the coroner ruled Garth’s death a homicide, I got scared, because I was afraid I would fall under suspicion. I’ve seen enough crime shows to know if I didn’t have a solid alibi, everybody in town would automatically assume I did it. So I begged Rusty—my friend, my buddy, my confidant—to back me up and say we were working out together. Which he did do, until he found out I was also seeing Tiffany. Hayley, you have to believe me. I’m innocent. I didn’t kill anybody!”
Hayley stopped struggling in his grip.
Ken relaxed slightly. “If I take my hand away, will you promise not to scream?”
Hayley nodded.
Ken waited a few more seconds to be sure and then slowly withdrew his hand.
Hayley screamed bloody murder.
She didn’t believe this man for a second.