by Hinze, Vicki
“We heard. One person only,” Lys said. “Which is why we have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Right.” Sara agreed.
Kelly nodded. “You fix computers.”
They stood firm with him. Gabby loved that. “I don’t want Kelly in danger because of me, Plumber. Whatever you need done, can’t I do it?”
“No, I’m afraid not,” he said then went on to explain. “Kelly is a trained law enforcement officer. Our odds for success are better with her, Gabby. But you’ll have to pretend to be her while she’s pretending to be you.”
Kelly stiffened. “I can’t do that. Bain talked to me at the station. He knows me.”
“I’ll do it,” Lys said. “He doesn’t know me, and I’m trained.”
“Lys, if I were lost in the woods, you’d be the one I’d pray would be searching for me. But I need Kelly for this. She reads me well. Always has. We could need that edge.“
“He’s right about that, Lys.” Sara pointed heavenward with a fingertip. “I can think of at least a dozen occasions over the years—”
“All right.” Lys glared at Sara.
Plumber pivoted to his sister. “We’ll disguise you. No one will recognize you.”
“If she’s going to be disguised, I can be disguised,” Gabby insisted. “I told you, I don’t want Kelly at risk, too.”
“You can’t shoot,” he said. “She can. If the need arises, I need backup.”
Gabby took in a sharp breath.
Plumber ignored it. “Gabby, you’re going to be dressed as a cop. Kelly will get you a uniform.”
“This isn’t going to work, Plumber,” Sara said.
“It will work. It has to work. If it doesn’t, those men are going to kill Gabby and I’m going to have to kill them.”
Kelly took that in. “We’ll make it work. Just don’t shoot up Christmas Cove, Plumber, and I mean it.”
She turned to Lys and Sara. “You spread the word and get us some help out here. Tell everyone exactly what’s at stake, and that Gabby needs our help. Pastor Ruther will activate the call list. Go to him first.”
Plumber passed the chip he’d removed from Gabby’s coat. “Plant this on a truck leaving town.”
“Tracked her here, huh?” Lys frowned. “On it.” Lys moved toward the door.
“Don’t worry, Gabby. We won’t let you down.” Sara walked out and closed the door.
“Kelly, stop them. I can’t ask the people here to put themselves at risk. I just can’t.”
“They won’t ask,” Kelly assured her. “I’m serious. People in Christmas Cove—all of us protect each other. The only thing Sara and Lys have to say is Gabby’s in trouble.”
“That’s not true.” Gabby didn’t believe her. “No one does that for someone they never met, or that they barely know.” Gabby’s gaze slid to Plumber. “People just aren’t built that way.”
“They are here, Gabby,” Plumber said. “You’ve made some friends already. I was at the coffee shop and Alyce Crawley told me about the chest you gave her daughter. You wanted it for your store, she said, but you knew her daughter loved that chest and she’d been eyeing it for months.”
“The clerk told me.”
“You bought it and gifted it to her.”
“I wanted her to have something she loved for Christmas.”
“Alyce won’t forget that.”
“I didn’t do it to be remembered,” Gabby said, explaining herself.
“I know. So did Alyce.” He tilted his head. “Then you asked her if she had a problem with you selling exotic teas?”
“She owns the coffeeshop.”
“It was considerate.”
“She told me, too.” Kelly chimed in. “She was touched by that. So were the other vendors. “I’m going to go pick up a uniform for Gabby and some disguise props. Be back shortly.”
When Kelly left, Gabby turned to Plumber. “So, Alyce told you about the chest and the tea?”
Plumber nodded. “But I already knew about the chest. Pastor Ruther told me, and he said you were exactly the kind of role model others needed. A good example for the likes of me.”
Gabby gasped. “You’re a wonderful role model.”
“I’ll tell him you said so. He’s remembering too many incidents from my early years.” Plumber disappeared upstairs for a second and returned with a duffle bag. He set it down, unzipped it, and began pulling out guns.
“Ah, I see.” Gabby tried not to overreact. She paced a few steps toward the French door, then turned. “I get that Kelly and I are to pose as each other. But what does that do for us? I’m not getting the big picture on your plan.”
“Bain is looking for Gabby Johnson.” His hands full, Plumber moved place to place—a bookshelf, a cabinet, the microwave. “So, we’re going to have him meet Gabby Johnson . . .”
Why was he stashing weapons all over the cottage? Anxiety rose in her. “You’re going to bring Bain and Fallon here?”
Near the fridge, Plumber stopped and looked over at her. A wicked twinkle lit in his eyes. “What better way to convince them you’re not their Gabby Johnson?”
“Oh, I don’t know about this.” Gabby wasn’t sold on this plan. Not at all sold on it, and she didn’t think bringing Bain and Fallon to this cottage—to her home—was a safe move. “It seems unnecessarily risky to me.”
“It is risky. But we don’t have a lot of options.”
Minutes later, he walked from the kitchen back over to her. “Kelly’s coming up the drive right now. You’re going to need to put on the uniform and go to the police station, then stay put there until I come for you.”
“Coming in,” Kelly called out from the porch. The door cracked open and a woman walked in who looked nothing like Kelly. Her hair was red, her face totally devoid of makeup, and she was dressed in coveralls and a t-shirt mostly hidden by an unbuttoned white shirt that hung almost to her knees. But the most shocking thing was the dark-haired toddler resting on her hip, smiling up at her and calling her mama.
“Kelly?”
“Gabby Johnson,” she said. “My son, Jeremy.”
Gabby got gooseflesh. “Whose child is that?”
“Alyce’s grandson,” Kelly said. “She figured he’d lower the odds of any gunplay—and he calls everyone Mama.”
Kelly smiled—and had totally different looking teeth. For the first time, Gabby’s uncertainty about Plumber’s plan fell to an infusion of hope that it actually would work. She looked at him. “Bain will never identify her as Kelly Meyer.”
“Counting on that. Get into the uniform.”
In short order, Gabby emerged from the bedroom in uniform with her hair tucked up under the hat, her expression stern. “This isn’t going to fool anybody.”
“It doesn’t have to,” Plumber said. “The uniform will keep them away from you.”
They’d walked right into the police station earlier, but they hadn’t been there then to commit murder, so he was probably right.
“It’s time for you to go.” He guided Gabby to the door. “Remember. Go straight to the station and stay put until I come and get you.”
That still didn’t sit right with her. They were taking all the risks. She opened her mouth to object.
His hand on her cheek stopped her. “I know. It’ll be fine.”
If it would be fine, then why had he stashed weapons all over the cottage? She thought it, but held her tongue, stretched on her toes and kissed him. “Be careful.”
“We will.”
Gabby prayed he was right. If anything happened to any of them—a child!—she’d never survive the guilt. Never.
“We’ll be fine,” Kelly waved.
“You better,” Gabby said, trembling, her eyes burning. “I’ve only had three friends in my life and one Plumber.” She blinked hard. “I can’t lose anything else. I just . . . can’t.”
“Have faith, Gabby.” Plumber ushered her the rest of the way to the door, and the second she stepped onto the por
ch, he pushed it shut.
“Weapons in the usual places?” Kelly’s voice carried out onto the porch.
“Yeah. We’re good.”
“Okay, then. Bain and Fallon will be here at five o’clock . . ..”
Chapter Nineteen
Tuesday, December 15, 4:15 p.m.
Technically, Gabby kept her word. She went straight to the station. But then she made a U-turn in the parking lot and drove down Main Street. She could not sit sheltered in the safety of the station while Plumber and Kelly and little Jeremy took all the risks for her. She had to go back. She’d hide in the woods nearby, then if trouble erupted, she could at least intervene as a distraction.
To do it effectively, she needed a weapon she could just aim and fire. She’d never before held a gun much less fired one, but Bain didn’t know that, and to protect Plumber or Kelly or little Jeremy, Gabby would do it.
At the curb, she pulled to a stop in front of Alyce’s coffeeshop. It was dark inside and the sign on the door read: Closed.
Finding that strange, Gabby looked down Main Street. Everything was closed—all the shops. Pulling out her phone, she dialed Sara. Her call went straight to voice mail. So did Lys’s. As a last resort, Gabby called Pastor Ruther. “Voice mail.” Where was everybody?
The station would have weapons. But they weren’t apt to let Gabby waltz in and appropriate one. Kelly was off the chief’s hit list for firing since Gabby helped her get the computer fixed and her report uploaded, but Gabby borrowing a weapon would certainly get Kelly right back on it and demoted or fired. That the triple threat had adopted her as a fourth in their group was known all over Christmas Cove.
At Patchwork Needle, Gabby spotted something leaning against the bench Leigh Pace had sitting out front near the door. Gabby stopped. A baseball bat. “Well, it’s better than nothing.”
She retrieved the bat and then headed back toward the cottage. How odd Main Street seemed with absolutely no one around. She’d never seen it deserted, regardless of the day or time she’d driven in. Another festival workday? Something significant had to be going on. Strange that Kelly hadn’t mentioned anything.
About a mile from the mailbox and turn, Gabby pulled off the road and into the woods, hiding the Malibu from view behind dense foliage. Grabbing the bat, she took off toward the cottage, avoiding the driveway and getting too close to the clearing.
The branches underfoot crunched with her steps. In the silent woods, the sound seemed magnified. To her left, something scurried off. She glimpsed it from the corner of her eye but couldn’t make out what she’d seen. Probably a raccoon or something like that. Trying hard to move soundlessly, she gave up on that. The undergrowth was too brittle and dry, so she hoped for making minimal noise instead.
Curving around trees in her path, she made her way to a point lining up with the far end of the front porch, hoping Bain and Fallon would park close enough that, should the need arise, she could get to them before they got to Plumber or Kelly.
In position behind a massive twisted oak, Gabby checked her watch. Five o’clock. Her heart raced, and she touched a hand to her chest. Please, keep them safe. Please. Please . . .
A car approached on the driveway. It was black. As it drew closer, she recognized it as an SUV, so seeing Fallon behind the wheel didn’t surprise her. The door to the cottage opened and Plumber and Kelly stepped out onto the porch. Jeremy, parked on Kelly’s hip, wailed at the top of his lungs. That did surprise Gabby. The child had a sunny disposition and had been all smiles and giggles. Now he raged, and he definitely had a set of lungs on him. Trying to calm him down, Kelly ducked back into the cottage and then came right back out onto the porch. She’d wrapped a blanket around Jeremy and held him snuggled to her chest. It didn’t seem to slow his crying. If anything, it intensified.
Fallon and Bain got out of the SUV. “Hello. I’m Agent Bain, FBI.” He looked around and raised his voice to be heard over Jeremy. “Officer Meyer was supposed to be here.”
“She called,” Plumber said. “There’s been an accident at the festival. She’s been delayed. She said she was going to call you and postpone, but we told her your coming without her was fine. We’d talk to you on our own. Must be important to bring you all the way out here.” Plumber walked closer to the edge of the porch. “So, what can we do for you, Agent Bain?”
Kelly stepped forward. “I’m so sorry about the crying. I can see you cringing from here. He’s teething, poor angel. It’s a nightmare.”
Bain feigned a sympathetic nod. “Are you Gabby Johnson?”
“I am, though at the moment, I half-wish I was anyone else.”
Bain actually smiled. “I remember those days.”
“Tell me they end.”
“Afraid not.” He grunted. “You just go from worrying about one thing to another until they’re about twenty-five. Doesn’t stop then, but you do get breaks now and then.”
“I was afraid of that.” Kelly grunted, bounced the baby at her chest. “Well, at least there are good moments, too.”
As if on cue, Jeremy started screaming, “Mama. Mama. Cookie, Mama.”
“In a minute, honey.” She smiled at him, and he started wailing again. “I am so sorry,” she told Fallon and Bain in a voice strange to Gabby’s ears.
“It’s not her,” Fallon told Bain. “Let’s go.”
Bain nodded. “We’re sorry to have troubled you,” he said. Our Ms. Johnson has been missing. Her family is deeply concerned. We’ve been searching for her, and we’d hoped we’d found her here, but clearly we have not.”
“No trouble,” Plumber said.
“Why would anyone show up here that doesn’t have to be here?” Kelly asked, making it clear she wasn’t a fan of Christmas Cove.
“We don’t know that she would,” Bain said. “We got a tip she could be here, and so we had to check it out. If a stranger comes around with your same name, will you let us know right away?” Bain passed Plumber a business card. “You can reach me on the mobile twenty-four seven.”
Plumber took the card. “Do we need to be careful, Agent? Is your Gabby Johnson dangerous?”
“Oh, no. No.”
Plumber feigned confusion. “Then why are you looking for her?”
“We’re trying to find her to protect her.”
“From what?” he pushed.
“I’m afraid I can’t divulge that information,” Bain said. His regret almost sounded genuine.
“Well, I hope you’re successful,” Kelly said. “I can’t see anyone coming here on purpose, but if she should, it’s good to know she’s not a serial killer or something.”
“My wife bends a little low on the dramatic side,” Plumber lowered his voice. “Is there any reason that whatever you’re trying to protect your Ms. Johnson from will impact my wife? Her having the same name brought you here. Could it bring—”
“No, not to worry. There’s no way your wife could be mistaken for Gabby Johnson. The other Gabby Johnson, I mean.”
Plumber looked a little affronted and sniffed. “If we hear of anything, we’ll let you know.” He looked at Kelly. Take the baby inside. It’s cold out here, and his wailing is rattling my nerves.”
“Sorry, honey.” Kelly went into the cottage and closed the door.
Plumber looked back at Bain. “I’m recalling fondly my days of—”
“Solitude?”
“Peace and quiet,” Plumber said. “But I could settle for solitude.”
Fallon was on the phone. “Got it.” He turned toward the SUV. “We need to move. They just picked up a signal about twenty miles south of here.”
Bain stared long and hard at Plumber.
He didn’t flinch. “Have a good day, Agent Bain—and Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas.” He pivoted and he and Fallon hustled back to the SUV.
Plumber stayed on the porch and watched until Bain and Fallon cleared the driveway and turned onto the paved road.
Gabby forced herself not to
rush to the porch, to stay put in the woods. She even entertained the idea of speeding back to the station, but the deception in that galled her.
“Gabby?” Plumber called out. “You can come out now.”
She gulped in a sharp breath. He knew she was here? How had he known?
“Gabby?” He shouted again. “Come out. It’s okay.”
She cut through the trees to the porch and climbed the steps.
“Did you even go to the station?” Plumber was vexed, and she couldn’t really blame him. “Well, did you?”
“I did. But I thought you might need some backup, so I came back.”
“With a baseball bat.”
“Everything was closed. I couldn’t get to a gun.” She walked into his arms. “I thought, if push came to shove, I could be a distraction.”
“And grateful we are that you couldn’t.” Kelly came out of the cottage without Jeremy. “People not trained to handle firearms just shouldn’t handle firearms.”
Gabby hugged her. “I’m glad you’re okay.” She pulled back. “Where is Jeremy?”
“With Alyce.”
“He was right here,” Gabby said.
“He was earlier,” Kelly said. “He left right after Bain arrived.”
“But I saw him in your arms. I heard him crying.”
“A recording,” Plumber said. “You never saw his face.”
That was true. He’d had his head buried against Kelly’s shoulder and under the blanket the whole time, and he was wailing so loud, all Gabby had focused on was the crying, him asking for a cookie and crying some more. “I didn’t.”
Plumber frowned. “In five years, have you ever known me to put a child in jeopardy?”
She hadn’t. “Sorry.” Gabby should have thought of that. “Kelly, I didn’t even recognize your voice.”
“That was the objective.” She smiled with the strange teeth.
“Thank you for doing this,” Gabby said, then looked at Plumber. “And you.” She stiffened. “Do you think they’ll stay away now?”