Christmas Carol

by Samantha Jacobey

  Watching him adjust into his seat, Caroline felt sick. She had hoped she had gotten past that tidbit of poor judgement, but apparently Gary wasn’t going to let it slide. “I made a mistake,” she finally admitted in a quiet voice. “I really didn’t want to talk about it in front of Ben and Candy, either.”

  “So, what did you do, exactly? It’s just us, and Daks isn’t going to tell anyone,” he chuckled, indicating the boy on the floor with an open palm.

  “I know, Gary,” she sighed, brushing at her leg as she tucked her feet beneath her. “It was stupid. I didn’t think about the consequences when I did it; what it could cost me. As it turns out, it cost me everything,” she sniffed, obviously disturbed by the realization.

  “Just spit it out,” he reassured. “But be quick before we get interrupted.”

  “I made a fake email account, and I sent Harvey Waters a demand for fifty-thousand dollars,” she said in a rush.

  Her words sinking in, Gary’s jaw dropped, and in his silence, she gushed on, “I don’t even see how they knew it came from me. I used a fake name to create a gmail account and even sent it from the office instead of my home computer.”

  “When did you do this?” Gary managed, sitting forward in the chair, obviously disturbed by the news.

  “About three months ago,” she confessed. “I just sent it the one time, and then logged in every once in a while, to see what he replied, but he never did. As far as I know, he never even read the email.”

  “Well, obviously he read it,” his voice grew louder, “he sent someone to search your place. Carol, you should have told us about this at the beginning! There can’t be any doubt that Harvey did this!” Leaping to his feet, Gary fished his cell phone out of his pocket and made a call while heading to his office. Inside, he shut the door and listened to the ring before Ben’s answering service picked up. “Sorry, wrong number,” he clipped before he hung up.

  Turning on his heel, he swung the door open to find Caroline standing in the hall. “I need Ben’s cell number,” he demanded loudly. “Now, Caroline!”

  Not about to argue, she stepped past him and scratched it onto a notepad for him with a pen from the desk. “I’m sorry,” she whispered as she handed it to him. “I was ashamed of what I had done, and I still don’t see how he knew it came from me.”

  “The IP address,” he dropped casually as he dialed and placed the device to his ear. “It wouldn’t have been hard for him to trace it back to you with his skills and connections. You probably didn’t even bother to use a different computer.”

  “I used the one at my desk,” she admitted as her face flushed. “Oh my God, Gary! Do you think they will do something to Ben?”

  The man in question answered the call at that moment, “Hey! Wasn’t expecting to hear from you tonight.”

  “Ben, we have a problem,” Gary informed him without preamble. “If you’re still at work, you need to get out of there, and don’t come here. I’ll meet you at your place instead,” he suggested, while tapping the note pad as in indication for her to provide him with the address.

  “I’m not at the office,” Ben replied. “In fact, I’m only about two blocks away right now.”

  “You’re coming here? Why would you come here?” Gary panted, struck by near panic.

  “Relax, it’s nothing like that. I’ve got great news, and I wanted to share it with you both at the same time,” Ben laughed.

  “Fine, we’ll see you in just a minute,” Gary snapped, ending the call abruptly.

  “He’ll be here any second,” he informed the girl next to him. “He said everything was going to be fine, but with your latest bombshell, I’m scared to death at what might happen next,” he growled as he pushed past her and headed for the back porch to await his arrival.

  The crash came as a loud boom that seemed to roll through the air, tumbling over the houses and crushing Gary’s family home under its weight. Frozen, staring at one another, the pair had stopped breathing as they waited, listening to the silence. Then suddenly, Gary leapt into action.

  Spinning, he fled the office and double-checked the front and back doors, finding both to be secure. Then back in his office, his hands shook as he dug in his briefcase to retrieve the flash drive he had created storing all the documents they had put together on the case.

  “What are you doing?” Caroline whined when she finally found her voice. “Was that Ben?” her voice cracked and a tear rolled down her face.

  “I can’t say without going to look, and I can’t leave you guys here alone,” he informed her as his computer booted. “Right now, I need to drop this file in as many mailboxes as I can reach.”

  “What is that? And how is that going to help?”

  “I scanned your evidence when I made my copy. I hid my copy with instructions how to find it, in case anything happened. And, I kept the digital copy in case I needed to share it with anyone else, which is exactly what I intend to do,” he explained in a rush. “Please go watch out the window and yell out if you see ANYTHING or anyone set foot on this property.”

  “What about Candy?”

  “Let her sleep. There’s not a lot she can do except worry at this point, and I’d rather let her get her rest.”

  No excuses

  Looking down at the boy who played in the front room as she entered, tears dripped from Caroline’s chin. Taking up the corner next to the front door, she peeked out of the curtain and watched the darkness outside. Finding it difficult to see, she cut off the overhead lamp and said aloud, “Let’s play in the dark, Daks.”

  With the small amount of light coming from the kitchen, he ignored her and simply gravitated in that direction with his play. Returning her attention to the window, her throat clamped shut as she let out a low squeal.

  Dashing back to Gary’s office, she managed through heavy breaths, “A black van just turned into the driveway. They have their headlights off.”

  “Ok, I’ll meet them at the back,” he agreed, opening the closet and then his gun safe that he kept hidden inside it. Removing a shotgun, he filled it with shells and then added a clip to his .9-mm pistol. Carrying them both, he instructed, “Take Daks and go in Lanelle’s room. Shut, lock and barricade the door, and then call the police. Tell them we have a home intruder and to send help.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  “I’m going to stall them; and try to bargain for our lives,” he replied, his features frozen in focused purpose as he made the turn into the kitchen and clomped towards the back door.

  Behind him, Caroline dropped to her knees beside the boy. Taking a hold of the bulky fire engine, she suggested, “Come on, Daks; let’s go play in Mimi’s room.”

  Looking up at her with wide eyes, his simple understanding of the household rules intervened, and he failed to move. Unable to articulate, he simply replied, “Mimi’s no.”

  “Tonight, Mimi’s is yes,” she encouraged, pulling his hand to guide him. “Come on. I’m bringing the woo-woos and we can play with Mimi and mommy.”

  Following reluctantly, the police car in his other hand, Caroline got him inside and closed the door, hearing the back door open as she leaned against it to lock it.

  “What’s going on?” Candy demanded in the darkness before switching on the lamp next to the bed.

  Her mouth dry, Caroline could hardly form the words. “Something’s happened. They’ve found us… found me, and Gary has gone out to confront them. He told me to bring Dakota in here with us and lock the door. We’re supposed to block it up with everything we can find and call the police.”

  “Oh, sweet Jesus,” Candy panted, grabbing her forehead and then using the hand to pull her hair back and grasp it into a knot on top of her head. Her mouth hanging open, she managed, “We have mom’s emergency call alarm. I don’t have my cell, do you have yours?”

  Shaking her head, Caroline asked in a shaky voice, “Why is there no phone in this room?”

  “Because it’s on the wall right outside
the door,” Candy grunted back, stepping into the bathroom and yanking the cord on the wall between the tub and toilet. “This will notify the call center that there’s an emergency.”

  “How do they respond?” Caroline asked, already pushing the large stuffed chair from the corner across to put in front of the door. The phone on the other side began to ring.

  “They call,” Candy replied, taking an arm and helping her position the back against the flat surface. “When no one answers, they’ll try a few other numbers, and then send an ambulance.”

  “Great,” Caroline muttered, “they should get here in time to collect the bodies.”

  Gary waited until Caroline had entered Lanelle’s small quarters and shut the door. Then, he cut off the kitchen lights and slowly cracked the back door. In the parking area sat a plain back cargo van, it’s engine still making quiet popping noises after having been recently driven.

  He called “we need to talk” into the darkness before he stomped out onto the porch brandishing his weapons openly. “Who’s out here?” he tried again. He could hear the boards creek on the far end of the veranda and turned slowly to find three men in a small huddle, apparently planning their next move.

  “Is that you, Harvey?” Gary raised his shotgun and pointed it at the slender man, the obvious leader of the trio. “Come on closer,” he commanded. “This is over, whether you like it or not. Hurting anyone else isn’t going to change the outcome for you and your buddies here.”

  “No?” Harvey replied, taking a few slow steps in his direction. “I think we have the situation contained, as soon as we get inside.”

  “Wrong,” Gary clipped. “I sent a digital copy of Carol’s evidence to everyone in my friend’s list, including everyone I knew when I worked for the county. I also told them about her attempt to blackmail you and where to find that evidence,” he bluffed, but only to a small degree. “Hurting my family won’t save you,” he said more quietly.

  In the distance, a siren drifted faintly on the air, and they all paused to listen. “You hear that? The police are already on their way,” Gary grunted, adjusting his grip on his weapon.

  “That’s for the crash,” Harvey informed him. “Putting old Benjamin in the ditch wasn’t hard with the roads iced over the way they were today.” He took another step closer, and Gary could see his fearless face; the man wasn’t giving up.

  “That’s far enough,” Gary spat, hoping to stall as long as possible before he shot the three of them down. “I need to know why you did this, Harvey. You were an investigator. It was your job to bring people to justice, not put them in danger. Do you know how many people died because of what you did?”

  “Yeah, I know.” Harvey grinned, causing Gary’s stomach to turn. “But you had the same job; you know how thankless it is. How empty and meaningless, with pitiful pay, long hours and dangerous conditions.”

  Gary would have interrupted to disagree, but he had the man talking, and didn’t want to shut him down, so he agreed instead; “Yeah, I know. Is that your excuse?”

  “I don’t need any excuses,” Harvey chuckled. “I’ve been building a nice little nest egg for myself these last few years, and soon I’ll be able to retire. I’ll get out of this business just the way you did.”

  More sirens joined the song in the night air, moving closer.

  “I have better pay,” Gary informed him, “but it’s not a better job. If you made all that money, why didn’t you just pay her off and get away?”

  “I had to shut her up,” Harvey took another step forward. “I had to be sure what she knew. I’m old enough to draw retirement next year; with the fires this season, I would have been set.”

  “This season?” Gary raised his brow in doubt.

  “Yeah; winter. Christmas. Lots of fires happen around Christmas, Gary,” Harvey sneered. “Dry trees, space heaters, fire places,” he laughed. “Lots of innocent reasons that a building could go up.”

  “So, you burn them down and make it look like an accident. Do you set the fires, or do you just write them off?”

  “I think I’ve shared enough,” Harvey replied curtly, crossing the short distance between them as he reached for the gun.

  Gary anticipated the move and dropped the weapon to the side and shooting the man behind Harvey in the leg.

  Raising the pistol, he caught the man in front of him in the gut. “I said don’t move!” he shouted, pointing both weapons at the only man left standing as the other two writhed around on the wooden surface in pain, the sirens louder than ever.

  Raising his hands slowly, the final hoodlum looked around, as if considering which direction to run when swirling blue and red lights flooded the yard, and a man leapt out of ambulance as it came to a stop. “What’s the emergency?” he called out.

  “Hey, Bill,” Gary replied, overwhelmed with joyous relief. “These guys thought it would be good night for a little B and E with a side of arson. I guess they were wrong.”

  On the porch, the two EMTs assessed the gunshot wounds while Gary kept the third firmly in his sights. “Don’t even try it,” he hissed. “I’d shoot you before you even made it to the fence.”

  Eve Advice

  “Surprise,” Evelyne called as she entered her son’s home. It was Christmas eve, and they had arrived in town that morning to surprise their son and his family with gifts and holiday dinner.

  “What are you doing here!” Candy squealed, throwing her arms around the taller woman for a hug. Realized the awkwardness in her mother-in-law’s stiff form, she released her, and settled for a less enthusiastic half-squeeze from Roger. “Did Gary know you were coming?”

  “No, silly girl, that’s why it’s a surprise,” Eve informed her while removing her coat. Looking around, she wrinkled her nose and demanded, “Where is Gerald? It’s Christmas Eve, don’t tell me he’s working!”

  “He’s,” Candy hesitated. “He’s at the hospital with Caroline and Ben. I think they are going to release Ben today, and they are going to help him get home and settled.”

  “That Gary,” Roger shook his head with a chuckle. “He’s always been the natural hero, in every situation.”

  “Yes,” Candy agreed. “I’m beginning to think he is addicted to saving people,” she added quietly as she accepted their coats and placed them in the closet in the hall. “Are you staying for dinner?”

  Eve could see the strain on her son’s bride’s features. “This is your wedding anniversary, Candice. You don’t have any special plans?”

  Leading them into the kitchen, Candy glanced into her mother’s room, where Daks and Lanelle both lay sleeping, stretched out side by side on her bed. “Things have been hard this year, Evelyne,” she sighed, pouring herself a cup of warm coffee. “What am I saying; things are hard every year. Christmas hates me.”

  “Christmas doesn’t hate you,” Eve smirked, preparing a cup for herself. “Gary told me about the incident with Caroline. I was furious that he put the three of you in danger to help her.”

  “I was, too,” Candy agreed, turning to find Dakota standing in the doorway and rubbing his eyes. “Aww, honey, did we wake you?”

  “How about I take him outside for a bit of snowman building,” Roger offered, already retrieving his coat. “That way you girls can talk.”

  Helping her son into his winter gear, Candy silently agreed. She would hate to admit it out loud, but at the moment she was in need of some great Eve advice. Closing the door once they were gone, she began in earnest, “I was so angry when Gary brought her home. But it was so incredible having her here, Eve. I mean, the cops and the guys who showed up to burn our house down weren’t great, but Caroline herself was pretty fantastic. She cooked, she cleaned,” Candy lamented as she curled into her mother’s favorite chair at the table. “She took care of my mother and my son with nothing but love. How do we replace her?”

  “Are you sure she’s going to quit?” the older woman calmly sipped her brew, seated in the chair across from her.

  �
��Yeah, I’m sure she will. Ben is going to give her back her job. She was a great secretary from all accounts,” Candy sniffed. “Why would she choose being ‘the help’ over that? I mean, what can I do about it?”

  “You should speak to her, Candice. Let her know that you want her to stay and be a part of your family, if that’s truly what you desire.”

  Candy glared at her. “You know what she did to Gary,” she bit curtly. “I was thinking you would talk me out of this nonsense and convince me that her leaving was the best thing that could happen to us.”

  “I’m not going to convince you of anything,” Evelyn’s laughter tinkled lightly. “Yes, I am aware of the circumstances between Caroline and Gary. She was a young and foolish girl, and I knew from the moment that I met her that she was lying about her pregnancy. I’ve never put much faith in the girls that Gary chose to date,” she raised her coffee cup to the one who won her son’s heart in the end. “Thankfully, I wasn’t always right about them.”

  “You’ve got that right,” Candy agreed with a tiny grin. “But she also tried to extort money from a criminal, and that wasn’t so long ago. Who knows what she might do, living here in this house with us. Are you saying you would ask her to stay, if you were in my shoes?”

  Eve shrugged, “I can’t say what I would do; I’m not in your shoes.” She glanced around at the spotless kitchen. “What I can say is that I’ve never seen this house look better, and that includes when it’s previous owner occupied it. Even Aunt Betty couldn’t keep it this spotless. I think Gary was right; you need someone to help out around here with the housework, and with caring for Dakota and Lanelle. If that person is Caroline, then so be it.”

  Blinking at the older woman a few times, Candy allowed the words to sink in before she replied, “You have such a way with people, Eve. Every time I think you are going to react one way, you totally surprise me.”