Undercover Christmas

by BJ Daniels

  He closed his eyes, searching for sleep, praying for sleep. He groaned as his thoughts went straight to Marni. As much as he’d tried not to, he’d caught a glimpse of her as she’d come out of the bathroom wearing, of all things, a chenille robe. Wrapped modestly around her, covering everything but about two inches of her nightgown, sticking out the bottom of the robe. Flannel.

  God, a woman in a flannel nightgown and a grandmother kind of robe and he couldn’t get the image off his mind. Nor could he forget the scent of her. Soapy clean. Her face shiny. Her hair brushed and floating around her shoulders. Her feet and ankles bare.

  He groaned again, sitting up on the couch to beat his pillow into submission, before he lay back down. Once again he started to tell himself all the reasons why it would never work, the two of them, then he remembered the phone call.

  He reached over, picked up the receiver and hit redial. The phone rang and rang. He thought he’d been wrong. Maybe she had called the boutique as she’d indicated earlier. Maybe it was only his suspicious mind that made him think she hadn’t wanted him to know whom she’d called.

  The phone kept ringing. The boutique would be closed now. No one would answer. He was ready to hang up, feeling bad about suspecting Marni, when the phone quit ringing.

  “Hello.” The voice of a woman. Awakened from sleep. “May I help you?” Hilda asked.

  She’d already helped him. Chase thought, hanging up. Now all he wondered was why Marni had called the ranch and why she felt the need to lie about it.

  Lilly. He shook his head and lay down again, with a curse. Why couldn’t Marni see that befriending Lilly was a big mistake? Because it was Marni’s nature. She saw Lilly as defenseless and in need of an advocate. But Chase wondered just how defenseless Lilly Calloway really was. And if Hayes turned out to be Elise’s lover, who knew what Lilly was capable of?

  When Marni came out of the bathroom a second time, she wished him a good-night, turned out the light and closed the bedroom door.

  He groaned as he heard the springs on the bed squeak as she climbed between the sheets. It was going to be a long night.

  Chapter Fifteen

  December 23

  The next morning, Chase insisted Marni go down to the store for coffee while he made a few phone calls.

  She got the impression he hadn’t slept well. Also that she made him uncomfortable. She could see that whenever she was around him. And more and more, she hoped it might be because he shared some of her feelings. It made her smile as she took the stairs to the store.

  To Marni’s surprise the small grocery was nothing as she’d expected. The moment she opened the door she smelled fresh coffee. And something else. Cookies baking. Chocolate chip. Marni stood for a moment, amazed how light and airy the store was. And immaculately clean.

  Somewhere behind the neat aisles music played softly. But it was another sound, children giggling, that Marni followed to the back of the store, past rows of canned goods.

  “Good morning,” a robust woman said from behind the counter and smiled. “You look like a woman who could use a cup of coffee.”

  “You read my mind,” Marni said as the woman handed her a pottery cup filled with a wonderful almondy aroma.

  ‘"The store’s specialty. You must be new to the neighborhood.” She held out her hand. “I’m Angie.”

  Marni took her hand, thinking how different this little store was from the chains she’d been in. “Marni Mc-Cumber.” Then quickly added, “Just call me Elise. Everyone does.”

  Angie smiled broadly. “Welcome to Burton’s.” She motioned to several comfortable-looking chairs set around a small round oak table. Behind the chairs were two bookshelves full of used paperbacks. Sunlight streamed in the windows, making the little setting so inviting Marni was tempted, but she knew Chase would be down any minute and anxious to go. He seemed awfully impatient this morning.

  She heard the giggles again. They had an impish quality that drew her deeper into the store. She peeked around a corner into a large open room filled with sunshine, soft couches and chairs and toys. Large colorful animals had been painted on the walls. This room was not only the source of the music but the giggles.

  Marni peered over the back of one of the couches to find a half-dozen preschool-age children huddled together amidst a pile of toys, playing a game with a young college-age woman. Whatever the game was, it had the kids in hysterics.

  Marni smiled, unable to resist.

  “They’re having a grand old time today,” Angie said. “Here, you’d better try one of these.”

  She offered Marni a cookie, straight out of the oven. “You run a day care in the back of the grocery,” Marni asked as she took a bite of the cookie. “Oh this cookie is…delicious.”

  Angle smiled. “My own recipe.” She looked back at the children. “It’s something the owner of the store started. A place where the neighborhood could come not just to buy groceries but to visit, let the kids play for a while and give their moms a break. Some of the mothers in this neighborhood are going back to school, trying to get jobs, trying to better themselves. Burton’s just helps them with a little free baby-sitting.”

  “That’s incredible,” Marni said, looking around the store.

  “It’s kind of a haven in an area of the city that’s seen better days,” Angie said. “Chase says the neighborhood will get better if there’s hope. That’s what Burton’s is. Hope.”

  “Chase?” Marni asked in surprise. “Chase Calloway owns Burton’s?”

  Angie laughed. “I thought you knew.”

  She looked around the store, seeing it with different eyes. Chase Calloway never ceased to amaze her. But she wondered if she’d ever get to know the real him or would he always try to hide that from her? That’s if he even gave her a chance to get to know him, she reminded herself.

  Behind her, Marni heard the door of the store open with the faint tinkle of the bell. She turned, expecting to see Chase. Instead, a young woman came through the door. Two things instantly struck Marni about her. Her long dark hair and her enormous pregnant stomach.

  “How are you doing, Raine, dear?” Angie inquired as the woman worked her way back through the rows of groceries.

  “I can’t wait until I have this baby,” Raine said, sounding exhausted. She smiled at Marni, taking in Sam.

  Marni was surprised how young the woman was.

  “At least finals are over and next semester will be easier,” Angie said, totaling up the small amount of groceries the young woman put on the counter.

  When Raine reached into her purse to pay, Angie stopped her. “Chase says since you’ve been volunteering in the back it’s his treat today.”

  The woman looked up, surprised and instantly relieved. “Thank you, Angie. Please tell him when you see him how much I appreciate this.”

  “Not at all. You just take care of yourself and that baby. And if you need anything, anything at all, Chase says for you to let him know.”

  “Does Chase take that kind of interest in all his customers?” Marni asked after Raine left.

  “That one he worries about So young. Got herself in a bind. But she’ll be fine once she has her baby.”

  Marni wanted to ask more about Raine, but the bell over the front door tinkled again and this time Chase’s broad shoulders filled the doorway. He gave her a curt nod, then retreated outside.

  “I’d better get going,” Marni said, finishing the wonderful coffee and handing Angie the cup. “What do I owe you?”

  Angie shook her head. “No charge for new people in the neighborhood. Just come back soon.”

  “I will,” Marni said, hurrying out to find Chase waiting for her in the pickup. She climbed in, pleasantly surprised to find that he’d let it run and warm up for her.

  “That’s quite the store you live over,” Marni said, glancing back. “Although I do wonder how the owner makes a living, giving away free child care and groceries.”

  If Chase heard her, he didn’t take th
e bait. She doubted he’d ever volunteer any information about himself.

  “I have to check on a couple of jobs,” he said, shifting the pickup into gear.

  “Jobs?” He had other jobs?

  They had only gone a few blocks when Chase pulled up in front of a small rundown house that was in the process of being remodeled. “I’ll only be a moment,” he said and got out

  Marni watched him through the front window of the house, talking to an older man doing carpentry work inside. A few minutes later, Chase came back to the pickup. He drove a block to another house, this one in even worse repair than the last.

  “You’re a carpenter?” she asked when she couldn’t stand it any longer.

  “Would that surprise you?” he asked.

  Nothing about him would surprise her. And yet everything did. Especially Burton’s. Why had he named it that? she wondered. “I’ve wondered what you did for a living ever since I found out you didn’t work for Calloway Ranches,” she said.

  Not surprisingly, he didn’t respond.

  “Shouldn’t you be working? I mean, will you lose your job?”

  He smiled. “Are you worried that I’ll go hungry?”

  She laughed. “Not as long as you live over that grocery store. I’m sure the owner would see that you didn’t starve until you got on your feet again.”

  Chase opened his door. “I can take a few days off without being evicted. I’ll be right back.”

  They checked a couple more of Chase’s jobs, all in the same neighborhood as his apartment, then Chase took her back to his place where he opened a can of bean with bacon soup and they ate an early lunch in front of the TV.

  Marni realized he was using the TV to keep from having to talk to her. She suspected he was using the apartment and the soup to try to send her a message. Only he didn’t know how many ball games she could watch, how many cans of soup she could eat Nor did he know that by pushing her away he only made her more determined to find the Chase he was trying so hard to hide from her. She wasn’t just a sucker for people in trouble; she had the patience of Job. She could wait out Chase Calloway, she told herself.

  CHASE SAW MARNI gazing out the window wistfully. He glanced around the apartment, suddenly aware of how drab it looked. Certainly no sign that Christmas was only two days away.

  He felt almost guilty for the way he’d been behaving. Almost. He was just being himself. Fighting for his life was more like it Whatever you say, Scrooge. He groaned silently. Okay, so maybe he’d been laying it on pretty thick with the canned soup in front of the television, the fast-food burgers in the pickup cab.

  He looked at Marni’s slim back, her hair golden in the light, and felt a stab of contrition. Marni was trying to save her pregnant twin and what was Chase Calloway doing to help? Not much. He was too busy trying to shore up the walls around his heart.

  “I have to run an errand. Just to be safe, would you mind staying with Angie in the store until I get back? I won’t be long.” He knew he sounded mysterious. “It’s a quick job I have to do.” He knew she’d understand work if nothing else.

  When he came back, he found her in the day-care part of the store, playing a game with the kids. He stood watching her, overwhelmed with emotions that choked him up and made him angry with himself. He’d hoped these ridiculous feelings would go away but, if anything, they seemed to be getting stronger. If he didn’t know better, he’d think he was falling in love with this woman.

  “Come on,” he said after she’d finished the game. “We have to get ready.”

  She looked up at him, surprised, it seemed, to find him standing there. He suspected she knew what he’d been feeling moments before. Sometimes he felt as if she could see into his heart That was a frightening thought, when he didn’t even know his own mind around her, let alone his heart.

  “I got you something,” he said as they climbed the stairs. He felt suddenly foolish. What if she read more into the gift than he’d meant her to? He mentally kicked himself for feeling anxious as he opened the door to the apartment for her and watched her face to see her reaction.

  MARNI STARED at the hopelessly lopsided Christmas tree standing by the front window.

  “It was the only one left in town,” Chase said quickly. “I know how you are about Christmas and all…”

  Her eyes filled with tears. “It’s the most beautiful Christmas tree I’ve ever seen,” she said, turning to look at him.

  He smiled, appearing relieved and at the same time embarrassed. “I picked up some lights and I thought—”

  “The kids in the day care would make ornaments,” she finished for him. “Maybe string some popcorn and cranberries and make a party out of it.”

  He laughed and nodded. “That’s exactly what I thought you’d say.”

  She flew to him, wrapping her arms around his neck in a hug. “Thank you.”

  “It’s nothing,” he said softly as his arms came around her.

  Marni stood in the circle of his arms, her arms around his neck, looking up into his gaze.

  He drew her closer, his lips coming down on hers. Gentle, tentative, then demanding.

  He drew back to look into her eyes. “We’d better get ready for the funeral.” And pulled away.

  SUNSET MEMORIAL CEMETERY sat on a wooded hillside overlooking Bozeman. Most days only pine trees and tombstones silhouetted the winter sky. Today hundreds of cars lined the narrow cemetery roads.

  “Vanessa loves a spectacle,” Chase said in disgust as he parked the pickup. “She’s finally found a role she can excel at—Jabe Calloway’s grieving widow.” He motioned to the camera crews around Vanessa. The widow wore black and appeared to be sniffling into a hankie.

  Chase led Marni up the freshly plowed road to stand at the back of the large crowd of mourners. Other camera crews had set up their equipment graveside, anxious to get thirty seconds of the rich, notorious and dead on the nightly news. Chase wondered how many of the mourners were there for the chance to see themselves on TV, how many had come out of morbid curiosity and how many wanted to be sure Jabe Calloway was dead and gone.

  One thing Chase knew for sure, none had attended out of friendship. Jabe Calloway had no friends that Chase knew of. Only enemies. And family. And at least one of them was an enemy, too, he thought.

  As the service started, Dayton took his place between his mother and wife. Chase watched Felicia and Vanessa scan the crowd furtively from behind their black veils.

  “Do you see Lilly?” Marni whispered beside Chase.

  Lilly was conspicuously absent. “Vanessa was probably afraid Lilly would embarrass her.”

  Vanessa had called earlier that morning at the apartment.

  “The media will be at the funeral,” she’d announced.

  “So?” he’d said, still half-asleep and always easily annoyed with Vanessa and her idea of important life matters. He’d also had a long, sleepless night on the couch he didn’t even want to think about

  “We must present a united front.”

  “What the hell does that mean?” Chase asked.

  “We must look like a family.”

  “Well, for that, you’re going to have to do a lot more than get everyone to show up at Jabe’s funeral,” Chase snapped.

  “The point is, I want you there.”

  “That’s a first, Vanessa.”

  A deep sigh. “Can I count on you, Chase, or not?” she asked with somewhat controlled anger.

  “Vanessa, there is only one thing you can count on from me. I know someone in this big, happy family murdered my father and made several attempts on Elise McCumber’s life. I plan to see that person behind bars.”

  “Have you lost your mind?” she hissed into the phone, obviously afraid the hired help might overhear. “The coroner ruled it a suicide and Elise—Really, Chase, she staged those accidents, any fool can see that. The only problem was, one of them went awry and now Hayes is in the hospital.”

  Chase swore. “That’s ridiculous. Elise co
uld have been killed that day in the barn if I hadn’t gotten there when I did.”

  “But she wasn’t and my Hayes was almost killed,” Vanessa said, her voice pure ice. “I don’t understand why you, of all people, believe anything that woman says. Unless you are the father of her baby.”

  He gritted his teeth. “You might as well hear it from me, Vanessa. Elise is carrying a Calloway baby.”

  “The family will demand a paternity test. Imagine the bad publicity if it gets out.”

  He wanted to laugh. “Vanessa, imagine the bad publicity when someone in the family goes down for murder. And it will happen. I’ll see to that.”

  Chase could hear the anger as hard and brittle as Vanessa Calloway herself. “Keep throwing around that kind of talk and I’ll have the family lawyer slap you with a suit so fast it will make your head swim.”

  “Truth is an absolute defense, Vanessa.”

  Vanessa had slammed down the phone.

  “So much for that big, happy family,” Chase had said and hung up.

  A breeze whispered through the pines now, sending snow showering down as the pastor began to speak, referring to Jabe Calloway in glowing terms. Chase felt ill and wished he hadn’t come. Vanessa would be furious that he hadn’t arrived on time anyway. And even more angry that he hadn’t stood with the “family.” That made him feel a little better.

  All Chase could think about was getting photographs of his half brothers and sending them to Marni’s twin. He wanted the mystery of Elise McCumber’s lover solved as quickly as possible. Then he would find the person who killed Jabe and made attempts on Marni’s life.

  MARNI SEARCHED the crowd for Lilly, hoping Chase was wrong. Worry stole through her when she realized Lilly hadn’t made the funeral. Something was terribly wrong. Marni felt it more strongly this morning. Lilly had looked so out of it at the hospital last night.

  A car came speeding up the road, sending snow flying into the air. A murmur moved through the crowd as the car came to an abrupt stop and the driver’s door slammed open.