“I’m right there with you,” Grady said. “Do me a favor and get some sleep.”
“I’ve slept the whole day away.”
“Yeah, well, have some dinner with your wife,” Grady said. “For the love of all that’s holy, make her fix her hair.”
James smirked. “I think her hair looks cute.”
“I think her hair looks like animals could be living in there,” Grady shot back. “How do you want to handle her tomorrow?”
“Who are you guys talking about handling?” Mandy appeared behind them in the hallway.
“You, baby,” James replied, not missing a beat. “We’re tracking down Ryan tomorrow and now we need to decide how to keep you safe.”
“Won’t Peter’s men handle that?”
James glanced at her. “Will you promise to stay in this house with all the doors locked?”
“No.”
James scowled. “Mandy … .”
“I promise to stay on this property,” Mandy clarified. “I still have wrapping to do.”
“Maybe Sven can spend the day in the house with Mandy,” Grady suggested.
“Sold,” James said.
“I don’t need a babysitter.”
“Well, you’re getting one,” James said. “I’m sure Sven is a whiz at wrapping presents.”
Mandy considered the offer. “He can’t be any worse than I am. Ally says I wrap like a ten-year-old boy with two left thumbs.”
James barked out a laugh. “Thank you for agreeing to this.”
“I’m only agreeing if you make me a promise,” Mandy said.
James waited.
“Don’t kill Ryan. I know he’s an ass, but I don’t want you to risk spending Christmas in jail.”
“Agreed,” James said, reaching for his wife so he could pull her in for a hug. “As much as I hate Ryan right now, I honestly think I hate Art more.”
“I never liked him and his wife is … .”
“Evil,” Grady finished.
“On that note, you need to get out of here,” James said, turning his attention to his brother. “You’ve wasted the whole day babysitting us. Go and spend some time with Sophie. We’re going to eat dinner and go to bed. We’re not going to be very exciting here.”
“Speak for yourself,” Mandy countered. “I bought new red velvet cake massage oil and whipped cream. We’re having a party.”
“And that’s why I love you, wife.”
“You two are sick,” Grady muttered.
“I’M SORRY you got stuck with babysitting duty,” Mandy said, her expression rueful as she led Sven to the guesthouse the next morning. “James is adamant that I not be alone today.”
“James is a smart man with a lot to lose,” Sven replied. “I don’t mind helping you wrap gifts. Who doesn’t love an easy duty right before Christmas?”
“Do you have anything special planned,” Mandy asked, unlocking the guesthouse door and ushering Sven inside.
He placed his hand on her arm to still her. “Please let me do a quick pass.”
“Go nuts.”
Sven scoured the room, making sure to check behind the wooden bar in the saloon and the bathroom off to the right. He locked the front door before ascending the stairs, checking all closets and the side bedroom before declaring the space “psycho free.”
He stared at the pile of gifts. “Do you have to wrap the presents for your entire family?”
“Sadly, that’s just what I bought James.”
Sven snickered. “I see you went overboard. How many things do you think he bought for you?”
“Too many, I’m sure.”
“Ah, well, it is the season for showering those you love with gifts and adoration,” Sven said, removing his coat and hanging it over the door handle. “Where do you want to start?”
“You don’t have to help me,” Mandy said. “That’s not part of your job description.”
“I’m not doing anything else,” Sven said. “What’s with the paintings?” He moved over to the side of the room where two finished canvases were leaning against the wall.
“Oh, I did them as gifts for Emma and Sophie,” Mandy explained. “I painted a portrait from a photograph a few months ago. It was from my wedding. Afterward, Ally demanded I do one for her.
“She picked a photo that makes her look like a princess and Jake look kind of goofy because he’s staring at her with adoring eyes,” she continued. “Despite that, Emma and Sophie have been making noises about wanting paintings of their own so I did those.”
“You’re very talented,” Sven said. “I am dying to see the one Ally has, though. She makes me laugh.”
“She makes everyone laugh,” Mandy agreed, scanning the floor. “Crap. When James called and told me to run, I had the Scotch tape in my hand. I dropped it in the woods. I remember. I need to run back to the house to get another roll.”
Sven studied her for a moment. “I can do that,” he said. “You need to promise to stay up here while I get it. If you give me your key, I will lock you in the guesthouse while I’m gone.”
“Do you think that’s really necessary?”
“I think I like my job,” Sven replied. “Peter likes you and he thinks it’s necessary. I probably should take you with me, but it’s cold out and I think you’ve had your fill of the cold. Where is the tape?”
“There’s a whole package of it in the drawer by the sink in the kitchen.”
“It shouldn’t take me more than three minutes to get it,” Sven said, reaching forward to accept the keys Mandy offered him. “Time me.”
“You have an odd sense of fun.”
“WHERE are we at?” James asked, his gaze bouncing between the three sober faces in his office. “Someone tell me we have a line on Ryan.”
“Not yet,” Jake said.
“Son of a … .”
“We’re doing the best we can,” Finn said. “I know that’s not what you want to hear, but we’re honestly working on it. For all we know Ryan left the state.”
“Or he’s hiding in his car,” Grady suggested.
“Or he crawled in a hole and died,” Jake offered, brightening at the thought.
“We need to find him,” James snapped. “I want this done today.”
“Then you’re going to be very glad I stopped by.” Peter Marconi breezed into the room, his trench coat moving gracefully as walked. For some reason, he reminded James of Batman in that particular moment.
“Did you find him?”
“Yes,” Peter said. “He’s in a fleabag hotel on the other side of Eight Mile. I have two men watching the room now. They have orders to grab him if he tries to leave.”
“Let’s go,” James said, reaching for his coat.
“We need to have a talk first,” Peter cautioned. “I know you’re desperate to get this settled. I don’t blame you. If anyone came into my house and attacked me … and threatened those I love … I would kill them.”
“So why are we standing here?” James pressed.
“Because you are not me,” Peter replied. “You are a man with a code of ethics and a wife at home who loves you more than anything. I’m getting constant updates from Sven, by the way. He loves your wife’s studio – and he wants me to ask if there’s any way he can see the portrait of Ally and Jake because he thinks it would be hilarious.”
Jake scowled. “I hate that thing.”
“Oh, it’s okay, Whipped Jake,” Grady teased. “I took a photo on my phone. I’ll text it to him.”
“You suck.”
James ignored the jocularity and kept his focus on Peter. “Are you worried that I’m going to kill Ryan?”
“Yes.” Peter was never one to mince words, but his outright admission threw James for a loop.
“I’m not going to kill him,” James said. “I already promised Mandy I wouldn’t risk spending the holiday in jail. It’s not just that, though. After talking to Art yesterday, part of me feels sorry for Ryan. The idiot never had a chance.
“I brought Ally’s because I figured you’d want to do that,” Jake said. “It’s charged.”
James smiled. “That’s all I want to do, Peter,” he said. “The most important thing to me is handing him over to the police so Mandy and I can enjoy our Christmas. I have plans that don’t include being locked in our house … or being hyper-vigilant if we go out. I just want Christmas with my wife.”
“That was a very good answer,” Peter said. “Come on. Let’s go get Ryan Carmichael and save the Hardy family Christmas, shall we?”
“Does that make you Santa Claus in this equation?” Grady asked.
Peter shrugged. “I can live with that.”
SVEN was gone for five minutes before Mandy started worrying. She moved to the small bedroom and stared out the window, studying the grounds for what felt like forever. Everything was quiet, though.
Finally, she gave up waiting and walked back downstairs. She figured Sven couldn’t find the tape and loath as she was to admit it, she was nervous without him around. Until Ryan was caught, she realized she wouldn’t feel safe in her own home.
Mandy was just about to leave the guesthouse and return to the main one to help him when she saw a hint of movement by the front door. “I thought you got lost or something,” she said as the door opened.
She pulled up short when she recognized the figure walking through the guesthouse door. It definitely wasn’t Sven.
“Why am I not surprised you’re a part of this?” Mandy was disgusted. No, she was beyond disgusted. She was enraged.
“Perhaps you’re smarter than you look.”
Twenty-Three
“What a rat hole,” James muttered as he climbed out of his Explorer and studied the strip motel disgustedly. “This is just depressing.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Grady countered. “I think that wreath made out of beer cans on the front door of the lobby adds a lot of festive charm to the place.”
“You’re an idiot sometimes.”
“Feliz Navidad!”
James rolled his eyes and moved to the front of the Explorer where Finn, Jake, and Peter stood. “Are we ready?”
“How do you want to do this?” Finn asked.
“I’m going to kick the door in and shake Ryan until he cries,” James replied. “If he manages to use his taser on me, make sure you don’t shoot him until I recover. I’m going to shock the crap out of him left and right.”
Jake handed over Ally’s taser. “It’s ready to go. It’s set for a full charge.”
James took the weapon. “Is it wrong that I’m looking forward to this?”
“Hey, I’m looking forward to watching you do it,” Grady said. “Come on. Let’s get this over with. Once we drop his ass off at the sheriff’s department, Christmas is officially on.”
The men descended on the hotel room quickly. While they were all used to covert operations, none of them approached this takedown with any kind of stealth. Ryan wasn’t trained. Odds were he would give himself up before the first punch was thrown. James was still going to throw the punch, but he found he wasn’t relishing it quite as much as he imagined.
James lifted his leg, glancing at Grady once and nodding before slamming his foot into the door. The rickety wooden rectangle exploded inward, taking the room’s sole occupant by surprise.
Ryan, dressed in nothing but boxer shorts, widened his eyes as he realized what was about to happen. “Oh, no.”
“Yeah,” James said, lifting the taser. “Oh, no is right.” He slammed the device into Ryan’s chest and hit the trigger, clenching his jaw as Ryan jolted and then slid to the floor.
“You can probably stop doing that now,” Peter said after a few moments.
James reluctantly pulled the device away from Ryan’s prone form and handed it to Jake. “Thanks. That was fun.”
“Do you feel better?” Grady asked.
A wide grin split James’ handsome face. “You have no idea.”
“SO, HOW do you fit into all this?” Mandy asked, keeping a wide berth between Ava and herself as she moved across the saloon. The entertainment area was large. She had plenty of room to run should it become necessary. For some reason, the idea of fighting Ava didn’t fill her with dread.
“That’s what you want to know?” Ava rolled her eyes. “I thought for sure you were going to scream and run. I wanted to chase you into the woods. I wouldn’t leave you there like Ryan did, though. I’m better at this than he is.”
“Obviously,” Mandy said, her tone dry. “Where is Sven?”
“Oh, your bodyguard? I hit him over the head with that big pot that was beside your back door,” Ava said. “Don’t worry. I didn’t kill him. That’s not my style. I just needed time to collect you and get out of here.”
“You know he’s going to kill you when he wakes up, right?”
“He’s cute,” Ava said. “Do you and he have something going on?”
Mandy scowled. “I’m married.”
“You and James keep saying that like it means something,” Ava said. “I’m married, too. That didn’t stop me from having an affair – several in fact – although I will admit my choice of mates was completely idiotic.”
Mandy mulled Ava’s words over, things finally slipping into place. “You had an affair with Ryan, didn’t you?”
“Unfortunately, yes,” Ava answered. “I know it was a dumb move. There’s no need to comment on it.”
“Why would you cheat on Art with his son?”
“Money.”
Mandy’s eyebrows flew up her forehead. “Ryan paid you to have sex with him?”
“Oh, don’t be so high and mighty,” Ava said, lifting her fingers so she could study her freshly painted nails. “I totally ruined my manicure taking that security guard out. Who is he, by the way?”
“He’s the right-hand man of Peter Marconi.”
“Is that name supposed to mean something to me?”
“He’s a local mobster who also happens to be Sophie’s foster father,” Mandy replied, hoping the news would worry Ava. She wanted her nervous and edgy when she made her move. “He shares his resources with us from time to time.”
Ava wrinkled her nose. “Mobster? Like The Godfather?”
“Pretty much.”
“That’s kind of exciting,” Ava enthused. “I always thought I would make an excellent mob wife. Is this Peter single?”
“I don’t think you’re his type.”
Ava snorted. “I’m everyone’s type.”
Mandy decided to draw Ava back to the original conversation topic. “I don’t understand how having an affair with Ryan benefitted you. You strike me as a woman who only does things when there’s a financial reason to do them.”
“That’s true,” Ava said. “My problem is that I signed an ironclad pre-nup when I married Art. I thought the money he spent on me would be enough that I could hide a lot of it away, but he watches my accounts a lot more than I realized and he expects me to hand receipts over for everything I buy.”
“He sounds like a real tightass.”
“You have no idea,” Ava said, widening her eyes to comical proportions. “It’s so frustrating. Anyway, when I realized my plan to squirrel money away wasn’t going to work, I decided the next way to go was to get pregnant.”
“Was that before or after you realized Art didn’t like giving money to his offspring?”
“Way before,” Ava replied. “I knew he had bad relationships with both of his exes, but I thought I would be different because … well … I’m prettier. I do everything he wants in bed, too. Let me tell you something, he likes the kinky stuff.”
Mandy involuntarily shuddered.
“Yeah, imagine that pasty white dude naked,” Ava said. “You’re lucky. Your husband is ridiculously hot – and for some reason h
e seems devoted to you. I don’t get that.”
“We married for love, not money.”
“Oh, please,” Ava scoffed. “He has a lot of money. You know you like that about him.”
“I like him, not his money.”
“Whatever,” Ava said. “So, where was I?”
“You were going to get pregnant.”
“Oh, right. Well, we had sex every day for three months and I didn’t get knocked up. I thought it was me and went to the doctor. Come to find out, that tightass Art had a vasectomy and didn’t tell me. There was no way for me to get pregnant.”
“How does sleeping with Ryan help you?”
“He’s still Art’s heir,” Ava said. “Ryan kept slipping into town as often as he could so we could meet in hotels. He was so excited about putting one over on his old man. He’s bitter about Art never giving him money when he was growing up. I thought he would be a close enough DNA match to fool the doctors. I was planning on telling Art his vasectomy failed and then I found out that Ryan wouldn’t be a perfect match and all of my plans went to crap.”
“Bummer.” Mandy wanted to throw up. She’d never met anyone as vapid – or apparently stupid – as Ava.
“The problem is, it was already too late,” Ava said. “I’m pregnant with Ryan’s disgusting offspring. I don’t want to get rid of it because I’m still trying to figure out a way to get Art’s money. This is his grandchild, after all.”
“Does Art know you’re sleeping with his son?”
“Of course not.”
“So Ryan wanted to rob the store to get money for the two of you and stick it to his father at the same time, right?”
Ava nodded. “Those stores are full of millions of dollars worth of merchandise before the holidays,” she explained. “We were going to take the money and move to an island or something. Of course, that was before your friend went taser happy and ruined everything.”
“Perhaps Ryan shouldn’t have been trying to shake people down for their wedding rings.”
Ava rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
Deadly Christmas Page 18