Jingle Bell Rock Tonight

by Tracey Devlyn

“Evie,” Mom warned. “I don’t think your brother’s in the mood for your teasing.”

  “Who said I was teasing?”

  Grif growled and lunged for her, but Carlie Beth hooked her arm around his. “We’ll call Aubrey once we're settled in.”

  “She will accuse me of not trusting her again,” he said.

  “Do you?” Evie asked. “Trust her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then what’s the problem?”

  “I don’t trust him.”

  “Aren’t you an agent for football players?”

  “Which is why I don’t trust him.”

  Evie shook her head. “I’ve seen Aubrey in action. She has her mama’s don’t f—” She shot her mom an apologetic look. "—eff with me stare. The guy will keep his pants on.” His lips and hands, not so much.

  Mom patted her son’s cheek. “Let her unfold, Grif. All she needs is to know that you and Carlie Beth are there if the winds get too strong.”

  Carlie Beth pulled out of her phone and started typing away. “That’s good, Miss Joan.”

  “Are you writing down what she said?” Grif asked.

  “I take note of all your mom’s gems of wisdom. I’ll need a stash for when we’re grandparents.”

  Grif groaned. “Can we first get through high school?”

  The excited blare of a horn sailed into the clearing, heralding Reid and Brynne Steele’s arrival.

  Her brother cranked the wheel at the last minute and his big truck pulled up alongside them. With an arm propped over the steering wheel, Reid bent forward and peered at them through the open passenger window. “Hello, Schmucks.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “And Mama.”

  Brynne rolled her eyes. “Someone had too much caffeine today.” She smiled. “Hello, family.”

  “Let us out,” snarled her brother Britt from the backseat. The distinct sound of a door handle rattling followed his command.

  “Stop your whining.” Grinning, Reid backed into the nearest stall with the force of a rocket. Once he cut the engine, Britt and his fiancée Randi Shepherd poured out of the back of the extended cab, holding their stomachs.

  Mom rushed over. “Are you two okay?”

  Britt cut a savage look toward Reid. “Nothing a little time in the backyard won’t cure.”

  Although Reid was a big guy and, with his military background, probably knew how to kill someone a dozen different ways, he’d never been able to best his big brother in a fight.

  “There will be no violence on this trip, boys.” Mom hugged Reid and Brynne, then pointed toward Eddy and Deke. “Go see what’s keeping your father, please.”

  Twining his fingers with Brynne’s, Reid strode toward the other two men.

  Mom dug into her purse and produced a small sleeve of crackers, handing a few to both Randi and Britt. “Eat these. They’ll settle your stomachs.”

  “Thank you, Miss Joan,” Randi accepted the gift and gave her soon-to-be mother-in-law a squeeze.

  Britt kissed Mom’s cheek. “Do you always carry crackers in your purse?”

  “A mother is always prepared.” Her lips twitched. “Especially when riding with your father.”

  Evie glanced down the drive. “Now we just need Micki and Jonah.”

  “They’re not coming,” Grif said in a tone that conveyed his displeasure.

  Evie’s good mood dimmed. “Why not?”

  “Something came up. An opportunity they couldn’t pass up or some shi— ” He checked himself. “—stuff.”

  “An opportunity over family?” Evie couldn’t contain her frustration. She’d spent weeks putting this event together. She’d confirmed and double-confirmed everybody’s schedule. “What about Tessa and Gage?”

  Grif shook his head.

  Mom put her hand on Evie’s arm. “It must be something important. You know the twins would be here, otherwise.”

  Did she? Jonah, yes. For years, he’d plotted and manipulated events in order to bring their family back together. But Micki? Her big sister was still a mystery, in so many ways, despite how close they’d become since her return home. Through most of Evie’s childhood, Micki had lived in Vegas. In exile.

  Self-imposed exile to protect the family, she reminded herself.

  She blew out a resigned breath, knowing it would take something important to keep Micki away this weekend, too. But she was still peeved with both of them for not giving her the heads-up. Inconsiderate boobs.

  “What’s the matter, Squirt?” Britt asked. “Aren’t we good enough company for you?” He wrapped a big arm around her neck and rubbed his knuckles on the crown of her head.

  “Let go,” she smacked his hard stomach, “you big oaf.”

  He bent over, looking as though he’d spew his lunch. That’s when she remembered he was still recovering from Reid’s wild ride up the mountain.

  “That’ll teach you to treat your adult sister like she’s ten years old,” Randi said, massaging his back.

  Rubbing her burning scalp, Evie glanced around and recounted bodies. “Looks like we’re all here then.” She nodded toward the house. “Let’s check in.”

  Pausing at the bottom of the stairs, she picked up her bags and ascended the wide flagstone steps leading to the wraparound porch. Wooden rocking and white Adirondack chairs dotted the space.

  Before she could knock, a preteen boy, wearing a stocking cap with tassled ear flaps, opened the door.

  “Hello,” she said, her customary cheerfulness back in place.

  “What do you want?”

  Her smile faltered under the boy’s direct—too direct—gaze. “We’re here to check in.”

  “No one is supposed to be here this weekend.”

  Dread socked her hard in the chest. “I confirmed my reservation with Nora last night.” She tried to look past the boy and into the house, but he drew the door closed even more, squeezing himself half in and half out.

  “You got a confirmation receipt?”

  “Is Nora your mother?”

  “Receipt?”

  An awful silence settled in the group behind her, and twin streaks of fear and embarrassment stabbed her chest. Had something happened with her reservation between last night and today? Had everyone come all this way for nothing? Where was the owner? And who was this snot-nosed brat?

  “Please go get—”

  A large warm hand rested on her lower back a moment before Deke asked, “Problem?”

  She gritted her teeth and dug into her purse for the printout of her reservation. Technology was great, but it wasn’t always reliable, especially in the mountains.

  “This young man would like to see a confirmation of our stay.”

  “Didn’t you book the whole house?”

  “Yeess.” Locating the sheet of paper, she unfolded it and held it out for the militant’s inspection.

  He made to take it, but she jerked the sheet out of his reach. She pointed to her name and reservation date. “As you can see, we’re supposed to be here. All weekend.”

  “How do I know that’s you? Got any ID?”

  Her patience at an end, she took a threatening step toward the punk. “Where’s Nora, you little—?”

  Deke’s arm snaked around her waist at the same time a diminutive woman with brown skin, dark eyes, and thick, black shoulder-length hair appeared. She wrangled something out of the hand the boy kept hidden behind the door. Evie caught a glint of metal before the woman dropped the item into the depths of her coat pocket.

  Giving the boy’s shoulder a hard nudge, she said, “Georgie, load their bags on the service lift and take them to their rooms.”

  With absolutely no concern about the threat still vibrating in Evie’s body, the boy grabbed her and Deke’s bags and hauled them inside.

  “Sorry, I didn’t hear y’all pull up,” the woman said. “I was out back, filling the bird feeders.”

  Evie cocked her head at the woman’s unusual accent. It sounded like a cross between New Zealand and Southern. Her cousin Ri
ley had once told her about the Māori, an ancient Polynesian culture that settled on New Zealand centuries ago. If Evie guessed the accent right, she wondered if Māori was part of the woman’s ancestry. And if so, what was she doing in the sticks of North Carolina.

  “Georgie kept us entertained,” Deke said with his most charming smile.

  “My apologies. He can get a bit...bored up here.” She gifted them with their first welcoming smile. “I’m Nora Ngata—your cook, cleaner, hostess, or whatever you need for the next seventy-two hours.”

  Evie dug down deep for her earlier excitement and made the introductions. “We’re happy to be here. Metamora Inn has an amazing reputation.”

  “I hope you’ll agree, by the end of your visit.” Nora stepped aside and waved toward the door as Georgie returned for more luggage. “How about y’all come inside, so I can hand out your room keys and get you settled.”

  While they piled inside, Nora went to sit behind a beautiful wooden desk with ornate carvings anchoring each corner of the massive piece of furniture. Much to Evie’s surprise, the innkeeper remembered everyone’s names and seemed to have keen insight into each couple’s desires.

  She placed Grif and Carlie Beth in a room with a desk and a beautiful wrought iron balcony, Reid and Brynne got the one closest to the small workout center, Britt and Randi lucked out with an amazing long-range view of the mountains, and Joan and Eddy had access to a private patio garden. As for her and Deke, they would make good use of their massive Jacuzzi tub.

  Once everyone stood with a key in hand, Nora said, “Supper is at six o’clock sharp, breakfast eight o’clock sharp, and lunch twelve-thirty sharp.”

  “At what sharp will we get to kill someone?” Reid asked.

  Nora leveled a you’re-not-as-funny-as-you-think-you-are look on him.

  “What my dear brother meant to ask,” Evie shot the big lug a death stare of her own, “is when will the murder mystery start?”

  The innkeeper’s focus slid from Reid’s unrepentant smirk to Evie. “It’s already begun.”

  2

  After a delicious supper, the Steele clan made their way to the drawing room for drinks and instructions. Stepping inside the room was like sailing through a time portal, one that wound back two hundred years.

  Evie’s clothes closet at home was organized by the colors of the rainbow. This room’s mismatch of patterns, textures, and colors overwhelmed her senses in a refreshing, Old World way.

  Rose chintz covered a vintage sofa and chaise lounge, two red-and-gold-striped chairs flanked a crackling fireplace, beautiful crystal and porcelain vases occupied several lighted nooks, a hand-carved checkerboard rested on a small table nestled beneath a window, and gilded picture frames protected artwork better suited for museums than a B&B.

  The guys made their way to the overloaded sideboard in the back of the room to select their after-supper beverage of choice while the ladies claimed a spot to rest their food-coma bodies.

  “I thought for sure we’d find a dead body in here,” Randi said.

  “Or a mysterious message smeared in blood on the walls,” Brynne said.

  “Or a dead man’s ghost giving us clues to the murder,” Joan said.

  Evie laughed. “It’s not that kind of game. This is going to be more like an escape room. We get a scenario and have an hour to solve the mystery.”

  “And if we don’t?” asked Eddy.

  “Then we all diiiie.”

  “Motivating,” Deke murmured.

  Nora marched into the room, bearing a tray of chocolates. Each one was a piece of art.

  “How beautiful,” Mom said. “Did you make these, Nora?”

  The innkeeper ducked her head, staring at the tray. “It’s something I dabble at.”

  “If they taste as good as they look,” Brynne said, “you should consider a second entrepreneurial business.”

  Evie picked up a shiny turquoise bonbon, marveling at how Nora fanned in red and gold flakes near the bottom. Lifting the chocolate from the tray, she noticed some lettering on the protective white wrapper beneath.

  Joan asked, “How on earth do I bring myself to bite into something so perfect?”

  “Like this, Mama.” Reid plucked a confection from the tray and dropped it into his mouth. Whole. His wicked smile turned into something like rapture as the bonbon melted against his taste buds. “Oh gawd dats gud.” He barely finished the first one before shoving another chocolate into his pie hole.

  “Now that your stomachs are full,” the innkeeper said, “it’s time to share with you the details of our game.” She motioned to a darkened corner of the room. A small figure emerged. Georgie—still wearing his stocking cap and carrying a small basket.

  Had the boy been in the room with them the entire time?

  Georgie paused by Nora’s side and stared at them with unblinking eyes.

  Creepy kid.

  “But first,” Nora continued, “we need to collect your electronic devices.”

  Shock vibrated through the room.

  “For how long?” Grif asked.

  “Until you solve the mystery.”

  Britt was the first to relinquish his phone into the basket. He probably welcomed the mini vacation from his busy work phone. Following his lead, everyone handed their device to Georgie as he walked by. A few were more reluctant than others.

  “Someone might need to do CPR on Grif,” Britt said. “Looks like he’s about to faint.”

  Grif followed Georgie’s exit like a man starved for food.

  No wonder. As a highly sought-after sports agent and the city manager of Steele Ridge, her brother was like a 24/7 On Demand channel. Always available, always on, always running.

  She smirked. A few unplugged hours would do him—and Carlie Beth—some good.

  Nora stepped up to the fireplace and pulled the cord that hung on one side. Short, heavy curtains above the mantel split apart, revealing a large, flatscreen TV.

  Someone whistled their appreciation.

  On the screen was the image of a slender woman, wearing knee-ripped jeans and a pale pink fitted T-shirt. A black hood covered her head and a red dot next to the word LIVE blinked in the lower right corner.

  Silence dropped like a heavy boulder in the center of the room. Everyone stared at the live feed for several seconds, battling the human fear of saying something stupid. Is this real? Or part of the entertainment?

  She squinted at the TV screen. It looked freaking real.

  Something feels...off.

  Deke’s words no longer felt like an overabundance of paranoia.

  As if her thoughts made their way into Deke’s ears, he stirred beside her. “What’s going on, Nora?”

  A tight smile appeared at the corner of the woman’s mouth. “Meet your mission.” Nora the Game Master indicated the screen with a negligible lift of her hand. “You have one hour to locate the key that will free the captive from her prison.”

  Britt groaned.

  Reid rubbed his hands together.

  Grif said, “Where are the brainiacs when you need them?”

  “We don’t need Micki and Jonah to solve this,” Evie said, tired of people underestimating her.

  “Having a gamer and a hacker would have improved our odds,” Britt said.

  Randi stalked the edges of the room. “I found three combination locks.”

  At that, their group started scanning every detail around them.

  “There are several clocks in this room.” Carlie Beth frowned. “Some are too modern to be collectibles. Do you think their sheer number is a clue?”

  “Maybe.” Brynne touched the frame of a painting with a pair of cats waltzing across a ballroom floor. “Escape rooms can have as many misleading clues as real ones.”

  “Listen for the sound of a dinner bell,” Nora said. “When you hear it, a hint will appear on the screen. If you’re stumped, wave at any of the cameras and ask for another hint. There will be a few seconds’ delay after your request. Three�
��s the limit, so be wise about their use.” She raised a dark brow. “Questions?”

  Only then did Evie notice a small camera mounted in every corner of the drawing room. She imagined a handful of college-aged guys crammed in a small control booth, snickering at their lame attempts at saving the mysterious captive.

  “What’s our first clue?” Eddy asked.

  Nora strode toward the door. “You’ve already been presented with the first one.” She sent them an indecipherable smile. “Happy hunting.” Turning, she disappeared into the shadows.

  “I think I’ll sit over here in this nice, cushy chair and watch you kids,” said Joan.

  “How about some company?” Eddy suggested.

  Her eyes lit with mischief. “I see a checkerboard.”

  “Game on,” he said with a wink, making her chuckle.

  “Presented,” Brynne repeated. “That’s a strange choice of words.”

  Evie’s attention swung to the tray on the table. “The chocolates. Nora presented the chocolates to us.” She recalled seeing something written on the bottom of her chocolate’s baking cup before someone distracted her. “Look at the wrappers beneath.” She bent to retrieve hers and read, “Powerful.”

  “Mine says, ‘Start,’” Brynne said.

  As if guided by connected neurons, the ladies descended on the table holding the chocolates and discarded wrappers. The guys continued to case the room.

  Six of the ten wrappers contained words. She lined them up in a row—the, Ming, with, Start, Dynasty, powerful.

  “Three of the words are capitalized,” Carlie Beth said. “Let’s work with those first.”

  With encouragement from her teammates, Evie moved the words around, one by one, until a fully fleshed out sentence appeared.

  Start with the powerful Ming Dynasty.

  “What do we know about the Ming Dynasty?” she asked the ladies.

  “It’s an ancient culture,” Brynne said.

  “Obviously powerful,” Carlie Beth added.

  “Expensive porcelain vases.” Evie thought about some of the things she’d learned from her historical romances. “Back in the day, the British aristocracy coveted them. Probably still do.”

  “I read about those.” Joan slid her red checker into an empty space on the board. “A Ming vase sold at auction for one point three million dollars. The seller had been using it as a doorstop for years.”