Christmas Carol (Sweet Christmas Series Book 3) Read online

  Raising his chin, Caroline now had his full and undivided attention. “You mean they set the fire that Lanelle and Daks nearly died in?”

  Hearing the anger in his voice, she knew he was going to help her. “Yes. It was the first one that caught my eye, because of your connection to them. After that, the rest only added to my suspicions, and I have a feeling there could be others.”

  Glancing around, Gary waited. It was a public place, and no one seemed to be interested in the couple, but the idea of accusing someone, anyone, of a felony had him on edge. He wanted to leave, but he could see the waitress approaching with their plates. “Don’t say anything else,” he cautioned. “Thanks,” he offered as the young woman served them while smiling up at her.

  “Eat,” he commanded when she had gone. “I’ll take you some place safe to hide, and we’ll discuss this more when I can look at your evidence.” Her story seemed incomplete, and although he had become interested in hearing more, he still didn’t find her a reliable source.

  Not about to argue, Caroline picked up her sandwich and ate at it eagerly. Her appetite had been missing the last few days, but knowing that Gerald Ford was going to help her calmed her nerves, and she suddenly felt like she could have eaten a whole chicken if one had been presented.

  As soon as they had finished, Gary dropped two twenties on the table and escorted the young woman out. Pulling out his cell when they were outside, he made a call to his secretary, informing her that he wasn’t feeling well, and he would be at home for the rest of the day if anyone needed him.

  “What did you do that for?” Caroline demanded curtly. “If they’re watching you, you’ve broken your routine!”

  “If they’re watching me, that would make them geniuses,” he chuckled, squeezing her upper arm and guiding her along. “No one is watching me; at least not yet. If they’re following you, which I doubt, then we might have a problem.” Reaching the parking garage, he showed her to the elevator and pushed the button to retrieve his ride. “Ok, Carrie, the first -”

  “I thought I made myself clear,” she snorted, yanking her appendage away. “My name is Caroline. Not Carol, not Carrie, not Lina. Caroline.”

  Gary stared at her for a moment; “A bit sensitive about that, don’t you think? I called you Carrie the entire time that we dated, and you didn’t seem to mind then; a nick name is like a show of affection.”

  “They can be lots of things, and I don’t want any part of them.”

  “Ok, fine; Caroline. We need to locate a shelter for you!”

  “A shelter? You mean like a homeless shelter?”

  “Maybe,” he stepped into the box that had arrived and selected a floor, the idea instantly appealing to him. “Actually, that might not be a bad idea. We need a place no one will think to look, like when you hid the evidence.”

  “No shelters.” The woman crossed her arms defiantly.

  “Bah, quit being stubborn; I think it would be a great place to hide. We’ve got several options. There’s the woman’s shelter over on –”

  “I said, NO SHELTER! No half-way house, no group home, no soup kitchen. I wouldn’t even consider a cheap motel!” Caroline shouted. “Look, Gary, I need your help, but it’s going to be on my terms. There’s nothing wrong with my room at the Hilton.”

  “The Hilton,” he spat, exiting the lift and stomping towards his SUV. Glancing at her, he recalled how she had always had a taste for high living; the one attribute that had brought their relationship to a sordid and painful end.

  Studying her, he could feel his star witness in whatever had transpired in all those fires disappearing as soon as his back was turned, and he couldn’t let that happen. I have to get her to stay somewhere I can locate her when I need her, but anyone after her can’t get to her. “How about a cell, downtown?” he teased.

  Her eyes wide, her shocked expression took the wind out of his laugh. “Hey, I was only kidding!” He stepped towards her to catch her arm, as she suddenly appeared to be a scared animal ready to bolt. “Caroline, calm down. Everything’s going to be fine; and I know just the place. We’ll go get your stuff and I’ll take you home with me.”

  “Home with you!” she gasped. “Listen here, Gary,” she bit his name as if it were a curse. “Of all the wrong places, home with you has to be the worst idea of all!”

  Blinking, he grimaced, fairly certain that his wife was going to agree. “Well, I think the Hilton, or any other hotel, isn’t any better. If someone is looking for you, that’s the first place they’ll go.” Opening the door for her, he waited for her to climb inside and then strutted around to the driver’s side.

  “I’m not going to argue with you about this. We’ll go to the hotel and get your stuff. But, don’t check out. I’m taking you home with me, and that’s final.”

  “Why should I not check out?”

  “Don’t worry about that part,” he grinned deviously. “We can use the Hilton as a decoy. If they find out you’re booked there, whoever it is we’re dealing with might waste a few days camped out there waiting for you.”

  “Do you really think they’re looking for me? I thought leaving my house would be good enough. I couldn’t stay there, the way they trashed it, you know,” her voice trailed away, filled with sadness.

  “I know,” he agreed, patting her leg. Pulling up in front of the large building, he looked around for any cars that might have been following them. Not seeing anything identifiable, he stated confidently, “I think we’re in the clear, at least for now. Let’s go, so we can get out of here.”

  Fifteen minutes later, her suitcase had been packed. Hanging the ‘do not disturb’ sign on the knob on his way out, Gary grinned at his ploy, sure that keeping the maids out would help hide the fact that she had abandoned the suite.

  Shady at Best

  Benjamin Monroe shifted stacks of papers, searching for his phone. His desk cluttered, his life had fallen into utter chaos in a matter of days. Rubbing his face roughly with his right hand, he clenched the left into a tight fist, then slammed it down on the mess before him. I have to do something, but what? He was in deep, and the odds of getting out were mounting against him.

  Locating the device, he lifted the receiver and made the call. “Yes; Gerald Ford, please.” Listening to faint music, he waited. “Hello? Yes, I need to speak to Gary, please.”

  “I’m sorry, but Mr. Ford is out for the afternoon,” Agnus explained over the line.

  “Oh,” Ben gasped, slapped by the news. “Will he be in tomorrow?”

  “I’m afraid I can’t say,” the older woman replied. “He wasn’t feeling well, so maybe tomorrow, but I’m not sure.”

  “Ok, I’ll try back in the morning,” Ben agreed, ending the connection and dropping the phone into the cradle. Pushing back from his desk, he picked up his coat and slid his arms in while exiting the inner office. Pausing to speak to the young woman seated in front of the portal, he smoothed his hair and straightened his tie.

  “Can you get me Gerald Ford’s home address?” he asked in as casual a tone as he could muster.

  “Yes, sir,” his new receptionist, Diane, replied with a smile. Printing the page, she presented it to her boss. “Would you like to set up an appointment with him?”

  “No,” Ben clipped, studying the information. “I gave him a call, but he’s out for the afternoon.”

  Looking up at her employer, the young woman had only held her position a few days, and she had her doubts about certain things. She felt confident interrogating her benefactor about his intentions would be crossing the line, so she left it at that and returned to her work. Ignoring her, Ben walked slowly towards the front door and out to the street, while folding the page in half a few times and tucking it inside an inner pocket.

  At his vehicle, the middle-aged attorney slid behind the wheel of his shiny black BMW. His mind turning his options, he felt sick; sick of the mess he had created for himself. Will dragging Gary Ford into this do any good? he quibbled mentally. He is
n’t part of the community at the city offices any longer. But the man had the knowledge and skills that could save Ben’s ass, if anyone could.

  Making the necessary turns, he arrived on a narrow street half an hour later. Rolling slowly past the large, stately structure that had been in the Ford family for generations, he glared at it, as if he could see through the walls. Diverting his attention back to the road, his heart leapt into his throat as Gary’s SUV glided past, with Caroline Baker seated in the passenger seat. “What the hell?” he muttered out loud. Pulling over to park against the curb, he grabbed the rear-view mirror and twisted it to watch the vehicle turn into the familiar drive and disappear. Blinking a few times, as if the scene would change, his breaths came in quick, shallow pants.

  “Caroline knows,” he mumbled. “She has to. That’s why she quit all of a sudden.” But how, he couldn’t be certain. He had only caught on that something wasn’t right a few days ago, and his former secretary had already pulled her little disappearing act. “Maybe she’s working for them,” he surmised aloud.

  Moving up the street, Ben swung the car around and parked facing his target. He couldn’t knock on the door, not knowing why Gary and Caroline were together, but he could wait for a chance to get the other man alone and confront him. Either way, there wouldn’t be any point in going back to the office until he had done a bit of hardcore thinking about a few of his clients; the ones he knew were shady at best, and most likely to kill him just to shut him up.

  Laying the seat back a bit, Ben leaned against his arm and closed his eyes. Slowly, he replayed the discovery he had made only four days ago; the discovery that had meant his life would never be the same. He had always suspected that some of his clients were not on the up and up, but he had never intentionally helped anyone commit or even cover up a crime.

  Intentionally. He scoffed at the word. Fat lot of good it does me now. He had been helping one of his clients last week with filing some paperwork; claims about a fire that had destroyed one of his buildings. That in itself wasn’t unusual; there had been several such instances over the years and dealing with such unfortunate tasks were part of the job.

  Shuddering, he recalled the instant the name on the official report sank in; Harvey Waters. He had seen the name before. Pushing the recognition aside, he had finished the filing and had the case completed. For all practical purposes, the matter had been settled on Thursday; but on Friday, he couldn’t stop thinking about it.

  That’s when he started digging. Locating three other cases he had filed, all involving fires over the last two years, he had found the name Harvey Waters attached to all of them. Son of a bitch.

  Opening his eyes, Ben stared down the road in the fading light. “This isn’t getting me anywhere,” he mumbled, sitting up straight in his seat and biting his knuckle for a moment. “I should just suck it up and go down there. Hell, it’d be better than sitting here waiting.”

  Half an hour later, he cranked the engine and eased down the road, making the turn into the private drive and cutting off the lights as he parked behind Gary’s ancient house.

  Looking for a Home

  “Would you like to explain to me what the hell is going on?” Candy demanded, her voice barely short of an angry shout.

  “What do you mean?” Gary blinked at her. “We have plenty of room. Caroline hit a rough patch in her life; she needs a job and a place to stay. We need someone to help with your mom and Daks. It’s a win-win situation!”

  “That’s not what this is, Gary! This is just another instance of you bringing home another stray! When someone is looking for a home, it doesn’t mean you have to help them find it!”

  “Come on, honey! This is Caroline; she was Ben’s secretary, and I’ve known her for years,” he cooed, skipping the darker parts about her being an ex-girlfriend, or what she had done to him.

  “If she worked for Benjamin Monroe, why does she need a job now? Did he fire her?” Candy asked crossly, her arms folded tightly in front of her.

  “I’m not sure what happened, to be honest,” he lied flatly. He had known his wife would be a tough sell, but he had underestimated her. “All I know is, she’s lost her apartment, her job, and she could use a place to stay and a steady income. With Christmas coming, you know you’re going to need the extra pair of hands.”

  Glaring at him, Candy’s chest heaved. Grinding her teeth, she had to admit he had a point, at least in that regard. “If I agree to this, you have to promise me that it’s only temporary.”

  “Absolutely,” he raised his right hand, as if taking an oath.

  “And if we have any trouble at all, she’s out!”

  “Yes,” he agreed, his head bobbing around in an odd circle.

  “All right, then she can have the bedroom I stayed in before we were married. Maybe we should move Daks to the one across the hall from her; I’d rather he shared our bathroom than hers,” she pondered aloud, “and I’m certainly not sharing ours with her.”

  “They’ll be fine. It’s a lavatory, and they won’t be using it at the same time,” he grinned, happy she had finally agreed. “I don’t think uprooting him will be necessary, and I understand your wanting to keep ours to yourself.”

  Down stairs, Caroline sat on the edge of a chair, wringing her hands as she watched Dakota play with his toys in the middle of the large living room floor. Above them, she could hear the muffled voices as Gary and Candy worked out their disagreement, causing her frazzled nerves to grow tense to the point of cracking.

  “Would you like a drink?” Lanelle interrupted her thoughts.

  “Tea, if you have it,” the younger woman forced a smile. Standing, she followed the slouched form into the kitchen. She didn’t know much about Candy and her mother; only that the elder had survived a stroke, which had made life difficult for her. Then, she had been trapped in the mysterious fire that had occurred two years ago, leaving Candy’s mother completely at the mercy of others.

  Watching as the trembling digits unwrapped the bag and placed it in a cup of hot water, she smiled in earnest. “Thank you,” she breathed, accepting the saucer and matching cup. “Should we return to the front room?” she indicated the young man through the wall.

  “I can see him,” Lanelle replied, placing her own beverage on the table at her favorite seat. From there, she could watch into the other room without hanging over the boy. “I like to give him a little space,” she grinned.

  “But not too much,” Caroline agreed.

  “Yeah,” Lanelle nodded, sipping her warm drink. “So, Gary wants to hire you to help take care of us. Do you have much experience with frail old women and difficult children?”

  Caroline gasped at her choice of words.

  “It’s ok,” Lanelle laughed in a gravelly voice. “I know we are more than a handful for Candy these days. I see the tired in her eyes. It’s good of my son-in-law to find her some help.”

  Caroline pursed her pink lips, swallowing hard as she formulated her reply. “I’ve had a bit of experience.” She exaggerated her few babysitting adventures as a teenager, unsure if the old woman had recognized her from the single time they had met. Finally deciding the truth, as far as she could take it, would suffice, she asked in a quiet monotone, “You don’t remember me, do you.”

  “You’ve got a familiar face,” Lanelle shook her greying locks. “But I can’t place you. My mind’s grown fuzzy over the years, with all the things clogging it up.” She smiled, exposing a few crooked teeth and revealing the abuse her body had endured.

  “I’m Caroline Baker,” her companion stated firmly. “We met at Ben Monroe’s office last year. I was his secretary, but I’ve had to leave under unfortunate circumstances.” She paused, watching the wrinkled expression as clarity settled in and she smiled. “I’m glad I’ll be able to help you.”

  “Yes,” Lanelle gave her another toothy grin. “We’re glad you are, too!”

  Unsure of her sincerity, Caroline did her best to return the smile. Sipping her d
rink, she waited for the couple arguing above them to come down and give them the verdict. When the wait grew long, she filled the air with small talk, and the older woman opened up about Candy and Gary’s relationship, spilling a few of the details of the couple’s courtship and wedding.

  When she had heard enough, Caroline offered, “Well, it looks like we’ll need to make dinner soon. Is there something I can do to help?”

  “We’ve got a lasagna in the freezer,” Lanelle offered, “and we can put together a salad from the vegetables in the fridge.”

  Rising, Caroline didn’t hesitate to take charge of preparing the meal. Setting the oven to preheat, she gathered the ingredients for the side dishes. Spying the bread on the counter, she set up the toaster oven to warm a few slices when everything else had fallen into place.

  An hour later, Gary and Candy joined them at the table as the meal was served. “Everything looks great!” the mistress of the house observed, her features doing little to hide her displeasure at the situation.

  “Thanks,” Caroline replied in a warbled voice. “I’m sorry about my intrusion. I know you weren’t expecting me, like this.”

  Studying the two women, Gary considered his choice to keep his bride in the dark about their guest’s true circumstances. In the end, knowing why she had joined them would only make her worry; right now Candy didn’t need that, and he knew it. Seeing his wife smile, he exhaled a loud sigh of relief. “Thanks for making dinner; it looks great,” he complimented firmly.

  “That’s going to be my job, isn’t it?” the blonde perked up, her enthusiasm genuine. “I’ll be in charge of taking care of the house, looking after Lanelle and Daks,” she indicated the pair with a wave of her hand; “All of those things, right?”

  “Yeah,” Candy agreed, her heart still not in it. “I’m busy with my classes, so I do appreciate the help.”

  “Well then,” Caroline motioned at their seats. “Shall we?”