Holding Out For A Holiday Hero

Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

“Who cares about the nice list? Being naughty is way more fun. True story.”

– Jake Hale (Ahem, True story…see what I did there?)

“Perry, Perry, slow down and listen to me, would you?” Jake snapped into his phone as he made his way to the back door of True’s house.

“I can’t find him,” Perry informed him, voice miserable. “I can’t actually get anyone near Richard’s cabin to confirm that they’ve seen him. I am not giving up, boss, I will continue until I have proof?—”

“Yeah, give up.” Jake frowned when he saw the back door. The open back door. Had the cops really left her house unsecured that way? Jake reached out a hand and pulled the door toward him.

The lock had been smashed to hell and back.

That explains how the killer got inside. Jake would make immediate arrangements for a new lock to be installed.

“Did you just ask me to give up?” Perry’s voice broke. “Are you—are you firing me, sir?”

“No.” Jeez. The kid was such a worrier. “But you aren’t going to get proof that Richard Wells is in Colorado because he’s not there. The jerk is right here in Rosewood. Just got his ass dragged down to the police station because he was being a drunk and disorderly fool.” He studied the shattered lock. A professional would have left minimal signs of intrusion. But her door looked as if someone had just shattered the lock. Burst inside. With no care about leaving evidence or destruction behind.

You wanted in awful badly, didn’t you?

“He’s there?” Perry’s voice cracked.

“Yeah. So stop trying to locate him. Harris is gonna grill him at the station.” Time to shift Perry’s focus. “Got a new job for you.”

“Uh, I’m still running financials on everyone at the museum. Not seeing any red flags, but sometimes you just have to dig really deep.”

“Yeah, yeah. Dig deep. Keep doing that. But, also, I need a Christmas tree.”

Silence.

“You heard me, didn’t you, Perry?” Jake peered beyond True’s back patio. Thick trees surrounded the rear of her property. It would be too easy for someone to hide in those trees.

“I-I think I heard you. You said you wanted a-a Christmas tree.”

“A really big one.” It would need to be bigger than the one True had lost. “Maybe twelve feet? Fourteen? And can you get it delivered to my place? As soon as possible?” Was that too much to ask? Maybe. Probably. Whatever.

“Who is this?” Perry suddenly demanded in a rush. “And what have you done with my boss?”

“Cut the humor, smart-ass.”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Scrooge, sir.”

Hadn’t he told the kid to cut the humor? Jake tightened his grip on the phone. “I don’t want some sad-ass tree like the one in our office.”

“That is a beautiful tree!”

Great. Now Perry seemed offended.

“And I had practically no budget.” Perry sniffed. “Considering what I had to work with, the tree in our office is a miracle. Ahem, speaking of miracles, you can’t really expect me to find a twelve-foot Christmas tree?—”

“A live one. I want it to smell like Christmas.”

Again, silence. Then, “Sir, are you feeling well? Have you, by chance, recently hit your head?”

His head was just fine. “Money isn’t an issue. Go big or go ho-ho-home, am I right?”

“You just made a Christmas joke. ”

Yeah, shit, he had. “Use the company credit card. Deliver the tree to my place, ASAP. You get it decorated, and there is a Christmas bonus in it for you.”

“I do not know what is happening right now, but I am both excited and scared,” Perry informed him. “Though that is often the way I feel when I work at our agency. Especially when you tell me that you’re tracking a murderer.”

I’m tracking a murderer right now. I’m just taking a small Christmas detour for True because her tears and her pain make me want to break something.

Footsteps rushed behind him. “Jake!” True’s breathless voice called.

“Got to go,” Jake told Perry. “Get the tree.” Low. Gruff. He hung up the phone and spun just as True came rushing right up to him.

Her eyes were wide, her lips parted, and her breath heaved a little too fast from what looked like a run she’d taken in order to reach him.

“I was wrong.” True grabbed his arms. “I didn’t think anything had been taken, but I just checked through my briefcase. It was upstairs. And— I was wrong. ”

Now they were getting somewhere. “Okay, sweets, don’t leave me in suspense. What was taken?”

“I’d brought home some inventory lists from the museum. I’d intended to go over the lists during the holiday break so I could see exactly what items I had to work with as I made plans for reenergizing the place.” A shake of her head sent her hair sliding over her shoulders. “But some of the papers are missing. All of the inventory lists aren’t there.”

The killer had taken inventory lists from the museum?

True was attacked twice in the museum.

Dots were connecting in Jake’s mind and forming a picture he didn’t like. “These inventory lists—are you the only person who has recently taken a look at what is and what is not stored in the backrooms of the museum?”

“Well, yes.” Her gaze searched his. “It’s my job. Like I said, I want to reenergize things there. Part of doing that means pulling items out of storage and putting them on display. Giving new life to things that have been forgotten.”

Suspicions swirled in his mind. “You can’t give new life to something that isn’t there.” Maybe they’d been looking at this all wrong. Maybe it wasn’t about True—about some obsession that a person had gotten with her. For her.

Maybe…maybe it was about stopping True. Before she uncovered a crime.

Then why did Dylan Dunn wind up as the dead one?

“We need to get back in that museum,” True murmured.

Damn straight, they did. “Tell me that your beautiful, organized heart has copies of the lists that were missing.”

“My organized heart has copies of the lists that are missing.”

He hauled her close and kissed her. A fast, hard kiss. “Of course, you do.”

“Those were the originals in my briefcase.” Her eyes gleamed at him. “But I scanned them onto my computer at work because I wanted backups. Some of the notations were so old—I scanned them so I could have them in an updated system. I’m trying to update everything at the museum.”

And someone did not like what she was doing. Because that someone thinks True will discover something she shouldn’t. “Did you tell anyone that you were creating the backups?”

“Aliyah knows.”

Aliyah’s image flashed through his mind. The wistful smile on her lips as she gazed after her sister and her niece. His gut said the woman was legitimately kind. But with True’s life in danger, he needed more than gut instinct.

“I don’t think anyone else knows,” True added, but there was uncertainty in her voice. Her hands fell away from him. “And before you get all suspicious, whatever is happening, Aliyah isn’t involved.”

“Are you saying that because she’s your friend or because you have some kind of proof?”

“Being my friend is the proof.”

He shook his head. “No, sweets, it isn’t. People you trust can be the ones to wreck you the hardest.”

“It’s not her.” True was adamant. “A man shoved me in the sarcophagus. Someone very strong. That wasn’t Aliyah.”

“Someone wanted your list to vanish. Let’s go find out why.” He wasn’t going to rule out any suspects. Not yet. Maybe more than one person was involved. Everyone would be staying on his damn list.

Including the drunk-ass ex-husband.

Because Richard’s sudden appearance was too coincidental. Jake had never believed in coincidences. Not coincidences. Not fate. Not Christmas magic.

Or at least…

Not until the Ghost of Christmas Past walked in my door. Then he’d started to believe in all kinds of new things.

“Before we leave, we’re fixing your back door.” No way would Jake just rush out and leave it open so someone else could get inside. Thanks, but no thanks. “Then we’ll hit the museum.”

“True?” Robert Moss had just unlocked the museum’s front door for her. “You’re not supposed to be here. The place is closed on Sundays and Mondays, you know that.”

And since it was nearing Sunday night…

Surprise, surprise, Robert is on duty again.

Robert stood in the doorway. Though he had unlocked the door, he did not move back so that True and Jake could enter. True forced a smile as she stared at the guard. Robert had always been friendly. Been kind to her. But now she couldn’t help but feel suspicious as she gazed at him.

During the car ride to the museum, she and Jake had talked about their possible suspects. If this nightmare really was about the museum—and artifacts in the museum—then Jake believed someone employed at the museum had to be directly involved.

Someone who worked at the museum would’ve had the access needed to be in the Egyptian display room during the first attack—and the one last night.

But the people who worked there were her friends. There was no way Aliyah was involved. True just would not buy that Aliyah would hurt her. And Robert showed her pictures of his grandchildren all the time. He wasn’t some killer.

Was he?

“The cops have the Egyptian room taped off,” Robert informed her. “Uniforms just left a bit ago. They told me no one was to go inside that space.”

“I’m not going in there,” she assured him. That room was the last place she wanted to be. “Just forgot something in my office. Jake and I swung by real fast to pick it up.”

Robert frowned.

She held her breath. Lying had never come easily to her. Could Robert tell she was making up the story?

But he nodded. Backed up. “I’m always forgetting stuff, too,” Robert told her with a grimace. “Happens to us all.”

Her breath rushed out as she hurried inside the museum. As soon as True crossed over the threshold, goosebumps rose on her skin. The place just felt cold.

Or maybe being back inside made her feel too scared. She hated that fear because she’d loved working at the museum. Or, she had loved it, right up until the moment she’d been locked in a sarcophagus. Do not think about that right now. Do. Not.

Jake followed her inside, and he immediately took her hand as they headed for her office.

Robert scrambled and stepped into their path. “You two an item now?”

“I—” True stopped.

“Yes,” Jake said. “Some things are damn important in this world. I realized that last night when True vanished.” Jake’s voice hardened as he added, “Made me understand the full meaning of rage. When I find the creep who put her in that coffin, I am going to make him pay.”

Robert swallowed. “I used to be a cop.”

“You don’t say?” Jake’s bland voice.

Robert nodded. “Over in Atlanta. Saw things that made me sick. People can be evil. They’ll lie and pretend, and you never know what you’re dealing with until it’s too late.” His hands went to his hips. The keys bounced. “But it’s not our job to make others pay. Courts decide who is guilty and innocent.”

“He came after True.” Flat. “He’s guilty, and he’ll pay.”

Robert’s eyes widened as he stepped to the side. “That’s some dangerous talk.”

“I’m a dangerous man.” His hold tightened on True. “Come on, sweets. Let’s go pick up the item you forgot.”

She hurried away with him but had to glance back over her shoulder. She found Robert’s gaze on them. Whispering, she asked Jake, “He wasn’t threatening us, was he?” Robert’s words replayed in her mind. People can be evil. They’ll lie and pretend, and you never know what you’re dealing with until it’s too late .

“Hard to say.”

They paused in front of her office. “You were threatening him, though, weren’t you?” True asked.

He shrugged. “I was making sure my intent was clear.” He leaned closer. “You won’t be hurt again.”

She wanted to push up onto her toes. To kiss him. But…

Not here.

They had a job to do. Jumping Jake’s bones was not the job. Finding out who’d been terrorizing her was the plan. Turning away from Jake, she fumbled with the lock. After a nervous moment, True managed to open the door and step inside. Automatically, she flipped on the lights when she entered her office, and True hurried toward her desk. She yanked back her chair and she?—

Crunch.

True looked down. She’d just stepped on a shattered piece of plastic. There were lots of shattered chunks of plastic and metal on her floor. And wires. Brackets.

“Hell.” Jake’s hands closed over her shoulders as he carefully pulled her back. “Someone beat us to the backup.”

Because her computer had been smashed to pieces in her office.

A knock sounded at her door. Her open door.

Her head whipped up. Robert stood there, frowning. “Did you find what you needed?”

Not even close. “My computer is broken.” The files she’d needed had been on the computer. Not saved to some cloud. On the hard drive.

Robert edged closer. “How’d that happen?”

Her stomach twisted. Someone came in and smashed it to pieces. Someone with access to the museum.

The keys jingled at his waist.

“No worries,” Jake said, sounding not even a little bit put out. “I know a guy who can fix this.”

He did?

Her head swung back to him.

“My guy is a tech genius,” he assured her. “When it comes to computers, there is nothing that he can’t recover. He’ll get all your files for you.” His gaze flickered to Robert. “No problem at all.” A brief pause then, “Let’s box it up. He’ll have it working for you by Christmas.”

Jake shut the SUV’s passenger side door. As he walked around the vehicle, he saluted a watching Robert and whistled as he made his way to the driver’s side. He climbed in. Cranked the vehicle.

And was actually prepared when the Christmas music blared at him this time. Jingle Bell Rock.

“My computer is in a thousand pieces,” True said.

Yep, he was aware. He’d helped pick up those thousand pieces and put them in a box.

“I get that you think your tech buddy is good, but it would take a miracle to fix this.”

He reversed the vehicle. Robert was still watching. “Oh, sweets, there is no fixing your computer.”

“Uh, then why did we box it up? And shouldn’t we have called the cops to report the damage?”

“I’ll inform Harris.” At the top of his to-do list. He’d make that call in moments. “Not like there are gonna be any prints, though. There haven’t been prints left behind at any of the attacks.”

“Robert was wearing gloves.” Soft.

“You noticed that, too, huh? Gloves, while on duty inside the museum. Fun fashion choice.” His grip tightened around the steering wheel. “I know that the computer can’t be repaired. You know it can’t be repaired. But our friend Robert? If he’s the perp we’re after, then he now needs to worry that we’re going to uncover the truth. That means he may panic. In my experience, panic always leads to mistakes.” He’d be informing Harris of exactly what had gone down in the museum. Either Harris would haul Robert in for questioning or the detective would put a tail on the guard.

We need a tail on him. If Harris doesn’t do it, then I’ll get Perry to track Robert.

“If this is about the museum, about someone stealing from the museum, then why is Richard in town?” True wondered. “I don’t get it.”

His grip could not get tighter on the wheel. “Maybe that bastard just wants you back. I’ve heard holidays make people nostalgic as hell. They start thinking about what they’ve lost. What they don’t have. What they want.” He waited a beat. “You want that old life of yours back?” Was he holding his breath? Yes, he was.

“I want to go forward. Not back. Richard is not the man I want.”

Who do you want? Come on, sweets, say it. Say…

My name.

“He isn’t you,” she finished softly.

Fuck. “That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me.” He gave her the same words she’d given to him not too long ago.

“That wasn’t nice. It was the truth. If you want to hear something nice… then how about this? You’re the kindest, bravest man I’ve ever met. You stood up for me when no one else did, and I won’t ever forget that.”

What could have been guilt twisted inside of him. I took the case because I wanted you. Not because I was kind. He braked at the light and turned his head. He needed to tell her the truth.

But when he looked in her eyes and saw the way that she stared back at him…

People in school used to think I was trash.

She wasn’t looking at him like he was trash.

“You’re the man I want,” True said again.

No, he was not some nice sonofabitch. Because a nice guy would not haul her close and kiss her as if his very life depended on the act.

But he did haul her close. He did kiss her with wild need, ferocious hunger, and a desire that could not be quenched.

Screw nice.

He’d stay on the naughty list.

Permanently.