Mistletoe’s Kiss

19. Chapter 19

19

Chapter 19

“It is impossible to give oneself away - unless one never opens ones mouth.” Cards on the Table by Agatha Christie

A s they walked, Helen kept shooting glances at the hand Nolan kept on the small of Maddy’s back. After the confrontation with Dan and the level of fear Maddy had felt, her mind and body should be rebelling against the touch of a stranger. But she just wasn’t thinking rationally, his hand on her body felt right, comforting and safe.

“So, you two know each other? Helen said, once again looking at Nolan. “Before tonight I mean? It’s just you look like you know each other if you know what I mean.” When Nolan ignored her she walked further ahead of them muttering “This would have been so good for my platform. My followers would SO ship the shit out of you two.”

Ignoring Helen’s jibes, Nolan said, “Why don’t you two shout? She might be wary of a strange male voice and not want to answer. If we don’t find her in the next few minutes, we should head downstairs, just in case she doubled back and passed us.”

“JUDE! JUDE! ARE YOU THERE? WHERE ARE YOU, JUDE?” Maddy and Helen shouted, their voices echoing in the stillness. They repeated the calls a few more times, but silence hung heavy in the air.

“I think we should reconvene in the parlour,” Helen said with a sigh. “If she were up here, she would have heard us and known something was wrong.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Maddy replied, glancing back at the darkened hallways. “Let’s head down now. I could really use a coffee, too. Not sure I want to sleep tonight.” Maddy sighed, feeling the weight of the night settle over them.

They headed back to the parlour, Helen nervously looking around the whole way in case a knife-wielding murderer jumped out at them. When they reached their destination they could hear voices quietly talking. “Looks like Priesh and Moira made it here then without getting bumped off” Helen huffed as she pushed past Nolan and threw herself onto one of the teal sofas near the fire.

Priesh and Moira were in conversation with Sara, gathered around a side table with a pot of coffee and a plate of biscuits. As Maddy made a beeline towards the snacks she passed one of the armchairs and doubled back as she realised that a huddled Jude was sitting there hugging a cushion and staring at Michaels who occupied the other chair. Neither of them were talking and when Maddy let out a huge sigh of relief and rushed forward to hug the older woman she flinched.“Oh, thank God! We were upstairs looking for you everywhere! What happened? Did you get lost?

Before Jude could respond, Sara chipped in, “We heard screaming from the study. Frightened the life out of me when I heard her!”

“Oh crap,” Nolan muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. “Sorry, maybe I should have put up a sign or something instead of just closing the door.”

“Wouldn’t have mattered,” Jude replied in a hoarse voice. “I would have just thought it was part of the game and gone in anyway.”

Nolan handed Maddy a cup of hot coffee, which she accepted gratefully. She took a sip, then reached for a chocolate chip cookie he held out to her. As she chewed, he seemed completely captivated by her, his gaze lingering on her mouth. He made a deep sound of satisfaction when she licked the crumbs from her lips, momentarily oblivious to everything around them.

“What the fuck is this now?” Sara said looking from Maddy to Nolan and back again. “When did this happen and why wasn’t I notified?”

Maddy sloshed coffee over the rim of her cup. “Nothing to see here, nothing at all…” she said, hastily blotting the spill with the hem of her dress. Nolan’s hazel eyes flickered with a predatory glint as he focused intently on her smooth legs.

“Yep, nothing to see, absolutely nothing,” Sara chimed in with a smirk.

Nolan blinked, shaking himself out of his trance. He turned to Sara, feigning nonchalance. “How’s Mr. Michaels doing? Has he said anything yet?”

“No, nothing. He let us move him around and get him comfortable without any resistance, but he’s been completely non-verbal,” Sara replied, glancing over at the elderly gentleman snuggled under a blanket in the armchair.

“Right, as pleasant as this reunion is, we need to talk,” Nolan began, his tone shifting to business. “I’ve already spoken to Priesh, Moira, and Helen about their whereabouts at the presumed time of the murder and their relationships with the deceased. I’ll need to speak with both Sara and Jude individually as well. I want Maddy to sit in on those conversations because I value her input, especially since the murderer seems to be using her book as inspiration.”

“That’s fine by me,” Sara replied. “I’d feel more comfortable talking with Maddy present anyway, and I’m sure Jude would too. There’s a little nook at the back of this room with a reading corner. It’s pretty private. Will that work?”

“That sounds perfect, Sara,” Maddy responded quickly before Nolan could chime in. “Detective Moore, could I just have a quick word before we begin?” She took another gulp of her scalding coffee, feeling the caffeine kick in and sparking a thought she needed to share. Excited to have someone to bounce ideas off for once, she enthusiastically took his arm and pulled him away from the others.

As they moved to the side, she watched as he shrugged off his jacket and rolled up his shirt sleeves.

“It’s hot in here with the fire going”

Holy shit! Forearm porn wasn’t a myth! It was like a slow burlesque reveal as he teased her with incremental rolls of the fabric to show tanned, tattooed skin…totally lickable skin.

“Be a good girl and tell me what you’ve figured out, hmm?”

Maddy’s stomach flipped once again at the words ‘Good Girl’. If there hadn’t just been a murder and the room wasn’t full of traumatised guests she’d be tempted to drop her panties and take advantage of the soft rug in front of the roaring fire. Nolan’s praise, delivered in that deep, husky voice, sent a shiver down her spine and made her break out in a sweat. How was it that she could write those words repeatedly in her books, yet when Mr. Tall, Blonde, and Handsome said them, her brain completely short-circuited?

“Wow, praise kink” she murmured to herself with a crinkled brow, “that’s a surprise.” She managed to swallow the drool that had gathered in her mouth and miraculously replied without spitting all over him “I had a thought…” she said and then stuttered when the thought of spitting all over him or rather a certain part of him lodged in her brain. “Shit, um, I…yes, that’s right, I had a thought.”

“Yeah?” Nolan said, clearly amused with her flustered attempts to talk, “Now, tell me what you’ve ‘deduced’ Watson.”

“First of all, I would be Sherlock not Watson but in this case, I’ll be Poirot and you can be Hastings. He always did have an eye for the ladies, always “cherchezing the femmes.”

“What? Cherchez…? Nolan muttered, “My french is abysmal.”

“Cherchezing the Femmes…chasing the women” she explained with a huff.

“That’s not me, I don’t chase women, I’m definitely a one-woman man, but forget about that for the moment, what did you want to tell me?”

“Okay, do you still have Helen’s phone?” Maddy asked.

“Yeah, it’s in my pocket, why?”

“Well, Helen was filming live content for her platform for most of the night. Remember when I said that Jude arrived late and tried to get Dan to talk to her privately? He refused and they argued before he walked away. I just thought it was worth checking Helen’s phone in case she accidentally caught anything on her camera. She was videoing towards the end of our time in the parlour and it’s entirely possible that she picked up the argument in the background. All of her videos from tonight should still be saved on her page, it’s “@romance4lif” she said as Nolan took out the phone.

“It’s locked. Hold on…” he said, jogging back over to the sofa Helen was dozing on. He mumbled something and she begrudgingly unlocked it for him.

“You look,” he said crowding her and handing the phone over. “I’m not the best at this kind of social media.”

“You mean you don’t doom scroll when you’re bored?” She said, opening up TikTok from the app.

“No, I like my privacy and I prefer to read.”

“I’m glad to hear you like to read,” Maddy murmured as she scrolled through the videos Helen had posted earlier.

“Anything?” Nolan said, changing the subject.

“Fucking hell, there’s twelve videos! Hang on, let me narrow them down a little,” Maddy said, scrolling through the videos. She skipped past the early clips, which showed Helen walking through the parlour and dining room before the other guests arrived, as well as a video showcasing Dan’s cocktail-making ‘skills’. It surprised her that Helen had included a clip of Dan at all, but she guessed some people might find his cocktail tossing and lime-squeezing impressive.

“Here,” she said, shifting closer to Nolan. She hadn’t found anything in the main feed, but suddenly thought it might be worth checking the drafts for any unpublished videos. Sure enough, she spotted a video from when Jude had arrived. “I remember we were discussing the missing movie guy when they were arguing, so I think this matches the timeframe.”

She pressed play and held the phone up between them so they could listen.

“There, stop and go back a tiny bit,” Nolan said, wrapping his fingers around her wrist to keep the phone steady.

Maddy rewound the video by about ten seconds. Nolan was right; she could hear Sara gossiping about Dan in the foreground, but if she shifted her focus, Jude’s angry voice came through in the background. “What’s she saying?” Maddy asked, closing her eyes to concentrate. “I can’t make out that last word.”

Nolan leaned closer, his brow furrowed as he listened intently. “The last word was ‘dead’ - I wish you were dead .”