Last Chance Christmas (Last Chance #5)(14)
Author: Hope Ramsay

She wasn’t in Libya anymore.

“Ma’am, you should know better than to be out here in the woods without an orange safety vest. I thought you were a deer,” the man said.

Lark pushed herself up to a sitting position. Her fatigues and jacket were wet from the mud. Her whole body was starting to shake.

“I didn’t hit you, did I?” His dark eyes were wide with concern.

“Uh, no, I’m okay. I just hit the deck when I heard the gunfire.”

“You’re shaking.”

“Uh, yeah. The mud is cold,” she said, but she knew the mud had nothing to do with the shakes that racked her body.

Lizzy couldn’t believe it. Aunt Jane had a doctor’s appointment, and Granny expected Lizzy to babysit Haley for the afternoon. So here she sat watching the brat eat a Boston cream doughnut while she waited for Miz Chaikin and David to arrive.

The doughnut was a bribe to keep Haley quiet. She sat and watched her sister making a mess of herself and hoped that Haley wouldn’t dribble chocolate or custard down her front like she usually did. Granny would definitely notice if Haley got her shirt dirty.

The little bell above the door jingled, and David came in. A flock of butterflies took flight in Lizzy’s tummy. He was totally cute, from his curly brown hair to his dark, intense eyes. As usual, he had his camera slung around his neck. He slid into the facing seat.

He shifted his gaze to Haley. “Hi, kid, how’s the doughnut?”

“Fine.” Haley squinted up at him. “Granny says you don’t have a Christmas tree at your house. I think that’s sad.”

Lizzy’s face burned. “Haley, that wasn’t a nice thing to say. We don’t have a Christmas tree at our house either.”

“Yeah, but we have one at Granny’s house. And besides, Granny says that we used to have a Christmas tree when Momma was alive. But David hasn’t ever had a Christmas tree, and I think that’s just tragic.” Haley said the last word on a dramatic sigh. She’d just learned the meaning of the word “tragic,” and she’d been saying it over and over again.

“It’s all right,” David said. “I don’t mind. I bet you never played dreidel or lit Hanukkah candles. Bet you never went on a matzo hunt at Passover either.”

“Are those things fun?” Haley asked.

“Yeah, sure.”

“Well, nothing could be funner than a Christmas tree. Or Santa Claus.”

“I never had a Christmas tree either.” This last comment came from Ms. Chaikin, who had arrived for her interview right on time. Lizzy wanted to choke her little sister. This was not the introduction Lizzy had wanted.

She popped up from her seat. “Oh, Ms. Chaikin, this is David Raab from the Davis High Rebel Yell. And this is my little sister. I’m sorry I had to bring her along. I had to babysit unexpectedly.”

Ms. Chaikin sat down and gave Haley a smile. “So, you’re Haley, huh?”

Haley nodded, her face a complete smear of chocolate.

“You know my sister’s name?” Lizzy asked.

Ms. Chaikin nodded. “I had a conversation with your father about Haley yesterday morning.”

Haley stopped chewing. “Why didn’t you have a Christmas tree?” she asked.

“Because my father and I always went to Bermuda at Christmastime. He had been raised as a Jew and had no interest in putting up a tree. I vaguely remember putting up a tree when my mother was alive. She had been raised as a Catholic, but she died when I was a little kid.”

“Like my mother?”

“I think I was a little younger than you are now when my mother died.” Ms. Chaikin squared her shoulders and turned toward Lizzy. “You know, I don’t think it would be a good idea to do this interview with Haley here.”

“You’ve been talking to Daddy, and he told you not to talk to me, didn’t he?”

She cocked her head. “Yes, he did, but I came here anyway. Don’t be angry at your father because he wants to keep you safe.”

“Did your father object when you decided to become a war photographer?” Lizzy flipped open her notepad.

“By that time, my father and I had a very strained relationship.” Ms. Chaikin turned toward David and said, “That’s a very nice camera you’ve got. Are you interested in photojournalism?” Wow, Ms. Chaikin had just dodged one of Lizzy’s questions.

“Yeah, I guess,” he said and looked down at the table in that totally bashful way of his that Lizzy thought was kind of cute.

“Tell me about your father,” Lizzy asked, trying to get this interview back on track.

“There’s not much to tell. When I was old enough, he recognized that I was competent to make my own decisions. Give your father some time. He’ll come around eventually and realize that you can handle bad stuff.”

“But bad stuff happens to little kids, too,” Haley said. “I was kidnapped and in a car wreck. And now I have a dumb old angel.” She propped her head on her hand and managed to look miserable.

Lizzy stifled her irritation. “You’re okay, Haley. And please don’t embarrass me by talking about the angel.”

“No, it’s all right. I’m very interested in your angel. Does she have a name?” Ms. Chaikin said.

“No. She almost never talks. She cries a lot.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. Do you know what she’s crying about?”

Haley shook her head. “No. But I’m starting to think she’s sad about Daddy.”

Ms. Chaikin stiffened. “I see.”

“Can we not talk about the angel, please?” Lizzy pleaded. By the time Haley was finished wrecking this opportunity, Lark Chaikin would probably never speak to her again.

“Hey, I’ve got it,” Haley said brightly.

“What?” Lizzy asked.

Haley turned toward David. “Hey, David, you wanna help put up a Christmas tree? Maybe if you helped us put up a tree then you could invite Lizzy over to your house to do whatever it is you do on the holidays.”

“We light candles.” David turned toward Lizzy and blushed. It was so cute the way he did that sometimes.

“It’s okay, David, you don’t have to invite me over. My sister is—”

“I’d love to invite you over,” David blurted. “Hanukkah is all this week. I’ll ask Mom if it’s okay. I’m sure she’ll love making latkes for you.”

“Latkes?”

“Potato pancakes,” Ms. Chaikin supplied. “They are not to be missed. You should go. Lighting Hanukkah candles is fun.”

“You’ve lit Hanukkah candles?” Haley asked.

“I have. When my aunt Sadie was alive. She would make latkes and have us over for dinner. That was shortly after my mother died. But then Aunt Sadie passed away, too.”

“You know,” Haley said, rolling her eyes in Lizzy’s direction, “there are all those boxes of Christmas stuff in the attic and a tree in a box and everything. We could get them down and surprise Daddy tonight by having the house all decorated. And then David and Ms. Chaikin would have a chance to be in on the fun.”

Suddenly Haley didn’t seem like such a pest. Maybe this was a good thing. Lizzy could invite David over and get to know him better, and Ms. Chaikin could be there as kind of like a chaperone. Then maybe Daddy wouldn’t have a coronary over it.

She crossed her fingers under the table. And maybe she could kind of interview Ms. Chaikin while they were unsnarling the Christmas lights from the boxes in the attic.

“So, Ms. Chaikin, you wanna help?” Haley asked.

“Well, I don’t know. I think your father might not be happy about that.”

Haley sat up bolt-straight. “But the angel thinks you should help. I think this is exactly what she meant last night when she told me that Daddy needed to get out of his rut, and that we needed to make changes. The angel is smiling and nodding.”

“Haley, shut up about the angel, okay?” This was so totally embarrassing.

Ms. Chaikin leaned a little toward Haley. “So she’s stopped crying?”

Haley nodded. “She really wants you to help. I can tell.”

Ms. Chaikin smiled. “Well, in that case how can I refuse your invitation? I wouldn’t want to disappoint an angel.”

Stone watched as the Allenberg County crime scene unit made a cursory inspection of Jimmy Marshall’s Mercedes. The silver vehicle had been found by a couple of hunters. The car had been abandoned three miles north of town on an unpaved road that led to the old hunting lodge known as the Jonquil House. The car was locked, and as near as Stone could tell there wasn’t a thing out of place. No telltale signs of a struggle, or blood, or anything else that would indicate foul play.

Still, the damn car was found in the middle of nowhere and about a mile outside of Stone’s jurisdiction. Which meant that Billy Bennett had taken charge.

Allenberg’s sheriff strode toward him, the late-afternoon sun glinting on his pale blond hair. Billy had always been the guy every girl had fallen ass-over-teakettle for. And he’d sure kept himself up, which probably explained why he kept winning elections despite the fact that he was a total a-hole who knew nothing about policing.

“Thanks for the tip, Stone,” Billy said with one of his infernally charming smiles. “We’ve got it covered now. Doesn’t look like much, though. I’d be willing to bet Jimmy ditched his car out here and had his girlfriend pick him up.”

“Based on what?”

Bennett shrugged. “Rumor. But in this county, rumor is nearly ’bout as good as fact.”

“You going to search the woods and the swamp?”

Bennett put his hands on his hips. “I don’t see any tracks leading into the woods, do you?”

“I didn’t look that hard. You owe it to Lee and Hettie to conduct a grid search.”

Bennett looked up at the fading light in the afternoon sky and then back at Stone. “You know, unless I’m mistaken, we’re standing two miles outside of the town limits of Last Chance. I don’t think you have any jurisdiction here.”

There wasn’t any point picking a fight with Billy Bennett directly. If Stone wanted the sheriff to act, he would have to unleash Lee Marshall on him. Once Lee accepted that his son had gone missing and not run away, maybe the old man would demand action. If Lee told Billy to take a walk off the pier down at the river, Billy would do it without asking any questions.

Stone squared his hat. It was getting on to dinnertime. “Well, y’all have a nice day then. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help with your investigation. You going to let Hettie and Lee know we found Jimmy’s car?”

“I got it covered.”

Stone nodded and strode back toward his cruiser. Ten minutes later, he pulled his car into the driveway of the little rambler he rented. Lizzy was supposed to be babysitting Haley today because of Jane’s doctor’s appointment—an appointment that everyone in town already knew about.

He headed up the walk to the house, mulling over what he should do about Jimmy Marshall and Sheriff Bennett. He got halfway to the porch before the sound of the piano hit him like a Stinger missile.