The Heart of Christmas (26 page)

31

“C
an you take the pile?” Mrs. Higgins asked.

Rex studied the twenty or more cards in his hand, searching for a pair of eights. They were passing the time by playing canasta, a game Rex had never played until now but Mrs. Higgins had often played with her husband.

“No.”

“Then you need to discard,” she told him. “A black three will freeze the pile.”

He had a couple of black threes, and black threes didn’t seem to be much good for anything else in this game, so he threw one. He felt bad that he’d had to dislodge Mrs. Higgins from her home, and right before Christmas, too, but she didn’t seem to mind. She loved the excitement and secrecy of what they were doing—and having his undivided attention.

“There you go. See? Now I can’t take the pile.” She spread six nines in front of her, which he thought was probably a better hand than his.

“That’s a lot of nines,” he said, scowling at the fact that she was so much closer to ending the hand than he was. “That doesn’t bode well for me, does it?”

She gave him a sympathetic grimace. “It’s only one away from the seven nines I need in order to have a straight canasta, remember? I’ll probably win this hand, especially if you can’t get down.”

It would help if he knew exactly what she meant. He wasn’t catching on to the game all that quickly. He was too preoccupied with the call he’d just had from Eve, telling him that Eric Gunderson and his three companions would be attending Victorian Days, and that her group would have ten people milling around, hoping to be asked about that picture. Would they be able to execute what they’d planned?

Rex had to admit it sounded great in theory. Ted was a smart guy, and Kyle certainly seemed capable. But what if it
did
work? How would he feel then? He’d been looking over his shoulder for eight years—ever since he was released from prison, and he’d gone to prison at eighteen. He’d never had a normal life, not since he was a young kid. Would he even know what to do without that constant threat?

“How do you go out again?” he asked Mrs. Higgins, referring to the game.

She got up to pour herself another cup of coffee as she explained. When she sat down again and settled her reading glasses back on her nose, she squinted at him over the top of the frame. “Eve and her friends are such good people, aren’t they?”

He surveyed the guesthouse, where they were staying. It wasn’t large, but it had two bedrooms and two bathrooms and a small kitchen/living room area with a fireplace. Everything Ted had was nice, but particularly the big house he lived in. “Definitely. Ted doesn’t even like me and yet he’s trying to help.”

“It isn’t that he doesn’t like you. He likes everyone. He’s just protective of Eve. They grew up together. And you’re an unproven entity.”

“Would they do this kind of thing for anyone?” he asked.

“I’d like to think they would—anyone who’s worthy of it,” she replied. “So don’t feel too guilty.”

“I feel—” he almost said “like shit” but changed it out of respect “—terrible that my coming to town is disrupting so many lives. Especially
yours.
” He didn’t deserve the sacrifices involved. He’d barely met these people, and he’d spent the time he’d known them pushing them away.

“I don’t mind.” She looked up from studying her hand to smile at him. “I feel useful trying to entertain you while everyone does their part.”

“But it’s Christmas, and I’m sure you’d be more comfortable at your own place.”

“This is what Christmas is about, isn’t it? Peace on earth, and goodwill to all men. Anyway, I wouldn’t be too comfortable at home if The Crew decided to pay me a visit. I think I’d rather hang out here with you,” she said with a laugh.

“You’re not going to Victorian Days?”

“Oh, yes, I have to finish the quilt. I’ll go over when Sophia does. I mean until then.” She tossed him a seven. “Can you take that?”

Rex held three sevens in his hand. “Actually, I can.”

* * *

Eve kept an eye out for Eric Gunderson and his companions. But she worked most of the night at the inn without seeing them once. She was just starting to panic, to think they might not be asking around about that picture of Rex, when Ted showed up.

“How are things here?” he asked.

She glanced over at Deb, who was packaging the items she’d been ringing up. “Busy. How’s the rest of the celebration?”

“One of the best yet. Every year we get more people, which means more money for the charity and the vendors.”

“We’ve had a steady stream,” she said.

He leaned close and whispered in her ear. “Any chance I can have a moment alone with you?”

She handed her current customer the sack containing her purchases. It was a woman she’d never seen before, but Victorian Days drew people from all over. “Can you manage without me for a few minutes?” she asked Deb. “I’m going to take a quick break.”

“Of course. It’s almost ten, anyway. Things should be slowing down pretty soon.”

Eve was glad—except that she didn’t want the evening to end until they’d achieved what she’d set out to achieve. “Thanks,” she said, and walked Ted back to her office, where she shut the door behind them.

“So? Any sign of The Crew?” she asked.

He frowned. “Not that I know of. They haven’t come back here?”

“No. I’ve been watching for them all evening.” She bit her lip as she considered their options. “Have you had someone go by Mrs. Higgins’s place, just in case?”

“Kyle checked it a few minutes ago. All quiet.”

“Where could those bastards have gone?”

“There were a lot of people out tonight,” he replied. “Maybe they were in the crush but we somehow missed them.”

“They stand out too much for that. Especially here.”

Ted took Cheyenne’s chair. “True. It’s really frustrating because we have the go-ahead from Chief Bennett.”

“He told you that?”

“He did. He pulled me aside earlier and said he’s not excited about reporting something that isn’t true, but by the WitSec guy’s own admission, Rex has been through enough. If we can’t stop what’s happening in an honest way, it’s time to stop it
any
way.”

She rubbed her temples to relieve the headache starting behind her eyes. “I can’t believe we have everything in place, including the piece I thought would be the hardest to get—and these idiots aren’t running around town, showing everyone that damn picture. I was so sure they would.”

“Like I said, maybe—” His phone, which he was holding in one hand, rang, and he paused to check it. “It’s Sophia,” he said, and answered.

“What’s up?...You have?”

When he looked back at her, Eve read the excitement in his face. She guessed someone had finally encountered Gunderson and his cohorts, and she clenched her hands in anxiety, curiosity and impatience.

“Where?...Who said that?...Wow! That takes balls the size of coconuts....Okay, I’m at the B and B. I’ll tell her, and I’ll call Kyle myself. You and Alexa head home right away and have Rex keep an eye out....Love you, too.”

He sighed as he ended the call.

“They’ve been spotted?” Eve asked.

“They had the nerve to ask Chief Bennett if he’d ever seen the man in the picture,” he said with an incredulous chuckle.

“No...”

“Yes. I guess they figured if anyone would keep track of new faces in this town, it would be law enforcement.”

“But...what excuse did they give for looking for Rex?”

“They said he was Gunderson’s brother. Sophia told me Chief Bennett believes they’re intoxicated.”

“So they were probably out at Sexy Sadie’s.”

“Chances are good that they were.”

“Did Bennett tell them he
had
seen Rex?”

“No.”

“Why not?”
she cried.

“He didn’t feel it would come off as credible, and I have to agree. A man in his position wouldn’t give that information to four obvious gangbangers, who are strangers and drunk to boot. But he told Sophia, who just told Mrs. Higgins, where he saw them, and Mrs. Higgins is going to walk by.”

“You think she’ll be safe?”

“I do. They’re not in a dark alley or anything, and they have absolutely no reason to harm her, since she’s going to give them the information they want.”

“Not directions, though.”

“No, and that’ll buy us the few minutes we need to stay ahead of them.”

Eve bit her lip. “That means this could happen in the next hour. You’d better call Kyle.”

He was already punching in the numbers.

* * *

Rex sat in Ted’s darkened living room, peering out the front window. By now, Mrs. Higgins was probably asleep in the guesthouse; Sophia was upstairs in the master bedroom. He could hear the drone of the TV drifting out of that part of the house.

“Come on, come on,” he muttered, growing more anxious by the second. Kyle should’ve been able to check in by now, but Rex hadn’t heard anything. Of course, he no longer had a cell. They’d put it in the house so it would die at the same time he supposedly did. But there was always Ted’s home phone.

When the call came, he let Sophia answer it and waited with bated breath to hear how things were going.

It took a few minutes, but she finally appeared at the top of the stairs. “Rex?”

“Yes?”

“Can you pick up? It’s Eve.”

Relief ran through him as he strode into the kitchen and used the extension. “Hello?”

“It’s done.”

He kneaded his forehead. “And? How’d it go?”

“Kyle just called. He said it was quite a blaze.”

“Why did it take so long to get a report?”

“He had to wait until the building was totally destroyed before notifying anyone. We didn’t want some brave firefighter rushing in to save you and losing his life.”

“So the fire’s out?”

“For the most part. And Chief Bennett’s on-site, since Kyle made a point of telling 9-1-1 that your rental car’s sitting in the driveway.”

“The fire never threatened the car or anything else....”

Leaving the car in such close proximity was a chance they’d felt they had to take. Parking it far away for no apparent reason would seem odd. “No. It’s been so wet out that there was no danger of it spreading.”

“That’s good.” Rex wondered how she was holding up under the strain of what was going on. “How are you feeling?”

“Cautiously hopeful.”

“Me, too,” he said. “Have you seen Gunderson?”

“No. They haven’t come in, which worries me a little. Where could they be?”

Rex knew where
he’d
be if he was still one of them. “I’m guessing they’re watching the blaze. They might even be poking around in my rental car while everyone else is rushing around making sure the fire’s out.”

“Good. Then they’ll see Rex Taylor’s name on the rental agreement in the glove box.”

“That’s why we left it.”

“I’ll stay here until they come in and I’ll call you before I go home to bed.

“Eve.” He caught her just before she could hang up. “I’d like to see you.”

“Not tonight,” she said, and then she was gone.

* * *

Gunderson and his friends came in about thirty minutes later. Eve pretended to be busy doing something at the front desk, but she was too tired to accomplish any real work. She’d reverted to playing solitaire while waiting for them. But she was glad she’d stayed. She could smell the fire on them when they walked in, knew exactly where they’d been.

“Did you attend the Victorian Days celebration?” she asked, offering them a warm smile.

Gunderson shot her a dirty look. She thought he was going to continue to his room without responding, but then he paused and turned around. “That guy I asked you about?”

She blinked innocently. “What guy?”

“The one in the picture.”

“Oh, your brother or...something like that.”

“Yeah. You really haven’t seen him?”

“No, why?”

“Plenty of other people in this town have.”

She frowned. “So...that’s good, isn’t it? Didn’t you want to find him?”

“I
will
find him—if he’s still alive,” he said.

“Still alive?” she repeated.

“Never mind.”

Once he and his friends had gone to their rooms, she hurried back to the office, closed the door and called Kyle. “What’s been happening?”

“The fire department’s gone,” he replied.

“What’s left of the house?”

“Not much. Just a scorched shell.”

“So you’ll be able to finish knocking it down easily?”

“Oh, yeah. And it won’t require nearly as many trips to the dump.”

“There’s a bright spot. Is Chief Bennett still there?”

“No.”

“Is he okay with saying he believes Rex Taylor died in the blaze? That’s pretty important if this is going to work.”

“We had a cup of coffee before he left. He told me he doesn’t like the lie. But if it’s the only way to save a man’s life.... There’s what’s technically right, and there’s what’s morally right, he said. The moral side of things is what matters most to him. He’s a good man.”

“He is. Did he find Rex’s cell phone in the rubble?”

“No. They can’t search for anything like that yet. Everything’s still hot. But Ed Hamilton was out here, taking pictures of the fire. The story will be in this week’s paper for sure.”

“How’d he hear about it?” Eve asked.

Kyle grinned. “As a newspaper man, he’s supposed to be monitoring the police scanners for emergency calls, but he was at his in-laws’ and had fallen asleep on the couch. So...I may have called him.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No. I told him I knew he wouldn’t want to miss something like this. It beats another article on the town Christmas tree.”

“I bet he was appreciative.”

“He was. Said he’ll have his wife bake me some cookies. I’m going to feel guilty taking them.”

Too tired to laugh, Eve smiled instead. “He doesn’t get many things like this to report. He’d be even more interested in the real story, though.”

“He’s not going to find out about that. Neither is anyone else.”

“Did you see Eric Gunderson and his buddies out there?” she asked.

“No. But that doesn’t mean they didn’t come. I was too busy trying to make sure everything happened when it was supposed to.”