Rose and Helena Save Christmas: a novella (9 page)

“Well, what did you find out?”

“The house the purse snatcher went to belongs to Arden James, a former jeweler who did ten years for fencing stolen jewels. He was just released from prison two months ago. The story was in the newspaper the day of his release.”

“Oh! Well, that’s great news. Are you coming back here now?”

“No. I doubt seriously Arden worked in Serafine’s shop. I need to figure out the inside connection. I don’t think Serafine was involved, but I can’t be sure. And if Purple Hair is our girl, why would the smuggler crack her on the head? Serafine probably had at least one other employee. I have a friend down at the employment commission. I’m going to see what she can tell me.”

“Great. Hey, is Helena okay?”

The shrimp debacle!

Taylor clenched her phone. “Uh, yeah, sure. Listen, I need to run. I’ll get back with you as soon as I know more. Just stay put and don’t give Savoy anything to latch onto.”

She slipped the phone back into her pocket and headed across the street to the French Market, hoping she hadn’t just lied to Neely Kate about Helena.
 

Chapter Eleven

After everything they had been through that day, Rose couldn’t believe it was only two in the afternoon. She was happy Taylor had gotten some solid information about the case, but it wasn’t nearly enough to clear them. Her stomach tensed with anxiety when she thought about what was still to come. Almost every run-in she’d ever had with law enforcement in Henryetta turned out bad, and after their meeting with Detective Savoy this morning, she expected more of the same.
 

She wondered if the break-in had been discovered by housekeeping yet, but the answer to her question was evident when Rose and Neely Kate got off the elevator on their hotel floor. Three people stood in front of their hotel room door.
 

“Oh, my stars and garters,” Neely Kate mumbled. “I think they found the mess.”

“I think you’re right.” Rose couldn’t help dragging her feet a bit as they neared the small group.
 

A man in a gray suit turned to them as the girls reached their room, a grim expression on his face. “Ms. Gardner?”

“Yes?” Rose said, trying to sound surprised. She didn’t have to fake the nervousness.

“I’m Rob Benson, the hotel manager. I’m afraid your room has been broken into. We’ve contacted the authorities and they are on their way.”

“Oh my goodness!” Neely Kate exclaimed, sounding worried.
 

“How on earth did you find out we were robbed?” Rose asked. “Did someone see them runnin’ off?”

“No,” Mr. Benson said, his brow lowered with concern. “One of the housekeeping staff discovered the break-in, then called me.”

“Did they steal our stuff?” Neely Kate asked.

Mr. Benson didn’t look happy about this conversation, not that Rose could blame him. This had to look bad for the hotel. “We’re not sure. Once Matilda discovered that someone had searched through your things, she vacated the room and waited for me to arrive. The police should be here any minute.”

“Oh dear,” Rose said.
 

The manager leaned closer and lowered his voice. “We’ll be more than happy to move you to another room and comp your stay because of the inconvenience. We take the safety of our guests very seriously.”

“Thank you.”

“Well, what do we have here?” a familiar voice asked behind them. “I wouldn’t be too concerned about their inconvenience if I were you.”

Rose squeezed her eyes shut as she turned around to face her current worst nightmare. “Hello, Detective Savoy.”

The sour-faced man stood several feet away, flanked by two uniformed officers. The detective pulled his wallet out of his pocket and flashed it to the manager, then just as quickly stuffed it back into his pants. “Detective Savoy. New Orleans PD. What do you think happened here?” He nodded his head to the closed door to their room.

“Our housekeeping staff went to clean Ms. Gardner’s room this afternoon and discovered that it had been broken into.”

The officer raised his eyebrows with a smirk. “Had it now?”

The manager’s brow scrunched low over his eyes. “Why do you say that?”

“Never mind. Go on.”

“Matilda discovered the room had been vandalized about thirty minutes ago.”

“Was anything taken?”

“Nothing that belongs to the hotel,” the manager said. “We can’t be sure about the guests’ belongings.”

Savoy turned to the women. “Have you been in the room yet?”

Rose didn’t want to lie, so she came up with the most recent version of the truth. “We just got here and were talkin’ to Mr. Benson and he told us what happened. We haven’t had a chance to go in.”

The detective waved his hand toward the room in what looked to be a gallant gesture, but Rose knew it was anything but. “After you, ladies.” He held up his hand to the other two officers to stay put.

Neely Kate turned to Detective Savoy and gave him a look of pure innocence and confusion. “You’re wantin’ us to go in and contaminate a
crime scene
?”
 

He smiled, but it was condescending. “You can walk in, but just don’t touch anything.”
 

The girls entered the room and looked around, keeping their hands to themselves. About thirty seconds later, Savoy became impatient.

“Well?”
 

Rose shook her head, but avoided eye contact as she continued to examine the mess. “I don’t see anything missin’. What about you, Neely Kate?”

“No.”

Savoy hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his pants and said in a smug tone, “Why does that not surprise me?”

Rose’s head shot up. She suspected he would give them a hard time, but she’d still held out hope that she was wrong. “What are you talkin’ about?”

He held his hands out at his sides. “Why would someone break into a tourist’s room and not steal anything?”

Rose’s temper was starting to get the better of her. “I don’t know,
Detective
. You’re the expert. Shouldn’t you be the one tellin’ us?”

His eyes widened in surprise.
 

“It’s obvious they were lookin’ for something.” She waved to the mess. “Isn’t your job to figure out what that is?”

He took two steps toward her, his face less than a foot from hers, but she held her ground. He was a bully, plain and simple, and she was sick to death of backing down to them. She’d faced scarier bullies than Detective Savoy, although she suspected he could inflict more damage.

“What’s a country bumpkin like you from southern Arkansas know about my job?”

“My ex-boyfriend is Joe Simmons. He used to be a detective for the Arkansas State Police and is now the chief deputy sheriff in Fenton County, so it turns out I
do
know a thing or two about detective work.”

But as soon as the hatred filled Savoy’s eyes, Rose wondered if she’d just frolicked headlong down the wrong path. Taylor had said involving Mason would probably cause more harm than good, and she suspected this was the same.

“Do you want to know what I think,
Ms. Gardner
?” He spat out her name as if it were vile.

“Not particularly,
Detective Savoy
, but I suspect you’re gonna tell me anyway.”

He took a couple of steps backward, did a slow circle as he took in the room, then turned back to face her, his face covered with contempt. “Here’s what I think—Ms. Colson got mad at Serafine Saint Cerano and then went back to ‘make her pay.’” He used air quotes to accentuate his point.
 

“You think a little thing like that is capable of torturin’ someone?” Rose asked in disbelief while swinging her hand back toward Neely Kate. “What’s the point? It was only fifty dollars.”

“Yeah,” Neely Kate said, sounding indignant. “I wouldn’t waste the time over something so trivial. Besides, it might mess up my nails.” She held out her hands, showing her latest manicure of silver sparkling nails with tiny Christmas trees painted on each one.
 

The detective only stared at the two women, his grin spreading.

“That cat got your tongue?” Neely Kate asked, putting her hands on her hips and jutting her right hip out to the side.

He smirked. “No, but a jail cell’s going to be slowing yours down soon.”

“You don’t have any grounds to arrest her!” Rose protested.

Savoy took a deep, satisfied breath and let it out with a malicious twinkle in his eye. “Don’t be so sure of that.” He took a step closer. “Ms. Gardner, how’d you know Ms. Saint Cerano was tortured?”

Oh, crappy doodles. That was in the paperwork. The paperwork Helena the ghost had stolen from the police headquarters. “You told us this morning.”

He shook his head. “Nope. I purposely left that part out.”

Rose clamped her mouth shut.
 

“Now I not only suspect Ms. Colson of committing murder, but you of being an accessory.” His grin spread across his face. “I love when I can close a case in one day.” He winked at her. “I’ve got the department record, you know.”

“How many other innocent people have you railroaded to keep that record goin’?” Rose asked.

He shrugged with a look of indifference. “Who cares? As long as the case is closed, that’s all that matters. Now I’ve got to figure out how to loop Ms. Beaumont in on this, which I’m sure I’ll manage, and I’m bound to get that promotion.” He started toward the door. “I have no doubts that I’ll be seeing you girls soon.”
 

“Not if I can help it!” Neely Kate shouted after him.

He walked out and gave a half wave without looking back. “You can go do your job, boys,” he said the police officers. “But I wouldn’t waste too much time trying to pin it on someone else.”

The stunned hotel manager stood in the doorway, a look of horror in his eyes.
 

“We didn’t do it,” Rose said, taking a step closer to him.
 

He took a step backward, stumbling when he hit the housekeeping cart. “I’m sure you didn’t. We’ll move you to your new room soon.” Then he took off down the hall, the housekeeper and a woman in a business suit following after him.

“Me and my big mouth,” Rose groaned, sitting on the edge of the bed.
 

Neely Kate sat next to her and put an arm around her back. “Don’t worry. Between you and me and Taylor and Helena, we’ll figure this mess out.”

Rose looked up at her friend. “
We?
”

“Shoot yeah, we. This isn’t the first mystery we’ve solved or you’ve solved completely on your own.”

Rose rolled her eyes. “A couple of those were by accident.”

“So?” Neely Kate’s eyes widened to make her point. “You’re a natural at solvin’ mysteries.”

“But this isn’t Fenton County, Neely Kate. We don’t know the first thing about anything here.”

“So? We’ll just figure it out.” Neely Kate stood and tugged on Rose’s arm. “Come on.”

Rose stood, confused. “Where are we goin’?”

“We’re going to solve a mystery.”

“How on earth are we gonna do that?”

“I know the first place to look. Take a guess.” She grinned.
 

Rose let out a breath. How could she be so stupid? “The scene of the crime.” She started for the door. “Let’s go.”

Chapter Twelve

The air had turned nippier as Rose and Neely Kate took off toward the psychic’s store.
 

“Do you think we should have heard something else from Taylor by now?” Rose asked, hunching her shoulders against the wind.
 

“I wondered that too, but I suspect she’s trackin’ down more leads,” Neely Kate said. “Maybe she’s wrapped up with something and can’t get away to call us with another update.”

“Let’s hope it’s not
tied
up
to
something,” Rose murmured.
 

“That too. But they couldn’t catch Helena. I bet she’d come tell us if something happened.”

“I would hope she’d go to the police.”

“They wouldn’t be able to see or hear her,” Neely Kate said, walking around a man stumbling while holding a plastic cup. “I’m the only one who can. I think she’d come to me for help.”

“Yeah, I suppose that’s true.” Rose cast a glance at her friend. “So how disappointed are you that you might not have a paranormal gift after all?”

Neely Kate gave a shake of her head. “Just because Taylor spouted her explanation doesn’t mean it’s true. You know my grandma has a gift.” Still, Neely Kate didn’t sound so convinced.

“I know.” Rose looped her arm through Neely Kate’s arm and pulled her close. “Why is it so important to you that you have a special gift anyway?”

Neely Kate was quiet for a moment before she answered in a voice so quiet Rose barely heard her, “So I’ll be special.”

Rose pulled her to a halt in the middle of the busy sidewalk. “What on earth are you talkin’ about, Neely Kate Colson?”

Neely Kate met her gaze but looked hesitant. “I grew up in a loud family and everyone has a special gift.”