Trouble Under the Tree (A Nina Quinn Mystery) (11 page)

“That stuff ain’t good for you, Miz Quinn,”
he said, pulling up a stool. “Think of the salmonella.”

There was going to be bloodshed at my house
tonight, I was sure of it.

“What’re you doing here?” I asked, gripping
my roll of cookie dough as though I might start swinging it like a
bat. “Aren’t you supposed to be working?”

“Working?” Riley asked, taking care of the
newest puddle.

“Meet the new Santa at Christmastowne,” I
said, still amused at the thought.

“Ho, ho, ho!” Mr. Cabrera bellowed, shaking
the windows.

Maria winced as she grabbed a mug for Mr.
Cabrera. “You might want to tone that down a smidge. The kids might
get scared.”

His wrinkles deepened as he frowned.
“Really?”

We nodded.

“You scared?” he asked Riley.

“A little,” he said.

“It needs to sound merrier,” Maria said,
coaching him. “Like you’re a jolly old fellow, not the scary Wizard
of Oz.”

Riley smirked. “Dude. Santa?”

Mr. Cabrera nodded. “Starting tomorrow. Jenny
Christmas closed the place down today due to the weather. The best
news is Fairlane McCorkle was hired back as Mrs. Claus, so maybe I
can talk her into a date after all.”

Ah. The real reason Mr. Cabrera took the job.
“She does have a thing for Santas,” I said, stuffing more cookie
dough into my mouth and storing it in my cheeks like a little
hamster.

“Your hips, Nina, your hips.” Maria
tsk
ed.

There wasn’t much of the cookie dough left to
use as a weapon. Besides, I didn’t want to waste it on her. “It’s a
long walk home, Maria.”

Mr. Cabrera didn’t like discontented females,
so it was no surprise when he said, “I should get going. I was
wondering if I could borrow the kid.”

Riley jumped up. “I’m game.”

“To do what?” I asked.

“Fairlane asked me to stop by,” Mr. Cabrera
said. “She needs some help getting a few things out of the storage
space above her garage.”

I imagined the conversation of her asking him
to come over “some time” and he deemed that to be “right away.”
There was no lacking of optimism on his part.

Riley grabbed his sweatshirt from the dryer
and pulled it over his head,
ahh
ing at the heat. I
understood. There were some winter days I fantasized about crawling
into the dryer myself. But my big hips and I would never fit.

“Wait! Before you go,” Maria said. She ran
into the living room and came back with her carpetbag. She pulled
out a blue scarf and rolled it out.

It had to be eight feet long, and pockmarked
just like mine.

“I made you a scarf, Mr. Cabrera!” she
proclaimed.

His eyes widened and his mouth formed a wide
o
. “It’s beautiful,” he gasped, picking it up and wrapping
it around his neck, four, five times. He separated the fabric so
his mouth was clear and said, “Thank you, Miss Maria.” He kissed
both her cheeks.

My heart fluttered. That Mr. Cabrera was a
good guy. You know, if you took away all the dead girlfriends and
everything.

“Don’t worry, Riley,” Maria said. “I’m still
working on yours.”

Riley’s eyes widened in terror. “You don’t
have t—”

Mr. Cabrera elbowed him.

“
Uhn
. I mean, thank you,” Riley
said.

I saw them off through the side door and came
back into the kitchen to find Maria sneaking a chunk of cookie
dough. “Aha!”

She blinked innocently. “I’m only thinking of
your hips.”

The phone started ringing, and I snatched up
my cookie dough before she polished it off. Then I glanced at the
Caller ID and picked up the phone. “Nina Quinn’s halfway
house.”

Maria flipped me off.

I smiled.

“I just have to stop at home, then I’ll be
over,” Kevin said. “And have I got news for you. You’re not going
to believe what was on that video tape.”

Chapter Eleven

By the time Kevin knocked on the door, ten
minutes later, it looked like the snow was lightening up a
little.

Or maybe that was wishful thinking on my
part.

Gracie barked, peed.

Maria sighed and went for paper towels.

As soon as I pulled open the door, Kevin
thrust a package at me. “This was jammed in your mailbox.”

I took the manila bubble envelope from him,
and my heart squeezed a little at the sight of Bobby’s name on the
return address. Then I frowned when I realized the address was in
Texas, and that nagging lump in my throat was back.

Kevin stomped his way inside, wiping his
boots on the mat by the door. Gracie took one look at him and went
running. She bumped into the edge of the couch before diving under
the coffee table.

Sometimes when I saw Kevin, I felt that way,
too.

Maria came in carrying a roll of paper
towels. “Pee patrol,” she said at Kevin’s quizzical glance.

“The rat?” Kevin asked, referring to
Gracie.

“No, Mr. Cabrera,” I teased. “You just missed
him.”

Kevin smiled and shrugged out of his jacket.
He hung it on a hook by the door.

“You got here fast,” I said, trying to resist
the lure of Bobby’s envelope.

“The entrance to my street is closed. The
accident earlier knocked out power and broke a water main.”

A steady pulse of panic threaded its way
through my veins. “When’s it supposed to open up again?”

He wouldn’t look at me. “Tomorrow.”

I groaned.

“You don’t mind if Ry and I stay here
tonight, do you?”

Was that a trace of humor in his voice? I
glanced at him, at his sparkly green eyes. Damn it. It was. “I’m
sure Mr. Cabrera will be happy to put you up. Ry can stay with
me.”

“Party pooper.”

I grunted. That was twice today I’d been
called that.

Kevin nodded to the envelope in my hand. “You
gonna open that?”

“Later,” I said, tucking it under my arm. The
last thing I wanted was an audience. “What was on that video tape?”
My curiosity was killing me.

“Do you have a laptop? I’d rather show
you.”

Nodding, I said, “I’ll get it.”

As I ran up the stairs, I heard Kevin ask
Maria, “Are you staying over, too?”

“I think so,” she said.

Ugh
. There wasn’t enough cookie dough
in the world.

Even though I was dying to see what Bobby had
sent, I wanted to see that tape more. I dropped his package on my
bed and grabbed my laptop from my nightstand. Back downstairs,
Kevin slipped in the tiny disk. “I watched this at the station. My
unofficial investigation into those toy thefts just got very
official. And this tape might just break open Lele’s murder case as
well.”

The screen was dark at first, then came to
life when someone stepped into Santa’s Cottage.

“Where is that?” Maria asked, leaning over
the back of the couch to see the screen.

I explained about Christmastowne.

“It’s adorable!” she exclaimed.

It really was—if one didn’t count the murder
and all the strange things happening there.

The shadowy figure came into the light and
looked around. I gasped.

It was Fairlane McCorkle.

She peeked out the door, took a quick look in
the back room, and then quickly walked over to Santa’s chest and
scooped up the presents Kevin had put in there as bait. She opened
her enormous handbag and dropped them in.

My jaw dropped. “That sneak!”

“Wait,” Kevin said darkly. “It gets
better.”

Maria came around the couch and scooched in
next to me. Which pushed me firmly up against Kevin. The heat of
his leg blistered against my thigh.

I wiggled closer to Maria.

“Stop fidgeting,” she demanded.

I elbowed her.

“Hey!” she cried.

“Do I need to separate you two?” Kevin
asked.

I thought it might be better if he moved, but
I kept my mouth shut.

“Why does she keep looking at her watch?”
Maria asked.

“She’s waiting for someone,” Kevin said, a
hint of laughter in his voice.

A minute passed where Fairlane strolled
around Santa’s Cottage, nicking ornaments and even a candy cane.
She peeled that and started eating it.

Another minute passed and we watched as
Fairlane’s head snapped up. Someone had come into the cottage. The
shadowy figure drew closer to her and took her into his arms. I
squinted at the screen.

“Wait for it...” Kevin said.

The man spun her around and kissed her.

My jaw dropped as I looked at Kevin, at
Maria, then back at the screen. I was speechless.

Finally, I said, “I think I’m gonna be
sick.”

“Who’s the hottie?” Maria asked.

“Benny Christmas,” I said.

“Benny Christmas,” she echoed. “I spit on his
name.
Pattoey
!” she mocked spit.

“How do you really feel about him?” Kevin
asked.

“He killed Carrie Hodges. Do you remember
her, Nina? She was so sweet.”

“Technically,” Kevin said, “he didn’t kill
her.”

“He was drunk,” Maria countered.

“Not quite, and she was the one who crossed
the line,” Kevin pointed out.

Maria fisted her hands. “Well, if he had been
sober, he could have swerved to avoid her.”

“Maybe,” Kevin said. “Maybe not. It was an
accident.”

“I used to like you,” Maria said,
huffing.

“Wait, wait, wait!” I cried. “Back up, Maria.
How do you know Carrie Hodges?” Because I certainly didn’t know
her.

“She was on my cheer squad in high school,”
Maria said. “She was a freshman when I was a senior. I was cheer
captain, you know,” she said to Kevin.

“I know,” he said.

Everyone knew.

But that explained why I didn’t know Carrie.
I would have long been out of high school when she was there.

“Her funeral was the saddest thing I’ve ever
seen. She was an only child, and her mother looked like she wanted
to crawl into the grave right along with her daughter.” She
shuddered.

I shuddered, too. What a horrible loss.

I glanced at Kevin. Once upon a time, we’d
talked about having kids, but first I’d wanted to get my business
up and running. Then our marriage fell apart.

Bobby and I had talked about kids, but now,
with him gone, those discussions seemed a very long time ago.

On the video, Benny and Fairlane groped each
other for a few minutes, before they seemed to get into a heated
discussion.

“Is there no audio?” I asked.

“No,” Kevin said. “But I assume this is the
part where Fairlane asks for her job back.”

“Actually,” Maria said, “she’s threatening
him that if he doesn’t give her job back, she’s going to tell his
wife about their affair.”

Kevin and I stared at Maria.

“What?” she said. “I can read lips.”

“Since when?” I asked.

“Since college. I took a course on it as part
of learning how to do sign language.”

“You know sign language?” I asked.

She glared at me. “Yes, Nina. Jeez, don’t you
know me at all?”

I was beginning to think the answer to that
was no.

Kevin said, “You’ll want to see this next
part.”

“There’s more?” I asked.

“Oh yeah.”

The tape continued on, showing Benny giving
in to Fairlane’s demand. She groped him some more, then left. As
soon as she did, he sat in Santa’s chair, and dropped his head into
his hand.

“Scum,” Maria muttered.

We ignored her. Benny sat there for a little
bit before looking up at the doorway. He smiled as a woman came
inside, hiked her skirt up to her waist, climbed atop his lap and
straddled him. She tossed her hair, and I got a good look at her
profile.

It was Glory Vonderberg.

“Is that his wife?” Maria asked.

“Nope,” Kevin said.

“He does like himself a cougar, doesn’t he?”
Maria said.

Apparently.

Glory reached for Benny’s belt and started
unbuckling.

Benny unbuttoned her shirt, revealing a lacy
red bra.

“At least she has good taste in lingerie,”
Maria said.

I was thinking this tape was about to get
very X-rated when suddenly both Benny and Glory froze. Benny said
something.

Kevin and I looked at Maria.

She translated. “He said, ‘Did you hear
that?’”

On the tape, Glory nodded. Her lips moved but
with the angle of the camera, it wasn’t clear what she said.

They paused for a moment, then started with
their unbuttoning and unbuckling again. There was much kissing
going on, and I could only imagine the slurping and suckling
noises.

Suddenly, they froze again, and looked toward
the back room of the cottage. Benny’s lips moved.

“He said, ‘Is anyone back there?’” Maria
looked at us. “As if someone would answer.”

She had a point.

Benny and Glory quickly resumed their
exploration of each other. Just as Glory unzipped Benny’s pants,
they jumped apart.

Maria leaned in. “Benny cursed, then said
something about a fire alarm?”

“The fire alarm went off this morning at
Christmastowne,” I said. “Complete with sprinklers.”

“That explains the woman freaking out about
everything getting wet,” Maria said.

The pair on the screen waited near the
doorway, then Benny patted Glory’s rear and they went out the
door.

But not before a shadow appeared in the
doorway behind them—the one leading to the back room of the
cottage.

The tape went black.

“Did you see that?” I asked.

“What?” Kevin went to take the disk out of
the computer, and I slapped his hand.

“Go back to the last shot.”

Maria said, “I don’t think I can watch the
two of them fondle each other again. I have a sensitive
stomach.”

“Not that far,” I said. “Just the very
end.”

Kevin scrolled through video.

“There!” I cried. “See it?”