Chapter 28

CHAPTER 28

Nick

I 'm chatting with a retired Coast Guard captain and her wife who've made the trip from Charleston, South Carolina, for Christmas in July every year for the past twelve years when my phone vibrates in my pocket. I silently curse myself for not putting it on ‘do not disturb' and ignore the notification, focusing instead on Captain Tanner's story about teaching her great-nephew to sail.

When the bar opens, the Tanners excuse themselves to trade their sparkling waters for sparkling wine, and I pop into the kitchen to check on Merry and Rosemary.

"Everything good in here?"

"Easy peasy," Merry says.

"Piece of cake," Rosemary agrees.

"Speaking of cake, Holly wants me to put the snowman ice cream cakes out at six o'clock. Mom usually waited until eight." Merry looks at me, waiting for a ruling.

I almost say eight because that's the way we've always done it, but I told Holly this was her party now. "Let's try six this year and see how it goes."

Merry shrugs. "You got it."

"Have either of you seen Noelle lately?"

I realize I haven't seen her since I had her backed up against the wall in the family room. I check my watch. That was over an hour ago.

They both shake their heads.

"No," Rosemary says.

"She's gotta be around here somewhere, though, Dad. Try not to worry," Merry says.

"I'm not worried," I promise before I head out of the kitchen.

I'm really not. Unbeknownst to Noelle, my daughters and nieces, and my guests, I spent the morning arranging a series of security measures that should make the Inn at Mistletoe Mountain impenetrable. Nobody's getting in unless I want them to. The Santa Claus Crew is set up in eight red Adirondack chairs on the front porch, and a half dozen Lords of the Mountain are scattered around the backyard playing horseshoes and badminton. Meanwhile, Griselda, Sensei Adam, and Enrique are circulating with guests. They've all been briefed on Dante Bianchi and I've passed around the mug shot Rosemary's husband emailed me. If he tries to walk into the party, he'll regret it.

I make a circuit through the parlor, the library, and the formal dining room, checking on guests and smiling at the arts and crafts project Sage and Ivy have corralled several kids into doing. I stand and watch them help our youngest guests make pipe cleaner reindeer for a few minutes before moving on.

Thyme's tending bar. She's got the toughest job, but she's wearing a big smile, moving like lightning, and cracking a steady stream of jokes, so the tip jar on the bar is already nearly full. Good for her. I'm about to go out to the porch to check in with my A Team, when Holly rushes up and grabs my arm.

"Great open house, Holly. You've done a fantastic job."

She waves off the praise as she pulls me into the hallway. "Have you seen Noelle anywhere?" she asks. Her eyebrows are knitted together, and she's chewed off most of her lipstick, which isn't like her.

My heart thumps. "No. Why?"

She screws up her face and for a second I think she's about to cry. My heart's really pounding now.

But she parts her lips and exhales slowly. Straw breathing, Griselda calls it. She taught it to Carol to help her control her anxiety when she was in hospice care, and Carol taught it to the rest of us.

"That Stillwater kid, the chess genius, does he make up stories?"

"I have no idea. Why?"

She tilts her head toward the sitting room. "Well, I hope he does because he says he saw Noelle leaving with a man."

My heart stops thrumming and drops all the way to my stomach. I run into the sitting room and skid to a stop in front of Brent Stillwater, who sits in a too-big chair, swinging his legs and sucking on an oversized candy cane.

"Hi, Mr. Jolly. Great party," he says like a little grown-up.

I remind myself he's five and crouch in front of him. "I'm glad you think so, Brent. Some of the kids are making reindeer crafts."

"No, thanks. I'm just here for the sugar."

"Fair enough." I clear my throat. "So what's this about Ms. Winters?"

He presses his lips together and shakes his head. "I think she's mad at me, but I don't know what I did that was bad. And, really, even when I am bad, she doesn't usually get mad."

"What makes you think she's mad now?" I ask carefully.

"She didn't say hi to me when she was leaving."

"You saw her leave?"

He nods. "I was tossing beanbags in the backyard with Sunny." He pauses. "We were also eating marshmallows."

It takes me a second to realize he's justifying playing the game because he was also eating sugar. He wouldn't want me to think he was doing a child-like activity just for fun.

"Sure, I get that. So you said hi, but she didn't answer you. Maybe she didn't hear you?" I suggest.

He considers this possibility. "Maybe. Sunny said she might have had too much to drink because the jerk guy was holding her up and helping her walk."

"What jerk guy?" I keep my tone as calm and upbeat as humanly possible even though I'm screaming inside.

"The guy who knocked over Sunny's tower yesterday," he says matter-of-factly.

I race from the room, pulling out my phone to call Deputy Wells. And that's when I see my notification. Text from Noe. I swipe to open it and read the two-word message with horror:

He's here.

Like something out of the worst Christmas song ever, eight puzzled Santas, six pissed-off bikers, three horrified nieces, two freaked-out daughters, two fitness instructors, and a retired teacher crowd around the family room looking down at Noelle's cracked phone as I recount the writing on the bathroom mirror, the blood I found in the hallway near the side exit, and the description Sunny and Brent gave me.

"How'd he get in?" Enrique says with a deep frown.

"I think must have been in. Maybe he checked in as a guest. I was focused on keeping people out. Meanwhile, the threat was inside all along." I would love to kick my own ass right now.

"Wait, where's Holly?" Ivy asks.

"She knows what's going on. But somebody has to be in charge of the party. And she's going to need some help." I stare at my daughters.

Finally, Merry raises a reluctant hand. "I should stay and take care of the food."

Rosemary, seated between her sisters, gets an elbow to each rib. "Ow! Fine, I'll help Merry. Some guy who says he's a baker also offered to help."

"Enzo?" Merry sniffs. "We don't need him."

"Great." I turn to Thyme and Sage. "The police are going to want to interview Sunny and Brent. Brent's parents said he really took a shine to you at the library. Maybe you could sit in with him when the cops talk to him."

They nod in unison. "Sure."

Ivy narrows her eyes. "How do you plan to sideline me, Dad?"

I shake my head. "You're coming with us, actually. We need drivers because a bunch of people walked here and we don't have time to waste while they go get their cars. But you're staying in the station wagon. Are we clear?"

"We're clear," she says with an excited grin, ignoring the daggers the other members of the family are shooting at her.

Enrique raises his hand. "You think he took her back to the lodge, right?"

I hope he took her back to the lodge. Because if he left town, I don't know what to do.

"That's my current thinking."

"Why?"

"When I first told the police about the break-in, they weren't overly interested in checking it out. The deputy said even if it was Bianchi who broke in, once he saw the cardboard we taped over the window, he'd abandon it as a hideout because it wasn't safe anymore."

"Makes sense. So why are we going there?"

"Because Noelle said he's smart. And he probably realizes the police will assume he'll avoid that spot because it's not secure. So taking her there is unexpected. And he knows Brent and Sunny saw him leave with her. So he'll have to assume there's law enforcement looking for him all the way from the Canadian border to the New York airports. He'll have no choice but to lay low. The lodge is the best bet."

I must sound more confident than I feel because all around the room heads are nodding.

"Any other questions?"

Nobody says a word.

"Good. Now let's roll out before the police get here and try to stop us."