Rose and Helena Save Christmas: a novella (10 page)

“I thought your grandma was the only one with a paranormal gift.”

“Oh, she is.” Neely Kate waved her hand in dismissal. “But everyone else has a talent. My cousin Petey can shoot a squirrel dead center between the eyes, and Vickie can make a mean venison stew. She’s won blue ribbons at the county fair. But me… I’ve got nothin’.”

Rose’s mouth dropped open in shock. “How can you say that? You’re one of the most special people I know.”

Neely Kate scowled and tried to walk away before Rose hauled her back. “You’re not walkin’ away from this.”

Neely Kate took an exasperated breath. “You have to say that, Rose. We’re best friends.”

Rose steeled her back. “No, I don’t have to say any such thing. You’re larger than life and everyone loves you.”

A sly grin lifted her mouth. “Not Joe.”

Rose lifted her eyebrows playfully. “Even Joe. He loves that you’re so feisty and stand up to him. And especially that you have my back after our breakup.”

“He does not.”

“I promise he does.” Rose’s smile fell. A strand of Neely Kate’s hair blew into her face and Rose tucked it behind her ear. “Why can’t you just be enough as
you
?”

Tears filled Neely Kate’s eyes. “I wasn’t enough for my momma, was I? She took off ten years ago with some man and left me for Gran to raise. If I was enough, she wouldn’t have left me, now would she?”

Rose’s chest tightened as a lump filled her throat. She grabbed Neely Kate’s shoulders and stared into her eyes. “Now you listen to me, Neely Kate Rivers Colson. Your mother is a selfish fool. That woman doesn’t deserve you. And I promise you that if one of these giant diamonds showed up in her lap, she’d throw it away thinkin’ it was a piece of glass, because she obviously doesn’t know special when she sees it.”

Neely Kate’s chin quivered. “I’m so glad you sat by me in jury duty that day.”

Rose smiled, her eyes burning with tears. “Me too.” She took a deep breath. “Now let’s go clear our names so we can go home for Christmas.”

Neely Kate was quieter than usual as they walked the rest of the way, even though Rose tried to cajole her out of her doldrums. Rose wasn’t surprised she was taking the potential murder charges seriously, especially here in New Orleans, but the reason for Neely Kate’s obsession with getting a paranormal gift
did
surprise her. Neely Kate was one of the most outgoing, wonderful people she knew. She realized how people actually viewed themselves was often different from how the world saw them. Rose included.

They stopped at the corner of the street, eyeing the shop two doors down. Crime scene tape covered the front entrance.
 

“So what do you want to do?” Neely Kate asked.
 

“It will be pretty obvious if we’re snoopin’ around the front, especially you if people remember you poundin’ on the window yesterday.”

Neely Kate grimaced.
 

“How about I stroll by and casually look inside, like those people over there?” She pointed to a couple who stood in front of the crime tape, obviously trying to figure out what happened.

“Sounds good.”
 

“And why don’t you go into that candle shop and look around like you’re shopping. Otherwise it will look suspicious if you’re standing on the corner.” Although on second thought, Rose decided it took a lot more than standing on a street corner to look suspicious.

“Good point.”
 

Neely Kate took off for the candle shop, which was directly across from the psychic’s store, while Rose crossed the street. She pretended to look into the windows of the establishment next door. Just her luck it was a bar, which made her look more like a wino than a window-shopper, but then she figured she was in New Orleans. By looking at the number of people walking around with drinks in their hands, if someone could get away with window-shopping a bar anywhere, it was here.
 

When she reached the front windows of the psychic’s shop, she saw a streak of purple inside, ducking behind the counter. Gina, the employee they met yesterday, was inside. They needed to talk to her.

Neely Kate stood in the window of the candle store, holding up a hunk of wax that looked like a grotesque pirate. Rose made a slight motioning movement and Neely Kate nodded, setting the candle down and heading for the exit.

Rose moved to the street corner and waited.
 

“The clerk is inside the shop,” Rose said as soon as Neely Kate joined her.
 

“Are you sure?”

“Unless Madame Serafine hired multiple employees with purple hair, then yes, I’m sure. We need to talk to her.”

“Yeah, but how?”

“Let’s go around to the alley and see if we can get in the back entrance.”

“Oh!” Neely Kate gushed. “Good idea!”

They made their way around the side of the bar and turned the corner to the alley.

“It’s the second store,” Rose said, staying close to the wall. “And here it is.”

The back door was slightly ajar. Rose gave Neely Kate a glance before pulling her hand back into her sleeve and wedging the heel of her palm into the crack. She slowly pushed the door open, worried the old building would creak or groan, but it was surprisingly quiet. Rose held it open for Neely Kate to lean her shoulder against the edge. Rose sneaked into the dark back room and Neely Kate followed, carefully shutting the door behind them.
 

“Now what?” Neely Kate asked.
 

Rose tried to figure out their next move when she heard a voice, and she looked at Neely Kate with wide eyes. Gina, the purple-haired clerk, was talking to someone, but Rose could barely make out her words. She crept to the edge of the partially open door that led to the room where Serafine had started to read Neely Kate’s palm. It was still trashed, but the curtain to the front of the store was wider than it had been the night before. Rose still couldn’t see Gina, but the clerk was raising her voice, making it easier to hear.

“…I keep telling you I don’t know where it is!” She grunted in exasperation as she walked past the curtained doorway. “I’m telling you, I’m missing two bags, but she only gave away one bag to that hillbilly girl with the big hair.”

Neely Kate stiffened. “Hey!” she whisper-shouted.

Rose turned back to look at her, giving her the evil eye.
 

Thankfully, Gina was too worried about her own dilemma to hear them. “I’ve looked everywhere and I can’t find the second one.”
 

Gina was silent for a moment. “You don’t think I’m stupid, do you? I don’t want to end up at the bottom of the Mississippi.” She was silent again. “Fine. I’ll search again, but I’m telling you
it’s not here
. Somebody took it and it wasn’t me. But when I find it, I’m out of this, and you better keep your promise.”

There were several more seconds of silence. “Whatever,” Gina said finally, “but once the murder is pinned on those girls and that PI, I’m leaving town.”

Rose and Neely Kate exchanged worried glances.
 

Gina muttered “
Damn it
!” and slammed something on the counter. Rose wouldn’t be surprised if it was her phone. It sounded as though Gina was in big trouble.

“Do you still wanna talk to her?” Neely Kate whispered in her ear. “’Cause I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“No, sounds like she’s in on it. She’s not gonna tell us anything. We need to tell Taylor and see if she found anything else out.”

“And then hopefully go home,” Neely Kate said. “No offense, but this is the worst vacation ever.”
 

Rose couldn’t agree more.

Chapter Thirteen

Taylor found Helena sitting on the curb at the end of the street. The roller skates were gone and had been replaced with ballet shoes, which was confusing enough to begin with, but when combined with the camo and the smell of shrimp, made things seem even more odd.

“About time you came back,” Helena griped. “I could have died there.”

“You’re already dead.”

“Why do people keep saying that?”

“Because it’s true? What’s with the shoes?”

“You think I know? I was lying there in that heap of shrimp, sequins, and feathers and thinking ‘I wish I were lighter on my feet’ and these things appeared.”

“Can you walk in them?”

“Yeah, but not well. This street is bumpy. Hurts my corns.”

Taylor opened her mouth to ask how in God’s name a ghost could have corns, but decided the answer wasn’t even worth it. “Well, walk as fast as you can. I need you to go into a house and see if you can find out anything about the diamonds.”

Helena pushed herself up from the curb and started up the street, moving as if she were walking on hot coals. When she picked up speed, it was an even worse spectacle, but at least she was moving faster.

Taylor wrinkled her nose as a gust of wind hit Helena. “Why is it that you can hold smell? That isn’t right on so many different levels.”

“How should I know? You were supposed to be figuring all this out for me.”

“No, we were supposed to be figuring it out together.”

“Well, we’re doing a bang-up job so far what with the potential murder charges.”

Low blow.

Taylor stopped across the street from the house and pointed. “Just get in there and see if you can find out anything. I’ll wait for you back on the corner.”

“Who lives there?”

“A guy who did time for fencing stolen jewels. Recently released from prison.”

“You want me to go in there with a prisoner?”

“He can’t see you!”

“He can probably smell me.”

“Then that’s just an added bonus he deserves. This guy is going to get Neely Kate sent down the river for murder. Do you want that to happen?”

Helena sighed. “Fine.”
 

Taylor watched as she did her strange walk across the street and through the wall of the house. She headed back for the corner and leaned against the street sign post, trying not to stare at the fencer’s house. This entire mess had hit her like a ton of bricks. She wasn’t used to being a suspect, and she didn’t like it one bit. Nor did she relish the thought of Savoy’s railroading Neely Kate for another feather in his cap.
 

The entire thing had her edgier than usual…more reactive and impatient. She needed to remind herself to relax and concentrate on this case as if it were any other job she’d been hired to do. It was easy to say, but so much harder to do when it was personal. Like right now. She checked her watch for the tenth time in as many minutes and hoped Helena had been inside the house so long because she’d uncovered information they could use, and not a serving tray of food.

She pulled out her cell phone, frustrated with herself for not using the time to make a phone call to her friend at the employment commission. This was exactly what she’d been trying to avoid—losing focus.
 

“This is Dot,” her friend answered on the first ring.

“Hi Dot. It’s Taylor.”

“Taylor! How the heck are you? I haven’t heard from you in a coon’s age.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I’ve been busy with the agency and a special project I’m working on, and I’ve dropped everything and everyone else. I promise it’s not personal.”

“Oh, I’d never think that, honey. You’re darn near the only considerate person I know.”

“I might change your mind here in a second, because I’m calling for a favor. One of those favors you’re not supposed to do in your official capacity.”

“What’s wrong? I know you, Taylor Beaumont, and you never ask for things like this unless it’s dire.”

“I’m sorta wrapped up in a murder investigation.”

“You trying to clear someone innocent, like that Jimmy you helped before?”

“No. I’m trying to clear myself.”

“Good Lord! My heart’s beating like a drum. I won’t even ask for the details because I know you won’t give them and they’ll likely stress me more. Just tell me what I can do for you.”

“I want to know who works at Madame Serafine’s Voodoo House.”
 

“Sure, give me a second. It looks like she has two employees, Gina Miller and Robbie Calloway. Looks like Robbie is sixteen and only works some weekend hours. Gina is full-time.”

At sixteen and minimal weekend hours, that put Robbie out of the running for involvement in high crimes. Not that she hadn’t encountered highly accomplished sixteen-year-old criminals, but he didn’t have enough access to guarantee handling a smuggling operation.
 

“What’s Gina’s work history?” Taylor asked.

“Looks like she’s been at the shop for six months and before that…hmmm.”

“What?”

“I don’t have any work history for her prior to the shop. Could be she’s a transplant.”

“Could be,” Taylor said. “Thanks for the information. I really appreciate it.”

“You be careful. And please let me know when you get this fixed. I’m going to worry until I know you’re safe.”