Save Me, Santa: A Chirstmas Anthology of Romance & Suspense (21 page)

“This is my inheritance.” Arlene folded the jacket in her lap.

“Like I said, keep it and I’ll get Susan to bring another one for your dad’s viewing tomorrow.”

“She can’t know about this. After me being cut out of the will because of my betting, she expects me to mess up again. I’ve been in Gamblers Anonymous and haven’t placed a bet in a whole year, but neither Dad or Susan knew that.”

“So, let me get his straight. You were cut out of the will because you gambled?”

“Yes, I was addicted. Not just a gambler, a degenerate gambler.” Arlene fidgeted in her chair. Her voice came out low and quiet. “I’m not proud of it. He was so careful with his money and afraid I’d throw it all away. He just couldn’t bear it if that happened.”

“But you said you’re done gambling.” I put a hand on her shoulder. “That’s great.”

“Yes.” Arlene ran her hand across her lap.

“Okay, then why not tell Susan?” I asked.

“She wouldn’t believe me because I’ve relapsed before.” Arlene turned the coat over. “But I won’t this time. And I only want this so I can pay for my kids’ college.”

“With a jacket? How?” I touched the garment's sleeve.

“Here. Look.” She pulled a nail file out of her purse, and then ran it along a shoulder seam. As she wiggled the file along the edge, the seam gave way. She dug her fingers in and removed three small crystal clear rocks.

“Whoa.” My heart flipped. “Diamonds?”

“Yes, and I think every seam has some valuable gems as well. These are worth… Well, a lot.” Arlene held the diamonds in her open palm.

“Then why would Susan choose that jacket to bury him in?”

“Because it was his favorite. He kept it in the back of his closet and never wore it. He always told us it was priceless to him.”

“No kidding.”

“I thought he must have something hidden away. That’s why I wanted to be alone with him earlier, I’m ashamed to say. And when I felt his jacket seams they were full of small bumps. That’s when I knew I had to come back and get the jacket without Susan knowing. I didn’t think she’d ever understand without ever having kids to raise and support.”

“Why don’t you try to explain it to her, like you just did to me? I’m sure she’d understand.”

“Remember, I’m cut out of the will.” Arlene closed her hand.

“Oh. Yeah.” I felt bad for her. After all it was Christmas. “Maybe, she’ll have the holiday spirit of forgiveness?”

“Maybe. That would be nice, wouldn’t it?” Arlene gave a faint smile.

“It sure would.”

Knock. Knock.

Joe peeked his head inside the door. “Is everything okay in here?”

I looked at Arlene and whispered, “You need to get this taken care of with your sister. If not, I have to deal with her or the police.”

“Fine.” She sighed.

“So all is good here? Is there anything I can do?” Joe offered.

“Can you call Susan Wallace, please, and have her meet Arlene here?” I asked Joe.

* * *

After Susan arrived, we left the sisters alone in the office. While we waited in the lobby, I updated Kim and Joe about what Arlene had said.

Fifteen minutes later Arlene and Susan emerged from the office.

“Thank you for everything,” Susan said as she approached me.

“You’re welcome. We’re always glad to help,” I said.

“Yes, ma’am, It was our pleasure,” Joe said, shaking Susan’s hand.

“Please, let us know if you need anything at all,” Kim offered Susan and Arlene.

“Thank you. We’re fine. We’ll see you tomorrow morning. Oh, and I’m bringing another jacket.” Susan put on her gloves. She pointed to the jacket over Arlene’s arm. “We’re taking this one home.”

Arlene said to me, “I guess I’ve underestimated my sister. She’s going to have all the jewels appraised, and then put the money into college accounts for my kids.”

“I’m glad to hear that worked out.” I smiled. “Happy Holiday.”

Right after Susan and Arlene left, the back door buzzer sounded.

“Another delivery? We’re only supposed to have one tonight.” Kim glanced at Joe and then me. “And that one turned out to be a set up.”

“What’s going on Joe?” I asked.

“I… um… forgot to call off part two of your initiation.” Joe ran to the back door, and shouted over his shoulder to us, “Never mind. You guys can leave. I’ll lock up.”

Kim turned to me and smiled. “Thank goodness tonight’s over. I guess you never really had to spend too much time alone here.”

“Nope, I didn’t. Instead, I had a fake corpse, scary noises, and someone breaking in to undress a corpse. So I would say a night alone may be fine after a night like this.” I chuckled.

“Too bad you want to be alone.”

“Why’s that?”

“I was hoping you could join me at the all night diner for a milkshake.” Kim grabbed her purse.

“A date?” I asked, pushing my luck.

“Sure, why not?” Kim walked over to me, opened her purse, and reached inside. “I need to get this out.”

“Nunchucks?” I asked.

“I was going for mistletoe, but I guess I don’t need it to do this.”

Kim grabbed me by the arms and pulled me in for a kiss.

THE END

(If you’ve enjoyed this romantic suspense short story “Christmas Corpse Caper,” and want to read more about Mark Stevens, you’re sure to love the Amazon Kindle bestselling novel
LIQUID LIES
, a murder mystery suspense thriller
http://amzn.com/B007GQ10WS
)

Acknowledgments

My sincerest and deepest appreciation goes out to my beta readers, and dear friends: Patricia Mason, Donna Shea, Nancy Remler and Charles Cory. With your very insightful and useful feedback on my stories, I know that they are much stronger and better because of you. I cannot thank all of you enough, my Savannah Pen & Ink group. And of course special thanks go to my final editor, formatter and much more, my dear husband Tom.

Dedication

This story is dedicated to an incredibly brilliant, wonderful and generous friend who keeps me laughing and is one of my favorite people in the entire world- Patricia Mason. You are my muse, my brainstorming partner and idea generator. Plus my away from home fun loving travel buddy. I am honored to have you in my life. This story is for you.

More from Lois Lavrisa

One Dead Body. Two Girls with a Secret. Read the Amazon Bestselling mystery
LIQUID LIES
by Lois Lavrisa.

http://amzn.com/B007GQ10WS

“Definitely a Keeper! I could not put this book down! Liquid Lies is a tightly woven mystery steeped full of quirky characters on an emotion-packed thrill ride. This is one story you'll want to tell your friends about!”

~Cynthia Cooke, Bestselling, Award Winning Author.

About Lois Lavrisa

Lois Lavrisa writes Mystery with a Twist. Her first mystery
LIQUID LIES
, an Amazon bestseller and Amazon Hot New Release, is set in an affluent lake town in Wisconsin. Fast paced with twists and turns around every corner, it'll keep you guessing until the end. She has short stories in four 2012 anthologies. Her short story “
Picture not Perfect
” is in a young adult anthology called
Eternal Spring
which was released with great reviews in April 2012. Another short story “
Turnabout Twist
” is included in
The WG2E All-For-Indies Anthologies: Summer Fling Edition
. “
Treat or Trick
,” a Halloween short story is included in WG2E All-For-Indies Anthologies Spooky Shorts. Currently she is working on several new series including a young adult trilogy and a cozy mystery. She's been married to her aerospace husband Tom for over 21 years and they have four children - two boys and two girls. She's a member of several writing organizations including: Mystery Writers of America (MWA), Romance Writers of America (RWA) and Sisters in Crime (SIC). Currently, she's serving as vice president of the Low Country RWA. You can connect with her on Facebook:

www.facebook.com/authorloislavrisa
Twitter:
www.twitter.com/loislavrisa
and her websites:
www.loislavrisa.com
or
www.liquidlies.com
.

A Very Shitake Christmas

Shitake Happens Series #1.5

by

Patricia Mason

Beware of Greek Santas bearing gifts.

Imogene “Mo” Tuttle had forgotten that simple maxim and now June 17th was turning out to be a very shitake Christmas.

Aristotle—the Santa not the philosopher—adjusted the pine bough holiday wreath around her neck. The edge of a red bow decoration dragged against her skin, scrapping it. Mo flinched away. The wreath weighed almost nothing but still felt as if it would crush her chest.

“Don't move too much,” Santa Ari warned. “I'm setting the trembler switch on this thing now. Too much motion and… BOOM.” He checked the handcuffs locking her to the bronze leg of The Waving Girl. The statue faced the Savannah River and seemed to say good-bye to ships leaving the port.

Mo prayed this day wouldn't end with a good-bye for her too.

Santa Ari reached into the wreath and pulled a wire from beneath the red ribbon. After taking a device from the pocket of his fuzzy, red pants, he attached it to the wreath's bottom. Then he pushed at buttons on a mechanism clipped to his black belt. With a beep, the device lighted up an LED readout with the numbers 00:00. He punched again at his belt mechanism and the readout beeped. The numbers changed to 60:00 and began to countdown.

59:59, 59:58, 59.57…

Fear clogged her throat, gagging Mo like a chunk of fifty-year-old fruitcake. She fought to speak. “Please, Ari. Just let me go. You don't want to do this.”

“Oh, yes. I do.” Santa Ari chuckled. Taking a gun from the back of his waistband, he tapped Mo on the tip of the nose. “You shouldn't have tried to ruin my life.”

He turned away and lifted his fur-trimmed, red sack. Then he glanced over his shoulder. “And remember:
He sees you when you're sleeping… he knows if you've been bad or good.
I'll be watching.” He pointed to the Talmadge Bridge visible in the distance through the trees. “
So be good for goodness sake
. Because if you're not… “ He tapped the triggering mechanism. “This wreath will blow sky high and take your pretty head with it. And you don't want that to happen, do you?”

* * *

June 15th… Two days before.

Mo woke up curled against a muscular, naked back with one arm draped over a trim, male hip. Times like this made her glad to be alive.

Almost three months had passed since she'd met Ross Grant and they'd been embroiled together in murder and mayhem. Proximity had bred passion. And after the murder had been solved, and the mayhem gone, the romance remained.

“Mmmmm,” she murmured, snuggling against him as she ran her hand from his hip, over his stomach, and then up to fondle one well-developed pec. Inhaling, Mo reveled in the musky, manly scent of him. “What a good morning.”

Ross groaned before taking her wandering hand and bringing it to his lips. He kissed her fingertips. “I agree. The morning is definitely showing promise.”

That baritone voice, with the elegant British accent, set fire to her. Just those few words made her steam more than hot cocoa.

“Alas,” he continued. “I'm supposed to be on the set in thirty minutes.”

Mo rubbed herself against him and then nipped his earlobe with her teeth. “Really? How interesting. I don't have anywhere to be.”

Ross's acting career was on the rise. He was starring in a movie currently filming in her hometown of Savannah, Georgia. Plus, he'd been signed as the lead in the sequel to the mega blockbuster that had propelled him to fame ten years ago. On the other hand, Mo was an out-of-work private eye with an annoying penchant for food-word obscenity substitutes. She'd started using food to kick the swearing habit at the insistence of her former boss. Now it had become such second nature that she couldn't stop.

“You,” Ross said, shifting in the bed so that he lay facing her, “are making it very hard for me to go.
Very
hard.”

“You're right,” she teased, grinding herself against him as she planted a kiss on his lips. “It is
very
hard. What are you going to do about it?”

He smiled, caressing her back from shoulder to buttocks. “I guess they'll just have to wait for me.”

“Rank should have its privileges.” She planted a trail of kisses from his chest to his jaw. Their lips met again, and as their mouths melded, a cell phone's ringtone—the Love Boat theme—sounded.

Ross broke the kiss and pulled back with a grimacing smile. “Brilliant.”

She reached for the bedside table. “Who could be calling me?” Grasping the device, she glanced at the face. “It's a U.K number. Your dad… again.”

Ross's parents were divorced, with his mother in Bermuda and his father in England.

“Why does Father keep calling you?”

“I don't know.” She shot him a glance with an arched brow. “Does he think I'm your secretary?”

“Of course not.” He shook his head. “He knows you're my girlfriend. I had a long chat with him about you. Quite recently, actually.”

“Doesn't he have your direct number?”