Lone Star Christmas Witness

by Margaret Daley

  “Are you okay, Sierra?”

  “It’s hard to believe that Kat’s gone.”

  Robert clasped her shoulder. “I know. That’s how I felt when my wife died. It’s been ten years, and I still feel that way at times.”

  “When I was overwhelmed with life, Kat used to tell me to take it one minute at a time. She was practical and lived in the moment. The past was behind her and the future was always an unknown. All she would deal with was the now, and I came to appreciate that way. But at this moment I don’t want to be in the present.”

  “Let’s get what we came for and leave. Time does help.”

  “If this is how I feel, I can imagine how grief-stricken Ben is.” Sierra crossed the foyer to the living room.

  But she didn’t enter. Too stunned to move, she came to a halt at the sight before her.

  * * *

  After going through the papers in the manila folder with Dallas, Taylor stood up and stretched, needing to move around after sitting for so long.

  “I need to leave soon,” Dallas said as he rose.

  “Let me go upstairs and see if Ben is up yet. I’d like him to meet you, since you’ll be in and out of here during the investigation.” This was Taylor’s fourth trip up the stairs in the past hour. After Dallas left, he thought he might come up to the boy’s bedroom and sit in a chair while going through some of the papers until Ben woke up. He didn’t want him to be scared, especially since it was the first time he’d slept overnight at this house.

  He peered into the room. Oscar, stretched out beside Ben, lifted his head, but the young child didn’t move. Taylor covered the distance to the bed to make sure the boy was still asleep. He also checked to see how hot Ben’s forehead was since that was the reason he’d been with his mother at the clinic yesterday. He was warm but not alarmingly. The sight of Ben’s long dark eyelashes brushing the tops of his cheeks, a peaceful look on his face, touched a place in Taylor’s heart that he’d kept locked after TJ died.

  He pivoted and headed out into the hall, tamping down his past sorrow. Downstairs, he entered the living room and told Dallas, “He’s asleep. He still feels like he has a low-grade fever. Yesterday was emotionally exhausting for all of us but especially Ben.”

  “I’ll meet him the next time.” Dallas rose, walked to the front door and turned to shake Taylor’s hand. “I’m going back to the clinic. I don’t want one piece of evidence overlooked.” He started to leave when his cell phone rang.

  While his fellow Texas Ranger answered the call, Taylor moved the carton of files into the dining room, then returned to the entry hall. The look on Dallas’s face made him pause. “What’s happened?”

  Dallas blew out a long breath. “Colin Brewer’s car was found in a mall’s parking lot.”

  “Good. Maybe he’s inside, and we’ll find him because he has some explaining to do.”

  Dallas shook his head. “No. He was found in the trunk, shot with the same type of gun as the victims at the clinic. Ballistics will tell us if it’s the same weapon soon.”

  Taylor’s heartbeat raced. Is the killer taking care of everyone associated with the clinic? Is Sierra next?

  FOUR

  Frozen, Sierra stared at the Christmas tree that had been knocked down, a lifetime of ornaments smashed all over the carpet as though someone went around stomping on the ones that didn’t break in the crash.

  “I’m letting my son know.”

  She heard Robert’s words, but it took a moment for the concern and urgency in his voice to penetrate her dazed mind. She watched numbly as he called Taylor. As he listened to his son, the creases on his forehead deepened, and he looked at Sierra.

  “I understand. I will.” When Robert ended the call, he bridged the distance between them. “Police should be here soon. We need to get out.”

  “Why?” Especially why did he come after me? I can’t think of anyone I’ve angered. “What if the guy is outside waiting for us to leave?”

  “Or he’s in here.”

  Sierra shook her head. “We would know by now. Besides, he’s made his statement.” She swept her arm around the room. “He’s very angry. Look. Anything having to do with Christmas has been destroyed. He left everything else alone.” She walked through the dining room into the kitchen and gestured at the damage in there. “See. No holiday decorations have been left intact in here either.” Tears pooled in her eyes. “Every year, even before Ben was born, my sister and I went out and looked for the perfect Christmas cookie jar.” She stared at the empty chestnut hutch where the jars had been displayed. “He shattered every one beyond repair.”

  The doorbell sounded. She stiffened.

  “I’ll answer it. It should be the police.” Robert went back into the living room and looked through the slats of the blinds over the front window. “It’s two uniformed officers,” he said to Sierra as she joined him.

  Taylor’s dad opened the door to the police. As they entered, he told them what happened.

  “Have you checked the whole house?” one of the cops asked.

  Robert shook his head.

  “You two stay in the living room.” The other officer drew his weapon. “Lieutenant Cartwright is on his way.”

  Sierra took a seat on the couch, glad the lieutenant was coming. If this had to do with what happened at the clinic yesterday—and she believed it did—it might help him solve the killings faster. The rage behind this act might indicate the murderer was losing control, which could lead to a mistake. She prayed it did. Soon.

  Robert sat near her. “You okay?”

  “No. In one day my life has been turned upside down, and I can’t figure out why. I don’t even know what I should do to piece it back together.”

  “Taylor will find this guy. My son doesn’t walk away from a puzzle until he’s figured it out.”

  “I hope that Colin Brewer is all right. He wasn’t there yesterday either.”

  Robert looked away.

  “Do you know something about Colin?”

  His gaze fixed on the downed tree, he drew in a deep breath. “Yes. He was just found in the trunk of his car in a shopping center. Dead.”

  “The killer hunted him down?”

  “It looks like the same type of gun was used, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet. Taylor will know as soon as the ballistics test comes back.”

  The door chimes reverberated through the house again. Sierra started to stand.

  Robert waved her down. “I’ll get it.” Before letting the person inside, he checked to see who it was.

  Lieutenant Cartwright called out his name and flashed his badge. “You must be Taylor’s father,” he said when Robert let him in.

  Robert nodded. “Are you working with him on the case?”

  “Yes. Where are the two police officers?”

  “Clearing the house.”

  “I’ll let them know I’m here. Then I’d like to talk to you and Ms. Walker.”

  Sierra laid her head against the back cushion and closed her eyes. It was hard looking at all the destruction around her. She wished she could transport herself to somewhere far away. When she woke up yesterday, she had been looking forward to Christmas, to seeing Ben’s face when he discovered he got a puppy. She was supposed to take him this weekend to buy his mother a present and help him wrap it up. Now all she could do was cling to the Lord and try to deal with their loss.

  Memories besieged her, and she was transported back to when she was twelve years old. When her mother died, her whole life changed, and she hadn’t handled it well. She nearly self-destructed until Kat and the Lord rescued her. Kat was gone, but God wasn’t.

  Please, Lord, help Ben. He’s hurting. I’m hurting. We don’t understand why it happened.

  * * *

  “Thanks for coming early, John.” Taylor stepped to the side to allow the child psycholog
ist into the house. “Dallas is here if you need him. But I wanted you here so that Ben doesn’t wake up without seeing a familiar face.”

  “How long has he been sleeping?”

  “Ten hours. He went to bed late last night. When he finally fell asleep, he was exhausted and fighting it all the way. Honestly, he might not get up anytime soon. He still has a fever. I’ve been sitting in his room.”

  “Good idea. I’ll go upstairs and take your place. What do you want me to tell him as to why you and his aunt aren’t here?”

  “That I’m with Sierra, and we’ll be home soon. Tell him there’s a surprise for him.”

  One of John’s eyebrows arched. “What?”

  “A Christmas tree. Dad and Sierra picked one up on the way back from the lawyer’s. We’ll return as soon as possible.”

  As Taylor drove to Sierra’s house, he tried to sort out his thoughts. This crime scene was no doubt connected to the killings and needed his undivided attention, but also Sierra would need someone to lean on. She’d lost her sister, but now it was obvious she was a target and possibly Ben, too. That was a lot to take in for anyone.

  Pushing the speed limit, Taylor arrived at her home in twenty-five minutes, relieved to see Nash’s car in her driveway. He parked next to the lieutenant’s vehicle and hurried to the porch.

  His dad opened the door. “I’m glad you’re here. Who’s with Ben?”

  “Dallas and John. He was coming over anyway, so he came early. I see you got the Christmas tree.”

  “Yes. We came by here to get some of the ornaments from their tree, so Ben would feel more connected to the one we put up.”

  “I’ll bring Sierra home as soon as I can. I’d like you to take the tree home and put it up in the living room. It might help Ben take his mind off why his aunt and I aren’t there.” He didn’t have to tell his father not to tell Ben about what happened at his house. The child already had a lot to process since the shooting yesterday.

  He and his father went into the living room, and Robert told Sierra he was leaving. She didn’t say anything but continued to stare at all the destroyed ornaments on the floor. His dad had told him how bad it was, but Taylor hadn’t imagined it to be this bad. Some decorations were ground into the carpet with thousands of pieces everywhere.

  Slowly Sierra swung her head around and looked at him as though she wasn’t really seeing him. He covered the distance to her and sat beside her on the couch. “This can be replaced.”

  She shook her head. “No, a lot of them can’t. There are ornaments that Ben made each year since he was two. I don’t even see any recognizable pieces of them.”

  Taylor took her hand, and her gaze fixed on him. “But you have Ben, and he can make new ones to replace those.”

  The sound of footsteps in the foyer alerted him to Nash’s arrival at the living room entrance. “Ms. Walker, I need you to walk through the place and see if anything has been taken. We need to rule out a robbery. Someone could have read about the shooting, figured out where you lived and saw no one was home.”

  Sierra’s eyes grew round. “You don’t think it was the shooter?”

  “Actually, I do, but I need to rule out all possibilities I can. The back door was tampered with. We have a few latent prints we took, and we’ll rule out the family and see what’s left. I need to take yours, and we have your sister’s.”

  “How about Ben’s?”

  “Not needed. His prints would be so much smaller than the ones we recovered.”

  Sierra rose. “Sure, anything to help find the killer.”

  As Taylor followed her and Nash from the living room, he hoped the perpetrator was in the law enforcement database. If not, the prints wouldn’t help to find him. And Taylor had more than a gut feeling that this killer wasn’t through yet.

  * * *

  After Sierra went through the house, Taylor walked Nash to the door, and she went over to the downed tree. Nothing else had been taken in the house, which totally ruled out a robbery. Earlier when she opened one of Kat’s desk drawers in her bedroom, Sierra had discovered what her sister had planned to surprise her and Ben with—tickets to Disney World over spring break. Kat had talked about taking her son for the past two years, but something had always come up. Now it was too late.

  Sierra’s gaze fell onto a red-and-gold fragment near her left foot. She knelt and picked up a part of a familiar ball. She’d glued on red sequins in a heart shape, then put gold ones over the rest of the sphere. She’d made it when she was seven with Kat’s help, and then they had given it to their mother for Christmas. It had become her mom’s favorite holiday decoration.

  Where were the other pieces? Suddenly she needed to find them all. Maybe then she could glue it back together. As she delved into the chaotic mess, gathering what she could find of the ornament, Taylor returned to the living room.

  “Sierra, we need to leave.”

  She ignored his words and moved to another pile of trashed decorations, suddenly determined in her mission. A glimpse of a red sequined piece sticking out of the bottom of the mound drew her attention. She reached for the fragment. A sharp edge pierced the pad of her forefinger. She jerked her hand back, a bead of blood on her skin.

  Taylor stooped next to her and held out a clean handkerchief. “Ben will be wondering where we are. I don’t think we should be gone too long.”

  She took the cloth and stemmed the flow of blood. “Then help me find the rest of these pieces. I want to glue them back. I need something...” She opened and closed her mouth, no more words coming to mind.

  “What do you need?”

  His emphatic expression, sorrow deep in his eyes, riveted her to him. He understood.

  “I didn’t get to say my goodbyes. I’ll never see her again and...” Once more, her throat closed around the words she wanted to say.

  “And you miss her.”

  Her ache swelled to encompass all of her. She nodded. Finally, the tears she’d held inside flooded her eyes and ran down her cheeks. “I didn’t say more than a few words to her yesterday morning. We were both in such a hurry to leave the house.”

  Taylor took the fragments of the decoration from her palm and put them on the table behind Sierra, then sat next to her, sliding his arm around her and gently tugging her against him. “I know what you’re going through. I lost my wife in childbirth. I left the house in the morning, excited we only had another few weeks before our son would be born. I came home to find she’d fallen down the stairs. I had no idea how long she’d been unconscious. Her water had broken. She never regained consciousness. They had to deliver the child through a C-section. I never got to say goodbye. She died in the operating room.”

  Sierra lifted her head to look at him through a sheen of tears. The pain in his eyes mirrored what she was feeling. He did understand. “What happened to the baby?”

  “He lived. My focus became him.”

  He has a son and hasn’t talked about him. “Where is he?”

  “He died from cancer a few years ago when he was six.”

  She sat up, blinking the tears from her eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

  “There isn’t a day I don’t think about him and miss him. I’d thought I’d prepared myself for his death, but I discovered you really can’t. There were days the emptiness just overwhelmed me.”

  “How did you get through it?”

  “My work and time have made it easier. The more I can help others the less I concentrate on myself and what I’ve lost. But it doesn’t change what happened.”

  “But you wish it did?”

  “Of course.”

  Sierra stared at the fragments of the ornament on the coffee table. “I need to make new memories for Ben and me.”

  “If you want, I’ll help you look for the pieces and you can keep them somewhere you can look at them and remember when you and your sist
er made it. You don’t have to glue it together.” He tapped her temple. “The memory will be there.”

  Sierra wiped her tears away. “I’d like that. Then we should leave. Ben needs me.”

  Side by side, Sierra and Taylor searched the area for any part of the ornament and put it on the table with the rest.

  Finally, Sierra pushed to her feet and scanned the destroyed decorations. “That looks like most of the pieces. Thanks for helping me.”

  Taylor stood, a foot from her.

  She’d known him only a day, and yet he’d made her feel she wasn’t alone—that he would be here for her. For a few seconds, she couldn’t take her eyes off him.

  One corner of his mouth lifted. “We need something to carry them in.”

  “I’ll get a plastic bag.” She tore her gaze from him and hurried into the kitchen, laying a palm against her hot cheek. What just happened? He was with her because of the case. That was all, and she needed to remember that. She quickly returned to the living room with the bag.

  He took it, brushed the pieces into it, and then sealed it. “Ready to go?”

  “Yes. Ben can’t come back until this is cleaned up. I don’t want him to see the anger behind this. That could totally shut him down.”

  “I agree. It would just add to the trauma from yesterday.” Taylor opened the front door and locked it after they stepped outside.

  “I don’t want him to even know I came here today. Later he’ll have questions about what happened to the Christmas decorations, but hopefully by then he’ll be more capable of handling it emotionally.”

  “You could talk to John about how to handle it.”

  “That’s a good suggestion.”

  When she sat in his SUV and he backed out of the driveway, she twisted around to look behind her. “What if the killer has been watching and following us?”

  “As before, I’m being cautious.”

  She faced forward and sat back, swinging her focus to the right-side mirror. It wouldn’t hurt to have both of them watching for any car following them. As Taylor weaved in and out of traffic, making several turns onto other streets, Sierra kept seeing a white car a few vehicles behind them do the same maneuvers.