Intrigued: The Dark Christmases

by Arkadie, Z. L.

  “I don’t know. That’s why you’re here. But I know you will give up on this if Jasper breaks your heart. And he will, Holls. He will.”

  I didn’t know what to say. Hearing that made my insides feel as if they’d turned to a substance more solid than steel.

  “He won’t.” I nodded firmly. “He can’t.” I meant that, which surprised the hell out of me. “Listen, do you know Arthur Valentine?”

  “No, I don’t.” She shook her head. “But I know someone named Carter Valentine. He’s a friend of Jasper’s. He’s asked me out a few times, but I’m not interested.”

  “Do you know anything else about him?”

  She snorted sarcastically. “Nothing more than he’s the kind of rich prick that I try to stay away from.”

  I wanted to tear into her for being the same old Bryn, who ignored a lot of the shit she should’ve been paying attention to, especially since my brain had put one and one together and come up with something she could’ve figured out a long time ago.

  “One second,” I said then got up to get my phone out of my cocktail purse. I did a quick search for the family of Arthur Valentine. The results came up on my screen as soon as I sat back down. I held out my phone to Bryn. “Is this him?”

  Instead of leaning forward to get a better look, she inclined herself back in her seat even more. “Yeah, that’s him.”

  I sighed gravely. “Where’s Jasper?”

  “He’s downstairs, sorting out Randolph’s passing,” she said as if her father dying were just an everyday occurrence.

  “Your father died?”

  She shrugged. “He was always dead to me.”

  “Why do you hate him so much?”

  “Because he doesn’t care about anyone but himself.”

  “Didn’t,” I said.

  She looked confused. “Didn’t what?”

  “You were speaking about him as if he were alive.”

  “Well, didn’t, doesn’t. I don’t give a damn, Holly. I don’t want to talk about him.”

  I felt myself biting the inside of my cheek. That only happened when I was extremely anxious. I wanted to say more about Carter Valentine, but I also wanted to explore more of her father’s passing. Something was off. The sort of hate Bryn had toward him wasn’t normal.

  She pointed to my cell phone. “So why did you show me a picture of Carter Valentine?”

  I pinched my bottom lip, wondering what the hell was going on in this big creepy Christmas mansion. “Um…” I cleared my throat. My instincts told me to withhold what I knew from Bryn and perhaps heed Jasper’s warning about her. “His father is Arthur Valentine,” I whispered.

  “Who’s Arthur Valentine?” she asked.

  “You really don’t know him?”

  “I wouldn’t be asking you if I did,” she snapped.

  “Well, he’s a bad guy, corrupt and power seeking. He’s the kind of person that would kill anyone to be on top.”

  Her eyes narrowed to slits as her nostrils flared. The look on her face showed pure anger. I’d never seen Bryn look that way.

  “Do you have a picture of this guy Arthur?”

  I hesitated but called up an article that was written about him, the one regarding tax fraud. The man was in his early seventies, balding, and was such an angry, bitter person that his entire face drooped. I showed Bryn the picture and watched her closely as she studied it.

  “Humph,” she said passively. “I’ve never seen him in my life.”

  I didn’t believe her.

  She calmly rose to her feet. “Now, what about the secret hallways?”

  Once again, my instincts blared. Something told me she already knew about the hallways. Perhaps they all did. The shadowy passages made perfect sense. The Christmases were dark. Behind their façade of the purest blue blood lived secrets so muddy and dismaying to those who regarded them above God. I wasn’t sure if Bryn wanted to destroy their image, regardless of how she always wrestled against it.

  “Sure.” I pasted on a smile as I realized something. I could’ve left. I should’ve left. But I decided to stay. Not for Bryn, though. I was staying for Jasper and not because I wanted to make mad, passionate love to him. Bryn was hiding something, and I was afraid Jasper was in danger because of it. “Let’s go.”

  * * *

  I showed her the hallways through the cabinet. She feigned surprise in all the right places. I pretended to buy her act. I figured Dale Rumor might have traveled through the tunnels whenever he came to see her. I also suspected the passages ran deeper and farther than I could ever imagine. I watched Bryn’s eyes closely and studied her body language. At one point, I slyly allowed her to direct me. There was one thing I’d learned about infinitely slick people. They weren’t as smart as they thought they were.

  “You never told me what you’ve discovered so far,” Bryn said as we reentered my guest room.

  “Well, one of my sources revealed your mother’s real age.”

  Bryn stopped in her tracks. “Which source?”

  I shook my head. “I always protect my sources. You know that. However, I’ll provide you concrete evidence if you’re still interested.”

  “I’m interested.”

  I nodded, appreciating how eager she sounded. “Your mother was forty-two when she died.”

  Bryn’s eyes grew wide with surprise.

  “How old did you think she was?”

  “Older than that,” she said.

  “So you really never knew your mother’s age?”

  She shook her head just as there was a knock on the doorjamb, and Jasper filled the frame.

  The sight of him made my heart rate accelerate. Damn it, I was falling for him.

  “Bryn, we need you downstairs.”

  “For what?” she snapped.

  “Your fucking father just died. Get the hell downstairs and pay your respects.”

  She bared her teeth but left anyway. “You’re a jerk,” she hissed as she swept past him.

  Jasper stood in the doorway, glaring at me. I could tell he was chastising me with his eyes. Did he know I was just in the hallways with Bryn? I wanted to ask, but at the moment, I couldn’t speak.

  Suddenly, he closed the door behind him. Say something, Holly. But before I could, our lips were connected, and his greedy tongue was deep in my mouth. He was kissing me as if his life depended on it.

  “How about we get the hell out of here tonight?” he asked between kisses.

  I felt my eyes expand as our tongues and lips continued their deep exploration of each other. Finally, our mouths took a break.

  “Get out of here tonight?” I whispered. “And go where?”

  “Anywhere in the world. You name it.”

  His lips chased mine as I leaned back.

  “Jasper, open your eyes.”

  It seemed like an arduous task for him to lift his lids, but he did it.

  “I’m sorry to hear about your father,” I said.

  He stood up straight and cleared his throat. “I apologize for what I just said.” He sounded more like himself.

  I nodded. “It’s okay.” Truthfully, I was relieved he’d only been caught up in the emotion he was experiencing in the moment. That also kept me from confronting him about what Bryn had told me about being promised to another. Of course, I didn’t one hundred percent believe her, but I thirty percent did.

  “Would you please have your breakfast in your room this morning? We have family affairs to attend to downstairs.”

  “Of course.” I wouldn’t dare intrude.

  He calmly walked to the door and opened it. Then he turned back, and his penetrating gaze took me in. My heart skipped a beat. There was something deep about the way he looked at me. I received his message loud and clear. But could it be true? Had Jasper Christmas just shown me that he was falling in love with me?

  I pressed my hand over my heart and finished watching him leave my sight. My bottom plopped onto the foot of the bed. Whew, that was heavy. The whole tri
p had been heavy. I took a few deep and cleansing breaths. I had to stay on track. So I jumped to my feet, went into my closet, and opened my suitcase. It was time to take my evidence to the UPS Store and ship it to the lab.

  I found the panties stuffed into a pocket, but I searched every single part of my suitcase, and the bra was nowhere to be found.

  “What the hell?” I stood out of my squat. Someone had gotten into my suitcase and taken the bra out.

  It could have been Gina. Or perhaps it was Bryn. She must’ve come into my room last night because she’d known I wasn’t there.

  “Shit.” I had to think fast. At the moment, I gathered that all the Christmases were downstairs, discussing their father’s death. Truth be told, I’d already had enough of sitting at the table with them. They behaved like spoiled teenagers.

  Knowing exactly what I had to do, I rushed into my bathroom and got two more trash bags.

  Chapter Eighteen

  I found Crystal Preacher in the laundry room with two other maids. They were all whispering about something before they saw me. Once they caught sight of me, they all stood at attention, and Crystal asked if there was something she could assist me with.

  “Actually, yes.” I asked if I could have a moment alone with her.

  The look on her face said she was slightly ambivalent and a little intrigued. However, she agreed to step into the hallway with me. Once I was sure no one could hear us, I asked if she could do me a big favor.

  * * *

  I turned to glance into the back seat of my car. Crystal had gone into the kitchen and collected the cups from Bryn, Asher, and Spencer’s morning coffee. She’d even packaged them for me in their own Ziploc bags. Making that connection with Crystal on day one was the smartest thing I’d done in the whole investigation.

  Now I was driving back to Providence. Sure, there was a store in Newport, but the farther away I was from the Christmases, the safer I felt about my delivery actually making it to the lab in California.

  I wanted to make sure no one was following me. Every now and then, I would check my rearview mirror. Today was actually a good day for my outing since Randolph Christmas had died that morning. What would’ve been a sad affair in any normal family had consumed all the Christmases’ attention.

  I thought about the death of my own mother. I’d never broken down and cried about it. Perhaps deep beneath the surface, like Bryn, I had a lot of anger toward my mother, Gayle Henderson. She’d allowed my dad to drag us from one state to another and from one bad situation to a worse one. It had taken me years to realize that she was the sort of woman who lived every day with the hope that one day he would fulfill his promise and transform into Prince Charming.

  I didn’t know much about her father, my grandfather, but from the little I did know, he was the sort of man who had made a lot of promises he couldn’t deliver. One day, and I couldn’t remember exactly when, I’d become really honest with myself and admitted that my mother hadn’t given a damn about how I’d been forced to experience her and my dad’s shitty lives. Every day, I had been in danger. Every day, I had felt as if I were the lowest person on their totem pole. I’d been afraid they would sell me for a pack of cigarettes if need be. Now that I was older, I knew that I’d meant more to them than that, but still, the way I had felt then affected how I thought about them now.

  Suddenly, my eyes were watery. Perhaps it was the memory in my head. Gayle was lying in that twin-sized bed she and my father had slept in. We were living in a shack at the back of someone’s house. There were two beds in it, theirs and mine. I never knew who resided in the main house because I never saw the people. But my mother was very sick at that point. She was shivering with blankets pulled up to her neck, only the day was hot and humid. My dad, Harper, had been gone for two days. I knew better than to dial 9-1-1 or bother the people in the main house. The doctors had already told Gayle that there was nothing they could do for her. She always said it was best if she didn’t fight death because she was positive a better second life was in her future. The way she talked about starting over made me sure that no such thing as a second chance existed, mainly because Gayle Henderson was always wrong. She had made the wrong decision on the day she’d married my father and decided to have his kid. I’d had an older brother at one point, but she had miscarried him. Instead of taking the loss as a sign that she should stay away from the baby-making business, she had forced me into existence. But still, my mind couldn’t expunge the memory of her in the bed shivering.

  I caught a glimpse of myself in the rearview mirror. I resembled my mother. We had the same eyes, thick and long light-brown hair, and a heart-shaped face. She had grown up as the pretty girl next door whom all the guys said they wanted to marry but really just wanted to fuck. None of the guys in the neighborhoods I grew up in had known I existed.

  As I drove into the parking lot of the very busy UPS Store, it finally clicked inside me. I could forgive Gayle for being human. And perhaps I was ready to give her a second chance, even as she rested in her grave in Pittsburgh.

  * * *

  Nearly an hour and a half later, I was out of the UPS Store and on my way back to the mansion. Goodness, the UPS Store had been a circus. People were shipping last-minute gifts, which reminded me that I hadn’t bought anything for the Christmases. Yes, they were wealthy and probably had everything already, but I had come to know their little quirks and thought perhaps I could offer them a little cheer since their father died. However, I wouldn’t actually give them the gifts unless they were ready to receive them.

  I searched for the nearest mall and drove to the department store. All men loved good ties, so I bought one for Asher and one for Spencer. Then a pair of cuff links caught my attention. They had an onyx stone surrounded by encrusted diamonds and gold. They reminded me of all the unique facets of Jasper—his intensity, elegance, darkness, and undeniable sex appeal. But those traits were on his surface. His insides sparkled with the promise of a man who could be kind, loving, and loyal.

  Bryn was the hardest to shop for. She was so secretive and unfortunately manipulative. I had to admit that I hardly knew her at all. At least I hoped that was the case. She was beginning to remind me a lot of Gayle. I thought about what I would give my mother for Christmas. Then it came to me, and I bought it. Bryn’s reaction to her gift would be the test.

  It was late afternoon when I made it back to the Christmases’. The ambulance was gone, but the house had a different feeling. The air was lighter. The lights in the trees twinkled brighter. The place carried an aura that made me feel as though I were coming home.

  I clenched the steering wheel and reminded myself that I was not home. The brightness and the holiday ambiance were a disguise. Who the family was at heart lived in the secret passageways. As a matter of fact, I was too exhausted to have dinner with the family tonight. Tomorrow was Christmas, and I was only at the beginning of acquiring enough information to give Bryn. However, I knew for sure she was not writing a memoir.

  I opened the garage and pulled into the stall. After turning the engine off, I sat there with my eyes closed for a moment. I had to figure everything out and put it all into perspective. Two days ago, Bryn had mentioned that her mother would not apologize for being a shitty parent. Hell, join the club. However, I’d just learned that Bryn was supposed to marry a man she’d never met. I hadn’t told her all of what I’d heard between Arthur Valentine and Jasper because my instincts had forbidden me. Then I’d heard Carter Valentine was a friend of Jasper’s and had asked Bryn on a date a number of times. All the details were swirling around in my brain, trying to fit together like puzzle pieces. Jasper and Arthur Valentine were not friends. So I doubted Jasper was friends with his son. I also believed Bryn knew who she was supposed to marry.

  “What does she want?” I whispered. That was easy—she didn’t want to marry Carter.

  There was a secret, which was something that was very much germane to the Christmases. Bryn didn’t know what it was.
However, she must’ve known it was destructive enough to bring all of them down, which would release her from any obligation to wed Carter Valentine. I wondered if Jasper knew what it was and if he would be so cruel as to make her marry a man she didn’t love for the sake of their family’s reputation.

  I rubbed my temples to alleviate the tightness in my brain. My instincts, reason, and emotions warred on the inside. No, Jasper was not that kind of man. Then why would he make her go through with it? And if what Bryn said was true, then why would he go through with it himself?

  Sally Preacher hadn’t given me much, but I knew the answer was in that brush. I had to go back to my room and ask myself some hard questions.

  Knock, knock, knock.

  I jumped because I recognized the cadence of the sound. I looked out the window, and Jasper took a step back. He didn’t look happy to see me. I got out of the car. It was so cold.

  “Where were you?” he asked.

  “Running some errands.”

  “What sort of errands?”

  I was not going to tell him about what I’d sent to the lab, not yet at least. However, I knew how to shut down his line of questioning. I pressed the button on my door that opened the trunk. “Follow me,” I said as I walked to the back of my car.

  After a moment, he did as I asked.

  I opened my shopping bags. “Tomorrow’s Christmas, and I hadn’t bought anything for your family. I thought—”

  “It’s okay,” he said. “I’m sorry for confronting you like this. I just thought…”

  “You thought what?” I was extremely curious to know.

  “You being gone had something to do with Dale.”

  I felt my brows ruffle. “You really don’t know, do you?”

  He leaned back as though he were bracing himself for some sort of revelation that would hurt. “What don’t I know?”

  “Bryn and Dale are involved.”

  His face collapsed into an intense frown, which made me question whether I should’ve told him.