The Ghost of Christmas Secrets

by Anna J. McIntyre

“Merry Christmas Eve,” Lily said cheerfully. “Dani invited us over. I think she felt sorry for me because I’m going to be busy all day getting ready for tonight’s party.”

  “I just want to make sure you’re properly fed,” Danielle said as she brought two baskets of biscuits to the table. “Because if you’re hungry, I’m afraid you might eat up all the appetizers you’re making before I have a chance to eat them.”

  “Entirely possible.” Lily laughed and snatched a biscuit.

  “Where’s Mr. Bishop?” Loyd asked, glancing around the table.

  “He and his wife left last night,” Danielle said as she took a seat at the table.

  “You mean they checked out?” Simon asked.

  “Yes. They had some family emergency and had to check out early.” Danielle shook out her cloth napkin and placed it on her lap.

  Simon chuckled. “I never did meet his wife.”

  “I never even saw her,” Lily added.

  “She was shy,” Danielle said as she plucked a biscuit from the basket.

  “What does everyone have planned today?” Ian asked. “I think I know what Lily has planned for me.”

  “Yes, I have a list of appetizers for you to make.” Lily giggled. “He’s a better cook than me anyway.”

  “I have to go back to the office until three. And Heather’s not happy about working today,” Chris told them.

  “What’s wrong with Heather? She doesn’t usually mind working,” Danielle asked.

  Chris shook his head. “I don’t know what her problem is lately. She’s been acting strange. Kinda bitchy.”

  “Well, it is Heather,” Lily said with a chuckle.

  “No, I mean like she’s seriously annoyed with me,” Chris said.

  “I suppose I can understand her feelings. It is Christmas Eve,” Lily said.

  “I know, but I have to finish stuffing some envelopes for a fundraiser that we have to get mailed out this afternoon. She’s mad that I didn’t hire someone to stuff them. She keeps reminding me I can afford to pay someone to do those things. I pointed out I had hired someone to do it—her. She didn’t find that amusing.”

  “She is your employee; doesn’t she expect to work?” Loyd asked.

  “I’m not doing anything today. Why don’t I come over and help? That way she can leave early,” Danielle suggested.

  Chris shook his head. “You don’t have to do that.”

  “No, I want to. Anyway, I don’t have to do anything until Lily and Ian’s party tonight.” Danielle flashed Lily a grin.

  “That would be great. Can you come over about two?”

  “Sure. Why don’t you just let Heather go home when I get there?” Danielle asked.

  “That would make her happy.” Chris smiled.

  Danielle looked at Walt. “You want to come help?”

  Walt shook his head. “Sorry, this afternoon I promised to take Evan and Eddie Christmas shopping for their dad.”

  “Cutting it a little close to the wire, aren’t you?” Ian asked with a laugh.

  “You have to do a little shopping on Christmas Eve if you want an old-fashioned Christmas,” Walt insisted.

  “Walt, before you take the boys shopping, any chance you can stop by my house and take Hunny out?”

  “You aren’t taking her to the office today?” Walt asked.

  Chris shook his head. “No, I have too much to do, and I don’t want the hassle. As it is, I told Heather she could leave Bella at the office tonight.”

  “Bella? Isn’t that her cat?” Simon asked.

  “Yes. I guess Bella has been attacking her Christmas tree. She just figured she’d leave the cat at the office until she takes her tree down.”

  “That girl certainly has nerve,” Loyd grumbled.

  “So what are you both doing this afternoon?” Chris asked his uncles.

  “We’re going to finish up some Christmas shopping,” Loyd told him.

  “What are you smiling about?” Simon asked his brother after Loyd dragged him into his room later that morning.

  “Today’s the day.” Loyd was practically giddy.

  Simon shook his head. “It’s too soon.”

  “Too soon? It’s perfect! Were you paying attention at breakfast? Danielle and Heather will be at Chris’s office at the same time. And we don’t have to deal with that blasted dog. It couldn’t be any more ideal if we had planned it ourselves.”

  Simon sat down on the foot of Loyd’s bed and nodded. “You’re right. Providing there are no surprises, no one just dropping in, we could actually do this today.”

  “We are going to do this today. And I don’t think anyone is going to be dropping in. It’s Christmas Eve, and everyone who might just drop in is tied up, and the rest of their friends expect to see them at the party tonight. There is no reason to drop by.”

  “This will put a damper on the party.” Simon snickered.

  “But it will brighten my Christmas.” Loyd laughed.

  Loyd glanced at his watch. Danielle hadn’t left the house yet, and he was certain Walt was still upstairs in the attic. A soft knock came at the bedroom door. It was Simon. Loyd let his brother into his room and then locked the door.

  “I did it. You were right, the stupid woman keeps a key to her front door under a rock,” Simon told him.

  “No one saw you?” Loyd asked.

  Simon shook his head. “No. I was careful. I was in and out of there in a matter of minutes.”

  “Good thing she had already left for work,” Loyd said.

  “We might as well get everything else ready.”

  “You’d better do it; your hands are steadier than mine.”

  “Where is everything?” Simon asked.

  Loyd pointed to the dresser. “In the bottom drawer.”

  With his cane, Loyd tottered over to one of the chairs and sat down as he watched his brother. Simon opened the bottom dresser drawer and removed a bottle of wine and a small plastic bag with a vial of liquid inside. He set them both on the dresser. From the drawer he pulled out a pair of latex gloves and slipped them on. He then removed a clean cloth from the drawer and wiped down the wine bottle.

  “You’re certain there’s one of these in Chris’s wine rack?” Simon asked.

  “There were three yesterday, and while one may be gone now, I don’t think they drank all three.”

  From the drawer Simon pulled out a corkscrew and used it to open the bottle. He then removed the vial from the plastic bag and unscrewed its lid. Loyd watched as Simon poured the liquid into the wine and then recorked the bottle.

  Loyd pointed to the closet. “The gift bag for the wine is in there.”

  Danielle arrived at Chris’s office a few minutes before two in the afternoon on Christmas Eve. Heather left the office a short time after Danielle’s arrival. Ten minutes later, Loyd and Simon showed up, gift bag in hand.

  “Uncle Loyd, Uncle Simon, what are you doing here?” Chris asked when he opened the door to let them in.

  “We’ve come to help,” Simon announced.

  “Help? That’s sweet of you, but Danielle and I have this covered.” Chris led his uncles into the office, where they found Danielle sitting at Heather’s desk, a stack of envelopes waiting to be stuffed on her left and a poinsettia plant on her right.

  “What are you two doing here?” Danielle asked.

  “We felt sorry for you both having to work on Christmas Eve,” Simon explained.

  “What’s in the bag?” Danielle asked.

  “We brought you a bottle of wine,” Simon said as he lifted the bag to show her, yet he did not remove the bottle.

  “Wine? That sounds good,” Chris said.

  “Then let’s have some,” Simon suggested.

  “It does sound good,” Danielle agreed.

  “You two relax; and I’ll take it in the kitchen and open it,” Simon offered.

  “The wine corkscrew is in the top drawer to the right of the sink,” Chris called out as Simon headed for the door.
>
  A few minutes later Simon returned with a tray carrying four glasses of wine, and handed one to each of them.

  Danielle picked up her glass. “This will make stuffing envelopes more enjoyable.”

  Loyd lifted his glass. “I would like to make a toast, to my nephew for sharing Christmas with us, and to Danielle for opening her home to us.”

  Just as they were all about to take a drink, what sounded like glass breaking caught their attention. Both Loyd and Simon looked toward the doorway leading to the hallway. The next moment Heather’s cat, Bella, came racing into the room while making an unholy shrieking sound. Like an animal possessed, she ran around in circles numerous times, running under the uncles’ chairs, knocking Loyd’s cane on the floor, and then flew back out through the doorway and disappeared.

  “What in tarnation?” Loyd shouted, still holding his full glass of wine.

  Danielle laughed and set her now empty glass on the desktop. “That cat acts crazy sometimes!”

  “It’s a good thing I left Hunny at home,” Chris said, setting his glass on the desk. Like Danielle’s, it was empty.

  Loyd and Simon exchanged glances and then looked back to Chris and Danielle.

  “Oh my, I drank that kind of fast.” Danielle giggled. “Bad me.”

  “I didn’t do bad myself. Want another glass?” Chris asked.

  Before Danielle could answer, Chris grabbed hold of his forehead and closed his eyes.

  “I don’t feel right,” Chris said, doubling over.

  Danielle reached toward Chris. In doing so she tipped her empty wineglass over. She tried to stand up, but her knees buckled under her and she fell to the floor.

  Simon and Loyd did not move. They simply stared.

  “Oh my heavens, that was too easy,” Loyd said before breaking into a laugh.

  “It’s not done yet. Let’s do what we have to do.”

  Simon removed two pairs of latex gloves from his coat pocket and handed his brother a pair. They both put them on. Loyd removed an envelope from his coat pocket and slipped out the document it held. He walked to Chris, who was slumped over his desk.

  “It won’t be long now, boy,” Loyd told Chris. “It paralyzes you first. Even if the paramedics showed up now, there’s nothing they can do for you.” He shoved the document under Chris’s right hand. “I need your fingerprints. Then I need some from Danielle.” He laughed.

  Meanwhile, Simon was busy pouring wine from one of Chris’s wine bottles down the sink and replacing it with what was left of the tainted wine. After he did that, he washed the four glasses that he had filled earlier. Taking two glasses out of the cupboard that he had seen Heather place there the day before, he added a few drops of tainted wine to each glass and swished it around before setting the glasses by Danielle and Chris.

  “Don’t forget their fingerprints,” Loyd reminded him. “You need their fingerprints on those glasses.”

  Ten minutes later the two men surveyed the scene one final time, making sure they had thought of everything, before hastily leaving out the front door without locking it.

  Thirty-Four

  When Simon and Loyd returned to Marlow House, they were surprised to find Walt sitting in the living room reading a book.

  “I thought you were going Christmas shopping?” Loyd asked.

  Walt looked up and closed his book, setting it on his lap. “Change of plans. What about you, did you go Christmas shopping?”

  “We did a little.” Loyd smiled.

  Walt tossed his book on the coffee table and picked up the TV remote. “It’s a Wonderful Life is starting in a couple of minutes; would you like to watch it with me?”

  “This early?” Loyd asked, glancing at his watch.

  Walt shrugged. “They’ve been running Christmas movies all day.”

  Simon glanced at his brother and then looked back to Walt. “I love that movie.”

  The three men had been quietly watching It’s a Wonderful Life for about thirty minutes when Walt’s cellphone rang. When he got off the phone, he stood up abruptly and turned off the television. “That was the police chief. There’s something wrong at the foundation headquarters.”

  “You mean Chris’s office?” Loyd asked.

  Walt nodded. “He wouldn’t say what was wrong, just that I was to go right over there.” Without another word, Walt ran from the room, leaving Loyd and Simon sitting on the sofa together.

  “You really need to work on that smile,” Simon told his brother.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “That infernal grin. I swear you looked like you were smirking when Marlow said there was something wrong. I thought you were going to break into laughter at any minute.”

  “You’re exaggerating.”

  “I’m serious, Loyd. Now pull it together, and get your sad face on, because in a few minutes we’re going to have to put on the performance of our life.”

  “I can’t help it.” Loyd smiled broadly. “It was just too easy. I kept thinking of the expression lambs to slaughter. Such a helpful accommodating pair. It was as if they were reading my mind and doing exactly what I told them to do.”

  “Yes, we were lucky, but it isn’t over yet.”

  “The important part is.”

  “You do realize we could have really been screwed if Marlow had decided to stop at the foundation office after his plans changed.”

  Loyd shrugged. “Yes, but that didn’t happen, did it?”

  “No, but it could have. We’re in the end stretch, and we can’t afford to screw this up now.”

  “You worry too much.”

  Twenty minutes later Simon drove the rental car up the street to the Glandon Foundation Headquarters, his brother sitting in the passenger seat. There were cop cars parked everywhere, several with their strobe lights flashing. Simon and Loyd stayed in the car a moment and watched. What looked like two bodies were being removed from the building on stretchers and loaded into a van from the coroner’s office.

  “Ahh, how sad, there goes our dear nephew,” Loyd smirked.

  “I said put on your sad face,” Simon snapped.

  Loyd chuckled and opened his car door. As he got out of the vehicle, he spied Walt Marlow sitting in the passenger seat of one of the squad cars, its door open, and his head bent over as if crying. An officer stood nearby, patting his shoulder. “Showtime,” Loyd muttered.

  Police Chief MacDonald stood by the sidewalk outside the Glandon Foundation Headquarters and watched as the two older men hurried toward him.

  “Where is our nephew?” Loyd shouted, shaking his cane at the chief. Simon attempted to walk around the chief and up the walkway, but MacDonald stopped him.

  “Sorry, you can’t go up there. It’s a crime scene,” MacDonald said.

  “What do you mean? What happened? Where is Chris?” Simon demanded.

  “I’m very sorry to have to tell you this, but your nephew is dead. Heather found Chris and Danielle Boatman both dead in the office about thirty minutes ago. Danielle was on the floor, and Chris was slumped over his desk.”

  “Heather found them?” Loyd asked. “Chris said Heather wasn’t going to be here this afternoon. She was leaving at two after Danielle got here.”

  “Apparently, Heather forgot something and came back and found them.”

  “Heather killed them. I know she did!” Loyd shouted.

  “Loyd, please,” Simon hushed.

  “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like you both to come down to the station. I don’t really want to do interviews here. But I need to speak to everyone who saw either Chris or Danielle today.”

  “What were you doing back there?” Simon asked when he climbed in the rental car with Loyd.

  “How perfect is this? Heather finds them. We couldn’t have planned it any better!” Loyd laughed.

  “Just stop with the improvising, would you? That’s not how we planned it. You can’t be accusing Heather. Not yet.”

  “Why not?”

  �
�For one thing, we don’t know they were murdered yet, do we? MacDonald just said they found them dead, not that they were murdered.”

  “He said they were dead. How else would they get that way?” Loyd asked.

  “I don’t know, maybe Chris had a heart attack and Danielle tripped and broke her neck running for help. Stop offering information. At this point the only thing we’re supposed to know is that they’re dead!”

  Simon and Loyd sat quietly together at the table in the interrogation room. Each time Loyd would start to say something, his brother would nudge his ankle with one shoed foot and glance over at the two-way mirror. After about ten minutes Brian Henderson entered the office, carrying a manila folder.

  “Sorry to keep you waiting, gentlemen,” Brian said as he tossed his folder on the table and sat down across from them.

  “You’re that officer our nephew introduced us to at the diner,” Loyd noted.

  Brian nodded. “Yes, my name is Brian Henderson. I’m very sorry for your loss. I wasn’t close to Chris, but I understand he was your nephew.”

  “Thank you, we appreciate that,” Simon said. “But I know this must be difficult for you too. I understand Danielle Boatman was one of your friends.”

  Brian shrugged. “Not really. To be honest, she was kind of a pain in the ass, but don’t repeat me. I mean, I’m sorry she’s dead, sorry when anyone dies, but it’s not like it’s going to mess up my Christmas.”

  Loyd let out a snort, followed by a kick to his shin by his brother, reminding him to suppress the grin that was currently itching to turn up the corners of his mouth. Loyd then asked, “Did you ever look into Heather Donovan like we asked?”

  Brian arched his brow. “Heather Donovan?”

  “My brother is just upset,” Simon told him. “Ever since he heard Chris was dead, he’s been convinced this wasn’t just a tragic accident. What happened, Officer, was there a gas leak? Carbon monoxide poisoning?”

  “You are correct on one thing; it was poisoning, but not an accident. According to the coroner, someone poisoned the wine Danielle and Chris consumed.”