Deadly Christmas Pretense

by Dana Mentink

  She was pleased at his praise. Too pleased, she scolded herself. “All set for the parade?”

  He nodded and grimaced. “Yeah, but I got me a problem,” Liam looked down at Jingles, who was sporting a set of light-up antlers. “Watch.”

  He tossed a candy cane from the saddlebag and Jingles promptly snatched it from midair, grinning around the edges of the candy. “Drop it,” he thundered and Jingles obeyed, tail wagging. “See what I mean? How am I s’posed to throw candy to the kids with this dog snatching it all up? Gonna have to lock him in the truck, but he’ll howl something fierce the whole time.”

  She held her amusement in check. “Why don’t you let him keep one?”

  A frown creased his forehead. “What?”

  She moved closer, spoke louder. “He wants one for himself, I think.”

  “I never thought of that.” He unwrapped a cane, tossed it, and Jingles snatched it up. “All right, then. You can have that one, but no more,” he said to the dog. Warily he tossed another. Jingles remained where he was, tail wagging, content with the one already in his mouth.

  The look of wonder Liam gave her under that Santa hat was purely irresistible.

  “That was nothing short of amazing,” he said. “You are incredible.”

  His admiration made her look away, twirling the edges of the Christmas scarf Aunt Ginny had insisted she wear. “So where should I find Mitch?”

  “Three blocks down on the left. I’ll double back and meet you there after the parade.”

  “All right. I’ll be on the lookout to catch a candy cane.”

  He saluted and she made her way along the crowded sidewalk.

  She craned her neck every which way but could not see Mitch through all the bystanders. The crowd swelled and jostled until she found herself nestled into a spot against one of the Chuckwagon’s massive metal wheels. The throng spread out in front of her; little families with red-cheeked children, older folks in camping chairs. Practically the entire town had assembled, along with a hefty dose of visitors mixed in from what she could discern. All around there was holiday cheer and merriment, and she would have given anything to enjoy it with her sister, free from the worry of Virgil. In spite of her distress, she found herself humming along to the approaching marching band’s Christmas carol medley. Their white uniforms and feather plumes flashed in the sunshine. She was caught up in the excitement until she heard a name.

  “Yoriko.”

  She jerked a look to her right. Two women were saying goodbye, talking loudly to be heard over the clamor of the marching band. The younger woman left, leaving a lady with a dark fringe of bangs, wearing a green jacket, smiling at the parade.

  Maggie dodged in and around spectators and hastened over. “Hello, Yoriko?” She took in the woman’s surprise. “I’m Maggie Lofton. You know my sister Tammy.”

  The woman gave a small nod before she smiled. “Yes. For a moment, I thought that’s who you were.”

  “Twins,” Maggie explained. She was jostled from behind; a figure bundled in a down vest, wearing a ski cap. He did not turn and Maggie felt a strange ripple of dread wash over her, but the figure moved away. The whole situation was making her paranoid. She refocused on Yoriko. “You and my sister are friends?”

  “Yes. I am a glassblower and she did some work painting ornaments for me at my shop.”

  “Have you seen her recently?”

  Yoriko nodded and Maggie’s spirits leaped.

  “Wednesday.”

  The band was almost adjacent now, the beat of the drums vibrating in Maggie’s chest. She pressed closer. “This is going to sound strange, but Tammy is having trouble remembering things due to a head injury. Did she, by chance, leave something at your place?”

  The crash of music grew almost deafening. Maggie could not hear the reply, but her pulse zinged at the woman’s nod. Her mouth moved, the words swallowed up in the clamor.

  “I’m sorry,” Maggie called out. “I can’t hear you.”

  Yoriko pulled a business card from her coat pocket. “Come see me,” she said. “Monday afternoon. I have an event tomorrow and I won’t be home until then.”

  The band’s performance was met with thunderous applause and the crowd swelled as bystanders stood to get a better look. Liam was approaching, tall and easy on his horse, scattering candy canes to the children in the crowd. Jingles followed dutifully along, his own candy prize clutched between his teeth. Chad worked the other side of the street. Maggie noted how his rare smile transformed his whole demeanor. Such a quiet man, yet kind and straightforward, like the rest of the Roughwater Ranch clan.

  Maggie caught sight of a little boy high up on a pair of sturdy shoulders. Charlie, waving wildly to his uncle Liam. Finally she’d found Mitch and his son, but there was no way to get to them. Liam stopped in front of Charlie and prompted his horse. Streak executed a simple bow on one knee, which thrilled both Charlie and the crowd. Then Liam tossed Charlie a candy cane. Mitch caught it and handed it to the excited boy. Maggie’s heart melted at the exchange between Liam and his nephew.

  As Chad and Liam drew closer, eager youngsters pushed to the front to retrieve the sweets and Maggie was elbowed to the back. When she looked around for Yoriko, she had disappeared into the milling spectators.

  Maggie was up against the wagon wheel when the man with the down vest stepped in front of her, blocking her way. Fear kicked wild in her gut.

  “Good parade,” Virgil said.

  “Stay away from me,” she said, scanning for the nearest stranger.

  “Oh, I’m just taking in the sights. Uncle Bill was tired, so I left him to nap in the car. Couldn’t miss the Driftwood Christmas Parade.”

  Maggie desperately tried to catch Liam’s attention, but there were dozens of wriggling kids and standing parents trying to wrangle them. The scent of Virgil’s cologne sickened her. Stay calm, she commanded herself. He wants the jewelry. You can leverage that.

  “I’ve been doing a bit of thinking.” He stepped closer, one hand in his pocket. Concealing a knife? He could hurt her and no one would even hear her scream over the roar of the crowd. The wagon wheel boxed her in to her right. She eased to her left in preparation to run.

  Virgil went on, perfectly at ease. “If Tammy told you where those jewels are, maybe you’re planning on retrieving them. Maybe you’re hoping to keep them for yourself?”

  “You are delusional. If you come nearer, I will scream.”

  A stagecoach pulling Santa was coming into view and the crowd went wild with cheers.

  “But who would hear you?” Virgil said.

  She swallowed down her fear and forced her chin up. “Let’s find out.”

  “Enough. You give me the jewelry and I make the video go away. The insurance company doesn’t require visual proof of a theft. I’ll say I never ID’d the thief. They pay out. Tammy stays out of jail. Bill gets his jewelry back. Everybody wins. If you don’t do what I want...” He paused. “Then I am going to kill you and your sister. Is that clear enough for you?”

  Maggie almost choked on her fear. “You’re going to jail,” she managed to force out.

  “For what? There’s no one to overhear this conversation and I promise no one will be able to prove I murdered you two. I’m clever, you see.”

  She tried frantically to still her wildly beating heart. “We’ll tell your uncle about how you’re manipulating him. That’s elder abuse.”

  Hatred tightened his mouth. “He’s not poor, and he’s lorded it over my family for generations. His wife was just like him. He doesn’t deserve what he has and neither did his old harpie of a wife. I’m glad she died in that fall.”

  His outburst shocked her into silence for a moment. She wondered for a fleeting moment if Virgil had had something to do with Bill’s wife’s accident. The shock gave way to anger, thinking about the sweet man who’d held Tam
my’s hands, asking her to stay. She forced herself to stand straight. “Oh, I’m going to give the jewelry to the police, Virgil, and you won’t get that payout. You’re going to jail.”

  His nostrils flared. “Pretending to be Tammy, that was a good trick, but I saw through that ruse. I’m smart and I’m determined.”

  “Ditto,” she said, edging farther away.

  His grimace changed to a wide smile. “You’re so beautiful when you’re passionate about something, almost as beautiful as your sister,” he said, “and sassy. Those are the same things I love about Tammy.”

  Maggie recoiled, dumb with disgust.

  He looked wistful. “We would have been so good together, the perfect couple.” He laughed. “Christmas card material.”

  “My sister would never be with someone like you, a greedy liar.”

  His smile vanished. “Are you so sure of that? Maybe your sister isn’t as smart as you think. Maybe you both aren’t. You’ll both be easy to kill. You won’t even see it coming.”

  She prepared herself for a fast lunge, a hard shove to his shoulder, her one shot at an escape.

  “Be careful, Maggie. You don’t want to be standing between a man and his goals. Accidents happen.”

  “You don’t have the power to threaten me,” Maggie forced out, wishing she felt the truth of the words.

  He touched the end of her scarf, softly at first and then clenching with such hard force that his fingernails stabbed through the gauzy fabric. In a flash he’d pulled it tight. Her hands flew to her throat as he began to strangle her.

  “Not a threat. A promise,” he whispered.

  A scream rose in her throat, caught in her closing windpipe. She batted at his fists, her body screaming for air.

  “Don’t forget our little conversation,” he murmured into her ear. He shoved her away and her back slammed into the wagon wheel, the cold steel biting into her skin from behind as she coughed and gasped.

  * * *

  Liam finally caught sight of Maggie. There was a man blocking his view, body turned from the parade. Facing away from the parade? Suspicion turned to alarm. “Chad,” he yelled.

  Chad whipped a look at him. There was no time to explain and Chad wouldn’t require any more information anyway. Liam needed help, that was all Chad had to know. Chad immediately began to part the crowd, herding the people away from the Chuckwagon like he did with cattle when they separated them to be tagged. As a space cleared, Liam urged Streak forward, calling for the remaining people to move aside. They did so, their attention on Santa and the stagecoach approaching to Liam’s rear. He got clear just as Maggie darted past the Chuckwagon, running toward the barricade at the end of the street.

  He flicked Streak into a trot and caught up with her.

  “Maggie,” he called.

  She jerked a look over her shoulder, stumbling to a stop. Acting on instinct, he reached down and swung her up in front of him, riding them away from the hubbub. Her body shook within the circle of his arms as he slowed the horse to a stop.

  “I’ve got you,” he murmured into her hair. She couldn’t do much more than try to catch her breath and he let her, crooning comfort and holding her close. He scanned the crowd for the guy he’d seen, with no sign of him.

  She stammered through a story about Virgil that made Liam wheel Streak around, searching for him. “Gone. We’ll tell the cops and find him.”

  “There were no witnesses, again.”

  “I don’t care. He’s not gonna get away with hurting you.”

  Chad rode up.

  “Virgil got close,” Liam said. “He tried to choke her. He’s melted away into the crowd. Keep your eyes out for him.”

  Chad nodded. “I’ll call Mitch,” he said before leading the horse away.

  “I’ll do the same with Danny.” By the time he finished leaving a message, Maggie was calmer. He dismounted and helped her down.

  She was still shivering, so he wrapped her up close, warming her body with his. His emotions surprised him, the rage he felt at Virgil, his strong desire to comfort her. He’d so wanted to look into the crowd and find her there, waiting to see him.

  You’re dreaming, buddy. You’re no more important to her than the rest of the parade.

  But she circled his waist and held on as if he was an anchor on a storm-tossed sea. Scared was all. He hoped she did not feel the thundering of his heartbeat as he held her close.

  Jingles sat watching, tail wagging, the candy cane still clenched between his teeth.

  When she recovered enough to pull away from him, her autumn eyes gleamed with determination. She exhaled before she spoke, a long and steady breath. “Virgil thinks I know where the jewelry is. He offered a deal. He said he’d erase the video and drop the charges if I hand it over.”

  “And if you don’t?”

  “He will kill Tammy and me.”

  Liam fought down another swell of rage as he watched her. He wouldn’t blame her for taking the easy way out. No negotiating with terrorists was always a fine policy until the lives of loved ones hung in the balance. She wasn’t a solider trained to fight or even a cowboy used to physical struggle on a daily basis. He waited to see if Maggie Lofton would reveal what she was really made of.

  She breathed out again, took off her scarf and jammed it into her pocket. He saw the angry red blotches on her throat. “Even if I had the Hope Diamond in my pocket, I wouldn’t give it to Virgil in a million years.”

  He grinned, his spirit bubbling to match the river of fire in hers. “Excellent. I got your back, Maggie. We all do.”

  Without warning she kissed him, catching the corner of his mouth. “Thank you, Cowboy Santa.”

  He ducked his head and sought her mouth then, his pulse pounding as his lips found hers. A jolt of sweetness rippled through him, like the pure joy of a perfect sunrise. It was only a moment before they both backed away. “You’re, uh, welcome,” he managed to say.

  “You... I mean, I appreciate what you’re doing for Tammy.”

  He admitted to himself then that his motivation to help his ex-girlfriend’s sister had turned into something completely different. Tammy and Maggie might be sisters, but they occupied completely different places in his mind and heart. But Maggie didn’t need to know that and he wouldn’t add to her discomfort by sharing it. He was just a guy lending a hand because of his history with Tammy. Friends, at best.

  Off-limits.

  That’s how she thought of him.

  Or maybe damaged goods? The dark thought made him look away, toward the spectators that were beginning to thin out. Steady on, Liam.

  When he turned back, she was pulling a business card from her jeans’ pocket. “I ran into Yoriko. She’s a friend of my sister’s. She said Tammy visited her on Wednesday and left something.”

  Liam whistled. “Good detective work. I’ll stable Streak and we can drive right over there.”

  “Monday,” Maggie said. “She told me to come then.”

  “All right. Let’s go to the ranch, someplace quiet and safe, and call Danny. There’s probably some leftovers we can snag.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t Aunt Ginny feeding you well enough?”

  “Sure, but there’s always room for a pancake.”

  He’d coaxed the smile from her that he’d intended. She was still scared, but not shaking anymore.

  If Virgil Salvador thought he could threaten Maggie’s sister and get away with it, he had another think coming. And if he thought he’d intimidated Maggie by his little stunt at the parade, he was in for one big, bad surprise.

  THIRTEEN

  There were no further Virgil sightings, so the next day Liam was determined to keep Maggie as close as possible.

  In spite of his state of alert, he enjoyed the Sunday church service more than ever. Perhaps it was the beautiful holly arrangeme
nts that festooned the altar, or maybe sitting next to Charlie before he toddled off to Sunday school. Maybe it was seeing Mitch holding Jane’s hand, her head resting on his shoulder. It was also possible it was because Maggie sat on his other side, close enough that he could catch the clean scent of her shampoo and admire the graceful line of her profile while she listened to the message. He’d spent the prior evening eating pancakes in the ranch kitchen and escorting her to the saddlery.

  “There’s no need to be my personal bodyguard,” she’d said.

  He’d cheerfully ignored her. “I’m just in it for the pancakes,” he joked. At her doubtful expression, he’d put a finger gently on her bruised throat. “And he’s not going to touch you again.”

  After church he drove Maggie to the Chuckwagon where they’d arranged to meet Mitch, Chad, Tammy, Joe and his sister. When they arrived, Maggie insisted on helping Nan for a few minutes.

  Once again he settled into a corner table with a slice of pie and a cup of coffee where he could keep her in his line of sight. He admired the way she whirled through the kitchen, popping up at the window, her cheeks pink with the warmth. She looked completely at ease, naturally relaxed, the way he felt in the saddle or roving the grassy hills on Streak. It all looked so fluid, effortless. She was an artist in her domain, just like he was with his leather and knives, fashioning something amazing and useful. He was almost certain when he ate her pancakes he could taste the love she put into them, her tender spirit. His nonsensical fancies evaporated as Mitch slid into a chair opposite him, following his line of sight. “Keeping close tabs on her?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Mitch sat in silence until Liam couldn’t stand it. “What?”

  Mitch shrugged, a wisp of a smile on his lips. “Nothing.”

  “Not nothing.”

  “Just thinking you and Maggie seem to get along well.”

  “Friends.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Seriously.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  He thunked his mug on the table. “She’s Tammy’s sister. There’s a rule about dating siblings, you know.”