by Sheila Kell
With his head down, he nodded.
Reagan wanted to talk with Cousin Lee, but Brandon needed to be busy. “Here are your gloves and booties, Brandon. Yours will probably fit better.”
“Why should I wear them? I can’t collect any evidence. My dad doesn’t even want me to go with you.” Brandon’s voice sounded sad.
Uncle AJ leaned in and spoke with Cousin Lee while Brandon turned the booties around in his hand. When her uncle returned, he lightly smacked Brandon on the shoulder blade. “You can go. Reagan has the rules, and if any of you break them, your parents will have something to say about it.” Like an afterthought, he smiled, and Reagan almost huffed. Why couldn’t he just get on with it? “Plus, you’ll have to babysit Ace for a month.”
“Oh, no, no, no, Uncle AJ,” Amber protested, even though she wouldn’t do much sitting, Reagan would. Amber would try to help, but her ability to focus was as bad as Ace’s. She’d have to call Uncle Danny for help.
Brandon leaned to her. “Are they really allowing us to help them in a murder investigation?”
Hating to admit it, she whispered, “No. They’re just letting us pretend to help and find something. They’ve already cleared where they’re letting us go and don’t think the police will go there. Besides, remember what Aunt Megan said about Uncle Devon seeing everything? He’ll be watching us.” She shook her head. “They’re just letting us think we are, but we can still prove we’re capable of being agents.”
“I don’t care about being a capable agent. I want my dad free.”
“That’s how we’ll do it. Pretending we’re the first there, we’ll look for clues they might’ve missed. The one that might set your dad free.”
Glancing at his watch, and not covering that he’d been listening, AJ told them, “Okay, you have fifteen minutes. Don’t make one of us have to find you.”
“Don’t we have to synchro-synchronize—oh, I got it right.” Amber bounced and clapped her hands. She stopped after seeing Reagan’s stern face. “Oh, our watches? Shouldn’t we make sure they match? They do it in all the secret agent movies. Oh, and check our radios.”
Uncle AJ beamed at her younger cousin. “Sure thing, Agent Amber.”
“DEV, THEY’RE ON the move,” AJ announced over the comms.
“I’ve got them.”
In the office he and Jesse had used, Blake stood. “Are you sure about this?”
“No,” Jesse clipped. “They’re not going to continue to sit still, and Reagan is dead set on solving a mystery. We’ve cleared the halls and locked the rooms, so they shouldn’t get into anything, especially with Dev keeping an eye on them.”
He and Jesse walked toward the front. Blake’s mind was on his family, but also the responsibility he has to his guests’ comfort and safety. Knowing one of his guests is a murderer throws the whole “safety” thing out the frosted window.
“What’ll the police say when we let them know the kids walked around?” Matt asked.
“It’s not the actual crime scene, and the only rooms they can enter are their own. Shit. Dev, call us if they head to Lee’s room. That is one family room I don’t want them entering.”
“Roger,” Devon answered.
“Did you forget we’re still missing the murder weapon?” Matt and Brad almost said simultaneously. Matt took over. “If they find it and mess with it….”
Jesse’s frustration bled into his voice. “We searched hard. Maybe it’s out in that ton of snow, and we won’t find it until the snow thaws.”
“Trent, you can go search out there,” Brad added.
“After you, oh evil brother of mine,” Trent said, laughing.
Thinking of spending the last holiday with Trent and his family, made him realize that with everything occurring, the least important thing to the adults at this time, but the most important thing to the kids had slipped through his fingers. While the group bantered back and forth where AJ had now become the target, he caught Elizabeth’s eye.
Her smile made him quiver for her to be naked in his bed. With no care to the world around him. He took the moment to kiss his wife. Only a light kiss because his family was all business and he didn’t want them to think his mind was elsewhere. Actually, it was, but he’d get it back on track.
“I love you,” he told her.
“I love you, too.” She grabbed his hands and squeezed. “What do you need?”
“I know I shouldn’t think about it, but I’m worried for the little kids tomorrow.”
“Don’t worry. I’ve got it. You worry about this, and I’ll take care of the rest. The staff has helped pull out any folding beds, linens, and blankets for tonight, if we don’t get this resolved.
Another thing he hadn’t considered. “If I didn’t have you—”
“You’d do fine. The staff had already volunteered to stay the weekend before we knew the others couldn’t make it due to weather. Chef and Molly will need help. If two people can help prep for Chef, that’d work fine. We’re a bit more flexible with Molly. She’ll need one person to help her clean the rooms. Duncan and Butch—”
“Butch?” Not a name he’d have expected.
“Yes, Butch. They’ll be fine without help, although they won’t get all the snow cleared.”
“I take it you’ve already assigned the help.”
She cocked her head at him and gave him a smirk of sorts. The minx. “Of course I did. We’re a team in making this place successful.”
“You’re amazing.” To hell with holding back while things were serious. He crushed her to him and reclaimed her soft lips. He drank in the sweetness of her and enjoyed the matching of their souls whenever they touched.
“Come on, Dad. That’s just gross. No one wants to see their parents kissing like that.”
While he’d been so intent on tasting his wife, he hadn’t realized which son voiced that opinion. He slapped the blame on Brad because it seemed like him without his filter. Heck, Brad didn’t have a filter. He’d lost it in kindergarten. Blake and Elizabeth separated, and he felt the loss of her strength.
“If a staff member is clear, I could use one or two. In the meantime, our daughters will help. I’m not sure Chef likes us poking around in his kitchen though.”
“A chef trait,” he scoffed.
“You’d best get to it before our kids revolt. Have I told you how much I love you?”
Elizabeth’s laughter floated behind her as she walked away. “Many times, and it’s true.”
Several chuckles and a comment or two on him being whipped came from not only those behind him but over the comms. Great, they let his love life be broadcast.
Whipped, they said. He smiled, knowing it to be true. “And none of you are?” The laughing stopped, and that brought a chuckle out of him.
“You go, Dad,” Emily interjected. Then he heard the women laugh. He’d forgotten some of the wives were on the comms.
Finding it a great way to get back on track with the short break over, he asked, “Why didn’t you tell the kids we had comms? Why give them handhelds?”
Jake chuckled. “Do you remember how chatty my daughter is? We’d never get a word in edgewise.”
As if trying to think about that, Emily offered, “I think the girls are convinced Aaron did it.”
Brad snorted. “Wouldn’t that be great? I’m ready to punch the man in the mouth for being an asshole.”
The thought popped into his head, having nothing to do with the conversation, but it came out anyway. “Come to think of it—and don’t get me wrong, I’m damn appreciative, but why did you bring your comms and your weapons when you were going on vacation?”
His family within earshot, looked at him like he was crazy. Maybe he was, but he didn’t like his kids taking chances when it wasn’t a matter of life and death. Although, if Lee was formally charged, it could be. With satellite coverage spotty, he couldn’t pull up Colorado’s law on whether a death sentence was administered. They had to solve this. It couldn’t be that ha
rd. There were only a few suspects and a small building. Okay, not so small, but workable.
He thanked his lucky stars for his security manager that upgraded the system last year so they didn’t require Internet. Although with Devon’s initial report, that hadn’t mattered.
Back to his question, Jesse, as usual, answered for the group. “We like to be prepared.”
Brad chuckled. “You don’t even want to know what else we brought.”
Blake’s head began to hurt. He’d seen them in action and had been amazed and proud, but he knew HIS had accepted more dangerous ops, like government sanctioned ones. The thought of their investigative abilities not being enough in this case, bit him to the bone. He knew they could do it and hoped it was before they all needed to go to bed. The little ones were already getting cranky.
“Jake,” Emily said, “I’m still not happy about our daughter poking around without one of us near.”
“Don’t worry about it, my baby sister.” Devon’s laughter quickly carried over in his voice. “I’ve still got them. They’re peeking everywhere in the hallway and damn cute it. Your daughter is checking the design on the carpet as she plays hop-scotch.”
Even with the laugh, he could tell his sons were still a bit wary about the kids running around, but they truly weren’t in danger. They weren’t where their parents could see them, which was the main concern. As long as Devon could keep them on screen, all would be well. Blake should relax because he knew they’d never allow anyone to harm the family.
“Sitrep?” Blake asked to bring them back to task.
“Questioning is nearly complete. We need to finish interviewing each other. I think we should even allow it if someone not in the family wants to sit in to keep the peace,” Emily said.
“That’s a good idea to include them,” AJ said from his post down the hallway.
“That also means you, baby brother,” Brad joked.
“Ha ha. That’s fine. I think you should conduct a formal interview of Lee out there too.”
Blake whistled. “That could go either way for us. Especially if Aaron or Mrs. Sterling has their way.”
“I don’t know,” Trent drawled. It’s like he’d grown up in Montana instead of Baltimore with the drawl and cowboy hat he kept at hand. “Although Aaron has pointed at Lee, he was cooperative in the interview.”
“Do you think too cooperative?” Matt asked. “Maybe he’s trying to help us convict Lee while ignoring him. He was the one to accuse Lee.”
“Yeah,” Jake stretched out. “But we know Lee was in there, and Aaron could’ve seen him last, but he hadn’t been watching the door, so someone else could’ve slipped in and out.”
Kate shook her head. “I don’t think we should rule out the others, young or old.”
“Hey,” Blake said with mock effrontery. “Our oldest guests are around my age.”
“See,” Kate said. “Not too old.”
Knowing Dr. Manner, he said, “I doubt the doc or his pregnant wife did it.”
“Let’s hope not,” Brad interjected, “since we let him exam the body.”
Blake swallowed hard to drown his frustration. “So you’re telling me you interviewed everyone outside the family and no one stood out?”
Rylee said, “Not with me. Your employees had the best alibis.”
He stood a little straighter. “Brad, Matt, do you have anything new for us?”
“Nothing we can use right now,” Matt answered. “We found some hair on his sweater, but it could be his. With that and his hands covered, that’s the best we can do to preserve it all for police when they can make it.”
Emily’s voice always sounded strong in the middle of her brothers’ voices. “Can’t you guys make everyone take their shirt off to see if they have scratches or to inspect their clothing?”
As he’d expected, they left the answer to Jake. “No. People could do so, voluntarily, but who do you think would?”
“Good point,” she responded.
“Devon,” Blake almost snapped, tired of doing nothing. Even though it was still early, he rubbed his eyes in weariness. Maybe he should’ve left this investigation to Jesse to run after all. “What do you have?”
“Nothing good.”
When is it ever?
“I wanted to run deeper backgrounds on everyone, but, for the most part, everything’s down. The basic ones don’t help much.”
As if on cue, he observed his sons remove their cell phones from their pockets. It was almost comical. He bet they didn’t have a clue how much they were alike.
“What about the video footage? Did you fix the problem?”
“What problem?” Emily asked.
Blake should’ve shared this earlier. “Devon came down earlier, and we’d hoped he could fix the issue before we had to announce it. Want to explain, Devon?”
“Someone altered the recordings. This jumble was done by someone who knows their way around systems.”
Before he could finish, light bulbs seemed to appear around the room.
“Lee’s a computer expert,” Kate whispered.
Full confidence in his nephew, he stated, “It wasn’t him.”
“Pretty coincidental. Are we sure Lee doesn’t know anyone here?” Trent asked.
With a nod, he responded, “He doesn’t think so. No one looked familiar.”
“Let me see what else I can do to fix this,” Devon said.
“What’s exactly wrong?” AJ asked, still holding strong outside Lee’s door.
“The footage stops after Lee leaves the men’s room. Nothing else was recorded.”
Rylee asked her husband, “What about the hallway to see who came or went from the security room?”
“Same. Basically, they erased all recordings until a certain point, then put it on a hard stop. It hasn’t been recording until I started it again.” His frustrated sigh sounded loud and clear. “Law enforcement could argue that Lee went back inside, killed St. John, then edited the recording.”
“Can this get any more fucked up?” Brad asked in full honesty.
Trent snorted. “Yeah. The kids could crack the case.”
Although said as a jest, no one laughed.
Everyone seemed to go back about the business, and he saw family pairing up for interviews.
As he and Jesse settled at a table, Blake asked, “How’d the interviews with my staff go?” It still felt a bit odd calling them his staff, as he’d come to know them pretty well before he purchased the lodge. “I know they had solid alibis, but what did everyone think of the ones you interviewed?”
Rylee spoke first, “I think they’re great. They’ll do you well.”
“Same,” Trent added.
No matter how many constituents he’d had in the past, this validation, along with his sons not pushing him out of the way to investigate, filled his whole being with the love only a father could experience.
Elizabeth appeared. “We pulled Chef, and he’s preparing a light snack for everyone and something for the kids.” She looked around. “Where are the older kids? Shouldn’t they be back from visiting Lee by now?”
“Well,” Blake hedged, “about that.”
“Alexander Blake Hamilton, you did not allow those children to go investigate?”
Rubbing his hand on the back of his neck, he couldn’t figure out how to keep from digging a hole. “Yeah. Devon’s watching over them. Besides, we’re all down here.”
She raised her eyebrow. “And what if our killer wasn’t part of the guests?”
His heart raced, but he trusted his kids when they’d cleared the building, leaving only those downstairs. “But—”
She crossed her arms over her chest in an “I mean business” stance. “If you’re going to allow them to just run with only Devon watching them—who I’m guessing is already busy—you will have someone follow them.”
There was no doubt the women of his family ruled the roost. Although worried about Elizabeth’s concern, no one could be hidi
ng inside the lodge. But understanding her fear, he dispatched Brad to shadow the kids until time for them to return.
“You’ll probably hear them,” Devon told Brad. “I don’t have audio, but Amber keeps playing with those large gloves and snapping them over the handheld, then Reagan appears to tell her to stop, which only lasts for so long before her attention goes on holiday again.”
“I’m on it.” Brad hustled from the room via the employee hallway, and as expected, Aaron jumped up to complain. This time, Jacob was more vocal in his agreement.
“Stop it,” Blake instructed. “He’s going back to spell the other guard. Doesn’t he have a right to piss and grab something to eat like you’ve been doing?” He didn’t say that Lee had the same privileges, and was only staying in a different room to appease the group.
Guests sat grumbling, and Blake had enough. He’d have to figure out something, so the police had access. He’d hate not to be able to get an ambulance in for a guest emergency. A chill ran through him at the thought.
Speaking of a chill, the temperature in the room had dropped with the lower temperature outside. It was too cold in this room for children, especially the little ones. They didn’t need all of them battling colds tomorrow. With Elizabeth in the kitchen, Blake waved Kate over. She gave her husband a quick kiss. Whipped, my ass. He chuckled at that. He loved his sons and hated he hadn’t taught them enough about living in peace with a woman.
“What’s up?” Kate asked.
“Since we’re not letting anyone in their rooms, I think we need to move the babies’ cribs to the employee hallway where it’s warmer.”
“That’s an excellent idea. What about our complainers seeing us leaving? They’ll think we’re hiding evidence or something.”
“Good point. Jesse, why don’t you announce what we’re doing and that some of the mothers will also go to take care of them? Then, offer that one person, per crib, can accompany them to the hallway.”
“I don’t like it,” Jesse said. “But I like the kids staying warm. We’ll break it up, and two of us will carry each one so there are no complaints.”
Blake chuckled. “Oh, there’ll be complaints if by none other than Aaron. You’ve all kept your weapons hidden under your sweaters, but I want AJ displaying his outside Lee’s door, so we look to be taking his retention seriously.”
