The Christmas Guest

by Becky Harmon

  Table of Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Bella Books

  The Christmas Guest

  by

  Becky Harmon

  Copyright © 2017 by Becky Harmon

  eBook released 2017

  Bella Books

  P.O. Box 10543

  Tallahassee, FL 32302

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

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  Chapter One

  Regan pulled the collar of her ragged coat tighter and glanced down the narrow alley to the busy street. The air was brisk and the morning sun was fighting hard to break through the clouds. The sides of the neighboring buildings blocked the light from penetrating the recesses of the alley, making it cold and dark. She knew it would snow soon and she wondered where she would go when it did.

  The three homeless woman huddled together across the alley were barely visible inside their cardboard shelter and Regan knew they wouldn’t allow her to join them even if she wanted too. She was a stranger in their community and though she was here to help she was still an outsider. She shifted the pistol in her shoulder holster trying to find a more comfortable position as she thought about the paths in their lives that may have brought them to this inhospitable street they now called home.

  Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she slid it out to read the text message.

  Any contact?

  She pulled the mitten flaps from her thumbs and typed. Nothing.

  A few seconds passed before her partner responded. I’m making another loop. Will bring coffee when I return.

  Great. I’ll meet u on the street.

  Glancing at her watch, she calculated the time until Nate’s return. She was glad she had survived another freezing night but disappointed that another night had passed with no leads. Unlike her alley companions, she had a home to return to and she longed for the comfort of her bed and a warm shower. It had been almost a week since she had started sleeping among the women at risk. Another night or two and she would have to convince her supervisor her plan was still solid.

  Sergeant Regan Young knew she had tunnel vision when she was working a case but to her nothing was more important during a homicide investigation. Their town wasn’t as big as neighboring Denver, but the run-off of crime seemed to drift their way and a murderer had wandered into their midst. Though there were homeless women living throughout the town, her division was being targeted and three women had already been murdered. Their bodies were dumped in random locations, leaving no crime scene or any evidence to follow.

  For six months, Regan had been chasing her tail and it made her furious. To the murderer these women were nothing but to Regan each of these women had a name and she could think of nothing but catching the individual behind this. It didn’t matter if it was a weekend or a holiday. There wasn’t anyone waiting at home for her anyway.

  Sitting on the hard cement ground had stiffened her muscles and she stood slowly stretching the tightness out of her body. The glare from the sun’s rays squeezed into the mouth of the alley as Regan moved in her fake hobble toward the street. She had adopted the limp her first night on the street, hoping to make herself look more vulnerable to a potential attacker.

  Hugging the brick building, Regan rounded the corner onto the sidewalk squinting at the direct sunlight. There were a few people moving briskly on the sidewalk and she carefully avoided contact with them. Most people passed her without seeing her as they did all of the homeless people. She studied each person that passed in hopes that she would see something that might stand out or give her a lead.

  This morning the men and women moving around her were dressed in suits and business attire. Professionals, dedicated to their jobs or the almighty dollar, each headed to their office even on Christmas Eve. She slid to the ground beside the large, rectangular glass window displaying the holiday sales for Whitman’s Department Store. Out of sight and out of mind. At least for the moment.

  She watched the cars pass slowly on the crowded street, searching for Nate’s unmarked sedan. Neither Chief Roberts nor Nate was happy with her being bait on the street but when the investigation went stale they were desperate for any new information. The small amount they had learned led them to believe the murderer picked up his victim where no one saw or they were too scared to say what they saw. Regan was determined to break through the silence of the people living on the street.

  * * *

  Sarah Whitman maneuvered around the other pedestrians and hurried toward the glass doors leading to her home away from home. Whitman’s Department Store had been in her family for almost a hundred years and as current president she liked to arrive before the store opened at nine a.m. The quiet of the aisles allowed her to contemplate changes or upgrades without the distraction of employees or customers. She did her best work in the hour or two before the lights came on.

  This morning her thoughts were centered on the sales numbers that had been compiled for today’s stockholders meeting. A five percent loss normally wouldn’t seem too bad but with the five percent loss from the previous month she was feeling the pressure. The holidays should have brought an increase in sales but the reports weren’t showing that. Nothing had been said to her directly so far, but today’s meeting wouldn’t be pleasant.

  She couldn’t help feeling that her leadership was being questioned. As in past years, she had held firm and refused to move in Christmas displays before Thanksgiving. The other stores in the area had not only been decorated for Christmas two months ago but they had been offering Christmas sales since before Black Friday. Christmas had always been special to her and she hated the way it had been commercialized to make money.

  Sarah bent her head as the cold wind whipped, blowing the ends of her scarf across her face. She stepped onto the curb and crossed the sidewalk in two strides.

  “I’m…I’m so sorry.” Sarah stumbled backward in surprise. She hadn’t seen the woman walking into her path and she gave a quick glance at the hand that gripped her arm. It took only a second to take in the disheveled appearance and to make a conclusion. Sarah knew there were several homeless people who lived in the alley beside the store but she seldom saw them during the day. Sometimes she even forgot they were there. The faded jeans and dirty coat with frayed sleeves confirmed her initial observation but Sarah saw something more in the woman’s face. She was surprised at the strength of the hand gripping her arm and even more surprised that she wasn’t pulling away from the touch.

  * * *

  Regan looked into the light brown eyes studying her face. She had only meant to steady the woman when she stumbled but what she had felt when they touched had stunned her and she momentarily forgot the role she supposed to be playing. The woman’s face was etched with stress and Regan felt a sudden longing to ease her worries. Her light brown hair hung just past her shoulders and though it was just wavy enough to appear casual, Regan knew it had been carefully styled. The elegant business suit had been tailored to her body and clearly marked her as an executive from the three-story department building behind them. Regan came back to reality as she caught the contrast in her own ragged coat sleeve.

  “Sorry,” Regan mumbled, quickly removing her hand from the woman’s arm.
She hobbled past her and continued in the direction she had seen Nate before the collision. Regan resisted the urge to look back knowing the woman was watching her. She cursed her slip in concentration. The woman was a distraction she didn’t need in the middle of this investigation.

  Chapter Two

  Sarah wandered through the empty store, her mind on the woman she had collided with on the sidewalk. She didn’t doubt the woman was homeless but she wasn’t expecting the attentive stare or their easy connection. The homeless people she had observed in the past had never looked her in the eye. They were content to be invisible to the world around them. Mindlessly she touched the silk scarf hanging on the “perfect gift” sales rack as she passed. Christmas was supposed to be a time of giving and she couldn’t remember the last time she had offered something to someone in need.

  She stopped when she reached the second floor balcony and looked out over the first floor. So much merchandise and all she cared about was getting the customers to come in and buy it. Each year she found herself more and more consumed with sales. She remembered how her grandfather always insisted the store be closed on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. When her father ran things he agreed to open for Christmas Eve and now she was giving in to the demands to be open Christmas Day too. Trevor, the infamous retail genius, claimed she would roll in the dough by being open Christmas Day and she had collapsed under his persuasion.

  She saw her first sales clerk unlock the front door and hurry in out of the cold. She called to him as he passed underneath her. “Good morning, Ethan.”

  He stepped back and looked up at her. “Merry Christmas Eve, Ms. Whitman.”

  She nodded and smiled at him. “Merry Christmas Eve, Ethan.”

  He hurried on to the break room where she knew he would start the coffee for his co-workers. Ethan always arrived early or agreed to work extra if someone needed time off. Now that she thought about she had never heard him say a negative word against the store or a co-worker. She remembered thinking he needed a promotion but now she couldn’t remember why she hadn’t given it to him. She made a mental note to talk with Trevor and then smiled to herself. Maybe she would just do it without talking with Trevor.

  * * *

  Nate leaned against his car and looked up and down the street.

  “We haven’t had a body in almost three weeks. It’s going to be tonight. I can feel it.” Regan mumbled into her coffee.

  “I really don’t want you out here on Christmas Eve.”

  “No, you don’t want to be out here on Christmas Eve.” She paused, giving him a hard look. “It’s okay. Go home to your family. I’ll have a black and white back me up.”

  “Aw, Regan. You know I can’t do that.” He circled his car and opened the driver’s door. “I need to talk to the lab. They’re supposed to have some results on that fiber analysis today. We’ll talk about tonight later.”

  Regan watched Nate pull away and longed for the warmth of his car. Her body was chilled to the bone and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been warm. As if to taunt her admission, snow flurries began to fall around her. She groaned and tightened her grip on the warm coffee cup. At least in the alley she was protected from the wind. As she shuffled past the glass doors leading into Whitman’s Department Store she looked at the last-minute shoppers searching for the perfect gift. She thought of her family, a thousand miles away, and wondered if they would even call her this holiday. It certainly didn’t feel like Christmas out here on the street.

  * * *

  “Ms. Whitman?”

  Sarah looked up from the spreadsheet Trevor had brought her. “Yes, Jenny?”

  “There’s a woman on the phone from the local shelter and she’s wondering if we have any blankets we could donate to the homeless.”

  Sarah thoughts immediately went to the woman she had collided with earlier. The connection she had felt when she looked into the woman’s eyes was more than any of the women she had dated in the last year. That thought almost made her laugh. She wasn’t sure what that said about her dating life or about her interest in a homeless woman. She shook her head trying to clear the image from her mind.

  Jenny immediately began her clearly prepared plea. “I checked with housewares and Melanie said they have about twenty blankets from last year’s Christmas pattern. We probably wouldn’t sell them anyway cause we have an entire case with the snowman pattern from this year.” She sighed. “And it’s starting to snow.”

  Sarah held up her hand to silence her. “Yes, Jenny. Tell them we can supply the twenty from last year’s stock and take another twenty from this year.”

  Jenny’s smile was huge as she spun to return to her desk.

  “And Jenny,” Sarah said, stopping her departure. “Send Ethan to check the alley and then order boxed lunches for however many homeless are out there. Get blankets for them, too.”

  Jenny danced off to relay the messages and Sarah dropped the spreadsheet, spinning her chair to look out the window. The falling snow was pretty from inside her warm office. She couldn’t imagine not having a home especially at this time of year. She wondered what path could bring people into such despair. Especially the ice blue eyes she had stared into earlier. She would guess her age to be mid-thirties but her face didn’t have the weathered look that she had noticed on other homeless people.

  Sarah knew the homeless liked the alley beside her store. It was almost too narrow for a car and it didn’t have the rotting food smell like behind the nearby restaurants. The café she had thought about installing had been nixed by Trevor two years ago. He was right, of course, there was a restaurant across the street and one on the corner. Any profits would be cut by damaged merchandise as people tried to drink lattes and shop. She glanced at her watch. Four hours until the board meeting.

  * * *

  Regan watched the same man hustle past the mouth of the alley for the third time. She glanced at her alley companions but they didn’t seem to notice or to be bothered. She texted his description to Nate. Another hour or two and she would begin making her rounds to the surrounding streets. She had yet to find anyone willing to talk with her let alone give her information. She didn’t have to pull out her badge for the others on the street to know she didn’t belong. The average person passing might not notice her difference but the people who lived here did.

  Sitting out here night after night had not led to anything and her patience in questioning potential witnesses was waning. The first two murders had been within a day of each other and then the third had been three months later. Usually serial killers reduced the time between kills as their desire to kill increased. She and Nate believed the murders were a matter of convenience not necessity. When the opportunity arose the killer struck, not because he felt the desire.

  Her phone buzzed and she glanced at the display screen. Nate had news from the lab. Text me. She typed back to him. She didn’t want to risk another meeting, especially not during the lunch hour.

  The fibers didn’t match any of the victims’ clothing.

  Regan thought about that information before she typed her response. He finally left us something of himself or he has an accomplice?

  That’s what I was thinking too. Nate responded.

  Someone who lures the victim away from others. Someone who doesn’t stand out on the street. That made sense to Regan. It certainly explained why they had been unable to gain any kind of information.

  A group of people rounded the corner and Regan tensed, quickly unzipping her jacket to allow access to her pistol. She wrapped her fingers around the cold steel as she huddled closer to the brick wall.

  * * *

  Sarah looked at the cardboard boxes fastened together to form a shelter and then the lone woman on the other side of the alley. She knew there must be a hierarchy on the street but something seemed off to her. Usually homeless people stuck together unless they were afraid for their own safety.

  “Hold up, guys.” Sarah called to Ethan and Jenny as they ap
proached the makeshift home. She stepped around them and called out loudly. “Hello. We don’t mean you any harm.”

  She took all but one blanket from Ethan’s arms and stacked them in front of the opening into the box. She placed three boxes of food on top of the blankets before stepping away. Hands instantly appeared and grabbed the food. Sarah turned to the lone woman. Noticing her open jacket she hesitated for a second. Maybe this woman wasn’t right in the head. A lot of homeless people were mentally ill. Then her eyes met the ice blue ones and she knew there was nothing wrong with this woman. The intelligence she read in her face was not the sign of the mentally ill. She watched the woman zip her jacket and lean forward to receive the blanket from Ethan and the food from Jenny.

  “Merry Christmas,” Sarah said softly before turning to follow Ethan and Jenny out of the alley. At the corner, she looked back one more time. The woman had opened her box and was examining the contents. The blanket was still folded at her feet. Sarah couldn’t seem to look away.

  * * *

  Out of the corner of her eye, Regan watched the group return to the sidewalk outside the alley. Though she had hesitated when they first appeared, the woman Regan had collided with earlier was clearly the person in charge. The man wore a business suit as well but his was bought off the rack and not nearly as expensive. The younger woman who accompanied them wore a stylish dress but her childlike eagerness showed her age. Their appearance had been a surprise to Regan but once she realized who they were she knew they were not a threat.

  She lifted her eyes to meet those of the elegantly dressed woman. Her hair blew around her face and she reached up to tuck it behind her ears. A soft smile tugged at the corners of her mouth and Regan couldn’t resist smiling back at her. She was beautiful and her kindness had touched Regan. She quickly ducked her head and forced her gaze back to the box of food, trying to make the smile disappear from her face. She needed to remain in character as a homeless person and making googly eyes at a woman was not going to convince anyone.