by Jill Sanders
“Maybe that’s why they destroyed everything.” She thought it over as he wrapped his arms around her again. After cleaning everything up, she realized that nothing had been stolen. Everything was just… destroyed. “What if they thought I would be home and when I wasn’t… they got pissed and smashed everything?”
Brian tensed as the same realization hit him. “Yeah.” A string of curse words flew from his lips. “Tom’s keeping a car on the house. I’ll see about getting you security as well.”
“No.” She sat up and looked down at him. This was meant to scare you into obedience. We’ve seen it before. If they can’t win you over, they threaten you.”
“Yeah, but I’ve done nothing but show them I’m willing. Why go to this length unless—”
“Our cover has already been blown,” she finished for him. “Shit.” She sat up and hugged her knees to her chest.
“Yeah, I’m going to call Carter.” He reached for his phone, but she stopped him.
“Wait.” She thought about it. “Why give you the money then?”
He tilted his head and relaxed back. “To throw us off?”
“That doesn’t track.” She settled against his bare chest. “It could be personal.”
“What?” His voice caused his chest to vibrate, soothing away the worries of the day.
“This.” She motioned around them. “The destruction. I hate to say it, but my attack had nothing to do with the case, maybe this doesn’t either?”
“A coincidence?” he asked and she could tell he was thinking about it.
“It makes sense.” She yawned and his hands wrapped around her again as he scooted down on the bed.
“Let’s drop off and think about it all in the morning after we get some sleep. It might all seem clearer to us.”
“Okay, but I want donuts and a huge chocolate muffin for breakfast.” She yawned again. “And a gallon of coffee.”
He chuckled. “How do you stay so fit eating like that? But I have to admit, after all of this, it sure sounds good.” He kissed her forehead just before she drifted off.
Chapter 26
The following morning, they hauled the destroyed Christmas tree and all the decorations out to the garage. After the trash crew came to remove everything, they climbed into the Jeep and headed into town to get Mia the sweet breakfast she’d wanted.
Belle’s Bakery, which sat in an old building downtown, had more than enough sugary items to satisfy Mia’s needs. Hyped up on sugar, they were both eager to hunt down another tree and some more decorations.
Since the tree lot had only a handful of options left, they hauled the best-looking tree to the Jeep together and secured it to the top. Then they made their way down the main street and looked in several shops for decorations.
“We’re in luck,” Mia said in one of the small stores. She was digging in the bargain bin in the front of the store. “They have all of their decorations half off.” She smiled up at him, reminding him of a child who’d just discovered the candy store.
“Perfect.” He laughed at the silliness of some of them, but still threw them in their cart, since they didn’t have the option of being picky.
“What about these?” she asked, holding up a pair of matching stockings with dinosaurs on them for the fireplace. The ones they had hung up before had been tossed in the fireplace and had been too covered in soot to be salvaged.
He laughed. “Just what you expect during Christmastime… dinosaurs.”
She walked over and kissed him, then wrapped her arms around him. “This is kind of fun. I may do all of my holiday shopping days before Christmas from here on out.”
He held onto her. “Next year, we’ll decorate the outside of the house as well.” He kissed her.
He knew what he was saying, hoping she would get the hint that he hoped to still be with her.
He continued to follow her through the store as she picked out as many strange things for their tree and home as she could find. It was as if she was on a mission to make the decorations different from the more traditional ones they’d had. He enjoyed the game and even helped by adding a pair of dancing penguin ornaments as well as several frog ones into the mix.
By the time they walked out of the store, they had more than twice as many decorations as they’d had before.
“How about we go home and decorate and then order pizza?” He couldn’t believe that he was already hungry again. Glancing down at his watch, he realized they had spent two hours shopping in town.
“That sounds wonderful.” She set the last bag into the Jeep.
They both glanced over as someone honked at them. Waving, Brian turned back to Mia as her phone rang.
“My mother,” she said, pulling out her phone and answering it. “Hi, Mom.” Then she quickly glanced around and waved before hanging up the phone. “She’s coming… They were at the Moose having lunch and saw us,” she said quickly.
“I thought you had a tree?” her mother asked, frowning up at the one tied to their Jeep.
“There was a… break-in last night,” Mia said, biting her bottom lip.
“Oh no,” Steve said, moving closer. “I hope you’re both okay?”
“We weren’t there,” Brian supplied. “We’d gone out… for a late dinner.” It had been what he’d put on the police report.
“They destroyed your tree?” her mother asked.
“And basically everything else in the house.” Mia’s voice held a little frustration in it.
“Well, I guess you can decorate the place the way you like it now.” Her mother shrugged.
“Right,” Mia said dryly.
He knew that the women were trying to make a fresh start and that Shelby struggled with showing emotions to her daughter. He also knew that Mia was trying, but after last night, she was on edge.
“We were going to do a little shopping ourselves. The stores around here are so quaint,” Steve broke into the silence. “Are we still on for dinner Christmas Eve?”
“Yes,” Mia said eagerly, causing his eyebrows to shoot up.
“Sounds good, we’ll see you then,” her mother replied and started walking with Steve down the sidewalk.
“Guess we’ll need to head to Restorations now then,” he said.
Mia turned and looked up at him. “Why?”
“We need new dishes, remember? Every single one was broken last night.”
“Right.” She sighed. “I’d forgotten.”
“Hey, look at the bright side… we can pick a pattern we like.” He took her hand up to his lips and kissed it.
She smiled slightly.
“She meant well,” he added as they walked towards the secondhand furniture store.
“I know,” she groaned. “It’s an old habit of mine to think the worst of her,” she admitted.
“One you can change.” He opened the door for her.
“You’re right.” She stepped into the store.
In the end, they bought a lot more than just dishes. She found a new sofa, end tables, and a coffee table along with two matching high-back chairs that she believed would work in the living room perfectly.
They left the store spending less than he’d expected, and he counted the trip as a lucky one. The owner had even given them a discount, since Gail had called ahead.
The furniture, they were told, would be delivered within an hour, if she could get her truck driver Danny to haul it all over there for them.
They drove back to the house and spent almost the full hour setting up the new tree and decorations.
He had to admit, this time around, decorating was a heck of a lot more fun. They even turned on some Christmas music as they hung the LED lights and ornaments.
By the time they were done, the smaller tree looked way better than the first larger one had in the room. It sat tucked by the fireplace instead of partially blocking it.
The doorbell rang just as he was putting on the finishing touches. Mia had gone upstairs to change into yoga pants
since they decided to stay in the rest of the night. When he opened the door, he realized he’d forgotten that Haven was such a small town when Reno stared back at him, clipboard in his hands.
“Hey.” He glanced around with a frown, unsure what to say. What was the guy doing there? Did he want the money back? Had he come here to finish what he’d started last night?
Reno looked a little shocked to see him as well. Glancing down at the papers in his hands, he shook his head and glanced up.
“I didn’t know you lived at the McGowan place.”
“Yes, we’re renting it.”
The guy looked past him, into the empty living space. “I heard you had a little… mishap last night.”
Brian fought the urge to reach out and knock the man to the ground, knowing that he probably had something to do with the mess. But if that was the case, why had he acted shocked to see Brian there? Something wasn’t adding up.
“Yeah,” he heard himself saying.
“I have your order from Restoration.” He motioned to the truck parked out front with the store’s logo on the side.
“You… work for Restorations?”
“I do.” He nodded, then said softly, “We all have our day jobs.”
Brian’s heart leaped in his chest. Was the man telling him straight out that he knew that he was DEA?
“Where do you want these?” he asked, motioning to another man standing on the curb. “Jeff’s got a hot date and wants to take off early.”
“In the living room.” He fought the urge to keep the man outside, but he needed to continue the ruse.
He watched as Reno, or Danny, rushed back to help Jeff pull the sofa and chairs from the back of the truck.
They each brought in a chair themselves but had to carry the sofa in together.
Mia was coming down the stairs as they brought in the sofa and he was thankful she didn’t gasp or say something to the guy, letting it slip that she knew who he was.
“Nice tree,” Reno said. “You two lovebirds have a Merry Christmas,” he added as Brian let him out. “I’ll be seeing you soon,” he added softly, just before Brian shut the door.
“I’ve got you now, Danny,” he said after shutting the front door.
It took him less than ten minutes to figure out Danny’s last name. Hames, Danny Hames. No rap sheet, the kid was only eighteen.
“Barely legal,” Mia said, glancing over his shoulder as he worked on his laptop, which had been saved from destruction since he’d locked it in the safe last night.
“Yeah, his juvie record is sealed, but at least we know he had one.” He shut off the computer.
“Think he knew that someone was doing this while he met with you?” she asked.
“Could be, but something tells me he didn’t know it was me he was delivering furniture to.”
“Okay, then this had nothing to do with the case, as we suggested?” She sat down on the new sofa.
“I guess.” He sat down on the cushions, already enjoying the softer material much more than the last one.
“Okay, so then, who do you know that’s pissed at you enough to destroy everything you own?” she asked, sitting next to him.
He thought about all the people he’d pissed off before leaving town.
“Wow, the list is that long?” she said after a long silence.
Sighing, he ran his hands through his hair and nodded.
“Then we start from the top.” She stood up and grabbed his laptop and started making a list of people. This is where Mia shined. Her organization skills and powers of deduction were some of the best in the office.
Two hours later, he ordered them pizza as they narrowed down the list to a handful of names.
“So, half the people in town might have it out for you,” she joked as she crossed her legs. She looked very comfortable on the new sofa. She’d changed into dark grey yoga pants and one of his sweatshirts. Her dark hair was piled in a messy heap on the top of her head and her face had been washed free of any product.
He’d never seen her looking more beautiful before. She’d been a hard one to shop for. He had her gift narrowed down between two gifts and only had three more days to figure out what exactly he was going to get for her. Still, that beautiful ring at the jeweler’s place in town kept flashing in his mind.
Standing up, he threw a few more logs on the fire. “Do you really think it’s someone from my past?” he asked, stirring the fire.
“Can’t be from mine. I haven’t pissed anyone off,” she joked.
He glanced over at her and smiled. “No exes that you left stewing?”
“We’ve talked about this.” She sighed and set the laptop aside. “My longest relationship lasted shorter than a sneeze.” Her eyes narrowed. “What about you? This list only has guys’ names on it. There’s bound to be a woman or two in Haven that owes you a few good punches.”
He thought about it. “Nope, I’m still friends with two of my exes. I ran into Mindy at the store the other day.” He sat beside her, taking up another slice of pizza. “She just had a little girl two months ago. Her husband works up at the McGowan school.” He shrugged. “Brittney…”
“Wait.” Mia held up her hand and chuckled. “You dated a girl name Brittney?”
His eyes narrowed. “You remind me of her. She didn’t get to choose her name. Anyway, she went by Brit. She works at the clinic. I ran into her when…” He took a bite and motioned to her head.
She reached up and touched the spot. There was a small white scar just near her hairline. He’d noticed she’d parted her hair on the other side and wore it over the spot. “So, exes are off the list for both of us. Who else are we forgetting?”
“It could be someone who’s pissed at the McGowans. I mean, technically, this place does belong to them.”
Her eyebrows shot up and she reached for her glass of wine. “Okay, so if we rule out the last three names on your list…” She glanced at the computer screen. “It sounds like Nick is happy you came into town. After all, he did get Darla off his back.”
“Right.” He thought about the last few times he’d seen Nick. The man was enjoying his renewed bachelorhood.
“And Charlie thinks you’re on his side.”
“Until he doesn’t.”
“Right, then there’s John…”
“Johnny.” He remembered his school buddy. “I haven’t seen him around. I heard he’s still in town, but…” He shrugged.
“You said he works at the school? Maybe it’s time you stopped by and looked in on him,” she suggested.
Brian felt his gut twist. He hated the thought of checking in on the one guy he’d screwed over the most. He thought back to all the times he’d fought with Johnny over the years. The guy was his best friend and nemesis all rolled into one.
“School’s out for the break, but I’ll check around and find out where he lives.” He thought of asking Gail. She seemed to know everything that was going on in Haven.
“Okay.” She shut the laptop. “Now, I want to sit back and watch the Christmas lights flicker and make out with you.” She pulled him down and took his mouth.
God, he wanted more than anything to stay right where they were. Forget about everything, everyone, outside of their bubble. But the nagging sense that time was running out loomed over him, causing his sleep to be erratic that night. Finally, he got up and went downstairs to go over the case one more time.
Chapter 27
Mia knew everything was eating at Brian. She couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going to happen either. It was as if someone had set a deadline for Christmas and it was only two days away now.
The next morning, she knew that Brian had only gotten a few hours of sleep and decided to run into town to grab everything she would need for tonight’s dinner with her mother and Steve.
Walking around the grocery store, she wondered how many times she’d been to her own local store in Helena. Fewer than a dozen times for sure. She’d ordered take-out or
delivery, not to mention eating alone at every meal.
How had she survived? Could she go back to living like that, being alone twenty-four seven when she wasn’t on a case?
She was so deep in thought that she didn’t see Dylan and Kristen walking towards her.
“We were just talking about you,” Kristen said, stopping her cart in front of Mia’s.
“Oh?” Mia bent down and tickled Clare’s chin. The girl was banging her legs against the cart, loudly, while her brother sat in the bucket quietly reading a book. “It was all good, I hope,” she said after giving the kids her attention.
“Yes, of course.” Dylan smiled. “It’s just…” Dylan looked over at Kristen in question.
“Bashful had babies a few weeks ago and, well, they’ve all been spoken for, except… two,” Kristen supplied.
“Who’s Bashful?” Mia frowned.
“Bashful is our dog. We got the only girl out of the litter a few years back. Gail got Doc, Trey and Dylan have Dopey,”
“Trey has Dopey. That dog is his mess, not mine.” Dylan laughed.
“Right.” Kristen smiled. “Trent and Addy have Happy.”
“Okay, I get it.” Mia held up her hands. “What can I do about it?”
“Take them off my hands,” Kristen begged. “I was hoping someone in town would want to surprise someone else…” At this point, Kristen did a quick double wink towards Mia. “For Christmas.”
“Two…” Mia took a step back. “Puppies?”
“Yes. They’re mutts, half lab, half… God only knows.” She laughed. “They’re up to date on their puppy shots. They come from good stock. Out of all the other family members, there isn’t a mean one in the bunch.”
“Stupid,” Dylan added with a chuckle, “but not mean.”
“I… Wasn’t really…” Then suddenly she thought about it harder. It was a perfect gift for Brian since she hadn’t found anything for him yet. She’d just been thinking how impossible he was to buy for and remembered how much Brian had loved being around the McGowan’s dogs. Which meant that he liked the dog. Right? As images of him and a dog walking through a field surfaced in her mind, Dylan nudged Kristen.
