CRIMINAL CHRISTMAS: A Set of 8 Holiday Suspense Stories, page 27
“No.” Tina crouched down and put her hands over the letter. Then on the doormat. “Nothing.”
Jamey swooped in behind her and grabbed the thing. “Addressed to Pops. Now I’m curious.” They went inside and showed Pops the letter. Jamey held it up to the light and saw only a folded piece of paper inside with writing. They left the kids at the kitchen table and convened in the dining room. She and Jamey waited for Pops to read it, his face falling as he did.
“Well, I don’t know what you did, Tina, but Amy is too scared to come over here anymore.” He threw the letter on the table and went back to the kitchen.
Dear Pops: You are the best neighbor and both Max and I love you dearly. We treasure your friendship. I think you know.
But I sense hostility from your daughter-in-law and am convinced it’s best that until they return to Hawaii, we better not visit. I just want you to know why I don’t come to your door in these next few weeks. Please let me know when Tina is gone and maybe we can resume our coffee talks.
Your friend,
Amy
Jamey looked at Tina. “What did you do, Darlin’?”
She didn’t regret their talk in the grocery store. This was proof that Amy took her seriously. “I told her I thought she was leaving rats at the door and if she ever did that again, I’d make her life miserable.”
Jamey smiled and hugged her to his warm chest. “That’s my girl.” He pulled back. “When did you see Amy?”
“Grocery store. Two hours ago.” She shrugged. “I couldn’t help myself.”
“I want her to know we’re watching them. Good move, Sherlock.” He kissed the top of her head and they went back to the kitchen to make cranberry sauce with the kids. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve and Tina desperately wanted everything to go well for their family even though she had a pervading sense that something was about to happen. It wasn’t until the cranberry sauce was finished and cooling that Tina thought about the note from Amy and realized something very important.
Amy’s handwriting did not match the other letters.
****
Jamey had jumped a dream with Tina in which they were flying over a tropical beach along the coastline. They were about fifty feet in the air. Any higher and Tina got nervous so they always kept their flying dreams in her comfort zone. He looked over to his wife. “Want to take a swim?”
She nodded and they headed down.
Having these surreal moments together was like going on vacation. It made going to bed at night twice as exciting knowing they could fly together. And, if they were too tired to fool around, they could do it in their dreams. Lucid dreaming was the best, and doing it with the woman you loved was even better.
Jamey landed with a splash off the beach and turned over on his back to float, letting the strong sunshine penetrate his body. The water was cooler than body temperature, and clear as glass. Suddenly wearing nothing at all, Tina walked in from the white sand beach like a super model in a beer commercial. “Hey, Baby,” he said.
“I forgot how to conjure up a bathing suit,” she said, slowly approaching him. Her tits were perfect, even after breastfeeding. She always worried they were getting droopy but he didn’t see it. They were small and round and he wanted to get his hands on them. Then his mouth. He stood up in waist deep water and smiled at her hoping the reason she was naked was because she wanted to fool around. Dream sex was a great contraceptive now that breast feeding was over. They could go twice in a dream and still wake up refreshed. “Come here, you tropical temptress.” He held out his arms for her. Something else stood out for her too.
His hands were on her tits before she’d taken her last step to him and she groaned when he pulled lightly on her nipples. Her leg wrapped around his hip and she pressed herself in to him. “I love this beach. Let’s remember it.” She kissed his neck and he tipped his head back for easier access.
Then he sniffed the air and distinctly smelled smoke. Looking along the beach, he saw nothing strange. The air was clear. “Do you smell something?” he asked.
“You. I smell you,” Tina purred into his throat.
“Darlin’, just a sec.” He held her back and took a deep breath. “Do you smell smoke?”
She sniffed. “I do.” Tina twirled around to check the beach, then back, to shoot him a concerned look.
“Time to jump out.”
“Fast.”
Usually they had to return to where they jumped in, but flying was a bit different. This time, they just ran onto the packed sand and Tina imagined them back at the dock where they’d started the dream. Jamey grabbed her hand. “On the count of one, two, three.”
Suddenly, they woke in Jamey’s bed. They smelled it. Smoke. Something was on fire! Jamey pulled on his pants while Tina grabbed Kai. “You check up here,” he said.
He flew down the stairs and raced through the living room, dining room, and to the kitchen. The back deck was on fire. He could see the flames through the glass at the top of the door. “Sweet Jesus!”
He grabbed the fire extinguisher from under the kitchen sink, ran out the front door, around the house in the snow, and opened that thing up on the pile of firewood that was burning against the back door. Tina entered the kitchen with Kai clutched against her chest. Their baby could sleep through anything.
Within a minute, Jamey got the fire out, leaving a foamy mess on the deck. Tina opened the door, handed him a coat and beckoned him inside. He shut the door to the cold and smell, and stood staring at the arson attempt through the window. Damn. Someone had scattered the dry firewood Pops had piled neatly under a tarp, and set it on fire. Probably hoping the whole house would go up in flames. It sure looked like attempted murder.
Pops stormed into the kitchen. “What in hell is going on?” Harry took one sniff of the air and barked.”
“Fire on the deck, Pops.” He looked to Tina and she shook her head.
She spoke. “I think we should do a perimeter check, Honey.”
He agreed. “It’s out now, but you can see in another few minutes it would have been through the door and into the house.”
Pops got his boots and coat.
I’ll put Kai in bed and join you outside,” Tina said.
Jamey and Pops had to step over the drenched bonfire to navigate through the charred logs and ash. Someone had stacked the wood right at the door. Maybe someone who wanted to use their key to start the fire inside, but found they no longer had access to Pops’ house. He took photos with his phone.
“Looks deliberate.” Pops grabbed Jamey’s outstretched arm to get over the last little bit. “Sure they aren’t after you? Or Tina?”
Jamey had thought of that, but the phone calls and letters targeted his father. And if the cookies were poison, that left Amy and Max trying to kill Pops. “I’m not sure of anything except I’m headed around the house to find footprints.”
While Pops stayed on the deck looking at the mess, Jamey shone his flashlight along the edge of the brick house looking for anything. But after twenty minutes of searching for footprints or clues, he and Tina hadn’t found anything. It hadn’t snowed today so there were lots of footprints at both the back door and the front door. And there was no use running across the field to try to catch Max or Amy because a fire like that had been burning for at least twenty minutes before he’d arrived. Grabbing a rake in the garage, Jamey sifted through the mess looking for anything that might confirm the neighbors had tried to set the house on fire and kill them all. “Go back in Pops, there’s nothing we can do tonight. I’ll pull the video in the morning, see if we got anything.”
His Dad looked old, tired. “Could the wood have fallen over and something ignited and lit this fire?”
“No. This was arson. Plain as day.” Jamey took a few photos with his phone and followed his father and Tina inside the house where he’d take watch over the house tonight. Maybe get that ladder out, retrieve the camera and take a look at who was trying to kill his family.
Chapter 8
Jamey phoned the cops to get this on record. Luckily, they came over right away, asked a few questions and left before the twins came downstairs to eat their Christmas Eve morning breakfast. The girls would be excited at the prospect of presents tomorrow and he did not want to ruin that for his kids. In the years ahead, Jamey suspected things would change as they grew to adulthood. They wouldn’t care much about Christmas, or hanging around him anymore, and the feeling that this might be the last Christmas his girls were kids, hung heavily in the air. As well as a slight scent of smoke.
By the time Tina and Kai came downstairs for a bottle, he’d had three cups of coffee and was ready to go outside and get that video camera off the mounting on the garage.
“Anything new?” his wife asked as she kissed his cheek and handed him the baby.
“No other attacks on us, if that’s what you mean. No rats, no fires, no phone calls. Do you get anything from the fire scene?”
“I’ll try again.” Tina grabbed Jamey’s parka from the back of the kitchen chair. She stepped into his large boots and went outside.
He watched her move around the deck, lay her hands on the wood, and then move to the stairs. She was outside for at least five minutes while Jamey got Kai’s bottle ready and tipped him back to feed him. Kai still preferred a big drink of milk in the morning and Jamey was happy to oblige. It was a great way to start the day with a baby in your arms.
Tina came in the back door. “I had the feeling that someone did this intentionally. That was all.”
Damn. He’d hoped for more. Like an image of Max lighting the match.
“But I did find this under some ash.” She held up a cigarette butt. “Why would someone leave a butt at the back door?”
Jamey knew exactly why someone would leave a cigarette butt. The arsonist would think that when the fire investigator arrived to do the grisly inspection of a house that burned down, if a butt remained on the periphery, they’d conclude Pops’ was smoking on the deck. That the whole pile of kindling and wood caught fire. “I wonder if Pops has been smoking and those two know it.” Jamey hoped not for many reasons.
Tina put the butt in a plastic bag, careful to not touch the filter end. “They’d want to make it look like Pops’ fault. Damn those evil people.” Then a hard look registered on her face. “Kai is not spending another night in this house. Or the girls. We’ll all go to Mom’s. It’s not safe to sleep here, Jamey.”
That’s maybe what they wanted. To clear everyone out. But Jamey had another plan. “Good idea. Everyone should pack a bag today for Christmas Eve on Mercer Island.”
Tina got herself a cup of coffee. “The girls will be disappointed, but we’ll have to tell them it’s a surprise Christmas Eve sleepover. We’ll do tonight at Mom’s then drive back here in the morning to do presents. I’ll buy more gifts today for the twins as part of my bribe.” She threw a half-smile Jamey’s way.
“You handle that end. I’ll call Gavin soon and get a plan in place to catch those stinking neighbors tonight so we can all enjoy Christmas dinner at Pops’ table tomorrow evening.” He’d been thinking all morning how to catch Max and Amy in the act if he didn’t have good enough video to get them arrested today. Confident this would work, he dialed his brother’s phone number.
“How’d you like to kick some ass tonight, Dunn-style?”
****
Tina hustled everyone out the door to the truck where they threw their overnight bags into the back. Harry jumped in the cab as soon as Jade opened the door.
“He loves an adventure,” Pops smiled at his dog first, then at his granddaughters. “Me too.”
“I still don’t know why a sleepover at Grandma Liz’s is important if we’re just coming back here in the morning.” Jade looked longingly at the house where most of her presents waited under Pops’ tree.
Tina felt only slightly bad for them seeing she had spent the day shopping for more presents to take to her mom’s house. They’d make a fun night of it for everyone. The girls loved the sauna at the Mercer house, as well as the pool which Elizabeth had her gardener get ready last week. The girls could swim under the stars and then go jump in the sauna on Christmas Eve. At least that was how she sold the idea to Jade and Jaz.
Neither of them still believed in Santa but the magic of Christmas Eve was not lost on them. Already, they’d painted each other’s nails red and green, had done their hair in French braids with red ribbons and wore the velvet dresses Jamey bought them in Redmond.
“We’re going to have fun. You wait.” Tina hopped into the driver’s seat and started the truck. “Seatbelts,” she sang, borrowing that habit from her husband.
The twins spoke from the back seat as they fastened their seat belts. “But we like Pops’ house.”
“Girls, I feel badly that Grandma Liz has no one. She unselfishly didn’t plan to come out here until dinner tomorrow, so I really want to surprise her tonight. Work with me here.”
“I can’t wait to see the look on her face,” Jade said half-heartedly.
“I’m going to tell you a big secret Christmas story tonight,” Tina said, hoping that she could think one up in time. The girls had brought their favorite pillows and blankets with the intention of sleeping by the Christmas tree on the pullout couch. To Tina, this sounded like a fun Christmas Eve with two grandparents, a pool, a sauna, and a sleepover by the Christmas tree.
As part of the plan, the first stop was Amy’s house. Pops had a gift for the couple and was instructed to give it to them at the door. Earlier, Tina had heard him say, “It might be Max who is doing this, but definitely not Amy.” His heart was torn between what had happened and the feelings he had for the young woman next door. Today, any residual jealousy Tina might have felt for Amy had been replaced with sorrow for Pops getting his heart broken. Her father-in-law’s interest in Amy lay somewhere between fatherly love and a teenage-like crush.
At the Clancy house, Tina parked the truck so Amy wouldn’t see her at the wheel. Pops got out with the wrapped coffee table book on Victorian houses, and headed for the front door. She watched him climb the stairs and knock on the door. Glancing towards the windows on the third floor, Tina did not see anyone looking out. Not even Max.
Pops talked with Amy at the door for a good five minutes, as instructed, and then disappeared inside, closing the door. Something he was told not to do.
What the hell? Should she go after him? Just as Tina was ready to fly out the truck door, Pops came outside with a big, wrapped present in his hands. The house door closed and Pops walked towards the truck.
“Can we put your present in the back, Pops?”
He ignored Tina and got in the cab, present and all. He put the box at his feet.
Tina sighed. “Did you tell her?”
“Yes, I did. And she reported that Max was upstairs working.” He seemed disappointed.
“Tell her what, Pops?” Jade asked.
“Oh, just that we’re all going to Mercer for the night and won’t be back until tomorrow, in case she wondered why the house is dark.” Pops spoke nicely to his granddaughter.
Tina had to ask as she pulled out to the main road. “Why did you go inside, Pops?”
“She asked me to step in while she got my gift from under their tree, so I did. You’ll be happy to know I didn’t leave the doorway. Don’t worry. Max came downstairs when I asked them both to open my gift in front of me.”
This was part of the plan. Verifying that both were home.
“But I did eat a cookie. We both did. Amy had made one in the shape of my name. It was a lovely gesture.”
Tina almost slammed on the brakes. “You ate a cookie?”
“What’s wrong with that?” Jade asked.
“Oh, just it’ll ruin my dinner,” Pops said, his voice defiant. “Ole Tina here is trying to get me to eat better, right Tina?”
She didn’t want to admonish Pops in front of the girls, but if he ingested more poison, this was serious. And, if he felt sick he had no one to blame but himself for eating a cookie made by the witch next door.
“It was a small cookie, and Amy ate one too,” he said, several miles down the road.
Driving west towards Seattle, the girls sang Christmas songs to their baby brother and Pops was quiet. She imagined his heart was torn on whether to believe that Max and Amy had lit the fire. Or he was starting to feel sick. Just in case, she kept a close eye on him. If he suddenly doubled over with stomach cramps, she wanted to be ready to drive to the closest emergency clinic.
****
Wearing heavy parkas and boots, Jamey and Gavin slipped over to the Clancy house while Amy and Max were distracted at the door. Pops had said he’d enjoy being the decoy as much as he enjoyed hearing Amy was poisoning him. But, it looked like he did his job.
Jamey watched the truck pull out of the driveway and both men planted themselves behind trees to watch the front and back doors. It was dark. He’d warned Gavin it would be a long night and they’d worn their long underwear. Jamey had the back door. Gavin had the front. Jamey tucked in behind the garage and dug himself a little chair in the snow. When he finished, he saw the text from Tina that all went well, but Pops ate a cookie.
Jamey swore under his breath, remembering how shitty he felt after eating a few of Amy’s cookies. There went Christmas day for Pops. Why didn’t his father just heed the warning, even if he didn’t believe his beloved neighbors were guilty? Stubborn old goat. He texted back. Watch him. Then he put his phone away. Max or Amy didn’t need to look outside and see a cell phone light in the snow.
Sitting in his snow chair, Jamey thought about what he’d do if no one came out the door in the next eight hours. Would he even be able to walk by then? The hand warmers Gavin provided were a godsend. He had them in his boots and a couple along his back.
Sometime around three a.m. Jamey was just thinking about what a wonderful Christmas Eve his family probably had at the Greene house when he saw someone emerge from the trees and run towards the front door of the Clancy house. What? Who was entering the house when he hadn’t seen anyone leave? Once the person was inside the house he texted Gavin. “See that?”
