Deadly Christmas Duty Read online

  “Did you see his face?”

  “No, it was too dark. The next thing I remember, I was waking up and Noah was hovering over me.”

  Chief Peterson glanced his way. “What about you? Did you see anything?”

  “Yeah. The guy tackled me coming out of the stairwell. I didn’t see his face, but he was a big guy, tall and broad-shouldered. He was wearing a baseball cap low over his face. He probably took it off and merged into the crowd. It might have been Wayne.”

  “Wayne Lassiter?” Chief Peterson asked. “I thought you said you didn’t see his face.”

  “I didn’t, but he was built like Wayne.”

  “So are a lot of people.” He turned to the pastor. “Are there security cameras we can view?”

  He shook his head. “We have them, but they’re not set up yet. Wayne was supposed to install them next week.”

  “You bought your security system from Wayne Lassiter?”

  “We did. He and Nikki have been members here for years.”

  “So he knows the layout of the church,” Noah stated. “And he knew there were no security cameras set up.”

  “He also set up the camera at the prosecutor’s office,” Melinda realized. “Did they record anything about who planted the bomb?”

  “He sells and maintains security systems. That’s his job,” the chief insisted. “We have no proof that he was involved in this. You said yourself you didn’t see the man’s face. Besides, why would Wayne want to hurt you, Melinda? I know you believe he’s behind Nikki’s disappearance, but even if you’re right and he was involved, he’s gotten away with it so far. Why would he open himself up to another investigation?”

  “Because he knows I’m reopening Nikki’s case. He knows I won’t give up on it. And he knows I’m the only one who can verify that he regularly beat Nikki.”

  Chief Peterson rubbed his face. It was obvious he was feeling the pressure to implicate his friend in a crime. “I’ll go talk to him and find out where he was this morning.”

  “He was at church this morning,” Pastor Greer offered. “I spoke with him earlier, but I don’t recall seeing him in the sanctuary.”

  Melinda stared at the chief as the details continued to add up. Finally, he nodded. “I’ll go speak with him.”

  As the chief left, she turned to Pastor Greer. “Would you ask Susan Campbell if she will take Ramey home with her for a couple of days?”

  “Of course. I’ll take care of it,” Pastor Greer answered.

  As he walked out of the room, Noah looked at her. “Are you sure you want to do that?”

  “If someone is targeting me, I don’t want Ramey to get caught in the crossfire. Susan Campbell will keep him safe, and he’s used to being there. She keeps him frequently for me whenever I’m working a big case and it’s not unusual for me to have to leave unexpectedly. He won’t be scared by it. If he saw me hurt like this, he would be scared. As much as I want him by my side, I have to make sure he’s safe.”

  “That makes sense. I’ll take you home. You need to rest.”

  She put her hand on his arm. “I don’t need rest. I want to do what I promised I would do. I want to help you find Nikki.”

  He was touched by her gesture, but he wasn’t sure she was up for it. “You just had a bad fall. Your head—”

  “My head is fine. I promise, if it’s too much, I’ll stop, but I want to help you.”

  “I appreciate that.” He helped her outside to his rental car then drove to a local copy shop and had a hundred flyers printed up with Nikki’s photo on them. He stared at the picture of her. She looked so different in this photograph from the girl he remembered. It had been years since he’d seen her, too long for a brother and sister to be apart.

  He was glad Melinda had agreed to go with him to question locals about Nikki’s disappearance, because even though she’d said she wasn’t a townie and wouldn’t be believed, she was still more of an insider than he was. She’d been living and working in this town for years, and even though he might be the brother of someone they all cared about, he was also an outsider.

  Plus, he was glad to get Melinda out doing something other than worrying about Dawn. He hated to think she’d been betrayed by someone she cared about, but he’d seen it happen far too many times. He also thought it was probably not the first time it had happened to her. He could tell her heart was guarded. Someone had hurt her in the past. Was she still grieving for a man who’d died so many years ago, or had she taken a chance on love again and gotten raked over the coals? He hated to think so. As far as he could tell, she had a good heart and a caring personality. She was good with her son, and that said a lot about her as a person, in his opinion.

  She instructed him to pull into a local convenience store where she said Nikki had stopped nearly every morning for a cup of coffee and a muffin. He pulled over, and they got out and went inside.

  As he’d suspected, Melinda knew the man behind the counter. She greeted him by name, and he recognized her easily.

  “Good morning, Mr. Hopkins. How are you today?”

  “Good morning, Miss Steele. I’m doing well today. And you?”

  “Fine, fine. This is Noah Cason. He’s Nikki Lassiter’s brother. He’s in town tracking down leads on his sister’s disappearance.”

  Mr. Hopkins greeted him with a handshake and condolences. “You sister was a very sweet lady. She always had a smile for me when she came in.”

  “Thank you for saying so. I understand she came in regularly.”

  “Oh, yes. Almost every morning. She had to have her coffee and a muffin from my wife’s baked goods display. She said they tasted a little bit like heaven. We didn’t think anything at first when she didn’t show up one morning. Things happen. People run late or get sick, so we didn’t immediately suspect anything. Although usually if she couldn’t stop, she would honk her horn as she drove by. We never saw her that morning, so my wife and I assumed she was sick at home. She’d been looking pale and tired recently.”

  “Pale and tired?” he echoed. “For how long?”

  “Only a few days, maybe a week before she went missing. She claimed she had some late nights grading papers, but she still always had that smile on her face and told us to have a blessed day. She was a very nice lady.”

  Noah was surprised by how this man’s words about Nikki wrenched his heart. He hadn’t expected that. Thought he’d built up a defense against the pain and anger of losing her, but everything Mr. Hopkins was saying about her personality rang true. She’d always had a sunny disposition. Even in the dark days when being at home meant living in a nightmare, she’d been a pro at putting on a good face for the world. It was so Nikki.

  “Was there anything about her behavior that struck you as odd? Was she doing anything different in the days before she vanished, or purchasing something different?”

  He folded his arms and thought back. “She’d stopped buying coffee. Instead, she bought milk to drink with her muffin. The wife and I even speculated that with the paleness and being so tired and not drinking coffee anymore that she might be expecting, but we never saw her again, so we couldn’t ask her about it.”

  His words broke Noah’s heart. The change from coffee every morning to milk was a big clue that she’d been pregnant. Being the caring person she was, she would have wanted to do everything to protect her child.

  “Did you know about this?” Noah asked Melinda.

  She had paled at Mr. Hopkins’s words. “She told me the day before she vanished,” she whispered, then turned and walked out.

  Her words were like a blow to him. He’d lost not only his sister, but a niece or nephew, as well? His jaw clenched as this new information sank in and that urge to lash out grew. Had Wayne killed her when he found out about the pregnancy? He hated to think that way, but how many pregnant women had he heard about disappearing with abus
ive husbands as the chief suspects? Too many.

  But Noah still had questions. “Were there any traffic conditions that morning that would have necessitated her taking a different route? An accident? Road work, maybe?”

  “No, nothing. The road was busy, but that’s normal in the mornings.”

  “I’m starting the search for her again. May I place one of these flyers on your door?”

  “Yes, yes. Anything we can do.”

  He thanked Mr. Hopkins for his help.

  “I hope you find her,” the man said, holding on to his hand. “And then I hope you find who did this to her and make him pay.”

  There was a bitterness in his voice that Noah recognized from his own anger. The bitterness of someone who’d had something good and sweet ripped from their lives and were angry about it. “I will,” he promised. It was one he intended to keep.

  He taped the flyer to the door, then waved to Mr. Hopkins and walked outside to the car. He got in as Melinda slipped into the passenger’s seat, but he couldn’t start the car right away. An overwhelming feeling of gratitude flowed through him that Nikki had had people like Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins in her life who made her smile each day.

  Melinda saw his hesitation and reached out for his hand on the gearshift. He turned to her and saw compassion in her lovely face. She was someone who had loved his sister, too, and he was grateful for that.

  “She touched a lot of people, didn’t she?” he asked, surprised by the crack in his voice when he spoke. He was usually so good about keeping his emotions in check.

  Melinda smiled and squeezed his hand in a comforting manner. “She certainly did. She had a lot of friends here in town.”

  They put up flyers in several other stores, and Noah heard many more stories about his sister’s kindness from the people he met. At first, it had made him happy to hear such tales, but after a while it only saddened him. A good person had been taken from this world far too soon, while someone like him had been left alive.

  Melinda tensed as Noah turned the car into her driveway, and he saw her flinch. “The gate is open. I left Ranger outside this morning.”

  He parked then got out and pulled out his cell phone, shining the flashlight app toward the back of the house. She was right. Her back gate was standing open.

  She ran toward it, calling Ranger’s name, and Noah followed. He shined the light all over, but the dog was nowhere to be found.

  “He’s gone,” Melinda cried.

  “Does he often get out?” Noah asked her.

  “Not unless the gate is left open.”

  He walked to the gate and checked the latch. The lock was broken. Ranger hadn’t escaped on his own.

  He glanced around, looking for anything else out of the ordinary surrounding her house. He could only think of one reason someone would let the dog run loose, and that was if they were planning to return and didn’t want to be noticed by a barking dog...or else they were already there.

  He took her hand. “Let’s go inside. I want to check the house for intruders.” First, he walked to his car, opened the trunk and dug through his bag for his gun. He hadn’t planned on having to use it, but he always kept a weapon close by. He’d seen too much evil not to be ready to respond to it if necessary.

  He took the keys from her and unlocked the door, raising his gun and flashlight for any unexpected movement inside. Nothing stirred as he swept the light across the living room. He checked each room, making certain to look behind every bureau and inside every closet. Anyplace someone could hide. He was tired of this threat against her and angry that evil men kept causing such chaos in other people’s lives. It was his job to seek out evil and eradicate it, but lately he’d felt helpless to do so.

  He cleared each room, confident no one was hiding inside. He checked the windows and the back door, making sure everything was secure and hadn’t been tampered with. He saw no sign that anyone had tried to break in, but that didn’t make him feel better. This felt like a setup for a break-in at a later time, when Melinda would be home alone.

  That was not going to happen.

  He locked the front door and turned to her. “You shouldn’t be here alone. I can stay and sleep on the couch, unless you’d rather go to a hotel.”

  “No,” she said. “I’d rather stay here.”

  He was glad that was her choice. Going to a hotel would only prolong the danger she was in. If someone tried to get inside tonight, he would be here to catch them. He pulled out his cell phone. “I’m phoning Chief Peterson and asking him to increase security on your street.” He spoke to the chief and explained the missing dog and the broken latch. Peterson promised to increase patrols around her neighborhood.

  She folded her arms in a protective manner, then sat on the sofa. He could see she was frightened, and she had every right to be. She’d already been through so much, and now it seemed someone was setting her up for attack again.

  Noah went and sat beside her, placing his gun on the coffee table and touching her arm softly. “What else can I do?”

  She shook her head. “That’s Ramey’s dog. He’s raised him since he was a puppy. He’ll be devastated to learn he’s gone.”

  He glanced at the clock. It was already starting to get dark, but it wouldn’t hurt to go out and look. “We’ll take my car and drive around the neighborhood. Hopefully, he didn’t go far.”

  She gave him a grateful smile. He locked up the house tight, then they got into the car and drove around, shouting the dog’s name from the car’s window. Finally, they started knocking on doors, asking if anyone had seen Ranger, but no one had.

  As he pulled the car back into her driveway and parked, he could see Melinda was starting to get tired and worried. She’d been through a lot today. “He’ll come home,” Noah said, trying to reassure her. “If he hasn’t by morning, we’ll go looking for him again. He must be around somewhere.” He reached for her hand and squeezed it, again surprised by how dainty it was in his own. “I’m sure he’s fine.” Her brown eyes held sadness and worry, and he wished for nothing more at that moment than to wipe it away.

  He reached for her face, stroking her cheek, and felt her shudder beneath his touch. Time seemed to stand still, and nothing mattered in that moment except her and the distance between them. She slid into the crook of his shoulder, and he sat back against the seat. He wrapped his arm around her and just held her tight.

  She gave a weary sigh. “Thank you,” she whispered. “Thank you for being there yesterday and today. If it weren’t for you, Noah, my son would have lost a lot more than his dog.”

  She got out of the car and walked back inside, stopping to plug in the outside Christmas lights that lit up her yard.

  He followed her into the house then locked it behind him. She fell onto the couch and groaned. “The past two days have been almost the worst of my life.”

  He didn’t miss the “almost” and wondered what she was referring to. A young widow with a child to raise couldn’t have had an easy time of it. Yet she’d still had the time and kindness to befriend his sister.

  He glanced around the house again and realized he liked the hominess of it...and he liked her. He wished Nikki had found the kind of happiness Melinda had.

  He sat beside her on the couch, uncertain how to broach the difficult subject that was on his mind. “You said you and Nikki were friends. Did she ever confide in you about what her life with Wayne was like?”

  She nodded, and he saw the answer he was searching for in her sorrowful face, but he still needed to hear it. She’d already said she believed Wayne had killed Nikki. He wanted to know why she thought it.

  “Did he hit her?”

  She covered her mouth, and he saw she was holding back emotion. He braced himself for what she was about to tell him.

  “He was awful. He was mean and vindictive, and yes, he hit her often. Never in the
face, though. He didn’t want people talking. But I was taking a spinning class with her at the gym, and I saw the bruises. I talked to her and she opened up to me about what he was like. After that I tried to convince her to leave him. I tried many times, but she was hesitant and afraid.”

  Her words were like a punch in his gut, but he wasn’t surprised. Wasn’t the saying that women married men like their fathers? “I’m just now realizing how long it’s been since I saw her last. When I close my eyes, I still see the girl I left behind all those years ago. But she wasn’t a girl anymore. She was a grown woman with a life of her own.” He was surprised by the crack in his voice when he spoke. He was usually so good about keeping his emotions in check. “Did everyone know?”

  “She kept that very private. I think she only told me because of my past.”

  He glanced at her to see what she’d meant by that, and saw her shake her head and turn away like she couldn’t believe she’d let that information slip out. Her quiet response spoke volumes—she hadn’t seen it only as part of her job. It pained him to realize Melinda also knew the heartache of abuse.

  “Was it your husband?”

  She squeezed her eyes shut, and for a moment he doubted she was going to acknowledge she’d said anything, but finally she nodded. The lack of photos of him in her home made more sense to him now. She’d probably been relieved when he’d died and finally released her from her dark life.

  “I’m very sorry, Melinda.” He turned his hand over and clasped her small hand in his. Guilt and shame bristled through him like a wave overpowering him. “I should have been here for her. I should have been here to protect her.”

  “There was nothing you could have done. I tried to convince her to leave, but she wouldn’t hear of it. People who suffer abuse have to make the decision to leave on their own. No one can end the cycle but them.”

  He knew she was speaking the truth. He’d finally had to step up to his father and face him down, but it had taken years for him to reach that point, years before he’d been big enough and strong enough to take on his own evil monsters and protect Nikki from him. And he’d thought, wrongly, he knew now, that his actions would forever keep her safe.