Undercover Christmas Read online

  “What the hell?” Chase said beside her.

  Marni stared at the mourners, wondering what the commotion was about but unable to see the car and who had arrived in it.

  Then she heard Lilly’s voice calling Vanessa’s name as she moved through the crowd. The reverend halted in mid-sentence and everyone turned as Lilly burst through the mourners, almost falling onto the casket.

  “Lilly.” Vanessa’s voice carried across the cold cemetery. So did her obvious shock and disbelief.

  Lilly stood smiling at her mother-in-law. Two things instantly struck Marni as odd. One was Lilly’s inebriated state, considering she’d obviously just driven in from the ranch. The second was the scarf she had on. She wore basic funeral black, except for the bright multicolored scarf around her neck. Even from this distance, Marni recognized it as the scarf Vanessa had been wearing the first night she’d met her. It was the same scarf Marni had slipped on on the stairs.

  Vanessa staggered. Dayton reached for her but she dropped too quickly.

  “My God, she’s fainted,” Marni heard someone cry.

  Suddenly the crowd obscured both Vanessa’s fallen form and the rest of the family.

  “I don’t believe this,” Chase said, shaking his head.

  By the time Vanessa had been revived and the crowd moved back to let the funeral service continue, Lilly and her car were gone. And Marni wondered how a woman that drunk could get away that quickly. She remembered the look that she’d seen pass between Vanessa and Lilly.

  “Something’s wrong,” she told Chase as the service broke up. He hurriedly ushered her to the pickup to avoid a pack of media bearing down on them.

  “You’re just starting to notice that?” Chase asked as he pulled away before a camera crew could reach them.

  “There’s something going on between Vanessa and Lilly,” Marni said, recalling the scene they’d just witnessed. “How did Lilly disappear so fast?”

  “Maybe Dayton got her out of there before she could cause any more trouble,” Chase suggested.

  “I still think Lilly is in some kind of trouble, more trouble than just her drinking.”

  Chase sighed as he pulled over a few blocks from the cemetery and turned to Marni. “Look, I know you see Lilly as the underdog here, but you could be wrong, Marni. Lilly looked like she could take care of herself at the funeral, whatever all that was about.”

  “Lilly tried to reach me at the boutique. She left a message, but when I called her back at the ranch, Hilda wouldn’t let me talk to her. Chase, I heard her on the line a moment before I was cut off. She only said one word.”

  “Help?”

  Marni gave him an impatient look. “Elise.”

  “Elise?” he asked skeptically.

  “It was the way she said it.”

  “Lilly’s been in trouble for years, Marni. When she’s drinking, she doesn’t even know what she’s doing.”

  “I just have this bad feeling.”

  “So do L The only difference is, my bad feeling says Lilly might be a murderer.”

  Marni chewed at her lower lip for a moment. “You really think I could be that wrong about her?”

  “I don’t want to take any chances.” He raked a hand through his hair. “Look, Marni, I admire your compassion. I even admire you putting yourself on the line for your sister. I don’t mean to sound callous but Lilly isn’t our problem. Our problem is finding out which of my brothers is the father of Elise’s baby. And you seem to have forgotten that someone wants you dead.”

  “There haven’t been any more attempts,” Marni said.

  “Right, and maybe there won’t be.” He didn’t sound as if he believed that any more than she did. “Look, I have a friend getting photos of Dayton and Hayes to show Elise. We should be able to pick them up.”

  “Elise has a fax machine at the farm,” Marni said, anxious to get this over with. “And I have one at the boutique.”

  THEY DROVE to the boutique after picking up the pictures and parked in the alley. Marni had called her manager to let her know they would be coming.

  Marni noticed barricades going up downtown and suddenly realized why. “I’d completely forgotten. The Christmas Stroll is tonight,” she said, a little sad she wouldn’t be at the boutique. It was the busiest night of the year, but also one of the most fun. She always baked Christmas cookies and made hot apple cider to give away. It was the last big event before Christmas, one that brought the town together in the true spirit of the holiday.

  “There’s next Christmas,” Chase said, reading her thoughts.

  Next Christmas? “This one isn’t over yet,” Marni said, thinking of her Christmas wish.

  “What do you want for Christmas?” Chase asked, surprising her.

  She glanced over at him. “Why are you asking me that?”

  He shrugged. “I just wondered.”

  “You’re afraid we aren’t going to get this thing solved by Christmas, aren’t you?”

  “Maybe I just wanted to get you something,” he said softly. “It looks a little bare under the tree. If there’s something you really want, I wish you’d tell me.” When she didn’t say anything, he got out.

  Tears filled Marni’s eyes and she felt so choked up she didn’t dare speak as she followed him. Snowflakes began to lazily fall from the heavens and she breathed in the cold air, intensely aware of the man walking beside her. Oh yes, there was something she really wanted. She’d made her Christmas wish that night at the farm, staring up at the stars. Hastily she wiped her tears and looked over at Chase. “I’ll think about it.”

  Marni unlocked the back door and stepped into the small, neat office. The door into the boutique was closed but Marni could hear the sound of shoppers in the next room.

  She shrugged off her coat and mittens, then took the two photographs Chase handed her. She dialed the number at the farm and told Ehse what she planned to do.

  “One of them has to be my Chase, huh,” Elise said.

  “Yes,” Marni agreed. “Call me here at the boutique on the private line and let me know which one.” She hung up.

  Putting the first photo facedown in the fax machine, Marni dialed the number at the farm again and hit start. Slowly the photo of Dayton rolled through the machine. Then the one of Hayes.

  Marni glanced at Chase. He looked as nervous as she felt. The phone rang, making her jump. She picked up the receiver on the first ring.

  “That’s him,” El cried, sounding close to tears.

  Marni shot a glance at Chase. “Which one? The first photo or the second?”

  “The second,” Elise cried. “Who is he?”

  “Chase’s half brother Hayes.”

  “He’s the one in the hospital?”

  “Yes, but he’s doing fine.”

  Elise began to cry. “And he’s married?”

  “Yes.”

  “Oh, Marni, I don’t understand. I just don’t understand.”

  “Neither do I, but we’ll find out. Meanwhile, listen to me, you have to think of the baby.”

  “He loves me,” El cried. “He loves our baby. I know he does.” She hung up.

  Marni replaced the receiver and looked over at Chase again, stunned. “I’m so surprised. I thought it would be Dayton. Not Hayes.” And yet, hadn’t she found it impossible to believe her sister could ever fall for a man like Dayton? “How could Hayes do this to my sister?”

  “I have to admit it surprises me,” Chase said. “But there’s history there you don’t know about.”

  “What kind of history?” Marni asked.

  “When he married Lilly it was because he thought she was pregnant with his child. When the baby was born, there were complications. That’s when Hayes discovered he wasn’t the father. It was no secret, not even to him, that Lilly had been in love with someone else and married Hayes on the rebound. Then when the baby died, Lilly had a breakdown of sorts.”

  “How horrible for Lilly. And Hayes.”

  “I don’t think
they ever had much of a marriage,” Chase said.

  “Then why did he stay with her?”

  Chase shook his head. The noise in the shop grew louder. I guess we’ll have to ask him.”

  CHASE PUSHED OPEN the door to Hayes’s hospital room for Marni. Hayes saw her, sat up in surprise and quickly lay back. “You’re not Elise.”

  “No,” Marni said. “I’m her twin, Marni McCumber.”

  “But Elise is why we’re here,” Chase said, closing the door behind him as he approached his brother’s bed.

  Hayes closed his eyes for a moment. “I can explain.”

  “There is only one thing I need to know,” Marni said. Do you love my sister?”

  Hayes looked over at her for a moment, then smiled. You look so much like her. When I saw you at the house—I guess I don’t have to tell you what a shock that was. Especially to find out Elise was pregnant”

  “You didn’t know?” she asked in surprise.

  “How could I? The last time we’d talked was August and I’d been so…foolish. I thought that’s why you were pretending Chase was the father of your baby.”

  “Why did you use my name?” Chase demanded, trying to hold in the anger he felt. For all they knew, it had been Hayes who’d tried to kill Marni.

  “I guess I wanted to be you,” Hayes said. “Unencumbered. Elise was the first woman I’d met who—” He looked away, his face reddening. “I’m sorry I involved you in this, Chase. I never thought it would go past an innocent lunch.”

  “You never answered my question,” Marni reminded him.

  Hayes met her gaze. “Do I love Elise? Oh God yes. When I saw you at the ranch and thought you were Elise, I knew you had to be carrying my baby. I was overjoyed. Just the thought of us having a baby together—”

  “You came to my room that night,” Marni said.

  He nodded. “I had to see you. To try to explain. To tell you how happy I was about the baby. And to warn you about Lilly. She’d found out about us.”

  “Excuse me,” Chase interrupted. “You’re telling us Lilly knows about you and Elise?”

  “She has for months. She was so angry—”

  “I would imagine she was,” Chase said. “What did you think was going to happen?”

  “You don’t understand,” Hayes said. “I’ve wanted a divorce for years. But I couldn’t”

  “Because Jabe would have disapproved,” Chase said with disgust. “And Vanessa would have thrown a fit that you might want to soil the family name with Lilly’s dirty laundry, because I’ll bet Lilly wouldn’t have gone quietly.”

  “I didn’t care. Not about any of that Do you really think what Father and Mother thought would make me stay in a loveless marriage? Especially after I’d met Elise? Do you really think I’m that shallow?”

  Chase looked at Hayes. Yeah, that’s exactly what he’d thought. Shallow and spineless.

  “Lilly told me if I ever left her, she’d kill herself. I believed her.”

  “Lilly needs help, professional help,” Marni said.

  “Don’t you think I tried to get it for her?” Hayes cried. Vanessa and Jabe wouldn’t hear of it. I went behind their backs and set up an appointment for Lilly. She refused to go and told Vanessa. Now Lilly has made herself a prisoner in that house with Vanessa as warden.”

  “Surely there is some way to make Lilly see that she needs help,” Marni said.

  “Right now, I’m more worried about Elise,” Hayes said. Is she all right? And the baby?”

  Marni nodded.

  “Someone’s trying to kill Marni because they think she’s Elise and carrying a Calloway baby,” Chase said. “Want to tell us what you know about that?”

  “I was afraid of this,” Hayes said, his expression pained. I’ve never seen Lilly so…upset. That’s why I sent that note for you to meet me in the barn,” he said to Marni. “I wanted to warn you about Lilly. Then I realized you ‘weren’t Elise.”

  “Someone had fixed the latch on Wind Chaser’s stall so it wouldn’t lock,” Chase said. “Marni says she smelled Lilly’s perfume just before the accident. It wasn’t the first accident, either.”

  Hayes looked sick. “I talked to Lilly this morning. She says she wants a divorce. I don’t think she’ll bother you or Elise again.”

  “If she’s the one who tried to hurt me,” Marni said. “I don’t think she was.”

  “Marni is a little too trusting,” Chase said, shaking his head.

  “I’m not going back to the ranch,” Hayes said. “I’ve been thinking about leaving the family business for some time. Now with Father gone, there’s nothing stopping me.” He addressed Marni. “When can I see Elise?”

  “Not until the killer is behind bars,” Chase said.

  “You don’t think I would harm Elise and my baby, do you?” he asked Chase angrily.

  “We don’t want to lead anyone to Elise,” Chase said, realizing he did trust Hayes.

  “Find this guy,” Hayes said emotionally. “Don’t let anything happen to Elise and my baby, please, Chase.”

  Chase took his brother’s hand and squeezed it. Maybe there was more to Hayes Calloway than he’d thought all these years.

  Chapter Sixteen

  As Marni and Chase left the hospital it started to snow. They drove toward town and the Christmas Stroll. Christmas music played as musicians roamed through the crowds filling the barricaded streets. Marni rolled down her window as Chase drove slowly along one of the open streets, dodging shoppers, street performers and vendors.

  The smell of roasted chestnuts, hot apple cider and peppermint sticks wafted through the air. A theatrical group from The Nutcracker danced on a street corner. A group of singing Santas moved through the crowds in a wave of bright red.

  Shoppers roamed in and out of the stores, their arms filled with packages as overhead, Christmas lights glittered in the falling snow and bundled-up children waited in line to sit on a real Santa’s broad lap and tell him their last-minute Christmas wishes.

  “I’m sorry about your Christmas,” Chase said.

  “It’s not so bad. Who knows, maybe by Christmas Eve there’ll be a happy ending.” She turned to see Chase’s profile, his jaw set, his expression one of stubborn determination. “For Hayes and Elise and their baby,” she added hastily.

  He didn’t comment, just wound his way back to Burton’s, parked in the dark shadows of the store, but didn’t get out. Instead he sat, staring out into the darkness. There weren’t a lot of Christmas decorations on the houses in this part of town. Nor many streetlights.

  He raked a hand through his hair. “Maybe you should go to the farm until this is over.”

  “You think the killer will eventually come after me here, don’t you?” Marni asked quietly.

  He nodded and glanced out his side window. Snow had begun to pile up on the windshield, obscuring the darkness.

  “I’m not leaving you,” she said.

  He shook his head. “Staying with me could be the biggest mistake of your life.”

  She doubted he was talking about the killer who was after her. “I’m willing to take my chances.”

  He turned to look at her. The tension in the pickup cab arced between them like an electrical short. She met his gaze, feeling the heat of it warm her skin. She knew if he ever let himself go—

  “You don’t understand,” he said, his voice so filled with anguish it was all she could do not to pull him into her arms.

  “My childhood wasn’t like yours. You have no idea what it was like.”

  “Tell me,” she whispered.

  He leaned his forearms over the steering wheel, his gaze still directed into the darkness. “I didn’t have a home, just a series of rented apartments, some little more than shacks.” The words seemed to come with great difficulty. She knew how hard it must be for him to tell her and her heart broke for him.

  “We kept on the move, my mother living in fear that Jabe would find out she hadn’t had the abortion, that he’d come and
steal me away from her, and all the time she was dying of a broken heart because he didn’t come after her.”

  She didn’t speak, just waited as the snow fell silently outside the pickup.

  “I used to desperately want what other kids had,” he went on. “A home. A family. Someone who loved me and took care of me. My mother was dying of a broken heart from the time I was born and finally from cancer. She wasn’t there emotionally most of the time nor physically at the end.”

  The windows began to fog over, the cold to creep in around the doors. Marni hugged Sam as she watched Chase struggle with words to describe his childhood, his pain.

  “My mother taught me not to get attached to anything or anyone. About the time I made friends, we moved. What was horrible was that she never stopped loving him, couldn’t seem to stop no matter what he’d done to her. I watched her love him and saw that love kill her long before the cancer did and I promised myself I would never love like that, certainly never that stupidly, that blindly.”

  Marni stared at his profile, a dark silhouette in the pickup cab, finally understanding why Chase had fought his feelings for her so hard.

  He turned to look at her. “For thirty-five years I’ve managed to keep that promise to myself.”

  She could see the pleading in his eyes. The last thing he wanted was to fall in love with her.

  “The Christmas Stroll must be breaking up,” he said, glancing past her.

  Marni could still hear faint Christmas music in the distance. A group of people passed in front of the store, their laughter carrying on the night air. Just a few blocks away she knew the police would be removing barricades as street cleaners came in to sweep up the last of the Christmas Stroll.

  The air suddenly felt colder in the pickup; the night darker as she felt Chase pull away from her and yet not move a muscle. Snow fell harder, covering the windshield.

  “We better go in,” he said, sounding as though that was the last thing he wanted to do.

  Marni opened her door and stepped out, her hand going to Sam, a connection to Chase, although a tentative one. As she stepped from the pickup into the pool of darkness beside the grocery store, she heard a sound and turned. He came out of the blackness under the stairs to the apartment. At first he was only a movement. Then a flash of white beard against the red of his costume. Santa Claus. Under the stairs?