Trouble Under the Tree (A Nina Quinn Mystery) Read Free

though they looked alike, their personalities
couldn’t be more different. Lele was quiet and shy—even now she
stood in the corner of the living room by herself—while Fairlane
was the life of the party. “To the tree-lighting ceremony at
Christmastowne?”
    “Oh, dear! I think there’s been some
confusion. I told the sweet old man I’d be there, but I’ll be
working.”
    The sweet old man . Ouch. I hoped Mr.
Cabrera wasn’t eavesdropping.
    To Kit, she said, “Lele and I were hired to
take turns manning the magic reindeer food kiosk and playing Mrs.
Claus. Haven’t you seen us there?”
    “No,” he said, obviously lying.
    It was hard to miss Fairlane anywhere.
    “Well, tomorrow’s my day to be Santa’s
favorite lady.” She put her hands on her curvy hips and swung them
left and right. “Maybe you should come by and jingle my bells.”
    I nearly choked on my eggnog again and
realized I’d suddenly gone from worrying about Fairlane to worrying
about Mr. Cabrera. He didn’t take rejection well. I saved Kit
(whose eyes bulged dangerously) from answering by saying, “I’m not
sure Mr. Cabrera realizes you’ll be working.”
    “I suppose I should set him straight,” she
murmured, casting longing looks at Kit.
    He nodded vigorously. “Right now.”
    “You’re right, honey.” She patted his muscled
arm, her eyes going round with appreciation. “I’ll be right
back.”
    “Take your time,” I called after her. To Kit,
I said, “Ana would rip her hair out.”
    Kit grinned. “I’m used to women fighting over
me. Happens all the time.”
    “Sure it does.”
    I went for more rum. I was going to regret it
in the morning, but right now I didn’t care.
    “What’s a guy got to do to get a kiss around
here?” a voice said from the kitchen doorway.
    My head snapped up. “I thought you said you
couldn’t make it tonight?”
    “I never could resist a little mistletoe.”
Kevin Quinn, Riley’s dad (and my ex-husband), made smooching noises
in my direction.
    I hoped and prayed Fairlane would happen by
and grab him. He deserved it.
    “Keep dreaming,” I said.
    He laughed. “I brought you this,” he said,
thrusting a holly plant at me.
    This was just like Kevin. I hated holly. Ever
since I was six and my brother Peter convinced me that its berries
were delicious. I was sick for days. He was lucky I ever forgave
him.
    “You know I don’t like holly bushes,” I
accused. Kevin and I had been married for seven years before
splitting last May. Every year of which I told him that holly
story.
    “Oh.” He blinked not-so-innocent green eyes.
“You don’t? Oops.”
    And this was one of the many reasons we were
divorced. I set the plant on the counter. “Really,” I said. “What
are you doing here?”
    “Riley called.”
    “He did?”
    Even though Riley lived with his dad now, he
still spent every other weekend with me. And this was one of those
weekends. I tried not to feel hurt. “Does he want to go home
already?”
    “No, not at all,” Kevin said, reading me
perfectly. “He said he wanted to talk to me about Christmastowne.”
The lines on his forehead dipped. “About something weird going on
there?”
    “Weird how?” Strange things had been
happening there. The fire alarm sounding every couple of hours,
keys missing, power outages, refrigerators unplugged at the food
court so all the food spoiled, sand sprinkled on the ice skating
rink... Which did he refer to?
    Shrugging, Kevin said, “Haven’t got the scoop
yet.” He looked around. “Where is Ry?”
    “Upstairs,” I murmured and he turned and
threaded through the crowd.
    Weird . I wondered what Riley had
noticed that he’d want to talk to his dad, a homicide detective,
about.
    It had me worried.
    Kit unscrewed his flask and poured a little
of the liquid into my cup. “Stop worrying so much.”
    “You think you know me so well.”
    “I do.” He poured in a little more of the
liquor. “Drink. That whole place is freaking weird.