“Okay, here.” He hands me the phone. “I’m sorry, but I’ll have to listen in. Just in case you plot with her to wiggle out of whatever crimes you committed.”
“Don’t worry. My mom is ashamed of me and my criminal past. I won’t be talking about any of it.” I punch in the number to the restaurant and put it on speaker mode.
“Hello. Golden Paradise Restaurant, takeout or sit in?”
“Merry Christmas, Mama. It’s me, Samantha.”
“Ah? Samantha? I’m busy right now. Christmas is always busy. Busy. Busy.”
“Good. Busy means lots of money. I’m sorry I didn’t come home. I was only going to come home if you wanted me, but you never wrote to invite me.”
“What? I have to invite you to your own home? That’s stupid. No one has to be invited to your own home. You just come. Any time. I could have used your help.”
“Did you miss me?”
“Of course, I did. I had to hire a waitress, an accountant, and a website developer because my own daughter is gone.”
A smile bubbles up inside of me, and I finally get it. My mother will never say how she feels out loud, but she finds excuses on why I have to go home. It’s her way of saying she loves me.
“I love you, too.”
There’s shocked silence. I know my mom is speechless because I can hear my stepfather yelling in the background.
“Mama, I’m going to hang up now. Have a happy and prosperous new year.”
“You coming home for Chinese New Year, you hear? I have lots of work for you. I need you to wear red and make a commercial for Golden Paradise. Year of the Rat. Good year. Lucky. Lucky.”
“Yes, very lucky. I’ll be home.” I hang up and smile to myself.
“Wow, I’m sorry,” Seth says when I give my phone back to him. “No wonder you didn’t go home.”
“You don’t get it. She’s proud of me again. She wants me to star in her commercial. That’s how she tells me she loves me.”
“By dressing you as a giant rat?” His brow quirks disbelievingly.
“No, as a pretty girl with brown eyes.”
I don’t think he gets it, because when I woke this morning, I forgot to put in the blue contact lenses, and I will never wear them again.
“Whatever you say.” He glances at the door of the den opening.
Sheriff Lane steps out and says, “I have finished interviewing everyone and solved the mystery. Go ahead with your Christmas dinner. Braden and Jon are on their way back. Merry Christmas!”
“Wait, you can’t go,” Lindsay says. “Who did it?”
“Are we safe here?” Susanna asks. “Isn’t there a murderer on the loose?”
“Was this all a big misunderstanding?” Jolene wipes her hands on her apron. “Did you find Erica?”
“Yes, but I’ll leave you to your family Christmas, since I and my deputies have Christmas dinners of our own to attend.” He puts on his hat and overcoat. “You are all free to talk amongst yourselves and go on your own recognizance. None of you are guilty.”
“But who is?” Lindsay asks. “Is it Braden? Was he trying to get the will changed for his fake daughter? Look at her. She’s not even pretending anymore, flirting with your detective. And her eyes are browner than brown. I knew there was something wrong with her. Everything fake, and she tricked my Will and my Abbie.”
The sheriff doesn’t answer her. In fact, he looks annoyed. “I wish you a Merry Christmas.”
“I believe he means I’m free to go.” I take my phone back from Seth. “I, too, wish you a Merry Christmas.”
Abbie, who’s at the bay window, perks up and says, “It is the best Christmas. I see a police car. They’re back.”
