“You think you’ll have a problem getting in?”
Mary frowned. Jasmine hadn’t been ugly to her, but she’d made it more than clear that Mary was a third wheel on a cart built for two. “I don’t know.”
Nick pinned her with those soulful black eyes. “What’s your relationship with your stepmother?”
Mary’s gaze shifted to the frosty window. Blurry figures moved past on the street outside. “We don’t have one.”
“That bothers you?”
Mary shrugged. How could she tell him she didn’t trust her father’s wife without sounding like a spoiled child or jealous daughter? She glanced at her watch. “The store should be opening soon. I want to get over to the house before Jasmine leaves it for work.” She pulled a bill from her purse, tossed it on the table and stood, holding up the key her father had left beneath the pillow. “Are you ready to see where this clue leads?”
“After you.” He too dropped a bill on the table to cover his portion of breakfast.
When they exited the diner, one of the North Pole police cars whipped by, lights flashing, headed toward Christmas Towne and Mary’s family home.
“What the hell?” Her heart choking her throat, Mary broke into a jog, careful to watch for icy patches on the sidewalk.
Snow crunched behind her, the sound of Nick following her strangely comforting with all the frightening circumstances surrounding her father’s disappearance. Could it be they’d found him? Could he be hurt...maybe dead?
Mary ran faster, her lungs stinging, laboring to breathe the icy air over the two blocks she ran. Oh, please, let him be all right.
The store was still closed. The police SUV stood in front of Mary’s childhood home. Without thinking, Mary raced through the front door. “What’s happened? Where’s my father?”
Jasmine, dressed in a deep red sweater pantsuit, stepped away from Officer Baskin. “Mary, I’d hoped you wouldn’t have to see this, but the house was broken into last night while I was asleep.”
“Who? How?” Mary asked. Nick stepped through the door behind her and slipped a hand around her waist. She leaned into him, thankfully.
Jasmine glanced from Mary to Nick, her eyebrows rising briefly. Then her attention shifted to Trey Baskin. “I don’t know who, but it appears as though he crawled in through a window in the laundry room. I had a fan circulating the air in my bedroom and didn’t hear a thing until almost too late. Thank goodness I keep a gun in the drawer beside my bed.”
The woman’s fingers twisted a tissue in her hand, her face paler than normal. A single tear slid down her cheek. “It was very distressing to know someone was in the house, what with your father missing and me all alone. There’s just no telling what could have happened.”
Mary forced herself not to snort. For a newlywed, Jasmine didn’t seem nearly as upset by her husband’s disappearance as she was about her own safety. If Mary had been the newlywed, she’d have been frantic. Unbidden, her glance strayed to Nick. As quickly as it had gone there, she pulled her attention back to Jasmine. Not that Nick would ever be her husband or anything, but if he were, she’d be worried about him to the point she wouldn’t sleep at night until she knew he was okay.
“Did you notice anything missing?” Trey asked.
“No, not yet.” She waved at the mess in the living area behind her. Furniture laid overturned, cushions slashed, papers scattered from what Mary could see. “I can’t imagine what someone would want from our house. Everything valuable is in the store safe.”
“Mind if I have a look?” Mary hated being a stranger in the house. Asking permission to enter the only place she’d ever known as home didn’t seem right.
“I think we should wait until Santa returns, don’t you? He’ll know if anything’s missing.” Jasmine laid her manicured fingers on Trey’s arm. “Have you heard anything?”
Officer Baskin patted her hand and stepped out of reach. “If we hear anything about Santa, you’ll be the first to know.”
Her teeth grinding together, Mary bit hard on her tongue to keep from saying that if anyone had a right to be the first notified, it was Santa’s daughter. She shouldn’t care if she was first, just as long as she heard.
The hand around her waist tightened and Nick moved closer, bending to whisper in her ear. “The key.” The warmth of his breath stirred the loose tendrils of her hair across her neck, heating her blood and sending unnerving sensations throughout her body.
Mary sucked in a breath to clear her mind, then pulled off her glove and stuck her hand in her pocket. With the tips of her fingers, she turned the key over, the cool metal reminding her that she needed to focus on her goal and get into the house, most likely the basement where she and her father had always stored their memorabilia. She stepped toward her stepmother and away from Nick. “Jasmine, this might not be a good time, but I had some things in the basement I need to collect. Would it be too much of a bother?”
Jasmine shredded the tissue between her red-tipped nails. “I don’t think now is a good time. Officer Baskin will want to look around, won’t you?” She sent Officer Baskin a wide-eyed, questioning look, inviting him to agree. “I haven’t had time to glance over everything to make sure nothing’s missing. Maybe another day?” She hooked her hand through Trey’s arm. “Come, Officer, let me show you the window he came through.” She glanced over her shoulder. “Do you mind showing yourself out, Mary?”
Steam rose under Mary’s turtleneck collar. She waited until her stepmother disappeared into the laundry room before turning to Nick. “Want to make a run for it?” She eyed the hallway, her brows dipping low.
“No. We’ll come back when there isn’t a police officer around. I wonder what she’s hiding that she won’t let you in?”
“I don’t know, but I’d bet my last dollar she has something to do with my father’s disappearance.” Mary shoved her hands into her gloves. “And if she’s hurt him in any way...”
“You’ll let the law handle it.” Nick grabbed Mary’s arm and led her toward the door. “Who are your father’s closest friends? Maybe they know of his whereabouts.”
