Free Rose and Helena Save Christmas: a novella by Jana DeLeon, Denise Grover Swank Page B

discovered that someone had searched through your things, she vacated the room and waited for me to arrive. The police should be here any minute.”
    “Oh dear,” Rose said.  
    The manager leaned closer and lowered his voice. “We’ll be more than happy to move you to another room and comp your stay because of the inconvenience. We take the safety of our guests very seriously.”
    “Thank you.”
    “Well, what do we have here?” a familiar voice asked behind them. “I wouldn’t be too concerned about their inconvenience if I were you.”
    Rose squeezed her eyes shut as she turned around to face her current worst nightmare. “Hello, Detective Savoy.”
    The sour-faced man stood several feet away, flanked by two uniformed officers. The detective pulled his wallet out of his pocket and flashed it to the manager, then just as quickly stuffed it back into his pants. “Detective Savoy. New Orleans PD. What do you think happened here?” He nodded his head to the closed door to their room.
    “Our housekeeping staff went to clean Ms. Gardner’s room this afternoon and discovered that it had been broken into.”
    The officer raised his eyebrows with a smirk. “Had it now?”
    The manager’s brow scrunched low over his eyes. “Why do you say that?”
    “Never mind. Go on.”
    “Matilda discovered the room had been vandalized about thirty minutes ago.”
    “Was anything taken?”
    “Nothing that belongs to the hotel,” the manager said. “We can’t be sure about the guests’ belongings.”
    Savoy turned to the women. “Have you been in the room yet?”
    Rose didn’t want to lie, so she came up with the most recent version of the truth. “We just got here and were talkin’ to Mr. Benson and he told us what happened. We haven’t had a chance to go in.”
    The detective waved his hand toward the room in what looked to be a gallant gesture, but Rose knew it was anything but. “After you, ladies.” He held up his hand to the other two officers to stay put.
    Neely Kate turned to Detective Savoy and gave him a look of pure innocence and confusion. “You’re wantin’ us to go in and contaminate a crime scene ?”  
    He smiled, but it was condescending. “You can walk in, but just don’t touch anything.”  
    The girls entered the room and looked around, keeping their hands to themselves. About thirty seconds later, Savoy became impatient.
    “Well?”  
    Rose shook her head, but avoided eye contact as she continued to examine the mess. “I don’t see anything missin’. What about you, Neely Kate?”
    “No.”
    Savoy hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his pants and said in a smug tone, “Why does that not surprise me?”
    Rose’s head shot up. She suspected he would give them a hard time, but she’d still held out hope that she was wrong. “What are you talkin’ about?”
    He held his hands out at his sides. “Why would someone break into a tourist’s room and not steal anything?”
    Rose’s temper was starting to get the better of her. “I don’t know, Detective . You’re the expert. Shouldn’t you be the one tellin’ us?”
    His eyes widened in surprise.  
    “It’s obvious they were lookin’ for something.” She waved to the mess. “Isn’t your job to figure out what that is?”
    He took two steps toward her, his face less than a foot from hers, but she held her ground. He was a bully, plain and simple, and she was sick to death of backing down to them. She’d faced scarier bullies than Detective Savoy, although she suspected he could inflict more damage.
    “What’s a country bumpkin like you from southern Arkansas know about my job?”
    “My ex-boyfriend is Joe Simmons. He used to be a detective for the Arkansas State Police and is now the chief deputy sheriff in Fenton County, so it turns out I do know a thing or two about detective work.”
    But as soon as the hatred filled Savoy’s eyes, Rose wondered if she’d just frolicked headlong down the wrong path. Taylor had