Free Iced by Carol Higgins Clark

his sack.”
    Dismayed, Regan listened, knowing that this was exactly what everyone in town would be thinking. But the next words out of Sawyer’s mouth chilled her. “On the other hand, the Woods and the Grants may have been lucky. Three days ago, on the twenty-third, an elderly man in Vail was Maced and tied up in a closet. A Beasley painting was taken from his home. Luckily he was wearing his medical-alert necklace and was able to summon help when he recovered consciousness.”
    There was a knock on the office door. Louis barked, “I said do not disturb! Damn it! Doesn’t anybody ever listen to me?”
    “Kendra Wood obviously did when you recommended Eben Bean to her,” Sawyer said sarcastically as the door opened and one of Louis’s young attractive waiter/clerk/ receptionists looked in.
    The staff here reminds me of the Up with People group, Regan thought.
    “Brendan, what the hell is so important right now?” Louis demanded.
    “I’m sorry, Louis,” he said, “but Regan’s mother is on the phone and she says it’s important.”
    Louis grabbed the phone on his desk and handed it to Regan.
    “Mom, what’s wrong?” Regan asked quickly. Then, as she listened, she frowned. “Oh boy, that is important. Thanks. I’ll fill you in later.” She hung up the phone and looked directly at Sawyer. “My parents are staying in the suite Eben was using at the Woods’ house. This morning my mother found a receipt from a store in Vail on the bedroom floor. It’s dated December twenty-third.”
    Louis finally burst into tears and laid his head down on his desk. “I’m ruined,” he wailed. “Completely ruined.”

13
    W HILE HE WAS eating breakfast, the Coyote observed the antics of Willeen and Judd practicing the King’s English for Eben’s benefit. He shared their delight that Eben was being linked to the crimes that he and they had committed independently. “Poor slob,” he muttered as he used his buttered toast to mop up the last of his sunny-side-up fried egg.
    After Willeen and Judd had again secured Eben in his makeshift holding pen and gone back to the kitchen, the Coyote paid rapt attention as they once again went over their plans for the benefit.
    So, when the time is right, Judd and Willeen will strike too, huh? They plan to ring in the New Year with something to hang on a client’s wall. Well, we’ll see about that.

14
    R EGAN HELD LOUIS’S hand as Detective Sawyer phoned his counterpart in the Vail Police Department and tersely informed him that Eben Bean might very well have been in Vail on Friday.
    As Louis continued to sniffle and moan, Regan pulled out her handy pocket tissues.
    The detective gave Louis a dirty look as he struggled to absorb the information he was receiving from Vail.
    “Keep the rest,” Regan said, handing Louis the dainty package of tear absorbers. “I’m afraid you’re going to need them.”
    “You’re a big help,” Louis mumbled as he dabbed his eyes.
    Regan watched as Detective Sawyer’s round face creased into lines that straddled his forehead. He probably was only in his late forties, she guessed, but he didn’t look as if he spent a lot of time on the ski slopes or his NordicTrack. His jacket bulged at the seams and he seemed to wear a permanent disgruntled expression. But his eyes showed a keen intelligence and it was clear to her that he was listening to vital information.
    A moment later, when Sawyer dropped the phone back on the hook, it became obvious that her guess had been right.
    “If your friend Eben did pull the Vail robbery, he had a lady friend along with him to help him carry out the Beasley painting. Not that anyone had to eat that much spinach to have the strength to lift it—they cut it right out of the frame.”
    “A woman was with him?” Regan asked.
    “Yeah. The poor old guy was dazed and confused. When he came to in the closet, he heard a man and a woman.”
    Regan turned to Louis. “Did Eben have a girlfriend?”
    “How am I