Free The Heart of Christmas by Brenda Novak Page A

right.”
    “How’d you get out?”
    “My mother heard me screaming and came to the rescue.”
    A faint smile curved his lips. “I bet she was angry.”
    “She was.”
    “What happened to your brothers?”
    “They were put on restriction.” She shook her head at the memory. They’d found her terror so funny.
    Ted made a few quick notes. “Okay, so Mary’s parents built this place—and it wasn’t ever renovated until your parents took over. Is that correct?”
    “It is.”
    “How old was Mary when John and Harriett moved in?”
    “She wasn’t born yet. But even after she was, she didn’t have any older brothers to torment her. She was an only child.”
    “After her death, rumors circulated—and persisted—that her father might have killed her. Since he also discovered the body, and it was nearly Christmas, I always think of it as the nineteenth-century JonBenét Ramsey case.”
    “Was there any evidence to suggest he did the deed?”
    “Not really. He was known to have a violent temper and knocked her mother around a bit. He also didn’t seem to grieve much. But not all men show their pain.”
    She’d left the doors to the parlor open. She almost always did that, so her staff would feel free to approach her, if necessary. But today it meant that when Brent Taylor came through the front door, returning for the second time, she happened to see him. He saw her, too, and paused as if he had something to say, so she stood up and hurried over.
    “You’re late for checkout, but I can take care of that now, if you’re ready.”
    His gaze shifted to Ted before coming back to her. “Would you mind if I stayed one more night?”
    Couldn’t
anything
go her way? “A Room with a View has no openings?”
    He frowned as if recognizing the disappointment in her voice. “I was just over there. They’re booked.”
    Of course they would be—despite their cheesy decorations. Full occupancy seemed to come so easy for them. But they also spent a great deal more on advertising. They always
had
more to spend.
    She wanted to refuse but Ted was looking on, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to come up with a good excuse for turning away business. Ted and the rest of her friends had been privy to her financial difficulties in the past few years. “That’s fine, I guess.”
    “Thanks. Do you know a good place for dinner?”
    “Just Like Mom’s has delicious home-style food, if you like that sort of thing. It’s down the street.”
    He hesitated briefly. Then he took her elbow and pulled her close so he could whisper in her ear. “I could’ve handled this morning at your place a lot better. I’m sorry,” he said, then headed up the stairs to his room.
    “What was that all about?” Ted asked.
    Eve shut the doors in spite of her usual policy and resumed her seat. “Nothing. He’s just a...a patron.”
    “Do all patrons whisper in your ear like that? It looked sort of intimate.”
    “It wasn’t.” She considered admitting what she’d done, as she had with her parents, but couldn’t bring herself to do it. These days, Ted was happily married and the proud stepfather of a beautiful teenage girl. She didn’t want to be perceived as still struggling. Of course, he’d likely hear the rumor, so there was probably no way to prevent him from finding out. But she’d deal with that if and when it happened. She just hoped no one would bring it up or tease her tonight at her party or at their weekly coffee date. Her friends were wonderful, but they’d been so close for so long that nothing was off-limits.
    “I only have a few more minutes,” she told him, “so we should get on with this.”
    They talked about what
Unsolved Mysteries
had discovered when they came to town, which was virtually nothing as far as forensic evidence was concerned. Then they discussed the bits and pieces of information that had been recorded in the journals of various people who’d known the Hatfields at the time. These mostly