Free Buried Secrets Can Be Murder: Charlie Parker Mysteries, Book #14 (The Charlie Parker Mysteries) by Connie Shelton

he said. “We’re stuck here in Dallas. They’re calling it the winter storm of the decade, and the last plane they allowed to take off was the one right before Rosa’s.”
    The low pressure system over Colorado had apparently circled southeast, catching northern New Mexico in its edges, sending the heavy center of the storm into Texas.
    “Soonest they can even think about getting planes off the ground here is sometime tomorrow,” Ron was saying. “But it could even go longer than that. There are thousands of people in the terminals and I gather only a lucky few were able to get cabs to take them to hotels. The roads are a mess.”
    “Oh great. How’s Rosa taking all this?”
    “She’s nearly frantic. Feeling guilty as hell because she didn’t stay in better touch with her sister. She did not take that news well at all. I thought we were going to have a security issue when she found out that her plane wasn’t leaving after all. She wanted to dash out the door and try for a bus or rental car to get back to California. It was a job to convince her that waiting for the planes would still be the quickest way. A couple of airport officials had to help me calm her down. A female guard just took her into the ladies room to fix her makeup and get herself together.”
    “What was her story? Why didn’t she contact her family in the past year?”
    He sighed. “I get the feeling she really butted heads with her brother and then it became a matter of pride that she was not going to back down before Mel did. She broke up with that Chaco guy almost right after they left San Diego together, but she was too embarrassed to tell Ivana. She got her job with that kids’ clothing store in Albuquerque and has actually been pretty happy there. I got the idea that she wanted to get a little money saved so she could visit California with her head held high, show Mel that she hadn’t completely messed up her life by leaving.”
    I had pulled out of the Brewsters’ driveway and was driving toward my house. “So, what now?” I asked.
    “I guess we’re staying the night in the airport. Not much choice. I’ll get Rosa to call her sister—hopefully, that won’t upset her even further. Mainly, I guess I’ll have to keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn’t do something crazy.”
    I wished him luck and we disconnected before it crossed my mind that I should have asked whether he’d heard from Chester Flowers.
    Already, little sleety things were flurrying through the air. A white Christmas happened so rarely here that I would have loved one—but only with all my family safely tucked in at home. It was the last thing I wanted with Drake away on a job and now Ron having to sleep in an airport.
    I called Drake as soon as I got into the house. His situation was the same—weather too bleak to drop bales of hay to cattle, much less try to fly cross-country to get back home. I put Katie’s and my cocoa mugs into the dishwasher and went to bed early.
    Christmas Eve morning dawned gray and frigid but so far we had no snow on the ground. I switched on The Weather Channel while I loaded the coffee maker. The forecast only served to confirm what I already knew—heavy snow in Colorado and the storm system was moving eastward at a slow pace. A good part of the southwest would be under its influence for awhile, possibly days.
    I called Victoria to see if she’d heard from Ron. The news was mostly what I already knew, with the additional information that he’d had an extremely uncomfortable night attempting to sleep in one of those molded plastic seats in the airport terminal and was pretty sure he was catching a cold from some little kid who had sneezed on him.
    “Looks like it’s not going to be the holiday any of us had envisioned,” I told her.
    A sigh came from the other end of the line. “Well, let’s see if we can make the best of it,” she said. “Elsa was going to have everyone over for dinner tonight. We girls should just