Free Her Mistletoe Protector by Laura Scott Page B

be at home, playing the role of grieving colleague.
    When they pulled up in front of Karl Errol’s house, the small, brick Tudor appeared to be deserted. There were no holiday decorations adorning the home, and the yard had a shaggy look of neglect beneath the light dusting of snow. “Stay here,” he advised Rachel. “I’m going to take a look around outside.”
    “Should I call Edith and see if he’s at the office?” she asked, as he slid out from behind the wheel.
    “Sure.” He flashed a reassuring smile before heading up the cracked sidewalk leading to the researcher’s front door.
    No response from inside the home, which was pretty much what he expected. He peered through the windows but couldn’t see much—the sunlight outside caused a glare that made it difficult to see. He walked around the house, crunching on leaves as he made his way to the garage, which was closed and locked up tight. He strode over to the back door and checked it as well. The screen door opened, and his heart quickened as he tested the interior door.
    Locked, but with a flimsy, old-fashioned type of lock. He considered trying to jimmy it with a credit card, but was loath to do anything illegal.
    He hesitated on the cracked stoop. What if Joey was inside the old house? What if his theory about Dr. Errol was right? That he’d kidnapped Joey to keep Rachel from uncovering his mistakes?
    Wrestling with his conscience, he turned away from the door, but then caught sight of one of those fake rocks that were sometimes used to hide keys. Why people bothered with that sort of thing, he had no clue. Talk about being obvious. He reached down, opened up the fake rock and removed the key.
    He accessed the house, wrinkling his nose at the stale air. When was the last time the doctor had been home? Either the guy simply lived like this, or he was holed up somewhere else—with Joey—biding his time until he could get his hands on Rachel’s cash.
    He quickly swept through the house, including the upstairs bedrooms but didn’t find anything suspicious. There were only three bedrooms, and they were all empty. He even went down in the basement, which was dark and dank, smelling strongly of mold.
    Nothing. Which he found a bit odd. Usually people left a bit of themselves strewn around, at least a bill or a coupon or something. But the place was so void of anything personal that he couldn’t help wondering if he was on the right track. Granted, he hadn’t found Joey here, but he wasn’t willing to give up his theory just yet.
    Back up in the kitchen, he searched for notes or anything at all that might indicate where Dr. Errol had gone. The garbage can was empty and there wasn’t a single stray note to be found. He even went back to the master bedroom, but still didn’t find anything.
    Dr. Errol was either innocent or smarter than he’d given the guy credit for. And he was leaning toward the latter.
    He left the house the same way he’d come in, returning the key to its hiding place in the fake rock. He hurried back around to the front, where Rachel was waiting in the car.
    “What took you so long?” she asked, when he slid in behind the wheel. “I was getting ready to come out and look for you.”
    “Sorry, I was poking around and lost track of time. Did you get in touch with Edith?”
    “Yes, she said that Karl called in saying he was staying home today.” She stared at the house through the windshield. “Maybe we should try knocking at the door again?”
    Time to come clean. “Actually, I found the house key hidden in a rock near the back door. I went in and checked out the house. Believe me, no one is home. And from what I saw, I don’t think he’s been home in a couple of days, either.”
    “He hasn’t been home?” She stared at him incredulously. “But that’s crazy. I know for a fact that Karl was at work the day we met in my office. I had a meeting scheduled with both him and Josie that I canceled.”
    “That was on