Free Holly and Homicide by Leslie Caine Page B

stop him. He gently pulled Mikara into his arms, where she promptly broke into wracking sobs. It was excruciatingly difficult to hear someone in such agony, and it brought back painful memories of the losses in my own life.
    “Why?” she cried into his shoulder. “Why would anybody kill my little sister?”
    “I don’t know, Mikki. It doesn’t make any sense.”
    “You were outside for so long,” Mikara cried to him. “Didn’t you see anything? Hear Angie cry for help?”
    “No. Obviously, I’d have come to her rescue.”
    Steve, meanwhile, got out of his car and walked beside Mikara as Henry led her back toward the house. Thank God that Henry, at least, was showing some basic human decency.
    And yet, I couldn’t help but wonder if Henry had lied to me earlier about how long he’d been outside before I’d returned.
    After a miserable two hours of braving the cold in separate patrol cars, Henry and I were finally allowed to go inside; Steve had long since gone into the house, unable to convince the officers to let us do so, as well. We were directed to sit on the bench in the mudroom and remove our boots, which the deputies then collected as evidence, along with a beat-up pair of men’s boots from the cubby underneath the bench. Drops from melted snow had been left underneath those well-used boots. Henry told the sheriff and his men that he’d noticed those boots a week or two ago and had assumed Ben Orlin had left them there for use on a snowy day.
    “Are you absolutely certain they’re not yours?” Mackey asked Henry. “They’re your size.”
    “Yes, I’m sure. I know my own boots, for chrissake.”
    “It’s important, Henry.” Mackey held the boots out for him to examine. “These are the same tread patterns that we found near Angie’s body.”
    “Do you remember seeing those boots on the shelf earlier today?” I promptly asked Henry.
    My question was rewarded with a dirty look from Mackey. “Hey! You’re in Snowcap now! No one gets to play Nancy Drew on my turf!”
    Because Nancy would solve the murder so much faster than you could
, I thought bitterly.
    Henry ignored him and turned toward me. “I have no idea if they were here or not today. I remember seeing them yesterday afternoon. I considered asking Ben about them this morning, but the whole hullabaloo with the bones was going on, and I just let it drop.”
    Mackey whisked me off to a separate room to take my report again, although most of my time was spent in silence; he obviously just wanted to keep me sequestered from the others. It was almost two A.M. before he and his underlings finally left the house. Audrey and Steve were waiting for me by the fireplace. Steve embraced me and told me that Mikara had been given a sedative and was asleep in her room. Henry, too, had recently gone upstairs to bed. Steve and I sat down on the love seat across from Audrey.
    “Were both Henry and Mikara in the house with you this evening?” I asked Audrey.
    She shook her head. “Unfortunately, I had an early dinner with my producer tonight. I think I must have left the house right around the same time as you. When I got back, Mikara and I chatted for a couple of minutes, and then Henry came in from outside, saying it was ‘sure nippy out there,’ but that this was his kind of weather. Then he said he was going to take a look at all the lights you’d hung, and he left. I wasn’t paying attention to time. It must have been half an hour or so later when Mikaraand I heard the ambulance.” She sighed, her features looking a little drawn. “I nearly had a heart attack. Mikara started cursing, wondering if Henry had hurt himself and had called for an ambulance. I immediately started worrying about
you.”
    Steve gave my hand a squeeze at Audrey’s last remark, and I laced my fingers between his. “Had both of them eaten dinner here, do you know?” I asked.
    Audrey shook her head. “Mikara was putting away dishes when I arrived. She asked Henry if