Iced by Carol Higgins Clark Read Free Book Online

remains. After they steal Geraldine’s painting, they’ll be hotfooting it out of town. I don’t think they’ll want me along. They won’t leave me here to talk about them. So...
    Eben forced himself to cease and desist the dreary path on which his thoughts were leading him.
    Trying to be an optimist, he whispered to himself, “If I do have until Thursday, maybe I can figure out a way to bust out of here.”
    What a way to spend the holidays.

8
    N OT EXACTLY WHAT I expected to find at Kendra’s house on Christmas afternoon in Aspen, Regan thought. It reminded her of the story of the three bears. Eben was missing, but his presence was everywhere. After Kendra phoned Eben’s acquaintances Buck and Daisy, and while they awaited the arrival of the police, they’d begun to walk through the house.
    “Somebody’s been sleeping in the guest bed,” Kendra said, her voice and finger shaking in unison as she pointed out that not only had her house been robbed and her art was missing, but her caretaker had enjoyed the pleasures of the guest suite as well.
    They were all standing around the spacious room. Obviously Eben had made himself very comfortable. Several books on how to ski were scattered on the king-size bed. The television was pulled out from the armoire and tilted for better viewing. The pillows were propped up just so and a bottle of Vicks and a box of tissues were placed within handy reach of the bed on the handcrafted night table.
    “Eben loved the smell of Vicks,” Kendra said flatly. “He told me one of his few good memories of the orphanage was standing in his crib when he was sick and inhaling the steam from the vaporizer. It made him feel loved.”
    “I would have bought him a vaporizer for his own room,” Sam grunted. He picked up and leafed through a stack of adventure and mystery magazines that were piled on the chaise longue. With a disgusted look he remarked, “I should have known about that guy.”
    “He seemed so trustworthy,” Kendra protested. “He said that he wanted to take care of a nice house because he’d never gotten the chance to live in one while he was growing up. It’s just so hard to believe he would do something like this.”
    I’m going to have to tell them, Regan thought miserably. She had met and liked Eben when he worked for Louis in Los Angeles a couple of years ago. That was when Louis had had a small catering business. But she had also known that Eben had spent five years in the clink for jewel theft. When Louis told Regan that he had recommended Eben for a job with Kendra Wood, Regan had ignored the warning voice in her head that told her Kendra should be made aware of Eben’s background. Now, as one after another of the paintings Kendra had loved were noted as missing from the walls, Regan’s guilt deepened. She felt a tug at her arm.
    “Regan, what’s up?” Nora whispered. “You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”
    Regan shook her head as the front doorbell rang.
    “That will be the cops,” Kendra said. She darted for the door, returning with two police officers. “This used to be known as the guest suite,” she explained. “But it’s obviously where my caretaker took up residence.”
    “He has very good taste,” the cop, who introduced himself as Officer Dennis Madden, observed dryly.
    “I’m on the next shift in this room,” Luke remarked. “The last guy checked out in a hurry.”
    The other officer, a slender young woman who looked to be in her late twenties, raised her eyebrows. “Did you have any knowledge of him playing Santa Claus for the Grants last night?” she asked Kendra and Sam.
    “Last year at their party he stepped in for someone who got sick at the last minute,” Kendra said. “Eben said he had been a department-store Santa years ago and loved it. They asked him back this year. Why? Didn’t he show up?”
    “Unfortunately, yes. Today they discovered a blank spot on the wall in their library. A Guglione painting is