Iced by Carol Higgins Clark Read Free Book Online Page A

missing.” She glanced down at her notes. “We talked to the Grant children and they said that Santa ‘had to go tinky’ before he left for the North Pole. He asked to use the bathroom off the library. Nobody else from the party went in there. The kids said that his bag looked full when he left.”
    “Oh my God!” Kendra cried. “Yvonne is a friend of mine. Sam, that painting is worth a fortune. I can’t believe that Eben could have done this!”
    “How much did you know about him when you hired him?” Officer Madden asked.
    Kendra looked at Sam. “We had placed an ad but hadn’t found anyone we felt comfortable with. Then an acquaintance we’d met in Los Angeles through Regan, Louis Altide, recommended Eben. Said he’d known him for years. Louis lives in Aspen now. He just opened the Silver Mine Inn.”
    Regan inhaled sharply. I’ve got to tell them now, she thought. Here goes nothing. Or everything. “Kendra,” she began.
    Kendra looked up at her. “Yes, Regan.”
    “There’s something you should know about Eben. Something I should probably have told you before...”
    The whole group waited.
    Regan found herself cringing as she mouthed the words, “Eben spent a few years in prison.”
    “For what?” Kendra’s voice rose.
    “Jewelry theft.”
    Kendra and Nora both unconsciously grabbed at their necklaces.
    “Why didn’t you say anything before this, Regan?” Nora asked.
    “I didn’t find out until after Kendra and Sam hired him and he was already working here. I didn’t think it was my place to interfere.”
    Kendra hesitated, then said, “If you knew before I hired him, it might have made a difference. But he did do a good job and I wouldn’t have fired him if I had found out.” She paused. “So he’s an ex-con?”
    “No wonder he never wore stripes,” Sam said.
    “Did Louis know when he recommended him?” Kendra asked.
    Regan gritted her teeth. “Well-l, I guess so. But he seemed to be such a nice guy and so accommodating. There was nothing Louis asked him to do that he wasn’t perfectly happy to do.”
    “That much is true,” Sam grunted. He waved his hand around the room. “We just didn’t know how much in perks he was taking on his own. And how much he was planning to take.”
    “I was thinking of giving him a raise.” Kendra sighed.
    “He was so agreeable. You know, I looked in the refrigerator and he’d done some of the food shopping.” Then she looked at Regan and shook her head. “Regan, I’d have given him a break if I were in your shoes. Louis is a different story. The way he praised Eben I thought he was his long-lost brother.”
    Officer Madden had his notebook out and began firing questions at Regan. “What name did this guy go under? Was that his real name? Where was he in prison?”
    “He was in prison in New York State. I think it’s his real name but I don’t really know.”
    “I’ll talk to this Louis guy. Some friend,” the cop muttered. “Pass off a jailbird on you.”
    Deep in thought, Regan wandered over to the bathroom and glanced inside. This place is bigger than my living room, she thought. All done in tones of apricot, there was a large Jacuzzi, a separate shower with a gleaming glass door, a toilet set off on its own with a view of the snowy mountains right in the backyard, and a long countered area with two sinks and a mirror covering the whole wall. You could have an aerobics class in here, she mused. A pair of big black boots with jingle bells attached sat under the counter on a green towel.
    “Look at these,” she called as she picked them up and carried them into the bedroom. “Wouldn’t these be the type of boots you would wear if you were going to play Santa? They look as if they are all shined and ready to go. Even the bells are attached. But there’s no sign of the rest of his outfit.”
    “We can check his apartment,” Sam said.
    The policewoman, Officer Webb, opened the closet door. A man’s terrycloth bathrobe was