Rose and Helena Save Christmas: a novella by Jana DeLeon, Denise Grover Swank Read Free Book Online Page A

feelings hurt when people tell her the truth. Then she leaves and pouts.”  
    “Can the grandbaby see her?”
    Taylor nodded. “All her family members can see her. We all wondered if the ability would carry to the next generation, and it seems that it has.”
    Rose wanted to ask more questions, especially if Neely Kate really had uncovered a paranormal gift that involved ghostly visitors, but they had reached their room. She pulled the key card out of her pocket and pushed the door. “Here it is.”
    Taylor walked through the opening and looked around. “Did you go in or touch anything?”
    “No, I saw we’d been burgled and we didn’t go in. I had Neely Kate call you immediately.” When Taylor glanced up at her, Rose shrugged. “I have some experience with break-ins.”
    Taylor looked as if she wanted to ask, but instead continued her investigation. “Can you tell if anything is missing?”
    The two young women moved around the room for several minutes. “I don’t see anything missing,” Rose said, her eyes bugging when she saw a floating lacy pink bra.  
    “I don’t think pink’s your color, Helena,” Neely Kate said, plucking the bra from thin air. “I think you’d look better in tangerine.”
    “More like she’d look like a tangerine,” Taylor mumbled.  
    “Neely Kate,” Rose said, “if you’re done playin’ stylist to the dead, can you focus on the task at hand?”
    Neely Kate gave her a blank stare.  
    “Do you see anything missing?”
    “Oh.” She gave a cursory glance. “No.”
    “So where does that leave us?” Rose asked Taylor.
    “Well, it was obvious they were looking for something, and the timing of Madame Serafine’s death is too coincidental.”
    Rose gasped. “I just remembered that someone tried to steal Neely Kate’s purse when we were walkin’ from the police station to lunch.” Her brow lowered with concern. “I think you’re right. The police think Neely Kate may have killed Madame Serafine. In my vision, a guy held a gun to Serafine’s back, saying they needed to go inside. Madame Serafine said she didn’t have any cash, but the man said he wasn’t interested in money.”
    “And they weren’t interested in money here, either,” Taylor said. “There’s twenty dollars on the bathroom counter.”
    Taylor turned to Neely Kate, who stood at the end of the bed wearing a skirt on her head. “Helena. What are you doing?” She listened for a moment. “It’s bad enough I’m forced to endure your bad taste in clothing, but at least no one else is subjected to it. Please don’t take advantage of this poor girl’s misplaced excitement and turn her into a mini-me.”
    Neely Kate pulled the skirt off her head, giving Taylor a scowl. “Helena’s a free spirit and she needs to express herself. Clothing is her canvas. You’re stifling her creativity.”
    “What exactly does this ghost wear?” Rose asked, putting a hand on her hip.
    “Trust me,” Taylor said. “You don’t want to know.”
    Neely Kate swiveled to the side. “Don’t listen to her, honey. I think you look beautiful.”
    Taylor took a deep breath before blowing it out. “Neely Kate, Rose is right. You can play dress-up later. Did you buy anything at Serafine’s shop? Or take anything with you?”
    She shook her head, her blond curls bouncing. “I wasn’t there long enough to buy anything. She literally pushed us out the door.”
    Rose cringed, still feeling guilty that Neely Kate didn’t get the answers she wanted. But as Rose watched her friend, who seemed to be listening to nothing, she decided she did get an answer after all.  
    “Wait!” Neely Kate said, grabbing her purse and digging through it. She pulled out several objects and set them on the bed—lipstick, a can of Vienna sausages, her rhinestone-covered wallet. “This,” she said, pulling out a small red velvet bag. “Madame Serafine shoved this at me as she was shooing us out the door. She snatched it from the