Death of a Christmas Carol by Lee Hollis

Author:Lee Hollis [Hollis, Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2020-07-22T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Mona stood in the doorway to her house, eyes blinking, mouth agape. “I don’t believe it.”

“It’s true, I swear,” Hayley heaved, panting for air, panic rising. “Can I come in?”

Mona swept the door all the way open and ushered her inside. Hayley expected the usual pandemonium with kids running around in diapers, the older ones upstairs blasting music, food stains on the walls and unidentifiable smears on the tables and countertops. But today it was relatively calm and quiet at the Barnes house, which surprised her.

“Where is everybody?” Hayley inquired, glancing around.

“Mom’s got all the little ones. I swear she’s a glutton for punishment. But every so often, she likes to play grandma. I have no idea where the older ones are, probably tearing through town, causing trouble. I think Chet might be home. I heard him slamming around upstairs a while ago. Dennis is in his man cave down in the basement, on his back, watching a football game. No surprise there. Can I get you some coffee?”

“No!” Hayley gasped. “I’m jacked up enough already.”

“Have you called Sal and asked him about any of this?”

Hayley shook her head. “I wanted to talk to you first and get your advice on what I should do!”

“You can’t tiptoe around this, Hayley. If Bruce is lying to you, you need to know. Where is he?”

“At the office.”

“On a Saturday?”

“Yes, since he went ice fishing, or at least that’s what the official story is at this point, he fell behind on his workload and had to work on his next column.”

“What about Sal?”

“I assume he’s at home with Rosana today.”

“Maybe you should talk to him first. If Bruce is lying, then so is Sal. Maybe you can get the truth out of him before you confront Bruce, so you’re not going in blind.”

“Mona, do you think Bruce might be the one—?”

“Of course not! Bruce writes about crime! He’s no criminal! And Sal is too fat and lazy to lift a finger and strangle anyone! As for Dennis, well, he’s definitely in the clear!”

“How do you know for sure?”

At that moment, Mona’s seventeen-year-old son, Chet, ambled into the kitchen and threw open the refrigerator door, lazily perusing the contents inside.

Mona jerked her head around toward him. “Chet, tell Hayley what you told me earlier.”

Chet, eyes half-mast, totally annoyed to be drawn into a boring adult conversation, sighed and drawled in a thick Maine accent, “Twenty One Pilots is coming to the Bangor Auditorium, and tickets go on sale tomorrow. Mom won’t give me the money to buy two for me and my girlfriend, Jess, before they sell out!”

“I’m not talking about that!” Mona barked. “Tell her about going Christmas shopping with your father!”

Chet stared blankly at his mother, but then a lightbulb, albeit a very small one, popped on in his head. “Oh yeah! I went with Dad yesterday Christmas shopping in Ellsworth.”

Mona made a sweeping gesture toward her reed-thin, long-haired, gawky son. “See? Dennis is in the clear. Chet is his airtight alibi.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.