Rose and Helena Save Christmas: a novella by Jana DeLeon & Denise Grover Swank

Author:Jana DeLeon & Denise Grover Swank [DeLeon, Jana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-12-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Taylor pulled out her cell phone when she stepped out the side door of the hotel. As she made her way to the sidewalk, she saw Rose and Neely Kate cross the street and head for one of the dress shops. She found the number she was looking for in her contacts and dialed.

“Yo, Taylor,” he answered.

“Yo, Jimmy,” she said, smiling. Jimmy was a twenty-year-old computer geek disguised as a surfer. He was what artsy people called eclectic and what regular people called slightly off. Taylor figured both were probably true.

“To what do I owe this pleasure?” he asked. “I swear I haven’t gotten into any more trouble.”

“If memory serves me correctly, it wasn’t really you who caused the trouble before. You were just caught up in the tidal wave.”

“True that. But you’re the only person who believed me.”

“Yeah, well, I’m calling in a return of that favor.”

“You in a bind?” All joking fled his voice and his tone switched to concerned.

“Me and a couple other ladies. We had the misfortune of being the last people to see a murder victim alive.”

“No shit? Wow!”

“And Savoy drew the case.”

“Oh man, that is not good. He was always looking for the short answer, not the right one.”

“And he hasn’t changed a bit. Anyway, the ladies I’m in a bind with are staying at your place of employment and someone tossed their room this morning. I told them not to report it and let housekeeping call it in. I won’t get into why, but I have my reasons.”

“Sure. What do you need from me?”

“I need the security footage for this morning to disappear. I don’t want Savoy to get any indication that they knew about the break-in. I want it all to funnel through housekeeping and hotel management to them.”

“No problem. In fact, your timing is perfect. I’m changing out the server today. I’ll tell them the entire system has been off-line since six a.m. Will that work?”

“Perfectly. Before you do it, can you check and see who entered room 234 this morning?

“Sure. Hold on a sec.”

Taylor heard fast typing and the occasional click of a mouse.

“I assume the two girls are the occupants, right?”

“You got it.”

“The only other person who entered was wearing a server’s uniform, but he didn’t have a tray. Medium height, thin, but he kept his face turned away from the cameras.”

“Probably a pro.”

“Looks like it.”

“Thanks, Jimmy. I owe you one.”

“Nah. Heck, this doesn’t even make us even. But dinner and a movie might.”

She laughed. “Let me think on that one, and thanks. You’re a lifesaver.”

Helena stared at her, eyebrows raised, as she slipped the phone back into her pocket. “Jimmy, huh? How come you haven’t told me about him?”

“Because he’s just an acquaintance.”

“Acquaintances don’t usually erase security footage for people.”

“They do if you provided the evidence that got them off a murder rap.”

“Okay, maybe then. Hey, do you think it’s smart to go after the diamond thief?”

Taylor shrugged. “Probably not, but it’s a better option than turning those diamonds over to Savoy.

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.