I wanted to talk to you before I headed out. She’s the one that’s been stealing your lawn gnomes,” I lied.
Sally gasped. “No. Not Charlotte.”
“I saw it with my own eyes. She’s been swiping them for months. And burying them in the woods so no one would find them. She’s really the worst, huh? I think she has a screw loose in that blonde head of hers.”
Sally shook her head and then frowned. “If you’ll excuse me. I need to go have a word with her.” She bustled off. I could practically see steam coming out of her ears, mixing with the falling snow.
Merry Christmas, Charlotte. Framing her for stealing lawn gnomes was almost as satisfying as framing Aiden for murdering my husband. Almost.
I climbed into Sally’s car, a huge smile on my face. The key was in the ignition, just like she’d promised. I made sure Snuggle Muffins was comfortable, and then drove away as fast as I could, being careful not to hit any of my neighbors.
There were so many things that could still go wrong. I didn’t know if I’d be able to cross the border. I didn’t know if any of this would work. But I had to try. For my sake. For Snuggle Muffins’ sake. I just needed one more Christmas miracle. An easy drive through the Canadian border tonight. Well, maybe two Christmas miracles. I’d promised Aiden I’d get him out of jail. And I didn’t have an actual plan on how to do that.
But I had a long drive to figure it out.
I looked in my rearview mirror, the blue and red lights growing more distant by the second. Merry Christmas, Detective Torres. Giving him a clean arrest was the least I could do after cutting off his thumb.
I pressed my foot down harder on the gas. I needed to cross the Canadian border tonight. Just in case my plan failed and it was my face all over the news instead of Aiden’s.
Chapter 34
Wednesday
I couldn’t look away from the TV in the dingy motel room. My murder had made national news. Scratch that. I’d crossed the border into Canada two days ago, which meant it had made the international news. But it was Aiden who was getting all the credit. He was becoming notorious for my crime. My plans. My brilliance. I would have felt cheated, but he was also taking the fall for me. And it was hard to feel cheated when all I felt was guilt. I regretted turning him in. We could have just escaped together. I hated how much I missed him. I hated how the guilt made my stomach feel like it was twisting in half.
He's A. Stop it. You couldn’t trust him.
But that didn’t mean he deserved this. My plan had been too good. They were already talking about the death penalty. And I couldn’t let that happen. I’d made him a promise, and I was going to keep it.
The sun was peeking through the blinds. This wasn’t how I wanted to spend Christmas morning. I’d promised Snuggle Muffins great things. And I was going to keep that promise too. But first, I had to fix what I had broken.
Originally I thought I might kill Aiden once I got my answers, but then I’d switched gears and framed him. And now that I’d framed him so well? I was switching gears again. Aiden had given me the greatest Christmas gift of all – my freedom. I wanted to give him his freedom back too. It was Christmas, after all.
“Wake up, Snuggle Muffins.” I rubbed his tummy. “It’s Christmas morning!”
He blinked up at me and wagged his little tail.
“I got you a present. I promise more will come later.” I placed the neatly wrapped gift down in front of him.
And he bit it. Almost like he knew he was going to hate what was inside. He shook his head back and forth, really getting into destroying his only Christmas gift.
“Stop it.” I grabbed the present away from him and tore the paper off. It was an adorable little Santa costume.
He growled at it.
“Don’t be that way. You already agreed to the plan. And you’re cute, but this will make you extra cute.”
After several attempts, I finally wrassled him into the outfit. I flicked the little jingle bell on the end of his hat and he sighed. “See. You look adorable.” I peppered his face with kisses and he looked considerably less upset.
“It’s go-time.”
I lifted him into my arms