Have Yourself a Merry Little Witness - Dakota Cassidy Page 0,3

teased.

He scoffed. “Aren’t you quite practiced for your stint at the comedy club performing standup, Miss Witch?”

My phone beeped a text then, and I grabbed it off the counter to see if it was from Uncle Darling. In my haste, I almost knocked over the mini Christmas tree I’d just placed next to a long wooden dough bowl filled with greenery and ornaments. I’d begun to worry. The roads were probably a mess of ice and visibility was undoubtedly low.

Also, Uncle Darling really was a hideous driver. Atticus hadn’t been kidding. I hoped Monty had taken the wheel.

As I began to read, my eyes went wide and I had to grab ahold of the countertop, letting the cold quartz ease my suddenly hot palms.

I gasped. This was bad. This was so bad.

“Holy—”

“Uh-uh-uh,” Atti warned, cutting off my penchant for using foul language as he landed on the island counter. “Halliday? What’s wrong, Poppet?”

“Stiles… he just texted me on Uncle Darling’s phone. It’s Monty,” I barely murmured, my head swimming.

“What is it? Did that wanker land in a snowbank? It’s just as I told you, Halliday, that man is treacherous behind the wheel of a car. He shouldn’t be allowed to drive a remote for a battery-operated car, let alone four thousand pounds of steel on icy roads.”

I squeezed my temples before texting him back and shoving my phone into my back pocket, looking for my jacket and my hat and gloves. I ran to our long walnut-stained dining room table next to the fireplace and grabbed my jacket from the back of a chair.

“Halliday? What is happening? You have me quite worried! Answer me, please!”

Pulling on my coat and hat, I dug in my jacket for my gloves. “It’s Monty. He’s been hurt, Atti. Uncle Darling’s at the convenience store just outside of town. I have to go get him. He’s hysterical.”

“What happened?”

“Murder…” I whispered.

“What, child? Another one? Isn’t it rather early in the season for another murder after we’ve only just had one last week?”

I licked my dry lips, my only concern getting to Uncle Darling, who never handled a crisis well. “I’ve got to go, Atti, and yes, I’ll be safe. I promise. But I have to go get him. According to Uncle Darling, someone murdered Gable Norton—and Monty saw it happen!”

Chapter 2

Baby, It’s Cold Outside

Written by Frank Loesser, Henry D. Haynes, Jethro Burns, 1944

I flew out the door and into the garage, beeping my truck, climbing in, and pressing the garage door open.

As I began to back out, Hobbs was suddenly directly behind me in my rearview mirror, making me slam on the brakes. He came to the window and knocked on it, his handsome face concerned, his knit cap covered in snow.

I pressed the button to roll down the window. “You scared the devil out of me!”

“Hal? What’s goin’ on? I was just taking out my garbage and saw your taillights. Everythin’ okay?” he asked, his Southern accent thicker when he was worried. “It’s stormin’ pretty hard out.”

“Remember I told you about my Uncle Darling coming to visit with his husband Monty this week?”

He grinned then, making his beard lift and the deep grooves on either side of his mouth more pronounced. “I do. I was looking forward to meeting ’em. Is everything all right?”

“I have to go get him. He’s at the convenience store just outside of town. His husband’s been hurt—and apparently, the convenience store clerk was killed, and Monty witnessed it.”

Hobbs blinked, but he didn’t miss a beat. “You okay to drive?”

I gripped the steering wheel. “I’m fine. I grew up here, remember? This is like a walk in the park for me.”

“If you don’t object, I’ll come with you. Call me a typical man…that is to say, I’m sure you can handle drivin’ in this blizzard just fine, but I’d like to go with you to be sure. Doesn’t mean I don’t trust your abilities as a driver. I know you don’t need a man to drive in the snow. Just means I don’t wanna see you out on that dark country road all alone.”

I couldn’t help but smile. It didn’t upset me that Hobbs wanted to look out for me. Not even a little, as long as he tacked on that little part where he acknowledged I was okay doing it alone.

Still, he was right. Though it was only late afternoon, it was already dark on that short stretch of road from town to the convenience store. Dark and deserted.

“Make no