Her Christmas Detective - Laura Ann Page 0,46

went slack and she pulled back to look Grandma Claire in the face. “You what?”

“Traitor!” Grandma hollered after Henry before meeting Bella’s gaze. “What?” she demanded, putting her hands on her round hips. “You can only let a handsome man run around for so long before a girl has to do something about it!”

HENRY CHUCKLED AS HE shut the outside door. Between Bella’s rescue and Claire’s revelation, he knew the women wouldn’t be coming up for air any time soon.

“You’re a sneaky jerk,” Bill whispered in an aside as he watched the police lead a limping and still crying George to their vehicle.

Henry shrugged. Bill had obviously heard Henry’s accusation as he’d left the house. “Did you really think it would stay a secret? Enoch told me he’s been watching you two dance around each other for years.”

Sheriff Davidson hitched up his pants and cleared his throat. “Well, with all you young ones running around kissing every other second, it leaves ideas in a man’s head.”

Henry clapped his friend on the shoulder. “Good for you. But don’t expect me to call you Grandpa when all is said and done.”

The good sheriff stammered a bit before shaking his head. “We’re getting ahead of ourselves and we have a job to do.” Raising his hand, he walked out to one of the police officers to talk to them.

Hank watched him go with a smile, which quickly turned to a frown. He glanced back at the house. Every part of him wanted to be inside with Bella. Holding her and making sure she was okay. He wanted to listen to her side of the story, know what happened, and get this all figured out. Eventually she would need to give a statement to the police, but right now, he wanted her safe and well. And that meant inside with her family.

He stood and watched the commotion for a few more minutes when an officer approached. “I just spoke to Ms. Woods,” he said, looking down at his notebook. “Do you want me to bring her in? Or is a written statement enough?”

Henry wanted to growl. He hadn’t wanted Bella disturbed at all, but then he sighed. His heart was overruling what he needed to do as a detective, and that wasn’t how it should be. “Written is enough,” he huffed. “If we need more from her, we know where to find her.”

The officer nodded and put the notebook in their pocket. “Looks like we’ve about got it.” They turned to the driveway. “Except we’re going to have a bunch of angry people when they discover their tires are all slashed.”

Hank sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Have a few officers wait around and help those who need help changing their tires. For anyone without a spare, offer them a ride home until it can all be figured out.” He looked up. “Do we know how many were sliced?”

“Best we can tell, there were six cars,” the officer stated, putting his hands on his hips.

Hank nodded. “Not as bad as I feared,” he murmured.

“But enough to cause a riot.”

Henry snorted. “True enough.”

“Anything else?”

Hank shook his head. “No. Get that idiot downtown, then Bill—Sheriff Davidson—and I will give our own statements before he’s booked.” He jerked his chin toward the car with George sitting in the back.

The officer nodded and headed off, leaving Hank with his thoughts. He forced his feet into action, walking to where he’d parked. The sooner you get this taken care of, the more time you can spend with Bella. Come on. Let’s get it done.

Those words got him through the next twelve hours as he stayed awake all night at the station, helping piece together the disasters that had happened at Gingerbread Inn.

As he walked outside, Hank put a hand to his eyes, the sun bright but offering no warmth on the crisp Christmas morning.

“You going to bed?” Bill asked with a yawn.

Hank thought about it, then shook his head. “No. I don’t think I can rest until I check on her.”

“Claire says she’s doing fine,” the sheriff offered.

Hank nodded. “Thanks, but I’d like to see for myself.”

Bill slapped him on the back. “Merry Christmas, son.”

“That’s grandson to you!” Hank called out, laughing quietly when Bill waved an agitated hand at him.

Hank was exhausted. He’d been up for too long and the adrenaline from the night before had long since slipped away. But he knew his mind would never rest unless he got to see Bella in person.

Tightening