Cold Case Christmas. Jessica R. Patch

possible to know now,” Troy offered.

      Nora pointed with her black glove toward the car. “I know what you’re thinking. The whole town has thought it for years.” Her voice rose with each word. The crowd attentively listened, reporters salivated. “She wasn’t leaving us. She was out here that night for a reason, and I’m going to find out if I have to turn over every rock, crawl into every hole and re-create every weather pattern for a week leading up to the event. My mother didn’t leave me!” Her watery eyes met Rush’s. “She didn’t.”

      Rush itched to comfort her, but she’d push him away. The last time she left his arms, she’d called him a cheater, a liar and a jerk. He’d own up to two out of three. He didn’t embrace her but he did pull her aside. “What if you don’t like where that night takes you, Nora?” he asked softly. “Let it go. Be content with the fact that she loved you.”

      If Nora dug, it could turn up a lot of dirt.

      “I will not be content until I know what she was doing out here. And just because you assume it’s an accident doesn’t mean it was.” Nora shivered. “What if someone hurt her?”

      He couldn’t rule out foul play yet, but it was unlikely—even with the evidence retrieved from Marilyn’s car. Nora wanted any answer other than the one that claimed her mother was leaving town without so much as a goodbye. And they’d never know the reason. It had been nearly two decades. “I told you I’d look into it, Nora.”

      “You promise?”

      “Nora, I’ve never broken a promise to you. I won’t break one now.” He hadn’t broken the promise to be together forever. She had. He’d tried everything to coax her back into the land of the living—back to him. In the end, she’d left him picking up the shattered pieces of his heart.

      Her lips soured. “No, I suppose you haven’t broken a promise to me. But you have broken them.”

      She hit him square in the frozen heart, thawing it to a burning muscle that pulsed with regret. He hadn’t broken a promise, but he had broken a commitment to the girl he was dating when Nora came home after graduating college for a job opportunity with a radio station. He hadn’t expected that, or for her to call him and see if they could grab dinner, catch up, since she’d pulled away from him after her mom went missing.

      It was as if nothing had ever come between them, and she’d been planning on moving back if things went well with her interview.

      Things escalated, snowballed. He honestly meant to tell Nora about Ainsley, and that he’d already intended to break things off with her anyway—it was the truth. But before he had the chance, Ainsley caught him and Nora in a heated kiss on Lookout Tower.

      Angry words had been hurled. Words like You’re just like your mother. A home-wrecker. Statements like Wait until the town hears that perfect Nora Livingstone is her mother made over. Nora wouldn’t let Rush explain, and really what could he say? He had cheated on Ainsley with Nora. He was wrong. He admitted it. He’d made amends with Ainsley since, and she was now married to Dan, Troy’s son and Rush’s good friend. Water under the bridge, but Nora had tucked tail and run to Knoxville, never looked back. Never answered a call from Rush.

      He glanced at Troy and ignored his disdain over Rush’s declaration to look into things. It might be a waste of time and manpower, but he’d oblige Nora this one thing.

      He owed her.

      Nora’s heart might explode. There were so many emotions going on right now. She’d come home twelve days before Christmas—not by choice—only to arrive at the lodge and be told that Dad and Hailey were out at Shepherd Rock Lake with the police. That alone sent knives to her gut. But now here she was face-to-face with Rush. Time had filled out the young man’s body into a grown man’s, muscled by hard outdoor work more than gym visits; she’d heard he’d built a log cabin up farther on the mountain.

      His hat covered his toasted blond hair, but eyes the color of Hershey bars drilled into hers. Rush wasn’t a promise breaker. He used to be the most noble and honest person she’d ever known. And he could make her laugh on a dime. But then he had hurt her and at the moment she wasn’t sure he’d give the investigation all he had. Troy Parsons wanted to end it right now.

      But Mom was here for a reason and Nora couldn’t let it rest. However, arguing about it when she was standing in the middle of a monster Christmas storm coming through wasn’t wise. She’d predicted back in September low pressures off the Gulf Coast and arctic outbreaks across the Southeast. Snowflakes had begun in early October. This was likely to be the worst snow and ice storm in twenty-five years, but she couldn’t afford to fly south for the winter. She was upside down in debt and she’d been pushed out of her Chief Meteorologist job at channel six in Knoxville.

      To say she was touchy was an understatement.

      Dad approached her. “I’m taking Hailey home, honey. Don’t stay here any longer than you feel you have to. I’ll have the guest chalet stocked for you.” He kissed her forehead.

      She nodded at Dad and watched him climb in his vehicle. Hailey hadn’t once stepped out. Not even to acknowledge Nora was home. She didn’t handle hard situations well. Neither did Nora, but someone had to be Mom’s voice. Someone had to find out the truth.

      Nora walked closer to Mom’s car. All these years, she’d been submerged. Christmas Eve used to be Nora’s favorite night. The resort and lodge was always booked with families and couples from all over the world, anticipating the renowned Christmas Eve Masquerade Ball. A glorious night decorated in red, green and gold. A nativity ice sculpture. Fountains of gold sparkling cider. Christmas music. Friends. Family. Fun.

      Nora’s heart ached. Her father still put on the event as if her mother hadn’t gone missing that night. He had barely said a word about it. Didn’t push or force the investigation. Maybe he had believed the vicious murmurs about Mom.

      Well, not Nora.

      “Nora.” Rush’s voice came softer than moss. “Don’t go any closer. Some things can’t be unseen.”

      And some things couldn’t be undone. “Do you remember it raining and being slick that night?”

      “I don’t know,” he said sadly. She glanced at him, his nose red and eyes deep with compassion and pity. If only he knew how pitiful Nora was. Not two pennies to rub together. But he’d never know. No one would. It was all too humiliating.

      “I don’t.” Nora had always been fascinated with weather, which was why she remembered there had been snow earlier but the temps had been mild for December. “I need to trace her steps that night and find out what time she left the party and ended up here. Someone saw or heard something. They had to have.” If she could piece together the weather from that fateful Christmas Eve, she might be able to determine if the car going into the lake was related to weather conditions or not. Her part-time work as a forensic meteorologist had her doing this often, helping insurance companies with claims.

      Rush licked his lips and pawed his scruffy face. “Let me do it. Spend your time with family. Isn’t that why you’re home so early?” He cocked his head, and plumes of air trailed from his mouth.

      She was here because she had nowhere else to go. When the news played and she wasn’t on-screen they’d know. “I left channel six.”

      Rush’s eyebrows rose. “Really? Why?”

      The cold seeped into her bones and her teeth chattered. “I’m ready for warmer weather. Going to take a job in Florida.” She hoped anyway. She ought to know in the next week or two. And right now she did want warmer weather. She was a human Popsicle.

      Rush frowned. “You love mountain air. Skiing. Snowball fights.”

      “I do know how to pack a snowball,” she quipped. “But people change. I’m ready for palm trees and waterskiing.” She adjusted her knit cap and rubbed her hands, her gloves not keeping her as warm as she’d like, and stared at Mom’s car. “Anything inside