Cold Case Christmas. Jessica R. Patch

gave her the get-real face. “Rumors flew through town. There’s no way he hadn’t heard them. Possibly approached her. A man was in that car at some point that night or around the event. Could be he caught her with him that night.”

      And did what? “For not meaning to imply, you’re doing it again.”

      Rush’s neck reddened. “We need to find the man who owns the cuff link and mask. He might have answers. We can get photos from the party.”

      “Silver cuff links aren’t rare. And what if the wearer isn’t in the pictures?”

      Rush tented his hands on the table. “I’d like them anyway.”

      Nora nodded as the food arrived. They waited for the server to leave before going back into their discussion. “They’d be in a storage room near the offices. I can get them for you later today.”

      They made small talk, dancing around the past.

      “How’s Hailey?” Rush asked.

      “I think she’s keeping a brave front for Dalton since he’s already going through a lot.” She added more syrup to her pancakes. “How’s your family?”

      Rush’s jaw ticked. “Fine. Everyone’s coming in for the Christmas celebration.”

      “Greer and Hollister?”

      Rush’s eyes held surprise. “You remember them?”

      “How could I forget?” She remembered all those summers with Rush, including the ones with his cousins.

      His phone rang and he answered; a few minutes later he hung up. “I have to go. With this weather, all hands are on deck with traffic accidents and we have one on Route 5. Turned into a brawl. Let me pay for my breakfast.”

      “Toast is twenty-two fifty.” She held in a giggle.

      Rush paused, then grinned. She’d had a weak spot for that killer smile. Guess she hadn’t done enough strength training lately. It was making its mark.

      “Don’t worry about it. Daddy would be fit to be tied if he knew you were paying for meals here.” She bit into her bacon. “I’ll bring the photos by the station in a couple of hours.”

      “Be careful. Clearly the roads are treacherous, not to mention other dangers.”

      “Will do.” She saluted him with the bacon but lost her appetite. Someone wasn’t going to be pleased when they found out she wasn’t giving up the quest for truth. She rubbed her cheek and shivered, then made her way down to the offices and storage rooms where they kept the predigitalized masquerade photos for marketing purposes. She flipped the light switch. The fluorescent lights flickered and hummed, only two lighting the dim room.

      Using her cell phone flashlight, she crept into the room, highlighting the dates on cardboard boxes. Like something out of a TV show evidence facility. Dust sent her into a wave of sneezes. Halfway down the fourth aisle, she found the box. “Bingo.”

      A noise came from behind. Mouse? Please be a mouse.

      Hairs rose on her arms and neck. She turned as a masked man snatched the box of photos and shoved her to the ground.

      No! Nora jumped up, adrenaline pumping. With all her might, she pushed until the metal row in front of her toppled and crashed onto the masked man, boxes spilling open as papers and photos littered the concrete floor.

      Nora hurdled over the boxes and debris, hands shaking, and grabbed the box he’d dropped, then ran like the wind. With one hand, she dialed 911. The dispatcher answered. Menacing words and papers shuffled in the distance. Oh, no. “Tell Rush Buchanan to get to Pine Refuge Resort and Lodge.” The attacker was on her tail. “Basement. Storage room. Now! Right now! This is Nora...” The phone slipped from her shaking hands as she took a hard right. Could she make the elevator? No. Where? Where could she go?

      Custodial closet. Down the next hall.

      She gripped the box. The attacker gained on her. She ran hard enough her chin shook.

      Five feet.

      Four.

      Two...

      She flew into the room, closed the door and locked it. The attacker banged and pulled on the knob. Could he find a way in? Could she find a way out? A small rectangular window above was covered in snow. The box wouldn’t fit through it. She could escape and leave the photos, but if he got inside he’d have them, and obviously something in them incriminated someone or he wouldn’t want the box so badly.

      Her phone was gone.

      No way to communicate. She curled into a ball until the banging and twisting on the doorknob silenced. Was he gone? Was he waiting on her to open the door?

      What could be in these photos? And how did the attacker know she’d be in the storage room?

      Chills slithered across her spine.

      She had been watched.

      “Nora! Nora Beth!” Rush stormed down the hall. Millie at Dispatch had called him, and what should have been a ten-minute drive had taken him over twenty thanks to the road conditions that were worsening each hour. Rush’s heart pounded in his chest as he hunted for Nora. God, please keep her protected. He’d made his way to the storage room and taken in the disaster.

      “Nora!”

      He headed right, down another hall.

      “Nora!”

      “Rush. Rush!” The custodial closet door opened and Nora flew into his arms, gripping with all her might. “A man tried to steal the photos.” Her shoulders relaxed and she explained what happened.

      Rush brushed a strand of blond hair from her face and tucked it safely behind her ear. His gaze locked on hers and he couldn’t quite make out what swam in her watery blue-greens—relief but something else.

      “I was so scared I didn’t know what to do.”

      “You did the right thing calling, then locking yourself in here.” More than ever they needed those photos. Rush needed to find all the Phantom of the Opera masked men. One of them had answers or could be the one trying to hurt Nora. “Let’s find your phone, get these and you somewhere safe.” He grabbed the box.

      Troy wouldn’t want him exhausting his energy on this. As far as he was concerned, it was a closed case. He’d agreed with Rush that someone wasn’t happy about Nora turning over rocks and they should be looking into that. But after two attacks and being followed, Rush wasn’t so sure it was all about a possible scandal. People had killed for less, though.

      The only place he knew the photos would be safe was under his care, at his house. He wasn’t sure he wanted Nora there permeating it with her sweet cherry blossom scent and intensifying his loneliness when she left.

      Rush led Nora to his vehicle and opened the door for her, then put the photos in the backseat. He hurried inside, cranked the heat and sighed. “You okay with going to my place?”

      “Sure.” Her cheeks turned pink and she gazed out the window. “I heard you built a house on the mountain.”

      “About four years ago. Still needs some work, but I’m only one man.”

      “Who’s saved me twice. Thank you.” She rubbed her palms together.

      Rush pointed all the vents toward her. “You’d think tourists would stop pouring in. This keeps up and flights won’t only be delayed, they’ll be canceled.”

      “People pay good money to be here on the holidays. They don’t care about the weather. Sometimes I feel like I’m talking to nothing but the camera.”

      Rush switched his wipers on to knock away the ice pelting the windshield. The rest of the ride was fairly quiet. He turned onto a long drive that cut up through a thick forest of evergreens. His two-story A-frame