Read Online Rose and Helena Save Christmas: a novella by Jana DeLeon, Denise Grover Swank - Free Book Online Page A

she’s fine.” Rose picked up a beignet. “And speakin’ of phone calls, maybe it’s time for you to call Ronnie and tell him what’s goin’ on.”
    She shook her head, then mumbled through a mouthful, “No. He’ll only be worried. Let’s wait and see if Taylor finds something out, then we can both decide whether to call Ronnie and Mason.”
    Rose pursed her lips. She wasn’t sure waiting was such a good idea. As it was, Mason was probably gonna be miffed that she hadn’t already told him what was going on, but he’d insist on coming down and he probably wouldn’t sit on the sidelines, waiting for the law enforcement officers to work this out. He never did in Henryetta. But Taylor said his involvement might do more harm than good. Still. Ronnie was a different story. He was a mechanic and he truly loved Neely Kate. Rose’s friend was putting on a brave face, but Rose knew she had to be scared facing a possible arrest. Especially here in New Orleans. At least in Fenton County they had Mason and Joe.  
    “How are you handling this, Neely Kate? Really?”
    Tears filled her eyes. “I was excited to come to New Orleans, but now I just want to go home.”
    Rose covered her hand with her own. “You will, I promise.” She sat straighter, forcing a smile. “In the meantime, let’s go back to the hotel and get that ball rollin’ and then we can go out to dinner before we go to the play.”
    “I almost forgot about the play in all the confusion.”
    “Yeah, me too. But Mason paid a fortune for the tickets, and while he’d understand if we didn’t feel up to it, I really want to go—partially because this was his early Christmas gift to me and I really want to see the play.”
    Neely Kate stood, picking up her bag of beignets. “Then let’s get goin’. We’ve got a full afternoon and evening ahead.”

Chapter Ten

    Taylor pulled out her cell phone when she stepped out the side door of the hotel. As she made her way to the sidewalk, she saw Rose and Neely Kate cross the street and head for one of the dress shops. She found the number she was looking for in her contacts and dialed.  
    “Yo, Taylor,” he answered.
    “Yo, Jimmy,” she said, smiling. Jimmy was a twenty-year-old computer geek disguised as a surfer. He was what artsy people called eclectic and what regular people called slightly off. Taylor figured both were probably true.
    “To what do I owe this pleasure?” he asked. “I swear I haven’t gotten into any more trouble.”
    “If memory serves me correctly, it wasn’t really you who caused the trouble before. You were just caught up in the tidal wave.”
    “True that. But you’re the only person who believed me.”
    “Yeah, well, I’m calling in a return of that favor.”
    “You in a bind?” All joking fled his voice and his tone switched to concerned.
    “Me and a couple other ladies. We had the misfortune of being the last people to see a murder victim alive.”
    “No shit? Wow!”
    “And Savoy drew the case.”
    “Oh man, that is not good. He was always looking for the short answer, not the right one.”
    “And he hasn’t changed a bit. Anyway, the ladies I’m in a bind with are staying at your place of employment and someone tossed their room this morning. I told them not to report it and let housekeeping call it in. I won’t get into why, but I have my reasons.”
    “Sure. What do you need from me?”
    “I need the security footage for this morning to disappear. I don’t want Savoy to get any indication that they knew about the break-in. I want it all to funnel through housekeeping and hotel management to them.”
    “No problem. In fact, your timing is perfect. I’m changing out the server today. I’ll tell them the entire system has been off-line since six a.m. Will that work?”
    “Perfectly. Before you do it, can you check and see who entered room 234 this morning?  
    “Sure. Hold on a sec.”
    Taylor heard fast typing and the occasional click of a mouse.