Death of a Christmas Caterer (21 page)

Chapter 37

As the inebriated couple fumbled with one another on top of the bed, the man wheezing and thrusting, the woman moaning and gasping, Hayley reached up and plucked one of Nick's flannel work shirts off the hanger. Slipping her hand through the sleeve, she used the shirt to pick up the gun, being careful not to get her own prints on it. She wrapped the rest of the shirt around it and held it until the couple on the bed finally finished. The man rolled off the woman and collapsed on his back. Hayley spied the woman smiling, satisfied. The man closed his eyes and fell instantly asleep, snoring loudly. The woman, offended that her partner wasn't as anxious as she was for some postcoital pillow talk, violently shook him awake. He grunted and snorted and finally came to his senses. She shoved him off the bed and ordered him to put his clothes back on and get her a drink. The man was spent, but he did his best to do as he was told.

Once the woman checked herself in the mirror, wiping some smeared lipstick off her chin, the couple finally retreated out the door and back downstairs to join the party.

Hayley waited a few moments, making sure the coast was clear, before slowly opening the closet door. Tucking the gun wrapped in Nick's shirt under her arm, she crossed past the now-disheveled bed and headed to the bedroom door. Before she even had a chance to reach for the knob, the door swung open, nearly banging her in the head.

Standing in the doorway was Santa Claus.

Or, at least, a nightmarish version of him.

This Saint Nick had a menacing look on his face, his eyes wild with rage.

Hayley took a step back as Santa pushed his way into the bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him.

“I thought I saw you slipping up the stairs,” Nick growled. “I don't remember inviting you to my Christmas party.”

“I had no idea this was an invitation-only party. I thought you were having an open house and I just wanted to stop by and wish you ‘Merry Christmas.'”

“Really?” Nick said skeptically, leering at Hayley.

His eyes went right to the balled-up shirt tucked underneath Hayley's arm.

“You trying to steal one of my shirts?”

“I was cold. I was just going to borrow it while I'm here.”

Nick lashed out, grabbing one of the sleeves that was dangling, and ripped it away from her. The shirt unraveled and the gun clattered to the hardwood floor.

They both briefly stared at it.

Then Nick raised his eyes and stared at Hayley.

“You know.”

He advanced upon her.

Slowly.

He quickly glanced back to make sure the door to the bedroom was firmly shut.

Hayley moved away from him, her eyes searching for some means of escape.

“Damn it! I thought I had taken care of you, once and for all,” Nick said, spitting out the words, his face a mask of fury.

“By locking me in the freezer?”

“I was so sick of you snooping around and badgering Hugo!”

“You were afraid if I kept at him, I might get him to crack, so you decided the best thing to do was to put me on ice permanently.”

“Why couldn't you have just let it go, like everybody else? We were so close to getting away with it and putting it all behind us.”

“Not ‘we,' Nick.
You!
This is on you.
You
pulled the trigger.
You
were the one who killed Garth Rawlings!”

Hayley ducked to her right.

Nick lunged at her.

Then in a flash she ducked to her left, faking him out.

She managed to get past him; but before she reached the door, he was on top of her, throwing his beefy arms around her, pinning her against his chest.

“Sergio knows where I am! He's probably on his way over here right now!”

“You're bluffing! If Chief Alvares knew anything at all, he wouldn't have let you come here on your own!”

Nick hurled Hayley onto the bed with all his might.

She landed on her back, bouncing up and down on top of the mattress. She scrambled away from him and hit her head on the headboard.

Nick unbuckled the shiny black belt around his Santa suit.

Hayley shuddered at the thought of what possibly could come next.

He reached up underneath the red coat and yanked out the large, fluffy white pillow he was using to create the illusion of Saint Nick's ample stomach.

Hayley suddenly knew what Nick was planning to do. She opened her mouth to scream. Nick jumped on top of her in an instant.

The last thing she saw was the self-satisfied sneer on his face as he pressed the pillow over her face and began smothering her.

Chapter 38

Hayley struggled desperately, kicking and clawing, but Nick was too powerful. As she thrashed around violently, he managed to keep her pinned down and the pillow clasped firmly over her face. She couldn't breathe. She knew it was only a matter of minutes now before she would get light-headed from lack of oxygen and lose consciousness.

Just like when she thought she was going to die in the freezer, Hayley thought of her children and how horrific it would be for them to find out they had lost their mother so close to Christmas. She couldn't bear the thought of them going through that. It just made her fight harder.

But Nick was twice her size. And twice her strength. She was not going to win this one.

Suddenly she heard a man yell, “Nick, what the hell are you doing?”

Within seconds Nick loosened his grip and then let go of her completely. Someone was hauling him off her. There were sounds of a scuffle: two men punching each other. One let out an earsplitting war cry. It sounded like Nick.

Hayley threw the pillow off her face and gasped for air. She turned her head to the side just in time to see Nick scoop up one of Lex's crutches that had fallen to the floor during the melee. He raised it up to bash it into Lex's skull, but Lex was too fast for him. He delivered a roundhouse blow to Nick's right cheek.

It was a sickening, crunching sound. A tooth flew out of Nick's mouth as he spun around and dropped to the floor.

Dazed.

Barely conscious.

Lex grabbed the shiny plastic black belt Nick had used to tie around the waist of his Santa suit. He flipped Nick over on his stomach and pulled his arms together, using the belt to tie his hands. He left him there, writhing on the floor, and hobbled over to the bedside to check on Hayley.

“Are you okay?” He placed a gentle hand behind her neck and helped her sit up.

She nodded, still gulping in air. “Lex . . . ,” she panted. “How did you know?”

“I didn't. I just came by to confront Nick about the damaged wall, maybe strong-arm him into confessing. I had no clue he was throwing a Christmas party. Someone downstairs said she saw him heading upstairs, so I came up to find him and just walked in on him trying to . . .”

Hayley stood up, but she was still woozy, and Lex had to steady her. “We better call Sergio and tell him what happened.”

Nick was on the floor, groaning. “It was an accident. . . .”

Lex was already on his cell phone, calling the police station.

Hayley walked over and stood over him.

He flopped around a bit like a desperate trout on the deck of a fishing boat. “I never meant to hurt anyone. . . .”

“Maybe you didn't intentionally kill Garth,” Hayley said, feeling no sympathy. “But you lied and you covered it up, and that's just as bad, if you ask me. Plus you tried to kill
me
twice. You'll always be a murderer in my book.”

Hayley watched as Nick groaned some more and struggled against his bonds, but it was half-hearted because he knew in his heart that it was over. He was going to prison for a long time.

Sergio left Officers Donnie and Earl to deal with the car accident and raced back to town in his cruiser to place Nick Ward under arrest. After scolding Hayley for charging into a dangerous situation without any backup, he tossed Nick in the back of the squad car and spirited him off to jail.

Hayley found Lex leaning against the flatbed of his truck, staring up at the stars as she was heading back to her car to go home to her kids. His face was pale. His shoulders sagged. The crutches were propped up next to him.

She walked over to him; and when his eyes met hers, she gave him a comforting hug.

“He wasn't just my employee. He was my friend. I trusted the guy with my life. How could he have done such a horrible thing? How could I not see it?”

“It's not your fault, Lex. You can't blame yourself.”

She could tell he was tormented. Nothing she could say was going to make him feel better. It was going to take time.

All she could think to do was give him another hug. He latched onto it like a lifeline. He held her there, tight in his arms.

Perhaps a moment too long.

His embrace felt warm. It felt safe to be in his big arms again.

Finally she let go.

He leaned in, savoring the moment, with his lips puckered.

Hayley reared her head back a bit too fast to avoid the kiss.

That stopped Lex cold.

And it was at that moment that he finally knew and accepted it.

Hayley had made her choice.

His arms dropped back down to his sides and he forced a smile. “Merry Christmas, Hayley.”

“Merry Christmas, Lex.”

Chapter 39

The following day was Christmas Eve. Hayley was anxious to leave work early in order to spend the night with her family. Hayley was looking forward to a quiet, noneventful holiday. Her brother, Randy, was going to host a dinner on Christmas night, so Hayley could spend Christmas Eve with her kids.

During lunch she received a call from Sabrina asking if she would join her for a cocktail at Drinks Like A Fish. Hayley tried to beg off, but Sabrina was insistent, promising it would only be for one round and that she would be home in plenty of time to cook dinner for her kids and do any last-minute wrapping and decorating. Hayley agreed; and after wishing Sal, Bruce, and the rest of the
Island Times
staff a happy holiday, she drove over to her brother Randy's bar.

The bar was surprisingly full for Christmas Eve. Randy had left early to have a romantic dinner with Sergio at home, so his crack bartender, Michelle, was on duty, serving the customers. Hayley spotted Sabrina at a corner table away from the bar. Hayley waved at her and crossed over to join her.

“Thanks for meeting me, Hayley,” Sabrina said softly, twirling the lemon from her vodka tonic around the inside of her glass.

“No problem. What's up?”

“I want you to be the first to know. I'm resigning as county coroner.”

“Sabrina, no!”

“I've had a good run. I think it's time for some new blood.”

“But you're so good at it—”

Sabrina raised an eyebrow.

“I'm not joking, Sabrina. Everybody makes a mistake.”

“I've made several the last couple of years and in very high-profile cases.”

“I am so sorry if I played any role in your decision. I never meant for you to quit.”

“Rest assured this has very little to do with you.”

“Then what?”

“I'm just tired of carving open dead bodies. I want a new challenge.”

Her words sounded hollow. She wasn't exactly being forthright. They made eye contact and Sabrina instantly saw the doubt on Hayley's face.

“Jerry's leaving me,” Sabrina said, taking a swig from her vodka tonic.

“What?”

“Told me this morning over breakfast. Can you believe it? I told him I was burned out and needed some time off, and maybe he could get a part-time job to help pay our bills for a few months. And before I even had the chance to take a bite of my blueberry waffles, he was asking for a divorce.”

“Oh, Sabrina, I am so, so sorry.”

“He prattled on about how the magic was gone, how we had grown apart, but that's just a lot of crap. He was using me. Do you know how many dead carcasses I've carved up these last few years to support his career as an artist? I am such an idiot.”

Hayley reached over and squeezed Sabrina's hand. “You're not the idiot. Jerry is.”

“I feel like such a failure. My first marriage to Matt went down the toilet. And now I've lost Jerry.”

“You haven't lost anything. You've gotten rid of deadweight. And now you're free. This is the first day of the rest of your life. You can do and be anything you want to be.”

“You sound like a fortune cookie.”

“Yes, I know. I eat way too much Chinese food.”

They smiled at each other.

Sabrina continued to grasp Hayley's hand, and she looked down at the table as she spoke. “I know we've had our differences over the years, Hayley, and I may not have been as nice to you as I could have been in high school. . . .”

That was a humongous understatement, but Hayley wasn't about to spoil the moment by pointing it out.

“And maybe lately I've been feeling threatened by you and your success. . . .”

“But from this point on, I want to start fresh. I want us to be friends,” Sabrina said, finally raising her eyes to meet Hayley's tentatively. “I don't have a lot of friends.” She had no idea how Hayley was going to react to this “Come to Jesus” moment.

Hayley grinned. “Well, if you really want to be my friend, then you should know the most important thing friends always do for me.”

“What's that?”

“Order me a drink.”

Sabrina laughed and then signaled Michelle.