potential suspects. Still, the sooner he started, the sooner he could get the hell out of here. Small towns made Diego claustrophobic. Punishment cases just pissed him off. Not a good long-term combination.
“I’m ready to get to work, but I have a request first.”
“You need a dictionary to look up the word delicate?”
Diego smirked. It was hard not to like a guy who’d honed his smart-ass mouth to such a sharp edge. “I realize this is your town, and your focus is on protecting your citizens. But I’d like permission to handle the case my way.”
Eyes narrowed, Applebaum leaned back in his chair and studied Diego over steepled fingers. “Your way. Which means what, exactly?”
“I’ll follow procedure, stick with the rules and regulations.” Even if it choked him. “But I prefer to work a case alone. It’s easier to form an unbiased opinion, to dig for and sift through information solo. I’m not asking you to stay completely out of it or to give me free rein. It’d just be easier if the victims, the townspeople, see me as the lead on the case.”
“You don’t want me breathing over your shoulder while you grill one of the ladies of my town about her underwear?”
Diego hesitated. Nothing said he had to let Applebaum ride shotgun. But edging him out could be seen as smudging that line the captain was crazy about.
Diego shoved a hand through his hair, noting that he’d forgotten Kinnison’s order to get it cut.
Before he could address the tact Applebaum had mentioned, the door flew open. Surprised, both men watched a plump woman in a red Rudolph sweater hurry in, a plate in one hand and a sticky note in the other.
“I’m so sorry to interrupt. I brought cookies, but they’re a little, well …” She set the red-and-white-striped plate on the desk so fast, at least a cookie’s worth of crumbs hit the floor. Ignoring them, the woman hurried around the desk to hand the mayor the sticky note. Since she looked like the kind who chased crumbs like they were minions of the devil, Diego figured that note was damn important.
The frown on Applebaum’s face confirmed it.
“Thank you, Clara,” he said. Brow furrowed, he gestured to Diego. “Clara, this is Detective Sandoval. Detective, my secretary, Clara Clancy.”
“Nice to meet you, ma’am.”
“Likewise,” she said with a quick smile before poking her finger at the note again. “You should go now. Jade can’t enter her house until you get there, and Persephone’s out.”
The mayor rose quickly. He grabbed a couple of cookie pieces off the plate and gestured Diego toward the door. “You can read the files this evening. For now, we have another theft.”
“Sir?” He did a quick replay of the conversation. “What’s the significance of this burglary? Who is in danger?”
As he always did before approaching a volatile crime scene, Diego did an automatic weapon check. Surprised at how quick the older man moved, Diego lengthened his stride.
“Jade Carson is our librarian,” the mayor said, hurrying around the back of the garage-slash-office. Diego was just about to point out that he preferred to use his own transportation and that his GPS was perfectly capable of finding the address.
Then they reached the carport and his mouth was too busy drooling to get the words out.
“Climb in,” the older man said, sliding into the driver’s side of the cherry-red ‘66 Corvette. “And buckle up.”
Diego didn’t see it as capitulation to follow orders. It was more like expedience. And—he breathed deep the smell of rich leather—appreciation.
“Sir, is there a reason why the current victim being the librarian necessitates the rush?” Noting the sheepish look on the mayor’s face, why did he feel as if he was getting the runaround? In fine style, he acknowledged as the powerful roar of the engine kicked to life. But style or not, he didn’t go into a scene blind. It wasn’t a violent crime, the victim hadn’t entered the premises. So what was going on?
“We’re hurrying because, well, because of something that has nothing to do with the crime but a lot to do with keeping the peace.” Applebaum’s words were as tight and controlled as his hands on the steering wheel.
Diego sighed. Adrenaline, so high and intense a second ago, started dissipating. “Is this one of those small-town things?”
Applebaum gave him a look that was part warning, part amusement. “Jade’s cat got out. That’s how she knew someone had been in her house. The cat is likely causing trouble, so while you investigate, I’ll be rounding it up, assessing the damage and pacifying the neighbors.”
Applebaum parked the car, then gestured to the cozy-looking cottage. Slate-gray with soft pink trim, it looked like something out of a fairy tale. Diego’s gaze scanned the neighboring houses. A crowd had gathered across the street in front of one lit so bright, it dimmed the stars. Squinting, he could make out a pair of feet dangling from the roof. Part of the decorations?
“This is it,” Applebaum stated. “You go on in, do your job. I’ll send Jade in after a few minutes.”
Diego’s eyes followed when the mayor gestured to the crowd. Only one looked to be a woman. Older, plump and wrapped in a bright pink tracksuit. The librarian?
“I’d solve this as soon as possible, Detective,” the mayor said as they both exited the car. Frowning, he glanced at the crowd again. “People deserve to enjoy their holiday without this kind of thing hanging overhead.”
“I’ll do my best, sir. I’m hoping to have the case resolved before the weekend, and leave you and the town to your holiday celebrations in peace.”
Diego glanced at the crowd again and shook his head. Yep, the sooner he got himself back to the safe anonymity of a city, the sooner he could celebrate the holidays the way he always did—by ignoring them.
4
CROUCHED ON CARL’S SHINGLED ROOF, the heels of her favorite boots digging into her butt, Jade shoved a frustrated hand through her hair, pushing it from a sassy tousle to a freaked-out mess. Fitting. After all, she was on a damn roof.
“Mayor Applebaum,” she said to the man at the top of the ladder, trying to sound grateful instead of hysterical. “I appreciate your help, but I don’t think you should be climbing on a roof to get my cat. Persephone is my responsibility.”
And the mayor was pushing sixty. If one of them was going to fall two stories and land on Carl’s nativity scene with a splat, it should be her. Younger bones healed faster.
“You didn’t let her out, Jade. A burglar did, so nobody is going to blame you for her escape.” When Jade snorted, the mayor sighed. “I’ll deal with Carl. You go deal with the unfortunate reason the cat’s AWOL.”
Jade eyed the furious mountain of a man pacing the lawn below, his beefy arms waving in the air. In one hand was a headless, tutu-wearing teddy bear. In the other, a very large, very flat sheet of plastic that had once been a blow-up globe. Which was worse? Facing the devastation
