Miz Scarlet and the Holiday Houseguests (A Scarlet Wilson Mystery #3) by Sara M. Barton Page A

you?
I took the liberty of making you some, Max, just in
case.”
    “Aren’t you a doll,” he grinned. He
followed Larry to the dining room, with Mickey in tow.
    Bur and my mother arrived at quarter to
seven, joining the others at the table. Lacey showed up soon after.
She was dressed in a green plaid fleece top that had a snowman on
the front, a pair of black leggings, and a necklace made of jingle
bells.
    “Good morning all,” she declared,
helping herself to bacon from the platter and a blueberry muffin.
“What’s on the schedule today? Do I have a volunteer elf to help
me? Say, young lady, you look like you have
potential....”
    “What’s in it for me?” the teen shot
back.
    “Are all your gifts wrapped yet?” my
mother inquired. “Do you have bows on all your
packages?”
    “No.”
    “Then that’s what’s in it for you. Wait
till you see Lacey bought for this year’s wrapping paper. You won’t
want to miss it.”
    “What’s so special about your wrapping
paper?” the teenager asked. I could see Mickey was
intrigued.
    “Are you kidding?” my brother laughed.
“When was the last time you saw a Chihuahua in a Santa hat? Or a
fat squirrel with a candy cane? Or zombies chasing
Santa?”
    “That sounds awesome. I can’t wait to
see Grandpa’s face when I give him his present.”
    “Speaking of which....” Bur promised
Mickey that she could ride with him to the airport later in the
afternoon to retrieve her grandfather. They’d leave for Bradley
International right after lunch.
    Michaela spent much of the morning
behind closed doors in the living room with the Googins girls. I
could hear lots of giggling and guffawing every time I walked
by.
    Once I cleaned up after the
breakfast crowd, I filled a Crockpot with the ingredients for
minestrone soup, and set it on low to simmer for several hours, and
then I got busy making beds and scrubbing toilets. When the rooms
were all ready for their occupants, I vacuumed the hall carpet and
stairs. I never heard my phone ring. It was only when I was winding
the power cord around the machine that I heard that familiar ping.
Kenny sent me a text message that made my heart sink. Sorry, babe. The closing for the house has been
delayed until Saturday morning. I’ll call you later tonight. Love
you. Darn it anyway, I groused to myself,
so much for our plans to spend time together. With my luck, we’d
have a blizzard on Saturday. I called Larry to let her know Kenny
wasn’t available as back-up.
    “Ask Max if he can stay another night,”
was the short reply. “Tell him I really need this.”
    “Right.” Hanging up, I went in search
of her former partner. Knocking on the door of the Red Oak Room, I
took a step back and waited. It swung open a moment later and I
found myself facing a man who was tying his blue-and-gray striped
tie.
    “What’s up?”
    “Can you stay one more night, Max?” I
explained Kenny’s dilemma in New Jersey. He flipped the long end of
the tie through the loop, adjusted it, and tightened it.
    “How do I look?” he wanted to know, not
answering my question.
    “Handsome. Larry really needs you
here,” I continued, wondering if he was ignoring me because he was
trying to figure out a way to refuse. It turned out that I was
hasty in my expectation of a rejection. Max was still Max, loyal to
his former partner.
    “No problem. That goes without saying.
Any chance I could get a cup of coffee for the road? I’ve got a
meeting in an hour.”
    “Of course. Thanks.”
    “My pleasure, Miz Scarlet.” With a
wink, he turned, grabbed his suit jacket and briefcase, and
followed me down the hall to the elevator. As we rode the car down
to the first floor, it dawned on me that Max, like Bur, had a crush
on Larry. Maybe he hoped this stint as bodyguard would put him in
her good graces and give him the opportunity to romance her. They
weren’t partners now, so there was no longer a taboo on dating. Did
Larry even have an inkling of how much Max