Read December Frost (A Southern Romance Monthly) for Free Online Page B

registered the outside temp at 32º. Cecelia believed it, with the icy cold in her fingers and toes. All she had with her were her boots, socks and a short jacket. If it snowed—
    Eh. She didn't want to think about that nightmare.  
    The clock turned over 12:00 and Deb's car pulled up a second later. The woman's talent for on time arrivals was unnatural. Last night's after seven entrance had to have been an aberration.  
    Deb was bundled in a thick coat, gloves and a hat. She looked like the muffin man to Cecelia. But as she got out of the car, she could appreciate her friend's precaution. A gust of wind whipped her hair about and she folded her arms over her chest and ran up the front steps of the house.  
    "You are going to freeze like that." Deb was such a mother. "You do know it's going to snow. It's already snowing in Alabama."  
    "Are you saying we have a snow storm coming? In Georgia?"  
    "Don't give me that look, and point that unibrow somewhere else." Deb glared. "Why are we here?"  
    Cecelia pulled a key ring from her pocket and cycled through a few keys until she found one that fit the lock.  
    "Is that legal? Do you have a search warrant?"  
    "Why do a I need a warrant?" Cecelia pushed the door open and pulled her gun from the back of her jeans. "He gave me the key. Stay here. I'll check it out."  
    "Why do you have your gun out?" Deb's eyes were wide.  
    "Just…" Why did she have it? Was it her spidey sense? Was it the look in the guy's eyes, the worry she saw there. Yeah it could be worry about going to jail for the rest of his life, but she thought she saw something else. "Stay here."  
    Cecelia went inside and followed procedure as she checked behind the door, in the closets, each room, and then upstairs she did the same thing. Once she was sure the house was empty she called out. "Clear!'
    "What?"  
    Oh. Yeah. Right. She always forgot Deb wasn't a cop. She came down the stairs and pulled Deb inside. After locking the door back, she pulled a pair of gloves from her back pocket. "Don't touch anything."
    "Cece—what's going on?"  
    "Deb I honestly don't know. It's just that everything in my bones tells me this guy isn't guilty. That it's all wrong." She started looking through the living room, then the kitchen, with Deb right behind her.  
    "Nice house," Deb commented. "You sure it's just not your libido talking? You don't want him to be guilty so you're looking for something to prove he's not?"  
    Cecelia stopped by the fridge and turned to face Deb. "He told me he had evidence in his car that would prove what he was telling us was the truth. A laptop and a tablet."  
    "Then why are we in his house?"  
    "Because of this," she pulled the folded print out of the ID profile for Thomas Carr and handed it to Deb. "The picture's not the same. But all the other evidence says it's him. Look at that address."  
    Deb did. "That's this address."  
    Cecelia held up the keys. "He gave me these. And one of them fit the front door."  
    "I don't get it. Is this Thomas Carr's house?"  
    "I think it is. But I want to find something in this house that proves the good looking guy in lock up is this Thomas Carr. Then I think I can move forward and get to his car before anybody else. He told me where he parked it."  
    "Okay so… pictures. There has to be pictures somewhere."  
    "Which is why I was looking in here." Cecelia turned to the fridge. "Most people leave pictures on their refrigerator. But there's nothing here."  
    "Bedroom?"
    The two of them went upstairs. There were two bedrooms. Deb took the spare and Cecelia took the master. She looked through the night stands, under the bed, in the drawers—but the only thing she found was that who ever lived here was a total neat freak. Everything was folded.  
    Even his socks!  
    And he had expensive tastes. She went into his closet and looked at the evenly spaced suits. Nice suits. Exactly like the one he'd been wearing. She put her nose to one of them