Read Holidays Can Be Murder: A Charlie Parker Christmas Mystery for Free Online

be lighter to handle and small enough I could carry it in my purse. My gift to him was a set of aviation references—lacking the romantic element, but something he’d been wanting for a long time. Together, our gift to Catherine was a vacation trip she’d been wanting to take to visit her elderly aunt in Vermont. Drake had told me that Aunt Ruthie was a real pistol at eight-nine years old, but just couldn’t quite manage a two-thousand-mile-long journey.
    “This is the best,” Drake sighed, plopping himself on the couch, gazing fondly at his mother and then at me, while stroking one of the reference books in his lap. I wasn’t sure which of the above made him the happiest, but it didn’t really matter. I stretched out in one recliner and Catherine took the other. I had an instant’s déjà vu as I remembered holidays in this same room when I was a kid.
    “Well, if we’re going to have turkey tonight, I think I better put it in the oven,” I finally said, pulling myself out of my little haven.
    The phone rang just as I walked into the kitchen.
    “Merry Christmas, Charlie.” It was Judy. “If you’re not terribly busy right now, could I come over for a minute?”
    “Sure. We’re pretty much just laying around, fat and happy,” I told her. With eggs Benedict for breakfast and a full turkey dinner coming up—fat and happy was a pretty good description.
A couple of minutes later, I heard Drake open the front door then Judy came into the kitchen.
“Thanks so much,” she breathed, sinking into one of the kitchen chairs. “I just had to get out for a little while.”
“Coffee?” I offered, belatedly remembering that she didn’t drink it.
“Please. Strong.”
I raised an eyebrow. “I could make you some tea, if you’d rather.”
She waved her hand back and forth. “No, it’s okay, really.”
    She accepted the mug I handed over and doused it liberally with sugar and cream while I put the turkey into the roasting pan and set it in the oven.
    “You don’t look like you’re having such a great day,” I offered tentatively.
    She made a low growling sound. “Oh, it started off all right. Paula was so hung over from last night—apparently she’d restocked her hidden supply and managed to duck into her room several times throughout the evening. Anyway, she slept til nearly eleven this morning and Wilbur and I finally had some time to ourselves.”
    She sipped at the coffee and grimaced. “The fun started after that. She came dragging into the kitchen and informed us that she plans to stay in Albuquerque and that she’ll be living with us until she gets a job and a place of her own. Not more than a couple of months—” Her voice cracked and she put her forehead on the table. A sound came out that sounded like “no, no, no.”
    “Staying?” I’m afraid my own voice sounded frightened.
    Judy raised her head. Her eyes were red rimmed, her face blotchy. “I can’t handle it, Charlie, I really can’t.” She raised the coffee mug and put it back down. “And the worst part is that Wilbur won’t say anything. He doesn’t want her here either. We’ve talked about this when we’re alone. But he just can’t stand up to her.”
I microwaved a new mug of water and got out a tea bag.
“Here. I don’t think that coffee’s doing you much good.”
She did the dunking and squeezing ritual and took a sip before she spoke again. “What am I going to do?”
“Change the locks? Move to Zimbabwe?” I offered helpfully.
“Have plastic surgery so she won’t recognize me?”
“Go into the Witness Protection Program?”
“Bump her off?”
“But only in the most painful way possible.”
    “Oh yes, only that would do.” She giggled and took a good pull on her tea. “I better get going. I’ve got a few things to do around the house and I’d love a nap. Wilbur and I are invited to a dinner party tonight. And Paula’s not going.”
    “Hey, at least we put a smile back on your face,” I said. I walked