Home for the Holidays Read Online Free

snoop around?”
    “We should talk to Paul first,” Andrea suggested.  She glanced at Gloria’s clock above the kitchen sink.  It was already 8:30 at night.  “How about first thing in the morning?”
    They agreed that overwhelming him with all of them at once might be a bad idea. Instead, they decided to send Lucy and Margaret.
    “What should I do?” Gloria asked. 
    She had a sudden thought.  “There is a cop hangout in Green Springs.  It’s a 24-hour diner popular with police, especially the ones who work the night shift.”  Paul’s shift. 
    Andrea snapped her fingers.  “Great!  Why don’t we run by there?” She turned to Gloria.  “I’m a night owl and I doubt you’ll get any sleep.”
    It was true.  The night loomed long and lonely. 
    She pressed on.  “We need to get this investigation started.  There’s a wedding right around the corner!”
    Gloria wasn’t convinced.  There was still a little voice whispering in her ear that maybe, just maybe, Paul was trying to get out of marrying her.  Her pride wouldn’t admit it…at least not out loud, but the terrible little voice was echoing the words, no matter how hard she tried to push them out.
    “Okay,” she relented.  “You’re right.  I won’t sleep a wink tonight.”
    The girls abandoned the chairs and headed for the door.
    “I’ll keep my ears open,” Ruth promised.
    “Me, too.” Dot added.
    “What time should we show up on Paul’s doorstep in the morning?” Margaret asked.
    Gloria guessed if Paul were in the same state of mind she was, he wouldn’t sleep well and would be up early.  She shrugged her shoulders.  “Whenever you want.  I’m not sure how cooperative he’ll be,” she admitted.
    Lucy patted Gloria’s shoulder.  “Don’t worry about Paul.  We’ll figure something out.”
    It was a good thing they were.  Gloria’s mind was still a pile of mush and she was having trouble forming a coherent thought.
    Gloria was the last one out of the kitchen.  She slid her arms in her coat, grabbed her keys and then pulled the back door shut. She wiggled the knob to make sure it had locked. 
    Andrea offered to drive and Gloria was relieved.  She hated driving at night.  It was hard for her to judge distance after dark.  On top of that, she was still distraught over the day’s turn of events.
    She hugged each of her friends before she climbed into the passenger seat of Andrea’s pick-up.  She reached for the seatbelt, slid it across her lap and clicked the latch into the buckle. 
    Andrea fastened her own seat belt and turned the key in the ignition.  “Don’t worry, Gloria.  We will get to the bottom of this.  I promise,” she vowed.
    Gloria nodded.  Sudden tears burned the back of her eyes.  Her friends…and family were the most important things in the world.  There was no way she could leave Belhaven.  This was the only home she had ever known. 
    Talk of moving to Florida was Gloria in panic-mode.  She was starting to calm down and rational thoughts returned. 
    Her mind kicked into detective gear as she tried to remember some of the people Paul worked with.  She had met several of them during the past summer when Paul’s boss, Captain Davies, had hosted a cookout at his cabin on the shores of Crooked Pine Lake. 
    She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the headrest.  “Paul and I went to a cookout last summer with some of his co-workers, fellow officers.  I’m trying to remember their names.”
    Several of the officers were close to Paul’s age…close to retirement age.  She was terrible with names and gave up trying to remember them.  Instead, Gloria focused on the details. 
    There was a short, balding guy who teased Paul that he was about a year behind him in retirement.  He had mentioned his wife was hounding him to buy an RV so they could travel around the country.  Stan something…
    Then there were two brothers.  They were still in their 30’s if Gloria had