The Patricia Kiyono Christmas Collection by Patricia Kiyono

time this week, but she’d be happy to
help you.”
    Angie wrinkled her nose. “Can I ask Miss
Sophie to help me decorate my room instead?”
    “ Sophie? Why? Don’t you
like the way Grandma’s house looks?”
    “ It’s okay. And I think
she’ll make our living room and kitchen look nice. But I want
Sophie to help me with my room because… because… I don’t know. I
like her. She always looks so pretty, and I think she’d make my
room look pretty, too. And she said purple was her favorite color,
too. Please? Will you call her? If Miss Sophie helps me decorate my
room before Grandma gets here, then I won’t have to tell Grandma
she doesn’t need to do it for me. And then she won’t be sad that I
don’t want her to do it.”
    Mitch had no argument for that. Besides,
after the news he’d received the day before, he needed someone to
talk to, someone who would understand. He looked up Sophie’s number
and dialed. If she truly needed more work, maybe she’d be willing
to put in a few hours as an interior decorator.
     
    ~~~~
     
    “ What do you mean, you’re in jail?” Melinda Billingsworth
cleared her throat and straightened her spine, resuming the
polished, cultured image she’d worked so hard to
achieve.
    “ You wanted proof the guy
was a lousy father, and I tailed him. I almost froze to death
sittin’ in my car and watching him. He had a few hot kisses with a
local girl, but he wasn’t doin’ nothin’ you could use against him.
I stood in the bushes while he took his daughter out for pizza. The
police caught me there and warned me to mind my own business. I
figured the only way the guy would look like a neglectful dad was
if the girl got herself kidnapped, so I tried. How was I supposed
to know that the school had a list of names they could release each
kid to? The secretary went to check, and I left. But she got my
license number and they tracked me down. I’ll need to add my bail
to your expenses.”
    “ You’ll do nothing of the
kind. I hired you to get evidence that Mitchell Carson is not fit
to raise my granddaughter. I expected you to have more sense than
to walk into a public building and take her.”
    “ I would have just nabbed
her, but the kid is never alone. The dad is always with her when
she’s outside. He takes her to school and picks her up. If he goes
to the store, she goes with him. I tell you, the guy watches his
kid like a hawk. So I figured I’d go up to the school and tell them
her dad was in an accident and I was sent to take her there to see
him. It didn’t work.”
    “ I will pay you for your
expenses up to this point and nothing more. You can consider
yourself dismissed from this job.” She disconnected before Duncan
could argue.
    Melinda knew she would probably end up
paying the fool’s bail. But it was clear she would have to do her
own dirty work. The holidays were coming up, and that bohemian her
daughter had married was probably busy shooting photographs for
people. If she played her cards right, she could probably gather
some evidence of neglect.
    And if she couldn’t find any evidence, she’d
just have to create some.
    She went to her walk-in closet and pulled
out an old photo album. The pages had already started to yellow,
and she wondered if she should have her secretary find someone to
put the photos in one of those new photo-safe albums. But right now
she found comfort in looking at the images of her precious
daughter. Her baby girl. The daughter who should have been her
ticket to the international jet-set.
    Sarah had been her pride and joy. She’d been
educated in the finest schools, and thanks to Geoffrey’s
connections, she had met and charmed Chicago’s elite. Melinda
gently touched the photos and mementos of her daughter’s life:
report cards from school, programs from piano recitals, and
certificates of appreciation from charities she’d worked with.
She’d been on her way to becoming a true lady — a member of the
American