Wish Upon a Christmas Star

“Anyone special?” She asked the same questions every time he visited Kentucky or he flew her and Dad up to see him in New York. He was used to it by now. He even had a strategy to deflect the inquisition: say as little as possible.

“Nope,” he said.

After a few moments of silence, his mother changed the subject. They talked companionably of inconsequential things for the next hour while they decorated the tree with the ornaments and lights Logan brought up from the basement.

After Logan topped the tree with the traditional gilded angel that had been handed down from his grandmother, they stood back and admired their handiwork. With the afternoon sun streaming through the picture windows in the living room, the tree’s tiny white lights mimicked flakes of snow. His mother favored an artificial tree because of the risk of fire associated with a real one. Since she’d started putting pine-scented potpourri underneath the tree, he couldn’t tell the difference.

“You’ll never guess who I ran into the other day,” his mother said conversationally, her voice sounding too innocent to be true. “Maria DiMarco.”

Yep. Logan was right. His mother had an agenda.

“Maria looked great. She’s such a pretty girl, with that black hair, those blue eyes and the pale skin.” His mom paused. When he said nothing, she added, “She’s single again, you know.”

That wasn’t news to Logan. By his estimation, Maria had been divorced for four years and two months.

“Real subtle, Mom,” he said wryly.

“But you haven’t even brought home a girl to meet me since you and Maria broke up,” she said.

“Maria and I were over in high school,” he answered. “I haven’t seen her in years.”

More than eleven years, to be exact. The last time their paths had crossed was at Mike’s memorial service. With her then-husband by her side, Maria hadn’t said more than a few words to Logan. He hadn’t expected her to, not when her brother wouldn’t have been at the Windows on the World restaurant at all if it hadn’t been for him. He was amazed that her sister, Annalise, still used him as an investment advisor.

“You two used to be so in love,” his mother continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “What would it hurt to see if the spark is still there?”

“Maria married somebody else,” he reminded her.

“Only because she was confused. She wouldn’t have even looked at another man if you hadn’t—”

“Drop it, Mom,” he interrupted, more sharply than he’d intended. It had taken him a long time to get over Maria DiMarco, but get over her he had. “I’m not going to see her.”

“Not even though it’s almost Christmas?” his mother asked in a small voice.

He knew without saying that she considered it a magical season when anything could happen. No doubt because she was always watching those sappy holiday movies on the Lifetime channel. Real life didn’t work that way.

“Not even at Christmas,” he said.

* * *

THE POUNDING ON THE locked door of her office sounded heavy enough to break the thick, tempered glass. Maria’s head jerked up from her computer screen to make sure the closed sign was still in place. Beyond it, her older sister peered in at her.

Maria sucked in a breath through her teeth, not ready to deal with anyone in her family and itching to get back to her work. She’d just run her brother’s social security number. Even though she hadn’t been able to find any activity on it since 2001, there was more she could do. Using Google to search for his name and variations of his name, for starters. Followed by a thorough social networking investigation. If Maria pretended not to notice her, maybe Annalise would go away.

The pounding got louder.

“Okay, okay, I’m coming.” She got up from her chair and crossed the office, deciding not to say anything to Annalise about Mike. Not until she had hard evidence that he was alive. She composed her features and unlocked the door.

Her sister pushed it open, barely giving Maria enough time to back away. A blast of chilled air followed Annalise inside, and she rubbed her bare hands together. She was dressed more for fashion than function, in the black leather jacket she’d gotten from her husband for her birthday a few weeks before.

“I was freezing to death out there.” Her teeth were chattering. “For a minute I thought you weren’t going to let me in.”

“I was caught up in something, is all.” Maria maneuvered past her and relocked the door.

“You’re ready to go, though, right?” she asked. “I thought we could hit the electronics store before we go to the mall. That way, you can get your presents for Alex and Billy out of the way.”

How could Maria have forgotten? Annalise had offered to help her pick out Christmas gifts for her teenage nephews. They’d also planned to search for presents for their parents, their brother Jack and his girlfriend, Tara, before ending the evening at Annalise’s favorite restaurant.

Maria glanced back at the computer. Caroline Webb had left only forty-five minutes ago, not nearly enough time to make headway on finding out whether Mike could be alive. “I’m sorry, Annalise. I can’t go, after all.”

“Oh, no, you don’t.” She waved her index finger. “You don’t get to back out after I went to the trouble of getting a babysitter and dressing up. I even put on makeup!”

Maria’s naturally pretty sister always looked nice. She’d gone the extra mile tonight, letting her brown hair down from its usual ponytail and pairing her leather jacket with black dress slacks and heels instead of jeans and sneakers.

“I’m sorry,” Maria said. “Something’s come up and I need to work.”

“This close to Christmas? You said you were taking some time off, like you always do over the holidays.”

Maria glanced at the computer again. It seemed to be beckoning to her. Once she finished her searches, regardless of what she found, she intended to make an airline reservation to Florida.

“Things have changed,” she said. “I have to go out of town for a few days.”

“What? We have tickets tomorrow night to The Nutcracker,” Annalise protested. “And you said you’d help me out the rest of the week at the Christmas tree sale.”

The yearly sale benefited her youngest son’s baseball league. Annalise was one of the organizers.

“You’ll have to find someone else to take my place,” Maria told her. “This is important.”

“Where are you going?” Annalise demanded. It would have been difficult to tell that Maria was the only one in the room with training in interrogation. Then again, the two sisters were close. They never kept secrets from each other.

“Key West,” Maria said.

“Florida? I don’t ever remember you going that far for a case before,” Annalise said. “You’ll be back in time for Christmas, right?”

She hesitated. “I don’t know.”

Her sister narrowed her eyes, propped her hands on her hips and demanded, “What’s going on?”

Maria’s instincts told her to remain mum. However, that wasn’t realistic. If Annalise was reacting this badly to her possible absence at Christmas, other family members would, too. Maria needed somebody to smooth the waters and support her alibi.

“You’d better sit down,” she said.

“I don’t want to sit down.”

“Then promise you won’t freak out.”

“You’re freaking me out by acting like this,” Annalise declared. “Just spit it out.”

Maria forced the words through her lips. “I think Mike might still be alive.”