David Handler - The Snow White Christmas Cookie

“You used to be lazy. You’re not anymore.”

“What makes you say that?”

“I have a feeling about these things.”

Des heard a noise out in the hall and Kylie’s mammoth, bearded father appeared in the doorway, glowering at her. She stepped out of the room and joined him.

“What do you want now?” demanded Lem, who wasn’t in a particularly friendly mood today.

“Just came by to see how you folks are holding up,” she said, glancing around for Tina.

“My wife’s in the ladies room. Anything I can do for you?”

“Actually, there is something I wanted to ask you. Did you tell Pat Faulstich to plow the driveways on Kinney Road last evening?”

“Kinney Road?” Lem scratched at his long, not-so-clean beard. “I’ve only got two customers up there, the Beckmans and the Shermans. I usually handle ’em myself. Don’t recall telling Pat to go up there. Slipped my mind, I guess, what with Kylie and all. But it wouldn’t surprise me if he did. He has a lot of initiative. Well, some initiative. I hear that’s where you found Hank Merrill.”

“You hear right. I ran into Pat while I was at the scene. He told me he was making his first pass of the day through there. I wondered if you might have sent one of your other drivers to Kinney Road earlier. Someone who could help us verify what time Hank arrived there.”

“That’s a no. I didn’t even talk to any of my other men yesterday. Just Pat.” Lem glanced down the hallway at the sound of approaching footsteps. “Well, well, speak of the devil…”

Pat Faulstich was trudging his way toward them carrying a bunch of tulips and looking extremely uneasy.

Lem noticed how uncomfortable his young driver seemed. “What’s the trouble, Pat? Did one of our trucks screw the pooch?”

“No, sir,” Pat said. “Everything’s fine. Just came by to, you know, pay my respects.”

“Aw, hey, that’s awful nice of you. I’ll be sure to give those to Kylie.”

“Maybe Pat would like to give them to her himself,” Des suggested.

“Why, sure. What am I thinking? Go right on in, son.”

Pat studied the floor bashfully. “You don’t think she’d mind?”

“You kidding me?” Lem said. “She’ll be happy for the company.”

Pat squared his shoulders and went on in.

“I suppose she could do worse,” Lem said with a shrug.

Tina came darting down the hall toward them now, looking bug-eyed with fright at the sight of Des standing there. “What is it now?” she demanded.

“It’s nothing, hon,” Lem assured her. “Relax, will you?”

“I am relaxed. I want to know why she’s-”

“I just stopped by to look in on Kylie,” Des said.

Lem’s cell phone rang. He glanced down at the screen. “It’s one of my men. I got nothing but headaches this season, I swear.” He went off down the hall, grumbling into the phone.

“One of his men, my ass,” Tina said sourly. “It’s that tramp Debbie.”

“Could be. Then again, we did have a blizzard yesterday.”

Tina glared at her. “Did you come here just to be nasty again?”

“I’m sorry if that’s how I came across. I was just doing my job. And I wondered how you were doing.”

“I’m doing lousy, okay?” Tina shot a glance over her shoulder to make sure Lem was out of earshot. “Matt left for Cabo San Lucas this morning with his wife. They’ll be there straight on through Christmas. Together in the same hotel room, day and night. My Matt and that cold bitch. I need him right now and I can’t contact him. She watches him like a hawk.”

“She’s his wife, Tina.”

“Matt doesn’t love her. He loves me. I don’t know what to do.”

“You could try using this as an opportunity to reconnect with Lem. You two will be taking Kylie home soon. Maybe this is a chance for you to regroup as a family. Maybe something positive can come out of this.”

“And maybe you are totally full of crap. Did that ever occur to you?” Tina looked at Kylie’s doorway, frowning. “Is that her surgeon in there with her?”

“No, it’s Pat Faulstich.”

“What does he want?”

“He brought her some flowers.” Des moved farther away from the room, motioning for Tina to join her. “You told me yesterday that if I really want to know what’s what I should ask a cleaning lady. So I’m asking. What do you know about Pat?”

“I know I don’t like him.”

“Why not?”

Tina hesitated. “Look, his parents are decent, hard-working people. But he’s got this older brother, Mickey, who he really looks up to, okay? And Mickey’s absolutely no good.”

“Don’t think I’ve run across him.”

“That’s because he’s been in prison in Virginia for the past couple of years. He got pulled over down there with something like three hundred pounds of marijuana in the trunk of his Camaro.”

“Do you know if Pat hangs with Casey Zander?”

“ Nobody hangs with Casey. He’s a total mama’s boy. Not to mention just plain weird. Have you seen that haircut of his? I swear, Paulette must have dropped him on his head when he was a baby.”

“What’s Casey’s deal with Gigi Garanski?”

Tina’s face fell. “There’s no deal. Gigi’s just a pathetic, drugged-out mess. She was such a sweet little girl, too. Her folks lived next door to mine. I used to baby-sit her when she was a kid. It makes me sick what’s happened to her.”

“Tommy Stratton’s her boyfriend?”

“Pimp is more like it. He passes her around to those horny losers at the Rustic like she’s a bowl of peanuts. She’ll do anyone Tommy tells her to as long as he keeps her supplied with dope. Tommy the Pinhead is total trash.”

Total trash, Des reflected, who happened to have low-level ties to the Castagno crime family.

“He gave Kylie the eye when were at the supermarket together last week. I said to him, ‘What are you looking at, you piece of filth?’ He just blew me a kiss and went sauntering off like he thinks he’s some big shot.” Tina peered at Des curiously. “Why are you asking me all of this?”

“Just trying to figure something out. I have an itch I can’t scratch.” Des’s cell phone rang. She glanced down at it before she excused herself and took the call. “What’s up, Yolie?”

“Grisky wants to hold another team meeting at two o’clock.”

“What for?”

“He told me that he likes to touch base regularly with his quarterbacks.”

“I see myself more as a shifty wide receiver.”

“Real? I see myself placekicking that man’s buns of steel all the way out to Block Island.”

“What have you got that you didn’t have this morning?”

“Plenty. I’ll fill you in when I see you.” Then Yolie rang off.

Des was alone in the hospital hallway. Tina had gone into Kylie’s room to hurl herself between Kylie and Pat. Lem was still off somewhere talking on the phone to whomever he was talking to. Maybe Debbie. Des couldn’t imagine him talking to one of his men for this long. She stood there for a moment before she found herself speed dialing Mitch for no reason other than that she needed to hear his voice right now. Needed a brief moment where everything and everyone in the world didn’t feel completely dysfunctional and insane. Because it wasn’t an itch she was feeling. It was pure dread. She didn’t know why. Just knew that she felt it. And needed a dose of Mitch’s sunny, calming self.

Except he wasn’t answering his cell or his home phone. Mitch had been planning to take Rut Peck over to visit Paulette. Then he was going to drive Rut back to Essex Meadows and head on home. He ought to be there by now, she figured, glancing at her watch. Ought to be parked squarely in front of his computer writing crazy, funny, brilliant things about his all-time favorite Christmas movies. But he wasn’t. He hadn’t checked in either. Hadn’t called her. Hadn’t texted her.