Page 61 of Sleigh My Heart

Time to change into civilian clothes and see what she could find out.

She waved to her neighbors, who were out shoveling the fresh dusting. The weather predicted another three to four inches tonight. Perfect for a white Christmas.

Michelle pulled into her driveway. Her headlights lit the garage door. The red slur was gone. She’d have to send Jenkins a case of beer to thank him. His guy worked fast.

She slammed her car door, trudged through the snow, down the sidewalk, and waved at her neighbor. “Hey, Corey.”

“Michelle, it looks like you had a little trouble this week.” Corey’s husband was the neighborhood busy-body. If anyone had knowledge of the crime, it would be Corey and Ray.

“Yeah, the downside of being a police officer. We make a few enemies.” She glanced at the now clean garage door. “About that… You didn’t happen to see anything that night, did you?”

“No, Ray and I were out for dinner and when we came back, it was freezing. We just hustled inside, and didn’t even look at it.”

Shoot. The one time she needed them to be in the know, they weren’t. “Did you by chance see anyone else on the street?”

“I saw Dave when we were driving out.” He gestured to the house across the street. “We were a block down. He waved as we passed him. You might want to check with him and see if he saw anything.”

“Will do. Thanks. You have a good night.” Michelle crossed to Dave’s house and rang the bell.

The door opened. The tiny Asian woman smiled. “Officer Swenson. Just in time for dinner.”

“Thanks, Mama Hao, but I can’t stay tonight.”

“You got a hot date?” She wiggled her brows at Michelle.

“No, nothing like that.”

“Well, my grandson is still single. He has a good job, too.”

Michelle bit back a laugh. Mama Hao was always trying to fix Michelle’s life. She was as bad as Michelle’s own mother. “I think he’s a little young for me. Is Dave around? I need to talk to him?”

“Dave.” Mama Hao turned toward the back of the house and hollered.

One one-thousand, two one-thousand. Mama Hao yelled again, but this time in Mandarin. Michelle dropped her chin and bit her cheek.

She turned back to Michelle and waved her in with her hand. “Come in, come in. He’s coming.”

Michelle stepped in, careful to stay on the rug with her boots. The smell of something delicious came wafting in from the back of the house. Mama really was a good cook. They invited Michelle over for barbecues in the summer and occasionally brought her leftovers. She had good neighbors.

Dave came down the hall. He slipped his phone in his pocket and smiled at her. “Michelle, how are you doing?”

His daughter ran up and tugged on his pants. “Mama said to set another plate on the table.”

She was about Ava’s age. Michelle wondered if they knew each other. “Thanks, Susie. Please tell your mother that I can’t stay tonight.”

Mama Hao huffed, and then followed her granddaughter down the hall.

No doubt, Michelle would have to make time for dinner with their family soon. She returned her attention to Dave.

“I just had a question. Corey said he saw you the same night I had the issue with my garage door. Did you happen to see anything?”

“Oh yeah, I saw that when I came back. Man, that was bad. I had to cover the little one’s eyes, so she didn’t see the words.”

“Sorry about that.”

“No worries. I know she hears worse on the school bus. I didn’t want her to see it here,” he whispered. “I can’t say I saw any people out on the street, but there was a strange vehicle parked in front of your house.”

“Can you describe it?”