A Case of Christmas Read Online Free PDF

considered—or, knowing Sydney, recalculated the best line of
    attack. “I can understand that. This has been traumatic for all of us. You almost died. Of
    course you want to have a little time to…to process. That’s natural. But you could do that
    at Mom’s. It’s a big house, and we all respect your need for privacy.”
    Uh…that was funny and not funny all at the same time because she did really believe
    what she was saying. But not in billion years did they respect his need for privacy.
    Anymore than he would respect theirs if he thought they needed his help. The main thing
    though was they were genuinely worried about him.
    He cleared his throat. “This isn’t—I’m not doing this to…disappoint anyone.”
    “Lucy has been talking about seeing her Uncle Shane—”
    Shane spluttered, “That kid’s not a year old. She doesn’t remember me from Adam.”
    “She’s eighteen months, and of course she remembers you. I sure as hell remember
    you. What about me? What about Shy? What about Mom?”
    “What about this,” Shane said. “Let me have these three days, and I’ll fly up right
    after Christmas. I’ll spend the rest of the week at Mom’s, and we can all celebrate New
    Year’s together.”
    “Well…” She sounded unconvinced, and why, at age thirty-five, would he have to
    justify to his family why he might want some time alone? Proof that “baby of the family”
    was not a title you could ever outgrow.
    “I guess we don’t have a choice. Did the hospital give you a list of instructions on
    how to care for your wound? Do you have all your meds? You’re taking your
    antibiotics?”
    “Yep. I’ve got everything I need.”
    “You really do have to take it easy, Shane.”
    “I know.”
    “Just because you’re feeling better doesn’t mean you can go swimming or diving.”
    “ Swimming ? We’re in the middle of a hurricane!”
    “That’s just great!” Syd groaned. “Then again, who knows. Maybe you will get some
    rest.”
    “Okay,” Shane said patiently. “Appreciate the call. I’ll—”
    “You better be here on the 26th if you’re hoping for a piece of pumpkin pie.”
    “Got it. I’ll call Mom tomorrow. Love you guys.”
    “We love you too—”
    The too tipped up like Syd had something else to add, and Shane said quickly, “Bye
    for now,” and disconnected.
    “Oh my God,” he murmured. His gaze fell on his scattered groceries. He vaguely
    remembered tossing the plastic bags onto the sofa when he’d walked in…what felt like
    hours ago.
    He picked up the quart of milk and nearly dropped it again as someone thumped on
    the front door.
    That was not a courteous Is anyone home? knock-knock-knock. It was a knuckles to
    wood And another thing!
    Shane threw open the door.
    Linus, looking as wet and irate as a merman hauled up in a fisherman’s net, said,
    “It’s not like I made any attempt to cover my tracks.”
    “I’m not sure why you want to share with me your inefficiency on the job, but okay.”
    “You know what I mean. If you’d wanted to find me, you could have found me.”
    “I agree.”
    “It was more than two years ago.”
    He couldn’t fault Linus’s reasoning. Two years was a very long time, especially
    when they’d only known each other for two weeks. To continue to hold a grudge over
    being dumped by a guy you’d only slept with a dozen times was probably unreasonable,
    possibly obsessive, and undoubtedly poor sportsmanship.
    Shane said, “You tried to get me to incriminate myself.”
    “No, I did—well, okay. Yes. I did,” admitted Linus. “We both know that’s how it’s
    done. It wasn’t personal. I didn’t know you when I took the job. And you’d have done the
    exact same thing in my place. Right? You do the same thing when you’re setting up a
    sting operation. You have to.”
    “I don’t run sting operations on people I’m getting involved with.”
    “I wasn’t getting involved with you.” Linus stopped. “Shane…”
    It was