Random Acts of Greed: Holly Anna Paladin Mysteries, Book 4 Read online

  Random Acts of Greed

  Holly Anna Paladin Mysteries, Book 4

  Christy Barritt

  Contents

  Copyright:

  Also by Christy Barritt:

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Coming Next:

  If you enjoyed this book, you may also enjoy these books in the Holly Anna Paladin series:

  Squeaky Clean Mysteries:

  The Sierra Files:

  The Carolina Moon Series:

  Other Books by Christy Barritt:

  The Gabby St. Claire Diaries

  About the Author

  Copyright:

  RANDOM ACTS OF GREED: A Novel

  Copyright 2016 by Christy Barritt

  Published by River Heights Press

  Cover design by The Killion Group

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  The persons and events portrayed in this work are the creation of the author, and any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

  Also by Christy Barritt:

  Squeaky Clean Mysteries:

  #1 Hazardous Duty

  #2 Suspicious Minds

  #2.5 It Came Upon a Midnight Crime

  #3 Organized Grime

  #4 Dirty Deeds

  #5 The Scum of All Fears

  #6 To Love, Honor, and Perish

  #7 Mucky Streak

  #8 Foul Play

  #9 Broom and Gloom

  #10 Dust and Obey

  #11 Thrill Squeaker

  #12 Cunning Attractions (coming soon)

  Squeaky Clean Companion Novella:

  While You Were Sweeping

  The Sierra Files:

  #1 Pounced

  #2 Hunted

  #2.5 Pranced (a Christmas novella)

  #3 Rattled

  The Gabby St. Claire Diaries (a Tween Mystery series):

  #1 The Curtain Call Caper

  #2 The Disappearing Dog Dilemma

  #3 The Bungled Bike Burglaries

  Holly Anna Paladin Mysteries:

  #1 Random Acts of Murder

  #2 Random Acts of Deceit

  #3 Random Acts of Malice

  #3.5 Random Acts of Scrooge

  #4 Random Acts of Greed

  Carolina Moon Series:

  Home Before Dark

  Gone By Dark

  Wait Until Dark

  Suburban Sleuth Mysteries:

  #1 Death of the Couch Potato’s Wife

  Standalone Romantic-Suspense:

  Keeping Guard

  The Last Target

  Race Against Time

  Ricochet

  Key Witness

  Lifeline

  High-Stakes Holiday Reunion

  Desperate Measures

  Hidden Agenda

  Mountain Hideaway

  Dark Harbor

  Cape Thomas Mysteries:

  Dubiosity

  Disillusioned (coming soon)

  Standalone Romantic Mystery:

  The Good Girl

  Suspense:

  Imperfect

  Nonfiction:

  Changed: True Stories of Finding God through Christian Music

  The Novel in Me: The Beginner’s Guide to Writing and Publishing a Novel

  Chapter 1

  I’d just pulled my fourth batch of cookies from the oven. Ella Fitzgerald crooned on my Bluetooth speakers. Chase Dexter—my boyfriend—watched football with my brother in the living room, while my mom and sister solved every world problem over coffee at the kitchen table.

  This was my perfect rainy Sunday afternoon.

  All of my loved ones were here and safe and healthy. Though the January day was cold and rather bleak, there was enough warmth in this house to make it feel like summer.

  I paused a moment, closed my eyes, and inhaled the scent of warm, gooey chocolate mixed with butter, sugar, and vanilla. Cookies were the cure for nearly every ailment. Thankfully, my life had been surprisingly absent of ailments over the past few weeks.

  For real. Thank You, God.

  Hands appeared at my waist, and my eyes popped open. I didn’t have to turn to know it was Chase. I felt his towering presence behind me. I smelled his woodsy cologne. I recognized the heavy feel of his thick fingers.

  “What are you doing?” His breath hit my ear as he pulled me close, wrapping me in his warmth.

  “Enjoying the moment. Capturing the joy of the ordinary. Reflecting on how simple times make me happy. You?”

  “I’m enjoying the moment also.” He planted a soft kiss on my neck.

  I wrapped my arms over his and leaned into him, relishing his embrace. I adored Chase, and being with him seemed like a dream come true. But I was wise to the ways of a man watching football.

  “Let me guess: There’s a commercial on?” I teased.

  “Are you saying that’s the only time I’ll come over and give you attention?” His voice contained a playful lilt.

  I shook my head, wishing that my family wasn’t close by so I could turn and plant a big kiss on his lips. But public displays of affection weren’t good manners, no matter how tempting. And I was Holly Anna Paladin, the queen of good manners and etiquette.

  “It’s good to see you enjoying yourself,” I told Chase. “You deserve it after working so hard lately. I know your caseload has been overwhelming.”

  We hadn’t been able to spend as much time together as I would have liked. But I couldn’t fault him. He was doing his job. Being a detective in a large metro area was more than a career—it was practically a calling. I knew he’d been busy lately with some drug-related murders, a hit-and-run, and a domestic violence case, just to name a few.

  “You’re incredibly understanding, Holly. And that’s just one more reason to love you.” He rested his cheek against mine. “It’s been a year, you know.”

  I nodded, flutters racing through my stomach at his nearness. I could feel his ever-so-slight scruff. Smell the manly scent of his cologne. Feel the ripple of his muscles.

  Chase had stirred something inside me that I’d never felt before, not in any of my twenty-nine years.

  Of course, I remembered that this month marked one year since we’d been dating. I’d even marked it on my calendar, along with a little red heart that I’d drawn by hand. “Hard to believe, huh? And what a year it’s been.”

  To say we’d had ups and downs would be an understatement. While I didn’t feel like our relationship had been inordinately rocky, to look at it on paper one might think that was the case. Chase and I had gotten together and nearly said “I do” when I thought I had only a few more months to live. We
’d taken steps back when my medical diagnosis changed. Then I’d broken up with Chase at the demands of a psycho who threatened Chase’s well-being if I didn’t follow his orders. We’d again taken some steps back when Chase went all rogue in order to help his ex-wife.

  But, despite all of that, deep down, we’d been happy.

  “Every obstacle we overcome just works to make us stronger, right?” Chase said.

  I turned to face him, desperately wanting to see his eyes. And I wanted him to see mine and know how sincere I was. “That’s right. And that’s what’s important. It’s not the storms we’ve weathered but how we’ve weathered them.”

  “So poetic. Too bad Ella can’t take those words and write a song about them.”

  “Me and Ella Fitzgerald . . . we would have been a team.” I gave him a quick kiss.

  “Would you two cut it out over there?” my sister called over her cup of coffee. “Why don’t you just put a ring on? Everyone knows it’s coming.”

  A little of my delight disappeared at the mere mention of a ring. Chase and I had many long talks about this. There were deeper issues we had to conquer before we committed to forever with each other. I was ready, but Chase wasn’t, and I respected that.

  Most of the time.

  Another part of me wondered just how long we were going to be in this state of limbo. Of being together yet feeling uncertain about the future. Of remaining stagnant, moving neither forward nor backward.

  “Now that you’re married, you think everyone should experience wedded bliss,” I called back to Alex playfully. This was not the time or place to let other people see my fears and doubts and psychoanalyze them.

  The truth was, the desire of my heart had always been to get married and have a family. I wanted nothing more than to feel sticky fingers wrapped around my own and go to PTA meetings and kiss boo-boos.

  But I had to be patient. Everything happened in good time. Everything happened in God’s time.

  Thankfully, at that moment, the doorbell rang and saved me from taking this conversation any further. I didn’t want a discussion with my family about my future with Chase. For some reason, my mom had started thinking recently that “noncommittal” could be interpreted as “going nowhere.”

  And my mom loved Chase.

  She wanted nothing more than to see us together at the end of all this. But she’d apparently felt obligated to bestow her motherly wisdom on me recently and point out that our relationship seemed to have plateaued rather than grown lately. She’d confirmed what I already knew.

  “Excuse me,” I murmured as I stepped from Chase’s arms and headed toward the front of the house.

  I wondered who might be coming over. My best friend, Jamie, was working on a newspaper article. Alex’s husband, a doctor, was on call at the hospital. Everyone else who’d normally drop by unannounced was already here.

  As I opened the door, a frigid wind swept inside. My knee-length dress and the apron over it did nothing to protect me from the cold blast. The January day even looked cold with its gray hues and dreary clouds.

  I blinked at what I saw on the other side of the door.

  Nothing.

  Strange.

  I definitely hadn’t been hearing things. Someone had rung that doorbell. Other people in the house had heard it also.

  Maybe it was one of the neighborhood kids pulling a prank. There was no crime in that—only if I burned my cookies as a result. Then it would be a crime against desserts.

  “Holly?” Chase stepped behind me and peered out.

  “No one’s here.” I started to close the door and ward away the cold. “Weird, huh?”

  He gravitated closer and planted another quick kiss. “Very.”

  I grinned up at him, feeling another rush of attraction. Chase had been my first kiss. My first crush—although the crush occurred ten years before we actually dated. Our history was complicated. With his Thor-like good looks and compassionate heart, there was nothing not to love about him.

  “You’re trying to steal a moment alone with me.” I laid a hand on his chest as he smiled down at me, flashing straight white teeth and sparkling blue eyes.

  “Can you blame me?”

  I grinned. “Not at all.”

  He tried to draw me toward him, but something nagged at the back of my mind. Something that said there was more to this doorbell-ringing incident. Something I was missing.

  “Hold that thought.” I raised a finger and did a polite curtsy back toward the door.

  With tension forming between my shoulders, I stepped outside. Another whip of wind surrounded me and chilled me all the way down to my bones, making me feel sorry for anyone who had to be out in this weather today. The gusts alone were brutal. Add the mist of rain to it, and it was miserable.

  “What are you doing?” Chase followed behind me.

  Before I could answer, something caught my eye at the corner of the porch. It was a bundle of pastel-colored blankets. They hadn’t been there before. No, my mom believed in everything being in place, and that included her yard and porch.

  “Chase, look at this.” I gravitated toward the bundle, my curiosity pinging like a sonar radar in the Graveyard of the Atlantic.

  “What is it?”

  Anticipation buzzed through me as I sensed something big was about to happen.

  That wasn’t just a pile of blankets.

  As if to confirm my initial thought, the heap moved ever so slightly. It wasn’t the wind that had moved it, either. The motion wasn’t fluid, like a ripple. Instead, the movement appeared random.

  Something was under that blanket.

  Ignoring the cold, I knelt beside the bundle and pulled the first layer back.

  I gasped at what lay beneath it.

  An adorable face. Tiny hands that reached upward. Big, blue eyes.

  A baby.

  Someone had left a baby on my porch.

  Chapter 2

  I gathered the baby—a boy, I assumed from his blue outfit—into my arms, desperate to get him out of the cold. His body and the blankets around him were still warm, like he’d been somewhere heated until just recently. Thank goodness.

  “Any idea who he is?” Chase peered over my shoulder, his voice taking on his no-nonsense cop tone.

  “I have no idea.” I hurried into the house, my eyes still focused on the squirming bundle of joy in my arms. “I’ve never seen him before.”

  Chase shut the door and followed behind me as I rushed across the room. I quickened my steps, certain to be careful, until I reached the warmth of the crackling fireplace. My family followed me.

  In the safety and comfort of the living room, I pulled the baby away from my chest and took a good look. Chubby cheeks. Runny nose. Bright eyes. Caucasian. Probably six months old.

  Perfect. He looked perfect.

  “A baby . . .” My mom whispered the words as if I’d just found one of the most sacred things around.

  I had.

  As the baby’s blue eyes observed each new face, his smile faded. He drew in a quick breath, and I waited for the wails to begin.

  “It’s okay, sweetheart.” I gave his belly a little rub, trying to sooth him.

  The expression froze on his face. I held my breath, anticipating his cries when he realized his mom wasn’t here. Instead, his mouth widened, and the corner curled. He reached for my hair, tugged it, and let out a giggle.

  Everyone in the room seemed to release their breath and giggle too.

  Footsteps sounded behind me. Chase. He must have gone back to the porch to look for anything suspicious. That seemed like Chase. Thorough. Analytical. Cautious.

  “There was a note.” He held up a white sheet of cardstock. “It must have fallen from the blankets when you picked him up.”

  I let the baby boy grab my fingers, and I turned toward Chase. My heartbeat quickened as I waited for him to read it. “What does it say?”

  “Please take care of him, Ms. Holly,” he read. “I need your help. Don
’t trust anyone.”

  I processed the words a moment, impulses of shock traveling through my brain. Don’t trust anyone. What did that mean? Whatever it was, a new tension threaded through my back muscles. “There’s no signature?”

  Chase studied the note. “None. You said the baby doesn’t look familiar?”

  I looked into the infant’s big, blue eyes again, searching my thoughts for even a hint of recognition. Finally, I shook my head. I couldn’t remember ever seeing this baby before—and certainly I’d remember someone this adorable. “Not at all. Is the note handwritten?”

  He nodded. “Black marker. Block letters. I’ll save it in case there are fingerprints.”

  That was when I noticed he was holding it only by the corner. That was Chase for you. Always a cop.

  “Anything else out there?”

  His expression remained grim. “The car seat carrier he was left in. I brought it inside.”

  What wasn’t he telling me?

  He pressed his lips together before sharing, “There was blood spatter on the bottom.”

  I sucked in a quick breath. Blood spatter? Just what had happened to this baby’s loved ones? I couldn’t even bear to think about it.

  “You didn’t see anyone outside?” I asked instead.

  “No one suspicious. I looked, thinking the mother could have been waiting to see if we answered. If she did, she’s long gone by now.”

  “She must have rung the doorbell and ran,” I mused aloud. “She probably put him on that side of the porch to try and block the wind.”

  “We’ve got to report this, Holly.” Chase said the words carefully, as if treading uncertain waters.

  He knew that child welfare was my area. It was what I’d done for six years of my life as a social worker. I knew the basics here, but my heart was already jumping ahead of my logic. However, the blood on the carrier pushed aside any of my doubts.

  “Of course. Someone asked me to take care of him, and I need to do what I can until this is resolved.” I began bouncing the baby in my arms as his whimper turned into a cry. “Mom, call Doris with Children’s Services and let her know what happened. After I talk to her, we can file a report with the police.”