Page 31 of Ghosts From Christmas Past

“Who called you?” What Dennis said didn’t make sense.

“I need you to move out of the way, Sheriff,” the doctor said in a tense tone.

“Ronald, tell me. Tell me what you mean?” Dylan had to give it one last effort.

“He shot me.”

Frustrated, Dylan was forced from the room. He’d been so close, and yet the answer hadn’t come. While the doctor and his team worked on Dennis, he became aware of Sam stopping next to him.

“Is he going to make it?” Sam asked.

“I don’t know.” Dylan watched as the team tried to revive Dennis for more than half an hour before they called the time of death.

The doctor stepped out beside him. “Sorry, Sheriff. I know you wanted to question him.”

Dylan dissected every word of Dennis’s final ones.

“What did you need me for?” Sam asked, and Dylan swung toward him.

“I beg your pardon?”

“Jesse said you needed to speak to me.”

Dylan stared at him for the longest time.

He shot me.

He shot me.Was Dennis talking about. . .

Dylan glanced down the hall to where he’d left Charlie. She wasn’t there.

“Where’s Charlie?” He didn’t wait for Sam’s response but started running toward the waiting room.

Sam caught up with him. “Jesse said he’d wait with her. Maybe they went to get coffee.

He made me do this.

Dylan’s stomach plummeted. They’d been looking for a killer who had been right under their noses all along.

“Jesse’s the killer.” Dylan ran from the hospital with Sam on his heels.

“Jesse? But he’s Charlie’s friend. And yours. Why would he want to hurt her?”

“He killed them. And he has Charlie. Come with me.” Dylan couldn’t reach the cruiser fast enough. He jumped inside and barely waited for Sam to get inside before he shoved the vehicle into Drive and sped from the parking space. He grabbed the radio. “Stella, get Chief Dennison and his men over to the Swenson place now. I know who killed Charlie’s parents. And he has Charlie with him.”

Chapter Ten

“Where’s Dylan?” Charlie asked as they stopped the vehicle in front of her home.

Jesse turned to her with a soothing smile on his face. “He’ll be here soon. Dylan wanted you to wait here for him. There’s news.”

News? About the case? Had the killer been Ronald Dennis all along?

Jesse got out and came around to her door, but she hurried out before he reached her. Charlie couldn’t stop the uneasy feeling inside her from growing. Something was wrong.

He took her arm and pulled her into the house. The second they were inside, Charlie put space between them.

“How long before Dylan gets here?” She faced Jesse. The strange expression on his face scared her. He stared at her with glazed eyes. “Jesse?”

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