Page 55 of Sergeant's Christmas Siege

“You try getting a decent job when your name is William Holiday.”

“My examination of your file suggests that it’s holding down the jobs that’s a challenge, not getting them.”

“It’s not exactly a walk in the park to convince people to give me a chance. They always believe the name, not me.”

Kate, also named Holiday and gainfully employed for years now, gazed back at her cousin. “The name hasn’t gotten in my way. Not that I’m aware of.”

Her cousin sneered. “Yeah, well, we don’t all get to ride that whistle-blower glory, do we?”

“It seems to me that you’ve walked away from relationships, kids, spouses, jobs,andcities when things gottough. But that’s your business, Will. You can conduct your personal life any way you want. What worries me is the stuff that makes you a danger to others.”

“A danger to others?” William scoffed. “What is this? You’re not satisfied with putting an entire generation of our family behind bars—now you want to start in on the next?”

“That all depends,” Kate replied. “Is the next generation law-abiding? Or is it chock-full of criminals like our parents?”

“That probably depends on what you mean bylaw-abiding.”

“No one cares if you smoke weed, buddy,” Templeton drawled from where he stood.

“Oh, I get this now,” William said. He flicked his gaze to Templeton, then dismissed him, turning that glare back on Kate. “You don’t actually have anything on me. You’re just afraid.”

“Do I look afraid?” Kate asked. She sounded genuinely curious. “Because I haven’t been afraid in a long time. Not since I left the compound and discovered that there really was a whole different world out here.”

William only rolled his eyes. “I’m not your guy. I’m not interested in you or anyone else I used to be related to. You can all go to hell together, as far as I’m concerned. In fact, I’ll light the match.”

“There’s that wholesome, tender Christmas spirit,” Kate murmured. “It never disappoints.”

“You got to go off and make yourself over into some kind of hero, didn’t you?” William asked. “That’s real nice for you. But I didn’t get that option. I bet no one asks you if you’re any relation tothatHoliday. And why would they? You don’t look like them. I might as well be freaking Samuel Lee Holiday himself. I’m his spitting image.”

“I don’t remember Daddy having a tattoo like that one all over your neck. What is that, anyway? A rat?”

“It’s a wolverine.” Will bared his teeth. “You always were the funny one, weren’t you?”

The way he said that made Templeton suspect that there had been consequences for being the “funny one.” Possibly consequences simply for distinguishing herself from the rest, if he knew his messed-up, dysfunctional families.

And the prospect of a young Kate suffering said consequences made Templeton feel a good deal more grim about the whole situation.

Come on now,an inner voice chided him.No one gets as tough or as good as she is without a little suffering. You should know.

“Of course they ask me if I’m related to him,” Kate replied, her voice as deliberate as if she were talking to a possibly inebriated perpetrator. The fact that this was her family member appeared to have no effect on her at all. “I have the same name you do. And it might surprise you to learn that, given my profession, people are far more interested in my links to known criminals than they might be otherwise. They tend to bring it up. A lot.”

Templeton had brought it up himself not long ago. Though he didn’t jump in to share that information with whiny cousin Will.

“Let me dig out my violin,” William threw at her. “The difference is, you did this. You made it all happen. I don’t remember asking you to make me a pariah.”

“I’m glad you brought up memory,” Kate said, as if she were musing over the whole thing. As if this were one of those cheerful family moments Templeton had never seen outside of theFamily Circuscartoons in the paper, that he sometimes read in sheer disbelief. “Because I don’t remember doing anything to you, Will. I thought we were friends as well as cousins. I asked you to go with me that day. You refused. How is that on me?”

William shook his head. He rubbed one hand over his face. Then he stood, and Templeton moved with him tokeep him in his sights. And, more important, to make sure the guy knew that Templeton was ready to take him down if he breathed funny.

But William’s attention was on Kate. He let out a hollow kind of laugh. “No,” he said in a low voice. “I didn’t go with you. But I wanted to.”

“You should have.”

Templeton cut his gaze to Kate, who sounded less like a cop then. The least like a cop in all the time he’d known her, in fact.

“I’ve had to live with that,” William threw back at her. “And don’t tell me I should have testified.”

“Why didn’t you?”

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