Mall Santa Murder: A Cozy Christmas Mystery (Gemma Stone Cozy Mystery Book 1) (2 page)

The man with Edna introduced himself as her husband Bill, and then explained that they had a kiosk on the other side of Santa Land. Holly and Gemma showed off their jewelry and then followed the Chambers over to their kiosk to admire the beautiful stained glass sun-catchers in every color and shape imaginable.

“You do beautiful work,” Gemma told the couple.

“It’s a team effort,” Edna said, linking her arm through her husband’s.

He beamed down at his wife, love shining in his eyes, and Gemma thought he was going to cry for a moment. It reminded her of her parents and she looked away quickly.

Several other kiosk and shop owners came by, joining in the conversation. It was obvious all of these artisans had been here for years and were old friends, and HealthGems was definitely the new kid on the block. Everyone gave them a warm welcome and seemed friendly enough, although Gemma knew she'd have a hard time remembering all of these names.

“Ho! Ho! Ho!”

Gemma looked up to see Santa sauntering toward them. The temperature dropped about ten degrees and everyone’s mood suddenly changed.

“Not him again,” Bill muttered.

Gemma thought he was the real Santa there for a moment. Carrying his hat in one hand, he filled out that red suit perfectly and his black boots looked shiny and new. As he drew closer she saw that his cheeks were red, his eyes sparkling and that beautiful, white flowing beard looked like the real deal. He swayed slightly on his feet while introductions were being made. She wondered if he was sick.

“My, my, my, the scenery around Santa Land is going to be much nicer this year,” he said, sliding his arm around Gemma and pulling her against him.

Forcing a smile, Gemma eased out of his grip. She caught a whiff of cigarette smoke and alcohol, and held her breath. Now she knew why his cheeks were rosy and his eyes were twinkling.

“The crowd will be heading our way a little after five,” Edna Chambers said, her face wrinkling into a grin. Suddenly, everyone was interested in returning to their own retail space in the mall.

“Santa’s drunk,” Gemma announced when she and Holly were locked safely back inside their own sales area.

“You think?” Holly said, watching the old man stagger around Santa Land.

Gemma watched him warily, wondering if he was going to knock everything over before the children began to arrive. Santa’s elves appeared and one in particular seemed to be really upset with his antics. He was shorter and thin and it seemed to Gemma that he even had sort of pointy ears like an elf.

“Is that a real elf?” Gemma asked.

“There’s no such thing as elves,” Holly said in her no nonsense way and continued to arrange some rings inside one of the shelves.

Gemma watched as the elf followed close behind Santa, standing the reindeer back up on their plastic hooves and maneuvering the poinsettias so that Santa missed them altogether.

“McLear,” the elf finally snapped. “What do you think you’re doing? Put your hat on - Santa should never, ever be seen out of uniform.”

“Shaddup, Ralph,” Santa muttered, falling into a large overstuffed chair in front of what was obviously a picture of a Christmas tree.

“Looks like the mall owners spared no expense,” Holly sniffed.

“I’m sure they’re doing the best they can,” Gemma said. “Besides, Santa is the real star. The kids won’t even notice.”

“If you say so,” Holly said.

Gemma looked up to see Santa staring straight at her from where he sat. She couldn't explain it, but a little shiver ran down her spine.

B
y six o'clock, the shoppers were out in full force and the mall was packed with so many people that the building was getting hot. Gemma’s idea about setting up a laptop that played their promo video running in a continuous loop that told the story of HealthGems helped tremendously. Instead of explaining the functionality of their products over and over, she and Holly were able to give their full attention to customers. They began ringing up sales pretty quickly.

By the time the children began arriving, Santa seemed to be a little more sober and had finally put on the remainder of his costume - with Ralph’s help. Between customers, Gemma watched his performance, and to her surprise found that he was wonderful with the children. They all laughed and squealed with delight while sitting on his lap, especially when he leaned in close ad tickled their faces with his beard. Not one of them cried. He even led a sing along for the ones who waited in the line, which seemed to be growing longer by the minute.

The adults were a different story altogether. They were surly and abrupt and seemed more in a hurry to get the children away from Santa than to let them enjoy the experience. The women in particular seemed to dislike him, which Gemma understood. He certainly had that ick factor and he flirted openly with each and every one, no matter how many children they showed up with.

Ralph the Elf was another adult that didn’t seem to be too pleased with Santa. He appeared to be trying to organize the children waiting in line to talk to Santa but he wanted the line to be perfectly straight, like little soldiers. He also shushed the children often and made one or two of the small ones cry. More than once, Gemma caught him glaring at Santa. She smiled to see Santa ignore him and keep encouraging the children to, well, act like children at Christmas.

After the lunch rush, Mitch came to take Holly to lunch. Gemma watched the couple walk away hand-in-hand, smiling at one another as they weaved through the crowd. Gemma and Mitch didn’t always see eye to eye, but that didn't mean that Gemma wasn't happy for her best friend. What was important was that he adored Holly and treated her like a princess. With his partnership in the law firm imminent and the success of HealthGems, they were well on their way to being a power couple.

Gemma returned to her inventory, trying to keep close track of sales in case they had to place a quick order to replenish supplies. They planned to keep HealthGems open during all mall hours and until it closed on Christmas Eve. It excited her to see that, from the way the morning had gone, they would have to reorder some things that were already gaining in popularity.

She made a mental note to place a new order first thing Monday morning. Last year, they had actually outsourced the manufacture of their jewelry to a great little plant in Detroit. The plant stored their items, drop shipped the online orders and responded quickly to their every need.

Gemma ignored her growling tummy, stood up straight and stretched, only to see Santa coming toward her. It was apparent from his unsteady gait to the renewed twinkle in his eye, he had drank most of his lunch.

“Hey, beautiful,” he slurred, leaning across the counter.

“Hello,” Gemma said, taking a step back. The man reeked of the smell of alcohol.

“It’s too late for lunch but whatcha doing later?” he asked, stroking his beautifully groomed beard with one hand. He was obviously proud of it.

“Um, I’m probably going to be right here till closing,” Gemma answered with a small smile. Then she fiddled with a turquoise watch, trying to look busy.

“Oh, me too, but after that I thought maybe you and me could go out.”

Gemma swallowed hard but didn’t reply.

“You know, a little dancing, a little drinking, and who knows...” he let the sentence dangle with a suggestive wink.

Gemma tried to smile again but she was sure it just came across as a grimace. Luckily, Santa was probably too drunk to notice. “Oh, I’m going to be dead on my feet by tonight,” she said. “Probably go straight to bed.”

The minute she said it she knew it was the wrong choice of words.

“Bed would be nice,” he said with a grin and continued to stroke his beard.

“Alone. To sleep,” Gemma said firmly.

“Well, maybe some other night then,” he said, his attention wandering to a dark haired woman wearing yellow spandex pants and a low-cut top who passed by the kiosk.

“Never in a million years,” Gemma said under her breath.

“Hey beautiful,” Santa said to the woman. “It’s too late for lunch but maybe we could get together later.”

The woman simply sneered at him, quickened her pace and moved away.

“Sam McLear!”

Everyone in the vicinity stopped and turned at the sound of that shrill, angry voice that went through Gemma’s head like a nail.

Santa turned toward the woman and smiled, holding out his arms. “Rosalie,” he said in greeting.

“Don’t you Rosalie me,” she snapped, avoiding his outstretched hands. “I’ve been looking for you for a week.”

“Well, I...”

“Where the hell have you been?” Rosalie demanded to know. With her hands on her slim hips, she stomped her tiny foot. Her curly black hair flew around her head, completely out of control. Her clothes had seen better days.

“Well, I was...”

“Don’t hand me any more of your lies,” Rosalie continued her tirade. “I need that child support money and I need it now.”

Santa was still smiling, beaming at this petite woman as if she was the love of his life. “I’m buying Mikey a bike.”

“He doesn’t need a bike,” Rosalie threw her hands up in despair. “He needs new shoes like his other three brothers. I need money to pay the electric bill, to pay the water bill.”

“Okay, okay, honey. Just calm down. I have a plan to make up for all of this,” Santa said, as if suddenly realizing that he needed to soothe her.

“You always have a plan, Sam,” she snapped and folded her arms across her chest.

“No, just listen,” Santa said, touching her shoulder to guide her to a spot where they could have a more private conversation.

Gemma watched from the corner of her eye as the couple talked, Rosalie seeming to listen to his plans for a moment before shaking her small fist in his face. She finally stomped off down the mall.

Santa watched her go and then turned to stagger back to his post, weaving in and out of shoppers. As he passed Gemma he looked up, grinned sheepishly, and said, “She wouldn’t really kill me. She says that all the time.”

The minute he returned to Santa Land, she heard Ralph the Elf admonishing Santa for his behavior even as he helped the older man with his hat. Gemma kind of felt sorry for Santa. No one but the children seemed to like him very much.

Gemma spent the next few minutes explaining how their jewelry worked in greater detail to a group of sisters. Their mother had diabetes, they informed her, so she made a few suggestions for their purchase. As they wandered away to discuss this, Gemma glanced up to see a familiar face. A familiar, handsome face that broke into a wide smile when he saw her looking. Dressed in a bulky hunter green sweater and jeans that fit him well and completely unaware of how handsome he was, Nick Leonard made his way through the crowd toward her. He was carrying a tall cup with a familiar logo on it in each hand.

She’d known Nick since they were in the second grade, had, in fact married him - a playground wedding under the monkey bars complete with daisies that she and Holly had picked at recess. He'd brought her a gold ring that came from the wrapper of one of his dad's cigars. Their guests at the reception were served PB&J sandwiches and Capri Sun.

Gemma had been engaged to Nick for real when her parents were killed, and she had broken his heart when she informed him that she needed a break. He struggled to understand why she couldn’t go through with the wedding, but like a true friend, he remained close.

Lately, he’d been burying himself in his work at the newspaper as a beat reporter. He worked hard, looking for that front page story which would lead to a better job with a larger, maybe a national, paper.

“Hey, baby,” he said, leaning across the counter and kissing her forehead. She inhaled his scent.

“Hey, yourself,” she said, genuinely happy to see him, but eyeing the cups.

“Pumpkin spice latte for you,” he said with a grin.

“You are my best friend,” Gemma said as she took the warm cup in her hand, popped the little plastic lid and took a sip. “Ah, just what I needed.”

“Sales good?” he asked.

“Yes. Very,” she told him, almost giddy with excitement. “What have you been up to this morning?”

“Oh, just regular reporter stuff,” he said with a grin. “There was a fight at Walmart.”

“You’re kidding me?”

Nick shook his head and a dark curl strayed onto his forehead. Gemma reached up and pushed it back into place, a familiar gesture to both of them. Holly Jolly Christmas played over the PA system. “Two ladies fighting over a set of towels.”

Gemma almost choked on her latte. “Towels!”

Nick nodded. “I turned in that story already.”

Gemma hid her giggle over the thought of two people fighting over towels and sipped her sweet, hot beverage.

“I’ve been busy interviewing the downtown business owners about this year’s sales. I’ll turn that story in later today. I wanted to check out sales here and maybe talk to some of the artisans and shop keepers.”

“Everyone seems to be doing well,” Gemma assured him, gazing down through the long building at the busy kiosks.

“Something else is going on though,” Nick told her. The sudden change in the tone of his voice had Gemma’s full attention.

“There’s been a rash of shoplifting incidents downtown,” Nick said.

“It’s that time of year,” Gemma reminded him.

Nick shook his head. “No, this isn’t just normal petty theft. It’s serious. I’m not trying to scare you. I’m only telling you because I want you guys to be aware. You're not that far from downtown.”

“There’s security everywhere,” Gemma assured him. Even as she spoke Grady Jackson sauntered by. “See?”

The two watched him as he made a beeline for Santa Land and whispered something in Santa’s ear. Santa gave him a thumbs up sign and the two men parted ways.

Nick promised to come by later and take her to dinner while Holly held down the fort. Gemma agreed, thinking she would have to eat something long before then but she could grab something quick from the food court.

As she watched Nick walk away, the confusion over her feelings for him returned. Had she made the right decision breaking off their engagement? All she knew was that the sudden death of her parents had sent her into an emotional tail spin and she began to question whether she loved him enough to be his wife. As long as she had questions, she didn’t plan on making that decision. He had remained a good friend throughout it all, a shoulder to cry on, and strong arms to hold her when she needed him. She’d dated a few other guys during the year but mostly she’d spent all of her time with Holly, creating HealthGems.