Mall Santa Murder: A Cozy Christmas Mystery (Gemma Stone Cozy Mystery Book 1) (9 page)

He was smiling down at her, the little lines beside his eyes deepening, making him look even more attractive. “Good work, Deputy Stone.”

“I thought you’d be interested to know that. I certainly was,” she said.

The casket was just about ten feet away by this time. The line was getting shorter. Every once in a while some woman would wail and fall into a faint, only to be rescued by her friends and frowned upon by the other ladies in the room.

“I need to ask you something while we’re comparing notes,” he said.

“Ask away,” Gemma said, her heart pounding harder as they stepped closer to the casket.

“Why wasn’t the shoplifting reported to the police?”

The question brought her up short and she looked at him again. “We were told it would be, in due time.”

“Who told you this?”

“Grady Jackson.”

“Really?”

“They were going to be on the lookout. When they caught the thief red handed, they were going to hand him over to the authorities,” Gemma explained.

Two steps and they would be even with the casket. Gemma was glad Ross had not moved his hand. She was glad he was right there beside her. If she screamed or fainted, at least he would try to catch her.

Then she saw Santa, lying in his coffin, hands resting comfortably across his chest, his long, white beard looking even more beautiful than before, in stark contrast with his red Santa suit.

“They’re burying him in his Santa suit?” Ross hissed.

“Why not?” Gemma said, pleased that she was shaking only a little. “He loved being Santa.”

They shook hands with Rosalie, her mother and ex mother-in-law and wished them well. Then, thankfully Gemma was outside where it was cold but at least the air was fresh and clean. She took a deep breath and turned to say something to Ross. He was still talking to Rosalie and her mother.

A quick glance at her watch told her she really needed to get back to the kiosk so Brenda could take a break. She would catch up with Ross later, she was sure. Hurrying to her car, she got out her keys, unlocked the door and climbed inside. Thankfully it started right up. She reached out for the door to close it but a hand like a vise on her wrist stopped her.

“L
eaving so soon?” Jackson said.

Gemma couldn’t see his eyes because he wore dark glasses. “Yes, I need to get to the mall,” she answered, pulling her hand out of his grip. “Why are you here?”

“Just paying my respects,” Jackson said. “Even if he was a thief.”

“I’ll reserve judgment on that, the thief part,” Gemma said, unable to stop the words from coming out. She shifted her car into drive. Maybe that would give him a hint.

The car didn't budge.

Gemma put her foot on the brake, pushed the lever into park and then slid it into drive again.

Nothing.

“Car trouble?” Jackson asked. He hadn’t moved, so she couldn't even close her door.

“It just...sometimes it won’t go into gear,” she explained.

“Happen often?”

Gemma shrugged. Did he know he was making her nervous? Scaring her just a little bit even though she tried to hide it? Somehow she thought he’d like knowing that.  She put the car in reverse, let it settle there and then back into drive.

Nothing.

“You can ride back with me if you like. I’m going that way,” he said.

“It’ll be fine,” Gemma said. “If I just give it a few minutes.”

Just then she saw Ross step out of the funeral home and into the sunshine. He looked both ways and finally spotted her with Jackson. Frowning, he started in their direction.

When Jackson saw Ross coming, he moved away from her car. “Detective,” he said in greeting, holding out his hand.

Gemma slammed her car door and sat there watching the two men talk, their body language giving away more than either one realized. Could Jackson have killed Santa? And why? Suddenly, the car went into drive and she was glad she had her foot on the brake.

***

F
or the next couple of days, they settled back into their schedule.  One evening, Gemma returned to the mall to help Holly with the evening rush.  Her pretty friend was poring over paperwork, clicking her pen rhythmically. Never a good sign. Gemma was suddenly glad she had brought Holly one of the pumpkin spice lattes they both loved. Holly did not look happy.

“Here you go, bestie,” Gemma said, sliding the warm cup against Holly’s hand.

“Thanks,” Holly said without looking up.

Gemma took her time, putting her purse away and shrugging off her coat. She was wearing an especially festive red sweater that felt so soft and comforting. It was a sweater her mom had given her two years earlier and it made her feel warm and safe and closer to her mother.

“We’re missing some items,” Holly said, finally looking up.

“Are you sure?”

“Yep, I’ve gone over the inventory three times.”

“Holly, the only time I put items out on the counter for people to try is when I’m standing right here so I can keep an eye on it,” Gemma told her.

“Mom and I do the same thing,” Holly said, lost in thought again.

“So, how could...”

Their eyes met.

“More importantly, who?” Holly asked.

“Either Santa had some little helpers we didn’t know about or someone is moving in on his territory,” Gemma guessed.

“Should we tell Jackson?”

“Forget him,” Gemma said, keying in Ross’s number. “I’m going over his head and reporting this to the police.”

“Good idea,” Holly said, reaching for her coat. “Now, if it’s okay with you, I’m going to run and get something to eat.”

Gemma nodded as she waited for Ross to pick up.

“I won’t be long,” Holly whispered.

Ross’s greeting kicked in, short and sweet and Gemma left him a short and sweet message saying she needed to talk to him about something. It was important.

Evidently, after Santa’s murder and the discovery of his stash in his locker, everyone had let their guard down, thinking the shoplifting incident was solved. They were wrong and she needed to let the others know.

Making sure the kiosk was secure, she strolled over to where Bill and Edna were rearranging their merchandise.

“Looks like you’ve had some good sales the last few days,” Gemma said, noting that some of the prettiest sun catchers were gone.

“We have,” Edna said with a happy smile. “This is the first year we might not have enough items to last until Christmas.”

“Wow, I’d better get my purchases in quickly then,” Gemma said.

“You’d better.”

“Hey, I just wanted to let you guys know we’re missing some items,” Gemma said, hating to spoil Edna’s good mood.

“What?” Bill said loudly.

Gemma shrugged.

“But I thought...” Edna began.

“Everyone thought that,” Gemma said, not wanting to hear her accuse Santa of being the thief. “Either he had an accomplice or someone else just took over.”

“I’m going to let some of the other store owners know, too,” Gemma said. “Would you watch my kiosk for me? I’ll be right back.”

“Of course, dear, let the others know. We’ll be right here,” Edna assured her.

Gemma went about her task of alerting the other kiosk owners and some of the staff in the regular stores as well. When she returned to her kiosk, she saw that she’d missed a return call from Ross.

Before she could respond to that, she looked up to see Holly heading her way along with Mitch.

“Mitch thinks we should report the theft to Jackson, too,” Holly told her.

“That’s fine. I don’t think it will do much good unless we drag the culprit into his office but we can do that,” Gemma said with a glance down that skinny little dark hall where Grady’s office was.

“What did Ross say?” she asked.

“I missed his call but I’ll talk to him when he does call back,” Gemma told her friend.

“We’ll go see if we can find Jackson,” Holly assured her friend.

Gemma signed with relief. “Thanks.”

That night at home, Nick called to tell her he had been sent to Richmond for a few nights to cover a breaking political story.

“That is wonderful,” she said, truly happy for him. Yet, she sensed something wasn’t quite right. “What’s wrong? This is what you’ve been working so hard for, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, I just hate leaving you there with all this going on,” he said, his voice growing tender.

“I’ll be careful,” she assured him.

“Call me if anything and I mean anything happens,” he said.

“I will. I promise,” Gemma said. “Hey, you’ll be back for Christmas won’t you.”

“Yes, of course,” he said. “But remember, I have to work Christmas day.”

“I remember. But I have a present for you and I just wanted to be sure you’d be in town so I can give it to you.”

“A present?” he asked. “Nice. You know I’ll be around to pick up that. In fact, I have a little something for you as well.”

“Oh, Nick, that’s sweet,” Gemma said, tears of happiness making it difficult to see. “What is it? Tell me? Tell me?”

Nick laughed. “I’m not telling. Now, good night.”

Not an hour later she was snuggled under her blankets talking to Ross about the shoplifting incident at the mall. He asked for details and she gave him what she had.

“Looks like we may have been misled,” he said as if deep in thought.

“Or someone just decided to take over where Santa left off,” she suggested.

“Could be. Either way, I want you to be careful,” he told her. “I’m going out of town for the weekend. I’ll be back Sunday night and I’ll touch base with you then.”

“Okay, I promise,” she said and then out of curiosity she asked, “Business or pleasure?”

But Ross had already ended the call.

G
emma awoke the next morning feeling a little lost. Both Nick and Ross were out of town for a couple of days which really shouldn’t have been any big deal. But the return of the shoplifting incidents really made her nervous.

And over the next few days it grew worse. Several more people reported missing merchandise, including Bill and Edna. For some reason that was particularly upsetting to Gemma. She knew how hard Edna worked on her designs and how proud she was of them. Security was obviously beefed up with the young men on Grady’s ‘security team’ patrolling the areas even more often.

Most of his ‘team’ were young men who looked to be straight out of high school. She doubted they had very much experience in security or anything else but hanging around malls. Mostly, they stood around, laughed and joked and flirted with girls who were shopping. Oh, they straightened up when the saw Grady coming or when one of their walkie-talkies squawked to life, but Gemma had a feeling that they were all pretty much on their own

On Monday night, Gemma was working alone at the kiosk. She’d talked to both Nick and Ross during the day. They were both busy at their offices playing catch up after having been out of town. Nick was hard at work on a new story. Ross was putting together a report to give to the Chief, hoping to placate him until after Christmas.

Holly and Mitch were at the law office Christmas party where a big announcement was rumored to be in the works. Something to do with an offer of a partnership to one very lucky, very hard-working young attorney. And Gemma had a feeling Holly and Mitch would be making another big announcement soon after that. Maybe on Christmas day. She was so happy for them, as well as Nick.

Ah, Christmas. It was but a week away and everyone seemed to be in the spirit. Including the endless stream of children who waited to talk to Santa every day.

She was watching two little boys wrestling on the floor much to the chagrin of their mother when she saw Edna approaching.

“Gemma, would you mind watching our kiosk for us while we go grab something to eat,” Edna asked.

“Sure, it’s really slow tonight. I’ll keep an eye on things,” Gemma said happily.

Purely out of boredom, Gemma locked her kiosk and went over to Bill and Edna’s, unlocked it and stepped inside. It felt kind of magical being surrounded by all those sun catchers. The way the colorful glass reflected the light and shone down on her made her feel like she was standing inside of a rainbow. Or maybe a church with those beautiful stained glass windows.

Then she looked up and saw someone at her kiosk. It was a young couple and it looked like they’d just left the gym. That seemed to be their target customer so she locked up Bill and Edna’s and hurried back to her own kiosk passing Santa and his elves as they headed for dinner. The children ran along behind him making him look like the pied piper. Suddenly, Gemma felt like the guy at the hot dog stand who ran across to the Mexican eatery and put on his sombrero. The idea made her laugh.

She was right. The couple made a fairly large purchase and just as she was carefully making note of it in Holly’s sales notebook, she looked up to see one of the security guys pocketing one of Edna’s sun catchers. At first she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Then when she saw him reach for a second sun catcher, she knew. She knew she had to put a stop to it right then and there.

Looking around to see if there was anyone to help, she discovered she was alone. Where had all the children gone? Where was Santa and the elves? And then she remembered passing all of them as they headed to the opposite end of the mall where the high school was setting up for their annual Christmas variety show.

“Hey,” she shouted. “Hey, you!” Anger boiled up inside of her. She’d seen the kid hanging around their kiosk as well and was sure this was their thief.

The boy froze with a sun catcher in one hand and he remained rooted to the spot as Gemma dashed through Santa Land feeling as sure footed as a gazelle in her high heeled boots. Was he smiling at her? Gemma wasn’t happy until she had a hand full of the boy’s jacket.

“How dare you steal from these people? We’re going to your boss with this right now,” she snarled.

He was taller than her and probably stronger but he didn’t put up a fight. Was he that scared or just shocked into silence? Gemma drug him into that narrow dimly lit hall that she hated. Keeping a firm grip on her thief, she pounded on the door to Grady Jackson’s office praying he was inside.