A Lot Like Christmas

by Dawn Atkins

  “How can you tell?”

  Sylvie crouched beside him. “See the thumbprints? I noticed I’d made those when I was stenciling.” She blinked and looked up at him. “But I put it back in the supply room with the stencils.”

  “Let’s check,” Chase said.

  They went together to the supply closet where Sylvie found the stencils where she’d left them, but the paint can missing. “Who would know there was spray paint here?” she asked.

  “Who gets supplies? Mall employees, right?”

  “But the office is unlocked all day except when Cyndi goes to lunch. If she was on the phone or making copies or in the bathroom, anyone could wander in and look around.”

  “Are there any angry employees? Anyone we’ve fired? An evicted tenant who would want to make trouble?”

  “I can’t imagine anyone that mad. We rarely lose a tenant. We had a midnight move-out a few months ago and we’ve sent them to collections for back rent, but they left the state.” The possibility of a member of the mall family attacking them rocked her to her core.

  “Maybe the police will know more,” Chase said, leading the way downstairs. Outside, a patrol car was pulling in at the same time as a silver Mercedes, from which emerged a familiar woman.

  “Surprise!”

  “Mary Beth? What are you doing here?”

  “I’m back, can you believe it? I wanted to surprise you.” Her former boss gave her a bruising hug. Over her shoulder Sylvie watched Chase lead the two officers toward the vandalized wall, her mind whirling.

  “But your mother? Is she better?”

  “I brought her here. Much better weather than Michigan and plenty of services for seniors. Right now, she’s in a care facility for physical therapy, but once her strength’s back, she’ll move in with me. Isn’t that great?” Her voice held less enthusiasm than her words. She seemed very jittery, too.

  “That’s wonderful news, Mary Beth, but I need to talk to the police right now.” She motioned toward where the male officer was crouched with Chase looking at the paint can, while the woman cop took a tool kit from the trunk of the cruiser.

  “Damn, I leave and the place goes to hell.” Mary Beth elbowed Sylvie. “Just kidding. Hey, is that Chase McCann?”

  “Yes, it is. Marshall made him general manager.” Resentment rang in her words, but Mary Beth seemed oblivious.

  “But I’ve only been gone two weeks. Don’t you think that’s hasty? I mean, you could have held down the fort for the time being, even with Seattle in the wings.” Did the woman think she’d pop right back to her job?

  “That was a mistake, Mary Beth. I never intended to move.”

  “Oh, I didn’t realize.”

  “Why don’t you go up to the office and we’ll talk when I’m finished here.” Mary Beth had dropped out of the sky into Sylvie’s lap, which was already full of trouble.

  “Sure, sure, you bet. See you upstairs.” She turned for the mall and Sylvie joined Chase and the male officer. The woman was taking photographs of the graffiti.

  “Is this happening anywhere else?” Sylvie asked the cop.

  “Not that we’ve seen. We’d like to get elimination prints from you to confirm the prints on the can are yours. We’ll check for any latents, but….”

  “You don’t have much hope?”

  “This is pretty much a needle-in-the-haystack deal, I’m sorry to say. A detective will talk with your night security people and the manager of…” He looked at his notepad. “Free Arts, is it? Your day security man seems to suspect some kids there.”

  “That’s very unlikely, but you’re welcome to check, I guess.”

  “We’ll have a patrol swing by at night for a while, too, see if that acts as a deterrent.”

  “We appreciate anything you can do,” she said.

  “Let us know if anything else occurs to you, any suspicious behavior you recall.” He handed her his business card.

  The sound of a vehicle pulling up made Sylvie turn just as City Councilman Reggie Collins and a young man, an assistant, no doubt, jumped from the car. Worse, with them was a woman she recognized as a reporter.

  “Oh, no,” she said to Chase. “That’s our city councilman and a writer from the community newspaper. The guy must have ears at the precinct.”

  Meanwhile, the male officer disappeared into his cruiser, no doubt to avoid press questions. The female officer was peeling tape from the wall. A fingerprint maybe?

  Collins strode toward them, hand extended. “Reggie Collins, your representative on the city council.”

  She let him shake her hand. “Sylvie Stark, mall operations manager. And this is—”

  Collins cut her off, patting their clasped hands. “I’m so sorry you’ve experienced this attack.”

  “It’s just a prank,” she said, tugging her hand out of his grip. She glanced around for the reporter, but she was snapping shots of the officer getting fingerprints. Great. A dramatic photo for the newspaper.

  Collins noticed the reporter’s absence, too, and nodded for his assistant to fetch her. He didn’t speak again until the reporter stood close by, pen poised over her pad. “This is exactly the kind of incident that calls for the urban renewal I’ve been demanding. This will only get worse. Once the gangs move in—”

  “This is not a gang tag,” Sylvie interrupted. “It is an isolated incident and hardly newsworthy.” She nodded at the reporter, who did not react. “For all we know this is leftover Halloween mischief.” She managed a smile. A long shot, but worth a try.

  “Our troubled community needs more for our young people to do,” Collins said, still politicking. “This is why I have called for more jobs, job training, and other programs to…”

  Chase shot Sylvie an eye-roll. Blowhard.

  But she knew this story could hurt them, so she jumped in. “Excuse me, Mr. Collins, but I want you to know that as a member of the community Starlight Desert Mall stands ready to help.”

  “That’s good to hear,” Collins said, clearly irritated at being upstaged. “The problem is much larger than a single business can address, so that’s why—”

  “That’s why we’d like to host a neighborhood meeting to discuss any concerns residents have,” she blurted, pleased with the idea. “We’re all family here, after all.”

  “That’s very kind of you,” he said, flummoxed, but not for long, she was certain, so she pushed ahead.

  “So, I should contact your office to arrange it, then?”

  “That would be fine,” he muttered. The reporter was scribbling away, so Sylvie hoped her offer made the paper.

  When the excitement was over, Collins and the police gone, Chase finished a phone call and came over to Sylvie. “I hate to do this to you, but I’ve got to put out a fire at Home at Last. You okay from here?” His warm eyes held hers.

  “I’ll be fine,” she said, a little annoyed he was leaving.

  “Nice move with Collins, by the way. You blunted his hysteria perfectly. At the latest, I’ll pick you up for the dinner.” He was gone before she could tell him that Mary Beth was back and, likely, after the job Sylvie and Chase now shared.

  Upstairs, Sylvie found her former boss at Chase’s computer. “Just skimming email, seeing what I missed,” she said, motioning for Sylvie to sit in her usual spot for their updates. “Just like old times, huh?”

  “Not quite, Mary Beth. This is Chase’s office now.”

  “I know.” She sighed, suddenly deflated. “I should have taken vacation instead of quitting. I had no idea how things would go with my mother and I guess I panicked.”

  She paused. “But maybe Chase is just filling in. You think they’ll take me back?”

  “Actually, I’d hoped you would recommend I take your place, not tell them I was leaving town.”

  “I’m sorry about that. I assumed that with Steve…I mean, when you went up there… I don’t know. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I’m an idiot. I quit a great job because I thought my mother would never leave
Michigan and now I’m stuck with her and no job. What a mess.”

  “I’m sorry, Mary Beth.”

  She raised her eyes and gathered her dignity. “It’s not your problem, Sylvie. To be honest, I can’t work full-time at the moment anyway, not with Mother like this. It wouldn’t be fair to the mall. I’m sorry about the Seattle mix-up. Fletcher knows you’re my right hand. He always asks about you.”

  Because of wanting to date her? Sylvie hoped not. “At the moment, Chase and I are sharing the work and—” She stopped, realizing she had a solution to both their problems. “He okayed me to hire an assistant. It would be part-time and just through the holidays, but…if you want it, the job’s yours.”

  “Really? That would be a switch for us, huh? Me working for you.” Mary Beth gave a weak smile. “I’ll take what I can get. Will I be back on salary?”

  “You know the budget. It’s a short-term contract at an hourly rate. The money’s coming out of Chase’s pay, by the way.”

  “That’s generous of him.” She paused, seeming to think it through. When she spoke, she seemed resigned. “Okay. Where do you want me and what do you need me to do?”

  Sylvie assigned her to share space with Olive, set her up with the spare computer and gave her the Starlight Desert Christmas Action Plan, highlighting tasks Mary Beth could start doing.

  It was strange giving her boss orders, but Mary Beth took the switch humbly enough. For now. Later on, who knew? Mary Beth might make the situation better…or so much worse.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  THE HOME AT LAST headquarters consisted of a sleek Air-stream trailer on two acres a few miles from the land they’d purchased to build their homes. When Chase drove up, he saw what Chet had warned him about.

  The model Chase had promised to show investors over the weekend hadn’t been finished. The walls were up, but there was no roof, no electrical, no plumbing and no more time.

  Bounding into the trailer, Chase found Chet on the phone, giving someone hell, blueprints spread on the small table. “Unacceptable,” Chet snapped. Catching sight of Chase, he nodded in welcome, his expression frustrated.

  While he waited, Chase looked over the scale model on the acrylic drafting table. Jake Atwater, their architect, had nailed Chase’s vision—a trim, modern-looking structure built as inexpensive modules using recycled materials whenever possible. If IKEA built houses, they would look like this.

  Chase had majored in architecture for a while and working out the blueprint with Jake had reminded him how much he’d wanted to make that his career at the time.

  “Next week is too late,” Chet said to his caller. “We’re all under pressure…. Let me know.” He clicked off the phone. “The builder’s stalling. He’s got high-dollar jobs waiting. We’re small fry.”

  “We don’t want to lose him. He does quality work. Let’s see if your call gets us any action.”

  “I’m afraid we’re screwed, Chase.” It wasn’t like Chet to panic so easily.

  Chase’s gaze swung back to the model. “What about the prototype? Why can’t we use that?”

  “The one at Jake’s place? It’d cost a fortune to flat-bed it here from North Scottsdale.”

  “Better than nothing.” Chase was already punching in the number and in twenty minutes he’d arranged for delivery.

  Chet knocked fists with him. “Since Vegas, every time something goes wrong, I feel like we’re doomed.”

  That failure had shaken them both. “Nobody gets through this business without getting stung at least once,” Chase said. “We can make this work. We’re doing our homework. We’ve got solid people on the project. We’re on target.”

  Chet shook his head, half laughing. “You could sell me a glass eye just in case I poke out one of mine, I swear to God.”

  “We’re close, Chet. We’ll get there.” Chase wanted this project to succeed more than anything he’d done so far. It meant so much to so many people. Thinking about it lifted a weight off his shoulders that he hadn’t known was there.

  For the rest of the afternoon, he and Chet worked through plans and what needed to be done, finishing in time for Chase to pick up Sylvie for his homecoming dinner.

  He’d almost forgotten his promise to Sylvie to clear things with Fletcher about dating her, so when he’d called to tell Fletch he would be bringing Sylvie to supper, he’d slipped in an offhand remark about how there was a new guy in her life. Not the best solution, but it was too late for a heart-to-heart, not that he and Fletch had many of those. Fletcher took the news quietly, which was no surprise. The McCann men kept their hearts to themselves.

  Stepping through the door into Starlight Desert to get Sylvie, the hollow dread hit him again. This was Day Three. Shouldn’t he be more comfortable by now? He shook his head. The sooner he escaped the place, the better.

  In the office, he found Sylvie on the phone. It sounded like she was talking to someone about the school event.

  He smiled. There was something about Sylvie that got to him. She was fierce, smart and energetic as all get out, but it was more than that. The way he felt around her, as if he should slow down and just be. Content. Enough as he was.

  She hung up and noticed him staring at her. “How long have you been standing there?”

  “Long enough to figure out someone was thanking you for giving them more to do.”

  She smiled. “I was pinning down details with the school PR person. Do you want an update?” She scooted her chair in and pulled a yellow pad closer.

  “Tomorrow maybe.” His head was full enough. He’d asked for a meeting with Fletcher’s broker and he would block off some time to do a deeper analysis of Sylvie’s numbers, which he’d just skimmed. If a sale seemed at all viable, he’d let Sylvie know.

  “Before the tenant meeting at ten, then,” she said. “We need to be in synch or this plan won’t work.”

  “Got it.” He checked his watch. “You ready to take off?”

  “Not quite.” She held up a stack of phone message slips, some papers and folders. “These are urgent calls, invoices to sign and some decisions we need to make. How do you want to handle them?”

  He sat backward on a chair, resting his chin on his fists. “Hell if I know, Sylvie. Do what you can and run the rest by me later. How’s that?”

  “So I have full authority to act?”

  “Is that a problem?”

  “Not for me. I should tell you I went ahead and hired Mary Beth Curlew on a part-time contract as our assistant. You okay with that?”

  “Mary Beth? She’s back?”

  “Yeah. She brought her mom out here with her. I think she wishes she hadn’t quit her job.”

  “That’s a hell of a thing.”

  “She seems perfect for what we need….” Something flickered in her eyes.

  “But you have doubts?”

  “She’s a wild card. She was my boss and now I’m hers. She loves the mall, but she loved being in charge, too. My approach to the job will be different, which means she might undercut me or resist what I ask her to do.”

  “Sounds like you’ve identified the pitfalls. That’s half the battle, isn’t it?”

  “I hope so.”

  “You have my support, Sylvie, if that helps. If you want me to run interference, I’d be happy to.”

  “I appreciate that, Chase.” Her eyes softened with gratitude. “It means a lot that you trust me.”

  “I have no reason to doubt you.”

  She beamed. He loved that. “So you can announce the new arrangement at the meeting in the morning. I think it should come from you. Also, we should probably reassure everyone about the graffiti,” she suggested.

  “I don’t know how reassured I feel. It might have been one of them. That paint was stolen from our office.”

  “The shop owners are happy here. What reason would they have to do that?” Sylvie said.

  “What about Randolph? He’s pretty eager to hire more guards. Maybe he faked the vandalism to prove his p
oint.”

  “Not in a million years. Randolph is too protective of this place. I hope it was just a stupid stunt and it’s over.”

  “The newspaper story won’t help us.” Chase sighed. “Collins was sure quick to declare the neighborhood crime-infested.” Negative press could damage revenues and harm the mall’s value as a commercial property, too. Bad news all around.

  “So in the tenant meeting tell them to expect the story and mention the community meeting I want to set up.” She wrote notes on her pad.

  Chase glanced at his watch again. “We need to roll, Sylvie. Nadia gets cranky when her food gets cold.”

  “Okay. Right.” She scribbled one last note. “You and I can meet at nine to finalize the agenda.” She pushed to her feet, heading toward him. He wished to hell she wouldn’t wear her blouses so snug. Or maybe if she just wouldn’t wiggle so much in them. He had to laugh at himself.

  “What’s funny?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. Human nature, I guess.”

  She smiled uncertainly and he got the feeling she’d picked up on what he meant.

  After she stopped in at the bakery for a loaf of the bread Sunni had told her Nadia liked, they headed for the exit. As they passed the pet store, Sylvie tapped on the window at the puppies inside. “Hey, Dasher.”

  “You know their names?”

  “I named them for fun. That’s Rudolph. There’s Dancer.”

  “Reindeer names?”

  “They make perfect Christmas gifts, don’t you think?”

  “You should buy one.”

  “I work too much to have a pet.”

  “You and Fletcher. You both need a life.”

  “Randolph says the same thing. He thinks I need to settle down and get a dog.”

  “And a boyfriend, no doubt. Him. Any day now, I expect Theo and him to duel at dawn over you.”

  “Oh, please. Randolph’s lonely since his divorce and Theo is a nice guy, but I don’t date anyone from the mall.”

  “You heartbreaker, you.”