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

by Willow Monroe

  Gemma felt a strange little flutter in her chest. “That would be nice. Let’s say late, around two when Holly’s mom comes in to take over the kiosk.”

  “Two it is,” he said.

  “And, Ross, thank you for calling to check on me,” she said sincerely.

  “Gotta make sure my newest deputy is safe,” he said, laughing.

  She sat there for a while just staring at that big empty tree, holding her phone in her hand and trying not to think about Ross Ferguson.

  When Gemma woke up the next morning everything was covered with a pristine blanket of white snow. She smiled and raced across the cold hardwood floor to the bathroom. There was something exciting about the first good snow of the year, especially with Christmas only weeks away. As she showered and dressed for the day, she wondered about Mrs. McLear and the children. Perhaps she could anonymously donate some clothes or money or something. She made a mental note to ask Holly about that.

  While she ate her breakfast of hot oatmeal, toast and tea, she read the online version of the local newspaper. Nick’s story was front page news, one of the first ones he’d ever had and she read it carefully. He’d done a good job with it, not too sensational and just enough human interest while reporting the facts. She was sure he was already working on a follow-up piece and she was proud of him.

  Grabbing her cell phone off the table, she punched in his number.

  “Good morning.” Nick answered on the first ring. No hint of his emotions from the day before.

  Or at least he hid it well, Gemma thought. Why was she suddenly so suspicious of everyone’s motives? “Hey I just read your story. Great job!” she told him.

  “Why thank you,” Nick said.

  “Working on a Part 2, I’ll bet?” she asked picturing him leaning back in his the rickety little office chair they’d found at a thrift store.

  “You got it,” he told her. “Hey how about I take you to lunch today?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry, Nick, I already have a...” Gemma stopped in mid-sentence.

  “Date,” he finished for her. “You already have a lunch date.”

  “Not really a date but...” Why, exactly, did she feel guilty? That was stupid.

  “With Ross Ferguson?”

  Gemma nodded and then finally squeaked, “Yes.”

  “Well, have fun,” Nick said cheerfully. “I gotta run.”

  “Okay, have a good day." She was talking to air.

  Chapter Nine

  Gemma arrived at the mall a little earlier than usual. Grady Jackson, spit-shined from top to bottom, let her in the service entrance door with a big smile and a jolly good morning.

  “You’ll be happy to know that management has allowed me to add three new guys to beef up security here,” he told her, practically skipping alongside her as he escorted her to her kiosk.

  “Good,” Gemma said. “It’s a bit late for Santa but...”

  “He was part of the problem,” Grady said.

  “Santa?”

  “Haven’t you heard? His locker was full of stolen merchandise,” Jackson almost crowed.

  They nodded at Ralph the Elf, who was busy preparing for Santa’s morning arrival as if it was some dignitary from the government or something. He never treated the other Santa like that. Bill Chambers was already in his kiosk, too, hard at work. Edna was there with him today, though. She waved when Gemma and Grady passed and Gemma waved back.

  “Did you find any of their sun catchers or any of our jewelry in his locker?” Gemma asked, pretending to be interested.

  “No, but it’s just a matter of time before we find the rest of his stash and nail him for it,” Grady boasted.

  “So you’re working with the police?” she asked.

  He nodded. “Very closely.”

  They arrived at the HealthGems kiosk, which always made Gemma smile. Their cleverly lit logo was displayed prominently, as well as Holly’s beautiful jewelry designs. She was still smiling when she unlocked it and turned on the under counter lighting that showed off their sparkling creations so well.

  While she waited for her laptop to boot up, she did a quick inventory. Nothing seemed to be missing, which she was thankful for. It made her wonder if Santa really had been the thief after all. Or maybe the killer was just laying low until the heat was off. God, she was starting to think like Dick Tracy!

  She looked up to see Edna coming toward her. The older woman still looked a bit pale and she gave Santa Land a wide berth, but she was smiling and she carried what appeared to be a foil wrapped tray or plate.

  “Good morning, Miss Edna. Are you feeling better?” Gemma asked, reaching out to touch the older woman’s soft hand.

  “Oh, I’m fine. Bill insisted I stay home yesterday even though I was perfectly okay. I didn’t want to miss a day of this fun,” she said.

  Gemma was surprised at that bit of information but she didn’t pursue it.

  “So, I baked all day instead,” Edna said, offering the package to Gemma. It was filled with an assortment of muffins and cookies and homemade fudge. “My second favorite thing to do.”

  “Oh, my, how sweet of you. I know we’ll enjoy these,” Gemma said, taking the plate from her and breathing in a huge whiff of goodness.

  “I was especially worried when I found out that you were the one who discovered Santa,” Edna added, her face showing concern.

  “Yeah, that was pretty scary,” Gemma admitted. “I’m surprised it wasn’t Bill who found him. He was here before I was, wasn’t he?”

  Edna pursed her thin lips in thought. “I think he left the house around six, so he would have been here right after that.”

  Gemma made a mental note to ask if Ross knew the time of death.

  Edna leaned across the counter a little and whispered, “Do the police have any leads? I understand he was a pretty unsavory character.”

  “I don’t know,” Gemma answered truthfully. “If I hear anything I’ll certainly let you know.”

  “You do that, dear. And I’ll do the same,” Edna said with a sweet smile. “Now, you enjoy the goodies and I’ll get back to work. I have a new sun catcher design I’m working on. It could turn into a whole holiday series. Ah, the season inspires me so.”

  Gemma laughed. “I know what you mean. I think Holly’s been sketching out some new designs as well.”

  Several customers stopped by the kiosk and Gemma enjoyed explaining how HealthGems jewelry was different from some of the other ‘smart’ jewelry on the market. She loved showing off Holly’s delicate designs and actually demonstrating how the jewelry worked. She had just finished with an older, very overweight lady when she saw Nick trotting toward her.

  “Hey, beautiful,” he said, sounding a little breathless. Dressed in his usual outfit of jeans and a bulky sweater he looked more like a college student than an up and coming newspaper reporter. That navy sweater made his blue eyes look gray, almost silver.

  “Good morning yourself,” Gemma said with a smile. She couldn’t resist touching that little bit of stubble on his chin. “What, no latte?”

  He laughed. “Sorry, I didn’t have time. I wanted to interview some of the store owners and shop keepers here before the day got busy. You know, maybe add on to my shoplifting story as well as get any new information on the Santa case. Might help Ross out some.”

  “Did he deputize you, too?” Gemma asked.

  “What?”

  “The other day he...”

  “Hey, what’s under the foil that you’re trying to hide from me?” Nick asked, cutting her off in mid-sentence.

  “Something sweet,” Gemma said, grinning.

  “Oh, yeah,” Nick rubbed both hands together. “What?”

  She slowly peeled back the foil, revealing the beautifully arranged baked goods. “Help yourself.”

  “Oh, wow, did you...” You didn’t...?”

  Gemma laughed. “Are you kidding? No, Edna Chambers brought them in this morning. While I was discovering our dead Santa, she was home
baking.”

  Nick laughed, his eyes twinkling merrily as he picked up an oatmeal cookie with one hand and a piece of fudge with the other.

  “Hey!”

  “Gotta have one for each hand,” he explained, dancing out of her reach.

  Gemma loved seeing Nick so happy. He’d been so sad and disappointed when she had broken off their engagement. And she was thankful they’d remained such close friends after that. Also, she was sure that part of his happiness had something to do with his work. He’d worked long and hard to get the front page news stories he’d had recently. It seemed he was finally coming into his own.

  “Do you think the two things are connected?” Gemma asked after she plucked out a chocolate chip cookie and returned the tray to its hiding place.

  “What two things?”

  “The murder and the robberies.”

  Nick thought for a moment. “It’s pretty simple. If the stealing stops, then we’ll know McLear was behind it. If not...”

  “Then we have two crimes on our hands,” Gemma finished.

  “Not WE,” he reminded her. “The police.”

  “Oh, yeah, I forgot,” Gemma said.

  “They’re really in a rush to get this solved. Dr. Biggs has already done the autopsy,” Nick told her.

  Gemma’s eyes grew round. “Were you there?”

  Nick laughed and shook his head. “No. But our friend, Ross Ferguson was and I’m sure he’ll tell me as much as he can of what was discovered.”

  “And you’ll share that with me?” she asked, giving him a level stare.

  “Perhaps,” Nick teased. “Perhaps if I had another one of those delicious cookies, I’d consider it.”

  Gemma laughed and hauled out the cookie tray.

  A large group of shoppers entered the mall and Nick and Gemma watched them as they tried to decide which direction to go first.

  “I’d better get to work,” Nick said after a minute.

  “Nick, be careful,” Gemma said.

  “I will,” he called out and dodged his way through the shoppers toward the other end of the mall, a cookie in each hand.

  Holly’s mother, Brenda, arrived right at noon and they were busy with customers for a while. And then Holly came in at two, humming a Christmas carol.

  “Somebody’s happy this morning,” Gemma teased as she shared Edna’s gift with her best friend.

  Holly simply wiggled her eyebrows at the two of them. Brenda blushed and Gemma smiled knowingly.

  “Sorry to interrupt.” The male voice made all three of the women jump.

  “Detective Ferguson,” Holly said.

  “I’ve come to take someone to lunch,” he said, those dark eyes zeroing in on Gemma.

  “Ross. Let me get my purse,” Gemma said and unlocked the door where she’d stashed it that morning. She noticed that both of the other ladies were watching Ross suspiciously.

  With purse in hand, she left them inside the booth and joined him.

  “Don’t worry,” Ross said to both Holly and Brenda. “I’ll take good care of her.” As they walked away he whispered to Gemma, “I see what you mean.”

  “They really have become pretty overprotective. It's been a rough year, and they worry,” Gemma said. She realized it was getting easier to talk about losing her parents. At least she didn’t burst into tears at the mention of those dark, dark days. “Overprotective, but they mean well,” Gemma said, walking along beside him.

  “I hate to do this to you, but we might have to make this a short lunch,” Ross said. “Some information just came up and I’m going to have to jump on it pretty quickly.”

  “That’s fine,” Gemma said. “Let’s just eat here in the food court.”

  “Not much to choose from, here,” he said.

  “I don’t mind,” Gemma said, giving him an encouraging smile.

  The food court, if that's what you wanted to call it, was about midway down the east wing and at this time day was pretty much empty. There was a Chinese food place, Hot Wok, a hot dog and bagel shop called Burger Bonanza, a pizza place called Buy the Slice and a Mexican food restaurant with no name. Gemma and Ross stood there for a moment looking around, each waiting for the other to decide.

  “Have you eaten here before?” Ross whispered, as if someone might hear him.

  “Nope,” Gemma said, shaking her head.

  The people at the Hot Wok tried to force samples on them as they passed and then just looked crestfallen when they refused. The pizzas at Buy the Slice looked like they had been there under the hot lamps since before Thanksgiving.

  “How about Mexican?” Ross suggested, walking in that direction.

  Almost immediately, the gentleman who had been holding a clipboard filled with papers behind the counter at Buy the Slice dashed across the food court toward them. He ducked under the little gate and grabbed a sombrero, ready to serve them.

  Ross and Gemma exchanged glances and laughed.

  In the end they settled on Chinese and took their food to one of the tables in the center. At least they were clean, Gemma thought as she sat down across from Ross.

  “I promise that as soon as all this is over, I’ll take you some place nicer than this,” he said, stirring his sesame chicken.

  “I’d like that,” Gemma told him.

  They were quiet for a while and then Gemma asked the question that had been on her mind since he’d shown up at the kiosk looking for her. “So you attended the autopsy this morning?”

  Ross nodded, and wiped a piece of stray broccoli off of her lip with a brown paper napkin. She shivered at his touch. “Nothing really earth shattering there. He was strangled from behind with the wire garland found around his neck. No other trauma, no self-defense wounds, nothing like that.”

  “Which means he likely knew his attacker,” Gemma put in.

  Ross looked a little surprised and then nodded. “His blood alcohol level was through the roof, which we kind of expected.”

  “I watch a lot of CSI,” Gemma said and then asked. “Time of death?”

  “Sometime between seven and nine that morning. He hadn’t been dead long when you found him,” he told her.

  “If I’d come in sooner...”

  “If you’d come in sooner you might have been the one on that autopsy table this morning,” he said quickly.

  Gemma shivered. “It wasn’t random.”

  “No, but you might have been in the way. You might have seen someone or something and murders don’t leave witnesses,” Ross reminded her. “I’ve seen it on TV.”

  Gemma shivered again. Her mother would have said a snake crawled over her grave. She had a feeling it was something else.

  “I’ve reviewed everything from the cameras here at the mall,” he told her.

  “And?”

  He shrugged broad shoulders accentuated by his clothing. “It’s not a very good system. The owner told us his insurance company said he had to have one so he got the cheapest version he could.”

  “I’m not surprised. Sort of like his security guards,” Gemma said, thinking back on Grady Jackson’s behavior after she found the body. He definitely wasn’t a take charge kind of guy. “Did you see anything interesting?”

  “As usual, not much to tell. Most of the cameras are trained on the entrances and exits, the bathrooms, places like that.”

  “Did you see Santa stealing?” Gemma wanted to know.

  Ross shook his head. “Saw him entering and leaving GNC a good number of times.”

  Gemma nodded.

  “But he spent just as much time at the lingerie shop, Mona Joys, and Bath and Body Works.”

  “Where the ladies shopped,” Gemma said.

  Ross nodded and then his attention seemed to be drawn to something behind her.

  “Detective.” It was Grady Jackson.

  “Mr. Jackson,” Ross said, standing and extending his hand.

  The two men shook and then Grady said, “I have some information you might be interested in. If you’l
l stop by my office later...”

  “Absolutely,” Ross said. He and Gemma watched the head of security walk away.

  “Is he ex-military?” Gemma asked. “He always looks so...so,” she struggled to find the right word, then frowned. “Shiny.”

  Ross laughed. “Yeah he is. He’s tried two or three times to get into the state police academy but can’t pass the entrance exam.”

  Gemma nodded and then out of the corner of her eye she saw Ralph the Elf ordering his lunch at the Mexican restaurant. He nodded at the two of them when he saw them together but moved to a table far away. There he pulled out his cell phone and made several calls while eating.

  “He’s always in costume,” Gemma muttered.

  “Yeah, weird, huh? He said that was one of the reasons he didn’t like Sam. He sometimes didn’t wear his hat. He wasn’t a true Santa.”

  “And he was pretty much always drunk,” Gemma reminded him.

  “Yeah, there’s that.”

  “Which again begs the question, how did he get away with stealing anything?”

  Before Ross could answer Bill Chambers sauntered by their table, looked at the different food choices and seemed to have trouble deciding. He turned toward them at one point, smiled and waved and then continued on out of the food court without buying anything.

  Seeing him reminded Gemma of her conversation with Edna that morning. “I heard something this morning that might be of interest to you,” she said.

  His cell vibrated loudly on the table between them and he gave her an apologetic look when he decided to answer it.

  “Chief,” he whispered to her and then rolled his eyes. “Yes, sir. Yes, sir, I’m on it.”

  “Trouble?” Gemma asked when he ended the call.

  “Yeah, afraid so. I’m gonna have to run,” he said, gathering up their empty paper plates, cups and napkins.

  “Well, thank you for lunch,” Emma said as they walked back to her kiosk.

  “You’re welcome. I was really glad to have you along the other day. It made that interview easier,” he confessed. “And I’d forgotten all about Santa’s ‘plan’. I was glad you brought that up.”