by J. R. Ripley
Kim raised her hand and went farther back between the houses, which were lined with large bushes. I lost sight of her in the darkness.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Max make a beeline in that direction. My heart quickened. So did my steps.
This was not working out as I’d hoped. The killer was supposed to come after me, not Kim!
I started jogging, pushing my way through the crowd. I stopped once I reached the backyard that connected Nutcracker House and Sugarplum House. My lungs burned and I was out of breath.
I squinted into the darkness. “Kim?” I whispered. “Where are you?”
I strained my ears but the only sounds were of shoppers and the gentle melody of Christmas music playing from the speakers scattered around Christmas House Village. I still couldn’t wrap my head around this quaint village being turned into just one more nondescript, cookie-cutter Cozy Towne Inn.
“Kim?” I moved slowly over the dark ground. As I rounded the corner past the shrubs at the corner of Sugarplum House, a tiny flash of red, blinking slowly, caught my eye.
What was it? The blinking came from a dark shape near the ground. I was pretty sure it wasn’t Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
I approached cautiously and bent for a closer look. “Max!”
It was the uniformed security guard. He was sprawled out on the snow-covered ground. He groaned but remained unmoving. The light came from the walkie-talkie hooked to his belt.
“Max!” I dropped to my knees and touched his chest. “Are you okay?” I placed a hand gently behind his head and felt a warm stickiness. Even in the darkness, I knew that it had to be blood!
“Don’t worry, Max!” I gently removed my hand and reached for the walkie-talkie. I unclipped it and pushed the talk button. “Hello! Hello!” I called desperately. “Can anybody hear me? Max has been hurt! Hello! Hello!” I pressed my ear to the device but heard no reply.
“Don’t worry, Max.” I unzipped my parka and draped it over him. “I’ll get help! I’ll be right back!”
Then I heard the scream and I jolted to my feet. There was only one person in the world with a scream like that. I would recognize it anywhere.
“Kim!” Her cry had come from the direction of Santa’s Reindeer Barn. “Hang in there, Max!” I shouted as I took off. “Help’s on its way!”
At least, I hoped and prayed it was.
I ran full speed into the alley and, by the glow cast by the spotlights at the corner of the work shed, discovered two Santas locked in mortal combat, steps from the open shed.
“Hey!” I slid across the icy surface, tumbled and rolled. I hoisted myself back up. “Hey! Hey, stop it!”
“Amy! Help!” one of the Santas called. I recognized Kim’s voice. The second Santa, who seemed to have the upper hand, glanced at me, then broke Kim’s grip on his arm and punched her.
Kim went down in a heap.
I saw a snow shovel leaning against the side of the shed and picked it up. I ran at the second Santa and took a swing. He leapt backward and took off running. I hurled the snow shovel at him but missed by a country mile.
“Damn!” I ran after him. Santa was fast. In seconds, he’d reached the space between Sugarplum House and Frosty’s House. He was probably hoping to get lost in the crowds. Sure, he was in a Santa Claus suit, but there were several on the grounds this time of year.
I gave it my all. Santa had been slowed by a dense crowd of children who headed for him. He pushed them away but they were hampering his progress.
He crossed the central walkway and headed toward the big Christmas tree. I went around the other way, hoping to surprise him.
And I did. He froze, then turned and started back the way he’d come. I let out the biggest yell of my life and dove at him the way I’d seen linebackers do on TV.
“Ooph!” Santa and I went down in a tangle of arms and legs.
“Mom! Mom!” I heard a high-pitched voice squeal. “That lady’s beating up Santa Claus!”
“Hey, hey, you!” A purse whomped me across the back. “You leave Santa alone, you hear me?”
Santa struggled to his elbows and tried to rise, but I locked my arms around his legs and held on for dear life. Santa kicked at me, the unseen mom pounded on me, and voices around me were cheering and jeering.
32
I wasn’t sure how much longer I could have lasted, so I was glad it was over.
There was a tight circle of people surrounding us. Santa had stopped kicking and the crazy lady had stopped whacking me.
I pushed myself up, breathless and sore.
The crowd had parted. Officers Sutton and Pratt approached. For a second, I thought I was hallucinating because they looked like giant, goofy elves in red coats and tight-fitting, green-and-white striped pants. Their heads were bare. Both officers had strapped their gun belts around their waists.
“We were helping with a Christmas event at the orphanage when we got the call.” Dan lifted me to my feet and Al Pratt picked up Santa.
Santa’s beard had come detached and hung loose from one ear.
“Mr. Belzer!”
“Well, well, what do we have here?” asked Officer Pratt. He grabbed Belzer’s arms as he made to flee.
“Dan!” I grabbed his arms. “Kim is around the corner. Ellery hit her. She’s over by the work shed.”
“Thanks!” Dan started to move.
“Wait! Max, the security guard, is lying on the ground between Sugarplum House and Nutcracker House. I think he was struck in the head.”
Dan nodded. “I know. That’s why we’re here. The ambulance is already on its way. Somebody in the Christmas House Village office heard your call on the walkie-talkie. They called it in.”
I gulped.
“That was you, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. I’ll explain later. Go!” I said. “Help them!”
“Out of the way, everybody!” The crowd split wide and Dan bolted for the alley.
I turned to Ellery Belzer. “If you’ve harmed Kim in any way—”
Ellery hung his head. “I’m sorry, Amy. Believe me. I never meant for any of this to happen.”
“Let’s go,” Officer Pratt ordered. He slapped a pair of cuffs around Belzer’s wrists and led him away. It was a sorry sight watching a giant elf lead a beaten Santa Claus away in handcuffs. I only hoped it would not overly traumatize the children. Christmas was a time for joy and giving, not mayhem—that was what after-Christmas sales were for.
Two squad cars, lights flashing, sat at the street. As I watched, it was joined by a third. It was Jerry, and he was in uniform.
Glancing up across the street, I saw Derek’s silhouette in his apartment window. The tip of a glittery Christmas tree glowed behind him.
I watched until the shadowy shape stepped to the side and pulled the curtains.
* * * *
The next morning, Kim and I gathered in the corner of Birds & Bees before opening. The Christmas tree near the sales counter was a sad reminder that it was nearly Christmas. So much had changed, and not for the better, since the day the tree had arrived and we had decorated it with smiles on our faces.
The dull throbbing of my heart was a reminder of the Christmas tree upstairs that I purchased in the company of Derek and Maeve. Would I ever see either of them again?
Would things, could things, ever be the same?
Kim sat in a rocker. I sat on the floor, cross-legged, wishing I’d worn thicker underwear—the house was still painfully cold. Though, as fate would have it, the refrigerator in my apartment was on the fritz and as warm inside as a summer’s day. We were storing our frozen foods on the window ledges outside. I could only hope the fridge was working again before the squirrels and birds discovered our stash.
Kim had been kept in the hospital overnight for observation. I had picked her up first thing in the morning and brought
her back to the store for coffee. Eve Dunnellon had been immediately released from jail.
Kim explained to me, as she had to the police, that she had seen Max and Santa, whom we now knew to be Ellery Belzer, fighting. Max was recovering in the hospital and told the police that he had been following the Santa because he’d seen two Santas following me and had gotten suspicious. Of course, the other Santa had been Kim.
Max had confronted Mr. Belzer and the two men fought. Max had knocked Mr. Belzer to the ground, but Mr. Belzer had come up swinging with a stone in his hand. Mr. Belzer clobbered Max in the back of the head. After getting the better of Max, Belzer had gone after Kim.
“If you hadn’t shown up when you had,” Kim had said, “I might have been a goner.”
It had been kind of her not to mention that if it wasn’t for me she wouldn’t have been in such a dangerous predicament in the first place. I had no doubt that at some date in the future, I’d be getting an earful.
Once again, that’s what friends are for.
I had suggested that Birds & Bees take over the annual toy drive that Belzer Realty had started, and Kim thought that was a great idea.
The coffee machine gurgled and hissed on the counter. Mom had made mini-fruitcakes in a muffin tin, and I had carried them downstairs to the store on a festive ceramic dish, designed to look like a Christmas wreath.
Esther joined us moments later. I swear, the woman can sniff out free food. I don’t care what scientists say about senior citizens, they have all their faculties and then some.
“Why all the glum faces?” Esther tugged at the sash of her robe. Apparently she wasn’t planning on working right away. Her hair was in curlers. Gray slippers that looked like mutant dust bunnies clung to her white-stockinged feet.
“Didn’t you hear, Esther? Ellery Belzer was arrested last night for the murder of Franklin Finch,” Kim explained.
“Yeah, and he might have killed Max, Kim, and me, to boot.” I rose from the floor and reached for the coffeepot.
“And Christmas House Village has been sold,” Kim sniffed. “Again.”
Esther shook her head and rolled her eyes. “Old news.”
I poured coffee for all of us and handed around the mugs. “Again, Esther. Christmas House Village has been sold again.” I sipped from my mug, then handed around the platter of fruitcakes.
Esther stuck her hand out and took the first one.
“They’re going to tear it down and put up a Cozy Towne Inn,” Kim said morosely. “Can you believe it?”
“No,” Esther said firmly. She peeled the paper from around her fruitcake and chomped down.
“No?” I raised my eyes in her direction. “What does that mean, Esther?”
“No, as in I don’t believe it.” She chomped down again and two-thirds of her fruitcake was now gone. “Because it’s not true.”
“It’s true, Esther,” I said. “Believe me.”
Esther snorted. “Believe you? Are you kidding me? You’re wrong half the time,” she quipped, batting at fruitcake crumbs on her robe, including bits of cherries and pineapple, mindless of the fact they were now on my previously spotless floor.
Kim and I shared a look as Kim mouthed, “Senile.”
“I saw that,” snapped Esther. She reached for a second fruitcake. She treated the store’s food and drinks like her personal buffet. Soon, there would be none left for our customers.
Kim decided that was a good time to throw me under the Esther the Pester bus. “Amy broke up with Derek.”
Esther paused, fruitcake halfway to her lips. “See? The woman’s a fool. Where’s she ever going to find another man?”
I glared at her. “I’m right here, you know. And I can so find another man.”
“Do you want another man?” pressed Esther.
“No,” I admitted, “I want that one.”
Esther rolled her eyes at me. “As for Christmas House Village—” The frustrating woman paused, ever so slowly peeled the wrapper from her second fruitcake, and took a big bite. I was certain she had left us hanging just to get my goat.
And she had succeeded.
I grabbed her arm before she could take another bite. “What about Christmas House Village, Esther?”
“Yes, what is it, Esther?” Kim added.
“It’s been sold, all right. But not to Cozy Towne Inn.”
“To who then?”
Esther shrugged, broke off a bit of walnut-heavy fruitcake, and glared at me as she popped it in her mouth. “I can’t say.”
“What?” Kim half rose from her rocker. “Why not? Who—”
Esther raised a hand to silence her. “What I can tell you is that Finch’s Christmas House Village is now, or at least will be shortly, Kinley’s Christmas House Village.”
Kim and I started talking at once. I threw my hands up and called for silence.
Once I had it, I said, “Esther, are you sure?”
“Of course, I’m sure.”
“Who told you?”
“Can’t say.”
Kim and I looked at one another.
“Are you really certain of this, Esther?” That was me.
Esther nodded. “It’s getting late. Shouldn’t we be getting to work? I think I’ll go get dressed.”
I jumped in her path. “Not until you tell us what’s going on.”
Kim joined me in blockading her.
“Fine.” Esther caved. “Gertie Hammer, Robert LaChance, and Tyrone Kinley’s children offered to buy Finch’s Christmas House Village from his ex-wife.”
“What about Cozy Towne Inn?” I persisted. What would Gertie Hammer and Robert LaChance want with Christmas House Village? Did they have their own plans to raze it and put up a shopping mall or something?
“It seems she was going to sell to the hotel chain,” Esther told us. “Belzer had been pressing her to do it all along.”
“That beast!” Kim gasped.
“After what happened with Belzer, she decided to go with the local offer instead,” Esther said. “Besides, Cozy Towne Inn has backed out. Too much bad publicity.”
Esther started to go, but I pressed my hand lightly to her chest. “How do you know all this?”
Esther plucked my fingers from her chest. “I have my sources.”
“What sources?” Kim asked, eyes filled with wonder.
“Karl Vogel, for one. He called me this morning and told me that Ellery Belzer was the one behind all of Christmas House Village’s troubles. He paid Bobby Cherry to stir up trouble, too.”
I nodded. We had already learned from the police that Bobby Cherry had been picked up in Black Mountain, where he had been staying at a Cozy Towne Inn. They had spotted his motorcycle in the parking lot—a motorcycle bought with the money that Ellery Belzer had been paying him for his dirty work.
Cozy Towne Inn. I remembered now. It was their website that Finch had been looking at on his computer the night he was killed.
Bobby Cherry was being brought back to Ruby Lake by the state police for questioning.
“Belzer had been trying to sell Christmas House Village to Cozy Towne Inn forever. Not only would it mean a big commission but he was going to get a kickback from Cozy Towne Inn’s territory manager. Only he had to make the sale by the end of the year. Otherwise, they’d build elsewhere.”
“Like Swan Ridge,” I said.
“That’s right, which is where they’re going to build now.”
I knew one person who would be glad to hear it: Dr. Ajax’s receptionist.
“But what messed things up for Belzer was Kinley’s kids deciding to sell to Finch instead. All that could save the deal with Cozy Towne Inn at that point was to convince Finch to sell and sell fast.”
“That’s why he upped Bobby Cherry’s involvement.”
“That’s right,” Est
her said. “Belzer was paying Bobby to sabotage the business, hoping that Finch would give up and sell. When that didn’t happen fast enough to suit Belzer—”
“He took matters into his own hands. Literally,” I finished.
Kim’s voice was filled with disbelief. “He was the only one who knew I was going back to see Mr. Finch that night.”
Poor Kim. Her boss intended her to be his unwitting witness to Finch’s suicide. My theory about how the stage had been set was correct. Belzer had strangled Finch, then saw an opportunity to frame Kim when he learned she was going to pay him a visit that night. Belzer’s house wasn’t far from Christmas House Village. Belzer admitted that he ducked out of his party, raced to Christmas House Village ahead of Kim, arranged the noose, tying one end of the second rope loosely over a leg of the stool. He then waited from his vantage in the alley for Kim to arrive. When he saw her through the stairway window . . . bam! He yanked the rope, sending Finch swinging and leading Kim and everybody else to believe he had just hanged himself.
Kim’s hand went to her throat. “I’ll bet he killed Virginia Johnson, too.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. Though the police might never be able to prove it,” I replied. He’d also hung the noose on my porch in an attempt to frighten me. “Getting rid of Virginia Johnson was the first step in clearing all the obstacles to his sale of Christmas House Village to Cozy Towne Inn.”
“He almost got away with it, too,” Kim said before sipping from her mug. “To think, I worked with that man.”
Esther made to leave and I stopped her once more.
“Just a minute, Esther. So it was Karl who told you that Gertie Hammer, Robert LaChance, and the Kinley kids are buying Christmas House Village?”
Esther shoved an arm between me and Kim and wedged her way between us. “I never said that. Now, I’m pretty sure we have work to do. It’s less than ten days to Christmas.”
“Please, Esther. I’ve got to know . . .”
Esther let out a sigh that smelled like fruitcake and sounded like I’d just asked her to donate me her last kidney. “You aren’t going to let this go, are you?”
I raised a hopeful brow.