Twisted

by Jo Gibson

  Seven

  He was still laughing as he entered the mall again, and locked the service door behind him. There was no need to check to make sure she was dead. The heavy pot had crushed her skull. No one could live through trauma like that.

  The costume room was at the opposite end of the mall, but he was very cautious as he hurried down the walkway, ducking into store doorways whenever he thought he heard a sound. There could be someone else with insomnia, and he didn’t want to run into anyone while he was wearing his costume.

  He breathed a deep sigh of relief as he reached the costume area, and slipped inside. He locked the door behind him, and changed to street clothes as fast as he could. Then he hung up the costume and brushed the snow from the red velvet material. It would dry before morning and no one would be the wiser.

  In less than ten minutes, he was back at the furniture store. He tiptoed past the living room section where two of them were sleeping on sofa beds, and took a detour to glance at the grandfather clock in the dining room section. It was one-twenty in the morning. His night’s work had taken almost two hours, but it had been very productive. One had been punished. And Santa would punish another, tomorrow night.

  When he reached the bedroom section, he moved stealthily past the sleepers and got into bed again. He’d prepared a story in case someone had missed him, an excuse about having to get up to use the restroom. But there was no need to utter the lie. From the even breathing of the other sleepers, he was certain no one had noticed that he’d been gone.

  He gave a satisfied sigh as he found a comfortable position and snuggled down under the blankets. He was going to rest well tonight. He had begun to take his revenge, and the feeling it had given him was sweet. As he closed his eyes, “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town” began to play on the speaker system, and he drifted off to sleep with a contented smile on his face.

  Diana woke up as someone whispered her name. She rolled over, opened her eyes, and blinked in confusion as she saw Jay standing by her bed. For a moment, she didn’t know where she was, but then she remembered. They were all snowbound at the mall.

  “It’s almost eight,” Jay whispered so he wouldn’t wake the others. “How about a cup of coffee?”

  Diana gave a quick nod, and got out of bed. She slipped into her shoes and followed Jay past the other sleepers to the mall outside. She waited until they were three doors down from the furniture store, and then she spoke. “Coffee sounds wonderful, but where do we get it?”

  “We make it. Let’s brew a big pot so there’s plenty when everybody else wakes up.”

  Jay motioned toward the escalator, and they got on to ride up to the second floor. Jay had stepped on behind her, and he was standing so close, Diana could feel the warmth of his body. She had the urge to lean back and enjoy the comfort of his arms, but she didn’t. She just smiled and rode up, watching their reflection in the mirrors that lined the escalator walls.

  “Where are we going?” Diana stepped off the escalator, and waited for Jay to catch up to her.

  “To the restaurant. I checked it out, and it’s open. I was going to make the coffee myself, but I wasn’t sure how to use their coffee machine.”

  “So you woke up a female to do it for you?” Diana tried to look stern, but her eyes were twinkling.

  Jay nodded. “Yeah. But I wasn’t being sexist or anything like that. I just figured you might know more about coffee machines than I do.”

  “Why did you pick me?” Diana couldn’t hide her grin as Jay led her into the main part of the restaurant.

  “Because . . . oh, I don’t know.” Jay grinned back, but he looked a little embarrassed. “I guess I just wanted you with me. It was lonesome, being the only one awake.”

  Diana’s grin grew wider. He’d wanted her, not just any female. “Okay. Show me that coffee machine and we’ll see if we can figure it out.”

  “Right this way.” Jay led Diana into the restaurant kitchen, and motioned toward the coffee machine. “Do you know how to work one of these?”

  “Sure. The reservoir’s always filled with hot water. All you have to do is put coffee in the basket and pour cold water through the hole in the top. The water you pour in forces the hot water out, and it drips down through the grounds.”

  “You figured that out just by looking at it?”

  There was an expression of awe on Jay’s face, and Diana laughed. “Not really. It’s just like the one my dad has in his office.”

  In less than five minutes, they both had steaming cups of coffee, and Diana had put on another pot. They wandered out into the main part of the restaurant, and peered out the huge plate glass windows at the snow.

  “I think it’s letting up a little.” Jay looked hopeful. “What do you think, Di?”

  Diana shook her head. Everything outside the window was completely obscured by a swirling wall of white. “I think you’re just trying to cheer me up. I can’t even see where the highway’s supposed to be.”

  “Then I guess we’re stuck here.” Jay didn’t look at all upset. “Did you have plans for the weekend?”

  “I was supposed to go to my cousin’s baby shower tonight. I’d better call and tell her I’m not going to make it.”

  “But we all called our parents last night. Wouldn’t your folks have told your cousin that you were snowbound out here?”

  Diana frowned slightly. “I don’t think so. They were invited to the shower next weekend for the relatives. I’m not sure they even know about this one.”

  “There’s a phone over there.” Jay pointed toward the reservations desk. “Go ahead, Di. I don’t think anyone’s going to be upset if you make a local call.”

  Diana walked over to the phone and lifted the receiver. Then she turned to Jay with a frown. “There’s no dial tone.”

  “Maybe you have to dial nine to get an outside line.”

  Diana dialed nine, but nothing happened. “It’s not working. Do you think the phones are out?”

  Jay nodded. “That’s certainly possible. The storm dumped a lot of heavy snow, and one of the lines might have snapped. Let’s try the pay phones. They might be on another line.”

  Diana and Jay carried their coffee cups along as they tried several banks of pay phones. None of them worked.

  Finally, Diana turned to Jay in frustration. “What am I going to do? I promised I’d be there early. I was supposed to help with the refreshments.”

  “Don’t worry, Di.” Jay slipped his arm around her shoulders. “If your cousin was watching television last night, she’ll know you’re stuck out here.”

  “I know that. But maybe she wasn’t watching. I’d feel a lot better if I could talk to her and explain.”

  Jay nodded. “I understand. If it’ll make you feel better, we’ll try the pay phones outside. One of them might be working.”

  It didn’t take long to get into their parkas and boots. Diana shivered as Jay pulled open the door and they stepped out into the blowing snow. It was a lot colder than it had been yesterday, and little bits of ice blew against her cheeks, stinging and turning them red.

  “Here. You’d better take this.” Jay leaned close so she could hear him over the howl of the wind, and handed her a long, green woolen scarf. As Diana wrapped it around her face, she caught the faint scent of perfume, and she wondered if Heather had made it for him. That didn’t seem likely. Heather wasn’t the type to knit. But there was only one way to find out for sure, and that was to ask.

  “Nice scarf.” Diana smiled, even though the scarf was wrapped around her mouth and he couldn’t possibly see her smile. “Did someone make it for you?”

  Jay nodded. “My grandmother knits. She gave it to me for Christmas last year, along with a pair of mittens. I’ve got those, too, if you want to wear them.”

  “No, thanks. I’ve got these pink ones my grandmother made.” Diana slipped them on and grinned. “I guess we’d freeze if our grandmas didn’t spend hours on these things. My grandma used to even knit a rope to ho
ld my mittens together, so I wouldn’t lose them.”

  “You mean that long piece of yarn that went up one of your sleeves and down the other? With a mitten attached to each end?”

  “That’s it!” Diana giggled. “My grandma made my mittens like that until I was in junior high.”

  Jay nodded, and reached into his pocket to pull out his mittens. “Consider yourself lucky. My grandma still does it.”

  “Oh, no!” Diana cracked up as Jay separated his mittens and showed her the braided rope of yarn that held the left to the right. Then he motioned toward the side of the building, and they waded through the snow to get to the phones.

  Diana dropped in a quarter and held the receiver to her ear. But even through the thick scarf she could hear that there was no dial tone.

  “It doesn’t work?”

  Diana shook her head and moved to the next phone, but she couldn’t get a dial tone there, either. These phones were just as dead as the ones inside.

  “At least we got some fresh air.” Jay took her arm and they started back toward the entrance. But then he stopped and let out a muttered exclamation.

  “What is it?” Diana stopped, too, and looked where Jay was pointing. It was impossible to see very far because the wind was whipping up flurries of loose snow, but she did catch sight of a Christmas tree, half-buried in a deep snowbank.

  “You stay here.” Jay pushed her under the shelter of the overhang. “I’ll check it out.”

  “No. I’m coming with you. If I stop moving, I’ll freeze to death.”

  Diana tucked her hand under his arm and they started off together, wading through a huge pile of snow to get to the tree. When they arrived at the half-buried Christmas tree, both of them were puffing.

  “One of the planters must have fallen off the overhang.” Jay pointed to the tree. “That tree came from up there . . . see?”

  Diana turned around to look. When she’d walked through the entrance, yesterday, she’d noticed that there were six trees in the planters. Now there were only five.

  “The winds must’ve been really bad last night. It’s just lucky that no one was walking underneath when . . . oh, my God!”

  There was panic in Jay’s voice, and Diana started to turn around. But Jay blocked her view, and gave her a little push toward the entrance. “Don’t look. Just go get the guys . . . quick!”

  “But . . . what is it?” Diana tried to turn again, but Jay wouldn’t let her.

  “Please, Diana. Just do what I say. Keep the girls inside, and send out the guys on the double. Tell them it’s an emergency. And have them bring some blankets.”

  Diana shivered, but it wasn’t from the biting wind. There was something terribly wrong. She opened her mouth to ask what the emergency was, but she knew Jay wouldn’t tell her. He was determined to get her away from here, but she was so frightened by the desperate tone in his voice, she couldn’t seem to move.

  “Diana . . . go! Go now!”

  Jay gave her another little shove, and Diana took a shaky step. That seemed to break the spell, and she stumbled awkwardly toward the entrance.

  Her fear seemed to evaporate, once she got inside the door. The mall was familiar and warm, a safe haven from the storm. Diana turned to glance out the plate glass door. And at that exact moment, the wind stopped blowing.

  Diana could see Jay clearly, standing by the huge mound of snow. He was staring down at something sticking up from the snowbank, and he looked horrified. Then the wind picked up again, obscuring Diana’s view, but not before she’d seen exactly what was protruding from the mound of snow. And the sight made her run for the furniture store as fast as her shaking legs would carry her.

  As she delivered Jay’s message and urged the guys to hurry, the image Diana had seen floated on the very edge of her consciousness, too horrible to be real. But it was there, nonetheless, etched permanently into her brain. Jay had been standing there motionless, looking down at something half-buried in the snow, something frightening and dreadfully gruesome.

  He’d been staring at a human arm!

  Eight

  Once everyone had learned about Sue’s awful accident, none of them had felt like being alone. They’d spent the entire day going from phone to phone, to see if any were functional. There were over three hundred phones in the mall and they’d checked them all, including the ones in the stores and the offices. None of them had been working, and there was no way they could report Sue’s death.

  When darkness had begun to fall, they’d all gathered in the Crossroads Pub. No one was very hungry so they’d picked up deli food at the grocery store on the main floor, and they’d arranged it on a platter. Jay and Larry had gone to the juice stand on the promenade level, and come back with several bottles of apple cider. They’d heated it with nutmeg and cloves, poured it into mugs, and stuck a cinnamon stick in each one. Now they were all sitting around the big, round table in the center of the room, sipping hot apple cider and eating sandwiches, trying to avoid thinking about what had happened. It wasn’t working. Sue’s horrible death was on everyone’s mind.

  Diana sighed, and everyone turned to look at her. She took a deep breath, and said exactly what was on her mind. “I know you guys don’t want to talk about Sue, but I have to ask a question. It’s important.”

  “Okay.” Jay nodded. “Go ahead.”

  “What did you do? Wrap her in the blankets and leave her in the snowbank?”

  “No.” Jay looked around at the other guys, but none of them seemed to want to elaborate. “We . . . uh . . . we put her in a safe place.”

  “Outside?” Diana frowned. She knew it didn’t make sense, but the thought of Sue, outside in the cold, was really disturbing.

  “No. We didn’t leave her outside.” Paul spoke up. “We talked it over, and we decided that it was better to bring her inside.”

  “But why?”

  Hal cleared his throat. He looked very uncomfortable. “Uh . . . animals. We thought maybe they might . . . you know.”

  “Oh.” Diana winced as she caught his meaning. “I understand. But where did you put her?”

  “Does it matter?” Jay looked very uncomfortable.

  The emotional part of Diana wanted to drop it. Jay looked really upset. But her practical side took over.

  “I’m sorry, Jay, but it does matter. What if we open a door and . . .” Diana swallowed hard. “You know what I mean. And that’s why I think you have to tell all of us where you put Sue’s body.”

  Jay thought about it for a moment, and then he nodded. “Okay. This is going to sound kind of weird, but we put Sue’s body in the best place we could think of. She’s in the meat case in the grocery store.”

  “The meat case?” Diana stared at Jay in shock.

  “This whole situation gives me the creeps,” Heather suddenly exclaimed. “Especially what Paul did!”

  “Me? What did I do?” Now Paul began to frown.

  “You taped the whole thing, and I think that’s irresponsible journalism!”

  “No, it’s not.” Cindy glared at Heather. “Paul was just doing his job. He explained the whole thing to me. Since the police couldn’t come out here, Paul used his camera to make a record for the police. They can watch the tape and see exactly where Sue was when she died.”

  Heather had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. “Oh. That’s different. But there’s something I don’t understand. What was Sue doing out there in the first place?”

  Everyone exchanged glances. They’d been wondering the same thing. Finally, Diana spoke up. “Maybe she couldn’t sleep?”

  “But it was freezing cold outside. If she couldn’t sleep, why didn’t she just walk around the inside of the mall?”

  “I think I might know the answer to that.” Dave gave a troubled sigh, and they all turned to look at him. “I didn’t say anything before, but there was a half-empty beer mug on the counter when I came in here. Did any of you get up in the middle of the night to have another beer?”


  One by one, they shook their heads, and Dave nodded. “That’s what I thought. Sue must have had trouble sleeping so she came back here to drink. Let’s assume she had one too many, and she stepped outside to try to sober up. The lights were on, and she waded out into the snow to look at the Christmas trees on the overhang. And then a strong gust of wind came up, and the tree fell, and . . . well . . . you know the rest.”

  Diana nodded, along with everyone else. She didn’t want to voice her objection now, but there was a big hole in Dave’s theory. Sue could have had too much beer. That much was true. And she could have stepped outside to clear her head. But Diana didn’t believe the planter had toppled in a strong gust of wind. She’d seen the way the planters were attached to the overhang, and it would have taken much more than a strong wind to move them. And the one that had fallen was the one in the middle, the one that was protected the most from the wind.

  Jay looked concerned as he leaned close to whisper in Diana’s ear. “You look worried. Is something wrong?”

  Diana shook her head. She didn’t want to alarm Jay. Not yet. Not until she’d thought everything out. But there was another big hole in Dave’s theory. Sue had been wearing her expensive new tennis shoes, the ones she’d bought for cheerleading. And there was no way she would have waded out into the snowbank with her new cheerleading shoes, not unless she’d had a very good reason.

  Suddenly, a thought occurred to Diana, and she began to shiver. She glanced up at Jay, but he was listening to something Cindy was saying. That was good, because she didn’t want him to notice the panic that was spreading through her whole body. She’d just thought of a new theory, a theory that made much more sense. Someone else had been outside with Sue. Diana was sure of it. And that someone had lured her out into the deep snow, and pushed the planter down from the overhang to kill her!