* * *
"I love your bike tours, and that sounds like an amazing gift. I'd love to spend the extra time with you." Trying not to see jealous, he asked, "Who else gave you a gift?"
* * *
"Another rider did too. Detective Peters who works with my boss and her detective husband," Janae said.
* * *
“I think I met him before,” Fire Frank said. “I didn’t know he was a fan of bike riding.”
* * *
"I love bike riding, and I love that others are becoming enthusiastic about it too," Janae smiled.
* * *
“Well, I’m very enthusiastic about that private tour,” Fire Frank said.
* * *
“Do you think she has any idea that these men are in love with her?” Amy asked. “Or is this part of a flirting game?”
* * *
Heather wasn’t quite sure what she thought about it, but she never had a chance to answer anyway. A man was carrying a red box toward Mr. Rankle’s store. He was trying to be secretive, but Heather saw him clearly.
* * *
She jumped to her feet. She and Amy ran to the door.
* * *
“Digby,” she called. “Call Ryan and Detective Peters and tell them to come here quick. We see our suspect and can’t let him get away.”
* * *
They ran out after the man. Fire Frank must have heard them mention Peters’s name and didn’t want to be outdone. He hurried outside to help them.
* * *
“Stop right there,” Heather yelled to the man delivering the gift.
* * *
He dropped the box and began to run away. Heather hurried after him, while Amy stayed to tell Mr. Rankle not to open his gift yet. The man was fast and was about to outrun Heather. Luckily Fire Frank had offered to help and was in peak physical condition as a fireman. He quickly caught up with the man and subdued him.
* * *
“What’s going on?” Mr. Rankle asked.
* * *
“We might have just saved your life,” Amy said. “Merry Christmas.”
Interrogating Santa
“So, I hear you caught the suspect?” Peters said to Fire Frank.
Everyone had assembled at the police station. The suspect was in the interrogation room, but the other investigators were waiting for Ryan to return with some evidence before they began questioning him. This allowed Detective Peters and Fire Frank to size one another up.
"I was just lucky to be at the right place at the right time to help," Fire Frank said.
“And that right place was at Donut Delights?” Detective Peters asked.
“That’s right,” Fire Frank said. “It was lucky that someone was there to catch the bad guy.”
“I was at the secondary location making sure that Mr. Rankle wasn’t being delivered anything deadly at his home,” Peters said, defensively.
“All right,” Heather said. “Let’s focus on the case. Peters, why don’t you see if your partner needs help? Fire Frank, if you still want to be of assistance, go and check on Mr. Rankle.”
The two men nodded but gave each other calculating looks as they went their separate ways.
“I hope that this doesn’t get ugly at work,” Amy said. “We don’t want them competing around the cream puff donuts.”
“I’m sure it will all work out,” Heather said. “Though I agree I am more a fan of round donuts than love triangles any day.”
Amy looked into the interrogation room through the two-way mirror.
“Do you recognize the suspect?” she asked.
Heather nodded. "He's one of my regulars. He's retired, so he's in the shop a lot, but I always thought he looked too young to be retired. He tries all the new flavors of the week."
“And now he’s a killer,” Amy sighed.
Ryan and Peters rejoined them.
"It's confirmed," Ryan said. "It's a match. His fingerprints match those on both Heather's and Bernadette's gifts."
“Let’s see how he can explain that away,” Amy said.
“Yes. Let’s question him,” Peters said. “Because we’re real detectives and that’s what we do. We don’t all just tackle the bad guys.”
“Fire Frank didn’t tackle him,” Heather said gently.
“I know,” Peters said. “This doesn’t have anything to do with Fire Frank. Who said anything about Fire Frank? I just want to solve this case. Because detectives solve cases.”
He hurried into the interrogation room. Amy exchanged a look with the others, and then they all followed.
"This is all a big mistake," the man said. "I haven't done anything wrong.”
“Why don’t we start with your name before we start with the denials?” Peters said.
"Why not both? My name is Kris King, and I didn't do anything wrong."
"Let's establish some facts," Ryan said. "What were you doing with that red box?"
“I was delivering a Christmas present,” Kris King said. “There’s no law against that, is there?”
“Not unless the gift is something that will kill the recipient,” Ryan said.
“Kill someone?” Kris asked. “Check the box. It’s only a pocket watch.”
“Aha!” Amy said. “The plan did work.”
“What plan? Are you trying to frame me for something?”
Heather decided to get straight to the point. “Are you the Key West Santa?”
“Would I be in trouble if I was?” Kris asked. “I thought that would be a nice thing to do.”
Kris King was much younger than you would expect Santa to be, and he didn’t have a beard. He also was a very skinny man with horn-rimmed glasses. In many ways, he was the opposite of the holiday figure, and yet he had an air of jolliness about him. He seemed like a man that you would instantly want to be friends with.
"Mr. King, we're just interested in catching a killer,” Heather said. “If you didn’t kill anyone, then you have no reason to fear our questions. And if you did kill someone, it’s better to tell the detectives now so they can work out a deal with the D.A. for you.”
“I didn’t kill anyone,” Kris said.
“But you are the Key West Santa?” Ryan asked again.
“Yes,” Kris said. “I’ve been bored since I retired and I needed something to do. I have a good amount of money saved up. I thought I might as well put it to good use and help some people have a Merry Christmas.”
“So, you’re telling us that all the gifts you gave were nice presents?” Ryan asked.
"Of course," Kris said. "I've been listening for clues about what people want this year, and I've been delivering them.”
“Why did you give a gift to Mr. Rankle?” Amy asked.
“Because I thought he needed a friend,” said Kris. “It sounded like people were being pretty mean to him today. I thought he needed some cheering up before the holiday. And his gift was just a watch. I thought I heard someone say that he wanted one. It’s nothing that could hurt him.”
“That’s being investigated now,” Ryan said.
"I just wanted to make people happy. I thought I heard her," Kris said, indicating to Heather. "Mention while at Donut Delights that a present was used for a murder. And she also said that she wanted a pair of slippers. That was partially why I gave her a gift. I wanted her to know that she was doing something good by looking for justice and that it had nothing to do with my Santa gifts."
“The gift still gave me a heart attack,” Heather said.
"Well, that's not what I meant," Kris frowned. "I meant to reward you for doing good."
“How well do you know Ben Grimes?” Ryan asked.
“I don’t know him,” Kris said. “Is he the man who died?”
“Yes,” Ryan said. “He was murdered with something that arrived in a box just like the one that you delivered.”
“There’s an easy way to set this right,” Kris said. “I do something special with all my cards. I hand paint a tree with silver
and gold ornaments on it, but I also have a secret code of sorts behind the tree.”
“The line squiggles form a map,” Heather said.
“That’s right,” Kris said. “I’m surprised you figured that out. I didn’t think anyone would. That’s why I didn’t bother to cover it up better. But I needed the map as a marker for myself. I needed to remember where I was delivering each of the gifts I wrapped. I made a little map on each card so I’d remember where it went.”
“Who else knew about these maps?” asked Heather.
“I don’t think anyone,” said Kris. “I didn’t tell anyone about my secret identity. I was doing it to make people happy. Not for the acclaim. I didn’t even tell my wife what I was doing, though I think she might have started to suspect it after I was away from the house for so long.”
“You’re sure nobody else knew about it?” Ryan asked.
“I don’t think so,” said Kris. “I certainly didn’t tell anyone, but if you figured it out, it’s possible somebody else did.”
"We didn't figure it out," Heather admitted. "The reporter Hope did after looking at all the cards that were delivered."
“But now that you know about my secret system, you can let me go, can’t you?” Kris asked.
“I’m afraid not,” Ryan said. “You see, the killer used the same secret code on the card that came with the murder weapon.”
“And you just admitted that no one else knew about your system besides you,” Peters said.
Kris gulped.
Good Gifts
“Something feels wrong,” Heather said.
“You mean, knowing that Santa is in jail?” Amy asked.
“Yeah,” Heather said. “But don’t say that too loud. I don’t want Lilly and Nicolas to hear this sort of talk.”
Lilly and Nicolas were walking Dave and Cupcake who were excited to explore a new walking route. Heather and Amy were slightly behind them with Miss Marshmallow who wanted to stroll at a more leisurely pace.
"Well, it's not really Santa. It’s Kris King,” Amy said. “What a name.”
“He did say that his name inspired him to play Santa. It does sound a lot like Kris Kringle,” Heather said.
“He also said he didn’t do it,” Amy said. “Do we believe him?”
“I don’t know,” Heather said, at last. “There are several reasons why it could have been him. He was the one who delivered all the other gifts, and he was the only one who knew about the secret code with the maps on the cards.”
“Besides Hope,” said Amy.
“Right,” Heather agreed. “But why would Hope have told us about the secret code if she were the killer? We might never have solved it without her help. We already thought there was a possibility that the Key West Santa was the killer because of the wrapping paper. Now, we have to think that it’s either him or her that did it because they had the knowledge.”
“It would be better for her if we didn’t know that she knew, you know?” Amy said with a smile.
They kept walking, and Heather kept thinking about the case. "But there are problems with Kris King being the killer too."
“Besides that he’s a nice guy?” Amy asked.
Heather nodded. "Though his being nice and delivering the presents secretly does make this murder seem out of character. He also didn't wipe his fingerprints from the other gifts. If he was contemplating murder, he should have started erasing evidence of his gift-giving earlier."
“And there’s Mr. Rankle’s gift,” Amy added.
“That’s right,” said Heather. “The gift really was a pocket watch like Kris King said. And if he wasn’t going to kill Mr. Rankle for being Scrooge-like, then he wouldn’t have killed Ben Grimes for that reason either.”
“He’s not a jolliness vigilante after all,” Amy said.
“Exactly,” said Heather. “And if it’s not because of his humbug attitude, then Ben Grimes was killed for another reason. We haven’t been able to find any connection between Kris King and the victim.”
“So, it’s possible that he didn’t know him? Just like he was saying in the interrogation room,” Amy said.
"We haven't found a strong motive for murder from anyone yet," Heather said. "Who knows? Maybe Ryan will find something going through the complaints from the old newspaper story or from the gift receiver's testimony."
“Maybe a gift receiver really did figure out the map clue,” Amy said.
"Maybe," Heather said. "Though it would be really difficult with only one card."
They walked in silence for a while, watching the kids frolic with the pets and Miss Marshmallow daintily pad next to them.
“You know the silly thing that bums me out about all this?” Amy joked. “It’s that I never received a gift from Santa. It seems like all his gifts were pretty awesome.”
“They were,” Heather agreed.
“I wonder what I would have gotten.”
“Wait a minute,” Heather said. “You might be on to something.”
“Yeah? I don’t know what he would have gotten me,” Amy said. “Maybe some new shoes? I’d love a fast fancy car, but I bet that’s asking for too much. Maybe some art supplies.”
“Not what he would get you specifically,” Heather amended. “But about all the gifts being awesome and special.”
“They were exactly what each person wanted or asked for,” said Amy.
“Right,” said Heather. “But what did Ben Grimes want a candlestick for?”
“For candles,” Amy said.
"Yes. That's what you'd use a candlestick for, but would Ben Grimes have used it?" Heather said. "When we searched for a matching candlestick at his house, did we see any candlesticks at all? Or any candles for that matter? Or matches?”
“I don’t remember seeing any,” Amy said.
"Then it wasn't the perfect gift for him,” Heather said. “At least, it doesn’t seem like it was. And if it wasn’t his perfect gift, then it was just selected because it was easy to alter and poison.”
“Then that makes it seem less like Kris King too,” Amy said.
“But he was the only one who knew about the maps on the cards,” Heather said. “That’s what we keep coming back to. Nobody else knew.”
“Then he’s the killer,” Amy said.
“But it doesn’t feel quite right,” Heather said.
"But he's the only one who knew about the card maps besides Hope who we already dismissed," Amy said. "And even if it doesn't make sense for him to have included it on the kill card because it only leads back to him - it does lead back to him. He's the only one who knew."
“Right. The only one,” Heather said, frowning. Then, suddenly, an idea came to her. “Or is he?”
“I thought so,” Amy said. “Until you got that look on your face.”
“There was someone else who knew. It’s been right in front of our faces. I can’t believe we didn’t see it before.”
“There’s a lot of things I can’t believe,” Amy said.
"The only question is why? Why kill Ben Grimes?" Heather continued to herself.
“I thought that was the only question we had all along,” Amy said.
“Maybe it does have something to do with the complaints and the renters,” Heather said. “Yes. I’ll have Ryan check that out. I think I know what happened.”
“And if you could tell,” Amy said. “That would be a Christmas miracle.”
The Whole Story
“Did you come back to give me a story?” Hope asked excitedly when she saw Heather and Amy.
“That’s certainly possible,” Heather said. “It depends on how you answer a question, but you have to answer it honestly.”
“I’m intrigued,” Hope said. “And, of course, I will.”
“You said that you had a lot of information and a longer story, but that you needed to cut it down for the newspaper,” Heather prompted.
“That’s right,” Hope said. “You saw how thorough I was in my research. And I had a longe
r version of my story written at first, but then I had to shrink it down so that it could fit in the edition that it was featured in.”
"Did anyone read that earlier draft?” Heather asked.
Hope nodded. “My editor did. He reads all the articles here, and he takes a more hands-on approach with junior reporters. He’s the one who makes the decisions about making piece shorter or longer.”
“This is Dennis Black,” Heather asked, confirming.
“Yes,” Hope said. “I don’t understand what you’re getting at. What’s going on?”
“Just keep answering her questions,” Amy said. “It will end up as an exciting story, I promise.”
“Did Dennis Black have access to all your research?” Heather asked.
“I guess so,” Hope said.
“So, he also knew about the secret map code in the cards?” Heather suggested.
Hope gasped. "I mentioned it in my earlier draft, and he told me to cut it. He said it was wasn't an interesting enough fact to include, and that I should focus more on the mood of the piece rather than specifics."
Heather made a quick call to Ryan, while Hope needed to sit down. Amy got her a glass of water to steady her nerves and then said, “I guess this is one way to get her to stop obsessing over future stories.”
“I can’t believe it,” Hope said. “All this time I’ve been working with a murderer. And he manipulated me so that he could kill somebody and blame Santa Claus. What a terrible man. What was I a part of? I feel faint.”
“Don’t faint,” Heather said. “How about we tell you some details for the story instead?”
“It might make you feel better to ask us some questions,” Amy agreed.
"All right," Hope said. She picked up her notepad. Her hand was shaky, but she asked her question. "What made you first suspect my editor?"
Eggnog Cream & Murder: An Oceanside Cozy Mystery - Book 12 Page 6
