by anna snow
We exited the coffee shop and reentered the maddening crowd of people waiting to meet Santa. There was a slight buzz from some of the shoppers about the body found the night before but nothing loud enough for the kids to hear, thank goodness.
I picked up speed and worked my way around the crowd until I found the person I was looking for.
"Eric, I need your help with something."
The handsome security guard smiled down at me. "Now, how'd I know that I'd hear those words out of your mouth before this day was over?"
I smiled. "I need to know who was working in one of the stores late on the night of the twenty-second."
Eric smiled at me and shook his head. "The minute your friend mentioned that you were a private investigator and that you'd found a dead body last night, I knew you'd want a piece of the action. Give me the info you need, and I'll see what I can do."
I gave him the name of the store. "If you could get that information to me as soon as possible, I'd really appreciate it. Here's my cell phone number."
"I'll get right back to you." He nodded once at me then turned and strode away in the direction of the store in question.
"Now, on to finding this Addie woman Bambi told us about," Kelly said.
"Bambi said that she works as an elf this time of year, so let's work our way back around to the front of the tree and see if we can spot her."
I followed Kelly around the tree. The line of children was thinning and now only extended a little way past the food court, but there were still countless shoppers milling about.
The new Santa was starting to look a little haggard, and the elves weren't looking much better.
We were a ways back from the tree so the name tags they wore were useless to us.
"Which one do you think is Addie?"
"I don't know." Kelly shook her head and tiptoed up to get a better look. "There's Bambi." She pointed to the woman we'd just talked to.
I watched the interaction between Bambi and the other helpers. She was friendly with one but treated the other like she had something that not even a shot of penicillin would clear up.
Either that woman was Addie, and Bambi was still ticked off about the whole Marvin cheating thing, or Bambi had an aversion to little people. Addie was about four-and-a-half-feet tall and had short brown hair. She smiled a smile that lit up her entire face at the children waiting in line as she passed out candy canes. She didn't have Bambi's height, or curves, but she was still pretty.
"That has to be Addie," I said and motioned to the small woman Bambi had snubbed.
"Yeah, that's my guess." Kelly grinned. "She's treating that little one like she has the clap or something. There's no way that's not Addie."
A moment later, the woman we assumed was Addie ducked under the rope and hurried off toward the food court.
We followed as quickly as possible and spotted her again heading straight for the restroom.
We waited a few seconds then followed Addie inside.
Much to my surprise, the women's room was nearly empty. A mother and small child moved past us, and another woman finished applying her lipstick and left.
I took a peek and saw that all of the stall doors were standing open except one.
I pulled out a ChapStick while Kelly adjusted her short messy hair, and we made ourselves look busy until the stall door opened, and Addie appeared at the sink beside me.
"Hi," I said cheerily.
"Hi, yourself," she said with a smile. "Some crazy day out there, isn't it?"
"Absolutely," I agreed. "I was surprised that the mall is even open today after they found that body last night."
I watched for any reaction from Addie. Her face paled a bit, but she continued washing her hands. "Sad, that was." She nodded.
"Did you know the man?" I asked gently.
"I'd known him for a little while. He was a nice guy. A little misunderstood but a good guy all the same."
I put the ChapStick back into my purse. "I'm sorry for your loss. Were you two close?" I asked with what I hoped was a concerned expression.
Addie shut off the faucet and moved to dry her hands. "Kind of. We'd been seeing each other, but he ended it the day he was killed. It's all right, though. We parted on good terms."
"Were you working when they found him?"
She shook her head. "No, I was picking my mom up from the airport, so I was gone all day yesterday." Addie eyed me suspiciously, and I decided that it was time to wrap up this line of questioning.
"Well, I'm sorry for your loss. Merry Christmas."
"Merry Christmas," she said and made her way out of the restroom.
"Do you think she was lying?" Kelly asked after we left the restroom.
"I don't know. She didn't seem too torn up about Marvin's death, but who knows? Everyone grieves differently."
My cell phone buzzed. I grabbed it. The display read a number that I didn't recognize.
"Barb Jackson," I answered the call.
"Barb, this is Eric. I have the information you need."
"Great. Let me have it."
"The woman you're looking for is Chelsea Bettencourt. There were four men and one woman working in that particular store that night. Since she was the only woman working that night, I'm going to assume that she's the one you want to find. She's also working today. I figured you'd want to talk to her."
"Thanks, Eric. You're a lifesaver."
"It's my pleasure. If you need anything else, just call this number."
I slid the phone into my jeans pocket. "That was Eric, the security guard. He said we're looking for a woman named Chelsea."
"Then let's go find her."
The smell of fresh pretzels, popcorn, and cookies permeated the air around me as we passed stand after stand and vendor after vendor on our way to Forever 21. My stomach growled. The fact that I'd just had a second macchiato and orange crème scone didn't seem to matter. The holidays, with all of the fantastic food, always made me hungry.
We found the shop we were looking for near the farthest end of the mall. The entrance was done up in Christmas decorations like the rest of the building, but the inside of the store looked and smelled like a teenager's bedroom put on a case of Axe body spray and then threw up.
Teens and their parents busily pulled clothing off of racks, and harried looking salespeople assisted those who needed it.
We stepped inside and looked around.
"Any idea which one is Chelsea?"
"Nope." I shook my head.
"So, how are we going to go about this?" Kelly asked.
"Just like this."
I walked up to the closest salesperson. "Excuse me, but can you tell me where I might be able to find Chelsea?"
The guy looked down at me. "She's in the back on break. Is there something I can do for you?"
I was tired of messing around. I wanted to go home, take a hot bath, and pet my cat, so I decided that the direct approach was the best way to go about speaking to Chelsea.
"I'm Barb Jackson of Jackson Investigations, and this is my friend Kelly. We need to speak to Chelsea about Marvin Garvin."
The man's face paled, but he nodded. "I'll be right back."
Kelly looked at me quizzically.
"What? Not everything has to be a covert operation. Besides, the caterer is delivering the food for Christmas dinner at my place around five o'clock, and I have to be there in case Mona gets held up at the station, and Mandy's already gone back to her place. I agreed to be one of their last deliveries this year since our dinner isn't until tomorrow."
A moment later a tall, thin woman with a short brown bob hairstyle came out of the back and approached us.
"I've already talked to the police."
"We know that. We just have a few questions. It won't take but a minute."
She crossed her arms cross her chest, eyed Kelly, and then glared at me. "Fine. But make it quick."
"Were you and Marvin seeing each other?"
"Sort of."
"Care t
o elaborate?"
"We'd been seeing each other on and off for about a month. He wasn't sure he was ready to be with me."
Apparently Marvin wanted to be with everyone at the same time. This was the third woman we'd talked to today who was romantically tied to Marvin. I needed to get a good look at un-dead Marvin when we were finished talking to Chelsea.
"When was the last time you talked to him?"
"The day before yesterday. We had dinner. Then I came back here and finished my shift, and Marvin went back and finished his. I didn't see him yesterday at all."
That was because he was dead beneath the tree, but I kept my mouth shut.
"The mall closed at 10:00 pm that night, didn't it? The twenty-second?" I asked.
"No," she said and shook her head. "On the twenty-second we closed early, at 9:00 pm. Some employees stayed a little later to straighten up the wonderland scene, but we actually closed at 9:00."
"Did you see Marvin after the mall closed that night?"
"No. We were supposed to meet at my place, but he never showed up. I figured he went back to Addie or Bambi and let it go. He was hot but a little bit of a drunk. I could do better." She shrugged.
I was still a bit curious as to what alive Marvin looked like. "You wouldn't happen to have a picture of Marvin, would you?" I asked.
Chelsea pulled out her phone, clicked around on the screen, then handed it to me. The brown-eyed, blond-haired, handsome man staring back at me was not what I expected to see. Marvin Garvin was in his mid-to-late thirties, had a strong jaw, and a warm smile. I could now see why the ladies had been drawn to him.
I showed the pic to Kelly, and she raised her eyebrows with surprise.
"Thanks for your time." I handed the phone back to Chelsea.
"No problem." She waved and went back to the back of the store to finish her break.
We left the store.
"Barb."
I jerked my head around and stared into the face of the man I'd been dodging.
Detective Smith.
He didn't look happy.
"We need to talk."
CHAPTER SIX
Nothing elicits fear in someone like the phrase we need to talk.
I blinked up at Detective Smith and put on my best I'm totally innocent face.
"What about?"
"Not finished shopping?" he asked.
"Nope." I shook my head. "Still hard at it."
"I don't see any bags."
Crap.
I shrugged my shoulders. "I haven't found anything I couldn't live without yet."
Detective Smith ran his hand through his hair. "Barb, this is a murder investigation. I'm doing everything I can to solve it."
"I know that," I said on a sigh. "I just need to help."
Out of the corner of my eye I glimpsed the handsome detective soon to replace Smith talking to one of the security guards. Why couldn't I stop finding him in a crowd?
"I know how to take care of myself. Besides"—I brought my attention back to Smith and smiled—"the case of who killed Santa has me intrigued. I've never been able to turn away from a mystery, and I'm not about to start now. So, no."
He blinked. "What?"
"I'm sorry, Detective Smith, but no. You need help solving this one, and I'm going to be that help. Some Santa-killing jackass isn't going to destroy Christmas for any of us, especially your wife and kids. So I'm sorry, but no. I'm going to keep poking around until one of us figures out who the killer is."
Smith stared at me without saying a word, so I pressed on.
"We have some good leads, and I'll stay out of your way."
"Come with me." He grasped my hand. "You too." He pointed at Kelly. His tone left no room for argument.
Kelly followed us as Detective Smith led me down a long offshoot hallway beside the food court. Near the middle of the hallway he opened a door built into the wall.
"What is this?"
"Surveillance area."
We followed Smith to the last door on the right. He didn't bother knocking but instead just walked in.
"This is all of the feed from all of the cameras in every one of the stores playing in real time. I know that you've talked to Bambi, Addie, and now Chelsea."
"Have you talked to them?" I asked.
"Detective Black and I talked to them this morning. From what we gathered, Marvin liked the ladies and wasn't shy about flitting from one to the other."
"Sounds like the girls told us the same story," Kelly said.
"But none of them have given a solid alibi," I said.
"No, they haven't." He shook his head.
"Okay. So then, why are we here?"
Smith smiled. "You want to help solve this case? Then you can help. I've already cleared this with the Captain. I need the two of you to review the tapes from around the time that Marvin was killed."
"You want us to sit and watch surveillance tapes?" I asked with confusion. "You were dead set against us helping you this morning. Why the sudden change of heart?"
"This morning when I caught you nosing around the first time, I got this idea." Smith said. "I had to run it by the Captain first. He remembers you from some case you solved a while back and agreed to let you help."
"All right, but the camera by the tree is a dummy, so it's not like we're going to see who shoved Marvin under the tree. And another thing…isn't reviewing these videos someone else's job?"
"Yes, normally it is, but with the holidays we're running a little shorthanded. We've had guys watching cameras from the stores closest to the tree, but they haven't seen anything that can be of use to us. Since the cameras don't show the tree head-on, only the surrounding areas, finding anything on the tapes in these areas is a long shot, but we need to turn over every stone."
"What will you be doing?"
"My job." He grinned.
I propped my hands on my hips and shook my head. He just wanted us out of his way, but I didn't care. There could be a glimpse of something on one of the tapes closest to the tree that could lead us to Marvin's killer.
"Look, I don't know about you," Kelly said, "but we were just about at a dead end. I say we grab some lunch and watch the tapes. We might find something helpful."
I looked between Kelly and Smith then sighed and held up my hand. "Fine. Fine. You win this time, but don't get used to it."
"Don't worry about lunch. I already picked something up for you." Smith pointed to two white Styrofoam takeout boxes and two steaming cups of coffee sitting on a small table situated in the corner of the room. "I hope you like Chinese."
"It is my favorite."
Smith showed us how to use two of the spare screens to view the surveillance tapes.
"I have some things to take care of. Let me know if you see anything that might be of use. My cell is on." He jotted his number down on a napkin.
"I'll let you know if we find anything."
He nodded curtly then left us to our own devices.
Kelly and I sat down at the table and sorted through the boxes of food.
"So, let's go over what we know." I reached behind me and grabbed a pen and paper from the desk.
"We know that Marvin liked the ladies," Kelly said and then popped a cream cheese wonton in her mouth.
"He was a huge cheater. No monogamous relationships for him. He was stringing Bambi, Addie, and Chelsea along at the same time."
I jotted down notes as we spoke.
"Marvin was killed at 11:00 pm on the night of the twenty-second. Chelsea said she was at home waiting for Marvin to show up. Addie said she had to pick her mom up from the airport that day, but we still don't know where she was that night."
"From what Smith said, none of the ladies have an alibi for that night," Kelly said.
"But the odds of Addie being able to move Marvin's body under the tree is miniscule. She's barely half his size."
"True," Kelly agreed. "So Addie being the killer is highly unlikely."
I chewed a bite of noodles t
hen tapped the box with a chopstick. "I think one of the other two women did it. A lover scorned and all of that, but without any real evidence, there's no way to know for sure," I said. "I wish we knew what the cops have found so far, if they even have any evidence."
I took a bite of a pot sticker and continued to tap the box with the chopstick. "Chelsea said that the mall closed at 9:00 pm on the night that Marvin was killed. According to Chelsea, the only people still in the mall after that time would've been those whose job it was to straighten up the winter wonderland scene in preparation for the next day."
"If Marvin was killed at around 11:00 pm, then everyone had to be out of the building or else someone would've witnessed Marvin being killed," Kelly said around a mouthful of rice.
"Unless he was killed somewhere else and then moved to the tree," I added.
"True," Kelly agreed. "We need to watch the tapes of the areas closest to the wonderland scene around the time of death, between 10:00 pm and 12:00 pm."
"Sounds like as good of a place to start as any." I shrugged and took a sip of coffee.
We finished off the tasty Chinese food Detective Smith had left us and turned our attention to the monitors.
"Which camera is closest to the wonderland area?" Kelly asked.
"That would be"—I rolled my chair over to look at the paper directory hanging on the wall—"the food court." I rolled back to the desk.
She clicked on the computer screen, scrolled to the one labeled food court, and clicked on play.
We waited a minute then a grainy black and white picture of the area just outside of the food court popped up.
I reached up and hit the fast-forward button until the time at the bottom right corner of the screen hit the 10:00 pm mark.
The camera panned the entire food court and about twenty feet outside of the area. We could see a small portion of the tree but not the actual murder scene.
We leaned back in our chairs and settled in to watch the next two hours of tape. We watched in silence as the camera panned the food court, then to the area just outside of it, and back to the starting point again.
"I don't think any of the women murdered Marvin," Kelly spoke up.
"What? Why not?" I looked at her like she was crazy. The killer was almost always a scorned lover. Didn't she watch CSI?
