Not So Merry Murder

by Amabel Daniels

  “Am I…” I glanced back at the red and green shed. Even though the lights were shut off, the glittery shingles still shimmered in the dimness. “My boots are in there. My purse too.”

  Jeez, how was I going to get home without my coat and keys? So dead-set on getting away from here and Knox, I hadn’t even thought about what I was actually doing. “Are we allowed to get our stuff?”

  He nodded and gestured to the side of the North Pole area. “We’ve closed it off as a crime scene until further notice, but one of the techs brought the staff belongings out. You’re clear to collect your things.”

  So they could pick through our stuff first? I held back a scoff. They’re only doing their jobs. Crime scene and all that. Still, it stank of an invasion of privacy. Not that I had anything to hide. Other than expired condoms at the bottom of my purse, maybe. Bet they found some weed in Seth’s coat.

  Knox followed me toward the pile of outerwear and I tried to ignore the feeling that he was shadowing me. None of the cops had given me a reason to think I might be implicated in Marlena’s murder. Yet, this insufferable man, now that he’d “reunited” with me, wouldn’t bug off.

  “It’s kind of nasty out there,” he offered as I tugged a boot on. Sitting on the tiled floor like a child might while grappling with shoes, I didn’t even care if he could catch a peek up my skirt. I was tired and I wanted to go home.

  “Snow normally is,” I replied.

  “Still gonna walk?”

  I deadpanned at him. “That’s what I said.”

  “Let me drive you.”

  I shook my head. It was a nice gesture. And I bet the sidewalks were icy and slushy and messy. But a car ride with Knox? Unsupervised? It was too tempting and risky. This bit about intrigue… That was too wide open of a can of worms best left alone. “No means no.”

  He slid his lips together, like maybe he was struggling to handle my rejection. Or perhaps he was brainstorming a plausible loophole. “I’ve got a couple of questions I’d like to ask you.”

  “About…”

  He jerked his head toward Santa’s hut. “What do you think?”

  “Then why’d you say I was free to go?” I slapped my hand to the ground.

  “You are. Consider this my personal follow-up.” He offered me a hand to stand.

  I ignored it and brushed off my dinky skirt once I was on my feet. “And here I thought you were just trying to be nice.”

  He gestured for me to go ahead of him. “Well, that too.”

  I glared at him as I headed for the exit.

  Chapter Three

  “You said you were at Macy’s during lunch?” he asked once we were buckled in.

  Just as I’d feared and anticipated, being trapped in this car with Knox was just…too much.

  With him seated behind the wheel, the space in the cruiser seemed to shrink. He wasn’t a bulky guy. Muscled but not beefy. Tall but not lanky. Then again, I was short. Everyone seemed bigger than me. But his presence. God, his smell. Some kind of woodsy spice that I couldn’t drag in a deep enough breath of. For a blissful—torturous—moment, I’d fallen down the rabbit’s hole of the distraction, imagining exploring Knox beneath his uniform, seeing if he’d taste as good as he smelled.

  All until he asked me a question the other cops had already posed to me several times. Just like that, he reminded me of the horrid business at hand. Marlena’s murder. Back to reality already. Fact-checking my whereabouts of the day.

  Quit daydreaming about an asshole out of your league…

  He cleared his throat. “So…Macy’s for your lunch break, right?”

  Lunch. It was the time that Marlena had to have been shot. She’d been out there in North Pole Land up until that break, and then…dead.

  I frowned, keeping my attention on the snow falling on the windshield. “Yeah.”

  “And you were doing what, exactly?”

  I ground my teeth together and turned my gaze to the passenger window. Christmas lights blurred past in a hazy stream of colors. “I told the other guys already.”

  “I know. But tell me.”

  Do I have to? Sure, he was a cop and maybe he was simply doing his job here. But he could just as well confer with his damn colleagues.

  “I was trying on clothes.”

  His arm jerked closer to me as he shifted in his seat, reaching way over the computer to adjust the volume of chatter on the radio. After nearly silencing the DJ’s plea for donations to an annual mitten and boots collection for kids, he said, “Yeah?”

  I nodded.

  “What kind?”

  I spun to glare at him. In the darkness of the car, he looked even more lethal, less trustworthy as other cars’ headlights briefly highlighted him in the shadows. “I don’t think that matters.” Besides, I told the other cops already…

  “It matters if I return to the store tomorrow to verify you’re telling the truth.”

  I squirmed my lips together before blurting, “A…dress.”

  “Going to a party?”

  “Dammit, Knox. This isn’t appropriate.”

  He grinned. “You saying my name all sassy like that sure isn’t.”

  “Stop flirting with me.”

  He ducked his head in acknowledgment. “Sorry.” Yet, he smiled.

  Like hell. I refused to play along. I bit my lips to keep from showing I kind of liked this banter. I’d be damned if I smiled too.

  “So…a dress.”

  I pressed my eyes closed. If he was asking for details for the sake of the investigation, just like the other officers had, then I had no business lying or hiding the truth. Still, confessing this to Knox… I groaned. “A nightie.”

  He pressed hard on the gas suddenly, like a reflex. “A…uh, a what?”

  “A nightie.”

  “You said a dress.”

  “It felt…less slutty than saying a nightie. It was a nightgown. A gown is a dress, so it’s a dress.”

  He licked his lips and frowned as he watched the road. “Not quite how I’d word it.”

  “Well, you know what they are.”

  He tossed a shoulder up. “Sure. I know…” He glanced at me. “I know what a nightie is.”

  I flipped a hand up as though to say whatever. I bet he’d seen—and removed—plenty of them. Knox wasn’t the sort of man to miss intimate company.

  “A nightie doesn’t make a woman slutty,” he said after a moment.

  Really? That was his follow-up? I knocked my head back against the rest. This was a conversation I’d never imagined having with this man. And why his opinion mattered to begin with…

  I recalled the way the satiny, barely-there material had felt on my skin. I’d left my bra and panties on, of course—I mean, ewww, who tries on lingerie without them?—but it was like a caress of the finest, most seductive fabric. “Well, this one does.”

  He cleared his throat. “How so?”

  I raised my brows at him. There was no missing the fact he’d shifted in his seat. The idea of taunting him… I grinned. This feeling of…well, power over him was heady. “It was a sinful little scrap of material…”

  I watched the taut muscles in his neck flex as he swallowed. “Go on.”

  Glutton for punishment? I held in a laugh and whispered, “It was sheer.”

  He nodded, frowning at the road ahead.

  “With light-blue lace at the hem. Right here.” I traced my finger way high up on my thighs, slowly slicing over the green velvet of my skirt.

  He glanced at my lap.

  “And dipping down here to a little bow.” I dragged my fingertip from my collarbone to a spot between my breasts.

  “Uh-huh.” His stare followed to where I pointed.

  “Pay attention!” I smacked his shoulder and he jerked back, slamming on the brakes. The cruiser skidded in the slushy snow.

  No one was around us, and we’d been cruising to a stop at a red light anyway. I bit my lip from smiling at his scowl.

  “Don’t scar
e me like that.”

  “Well, jeez. With you being a cop and all, I’d think you’d know better than to drive distracted.”

  While it was fun teasing him, too much fun, it had to stop. He was asking for it, but leading Knox on? Talk about a highway to nowhere. And so not my style. He and I were not happening. I crossed my arms and sighed, returning my gaze to the passenger window and willing my heart to slow down. It’d been a while since I’d felt a thrill from attraction and playing with trouble.

  “I thought you said you weren’t anyone’s honey.”

  I scoffed. “I’m not.”

  “Then who are you getting a nightie for?”

  I nestled into the seat, away from him. There was no way I was facing him with such a husky whisper. “No one.”

  “But you tried one on?”

  “Just for fun.” I shrugged. “Look, I’m not working at the North Pole Hut for fun. And it doesn’t pay well, not enough to afford a splurge on a nightie.” I frowned at the way his question was directed. “And if I did have money to buy something like that, it’d be for me.”

  Sometimes a girl just wanted to feel sexy for the sake of well, feeling sexy.

  “What happened to the eye doctor place?”

  I blinked, shocked he remembered I’d worked at an optometrist’s office. Back when Knox had arrested Damon for B&E, the final time that sealed his fate and sent him to jail, I’d been employed at the glasses place.

  “The guy retired and closed up shop. I haven’t had much luck getting something else comparable.”

  Because with no diploma, an almost GED, and zero college degree, I’m apparently a crappy job candidate. “Customer Service” was a blanket term on job applications, but sometimes that hindered the search.

  “Sorry to hear that.”

  I shrugged. I was sorry to admit it, too. Someday I’d get to something like financial semi-stability. In the meantime, though, I really appreciated having a job at the North Pole Hut. If I still did.

  It was tight, mercilessly stingy living on one minimum-wage gig. If I finished off my elfish thing and dipped cautiously into my laughable savings, then I could make it until the holidays were over and some other employer might consider me. New year, new me, new job. I was hoping, at least.

  “Will I be able to go back to work?” I curled my hand into a fist, a nervous tick like a defense mechanism, preparing myself for probable bad news. I didn’t know what I’d do if we were done. I doubted anyone would hire me this close to Christmas.

  “Most likely. I don’t see why not once the crime scene is cleared.” He peered at me until the light changed to green. “No telling when that will be exactly.”

  So, an undetermined time of no pay. Perfect. That was a great waiting game to play. Not.

  He cleared his throat—a clear warning he was hesitating. What news could be worse than missing more work?

  “Actually, the woman from mall management we spoke to—Elise Fenner—expressed her desire to shut it down.”

  I turned to face him fully, scrunching my forehead up. “Well, it is shut down until all you guys clear it.” And how long could that take, really? That North Pole shed wasn’t huge. Any clues they could locate in there couldn’t be sneakily hiding out of reach.

  “She mentioned just closing it. For good.”

  I thought back to the professional calm and authority from that blonde in the ugly sweater. El. Elise. Elise Fenner? I couldn’t peg why her name struck a flicker of recognition. And she just wanted to end it all? Why? Because she was annoyed about the lines and crowds? Heck, if anything, all that extra traffic would boost the mall’s economy. “A week before Christmas?”

  He shrugged.

  “But…” My heart raced at another setback. Dread churned in my empty stomach. Losing my job would be the ultimate hunk of coal this season. Wasn’t I due for something good to happen? Or at least something not awful?

  Is karma taking a holiday break? Because I couldn’t think of a single thing to guarantee this crappy of luck, Christmastime or not.

  “I know,” he commiserated.

  I frowned more. “You know what?”

  Another shrug. “It’d be…kinda Scrooge-like of her to just shut it down.”

  “Did she say why?”

  He glanced at me as he turned on the street that would lead to my apartment building. Christmas lights still blurred out the window, only they were fewer and skimpier in design.

  “She said it would turn off people from wanting to go there. Said, ‘why would someone want to sit on Santa’s lap close to where someone was shot?’”

  True… “But…it’s Santa. And it’s almost Christmas.”

  Sure, the news would be bad. But it wasn’t like Garth was shot. And he was the “big man” of the whole concept anyway. I cringed, hating how mean those thoughts were. I didn’t want anyone getting killed, but it wasn’t like Marlena would be missed in the scheme of the business. It wasn’t her lap that was crucial.

  I squeezed my eyes shut tight. Come on. Garth’s not going to want to go back there where his wife just died.

  “I know. It’d be…harsh of her to just cancel it all this close to the holiday. It seemed she just wanted the easy way out, not wanting to even have to manage with the aftermath of a murder on the property there.”

  “She’d have to deal with an awful lot of questions from people who still want to see Santa.”

  “Agreed.” He smirked at me. “But don’t freak out yet. She’s only one person. I bet there are more people in management who wouldn’t let her single-handedly make a call like that.”

  I nodded, taking some faith in his words. That had to be true. If she was the bigwig of the whole mall, she wouldn’t have been walking out there complaining about crowds. She’d have a lackey do that kind of menial chore for her. So, she had to have a superior or two, others who would realize how ludicrously idiotic it would be to shut down Santa’s photo hut days before Christmas.

  And that’s if Garth is still up for it.

  Knox pulled into a spot in the parking zone in front of my building. I hadn’t even registered how close I was to home as I sat there wondering about all the horrible what-ifs. What if I can’t pay rent? What if I can’t keep up on the legal bills? What if I can’t send Damon a present? What if—

  “I’ll walk you in.” Knox shifted into park and the cruiser smoothly rocked with the change in gear.

  I blinked, snapped from my worries. “Huh?”

  “I’ll walk you to your door.”

  I gripped the door handle and raised my brows. “This isn’t a date.”

  “Of course it isn’t. If it were, you’d—”

  I silenced him with a groan and a slash of my hand into the air in front of his face. “No, no, no.” I wasn’t sure where he was getting off with this idea he could get flirty with me. In other circumstances, I’d enjoy it. But the only circumstances I had ever and likely would ever be near this sexy man were with criminal relations. “I’m not in the mood for teasing.”

  His smirk slipped into a deadpan and he sighed, nodding, surrendering. “Come on.”

  Before I could protest any more, he exited the car. I rushed to leave the warmth as well. Standing in the blustery, winter air, I wrapped my coat tighter.

  He hopped in his step, likely trying to hang on to some heat too. His hands shot into his pockets, bunching his muscled shoulders up. Then he nodded toward the entrance. “After you.”

  Such manners. I rolled my eyes. “This isn’t a date.”

  “We’ve established that.” He walked next to me as I left the sidewalk.

  “Then why are you walking me inside?”

  “Because I want to.”

  Well, that was a direct reply. “Do you walk all your…what am I again?” Person of interest? Suspect? Witness?

  He scoffed. “You’re a stubborn-ass woman.” At the entrance, he bounced in his step as I keyed in the numbers to the lock.

  “Then leave.”

&nb
sp; He grunted. “Your stubbornness is exactly what I like about you.”

  Peachy. I hardly gave his words attention as I noted the taped-on paper. It flapped like an angry, teeny pendant in the wind. Stilling it between my thumb and finger, I read,

  Lock is broke.

  Don’t let no strangers in.

  Mgmt.

  I huffed out a sigh and reached for the door handle. Yep. It opened without a hint of resistance. Some security they had here. Then again, it wasn’t the best of neighborhoods. I had been impressed they even had a keypad lock on the exterior door to begin with.

  I glanced at Knox’s frown as he observed the lack of a working lock. “You should report that to management.”

  Why? They clearly already knew about it enough to write up a poorly composed heads-up. I shrugged. I could report that lock to management and they’d likely file it in the same folder where I’d already alerted them to the fact my hot water was sketchy, there was broken glass near the recycling dumpster in the back, and I’d found rat crap in the hallway twice since winter came. Holding my hand on the opened door, I nodded at him. “Well, thanks for walking me in.”

  Still set in a serious expression, he peered into the foyer. “I said I’ll walk you to the door.”

  I smacked my hand on the one I was still propping open.

  “No, your door.”

  I set my fist on my hip. “Why?” Jesus, why couldn’t he just leave me alone? I got it. He was a cop. I was a…hell, I forgot. I was the person who found Marlena dead. That discovery didn’t mean Knox had to damn-well shadow me home.

  “Because I want to—”

  “And do you always get what you want?”

  He ceased moving in his step, forgetting about trying to stay moving and warm as he locked his stare on me. A hot, intense, opposite-of-icy gaze. “I like to try.”

  Meaning… I gulped and fought the need to fidget. Meaning…he wants me? A laugh bubbled up and I shook my head. God. I didn’t have the mental space to keep up in this game. I didn’t know what he was after, really, but the sooner I got to my door, the sooner I could claim a breather and start figuring out what his deal was. Thinking with him smoldering at me wasn’t feasible.