BETTER WATCH OUT Page 5

  I didn’t have a clue. I was having trouble believing someone deliberately destroyed presents for children of low-income parents. “Let me help you pack up Santa’s bag. I’ll make sure the ruined presents are replaced before they’re delivered.”

  Norman smiled at me. “You’re a kind soul, Merry.”

  With his shaking hands and unsteady gait, I knew it would be easier for me to fill the bag. “You hand me the gifts, and I’ll pack them.” I climbed into the sleigh. The presents on top were piled up in a haphazard fashion, peeking inside I could see some empty spots. Norman wasn’t a good packer.

  “I had them all in here earlier.” He handed me one. “It’s like the presents got larger.” He fumbled with the next packaged, nearly dropping it. His arms quivered with every move.

  “Let me rearrange the presents in the bag first. There’s not much room in here.” I removed some from the bag. We’d have to start all over.

  “Makes no sense,” Norman grumbled.

  I had a feeling Norman believed the presents were perfectly packed. From what I was watching, Norman wouldn’t have been able to do so. He was moving in a jerky fashion. I was worried about him. I removed a present.

  Jenna was staring up at me, scowling. I scowled back. Why was she hiding in Santa’s bag? “I see our problem. Get out of there.”

  “Who’s in there?” Norman hauled himself into the sleigh.

  I grabbed Jenna’s arm. It was cold. And rigid.

  “She’s dead.” Norman said.

  Norman and I exchanged a look of horror. Santa’s sleigh wasn’t going anywhere tonight. It was the scene of a murder.

  Six

  Flashlight beams went back and forth over the asphalt area around the sleigh. Hunched over, Police Chief Hudson and Officer Orville Martin searched the area for clues of who put Jenna Wilcox into Santa’s bag. Officer Brianna Myers was stationed near the entrance of the parking lot, directing the remaining floats to the end of the parade line-up. The sleigh was blocked by the church and no one could see the chief and Orville poking around in it.

  Norman paced back and forth, muttering under his breath and tugging at the sleeves of his Santa jacket. His movements were frantic, gaze skittering from the police, to me, and the surrounding area. Paul was trying to talk to him, but Norman kept pushing him away, preferring to wander back and forth, a safe distance from the sleigh. It was a sight no one should ever see. Crime scene taped cordoning off Santa’s sleigh from Santa. Presents littered the ground. An officer was carefully collecting them and placing them in evidence bags.

  I shivered. Jenna was dead. Murdered. While I was worrying about missing parade floats, someone had snuck over to Santa’s sleigh and placed her body inside. What if the killer had had time to place all the gifts back into the sleigh? Would Norman not have found her until he started handing out gifts to the children at the end of the parade? Was there blood on any of the presents?

  My body trembled even more. Who would do such a horrible thing? Had I seen anyone going behind the building? I rummaged through my memory. No. The only person I saw going behind the church was Norman and that was a few minutes ago. Tears blurred my vision. I drew in small breaths to settle myself down.

  “You okay?” Paul walked over and draped a heavy jacket around me.

  The material weighed me down, making me feel claustrophobic rather than comforted. I shrugged it off. He caught it before it hit the ground.

  “Who could’ve done it? I didn’t hear anyone behind the church. Why didn’t I notice anything? I could’ve helped her.” My voice sounded broken. What was going on in our town? Samuel a few weeks ago and now Jenna. Why was hatred gaining such a stronghold?

  “Don’t put this on yourself. You don’t know when it happened. And if you had seen something and went over, the chances are you’d be hurt or killed also.”

  I covered my eyes with my hands and drew in another deep breath. “What are we going to do? What am I going to do?”

  “Nothing.” Paul rubbed my back. “This is a police matter. There’s nothing for you to do.” There was a twinge of anger and fear in his voice.

  I peeked at him through my fingers. “The parade. What am I going to do about it? It’s supposed to start in a few minutes.” What did he think I meant?

  “That’s a good question. I’ll go ask the chief for you. Unless you prefer to ask?” he asked me, eyebrows slightly raised.

  I shook my head. I preferred not to go anywhere near the sleigh and Jenna’s body. Seeing it once was more than enough. “You can talk to him. What should I tell the parade watchers?”

  “Hang tight, I’ll be back.” Paul jogged over to the chief.

  Norman stopped pacing and came to stand beside me. “What’s Paul doing?”

  “He’s asking about the parade. We have to tell the people waiting for it to start why it’s not happening.”

  “It’s not?” Norman flicked a gaze in my direction. “I hadn’t heard the chief say it’s cancelled.”

  “Jenna is dead in Santa’s sleigh. I doubt the police are going to let you use it tonight.”

  He rubbed his chin. “What else could Santa arrive in tonight? The children expect it.”

  I gaped at him. There were some things that took precedence over Santa’s arrival—like a woman being murdered. I highly doubted she climbed into Santa’s present bag then died of natural causes. “Jenna was killed. You think we should just carry on as normal?”

  “What else is there to do?” Norman asked. “Nothing we can do will bring her back and anything else, besides going on with the parade, will ruin the holidays for everyone else. Do you really want to announce to all those children that a woman was killed tonight? How will that affect them?”

  He was right, but I hadn’t planned on announcing Jenna’s death. Her poor husband hadn’t even heard about it. I sure wasn’t going to allow him to find out through the parade grapevine. “I wasn’t going to mention Jenna, just that something unexpected occurred with a float and the parade needed to be postponed.”

  “The business owners will love that. As will all the visitors who arrived tonight for the parade, arranged vacation plans around it. They won’t mind coming back a different night. Heck, it won’t bother them at all, and they’ll decide to once again visit our town for Christmas rather than another Christmas-themed town.”

  The snarkiness shocked me. It was so unlike Norman. Before I let my temper out, I reminded myself he had just discovered a body. He was shook-up. Of course he wasn’t acting like himself. It wasn’t an easy situation to process. After I had found Samuel dead, it took days for me to feel like my world was stabilizing.

  Paul and Chief Hudson walked over, neither looking happy. I steeled myself to accept whatever fate for the parade the chief determined best. Chief Hudson reminded me of an old-time gunslinger rather than an officer of the law. He had this rolling gait and I was always surprised to see him in a cruiser instead of on a horse, add in his long gray beard and hair and it was like he was the villain stepping out of a 1950’s Western.

  “The parade will go as scheduled,” Hudson said. “Fire Chief Vandermore has agreed that Santa can ride in the fire truck this year.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  The chief nodded. “If the parade is cancelled, we’ll have everyone returning to their cars and swarming this area. We’ll lose whatever evidence is out there. We need to keep everyone where they are. The best way is for the parade to go as scheduled.”

  “Has anyone contacted Jenna’s husband?” I felt sick. Eric was either waiting somewhere with the float, or among the parade goers waiting for his wife’s float to go by.

  “An officer has been dispatched to notify Eric Wilcox. If he’s not at home, I have another officer searching the crowd for him. We’ll make sure he’s told before word gets out to the public. Did either of you see anything?” Chief Hudso
n switched his gaze from me to Norman.

  “No,” I said.

  “What time did you arrive?”

  “I got to the church parking lot at about four thirty,” I said. “Pastor Heath and the actors for his float were just going inside the church.”

  He jotted down the information. “What time did you arrive, Norman?”

  “I got here about three and was here about an hour. There was no one else around. I was done loading up the sleigh around four then went home for dinner. I don’t like staying away from Angela for too long.”

  “Had the Pastor arrived or any of the church members who were on their float?”

  “Nope. The lot was empty when I left,” Norman said.

  There was a thirty-minute time frame between Norman leaving and me arriving. Had I passed the person when I arrived, or had the church members and pastor showed up as the killer was about to leave? Was that why the presents had been left scattered on the ground?

  “How did she die?” The question tumbled out of my mouth.

  “I can’t say.”

  It couldn’t be too gruesome, or the police would be scouring the town for the spot she was killed. The area around the sleigh was pristine. Nothing was on the ground or marred the pockets of snow building up around the sleigh. I hadn’t seen a mark on Jenna. Had there been any footprints when Norman walked over moments ago? I started to ask him then stopped. It wasn’t my business.

  Skimming the beam of the flashlight across the ground, Orville walked over. “Dispatch is getting calls about the parade. People are asking about the holdup.”

  “What will people say when they find out the parade went on after finding Jenna?” I asked.

  “If we announce it now, I’ll have to deal with the majority of the residents running over here along with tourists. This case is going to be hard enough as it is without potential evidence being destroyed or carted off,” Chief Hudson said, his voice pained.

  “If it even happened here,” Paul said. “Who knows where she was killed.”

  “Then the killer has extra time to cover their tracks,” I kept my voice low.

  Chief Hudson pointed at me, Paul, and Norman. “I need the three of you to be my eyes. If anyone acts weird during the parade, anything unusual, tuck that information into your mind and let me know. Don’t make a scene about it. Find a way to notify me as quickly as possible. Can you guys do that?”

  Paul, Norman, and I nodded. It was a tall order. I had no idea what was out of the ordinary during the parade. We had a lot of weird things going on in previous years. Heck, one year Orville’s parents drove down Main Avenue in their night clothes waving at the crowds with Orville chasing after them, threatening to arrest them for indecency. Orville’s mom liked her nightgowns skimpy, barely covering her massive bosom.

  “Get the parade started before people start wandering over here to see what’s the holdup.”

  I headed for the floats. There were footsteps behind me. I glanced over my shoulder. Paul was following. “I thought you could use some help.”

  “This isn’t going to be easy. People are going to know something is up,” I said.

  “They’ll just think it’s because this is your first year organizing the parade. There was bound to be some issues you overlooked.”

  I narrowed my eyes on him. “I didn’t overlook anything.”

  He draped an arm over my shoulder and gave me a quick, one-armed hug. “I know that. But it wouldn’t be unusual for something unexpected to happen or just to forget one thing. The town people know life has been rough for you lately, with Samuel’s murder and being accused of it. They’ll forgive you for a late start and any other bumps tonight. Use that to your advantage.”

  Paul was right. People wouldn’t be surprised the parade didn’t go off without a hitch. Why not use it in my favor? It was much better than the truth, especially since Chief Hudson wanted the truth concealed for the time being.

  “What’s happening?” Pastor Benjamin asked when I rounded the corner, adjusting the drape of his brown robe. Sarah, who was portraying Mary, was already on the float, settling baby Jesus into the cradle. “The officer won’t let anyone behind the church. There’s even an officer guarding the back door. Jenna isn’t here. This is a ploy by her. She’s done something to ruin the parade.”

  “Jenna’s boycotting the parade,” I blurted the first excuse to pop into my head and regretted it immediately. I had placed myself in a position of having to lie to everyone and creating a fictional fight between me and the recently murdered Jenna.

  Seven

  Pastor Benjamin drew back. “Boycotting? Why?”

  Other float owners crowded around us. What now? I racked my mind for a good reason that wouldn’t implicate me in her murder when the truth was out. The last thing I wanted to do was tie my name to another murder, or at least not as a suspect. I had found Jenna in Santa’s toy bag.

  I shrugged, hoping my non-answer would appease the masses.

  Footsteps pounded behind me. I quickly turned, fearing someone was about to blurt out the truth. I wasn’t sure who else would know by now, but there was a good chance me, Paul, Norman, and the police weren’t the only ones who knew.

  Like the murderer, the thought crept in.

  Rachel was out of breath, her gaze skittered back and forth as panic crossed over her face. “What’s going on? Why is the fire truck blocking the parking lot?”

  “Paul and the fire chief parked it there to help with crowd control. Half the floats showed up at the same time and I’m having to change plans. Whatever order the floats were on the road getting here is the way they’ll proceed down the parade route. What took you so long? You’re just down the block.” I rushed out the words, yammering on to bore and hopefully scatter the other float participants away. I didn’t want to answer the Jenna question.

  The pastor was listening to every word, an odd look on his face. I had a feeling he was suspicious about my earlier reason for Jenna’s absence and was waiting to see what I’d say to my friend.

  “My new part-time employee Garrett was late. I didn’t want to leave Cassie alone in the store. A lot of shoppers and browsers. Cassie was so happy reading ‘A Visit from Saint Nicolas’ to the children that I hated asking her to stop and deal with customers. It was nice seeing joy on her face.”

  “Check in with Paul and he’ll let you know when to merge your float into the line,” I said.

  “You’re not going to say what’s going on?”

  “Don’t have time to go into it. The parade was supposed to start ten minutes ago. There was an unfortunate delay because of a downed plastic snowman in the road. Since the police cleared that up, Officer Myers decided to give me a hand.”

  Rachel’s eyes narrowed, and her head arched back a fraction. “Right. The police have nothing better to do than make sure floats are lined up. Shouldn’t she be off duty?”

  She knew I was lying to her. This was not going to help repair the rift I created in our friendship last night.

  “I have to agree with Rachel,” the pastor said. “Something huge is going on and you’re keeping it from us.”

  This wasn’t going well. I was never the best at keeping secrets. It was why my children learned a lot earlier than I wanted that Santa was the spirit inside of us rather than a real person. It had wounded me that I hadn’t been able to stretch out that time of childhood with my children.

  “No officer is off duty the night of the Christmas parade,” I said. “You know how crazy traffic can get, not to mention there is always one child getting lost.”

  “That’s all. Nothing else?” Rachel crossed her arms and tapped her foot. She wasn’t going to budge until I revealed whatever I was holding back. “There’s a police car blocking everyone off. Unless the officer moves his cruiser, there’s no way I can get my float to the parade.”

 
“I think the police are trying to stop cars from cutting through. Why don’t you head back to your float? I’ll see about getting the officer to move the cruiser until you pass.” I shooed at her and the pastor. “I need you both at your floats. I’m starting the parade.”

  “Where’s Jenna’s float? Are you sure she’s not the reason for the police presence?” Rachel settled a searching look, filled with concern, on me.

  It was easy to brush off the pastor’s question, not so much with Rachel. It was harder lying, or rather keeping information, from a friend. From the corner of my eye, I spotted the snowman float getting into position. A perfect excuse for me to leave this conversation.

  “I need to check on that float. Wouldn’t be good for the snowman to run away during the parade.”

  The local hardware store owner was checking the wire cord that attached the eight-foot-tall plastic snowman onto their float. The snowman had a few dinged places, black marks, and the carrot nose was slightly skewed but otherwise was in good shape. The owner was using some heavy-duty wire to attach the metal rings around the snowman’s waist, pieces of rope were tossed in a pile to the side of the base of the float.

  “Told you we should’ve used the trailer with higher sides,” a young man said as he watched the owner scramble around the trailer to secure all the wire anchors.

  “And I told you I wasn’t asking for your opinion. Good thing I’m in love with your aunt, kid, or you’d be out of a job.” The owner clenched his fists as he glared at his teenaged nephew.

  The nephew grinned, a taunting smile that seemed to hope to push his uncle over the edge. There was no love lost between the two men.

  “Hi guys.” I approached the twosome, hoping to stall the brewing tension. “We have to get this parade moving. The residents and visitors are getting restless.”

  The owner dusted off his hands. “All stable. Sorry for delaying the parade. Tomorrow, I’ll post an apology on social media and have the newspaper run a mea culpa.”