Killing Santa Page 3

  “I had no idea that children were this terrified of Santa,” I said, shaking myself as I stepped into the cool of the hallway then out the back to the side of Christmas Village. It was dark there amongst the trees, which was soothing.

  “It’s the costume,” Jarod explained, pulling away the top of his red suit. He had his beard off, but there were no children nearby to see. “The same way that they are terrified of clowns or people dressed in animal costumes. I guess it’s the beard that mostly does it, as far as the Santa costume is concerned.”

  “But I thought that children loved Santa!” I exclaimed.

  “They’re always excited until they come through the curtain and come face to face with him,” Jarod said, sounding experienced. “For most of them, it is a little scary.”

  I decided that I needed a break and headed over to the kid’s section of the second floor. Jarod removed his red coat so that he was just wearing a t-shirt in case anyone saw us. There was a candy counter and beside it, a Christmas tree covered in candy canes. Not just the peppermint kind, but rainbow and raspberry as well.

  I was still feeling very lightheaded, swaying back and forth even though the air in the mall was completely still.

  “You all right?” Jarod asked, putting his arm around me. I leaned into his reassuring embrace. He pulled a candy cane off the tree and snapped it in half to peel the plastic off before he handed half to me. “Here, this might help.” It was easy to forget to eat when you were inside Christmas Village all day. It was a little like the twilight zone—the outside world ceased to exist and so did the normal bodily functions, like putting food into your body and taking a deep breath.

  The sugar did help the shaking a little as it entered my blood stream and I started to feel a little bit more human again.

  “I think this just isn’t for me,” I said, pulling the plastic off a second candy cane and chewing it. “I don’t know how Pippa does it,” I said to Jarod, staring up at him. “I don’t know how you do it, actually.” I let out a small laugh. “Isn’t it…kind of offensive that all the kids are terrified of you?” They took one look at him, screamed, and tried to flee. That must wear you down after a while.

  He shrugged and sat down. “I try not to take it personally,” he said, sticking the end of the candy cane into his mouth as I joined him on the bench underneath the row of fake trees. I was semi-aware that there was mistletoe above us.

  “How long have you been doing this?” I asked, genuinely curious. He was only twenty-eight, so I couldn’t see that he’d been doing it for too many years. Had he started out as a teenage Santa? Was there an age cutoff? Could fifteen-year-olds be Santa?

  He shrugged again. “Couple of years now. Just use it to make a little extra money in the winter when work is a little slow.”

  “And what do you do the rest of the year?” I asked, feeling my blood sugar return to normal now. But even with the sugar in my veins, I was still feeling a little shaky. Maybe it was because Jarod was sitting so close to me that our arms were touching. I didn’t move away.

  He laughed a little. “This and that. Mostly I work as a painter. Painting houses, I mean. But I’m also an artist.”

  I leaned back a little and took a good look at him. Huh. I hadn’t necessarily pegged him as the artistic kind. “So, you don’t just paint houses then, I take it?”

  He shook his head. “No. I also paint abstract pieces. I work with geometric shapes.”

  Okay. Now I was really intrigued.

  “My housemate runs a gallery in town,” I said, thinking that maybe I could help him out, and put in a good word for him. If his work was really good, I could help him get it hung in the gallery. I kept thinking about what Ellon said the day before, about how desperate for the work Jarod had been. If I could get him a show at the gallery, that would really make a difference for him. He could potentially sell a piece for hundreds of dollars. Maybe even multiple pieces. “Her name is Sue and she runs the place. It’s on my side of town, the west side, at the peak of the valley near the river.”

  “Yeah, I know her,” he said with a grin. “I mean, I know of her and the gallery. That’s the place that every artist in Belldale wants to get their work hung. I’ve never met her…” He sounded a little wistful. It sounded like it really was a dream of his to get his work hung in her gallery. I sat up a little straighter. Then I realized something and my shoulders slunk again.

  “Ah, darn, I just remembered she’s gone home for Christmas. Back to her home in Boston for two weeks,” I said, slapping my palm to my forehead. “She just left this morning and I was in such a rush to get out of the house and get down here that I didn’t even say good-bye.” She was going to miss the snowfall, if it even came at all. “I was thinking I could introduce you two.”

  Jarod seemed a little disappointed, but he just threw me a smile and shrugged. “That’s okay. Maybe when she gets back.”

  “Well, we’d better get back to it,” I said a little awkwardly, standing up. We still had hours left on our shift and we couldn’t sit on that bench forever, even if I kinda wanted to.

  Andrew was trying to hide a grin when I came back into the cave. Turned out he had been using his own break to check out what Jarod and I had been up to.

  “What?” I asked him, shaking my head and trying to hide the lazy little grin sneaking up on my own face. I readjusted my hat and moved from side to side so the bell would jingle.

  “You two seemed to be getting pretty close out there,” Andrew said with a little wink.

  I felt my face blush. “He was just helping me out. Making sure I didn’t pass out. I needed sugar.”

  “Sure,” Andrew said, laughing as he picked up his camera again and fiddled with the lens, training it on Jarod as he reentered the cave. To change the subject, I asked how the photos connected to the computer system because I couldn’t see any cord connecting the camera to the monitor, even though the photos always showed up just a few seconds after taking them.

  “It’s got a blue tooth connection,” Andrew explained. “So I can still move around and get the best shot, but it goes instantly to the computer. It’s a lot better than in previous years because I can get all sorts of different angles, rather than just pointing the camera and clicking. Gives the parents more options to choose from.”

  Sometimes I thought we gave them too many options to choose from. Andrew tended to snap, snap, snap, so by the time the parents went to choose the one best shot to print, they had a hundred pictures to choose from and they were there all day flicking through them, holding up the line. But Andrew was a dedicated photographer, and he really did make sure all our customers went away with the best pics. Even if the kids were screaming through the whole process, he was usually able to supply at least one decent photograph where it was captured at just the right moment and a scream looked like a smile.

  Sometimes I thought there must be an easier way to do this. Couldn’t we just take photos of the kids and Photoshop Santa into the photo later? I knew that we had the technology. If the parents weren’t happy with the photos, we made all sort of touchups on the screen, changing the colors and contrast and airbrushing out flaws until they looked pretty much perfect.

  It was time for the next customer. A small girl about three years old with blonde curls barreled in through the door with her mother chasing behind her. “Sorry, she was so excited she just ran right in.”

  I braced myself and held my breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop. But she just sat on Santa’s lap and pulled at his beard, grinning at him and clapping her hands. Phew. She was one of the ten percent who weren’t scared. Perhaps her father had a beard… Apparently when that was the case, it made them a little less terrified.

  Luckily, she set the tone for the rest of the afternoon and we managed to get through it with only about half of the children screaming or refusing to go near Santa.

  “Well, that’s a wrap,” Jarod said as he left for the changing rooms. My costume was a lot easier to get
out of—I just had to remove my ears and my hat, and I was just left with my jeans and t-shirt.

  “Hey, Rach,” he called out. “I forgot to bring my bag with my civilian clothes in here. Can you grab it for me?” I picked up the backpack and started to carry it toward the changing rooms. But the zipper was open and a letter was poking out. I picked up the bag too quickly, shaking it free.

  I saw it fall out and picked it up.

  Maybe I shouldn’t have read it. It was definitely none of my business. And it was definitely something that Jarod wouldn’t have wanted anyone to see.

  There was the letter head for a debt collection company on the top of the notice. My stomach sank a little bit—just how bad was it?

  I let out a sharp breath. Payments were overdue by hundreds of dollars…and it looked as though he hadn’t made a payment in months. They were threatening him with legal action if he didn’t pay.

  I shoved the letter back in his bag. Didn’t look like painting houses paid that well after all.

  Chapter 4

  “Well, I’m glad you could finally join us,” Simona said, walking from the kitchen to the bakery, covered in what looked to be chocolate frosting all over her black t-shirt. “It’s not like this is our busiest time of the year or anything like that.”

  Simona had a habit of talking back to me, even though I was the owner and she was just my part-time manager. But she was right—she had been carrying a lot of the weight recently.

  There was a definite lack of pine tree smell in the bakery. It was refreshing to smell baked bread and brownie batter rather than dirt and peppermint… And what was that sound? Ah, it was the lack of children screaming in terror when they came face to face with Santa Claus. It sounded like paradise.

  “I have another job now, Simona,” I said as I dipped my finger into the batch of frosting to do a taste test. “Well, I did yesterday anyway. Not sure it will be permanent.” I sat the tray of cookies down on the counter and sighed. It had been a late night in Christmas Village, and I’d had to set my alarm for 4am to come in and bake before Simona had even gotten out of bed. At least Pippa was going to work at Christmas Village today. She’d texted me and said that her cold was a little better, or at least better enough to be able to work. I would have preferred she was back working in the bakery, of course, but I hadn’t dared bring that up.

  Even though the lack of screaming and the absence of garish Christmas decorations was a relief at first, after a few hours of the peace and quiet, and the lack of camera flash, the novelty started to wear off. What was that about the grass always being greener? Maybe it was that the Christmas trees were always greener on the other side.

  I hated to admit it, but I kind of missed Christmas Village. And the people I had been hanging out with there. Maybe one person in particular.

  “Rachael?” Simona asked.

  “Huh?”

  “What were you thinking about just then?”

  “Huh? Nothing.”

  “Okay, then what was that little smile all about then?”

  I quickly tied my apron around my waist and hid my smile. I had to cough to get it off my face. “I was thinking about all the Christmas treats we’re going to sell today,” I said. “You know that turning a profit always puts me in a good mood.”

  I was leaning on the countertop, still thinking about Christmas Village, when I received a text message.

  Hey, I’m looking forward to seeing you tonight, the text said. I had to blink a few times to figure out who it was from. I was seeing someone that night? Who? Where? When we suddenly got a rush of customers, I had to put the phone away before I could answer it. Who was that even from?

  By the time I got back to it, I had two missed calls from the same mysterious number and I groaned when I suddenly remembered who it was. Darn. I HAD made plans for that evening. It just felt like I’d made them in another lifetime when I was another person. Before I was an elf.

  He’d left a voice message to call him back when I got a chance.

  It was some guy I’d met on one of those online dating apps. He kept sending me messages saying that as we were both Geminis we made a really compatible match and that we should meet up for a drink. There was some logic in that, I suppose, even though technically, Geminis are more compatible with Aries and Aquarius. Sometimes two people with the same zodiac sign really shouldn’t date.

  I’d been blowing him off all week, though. Could I really cancel again? If he’d just been texting, it would have been easy just to pretend I had never seen the messages and forgotten all about the date.

  Now he wasn’t just texting, though… He was calling. That was harder to ignore. I groaned and punched the number in. Might as well get it over with.

  After everything that had happened the past few days, I really didn’t feel like it.

  “I, um, I can’t make it tonight,” I said, trying to sound apologetic. “My best friend is sick and I think I may have caught it from her…”

  His name was Brad. “Rachael, this is the third time you have cancelled this week.”

  I apologized again and ended the phone call. I was pretty sure I’d never hear from the guy again. I texted Pippa that I would come and pick her up from the caves, and that we could drive around town and check out the Christmas lights, figuring that might perk her up if she was still feeling a little under the weather. She could get drowsy on cough medicine and I could do all the driving.

  Now that it was getting so close to Christmas, Christmas Village was open until eight o’clock every night. Things were just winding down when I turned up and strolled toward the dark part of the caves.

  Jarod had already taken his beard off and was in the middle of removing the eyebrows and rosy cheeks with some makeup wipes. I felt my stomach flutter a little, but I kept my cool as I walked up and said hello.

  “I’m just here to pick up Pippa,” I said, tucking my hair behind my ear.

  “Sure,” he said with an easy grin.

  Pippa strolled out to the front and shot me a smile. “Long, long day,” she said. I had a newfound appreciation for her job, so I raised my eyebrows in sympathy. But something was kind of bugging me about her appearance.

  “You certainly recovered from the cold you had yesterday,” I said, feeling slightly suspicious. Or, at least, impressed, maybe. She must have gotten something pretty strong at the drug store to clear up that stuffy nose she had had the day before.

  “Yeah, I guess it was just one of those twenty-four-hour things,” she said with a little laugh, removing her elf ears.

  I shrugged. “Well, I’m free for the evening anyway now that I’ve cancelled my date. So why don’t we go and look at the Christmas lights around town? There’s a good area down at Belldale Heights. The rich people have really gone all out this year, according to Simona.”

  She gave me a stern look. “Rachael, I can’t believe you cancelled your date again. You’re going to have to get back out there if you are ever going to meet anyone.”

  I glanced at Jarod. “Yes. I know.”

  Pippa told me that she wasn’t feeling up to looking at the Christmas lights that night. “I think I still need some time to recover,” she said, putting her jacket on. “Thanks for the offer, but I think I’m just gonna go home, have a hot chocolate, and get an early night.”

  Well, if she said so. I supposed she did have a family to get home to. She didn’t need to come out looking at Christmas lights with her single friend. Maybe I shouldn’t have cancelled my date after all, since now I was all dressed up with nowhere to go. Jarod was still packing up. He seemed to be taking extra time folding up his suit and beard and placing it inside his bag.

  And I could tell that I was lingering as well. I was making no move to leave Christmas Village, even though there was no real reason for me to be there any longer.

  Jarod slung his bag over his shoulder and wandered over to me. “So, what are you doing later, Rachael?” he asked casually.

  I shrugged and tried to
stay casual as well. “Nothing much planned,” I said. “Pippa and I were supposed to look at Christmas lights, but she’s bailed on me,” I said, making no mention of the date that I had bailed on.

  “You want to go grab some coffee? Maybe we can chat about this friend of yours that owns the gallery,” he said with a little wink. “You can give me the inside scoop.”

  Why not? If I got a little closer to Jarod, I could figure out where he had been the day that Santa was killed. And I could find out just how desperate he had been to get the Santa gig…

  Pippa texted me. Rachael, where are you? I came over to your house and no-one is there.

  Jarod was sitting across from me in the coffee shop that doubled as a bar after hours. I sent a sneaky text back. Just getting some peppermint tea with Jarod. Ran into him after you left.

  Are you seriously out with Jarod?? That guy is no good for you!

  It’s all part of the investigation, I texted back.

  I put my phone back in my pocket and stuck my straw into my cocktail—not actually a peppermint tea—and swirled it around a little.

  “I can ask Sue if there are any openings as soon as she gets back. Or I guess I can text her now even, so you can find out even sooner. I know that the gallery likes to support new talent.” It was true. I figured that Jarod had as good a chance as anyone of getting his work displayed.

  “I’d really appreciate it,” he said, lighting up a cigarette as we moved to the balcony outside. Usually, I didn’t find smoking alluring or charming in the slightest, even though there are women out there who go for the ‘bad boy’ types.

  Was that what Jarod was?

  “Excuse me,” I said, feeling the buzzing in my pocket. “I think my friend is trying to reach me. She keeps telling me it is some sort of emergency.” I moved to the other side of the balcony so that I could take the call in private.

  “Finally!” Pippa exclaimed. “Look, I hate to cut your date short, but this is important,” she said, sounding both disapproving and excited at the same time.