Mall Santa Murder: A Cozy Christmas Mystery (Gemma Stone Cozy Mystery Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

yeah,” she said slowly, getting to her feet and backing carefully away from the body. “You might want to call 911.”
    “A passed out Santa is nothing I can’t handle,” Jackson began as he sauntered into the gates of Santa Land. “I’ll get the old coot back in the break room and sober him up.”
    “Santa is dead,” Gemma said. The words sounded very, very wrong to her ears, and she felt goosebumps bloom along her arms.
    “Dead!” Grady said, scurrying around to her side. She stepped sideways so that he could see.
    “What's wrong?” It was Bill. Somehow he had managed to send the children off in another direction and Gemma assumed, had come back to help her.
    “Santa’s dead,” Gemma repeated, suddenly feeling hot and dizzy.
    As she looked from Bill’s astonished face to Jackson’s, she realized that someone else had joined them. Looking past Bill, she saw Ralph the Elf. He stood apart from the other two, hands on his thin hips, tummy stretching his green costume.
    “What’s he done now?” Ralph sneered.
    “He’s dead,” Gemma repeated. Why couldn’t she stop saying that?
    “I’m not surprised,” Ralph scoffed. “I told him one of these days some jealous husband was going to take him out. Looks like my prediction came true.”
    Gemma’s knees felt like water as she watched Jackson finally begin to dial 911 on his cell phone. She heard him say, “No need to make a big deal out of this and scare everyone. He’s already gone. No need for sirens.”
    Everyone else just stood there while a spirited rendition of Here Comes Santa Claus flowed out of the mall’s PA system.
    This Santa wasn’t going anywhere.

Chapter Five
    F or some reason, Gemma felt like she should stay with the body until the police arrived. Bill and Jackson both seemed to feel that way, too. Ralph the Elf appeared to be in charge of Santa Land, at least temporarily, while making calls on his cell phone. Obviously Santa would have to be replaced and Gemma assumed Ralph was calling the agency or whoever Santa worked for to get a replacement.
    The rescue squad arrived first and Gemma was surprised to see that both of the EMTs were women. They quickly came to the same conclusion she had and one of them made a quiet telephone call.
    “We’re alerting the authorities,” the other uniformed woman. She looked very young and a little pale. “Did anyone touch or move anything?”
    “I touched his foot,” Gemma said, her voice shaking slightly. “I thought he was...”
    “That’s fine." The woman shot her a reassuring smile. "The police will need to know that, though, so please stay close,” she said softly.
    “How did he die?” Bill asked.
    “Looks like he was strangled with garland,” the EMT worker had finished her phone call. “I’ve contacted the coroner and the police. They’ll be arriving shortly. I’m sure they’ll want to question all of you.”
    Still reluctant to leave Santa, Gemma remembered that she was supposed to call Holly and then rearrange the kiosk a little that morning so that it didn’t look so empty. Looking for something to calm her rattled nerves, she had just started in that direction when the coroner arrived. In reality the county coroner was a local doctor, Dr. Biggs. Tall and thin, Gemma thought he looked like Ebenezer Scrooge. He nodded a greeting when he passed her but was more focused on where the EMTs were kneeling over the body.
    Gemma’s cell chimed just as she reached the HealthGems kiosk. She accepted the call with a shaking finger. It was Nick.
    “Okay, what’s going on?” The tone of his voice was anything but conversational.
    “I, um, I found Santa dead this morning here at the mall,” she told him, her voice shaking as badly as her finger had earlier.
    “I just pulled up out front. There are three police cars here and the coroner’s van,” he told her. “Are you okay?”
    “Yes, I’m fine,” Gemma assured him, although she really didn’t feel so fine.
    “I’ll be