The Blonde Before Christmas: a Barb Jackson Mysteries holiday short story Read Online Free PDF Page A

stuck my tongue out at Mandy as she took a sip of her coffee. She grinned and shrugged.
    Mandy, Kelly, and I were seated around my kitchen table. It was the morning of Christmas Eve, and even though I knew Detective Smith and the rest of the police force were working diligently to find out who killed Santa and making sure the mall was safe, I still felt the need to lend a hand with the case.
    I knew I shouldn't, but I felt guilty for Smith possibly missing Christmas with his family. This murder wasn't my job, but I felt the overwhelming need to look into it anyway.
    As Kelly and I had assumed, the mall was open for business, complete with a replacement Santa and no trace of the previous one or his murder, except in the headlines of the local newspaper.
    "Finding that body was an accident," I defended myself. "It's not like I set out to find a dead guy." I tossed a piece of donut in Mandy's general direction and laughed.
    "You know I'm just teasing." She laughed and popped the bite of donut I'd tossed at her into her mouth. "What do we need to do? What's the plan?"
    "Well," I sat my coffee cup down. "There really is no drawn-out plan. This is Detective Smith's last week here. He said he's going to have to work through Christmas and miss spending time with his family." I took a drink of my coffee then sat the cup down. "I think we should help him solve as much of this case before the day is over as we can. Mona is going to call me with the name of the dead Santa in just a few minutes. From there, Mandy can gather info on him and feed us the details as they come in. In the meantime, the two of us," I motioned to Kelly and myself, "are going to go to the mall and start asking questions."
    "If you found him under the mall Christmas tree, it only makes sense that he was killed in the mall. It's safe to assume that someone who worked with the guy might know something about his murder," Mandy said and ran a hand across the bottom of her chin the way she always did when she was thinking.
    "But aren't there surveillance camera all over that place? Wouldn't they have caught the murder on camera?" Kelly asked.
    "Mona called me this morning before you all got here," I answered. "Apparently the camera covering the tree is a dummy camera. The only cameras that actually record anything are in the stores themselves and the food court," I explained and took a sip of my coffee.
    "That makes sense," Mandy nodded. "There aren't any vendors in that particular area of the mall. The only action that really ever takes place there is around this time of the year when Santa takes pictures with the little kids. All of the cameras would be better utilized in the busier part of the building."
    "Exactly." I nodded.
    "Mona has had her ear to the ground for any details she can get for us. She's getting really good at gathering information."
    "What about this Detective Smith?" Mandy asked. "He has no idea that we're looking into this, does he?" She pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow.
    "No, and he's not going to find out unless we discover who the killer is. I want to spend Christmas with my family, and I want him to be able to spend Christmas with his. I know none of this is my fault, but I found that body, so I can't help but feel a little guilty."
    "I'm free until around five o'clock," Mandy said. "My mom, grandma, and aunt are all holed up in my kitchen cooking, and the nephews were crowded around the Xbox when I left. They won't even notice that I'm gone until around dinnertime."
    "Good." I nodded. "You can work from here if you'd like, or you can go into the office. Whichever you prefer."
    Mandy never worked in the field. Her strength was behind a computer screen. Thanks to her older, incarcerated brother, she was the best hacker I'd ever seen.
    "I think I'll stay here and keep Mickey company." She reached down and patted my ancient black cat's head. "Besides, I just got warmed back up. It's freezing out there."
    "Make yourself at home. Stay as long as