Jolly Dead St. Nicholas Read Online Free

prescription on the counter. “Just don’t tell anyone I gave that check to you. I don’t want it spread around, all right?”
    Adelaide nodded. Vernon nodded. Harold said, “I’ll be back for my pills later.”
    As Adelaide left the pharmacy moments later with the check in her purse, she thought the funeral home business must be very profitable indeed if the amount of Harold’s donation was any indication.
     

Chapter Four
     
     
    On Thursday afternoon, Chief of Police Daniel McBride was cloistered in his office just off the squad room, hoping to catch up on some paperwork he’d been putting off for about a week. Upstairs, the two jail cells were empty. Courtroom A was reserved for Mayor’s Court, which was held each Wednesday evening to handle traffic violations and other misdemeanors. Common Pleas/criminal cases were heard by a circuit court judge in Courtroom B or transferred to Marietta. Crime always seemed to increase during the holidays.
    In the six months he’d been the town’s chief of police, he’d encountered his share of controversy. Many citizens expressed the opinion that he was too young for the job. I’m thirty-two, how is that too young? I have nine years on the force. Small town politics. I’ll never get used to it.
    The city council vote had been close. He could still recall that night, as they sat in the town council chambers right across the hall. In his mind, Daniel ticked off who’d been for him and who’d been against him during that heated meeting. He knew for a fact that Harold Purcell, Vernon Dexter and local insurance agency owner Jerry Hatfield had voted to hire him. All three men were friends with his mother, so that explained their vote, he supposed.
    On the other side of the aisle, so to speak, Marty Castro, proprietor of the local pub, Dora Carmody, the owner of the diner, and Lloyd Fletcher, a local real estate broker had voted nay. That had left the deciding vote up to the mayor, Carl Henshaw. “So, did you vote to hire me because of your friendship with my mother?” Daniel had asked Carl after the meeting in the mayor’s office, which was tucked in the back corner of the building. Carl had just patted him on the shoulder and smiled, but made no comment. On his way out that evening, Daniel noticed a small group of people cloistered in the public meeting room next to the council chambers. Unfortunately he was too far away to hear what they were saying.
    Looking up from the files in front of him, Daniel stared out the large picture window that served as part of his office wall. In the squad room, Sergeant Ray Butler, a tall man with finely chiseled features, was just settling behind his gunmetal gray desk. Of all his officers, he trusted Ray the most. In truth, he’d assumed when the job of police chief became vacant, Ray would be hired. He had one more year on the force than Daniel, along with an exemplary record.
    Daniel’s mind went to a conversation he’d overheard between Ray and Officer Ed Lucas. At twenty-nine years old, Ed had been on the force for four years. Daniel didn’t care for Ed’s caustic attitude. He’d been brought up on charges more than once for using excessive force. On that particular afternoon, about a month after Daniel was promoted to chief, he happened to hear Ray and Ed arguing in the smaller, downstairs break room…
    “I don’t like his laid back attitude. He needs to grow a set,” Ed said in a tone riddled with scorn.
    “Like you, you mean? How many complaints are in your folder?” Ray retorted.
    “I do what it takes to get the job done, Butler. Let’s see if McBride has the stones to do the same!”
    Daniel shoved some papers into a folder, then sat back in his swivel chair, which squeaked in protest. Out in the squad room, Lieutenant Luke Fagan, who had come to them five years ago from the Columbus PD, strode to his desk, shoving a scruffy looking teenager down in a straight back chair. The skinny kid seemed high on