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

toward their kiosk. He looked concerned and seemed to be giving them his full attention.
    “Tell him,” Bill said when they reached the spot where Holly and Gemma were standing.
    “I’ve made a list,” Holly said and pushed it toward the security guard. “It looks like three biorhythm rings, a heart rate pendant and a watch.”
    Grady Jackson studied the list for a moment. “When do you think this happened?”
    Gemma shrugged. “It’s hard to say exactly.”
    He glanced up at her.
    “I heard other shop owners were having a problem as well,” Gemma added. "It's been busy."
    “No one else has said anything to me,” he said, still holding Holly’s list. “Listen, could you write down the approximate value of these items, just in case?”
    Holly found a pen, added the numbers to her list, and handed it back to him.
    “Thanks,” he said with a little smile. “You folks do the same. Tomorrow I’ll have my guys talk to everyone and gather as much information as we can.”
    “Shouldn’t we alert the police?” Gemma asked.
    Jackson looked indignant. “If we can’t get to the bottom of this pretty quickly, yes. But until then we really don’t have much to go on. I mean, do you guys have any idea of who it might have been?”
    Gemma thought about all of the people she had talked to over the weekend. After a while all the faces blurred into one and she was sure it was the same for all the shop owners. Everyone shook their head except Bill. He looked pointedly at Santa.
    Grady Jackson followed Bill’s gaze and then laughed. “Sam McLear? That old coot? He can barely stand up much less steal anything.”
    Well, there was at least one thing they agreed on.
    “I’ll also see if the owners will let me pull in a few more guys. The more eyes we have on the place, the better we can protect you,” Jackson added, taking charge of the situation.
    They all agreed that seemed to be a good course of action, at least temporarily, and the meeting was over. Gemma and Holly locked everything up except their order list, which Gemma planned to work on before she came into the mall.
    When they left, Grady Jackson was having an animated conversation with Santa. Gemma hoped no one else had accused the old man of theft. Surely, Jackson knew better than to make an unwarranted accusation. She didn’t exactly love Santa, but she didn’t want to see anyone lose their job, especially at this time of year. For once Ralph the Elf seemed to be leaving Santa alone.
    While she waited for her car to decide to go into drive, she thought back to when Santa had been at their kiosk. If he stole something from them, he was quicker than she imagined he could be. The more she thought about it, the more she was sure he wasn’t the culprit. She also tried to remember if he’d been over at Bill and Edna’s kiosk and she couldn’t readily say whether he had or had not.
    “Good girl,” she said when she realized the car had finally shifted into drive.
    On her way home, Gemma stifled several huge yawns. She couldn’t believe how tired she was. It was just eight o’clock and all she could think about was crawling into bed. Part of her fatigue was due to the long weekend on her feet but it took her forever to get used to the time change. Just as she was unlocking her door, jingle bells began playing from her purse. She fished out her cell phone and smiled when she saw Nick’s number on the screen.
    “Hello,” she said, her smile growing wider at the sound of his voice.
    “Hey, are you home yet?” he asked.
    “Just unlocked the door,” she told him.
    “Would you like some company?”
    “Yes - especially if that company brought wine with him,” she said.
    “On my way.”
    By the time Nick arrived, Gemma had changed into warm sweats and one of her dad’s old sweaters. It was miles too big for her small frame but it comforted her when she wore it. She built a fire to take the chill off of her living room and already had two wine glasses