Mall Santa Murder: A Cozy Christmas Mystery (Gemma Stone Cozy Mystery Book 1) by Willow Monroe Page B

could...”
    Their eyes met.
    “More importantly, who?” Holly asked.
    “Either Santa had some little helpers we didn’t know about or someone is moving in on his territory,” Gemma guessed.
    “Should we tell Jackson?”
    “Forget him,” Gemma said, keying in Ross’s number. “I’m going over his head and reporting this to the police.”
    “Good idea,” Holly said, reaching for her coat. “Now, if it’s okay with you, I’m going to run and get something to eat.”
    Gemma nodded as she waited for Ross to pick up.
    “I won’t be long,” Holly whispered.
    Ross’s greeting kicked in, short and sweet and Gemma left him a short and sweet message saying she needed to talk to him about something. It was important.
    Evidently, after Santa’s murder and the discovery of his stash in his locker, everyone had let their guard down, thinking the shoplifting incident was solved. They were wrong and she needed to let the others know.
    Making sure the kiosk was secure, she strolled over to where Bill and Edna were rearranging their merchandise.
    “Looks like you’ve had some good sales the last few days,” Gemma said, noting that some of the prettiest sun catchers were gone.
    “We have,” Edna said with a happy smile. “This is the first year we might not have enough items to last until Christmas.”
    “Wow, I’d better get my purchases in quickly then,” Gemma said.
    “You’d better.”
    “Hey, I just wanted to let you guys know we’re missing some items,” Gemma said, hating to spoil Edna’s good mood.
    “What?” Bill said loudly.
    Gemma shrugged.
    “But I thought...” Edna began.
    “Everyone thought that,” Gemma said, not wanting to hear her accuse Santa of being the thief. “Either he had an accomplice or someone else just took over.”
    “I’m going to let some of the other store owners know, too,” Gemma said. “Would you watch my kiosk for me? I’ll be right back.”
    “Of course, dear, let the others know. We’ll be right here,” Edna assured her.
    Gemma went about her task of alerting the other kiosk owners and some of the staff in the regular stores as well. When she returned to her kiosk, she saw that she’d missed a return call from Ross.
    Before she could respond to that, she looked up to see Holly heading her way along with Mitch.
    “Mitch thinks we should report the theft to Jackson, too,” Holly told her.
    “That’s fine. I don’t think it will do much good unless we drag the culprit into his office but we can do that,” Gemma said with a glance down that skinny little dark hall where Grady’s office was.
    “What did Ross say?” she asked.
    “I missed his call but I’ll talk to him when he does call back,” Gemma told her friend.
    “We’ll go see if we can find Jackson,” Holly assured her friend.
    Gemma signed with relief. “Thanks.”
    That night at home, Nick called to tell her he had been sent to Richmond for a few nights to cover a breaking political story.
    “That is wonderful,” she said, truly happy for him. Yet, she sensed something wasn’t quite right. “What’s wrong? This is what you’ve been working so hard for, isn’t it?”
    “Yeah, I just hate leaving you there with all this going on,” he said, his voice growing tender.
    “I’ll be careful,” she assured him.
    “Call me if anything and I mean anything happens,” he said.
    “I will. I promise,” Gemma said. “Hey, you’ll be back for Christmas won’t you.”
    “Yes, of course,” he said. “But remember, I have to work Christmas day.”
    “I remember. But I have a present for you and I just wanted to be sure you’d be in town so I can give it to you.”
    “A present?” he asked. “Nice. You know I’ll be around to pick up that. In fact, I have a little something for you as well.”
    “Oh, Nick, that’s sweet,” Gemma said, tears of happiness making it difficult to see. “What is it? Tell me? Tell me?”
    Nick laughed. “I’m not telling. Now, good night.”
    Not