The Santa Slaughter - A Very Merry Murder Mystery

Chapter 10

"Jessie! Jessie!! Is he here?"

A little boy in a big red hat runs at me, altering his course at the last moment to tackle Jessica, who is standing next to me counting the kids along the line waiting to see Santa.

"He's here," she promises him, wriggling free of his grip. "Now go get in line and wait with all the other boys and girls." The little boy lets out a theatrical sigh but does as she suggests and she shoots me a look. "My little brother." She grins. "I think he was hoping I'd sneak him in ahead of everybody else, but I told him he'd have to wait."

"What a mean big sister!" I say, surprised to find I'm quite enjoying getting to know the two teenagers that were so infuriating to me yesterday. After Ella's big confession, I've felt a sort of maternal urge to keep an eye on her, and I realize that in her own way that's exactly what Jessica has been doing too, distracting her with gossip and sticking to her like glue to keep her from getting too morose about Bill.

Jessica grins at me and waves the next child into the grotto. I'm still smiling when a familiar voice reaches me.

"Well, you look a lot better than the last time I saw you!"

Rob Castle drops the little girl he's holding onto her own two feet and straightens, smiling at me. My knees wobble and I force myself to remain upright, running a quick calculation to figure out how long it is until we get a break. I must be light-headed from lack of food. It's not like Rob is that good-looking...

"Who's this?" Jessica asks, bending down to smile at the little girl, who unbuttons her coat and introduces herself.

"Jessica."

"Great name!" Big Jessica high-fives her, and now that I'm a little more in control of my faculties I smile at Rob.

"Your daughter?"

"My niece." He rakes a hand through his short, wavy hair and leans a little closer to me. I try to ignore the heady cedar scent of his cologne. "I'm entertaining her while her folks do a little last-minute shopping." He straightens, looking down at the little girl. "So, we thought we'd come to see Santa, didn't we? Now, go find the back of the queue, Jess. I'll come join you in a second, I just want to talk to my friends real quick."

She beams and dashes off, and in a moment I see her chatting happily with Jessica's little brother, both bouncing on the soles of their little feet in excitement to see Santa Clause. My heart lifts. I'm glad, now, that Maggie decided we should keep going with Santa's grotto, even after everything awful happened with Bill. It would be a shame for these children to miss out.

"So, are you ok?"

Rob's talking to me and I'm surprised to see what looks like a genuine concern in his green eyes. I remember how gently he handed me a mug of hot chocolate after I discovered Bill's body and feel a tiny thrill go through me.

"Fine," I tell him, squaring my shoulders and trying to convey that I'm not the type of woman who falls apart over something like a little murder. "Keeping busy."

"I see that." He raises his eyebrows at the queue of children and lets out a surprised little exhalation. "Maybe I should have brought Fred Astaire back! I didn't think so many children would want to come."

"Well, we aren't exactly advertising what happened," I say, softly. I remember something Kate told me and turn to him. "How is Mrs. Barraclough doing?"

He looks surprised, then shrugs his broad shoulders.

"About as well as can be expected. Snuffy is doing a lot better, so that's been something." He winces. "Not that I'm trying to say a sick cat compares to losing her husband." He shakes his head. "Forget it. I'm rambling. Mostly because I wanted an excuse to keep talking to you." He looks past me to Jessica, who's lurking a bit too close for someone who's pretending so hard not to be listening to us. "To both of you."