Twisted (37 page)

O
nce everyone had learned about Sue's awful accident, none of them had felt like being alone. They'd spent the entire day going from phone to phone, to see if any were functional. There were over three hundred phones in the mall and they'd checked them all, including the ones in the stores and the offices. None of them had been working, and there was no way they could report Sue's death.

When darkness had begun to fall, they'd all gathered in the Crossroads Pub. No one was very hungry so they'd picked up deli food at the grocery store on the main floor, and they'd arranged it on a platter. Jay and Larry had gone to the juice stand on the promenade level, and come back with several bottles of apple cider. They'd heated it with nutmeg and cloves, poured it into mugs, and stuck a cinnamon stick in each one. Now they were all sitting around the big, round table in the center of the room, sipping hot apple cider and eating sandwiches, trying to avoid thinking about what had happened. It wasn't working. Sue's horrible death was on everyone's mind.

Diana sighed, and everyone turned to look at her. She took a deep breath, and said exactly what was on her mind. “I know you guys don't want to talk about Sue, but I have to ask a question. It's important.”

“Okay.” Jay nodded. “Go ahead.”

“What did you do? Wrap her in the blankets and leave her in the snowbank?”

“No.” Jay looked around at the other guys, but none of them seemed to want to elaborate. “We . . . uh . . . we put her in a safe place.”

“Outside?” Diana frowned. She knew it didn't make sense, but the thought of Sue, outside in the cold, was really disturbing.

“No. We didn't leave her outside.” Paul spoke up. “We talked it over, and we decided that it was better to bring her inside.”

“But why?”

Hal cleared his throat. He looked very uncomfortable. “Uh . . . animals. We thought maybe they might . . . you know.”

“Oh.” Diana winced as she caught his meaning. “I understand. But where did you put her?”

“Does it matter?” Jay looked very uncomfortable.

The emotional part of Diana wanted to drop it. Jay looked really upset. But her practical side took over.

“I'm sorry, Jay, but it
does
matter. What if we open a door and . . .” Diana swallowed hard. “You know what I mean. And that's why I think you have to tell all of us where you put Sue's body.”

Jay thought about it for a moment, and then he nodded. “Okay. This is going to sound kind of weird, but we put Sue's body in the best place we could think of. She's in the meat case in the grocery store.”

“The meat case?” Diana stared at Jay in shock.

“This whole situation gives me the creeps,” Heather suddenly exclaimed. “Especially what Paul did!”

“Me? What did I do?” Now Paul began to frown.

“You taped the whole thing, and I think that's irresponsible journalism!”

“No, it's not.” Cindy glared at Heather. “Paul was just doing his job. He explained the whole thing to me. Since the police couldn't come out here, Paul used his camera to make a record for the police. They can watch the tape and see exactly where Sue was when she died.”

Heather had the grace to look slightly embarrassed. “Oh. That's different. But there's something I don't understand. What was Sue doing out there in the first place?”

Everyone exchanged glances. They'd been wondering the same thing. Finally, Diana spoke up. “Maybe she couldn't sleep?”

“But it was freezing cold outside. If she couldn't sleep, why didn't she just walk around the inside of the mall?”

“I think I might know the answer to that.” Dave gave a troubled sigh, and they all turned to look at him. “I didn't say anything before, but there was a half-empty beer mug on the counter when I came in here. Did any of you get up in the middle of the night to have another beer?”

One by one, they shook their heads, and Dave nodded. “That's what I thought. Sue must have had trouble sleeping so she came back here to drink. Let's assume she had one too many, and she stepped outside to try to sober up. The lights were on, and she waded out into the snow to look at the Christmas trees on the overhang. And then a strong gust of wind came up, and the tree fell, and . . . well . . . you know the rest.”

Diana nodded, along with everyone else. She didn't want to voice her objection now, but there was a big hole in Dave's theory. Sue could have had too much beer. That much was true. And she could have stepped outside to clear her head. But Diana didn't believe the planter had toppled in a strong gust of wind. She'd seen the way the planters were attached to the overhang, and it would have taken much more than a strong wind to move them. And the one that had fallen was the one in the middle, the one that was protected the most from the wind.

Jay looked concerned as he leaned close to whisper in Diana's ear. “You look worried. Is something wrong?”

Diana shook her head. She didn't want to alarm Jay. Not yet. Not until she'd thought everything out. But there was another big hole in Dave's theory. Sue had been wearing her expensive new tennis shoes, the ones she'd bought for cheerleading. And there was no way she would have waded out into the snowbank with her new cheerleading shoes, not unless she'd had a very good reason.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Diana, and she began to shiver. She glanced up at Jay, but he was listening to something Cindy was saying. That was good, because she didn't want him to notice the panic that was spreading through her whole body. She'd just thought of a new theory, a theory that made much more sense. Someone else had been outside with Sue. Diana was sure of it. And that someone had lured her out into the deep snow, and pushed the planter down from the overhang to kill her!

 

Santa smiled as he sat in the locked security office and worked on his list. They were all beginning to relax now, after the shock of Sue's death. Several of them had wandered off to do various things in the mall, and that made his work much easier. It was hard to cut out the one he wanted from the herd, when they were huddled together like frightened sheep.

Of course, they were oblivious to his grand plan. They had no idea that there would be more accidents. Only he knew that. Santa knew everything, including exactly who the next victim would be. He was making a list and checking it twice, going to find out who was naughty and nice. And the next victim had been very, very naughty.

He never would have known, if Gramps hadn't told him. It had been in the summer, five years ago, when Grandma was still alive. A couple had slipped off the road in the rain, and they'd walked to the farmhouse, asking for help.

Gramps had been suffering from a summer cold, but he'd never been able to refuse anyone in trouble. He'd fired up the tractor and spent the better part of an hour pulling the young man's car up onto the road. The girl had stayed in the farmhouse, talking to Grandma. She'd been friendly and sweet, and he had no quarrel with her.

But the young man had done something very bad. He might not have known it, but that was no excuse. When he'd driven back to the farmhouse to pick up his date, he'd found her sitting at the kitchen table with Grandma, copying down some of the priceless recipes that had been in their family for generations. Instead of waiting for her to finish, he'd insisted she leave with him right away. And when she'd objected, he'd told her that if she was that interested in recipes, he'd buy her a Betty Crocker cookbook!

Grandma's feelings had been hurt. She'd complained that the young man was terribly thoughtless and he didn't deserve such a nice girl. To make matters worse, the next day Gramps had started coughing and his cold had turned into pneumonia from standing out in the rain so long. It had taken him two long months to recover, and they'd had to pay a hired man to help out when Gramps was sick. The young man deserved to be punished for causing all that trouble, and Santa would make sure he paid with his life.

He got up from the desk and pulled out the top drawer of the filing cabinet. Inside, he found the roll of green foil Christmas paper he'd picked up at the Hallmark store on the upper level, and he carried it over to the desk.

As he started to wrap the present, he hummed a few bars of his favorite Christmas song. He'd watched the girls in the wrapping booth and learned how to taper the corners to make it look professional. It was an honor to get a present wrapped by Santa himself. In the old children's fable, the elves did that task.

He didn't know how to form a perfect bow, but the Hallmark shop had made it easy with premade bows that simply stuck on the package. He chose a big gold one, shaped like a multi-pointed star, and peeled off the little strip of paper that protected the taped surface. Then he stuck it on the top of the package and smiled. It was a perfect gift, extremely well suited for the person who would receive it. Now his only problem would be getting it out to the tree, unobserved.

Once he'd turned out the lights in the security office, he opened the door and peeked out. He could see the huge Christmas tree from here, and no one was in sight. There would be an element of risk when he carried the package down the walkway, but life was full of risks, and he'd prepared for this one. If someone spotted him, he'd tell them he'd found the package in the employees' lounge. There would be no reason to doubt that little white lie.

A moment later, the deed was accomplished. The present sat in a central spot under the tree, foil paper glittering brightly under the twinkling lights. They'd all agreed to meet here at eight to plan what they'd do for the rest of the evening, and they'd be sure to notice the present. It would be opened, and the note would be read. And then Santa would punish his next victim.

 

“I suppose you think I'm crazy.” There was a worried expression on Diana's face as she looked up at Jay. They were sitting on a bench on the promenade, and she'd just finished explaining her theory to him.

“No, Di. I don't think you're crazy.” Jay put his arm around her shoulders and smiled down at her. “But I do think you're borrowing trouble.”

“Then you don't believe me?”

Jay sighed, and pulled her closer. “Sure, I believe you. And it could have happened the way you say. But it also could have happened the way Dave explained it.”

“But why did that particular planter fall? And why was Sue standing right beneath it, getting her new cheerleading shoes all wet?”

“I don't know.” Jay shrugged. “I don't think we'll ever know. Only Sue could tell us that.”

“Do you really think Sue would have waded through the snow in her new shoes?”

“No. Not if she'd been sober. But maybe she wasn't. And maybe she didn't even think about her shoes. People do all sorts of strange things when they're bombed. Remember Evan Collier?”

“Of course I do.” Diana nodded. Evan was a straight “A” student, a nice, quiet guy who went to church every Sunday, and wrote letters to the school paper, complaining about the loose morals of his classmates. Just last month, Evan had gotten so bombed at a party, he'd taken off all his clothes and gone swimming in the college pool. And when Mrs. Iverson, the girls' swimming coach, had threatened to call the campus police, Evan had pulled her into the water and kissed her.

Jay was looking at her with a question in his eyes, and Diana sighed. “Okay. You made your point. I guess Sue could have forgotten she was wearing her cheerleading shoes. But how about the planter? I still don't see how the wind could have pushed it off the ledge.”

“Neither do I, not if it was secured the way you think it was. But it's possible one of the gardeners knocked it loose when he was planting the Christmas tree. That would explain why it was the only one to fall.”

Diana frowned, but then she nodded. “I guess it could have happened that way. But do you really think Sue's death was an accident?”

“Let's leave that up to the police to decide. They're the experts, not us.”

“Okay.” Diana nodded, and she felt as if a heavy weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Jay was right. The police were the experts. And the highway patrol would come out here, just as soon as the roads were cleared. They'd call in a team of detectives, and they'd be the ones to decide if there had been any foul play.

Jay leaned down and kissed her softly, his lips barely brushing her forehead. Then he glanced at his watch and stood up. “I'll walk you back to the Christmas tree, and then I've got something I have to do.”

“What?” Diana looked up at him with shining eyes. He'd kissed her again! Jay's first kiss had landed on the tip of her nose while they'd been sitting under the Christmas tree, and this one had brushed her forehead. Diana warned herself not to read too much into what had happened. Jay had given her two friendly kisses, nothing more than that. But her knees felt weak, she was slightly breathless, and she couldn't help wondering what a real kiss would be like.

Jay looked very uncomfortable. “I promised Heather I'd meet her by the fountain. She said she had to talk to me about something terribly important. It's probably nothing, but . . . well . . . I've been avoiding her lately, and I guess it won't hurt to just listen to what she has to say. I owe her that much . . . right?”

“Mmmm.” Diana nodded, and kept her expression carefully neutral. But as they rode down the escalator and walked toward the Christmas tree in the center of the mall, she was frowning slightly. Everyone except Jay knew that Heather was trying to get him back. Unfortunately, Jay seemed oblivious to that fact.

Jay grinned as he spotted Cindy and Paul sitting on a bench by the Christmas tree. “Hi, guys. Take care of Diana for me, will you? I'll be back in a couple of minutes.”

“Sure. No problem.” Paul nodded, and gestured toward his video camera. “I was just going to do a little spot with Cindy, and it always helps to have an audience. You don't mind, do you, Diana?”