The Blonde Before Christmas: a Barb Jackson Mysteries holiday short story (7 page)

I yanked the door open and came face-to-face with the barrel of a gun.

"Back up slowly. No funny business."

It was the wrong time to question such a thing, but who still says things like
no funny business
?

Apparently deranged security guards, that's who.

I looked up into the calm face of Eric.

"Just back up slowly, Ms. Jackson, and everything will be just fine. You over there, hands where I can see them."

I didn't dare chance a look at Kelly. The gun in my face held my complete attention.

"Recognize him now?" I asked.

"Yep," Kelly said quietly.

"You killed Marvin," I said as Eric backed me up by pressing the gun closer and closer to my face. My knees came up against the chair I'd vacated, and I sat, hands still raised in the air.

"The way you were running out of here, I'm guessing that you know I did." He switched his gaze back and forth between Kelly and me.

I watched Kelly from out of the corner of my eye. In the past, she had been known to pull some
Die Hard
, Bruce Willis stunts to help us escape a sticky situation.

Eric reached behind him and pulled two black zip ties from his pocket, then tossed one into my lap.

"Tie her up." He nodded in Kelly's direction.

I took the tie and stood slowly.

Kelly held her hands in front of her.

"No. Behind her back. I'm not taking any chances with the two of you." Eric waved the gun at me. Kelly kept her cool and turned around while I secured her wrists behind her back.

"Now, sit down," Eric told Kelly.

Kelly sat and glared at Eric, but I remained standing.

"Tell me why you killed Marvin?"

If Addie, Bambi, or Chelsea had been waving a gun in my face I wouldn't have even asked why they'd killed Marvin. But Eric being the killer had caught me completely off guard.

"Marvin was a pig."

"True," I agreed. There really was no denying that Marvin was a pig. "In my line of work most of the men I meet are pigs, but that doesn't give me the right to go around killing them no matter how many times the thought might cross my mind."

"You're full of sass, aren't you?" Eric screwed up his face with disbelief and chuckled. "It's a shame that it's come down to this. I really liked you, but you can't seem to keep your nose out of other people's business."

Now where had I heard that before?

"You want to know why I killed Marvin? Fine. I'll tell you. Take a seat." He reached out and pushed me down into the chair. "We're going to make this quick. I don't want to take the chance of your boyfriend showing up before I'm finished with the two of you."

"Detective Smith isn't my boyfriend." I'm not sure why I felt the need to clarify that little tidbit of information, but I did.

Eric shrugged. "That doesn't matter. We still need to move this along."

Eric took a step back and eyed us carefully.

"Marvin was sleeping with Chelsea."

I frowned and shook my head. "And Bambi, and Addie, and most likely a handful of others. We know that but—"

"Chelsea and I were seeing each other before Marvin came along." Eric interrupted me. "We were happy too. Then here comes this guy, a little bit younger than me, a smooth talker, arrogant. I suspected they were messing around behind my back for about a week. Then a couple of days ago Chelsea tells me that we're over." He snarled. "I knew that it was because of Marvin. I can't even figure out what she saw in the guy. He was a fool, a drunk, a cheater, a liar."

I wanted to look at Kelly and say, "See, told you it was a scorned lover," but I refrained. That snide little line would probably get me shot. Eric might have been calm when he'd entered the room, but reciting the story had obviously started to rile him up. His face reddened with anger, and his hands shook as he held the gun even with my chest.

I sent up a silent prayer that Detective Smith checked his voicemail before Eric blew our heads off.

I needed to keep him talking in order to give Smith a chance to find us.

"You confronted Marvin?" Kelly asked, obviously thinking along the same lines I was.

Eric switched his gaze to her. "Yeah, I did. Wouldn't you? I was in love with Chelsea, but that fool was in my way. I knew he'd be here helping set up the wonderland scene. Reginald had ordered a new Santa Claus costume, and Marvin had to try it on."

I still had my gun in an ankle holster, but I was no Billy the Kid. I could draw my weapon, but I'd never be fast enough. Either Kelly or I would wind up dead. I was stuck sitting there in that chair like a stuffed Christmas goose.

"I knew that fool would be here late. I'd seen him drinking in the parking lot and watched him stagger in after almost everyone was gone. I don't know why, but he came out of the men's room still wearing his costume and went over to the tree. Who knows what he was thinking? He was obviously drunk."

Kelly peeked over at me. I could tell she was thinking of a way to get to my gun. If we could catch Eric off guard, I'd have time to pull my weapon and maybe save our lives.

"I told him to stay away from Chelsea, but he just laughed. Said that he'd string her along for as long as he wanted to. He called her a slut, and that's when I snapped. I punched him in the mouth. He fell but got back up and started cursing Chelsea, calling her all sorts of names. Then he spit blood in my face. I shoved him, and he started to turn and run away. I grabbed the T-shirt cannon, turned the air pressure all the way up, and fired it at his face. He fell and hit his head. I grabbed him and shoved him under the tree, cleaned up the mess, and ran out of there as fast as I could."

"Wait," I said with confusion. "You said you shot him in the face with the T-shirt cannon, but on the tape he wasn't hit in the face with a shirt. It was a lot of something small."

"Candy."

"What?"

"It was candy that hit him in the face. Christmas candy," he clarified. "That day the elves had the pressure on the cannon turned down and were shooting candy into the air for the little kids instead of softballs and T-shirts."

"How'd you know we were in here?" Kelly asked.

"Obviously I knew that you were snooping around since you even asked for my help at one point, so I started watching the two of you in case you started getting too close to the truth. I saw that detective lead you in here then leave. I already knew what this room was used for, so I assumed he'd stuck you with the task of watching the tapes." He directed the gun at my forehead. "I didn't know for certain if any of the cameras had captured what happened. I doubted it, but you can never be too careful. I tried to get in here and delete the recordings, but the cops have been crawling all over the place since last night. Then I did a little research on you and found out that you're pretty good at your job. It would be only a matter of time before you figured out that I'd killed Marvin."

"So is your plan to kill us too?" I asked. "How far do you think you'll get?"

"I really hate that it's come down to this. You're smart and a bit spunky." He laughed. "Yes, I'm going to kill the two of you. Then I'm going to erase the recordings and walk out of here like nothing ever happened."

"Smith's a great detective. He'll figure out that it was you. Then what?" I was getting angry. It was my favorite holiday, and instead of being at home with a belly full of food and opening presents with my makeshift family, we were about to die in a surveillance room because of some sleaze ball who couldn't keep it in his pants and a psycho, disgruntled ex-boyfriend.

I always figured that my death would be caused by being sarcastic at the wrong time to the wrong person. I guess I was wrong.

"The detective can't figure anything out if he's dead."

He was going to kill Smith. I couldn't let that happen. I thought of what it was like for me when my family had died. I couldn't let that happen to Smith's kids.

I didn't even think, just reacted. I summoned my inner JJ Watt and sprang up from the chair, hitting Eric in the stomach with my shoulder like a linebacker on the football field.

He grunted and stumbled backward. My weight wasn't enough to take him off of his feet. Fortunately, Kelly was anticipating my move. She slammed into my back a second later, and we all three fell to the floor in a tangled mess of limbs.

The gun flew out of Eric's hands, but I couldn't get to my gun because I was crushed between Kelly's and Eric's bodies.

Eric wiggled out from under us and scrambled for the gun. Kelly finally rolled off of me and quickly stood. She kicked the gun, it slid across the floor, and it came to rest in the farthest corner of the room.

Eric stood and threw a hard right hand that connected with Kelly's jaw, dropping her instantly. I struggled to catch my breath and reached behind me to grab my gun, but before I could get a good aim Eric kicked the gun out of my hand and shoved me over onto my back.

I didn't have time to worry about whether or not Kelly was all right. Eric sat on my chest and wrapped his meaty hands around my throat.

His fingers dug into my skin. I couldn't breathe, and panic started to set in. I slapped and clawed at his face and hands, but he continued to snarl down at me.

I felt around beside me for anything to hit him with but came up empty.

That's when I realized that I really was going to die.

"Such a shame," Eric growled down at me. "Why couldn't you just mind your own business?"

I grew light-headed, and my vision started to swim.

"Where's that boyfriend of yours now?"

The words had barely left his mouth when I heard what sounded like the door being flung open. A shot rang out.

Eric's grip loosened, and his expression shifted to one of disbelief as he fell to the side, off of me.

Smith rushed across the room and scooped me up into his arms.

"Barb? Open your eyes," he begged as he brushed the hair away from my face.

My eyelids felt like they weighed about a million pounds each, but I opened them and peered up into Smith's worried face.

"Thank God you're alive." He pressed my head against his chest.

"Kelly?" I croaked out.

"She's alive," Smith said, then smiled down at me. "You're both alive."

A second later, everything went black.

"This turkey's a little dry."

I cocked a brow in Mona's direction. "Would you rather I have cooked it?"

"Not only no but heck no." She laughed and shoved a piece of turkey into her mouth. "Delicious," she mumbled around it.

I looked around my kitchen table at my strange little family and a few new but welcome faces and said another silent thanks for being alive.

Mandy and Kelly were neck-deep in the cherry pie that Smith's wife had brought, and Smith's teenage son Jonas was sweet-talking Mona over a plate of sweet potatoes.

Smith was seated to my right, sipping his coffee and watching his wife and I chat.

After my run-in with Santa-killing Eric the night before I'd spent several long hours at the hospital getting checked out and then at the police station filling out a statement.

I was running on fumes, and Kelly was sporting a huge black eye, but we were just happy to be alive.

"I'm just relieved that the two of you are alive," Mona said.

"That makes two of us," Smith said over the rim of his mug. "I've already told my replacement, Tyler, to watch out for you."

I pictured his replacement and felt a slight shiver at the memory of his intense green gaze, muscular form, and thick, black hair.

I glanced at Smith and his wife then smiled. I couldn't help but think that I wanted a love like Smith and his wife's. Throughout the evening they'd shared secret looks and tiny touches. It was obvious how much they loved each other.

That's what I wanted.

"We all are," Smith's wife, Cassy, said. "I still can't believe you risked your life just so that our family could spend Christmas together. You're either the most giving person in the world or the craziest." She laughed and tossed her long, dark hair over her shoulder.

"The jury's still out on that one," Mona chimed in.

"Either way, thank you. We've missed the last three Christmases together."

I felt my cheeks heat with a blush and took a drink of my hot chocolate.

"Okay, that's enough of that. We're embarrassing Barb," Kelly laughed.

The rest of dinner went off without a hitch. We talked and laughed and then came time for the good-byes.

"Good luck out in California. I hear it's kind of crazy out there," I said to Smith as he helped his wife into her coat.

"Thanks, and you take care of yourself. Don't be getting yourself into another situation like you did last night."

I propped my hands on my hips. "If I'm not mistaken, you're the one who put me up to watching the DVDs."

"Let's not split hairs." Smith held his hands out, then leaned down and kissed my cheek. "Good luck, Barb. Behave yourself, and stay in touch."

"I will."

With one last round of hugs, I watched out the window as Detective Alan Smith and his family pulled out of my driveway and disappeared out of sight.

"Come on, Barb, we're all waiting on you," Kelly called from the Christmas tree.

I hurried over to the tree where we'd all decided to plant ourselves on the floor like a bunch of little kids.

We exchanged gifts and tore into them with enthusiasm.

Kelly had taken the safe route and given each of us shoes. High heels for Mandy and Mona. Hot pink Converse for me.

She knew me so well.

Mona gave Mandy, Kelly, and me gift certificates to her favorite salon for a deluxe massage.

I wasn't about to ask what made it
deluxe
.

I'd decided to give everyone a makeover at Ulta Beauty and, of course, since I tended to go a little overboard on present giving, several other things they'd mentioned wanting throughout the year.

We spent the next hour exchanging gifts, laughing, and getting tipsy off of Mona's famous eggnog, which in reality was just a bottle of Southern Comfort with a touch of eggnog for color.

The night wore on, and after Mona's eggnog everyone decided that it would be in their best interest to stay right where they were.

Mona and Kelly were passed out on the sofa, and Mandy had made herself a little nest in my favorite oversized chair and was snoring the night away.

I looked around at my little family and smiled. I was happier than a bird with a French fry.

I walked over to the window, pulled my floppy Houston Texans sweater tighter against my body, and stared out at the dark, snowy night. The snowflakes sparkled in the streetlight as they fell gently to the ground.

My mind drifted back over the events of the last twenty-four hours. I'd made new friends, nearly been killed, and busted a murderer. While those things should've been foremost in my mind, I couldn't stop thinking about the man who was to be replacing Detective Smith when he transferred. Tyler, Smith had said his name was. Tyler Black.

He'd looked at me with such intensity that it had been impossible to forget him.

I didn't even know the man, but I wanted to. I turned away from the window, snuggled down into the recliner, and closed my eyes.

Maybe our paths would cross again someday.

Until then, a girl could dream, couldn't she?

* * * * *