A Yuletide Wallop Page 3

  “Buttercup, she’s my new dog,” Cookie replied. “You are the only Santa in my eyes,” she assured him unnecessarily.

  “She is beautiful,” he said scratching the back of Buttercup’s ears. Verny made a scoffing sound in the back of her throat. “I’m happy to be Santa to you ladies.” It was unbelievable to think that just the day before they were gossiping about Al having an affair. He was far too sweet to be caught up in anything like that.

  “Coffee will be right up,” Josie said. “You’ll get the first cup of the day.”

  “That’ll be great, Josie,” Al stood up with a groan. “These old bones don’t work as well as they used to.”

  “I understand what you mean,” Verny nodded, stretching out her arms. She had been complaining of a bad back for a while now.

  “You two are old,” Cookie said with a chuckle at them.

  “You’re my age,” Verny replied.

  “I might be, but age is just a number,” Cookie teased. “I’m ache and pain free.”

  “You’re certainly lucky then,” Al said rubbing his back. “I’m going to need that coffee to get me through the day,” he admitted. “My back makes it hard to sleep. It’s been driving Dotty mad, I’ve been on the couch most nights.” Verny and Cookie exchanged a look.

  “That can’t be good for your back,” Josie said with a grimace, ignoring the fact that Al had unwittingly fueled the fire to his gossip.

  “It’s not, but Dotty doesn’t sleep well, and I don’t want her nights to be worse,” he said with a smile.

  “That’s sweet,” Josie said, bringing him a cup of to-go coffee.

  “It is,” Verny agreed. “But I think you ought to look out for your back a little bit more.”

  “Yes ma’am,” he said saluting her. “I’ll take that under consideration. Thank you, Josie,” He said winking at her. “I don’t want to be late, I’ve got to go.”

  “Have a good day, Al!” Josie said, wishing him well.

  “Make sure you get a list of all the naughty and nice kids,” Verny joked. She knew that he would insist that every child was on the nice list. Verny and Cookie more than once were deserving of being on the naughty list, but every year Al made sure they knew they would be on the nice list.

  “They’re all nice in my book,” he replied predictably. “I’ll see you later at the town center?” He asked.

  “I wouldn’t miss the tree lighting, never,” Cookie said shaking her head.

  “We’ll all be there,” Verny said with a smile.

  “Good, I’ll be glad to see you there,” Al smiled and left with a wave. The door chimed as he left, reminding Josie that they had still not officially opened.

  “Cookie can you put Buttercup into the back? And Verny can you flip the sign?” Josie asked, still prepping ingredients for the rest of the day. It was sure to be a busy one with the grand opening of the Winter Wonderland and all the decorations.

  Chapter Three

  As predicted, the day started out busy. Almost as soon as the sign was flipped, they had a steady stream of customers. Most of them only wanted coffee or some hot drink to keep them warm during the day. The morning tended to be more bitter than the rest of the day. Despite this, everyone wanted to get to the town square early with their children, so they wouldn’t have to wait in line for too long.

  After a while, things slowed down and then they were suddenly empty. This was how business always ran in The Lucky Dill. It was either extremely busy or not at all, there wasn’t really a ‘slow’ for them.

  “I’d call that a rush,” Josie said with a huff. She wiped her hair from her brow.

  “I’ll say,” Verny replied taking a seat. Cookie sat down with her. Buttercup had been quiet for a while and Cookie would have gone in to check on her, but she assumed she might be asleep and didn’t want to disturb her.

  “Should we close for our lunch?” Cookie asked, hopeful. It was now after regular people’s lunch and with only the three of them they chose to close for lunch. Josie preferred it that way, she liked to take her time to enjoy a meal, not rush through it.

  “Lets,” she nodded, also exhausted from the onslaught of customers they had. Verny stood to turn the sign around. While Verny was distracted, Cookie decided to let Buttercup out of the back. The dog had been sleeping as she suspected, but instantly looked up as the door opened.

  “Do you have to bring her out?” Verny asked, annoyed. “She’s just going to sit and beg for food from us the entire time.” Verny was whining, which was unlike her. “Plus, ever since you got Buttercup, Cici hasn’t stopped asking for a dog of her own.”

  “There it is!” Cookie said, as if she had discovered something huge. “That’s why you’re pretending to hate Buttercup! I knew there had to be a reason.”

  “I’m not pretending,” Verny replied shaking her head. “I’m not,” she insisted, though it wasn’t as strong since Buttercup had run right up to her and sat down at her feet.

  “Did you hear that?” Cookie asked suddenly, her face serious. Verny looked at her, a hint of a smile on her lips as if she thought Cookie was only trying to change the subject. The smile faded as they all heard a faint scream coming from outside, making them all look up towards the door, wondering where it was coming from or if they might have imagined it.

  “Yeah, I heard that,” Josie said putting down her knife and the tomato she was slicing. The three women paused for a moment before hearing a second scream. This put them into action. They exchanged glances and headed for the door.

  “Buttercup, stay!” Cookie ordered the dog, who stayed obediently. They ran out the door, closing it behind them. Once it was opened it was clear where the commotion was.

  The screams were from the town center, where Santa’s Workshop was set up. Josie imagined that maybe a child had wandered off and gotten lost. That was the worst she could imagine happening. The panicked mother might be yelling for help and the entire town would group together to find the missing child who was probably sneaking treats and hiding somewhere. When they got there it was clear this wasn’t the case.

  A small group was forming around the scene where the commotion was. Josie still didn’t think something too terrible had happened until she saw the tears. A few people had tears streaming down their faces or were looking away, mothers were shielding their children’s eyes. A few people who seemed to know what to do were trying to get people to move back and not crowd around the center of the commotion.

  “Oh my word,” Verny said, not believing her eyes. The women had managed to make it to the scene before a very large crowd had gathered. One of the elves, a woman, was the source of the screaming. Her over rouged cheeks looked like they were melting from her tears. She was standing over what at first glance looked to be a large red and white sack of some kind, like the one Santa uses to deliver all his gifts in.

  “What is that?” Josie asked with morbid curiosity. She could tell that she wasn’t seeing the entire picture. It took her another moment before she realized what was really in front of her. What she thought was Santa’s sack of gifts, wasn’t that. It was a man, lying on the ground, he was faced away from them. He was dressed as Santa which is why it took so long for Josie to figure out what she was seeing. “Is he breathing?” She exclaimed.

  “I don’t think so,” Verny said with horror. Unlike Josie, she had been able to immediately ascertain that there was a dead man lying in their town square.

  “Oh no!” Josie said. She noticed the blood on the back of the man’s head. It was almost the same color as the red suit, making it nearly undetectable. “Someone should check to see if he’s alright!” She shouted. No one stepped forward, it was clear as day that the man was not in fact, alright. Josie wanted someone to turn the man’s face, so they might be able to tell who it was.

  “He’s not!” The woman in the elf costume yelled back. This elicited a gasp from the crowd around them.

  “Everyone back away!” A large voice boomed from behind, making Josie an
d her companions jump. It was a voice they all new well, Gideon’s. “Back up!” He shouted again, pushing through the crowd.

  “What’s going on here?” Abel asked. The two men cleared through the crowd and stopped at the front. Clearly, they weren’t the responders to a 911 call, but had just happened to be around when the commotion started.

  “Santa’s dead,” Cookie said without irony.

  Chapter Four

  “What’re you talking about?” Gideon asked Cookie. His question was answered almost as soon as it left his lips. “Oh man.” Was all he said when the body came into his view. The elf woman was still screaming and sobbing. Verny privately thought that though the scene in front of them was horrific and it would be terrible to discover a body on your own, that the elf was being more than a touch dramatic for her taste.

  “Ma’m, are you hurt?” Abel asked the woman. It was clear that she wasn’t physically hurt, despite the screaming and sobbing.

  “No,” she choked out shaking her head.

  “You come on with me then,” he walked towards her and pulled her from the dead Santa and away from the crowd. She stopped him before he led her completely away.

  “Someone killed him,” she said still staring at the body. “They hit him, and he just dropped.” Abel looked back at Gideon sharing a meaningful glance with him. The crowd gasped in unison as if someone held up a sign at a live studio audience. Abel led the woman away quickly this time. The woman continued sobbing until she was far enough away that they couldn’t hear her anymore. It was eerily quiet without her presence...no one in the crowd dared to speak or make a noise. Everyone in town respected Gideon’s authority absolutely, and if he asked for people to back up, they listened.

  “Show’s over folks,” Gideon said at the same time the emergency services arrived on the scene. Josie was perturbed by how long it actually took them to get there. If the man had been alive, he wouldn’t have been able to survive the wait.

  “Murder?” Verny said with a disgusted look. The crowd dissipated, save for a few hangers on. The local news would probably arrive soon – their editor seemed to think they ran a paper that was of the same caliber of the Daily Globe or even the New York Times. Josie, Verny and Cookie stayed with the hangers on, knowing that when Gideon told everyone to leave, he wasn’t speaking to them specifically.

  “We don’t know that for sure,” Gideon said before the rumor mill could go wild, but as soon as the elf said the words, they were as good as gold around town.

  “She said it,” Verny insisted, but she stopped when Gideon gave her a look.

  “Who is it?” Josie dared to ask.

  “I don’t even want to know,” said Cookie with a grimace. A lot of times, Santa was played by a local. In recent years, it had basically become a round the clock job with all the tourists. So the town hired three or four Santa’s every year to cover each possible shift. More out of towners had taken over the job. Josie hated to think it, but she hoped it was an out of towner and not someone they knew.

  Gideon looked apprehensive about finding out the identity of the body himself. He hadn’t really spent much time looking at dead bodies. He wished that Abel hadn’t left with the woman, though he did the right thing by getting her out of the scene. Abel had more experience dealing with dead bodies than Gideon ever had, though he would never admit that out loud.

  “So, do you want to know or not?” Gideon asked gruffly, masking his own indecision with the girls.

  “I want to know,” Josie said solemnly. The officers had started setting up tape around the scene. Gideon nodded and walked closer to the body. He went around it so he could see the face. It was still shrouded by the hat the man was wearing. Gideon grimaced as he pulled on a pair of gloves, so he didn’t disturb any possible evidence. Gingerly, he lifted the hat from it’s pom-pom to unveil the face.

  “Oh man,” he said with a sad sigh. He recognized the face of the man immediately. It was someone the entire town would know.

  “Do we know him?” Verny asked. She had already figured out the answer based on Gideon’s reaction, but hoped she had read him wrong somehow.

  “We do,” Gideon nodded. Cookie swayed a little on her feet. She looked like she might faint. Verny put her arm around her to steady her a little bit more. Cookie had never taken bad news well, not to mention the sight of blood had always made her woozy.

  “Who is it?” Josie asked. She felt like she did before finding out about her father. A sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach, and then a vice grip around her lungs. Her heart beat out of control and her mouth tasted metallic.

  “It’s Al,” Gideon finally said. It was as though the pause he took was to ensure that his eyes hadn’t played a trick on him and the man in front of him was in fact Al. Josie’s breath caught. She had seen him only the day before, with Margie. Cookie seemed to go momentarily limp, but Verny kept her upright.

  “Are you sure?” Josie asked. She couldn’t reconcile the Al she had seen smiling on the street the other day, the one who had been in The Lucky Dill just a few hours ago, and the cold, dead one in front of her.

  “Sure as I’ll ever be,” Gideon nodded.

  “I can’t believe it,” Josie said. Cookie came to by her side and nodded in disbelief. It sounded like Verny was letting out a string of expletives under her breath. They all couldn’t believe the man they had seen that morning was now dead.

  “You better head back to the Lucky Dill,” Gideon said, putting a comforting hand on Josie’s shoulder. He knew that she must be reliving her own tragedy whether she wanted to or not. “They’ll be taking pictures and moving the body soon. I don’t want you around for that.” The women would usually protest against something like that, but none of them had any fight and none of them wanted to stick around.

  “I JUST CAN’T BELIEVE it,” Josie said for a millionth time. She felt like she was stuck in a loop, like a tape caught on play back and could only repeat herself. They were back at the Lucky Dill and were about to head inside.

  “Can’t believe what?” Lightening shouted, making the three women jump. He wasn’t behind them like they expected, but actually inside the Lucky Dill. Josie had forgotten to lock it in all the excitement of the morning. “How terrible the service is here? I know,” he joked, flashing a big grin. He had embarrassed himself because he was behind the counter and helping himself to some of the prepped ingredients. Buttercup looked confused by the fact that Lightening had been in there without them.

  “What?” Cookie choked out confused. As soon as she spoke, she burst into tears, all of the emotions she had been holding back pouring out. Lightening scampered from behind the counter as quickly as he could with his cane. Buttercup ran dutifully to her owner, making sure than she was okay. She whimpered and walked back and forth in front of Cookie until she leaned down and pet her.

  “Aw, jeez, Cookie, I was only teasing,” He said flabbergasted by her response. It was clear he had no idea what had happened in the town center.

  “It’s not that,” Verny said with a sigh. She pulled Cookie into her arms giving her a hug. It was moments like this that their friendship really shone through all the arguments and fighting they had. Her motherly nature came out as she soothed Cookie’s crying. Buttercup had curled up by their feet but wasn’t relaxed. She let out a concerned whimper for her owner every so often, which Cookie attempted to comfort with petting her.

  “What the hell is going on then?” Lightening asked. He felt bad that she was crying, but more uncomfortable than anything else.

  “Al’s dead,” Josie said without much emotion. She had compartmentalized her emotions regarding the death already. It was a trick she learned when she was very young.

  “Who is what?” Lightening asked instantly astounded. Nothing like this had ever happened in their town before. It didn’t make sense to anyone at first.

  “Al, he’s dead,” Verny said, making Cookie sob loudly.

  “How?” Lightening asked in shock. Josie shook her
head.

  “We don’t know, it looked like he hit his head,” Josie said thinking back to the red stains on the white parts of the suit. “One of the elves found him.”

  “Really?” He asked, sitting down in shock. “You mean it?”

  “Unfortunately,” Cookie said, straightening up. She was still a little teary eyed but looked like she had put herself together again. “What Josie failed to mention is that the woman who found him said that someone hit him in the head and killed him.” She seemed to be full of determination now.

  “He was murdered?” Lightening said disbelieving. “If you had told me that when we were younger, I might have believed it,” he added.

  “Well, no one can say for sure until they actually investigate it,” Josie said glaring at Cookie. She didn’t want to spread rumors if they weren’t true. “The woman did say that’s what happened though. But what do you mean Lightening?”

  “That’s just terrible, I would never think something like this would happen here,” Lightening said with a sigh. It was rare that he seemed as old as his age, but he looked it now. “I’m not one to speak ill of the dead,” he said with a serious shake of his head. Verny and Cookie looked at the man with ire. It wasn’t exactly a secret that Al and Lightening didn’t get along, but it was one of the few stories that Lightening hadn’t told. Everyone liked Al except for the old man...they had some kind of falling out when they were younger, but no one seemed to know the details. Al didn’t have any issues with Lightening and had always appeared friendly while Lightening just grunted and huffed in response.

  “It makes no sense,” Verny said shaking her head. “Everyone loved Al.”

  “He was the sweetest man,” Josie agreed. Lightening scoffed at that, it sounded as though he wanted to tell the story of him and Al but was waiting for an invitation of some kind. Instead of offering one, Josie went to the counter and put on some coffee for everyone. Cookie flipped the sign from open to closed, looking to Josie for confirmation that it was alright. Josie nodded, she didn’t feel like serving anyone right now.