Chasing Tinsel (Miranda Vaughn Mysteries) Read Free

Murph.”  
    “Did that scrawny manager kid give you hell for chasing down that thief?”  
    I laughed. “Who? Jeff? He did, but it’s okay. I’m just here until Christmas Eve.”  
    “Me, too,” he said with another big belly laugh.  
    “Have you done this before? You’re really good at being Santa.”  
    “For a couple of years now,” he said, reaching up to stroke his beard. “Ever since this turned white.”  
    He reached out and pressed the elevator button, then allowed me to enter before him. As I passed, I saw the cuffs of his shirt were worn, slightly frayed. Surreptitiously, I glanced down and saw that his shoes were shiny, but also worn. His sweater vest had a small hole near the shoulder. Up close, I could see the clothes were of good quality, but slightly dated and just tired.  
    “Are you from around Sacramento?” I asked.  
    “No, from back east. I came out west when I retired,” he said. “What about you?”
    “Born and raised here. Spent a lot of time at this mall growing up,” I said.  
    The doors opened, and I stepped out to the parking garage. Murph followed me, walking with me to my car, which sat a good fifty yards away in the empty concrete expanse. Murph stood a respectful distance away as I unlocked my door.  
    “Good night, Miranda. It was nice fighting crime with you,” he said.  
    I laughed and looked around the empty garage. “Where are you parked?”  
    “I take the bus,” he said. “Take care.”  
    “Oh, you didn’t have to walk me to my car, Murph,” I said.  
    “It’s no problem,” he said, giving me a wave and heading back to the elevator. “Have a good evening.”  
    I started my car and watched Murph step back into the elevator that would take him to the ground floor, near the bus stop.  
    “Huh,” I said out loud, my voice sounding exceedingly loud in the empty car.  
    I put the Golf Ball in gear and drove slowly toward the exit. As I passed a large concrete pillar, a shadow caught my eye, and I slowed, certain I’d just glimpsed the outline of a man, tall with broad shoulders.  
    My heart skipped a beat, but when I looked closer there was nothing there.  
    I exhaled. I was clearly losing my mind.  

CHAPTER TWO

    “Tonight make sure to remind everyone that they can save ten percent if they sign up for the credit card,” Jeff said, holding a clipboard as if it were a stone tablet of rules handed down from on high. “Here are the credit card applications.”  
    He set a stack by the cash register and I eyed it suspiciously. “Should we also tell everyone that they’ll pay twenty-six percent interest per year, wiping out their ten-percent savings within a very short period of time?”  
    Confusion flashed in Jeff’s pale blue eyes, then he glared at me. “You get five dollars for every successful application.”  
    The store would make that commission back in interest within a couple weeks, I figured.  
    “And you are required to ask every customer if they want to apply,” he said, his voice stern.
    Fat chance of that. But I didn’t argue with my baby-faced boss any further. The title of assistant manager of first floor lingerie, cosmetics and bath products had gone to his little pinhead.  
    I waited for him to move on to lecture the lingerie department staff, then turned to Breanna. “Do you mind if I take my break now?”  
    She shook her head. “No, go ahead.”  
    I headed out the doors to the mall, passing the rotunda, where Murph was holding court among the five-year-olds. He waved a white-gloved hand in my direction and I smiled and returned the greeting. After our adventures in crime fighting, as he had called it, I had seen him every night I worked. The previous night, he had kept me company while I ate my hurriedly packed dinner of crackers and cheese, which I’d grabbed from Aunt Marie’s kitchen on my way out the door to my second job. Murph hadn’t eaten any dinner and had declined my offer to share, and