The Blonde Before Christmas: a Barb Jackson Mysteries holiday short story Read Free Page B

Kelly groaned. "I just hope we can get this over with before midnight."
    I glanced over and spotted two of the uniformed officers approaching us. One was tall and thin, while the other was of average height and build.
    "I'm Detective Alan Smith, and this is Officer Warskowski," the shorter guy said with the hint of a southern accent. "Are you the two who found the body?"
    "Yes. I'm Barb Jackson, and this is my friend Kelly."
    "How'd you know to look under the tree?"
    "I didn't," I said. "We were leaving, so we decided to go around the back side of the tree to miss the crowd of people waiting to have their pictures taken with Santa. I just so happened to glance back and noticed something black sticking out from under the tree. I got curious and decided to take a closer look. That's when I realized I was looking at a dead guy."
    Kelly nodded beside me.
    "And you just happened to know that he was dead?"
    "Trust me. She knows a dead body when she sees one," Kelly blurted.
    The officer frowned and snapped his notepad closed. "And why is that?"
    "I'm a private investigator," I clarified before Kelly could open her mouth and get us into trouble. "I've found a dead body before."
    The detective frowned down at me and crossed his arms cross his broad chest.
    "Trust me, the last thing I wanted to do tonight was find a dead body. I had images of pepperoni, Netflix, and my soft bed dancing around in my head, but here we are." I tossed my hands in the air when he continued staring at me.
    The detective finally let his expression shift, and a small smile tilted the corner of his mouth. Now that the crappy look had left his face, he was sort of handsome, with a square jaw, full lips, and brown eyes.
    "All right, Ms. Jackson. Tell me again how you discovered the body. He's in there pretty good," he said and squinted in the direction of the body nestled beneath the tree.
    "We were leaving, trying to skip the crowd, and I just happened to see his boot sticking out from under there."
    "And let me guess." He propped his hands on his hips and smirked at me. "With you being a private investigator, you just had to investigate?"
    I shrugged with one palm pointed toward the sky. "Yep."
    Smith laughed. "Well, let's take a look," he said and shook his head as he ducked beneath the red velvet rope marking off the tree from the rest of the mall. I really wasn't supposed to follow him, but since the other officer and Kelly were nowhere to be found, and I wasn't sure where they'd gotten off too, I did. I kept my distance though. The last thing I wanted was for his boss to accuse him of letting someone disturb a crime scene.
    I didn't realize that Kelly had rejoined me until she handed me another cup of coffee.
    I looked at her quizzically.
    "I showed the officer where the coffee shop was and grabbed up a refill before the store closed while you and the detective were talking."
    "Thanks. I have a feeling we're going to need it."
    "He's cute." Kelly nodded toward the detective and jabbed me gently in the ribs with her elbow.
    "Kind of," I agreed.
    We watched as a crime scene investigator hurried over and joined Detective Smith. The investigator took some pictures of the snow and surrounding area then waved him to cross. Smith tiptoed across the smashed cotton snow and misshapen prop presents and knelt down beneath the massive tree.
    The investigator knelt down to join him and started snapping more pictures. We watched quietly as the two did their jobs.
    "What do you think happened?" Kelly asked me, obviously enjoying discovering a dead person way more than she should've been. She was an adrenaline junkie, so this was exciting for her.
    "I'm not sure," I admitted.
    "Do you think it was murder?"
    I watched the detective's expression as he and the investigator spoke with each other.
    "Maybe. I'm not sure."
    Smith turned his head, and his gaze met mine. His expression was grim.
    He hurried back over to us, still wearing his rubber gloves.
    "What happened?" I