Read Death of a Dapper Snowman for Free Online Page B

customers in costumes and formal wear.
    My eyes went past the photo of icebergs and straight to a row of photographs rigidly arranged in the lower right corner. The pictures looked like mug shots. The one on the far right was a picture of the deceased, Mr. Michaels. It was taken when he was in his non-frozen state, but he still had a similar stunned expression.
    I pointed to the row of pictures and said, “What event are these photos from?”
    Mr. Jenkins quickly shifted down a calendar so that it covered the row of photos. “I’m afraid that’s not for customers to see.”
    “But I’m not just a customer. I’m a local business owner. That’s your Wall of Dishonor, isn’t it? Shoplifters?”
    He lifted the calendar back up to let me have a look.
    “Yes, I’m sorry to say that’s exactly what it is. Keep an eye on these ones if they start spending a suspicious amount of time inside your store.”
    “That woman with the platinum hair… she drives a pretty nice car, I think. What’s she doing shoplifting?” I pointed to the woman, but I was really interested in getting a good look at Mr. Michaels. Yes, the picture was definitely of him.
    “Some of them must do it for the thrill,” Mr. Jenkins said. “This one’s husband always pays for what she takes. I suppose I could let her come and go, but lately she hasn’t even been trying to hide what she’s doing. I can’t let people carry on like that without punishment. It’s the principle of the thing.”
    “I’ll keep an eye out for her.” I leaned in, squinting theatrically. “I think that’s my dad’s neighbor over there. What did he steal?”
    “Men’s clothes, sometimes. I think he took one of my top hats, but I can’t be sure. It disappeared on a day I had my new employee working, and she might not have recognized him from the board.” He formed his long-fingered hands into fists and shook them angrily. “That was an expensive hat, too. I’ve half a mind to hold him upside down by the ankles and shake him until everything came loose. He had a few of my things.”
    I carefully studied the store owner’s face as he talked about what he wanted to do to the deceased.
    “Even if you dropped something personal, he’d snap it right up,” Mr. Jenkins said. “I’d like to drop something right on his head.”
    In my business deals, I was good at spotting when someone was lying, overselling something with too much emotion and eye contact. Mr. Jenkins was behaving like a normal store owner, upset over losing an expensive hat. If he really had killed someone, he wouldn’t be uttering threats right now to someone everyone knew was a police officer’s daughter.
    Or would he? Was Mr. Jenkins a criminal mastermind? Or just a tall, balding man going through a mid-life crisis? I scanned him again, letting my eyes wander, guided by my subconscious. My attention settled on his left hand, to the indentation where a wedding ring had recently sat.
    He finally stopped ranting about shoplifters and removed his glasses again so he could dab at his eyes with a tissue. “Sorry for my outburst,” he said softly. “I’ve been under a lot of stress lately.”
    “Winter is tough,” I said with matching softness. “The days are short and cold, but spring will come.”
    He blew his nose and turned away for a moment.
    “Stormy, you always did have a gift with words,” he said. “How is your father?”
    “Exactly the same.”
    “Good health?”
    “Except for the new hip, yes.”
    “Good,” he said with a weak smile. “Too many things change these days. People are under the delusion that all change is an improvement. But what’s the word for change that isn’t an improvement?”
    “In the business world, we say restructuring instead of layoffs.”
    He frowned. “Life is full of restructuring. The things they shove down our throats these days! ” He shook his head and looked away.
    My gaze went to his bare ring finger as his hand settled on a pile of