Read The Blonde Before Christmas: a Barb Jackson Mysteries holiday short story for Free Online

resources about that," I said. "I think that's as good of a place as any to start."
    We slinked our way through the crowd, until we were about ten yards away from the main tree where I'd found Marvin Garvin's body the night before.
    Sure enough, there was a new Santa in place, elves surrounding him with smiles on their faces as though everything was normal.
    A loud, hollow bang sounded.
    "What was that?" I asked, unable to see over most of the crowd due to my petiteness.
    "There," Kelly pointed to one elf standing on a tall stepladder. She held what looked like a mutated Nerf gun. Attached to the back of it was what looked like a small air compressor. A moment later, she pointed the gun toward the air and pulled the trigger. Another hollow bang rang out, but this time I was able to see something red fly out of the end.
    "T-shirt cannon," Kelly said. "I've seen them at football games. The cheerleaders sometimes use them to shoot T-shirts, soft foam balls, and other stuff out to the fans in the higher up seats. They also sometimes shoot glitter," she added.
    I raised a questioning eyebrow at her. I started to ask her how she knew that, but knowing that she could get a little wild on the weekends, decided against it. There were just some things about Kelly that I wasn't ready to know.
    "Come on." I pulled on her sleeve.
    We made our way to a directory hanging on the wall beside a door leading into what I was certain, due to the picture of stairs hanging on it, was a stairwell.
    "This says that the human resources department is on the second floor."
    I had no idea if the resources department would be open or not with it being Christmas Eve, but it was worth a shot.
    "There's a problem."
    I looked at Kelly. "What?"
    "That Detective Smith is at the elevator."
    I jiggled the doorknob leading to the stairwell.
    Locked.
    "I have an idea."
    Kelly grasped my arm and pulled me along to the only empty bench available, then drew me down on the seat beside her.
    "What are we doing?" I asked her. We were now in plain view of Smith. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought our objective was to stay out of Smith's sight."
    Kelly took a drink of her coffee. "The way I see it, he's a good cop. He's going to see us at some point today. Why not go ahead and get it out of the way, and in the meantime I'll call information, get the number to human resources, and make a call to see if anyone is even up there today."
    I thought about it for a minute then nodded. "That's as good of a plan as any I guess."
    It took a mere second for Detective Smith to spot me and stride over. He looked tired. His deep brown hair was a little disheveled, and the expression he was casting me was anything but welcoming.
    I glanced over his shoulder and spotted the man he'd pointed out as his replacement. His eyes met mine then he quickly looked away. Heat prickled my skin.
    I returned my eyes to Smith and his closed expression. He knew without a doubt that I was up to something.
    He reached down and pulled me gently to my feet. "What are you doing here, Ms. Jackson?"
    "It's Barb," I reminded him. "We're doing some last minute shopping," I said as calmly as I could.
    He glared at me. "Is that the only thing you're doing here?"
    "Why wouldn't it be?" I asked.
    He crossed his arms over his chest. "I just find it funny that you found a body in this very mall last night, and you seemed to be more interested in that body than you should've been. Then here you are again this morning. Just shopping ." He squinted at me.
    This guy was good. I had a feeling that Detective Smith was one of those people who would be able to tell when I was lying before I even opened my mouth, but I tried anyway.
    "I'm a naturally curious person, that's why I was interested in what happened to the man. But we're just shopping today. Scout's honor." I smiled up at him in an attempt to look innocent.
    He glanced over at Kelly, who was sliding her phone back into her pocket, and frowned.
    " Shopping ?" he