Read Trouble Under the Tree (A Nina Quinn Mystery) for Free Online Page B

For as many
dead bodies as I’d seen, it never got easier. I didn’t know how
Kevin handled his job.
    “ Ohhhh ,” Jenny moaned.
    Flash reached for a wrist instead. He looked
back at me, shaking his head. “She’s a goner.”
    No kidding.
    Benny jumped the knee-high wall around the
tree and gimped toward us. As he neared, he stopped short, his arms
wind-milling to regain his balance. His gaze immediately went to
Jenny, who had squeezed her eyes shut.
    “What happened?” he asked, looking between
all of us, his horrified gaze landing on Mrs. Claus.
    “She’s a goner,” Flash said again. “Dead as a
doornail.”
    Jenny whimpered.
    “I didn’t know lips could turn so blue,”
Flash said, leaning in for a closer look.
    Flashbulbs popped left and right. Reporters
inched in, climbing over the wall like ants headed for a
picnic.
    I pulled Flash back. “Why don’t you go hold
off the press? Keep them as far away as you can.”
    His rheumy eyes lit. “Done!”
    As if in slow motion, he set his prized
baseball next to me, moaned as he stood up, and trundled off to the
reporters. He held his arms out wide and said, “Nothing to see
here, folks! Well, there is a dead body, but this is a time to
honor the dead and keep back.”
    I groaned as a fresh wave of gasps went
through the crowd. I heard rapid jingling and looked up to find
Kevin running toward us. It was a sight, let me tell you, what with
the cotton puff on his elf hat bobbing up and down with each
step.
    Benny had sat next to Jenny and gathered her
in his arms. She was still moaning.
    Kevin spoke into his cell phone, and when he
finished the call, he looked at me and said, “Just another ordinary
day on the job for you.”
    I shrugged. “It’s really not my fault I keep
finding dead bodies.”
    Benny’s eyes widened. “How many have you
found?”
    “A couple,” I murmured. Truth was, I might be
just as cursed at Mr. Cabrera.
    Oh my gosh—Mr. Cabrera.
    Maybe his curse extended to potential girlfriends, as well. The poor guy.
    I searched the crowd for my neighbor and
found him not too far away, his dark eyes wide. And not two feet
behind him stood Brickhouse, looking rather smug. As if saying, “I
told you so.” She wasn’t a fool, that Brickhouse.
    Kevin crouched and checked the body for a
pulse as well. Then he looked at us, and said, “You need to clear
this area.” He muttered something about tainted evidence and stood
up. Or tried to. He’d stepped on Flash’s baseball, and his feet
went flying out beneath him. He landed flat on his ass in a
cacophony of angry jingles.
    The crowd oooh ed.
    “Don’t say a word,” he said to me from his
prone position.
    I pressed my lips together—tight— and offered
him a hand up.
    I couldn’t help my inner glee, however, when
I spotted Kit, still filming. He’d caught the fall on video. I
foresaw a popcorn and movie night in my future.
    Flash basked in the press limelight,
answering every question thrown at him, as I followed Benny and
Jenny away from the scene.
    Benny had his arm around his wife, supporting
her as she wobbled. I heard Jenny say to him, “There’s no such
thing as bad publicity, right?”
     
    ***
     
    Brickhouse said, “And he keeps telling me
he’s not cursed.” She clucked loudly enough that it echoed in the
almost-empty atrium.
    The police had funneled all the customers
out, but wanted me to stay behind to answer a few questions.
    Brickhouse, being her bossy self, had claimed
she was with me, and stayed put. She liked to be in the know.
    “He might be a little cursed,” I said.
    She gave me a dubious look. “And you might be
a little nosy.”
    Point taken.
    “To think that Benjamin Christmas asked me to
be Mrs. Claus.” She clucked again.
    “He did?” I asked in amazement. I always
thought Mrs. Krauss’s face looked a lot like Mrs. Claus, but her
temperament was a far cry from the benevolent character. Then
again, so was Fairlane’s.
    “Right after I arrived here. You