Page 68 of Sleigh My Heart

“The maintenance fella?”

Nick nodded. He didn’t know how much to tell his old man, so he kept it minimal. “Garmen walked in. She saw him. He took off, and that’s when I showed up. She was chasing him down the street.”

Russ nodded his head as he processed the new information. “Okay, you gave chase, and then what?”

“He cut down an alley. She stayed on his tail and I circled around the building to cut him off. Next thing, I heard a shot. She didn’t shoot him.”

“Who did?”

“I don’t know. I came around the corner, and she was still coming at him. Her gun was out, but she didn’t do it.”

His dad rocked as he contemplated the situation. “Well, if she didn’t shoot, they will clear her when they check her weapon, but I want to know who did, and why?”

Nick slumped forward, his elbows on his knees. “So do I.”

“Where does Junior Silver fit into all this?”

Nick jerked his attention to his father. “Junior?”

“What? You don’t think Irene wouldn’t tell me the whole story. Her son was questioning Junior.”

Nick slumped back in his chair. He should have known his dad would be well-informed before he asked the first question. The man might only play Santa, but like the jolly old elf, he knew everything.

Chapter 17

The ringing sound pulled Michelle from a dead sleep. Okay, it wasn’t really a dead sleep, more like fits and starts as she dreamed of death. The nightmarish turn her slumber took led to visions of Nick being gunned down in the alley instead of Garmen.

Cliff was still alive. Barely. She’d checked with the hospital before she’d come home, which was well past the time the bars closed. He had made it through surgery and was in Critical Care. A cold sweat covered her body as she flipped off the covers and grabbed her phone. “Yeah?”

“Junior’s the key.”

“Nick? What time is it?”

“Early. Sorry. I couldn’t stop thinking about something my father said tonight.” Nick’s voice trailed off.

Or maybe it was her fuzzy sleep-brain. She eyed the small numbers on her phone. Four-thirty. “Why are you awake?”

“I always get up at four.”

“Well, that’s a strike against you.” She mumbled, but by his chuckle, he heard her.

“I was into mile three on the treadmill when something my father said when I got home last night struck me. By the way, did you know our parents gossip like old ladies? Your mom filled in my dad on all about the events of last night.”

Michelle shook her head. Was she dreaming? Nick was calling her before the butt-crack of dawn. And he was babbling. Her brain definitely needed caffeine, but it focused enough to remember why he called. “She did? Never mind… Junior?”

“We all wondered if Senior was going to leave his business to Junior someday. Junior is on a thin thread with his dad. But according to a golf conversation with my father last summer, old man Silver gave him one last chance.”

“What?” Her brain had finally spooled up. She turned on the light and sat up in bed, waiting.

“Junior’s inheritance is based on how well the mall does over this fiscal year.”

“So how does that connect the sleigh and murder?”

“It seems Old Horace gave Junior several shares already.”

“That doesn’t make sense. If he owns part of the mall, why is he in the maintenance department?”

“It seems, Junior has one year to prove himself or the shares revert back to daddy.”