Chapter Six

At the mall, two mendressed as Santawere standing in side by side inside an employee lounge in the presence of Catherine, Nick, Sara and a security guard.

"Please, turn and face your right," Catherine asked. Nick snapped a picture of each man. Sara began inspecting each of the suits in turn, collecting fibers, boot prints, and other pieces that may stand out.

"So you guys mind telling us where you were last night, starting with Mr. Eros."

"Deliverin' presents to all good little girls and boys," the man on the right answered sarcastically in a gruff voice.

Nick glanced at Catherine. The motion did not go unnoticed by Mr. Eros.

"Look, I was home with a Scotch watchin' the tube. I get enough of this during the day. I ain't comin' back at night."

"Right," Catherine looked far from convinced, "can anyone substantiate that."

"No. Ain't got no family. Just me an the Scotch... and I drank that." The man ended with a sneer.

Catherine turned to address the other man, "Okay, Mr. Fox, where were you?"

"I was at home with my wife. We were baking cookies with the grandchildren for the holidays." Mr. Fox was more soft spoken and came across more amiably than Mr. Eros.

"Alright," Sara cut in as she finished inspecting the suits, "Mr. Eros, Mr. Fox, thank you for your time. We'll be in touch."

Mr.Fox left to go back to work, while Mr.Eros moved toward the locker room to change out of the Santa suit.

"Well," Catherine made a motion to start.

"I found a small tear in Mr. Eros suit, took some fibers to match those found at the scene," offered Sara. "Also found some strands of hair that seems different from either Mr. Eros or Mr. Fox."

"Different how?"

"S'longer."

Catherine looked over to Nick.

"I'll get these photos over to Archie to compare images we isolated from the surveillance video."

Sara and Nick, gear and evidence in hand, started for the door. Both of them stopped when they realized Catherine did not move to join them.

"You coming?" Sara asked.

"No, I think I'm gonna stick around here for a bit. Don't know, maybe do a bit of holiday shopping."

Sara looked back at Nick, who shrugged and continued out the door.

"See ya back at the lab."

Catherine wandered past the shops, most of them decorated with Christmas trees, tinsel, or poinsettias. Everything was red or green. Funny, she thought, that those should be the colors of a traffic light as well, telling people to stop and go.

All of the people in the mall today were going non-stop.

Walking through mall, she passed by Mr.Fox playing Santa for a crowd of eager young children. Parents and grandparents enthusiastically snapped pictures, trying to capture the moment.

A small, sad smile found its way on her face as she remembered similar memories with her own daughter, Lindsey.

She turned the corner, coming upon the crime scene at the toy shop. Yellow tape and a couple security men prevented anyone from entering the area.

Catherine walked along the tape until she got about halfway, where she turned to face the mall and the crowd of people. Turning her head, she scanned the entire scene before her, not knowing exactly what it was she was hoping to find.

After ten minutes, Catherine had not seen anything out of the ordinary and walked over to a nearby Cinnabon.

Behind the counter a couple of women worked to prepare a fresh batch of rolls. Catherine walked up to the counter without them realizing they had a customer.

"—not sure what I'm supposed to do. My son believes in Santa. I don't want him to be disappointed. To top it off, his friends at school are all talking about all the things they're hoping to get from Santa…"

The older of the two women had glanced up and noticed Catherine and went to serve her. Meanwhile, the other woman who looked to be in her twenties continued talking.

"I can't afford half the things he's asking for, but I don't want to disappoint him."

"Here ya go, ma'am," the server addressed Catherine, before turning to comfort her friend. "Don't worry. You just do what you can."

Catherine turned away from the counter, once again looking out over the multitude of shoppers, not quite succeeding in ignoring their conversation.

"Besides, ya never know when a miracle's gonna happen," the middle-aged woman finished telling her coworker. The voices disappeared, their owners having moved toward the back of the shop.

Catherine continued to pick at her cinnabon, not really concentrating on anything in particular.

Suddenly, her eyes came back into focus as an idea had just presented itself to her. Grabbing her purse, she walked swiftly toward the exit.