Episode 12 of You Sleigh Me: A Christmas Mystery.
I settled into my throne, took a slug of brandy, and checked the safety catch on my pistol.
At first it had been enjoyable, having an entire department store to myself. It felt as if I was living out a kid’s fantasy – I could go where I liked, play with any toy that caught my eye. Sure, I had to share the place with Balthazar, the security guard – but he only passed once every hour, and that was just because Samson, his unusually friendly Rottweiler, had developed a taste for mince pies. Other than that I was alone in the semi-darkness, the busy night-time city screened off by endless rows of shelves.
It took me a couple of hours to get bored. I watched part of an ice hockey game in the TV aisle. I raced a couple of model cars around a figure-of-eight track. I tried out a mini basketball hoop and swung a golf club. I even considered drawing a moustache on the cardboard cut-out of Oprah Winfrey in the books section. But finally I returned to Santa’s Grotto – my home away from home.
I didn’t quite know what I was waiting for – some kind of saboteur, I imagined, loaded down with enough hi-tech gadgetry to fake a haunting.
But whoever or whatever it was, I would be ready.
I don’t like to think that I went to sleep – I prefer to describe my state as one of relaxation, a daze brought on by the distant surf of traffic and the murmur of the air-conditioning. All I know is that I suddenly became aware that a bell was ringing. Deep, sonorous tones, like the chimes of a town hall clock, or a big church bell.
Were there any such bells left in New York? I didn’t know, but this one got my attention. It rang over and over – nine times, ten, eleven…until I realised it was striking midnight. And as the last reverberation died away, I heard a voice.
“So – you are the only one I could not frighten away.”
To be continued...
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