The Nick Spinelli Romance Mystery Series

Chapter 7

Spinelli shuffled his feet in the direction of his precinct. He walked up behind Walker and Marsh as they stared at their Santa board. Spinelli c****d his head to the side and pulled his eyebrows together. "Is that an elf?" he asked as he stepped closer to the board to get a better look at the newly added photo of a murder victim wearing a short green smock with tights and green shoes that curled up at the toes.

The photo of the elf hung next to the pictures of Santa Claus.

Marsh continued to rub his fingers over his unshaven chin. "Yeah, that's an elf all right. The mall security guards found him early this morning while on their rounds."

"What do we know?" Spinelli asked.

"Same as Santa, a bullet to the back of the head and no identification on him. Mall security identified him as Aaron Reed, twenty-three, part-time college student," Marsh replied.

Walker picked up a file from his desk, flipped it open, and took a moment to scan the contents. He closed the file and looked over at Spinelli as he continued to study the pictures and information on the board. "Spinelli, tell me about this Shannon O'Hara."

Spinelli tore his gaze from the board and looked at Walker. The palms of his hands started to sweat as he thought about how to answer his question. "She's beautiful and smart. She's got the palest and softest looking skin, and eyes of an angel. I've never seen such bright emerald green eyes." Spinelli lost himself in thoughts of Shannon for a moment. "But she hates me. She absolutely hates me and the harder I try the worse it gets."

Spinelli paused, looked down at his feet, and then wondered if he'd really just said all that out loud.

Walker let out a chuckle that snapped Spinelli back to reality. "What?" Spinelli asked.

"The great Spinelli is smitten by a woman who hates him. What's the matter there, buddy, off your game a bit? Oh, this is good. Did you hear that, Marsh? It sounds as if the great Spinelli is losing his touch with the ladies." Walker flashed a cocky smile. Spinelli shook his head. "Can we just stick to the issue at hand, the dead Santa and elf?"

"That's what I'm trying to do," Walker replied "It seems your little girlfriend upstairs knows both the victims, and now that you guys are back we're going to have a little chat with her."

"What...how?" Spinelli cleared his throat, realigned his thoughts, and started over again. "What does Shannon have to do with any of this? Why do you need to speak to her?"

"Your little green-eyed angel happens to play the role of Santa's little helper at the mall, however, she hasn't worked since last Sunday so I don't know if she even knows that her two buddies are dead. At any rate, we need to get her down here."

"Spinelli!" Captain Jackson screeched from her office doorway, "in my office, now!"

Spinelli's body quivered at the sound of her voice. A sharp pain shot through his temples. He squeezed his eyes shut briefly, then spun on his heel and headed toward her office.

"Shut the door and sit down," Jackson hissed.

Jackson opened her desk drawer and retrieved a bottle of Tylenol. She dumped two tablets into her hand and put the bottle back. She flashed her angry dark brown eyes at Spinelli. "You do this to me, you know," she said as she tossed the tablets into her mouth and chased them down with coffee.

"Got a call from Ms. Fontaine. It appears that Shannon is quite upset again this morning. I thought we came to an understanding yesterday. I thought you were going to just do as you were told. I thought we were going to just get through the next couple of weeks and then everything would go back to normal. Where did we go wrong? What the hell did you do to piss her off so much? And for God's sake, Spinelli, tell me you didn't sleep with her already."

Jackson's last comment angered Spinelli. He sprang to his feet, stepped toward her desk, and stared down at her. "First of all, I am doing what she told me to do but things just got a little out of hand this morning. This assignment is bullshit, absolute bullshit." He pointed out the window as he continued to speak, "We've got killers out there to apprehend and I'm wasting my time riding around with Social Services taking care of all this touchy-feely crap. Furthermore, it's nobody's business who I do and don't sleep with."

"Sit down, Spinelli."

Spinelli sat. He folded his arms over his chest, his jaw knotted so tight his ears started to hurt. An uncomfortable silence filled the Captain's office.

Jackson broke the silence. "I told Fontaine again that you're it. You are all we can spare right now. I assured her you would be on your best behavior. We'll get through the holiday season and then things will return to normal. Am I clear?"

"Yes."

Jackson pointed out her office window and Spinelli turned his head to look in that same direction. He saw Walker leading Shannon through the maze of desks toward the interview room. Marsh followed. Marsh caught Spinelli's attention, nodded toward Shannon, and mouthed the word "hot" while displaying the look of a starving lion on his face.

Spinelli sprang to his feet, took two steps toward Jackson's office door, and then looked back at her as if asking for permission to leave.

She met Spinelli's gaze and shook her head. "No, sit. s**t. Christ, Spinelli, don't do this to me. I don't have time for this shit."

"What, what s**t? You said I should help Walker and Marsh with the Santa investigation. I need to be in that interview room," Spinelli snapped as he frantically shifted his glance back and forth between Shannon and Jackson.

Jackson blew out a sigh. "I don't think it's a good idea for you to be in there with her right now."

Spinelli opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off, "I wasn't born yesterday. I recognize that hungry look." Jackson paused and without breaking eye contact with Spinelli, she shook her head. "You certainly picked a fine time."