Tis the Sneezin': Mercy Mares Mystery, #7

By Ava Mallory

Christmas cards. Christmas carols. Christmas capers. 

 

Mercy is a proud control freak. When she's asked to host the annual holiday festivities, she takes the job very seriously. But just when she thinks she has it all together, things go very wrong. The donated gifts vanish. Dozens of children eagerly await Santa Claus. Mercy has less than 24-hours to find the thieves and pull off the biggest event of the year before anyone discovers they've been robbed.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Ava Mallory
• Release date: Jun 26, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223420309

Ava Mallory

Ava Mallory is brilliant, worldly and multi-talented - in her dreams. In reality, she spends her days catering to the often nonsensical, utterly impossible, never-ending needs of four children between the ages of 24 and 10.  When she completes every task on their "Mom, can-you-do" list, she sneaks off into her home office - most often without sleep, but always with coffee & chocolate in hand - and writes until her brain and her body finally give way or one of the many streaming television programs she's addicted to returns with new episodes. Either way, words make it on the page and her fans will not stage a revolt.  Currently, Ava is hard at work on future Mercy Mares novels and developing two new Cozy Mystery series'. 

Book preview

Chapter One

G one? What do you mean ? How could you let that happen?

Let’s see - it probably happened right about the time I decided to put in earplugs and swallow a bottle of sleeping pills, just to drown out any outside noise, I answered, allowing my defensiveness to take control of my mouth.

You are one piece of work, aren’t you, Desdemona? Charlie shot back before returning to the business of writing his report.

I’d never been one to panic but panicking felt like the absolute right move in this situation. Not that I was entirely to blame or anything because none of this would have happened if Charlie hadn’t volunteered me in the first place.

I stood on the sidelines as Charlie assessed the damage to the lock, taking special care not to disturb anything. I assumed because crime scene investigators would be en route soon.

I can’t believe this, he muttered under his breath. I knew better than to respond. You had one job, Mercy. One job. I thought you above all else would be able to handle something as simple as this. That’s why I volunteered you. Now, what am I supposed to do?

I shrugged. I don’t know. How about you figure out who broke into the storage shed and robbed me? How’s that for starters? After all, aren’t you the new chief of police? Isn’t that your job?

His eyebrows quirked up sharply as soon as I said it. My job? Forgive me if I’m wrong here, but you were the one in charge of keeping track of the donations for the toy drive, not me!

He was right; I knew it, but in my defense, he couldn’t have expected that I’d stay awake around the clock I could barely keep myself awake on a normal day, but keeping myself fully awake during the two-week time frame between Lake Villa’s annual citywide Christmas festivities, my first and hopefully last 10k race, and a little thing called my daughter’s wedding? Now, that was a bit much.

Just so we’re clear, Charlie, I didn’t allow this to happen. I locked the shed after we brought the new donations from last night’s committee meeting. I know I locked it, I explained as I retraced my steps after leaving our now twice weekly Santa’s Elves committee meeting.

We? Who else was with you? Charlie asked quickly.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that his words were laced with a touch of jealousy. I shook it off, partially because I didn’t want to admit that I found it flattering and partially because nothing about his constant mood swings made me entirely confident that I mattered in the least to him.

Charlie raked his fingers through his hair in frustration. I mean, who else knew that this is where the toys were stored? And, more importantly, where did you get this clunker anyway?

It’s not a clunker. It’s a storage pod. I rented it, I answered. Everyone knew. It’s not like you could miss it. It’s taking up half of my yard and probably killing the soil underneath.

He put his hands on his narrow hips, assessing the shed again. Not everyone. I was just here last week, and I didn’t see it.

I opened my mouth to make a comment about how I didn’t find it odd that he wouldn’t have noticed it, because in my experience, most men never really saw what was right in front of their faces to begin with around here, but I refrained to avoid a long discussion on the matter. It took almost a year before the town’s code enforcement officers noticed that I’d put a sign right outside the front entrance to my modular home community, where I lived, telling motorists to slow down when driving through there or look forward to enduring the wrath of a not-so-friendly divorcee.

A patrol car came to a stop in front of my house. Charlie nodded to the officers as they stepped out of the vehicle.

What do we have here, chief? The female officer eyed me as she spoke to Charlie.

Someone broke into her shed and stole all the toys donated for the town’s toy drive, Charlie explained, giving me a sideways glance. Without so much as an explanation to me, Charlie recused himself, walked to his car and climbed in, leaving me at a loss for words.

The two patrol officers walked the perimeter of my yard, presumably looking for clues, but given what I’d just witnessed with Charlie and his bad attitude, it was more likely that they were stalling until he pulled away. That was fine. I needed a moment to wrap my head around the fact that he suddenly lost interest in my dilemma and high-tailed it for his patrol car.

He must have forgotten who he was dealing with. I could be very pushy if provoked and I’d say, his behavior was cause enough for provocation.

How about I not haul you off to jail? Is that enough incentive for you? For crying out loud, Mercy, how do hundreds of toys just disappear? Charlie shook his head as he rolled down the driver’s side window. I don’t understand how you could let this happen!

You’re blaming me? Well, isn’t that just special! I’m the victim here and you’re blaming me. You know what, I’d like to deal with another officer, instead of you. Perhaps, someone with a little compassion and a whole lot more respect. I turned on my heels, even though my knees were knocking, and my heart raced a mile a minute inside my chest. I’d been through quite a bit in life, but I’d never once been robbed in my own home. Technically, the storage shed wasn’t in my home, but it did sit just steps from my front porch on my property. This was a little too close for comfort.

Margie, my elderly next-door neighbor, ran into the yard, carrying a bat and a spray bottle of disinfectant. What are you doing here, you creep? She lunged at Charlie’s car, prepared to either beat him senseless or give his car a good cleaning.

Whoa! What are you doing? Charlie reached his arm out of the window and took the bat out of her hand. It’s me!

She backed down right away, embarrassed that she’d come frighteningly close to assaulting our recently appointed new chief of police. Well, what happened here? What’s all the commotion about? Who died?

My attempt to make Charlie apologize failed miserably. Still reeling from the robbery, I didn’t know what to do with myself, other than to take a seat on the front porch and hope this nightmare would end soon.

The two patrol officers looked like they were going to help me. An overwhelming sense of relief washing over me would have been nice, but all I felt was dread. People were counting on me to deliver the Christmas presents that I’d been charged with collecting for the annual Lake Villa Toy Drive for the children, who would spend Christmas in the local children’s ward at Lake Villa Children’s Hospital. Now, the presents were gone, and I