Page 7 of Ho Ho Homicidal Mania
“Well, yes, I do weed out the danger, so that people can have a lovely, peaceful Christmas time. And if I enjoy it a little? No one said you have to hate your job.” His little smirk tells me how much he liked sawing a man’s head off.
The ghost of the nausea that overcame me when it happened appears back in my throat, but then I think about the new microphone I was planning to buy, and it subsides. “This might be presumptuous,” I say and clear my throat, glancing at my captor, who whistles as he continues making the paper cutouts. “But people never have a peaceful time when they worry there’s a killer on the loose.”
Nico hums. “No, that’s thoughtful of you. Maybe I should make it clearer that there is a pattern. You’re so smart. And your voice? Just like the podcast.”
The dreamy look he gives me is as enticing as it is disconcerting.
“Don’t you think all this would be comfier if I wasn’t behind bars?” I ask in the most innocent tone I can muster, because while it is obviously a ploy to run, maybe someone as deranged as this guy might believe I’m on his side.
“It would, it would, but I don’t have time to set things up tonight. I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wait until tomorrow. Things will get better here, I promise. I have so many questions for you as well.” He gets up, picks up the stack of papers he was cutting, then reveals it to be a long decorative chain. The links are shaped like hearts. “Ta-dah!”
Taken aback, I hide behind the mug of cocoa and use its sweetness to calm myself down. “It’s not Valentine’s….”
When Nico’s face falls, I realize these hearts were made for me, and I don’t know if I’m flattered or unsettled. “I just thought it would be nice,” he mumbles. “Spruce things up a little.”
To my disbelief, he gets up and hangs it from one prison bar to another with bits of string.
“I mean… it is, but it’s Christmas season, and the paper is green,” I mumble, too confused to think clearly. But then I remember what he said about Christmas, and clear my throat. “I appreciate the effort, really.”
He pins me with his gaze, and it feels as though he’s sawing right through me. “Are you single?”
The mug almost slips out of my hands, but I catch it at the cost of spilling some of the chocolate over my fingers. What the hell should I tell him? This freak is interested inme, and while that’s terrifying, he seems willing to be nice about… however he’s planning to handle this situation, so I nod, knowing that might be the way to make him more pliable to my suggestions. “What about you?”
“Same. I work a lot. Not just at the… you know, the killing. I have a lot to do. Even tonight. I can’t spare much more time. But I’ll get better about it. Promise.”
“Maybe you could stay a bit longer?” I ask when he gets up. Because the longer we talk, the more likely I am to convince him I don’t need to be under lock and key.
Do I even believe his vigilante fantasies? I don’t know what connection he really had to the guy who tried to abduct me first.
“I’m so sorry, Blake, I have a lot of loose ends to wrap up after last night, but I’ll come back as soon as I can. We will have the best Christmasever.”
Thoughts scatter and jingle all over my skull. Has he planned this? Was he working with Sexy Santa before betraying him?
“No! Wait, you can’t just leave me here,” I beg, grabbing the bars. I cannot be alone again between those hard, cold walls and with no access to natural light. I just can’t!
But Nico shakes his head and a strand of hair slips out of his short ponytail. “I’m sorry, sweetie, but I have a long night ahead. I need to work out if Tooley had accomplices and who ordered your kidnapping in the first place.”
I stare at him as my heart attempts to win a short-distance run in the Olympics. “‘Ordered’? What do you meanordered?” I choke out, staring at him pleadingly. “You can’t just leave me with this!”
He waves me off but takes the big scissors with him. “Don’t worry about it, I’ve got you. You can’t be any safer than here. No one knows this place exists.” He winks atme and walks off with such an infuriatingly sexy swagger I’m left raging in my cage.
How? How am I in this situation?
And did he just call me sweetie?
Chapter 4
Nico
From what I’ve researchedabout Blake, he’s ridiculously rich, his only surviving relative is his brother, and he’s been homeschooled. No wonder I wasn’t able to find out that it’s him who is Cryptic Boy Wonder, since there is no tie to his real identity.
It’s still very early, before the midday and afternoon rush hour, and there’s just a single pair of customers at the store. They’re torn between two Christmas Village collections, and since gathering all the elements is going to take them several years, it’s not a decision to be rushed. I remind them that I’m here to help and walk off to replenish the impulse buys on shelves closest to the counter. But as I stack small, imported gingerbread men encased in colorful foil, my gaze wanders to the collection of fancy gifts that so often gets emptied justbefore Christmas day, when forgetful people remember to buy presents for more or less distant relatives.
One of the snow globes showcased in the cabinet depicts Santa’s elves frolicking in the snow, and one of them, young, handsome, and rosy-cheeked, brings to mind my new acquaintance. He’s as trapped under the glass as Blake is in my basement.
“You’ve been staring at that snow globe for half an hour. Everything okay?” Owen, my employee, asks.
It pulls me out of my thoughts about Blake and his tight green shorts.
