How did I miss this text from last night?
“Are you awake?”
I wasn’t awake but it made little to no sense that I hadn’t seen the text this morning. I sent Gunner a text first, then my cell.
“Gunner, I’ll meet you at the mall entrance in a few minutes. Have a hot chocolate.”I texted.
“I wasn’t awake. Sorry about that. Did you need something?”I asked my old phone.
No response came back. Hopefully, the phone wasn’t mad at me. Right now, I have something bigger to take care of. I walked the short distance to the food court to meet up with the guys.
“You guys are a sight for sore eyes. How’s the marina doing?” I shook hands with each one of them. “Let’s get you out of here before the customers think the mall is under attack.”
“I guess we could have worn something more festive, but we have work to do.” Gunner pulled a chair out for me. “Just sit and tell me what you saw on the camera.”
“I saw an elf.” I looked around to make sure no one heard. “Come to the office so I can show you.”
The men downed their drinks and followed me to the office. I could see each of them scanning the mall, taking in every detail. Everything I knew so far about these retired Special Ops was that they were downright scary men.
Little elf, you’re going down.
I played the footage until the elf appeared on the screen. “See, I told you. It’s an elf.”
“Asher, I have to tell you, I thought you were off your rocker, but that is most definitely an elf,” Gunner said. “Now we have to find out who it is.”
“More like ‘what’ it is. I mean, what if it is a magical elf?” I said from behind them. “I forgot to tell you that overnight someone opened all the boxes of decorations and decorated every tree.”
“I’m not sure magical elves are a real thing, boy, but we’ll catch this person tonight.” Charlie rubbed his hands together in excitement. “Let’s get our stuff and get set up.”
The four men left the office to get prepared, whatever “getting prepared” meant. I had to leave for a meeting with the city.
“I’ll be gone for the rest of the day and night, so have at it. I have full confidence in you.” I grabbed my briefcase and blueprints. “Call me if you need anything.”
“Food. That’s what we’ll need. Lots of food,” Charlie growled. “If I’m gonna chase magical elves all night, I need food.”
“Ah, you do think it’s a magical elf.”
Chapter 27
Paige
Iwoke, as usual, to the noise of store employees walking to their respective stores to start another day. I peeked out the window. Santa wasn’t in yet. I shoved my elf costume into my purse and crawled out. I quickly made my way to the bathroom to get dressed. Karen was already there cleaning. She pointed to a bag on the counter and I surprised her with a hug from behind.
I’ve never had this kind of friendship with people. I wonder what I can do nice for her.
“Young lady, you better get your little elfness out there to the children and stop fussing over an old lady. Make sure you eat that food. Did you have dinner last night?”
“Yes ma’am. Brad at the burger place gave me leftovers that were going to get tossed out,” I smiled. “I’m super lucky to have you and Brad as friends.”
“What are you going to do when they close Santa’s workshop?” Karen stopped wiping the counter. “It’s mighty cold out, there, you can’t stay in your car.”
“I know. I may have to check in to a women’s shelter, or just head south,” I frowned. “If you hear of any jobs, let me know. I’ll be out of work soon and jobs are hard to get when you don’t have an address.”
“Darlin’, something will come available. You’re a good girl.” Karen went back to wiping. “I’m bringing my grandkids to see Santa later today.”
“I can’t wait to meet them.” I waved and hurried back to the workshop.
As I hurried through the food court, I saw Asher, the guy, that I knocked over, sitting at a table with four huge scary-looking men. One of them was smiling, but the others looked very serious.