As we made our way to the mall, it looked as if the snow was beginning to stop.
"That reminds me."
Said Oz.
"I very much prefer the snow. As intense of a snowfall as possible. Especially on Christmas. Would you be so kind as to say you intend to visit your family in some other state for Christmas?"
"But I do intend to visit my family for Christmas. And they live in Missouri."
With that, Oz dusted off his hands and gave a satisfied look.
"This is another one of your tricks, right?"
"Exactly. You see, anytime in a story when a character is oh so dreaming of visiting their family for the holidays, a great big snow storm comes right in the nick of time to keep them trapped where they are. This, of course, allows them to realize that, in actuality, their family is the friends and acquaintances they've made wherever they're stuck."
"You ass! Did you really just ruin the one time of the year I get to see my family, just so you could have a white Christmas?"
"Sorry, but I can't imagine a Christmas that isn't white. Besides, you're not gonna be able to leave anyways. The Christmas special doesn't end until the day before Christmas."
"A case this simple, taking a whole month?"
"That's the way it's gotta be. The Christmas special needs to end right before Christmas."
We finally arrived at the Longview Mall. As we walked to the changing room, I saw a line of children waiting to talk with the mall Santa. Even from this distance, I could see that the man's beard and moustache was fake. Most likely, the suit had artificial fat to make whoever it was match the children's expectations. We walked into the changing room and saw a police officer standing in front of one of the lockers.
"Hello, Mr. Ozwald.
"Good afternoon, officer."
The officer stepped to the side, allowing for Oz to open the locker. The inside was coated in blood.
"Hmm… I was never actually told what killed the guy. I'm guessing it was a stabbing."
"Yes, actually. The poor guy had a knife sticking out of his chest."
"I imagine he died pretty quickly?"
"You've seen the autopsy?"
"Nope. Just the amount of blood, indicates a fast death."
"At least he didn't have to suffer for very long."
"Yeah, you get stabbed in the chest and tell me how little suffering you feel."
Oz closed the locker and shook his head
"Alright, I wanna see that security footage; then afterwards we'll go look at the body."
As we both went to walk out of the room, the mall Santa walked into the room. I could immediately tell his suit wasn't as good as Mr. Vermeil's. Probably a backup suit since the real suit is at the prison.
"Hey, you guys investigating the elf's murder?"
"You mean Morris Liverpool?"
"Yeah, him."
"Yes, we are. You the replacement Santa?"
"Yep. The mall hired me this morning."
"They must have been in a rush to find someone."
"Yeah. I know I don't look like the best Santa, but I love seeing the look in the kids' eyes when they get to see me."
"Well, if you ask me, that's the most important thing in a Santa Claus."
"Thanks. I'm just glad I get the chance to be the jolly old man."
As Oz began to drag me away, I felt a weird energy coming off the man. If I were to describe it, I'd say the man had some kind of importance to him. Not like he was an important person, I mean he was just a mall Santa. It was in a way I couldn't define.
With that, we both walked out of the locker room and made our way to the security room.
As we looked over the camera footage I decided to talk to Oz about what I felt.
"Hey, you've talked before about feeling specific energy, right?"
"Yeah. Certain people give off a kind of a vibe to me. Like you, you give off what I'd call main character energy. You're important. It's hard to explain."
"Actually, I think I understand how it feels."
Oz looked up from the video footage before him and locked eyes with me.
"You felt a vibe?"
"A little one. From the Santa Claus."
"Yeah, well that's cause he's actually Santa Claus."
"No, not the one in prison. And stop insisting he's Santa Claus. I'm talking about the one we just talked to."
"You got a vibe from that fake ass Santa?"
"Yeah. He was important in some way."
"Important? I didn't feel it. But, if you did get a vibe of importance from him, that's definitely something."
Oz slightly stroked his chin and mumbled for a bit.
"I got it. The guy was a last minute hire as Santa, right?"
"Yeah."
"But he wanted to play Santa. He said he likes seeing the looks on the kids' faces. What if the new Santa committed the murder in order to get the old Santa fired so he could replace him?"
"That's your theory?"
"I mean, look at the footage here. Sure, it's Mr. Vermeil walking into the changing room with Morris, but the only person who comes out is someone wearing a Santa costume. You can't really tell who it is in the suit."
Oz was right. Although the quality of the footage was pretty good, with the full suit on including the bear and moustache, you couldn't really tell who was in the suit.
"Ok, but then how did the new Santa get into the locker room without being seen on Camera? And how come we don't see another Santa come out either?"
"I can't explain that… yet!"
"You can't explain it ever if you ask me."
"Hey, I rely on gut instinct, not surveillance footage. I don't care what the footage says, I'm almost sure the new Santa committed the crime. In fact, I want to ask him some more questions."