Rooster blew out a breath. "Thanks, man."
Jack nodded. "Got any money in that Santa suit? A quarter, maybe?"
Rooster's bushy brows drew together in puzzlement, but he pulled a handful of change out of a pocket and shoved it at Jack.
Jack reached over and selected a quarter, flipped it in the air, and then put it in his pocket. "Now, it's official. I'm on the case."
Just then, a rattling car engine sounded from around the block, and an old Chrysler sedan pulled into view, braking immediately when the driver saw the crowd. Right behind the Chrysler, I saw my Aunt Ruby and Uncle Mike pull up in Mike's truck, having dropped Shelley at Zane's. My sister didn't need to see anymore dead bodies.
Sadly, not everybody felt that way about keeping their kids away from a crime scene. There were plenty of children there, and when I scanned the crowd, I noticed a few of the younger ones were crying.
"You can't put Santa in jail!" A tiny girl, maybe six years old, yanked her hand out of her dad's and raced over to Rooster before anybody could stop her. She flung her arms around one of his legs, pushed her face into the velvet fabric of his pants, and burst into tears.
Rooster patted her head with far more gentleness than you'd expect from someone with his giant, rough hands.
"Now, now, sweetheart. You just run off back to your daddy, you hear? Nobody is arresting Santa. I'm going to walk on down to the mayor's office and straighten all this out."
She turned her adorable, tear-stained face up to him. "You promise?"
"I promise. Now—" He looked around helplessly, but by this time the girl's dad, who I thought was one of Granny Josephine's distant relations, had run over to retrieve his daughter.
"Okay, sweetheart," her dad said, shooting a death glare at poor Rooster over the top of his girl's head. "It's all going to be fine. Santa will be fine, and he's still bringing presents for Christmas."
She snuggled into her father's arms but sent one last look at Rooster over her dad's shoulder. "I love you, Santa," she called out in her fairy princess voice.
Rooster patted his heart and smiled at her, but I was close enough to see the strain in his eyes.
Uncle Mike and Aunt Ruby broke through the crowd, and Aunt Ruby rushed over to me. "Tess! Jack! What's happening?"
Jack nodded toward Andy, who'd ducked into the store for a few moments and was just now coming back out.
"Deputy!" My Aunt Ruby, the mayor, threw her shoulders back and lifted her chin, visibly putting on her most official persona. "Please fill me in."
Uncle Mike put an arm around me and pulled me aside while Andy reported to the mayor, who was his boss.
"What happened?" he asked me in a quiet voice. "Is Darryl really dead?"
"Seems like it. I haven't actually seen him, and I don't want to. There was something about a hammer…" I swallowed.
Hard.
I nodded at Frog. "That boy found a bloody hammer in the back of Rooster's truck. And everybody knows they've had physical altercations—"
Uncle Mike raised an eyebrow. "Physical altercations? You mean the fist fights?"
I nodded, frowning. "Anyway, everybody knows, and the crowd here is waiting for some spectacular and awful event, I think."
"Bunch of vultures." He stepped away from me and exchanged a few words with Andy and Aunt Ruby, and then he turned to the crowd.
"Listen up," he shouted. "The mayor would like to make an announcement."
There were a few catcalls, but mostly everybody quieted down, and my Aunt Ruby stepped over next to Uncle Mike and faced the crowd.
"We understand this is very disturbing, especially the week before Christmas and the … the disposition of the victim. Toward that end, will everyone with children please remove them from the scene? In fact, all of you just go home, please. Andy and his team need to get to work."
"And here's my 'team' now," Andy muttered. I'd barely heard him over the crowd, but I followed his gaze to see a woman in a sharply pressed deputy's uniform climb out of the Chrysler. She marched over to us, stopped before Jack, and saluted.
"Reporting as ordered, Deputy Kelly."
