Joy (A Kate Redman Short Story for Christmas)
By Celina Grace
5/5
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About this ebook
PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS A SHORT STORY OF APPROXIMATELY 8000 WORDS. IT IS NOT A FULL LENGTH NOVEL.
The last person Detective Sergeant Kate Redman wants to see while she's doing her Christmas shopping is habitual petty thief and homeless alcoholic Charlie Petworth. While she knows that Charlie steals small things in part to get a warm bed for the night, it's still annoying, particularly in the season of good will.
Then a far more serious crime occurs and Kate realises that Charlie might well be involved. But why would he go from stealing a packet of flower seeds to stealing a little toddler? And is there more to this case than at first meets the eye?
A short story written especially for fans of the Kate Redman Mysteries, this short, seasonal mystery is from crime writer Celina Grace, author of the Kate Redman Mysteries, The Asharton Manor Mysteries and the upcoming historical mystery series, Miss Hart and Miss Hunter Investigate.
Read more from Celina Grace
The Kate Redman Mysteries
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Joy (A Kate Redman Short Story for Christmas) - Celina Grace
Kate Redman paused by the bottom of the escalators and frantically tried to locate the payment tills. She was still wearing her thick winter coat and woolly hat and a scarf was wrapped snugly around her neck. All of this, plus the department store’s formidable central heating, meant she was currently bathed in sweat, despite the temperatures outside in the street dropping to minus figures. Her arms were piled high with goods in imminent danger of crashing to the glossy tiled floor.
Ah, there they were. Kate spotted the tills and, simultaneously, the long queue snaking back from the desks. She groaned. Determined to just get this over with, once and for all, she panted over to join the back of the queue and shifted the pile about a bit in her arms to settle it more comfortably. Of course, Kate pondered, there was something to be said for doing your Christmas shopping early and beating the queues. But then, she’d learned the hard way that one could sometimes be a bit too efficient. For at least two years on the trot, Kate had dutifully made lists and bought Christmas presents throughout the year, when she saw something suitable or when various shops were running a sale. She would then stash the presents somewhere secure, like the back of her wardrobe or under the spare-room bed, promptly forget she’d bought them and then, in December, she would panic-buy a whole load of new presents for people she’d already bought gifts for. The worst case was when she’d snapped up an expensive Thomas the Tank Engine toy for her godchild, Harry, stashed it, forgot about it, rediscovered it sometime the next Spring and thought philosophically, ‘Oh well, I’ll give it to him this Christmas,’ only to find the ungrateful child had switched his allegiance to Spiderman by the time the holiday season rolled round.
No, this year Kate was doing things by the book. Once she’d paid for this little lot, that was the bulk of the present buying out of the way. She could then think about getting the Christmas food and decorations. Kate’s brother, Jay, and his wife, Laura, were coming over for Christmas Day, with Kate’s fellow officer Mark Olbeck and his husband, Jeff, joining them in the evening. Hot and tired as she was, Kate couldn’t help the warm anticipation that spread through her when she thought about Christmas Day. It would be the first time she’d ‘hosted’ and she was looking forward to it. Even the knowledge that her own boyfriend, Tin, couldn’t make it down on the day itself didn’t dampen her spirits. They had their own plans for Boxing Day – a wintry countryside walk in the day and a visit to the theatre in the evening – and Kate had to be content with that.
Kate’s mind was so taken up with these seasonal musings that she scarcely noticed that she’d reached the front of the queue for payment. Thankfully, she unloaded