The Christmas Shock

“Ladies and Gentleman I am currently reporting on a ruthless killer by the name of Liam Lewis” The camera pointed towards me

“Can you believe it? A once loved psychic is now under arrest for murdering Santa”

The urge I was getting to just punch this reporter was huge.

The reporter urged his cameraman to get closer towards me, they reached the yellow caution tape before they were told they couldn’t go any further.

“Excuse me!”

She tried calling out for me.

“Can someone tell this lady to stop recording?” The cop that had me in handcuffs didn’t tell anyone in specific, he just wanted someone to get the reporters off their back.

Soon after he said that a different police officer went over and started to talk to the lady.

“Listen, can you stop with the recording?”

“What for?” It’s obvious this lady knows the law, she knows she has no need to obey with what they have said.

“We are currently doing an investigation into a murder and you people are interrupting our case”

“I thought he was the culprit” The lady looked towards me

“That’s right, however we do wish to clear this place in order to avoid a possible escape and extra confusion”

The lady didn’t say anything and continued to record.

The police officer was getting frustrated, he tried not to show it, but it gets quite obvious when you flinch due to the reporter’s disobedience.

Before the officer could say another word a lady came up to the reporter.

She looks familiar

“You can stop” that’s right, she’s Ms. Moore

She was the one that tried to deceive me into revealing that I wasn’t a psychic by leaving fake hints. She was quite clever, however I didn’t know she was a reporter.

Moore put her hand on the shoulder of the reporter. The reporter flinched for a bit before telling her cameraman to stop recording.

Quite the powerful women.

The officer released a sigh of relief before going back to his assigned location.

I looked back towards the spot Ms. Moore was at. She waved towards me.

Seems like she also remembers me.

“Alright let’s get going” after some other officers finished clearing the path, they all decided that it would be best to start going back to the police station.

“Watch your head” the officer lowered my head while I was entering the vehicle.

Once we drove off I could hear and see everyone’s face, they were disgusted. Everyone except for her.

Ms.Moore.

I soon arrived to the police station where they decided to sit me in an interrogation room.

“We will use this device to record you.”

“This is William Sanders and I am currently investigating suspect Liam Lewis in the murder of Carl Baker”

The officer leaned forward and looked at me directly into my eyes.

“Let’s start off with your story, what were you doing at the time of the death”

“I was talking to the man dressed as Santa” I don’t need a lawyer. I’m innocent and I’m sure I can prove it.

“Are you saying that you had no idea the man dressed as Santa was Carl Baker?”

“Yes that is correct”

“Why were you talking to the man?”

“Well I noticed him giving out presents to everyone, I decided it would be smart business to put my business card on every present”

“And did he decline?”

“Yeah, but I wasn’t too bothered. It was unfortunate, but I wouldn’t kill him just because of that”

“Why wouldn’t you?”

“Well I’m already well established, almost everyone in the local neighborhood knows about me”

“So you wanted to expand?”

“Yeah”

“Then what about the gun which we found right next to you”

“I’m not sure where that came from”

Before the officer could speak another word a sudden door slam occurred and a familiar person entered the room.

“Excuse me officer, I would like to speak to my client” it’s Ms. Moore

“I’m currently-“

“No, I need to speak with him right away”

The officer decided to leave the room, without saying a thing

“So you’re a lawyer?” I asked

“Maybe” she smiled

“Why are you helping me?”

“You just seem like an interesting person”

“So, what’s your plan?”

“I’m not sure”

“You’re not sure?”

“Well this is quite the case, how did someone shoot the person, with you having the gun that shot that person and you didn’t even noticed it ”

The situation I got myself in was quite complex, did someone intend to put the fault on me specifically? Or was Santa the target and I just happened to be there?

If they did intend to target me then why not just kill me? And if they’re goal was to put me in jail then it must be someone who wasn’t happy with me, possibly related to my psychic readings.

I decided to talk to Santa in an alleyway in order to just slip in my business card even if he declined. It was dark so It would be hard to notice me slipping it in.

Seconds after he declined me he got shot which didn’t give me a chance to slip in my business card… he was shot.

“Moore I-“

“Call me Lia”

“Lia I think I can prove I didn’t shot him”

“How so?”

“The angle of where he was shot was on his left hip. Why would I shot there if I was standing in front of the body”

“You’d most likely shoot him in the front rather then the sides”

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

“Exactly”

“Okay then” Lia stepped out of the room before coming back again this time with the officer.

“We had a chat officer and I’d like it if you cleared up some things”

“Ask away”

“If my client was the culprit why would he shot him on his side rather then in front where he was facing Santa”

“That’s a good point. However, what about the gun that was next to him?”

“How do we know it wasn’t planted to frame my client? Did it have his fingerprints?”

“Your client was wearing gloves and therefore we wouldn’t be able to find the fingerprints”

“What about the code thing, the numbers where they can check who bought the gun?”

“It was scratched off and the same goes for the bullets”

“What about other people within that area?”

“I’m assuming you mean the people on foot? If so we have footage of one other person exiting from the other side of the alleyway, however they entered it and exited it quite quickly during the gunshot, it would be impossible to shoot him and place the gun next to you especially since the alleyway is quite long. We also saw a different Santa, however they were on a different alleyway.”

“Can we see the footage?”

“You guys aren’t detectives now are you?” He said

“No, but it would be necessary to prove my client's innocence, you do want to catch the culprit right?”

“Fine”

Shortly after the officer came back again with a small screened tv. He connected the tv and then put the tape inside of it.

The video started playing, it showed a man wearing a hoodie yet not putting it on. He entered the alleyway and one second later the gun shot was heard. He went out running as soon as that gunshot happened. It’d be impossible for him to place the gun next to me.

“So?” The officer had a slight smirk

“I assume I can’t free my client till I prove otherwise”

“Your client can’t leave due to him being the prime suspect, so yes you’d need to prove otherwise in order to free him”

“Say less”

Lia stood up and looked at me, she spoke with such confidence there, yet it doesn’t seem like she knows where to start.

“Has the scene been cleaned yet?”

“No, however we can’t have you exploring it due to the possibility of placing some misleading evidence in the crime scene”

“What if I had surveillance”

“That would work” the officer seemed sure it was me, yet he still is fine with letting us investigate. Seems like he truly does want to find the culprit

“Lia, make sure to record the scene”

She nodded and made her way out.

“Stand up” the officer and I began making our way to my cell.

The cell wasn’t bad. I had a room to myself and I didn’t really see any cell mates on my way here.

“Food will be delivered to you, you’d be here till the case is closed. You will still get to go outside for longer then the regular cellmate and you’d have officers watching your back”

I’m being treated quite nicely.

Chapter 2

Christmas present

Surely one day is enough time for her to recollect her thoughts, right? I said this as I was now standing in front of her apartment door

Last night I decided it would be best to meet up with Maria and make things clear after that event. I even decided to buy a little present in order to… win her over I guess.

All I have to do now is knock at the door.

I raised my hand towards the door. However before I could knock Maria managed to beat me to it.

“Want to come in?” She was behind me.

“Sure”

She put her bags down and unlocked the door we both entered the apartment.

“I see you have a present” She smiled

“Yeah”

“You’re trying to make me forgive you?”

“Kinda”

“It’s fine”

We entered her kitchen to which she pulled the chair and insinuated that I should take a seat.

Before sitting down I decided to place the present under the little Christmas tree she had.

“When did you make this”

“Yesterday, I was kinda bored”

“It’s nice”

“Yeah”

She went back to the table and placed a coffee in my seat and one in hers.

“Take a seat”

I took a seat. I didn’t know how to exactly bring up the topic, should I even bring it up? Can we just move on from it without saying anything about it?

“About the event at the bar”

I guess not

“I wanted to talk about it too” I said

“How did that psychic leash you into it?”

“Liam is a good guy”

“Okay, what’s your point?”

“He didn’t really tell me much, he asked me a couple of questions about you and told me that I had to tell him when you arrived”

“So he lied to you?”

“Well…” I didn’t really think about this. Liam asked questions about my girlfriend in order to come to a certain conclusion that would drive my girlfriend into this state. He also made me a part of his little plan without even telling me.

“He isn’t a good person. I don’t want to seem controlling, but I don’t think he’d be a good influence on you”

She’s somewhat right. Liam has always struck me as someone who does his job a little too perfect, his ability to deduce certain things as well as lie to people without much remorse was wrong.

“I’m not sure. I understand that he might be deceiving. However he doesn’t seem like that kind of person”

“What do you mean?”

“I think it’s just his little facade”

“So what can he be hiding on the inside when what he’s showing on the outside is crappy”

“He’s human. I don’t believe that he can just lie like that”

“Has he shown any type of appreciation towards you? Anything that would show you guys are friends?”

“Y-Yeah” was there? I asked him to have drinks with me, however he refused. He did seem quite shaken up which is why I let it slide…

“Can we talk about this some other time?” I said

“I thought the point of this was to clear things up”

“I want to have a chat with Liam”

“Can you tell me why you believe in him so much?”

“I… I can tell you some other time, right now I think it’s best you open up your present” I smiled

I do want to tell you why. However, first I want to make sure that my way of thinking is right, I need to know that what my grandmother has taught me is correct.

We both made our way to the Christmas tree and sat down.

“Open it”

She began ripping the paper and inside was a chain. It had a bird in the middle.

“Wow. This is amazing”

Maria put it on, she was smiling. It seemed the topic we just talked about has been pushed away. It’s a nice feeling.

Maria stood up and went into the kitchen she brought over a wrapped up present “Here”

“When did you buy this?”

“Today, I had a feeling you’d want to come over this day so I too decided to buy you a little something.”

“Thanks”

“Open it first before saying your thanks”

I nodded and began opening the present. Inside was a champagne bottle.

“H-how much did this cost?”

“Let’s not worry about that. How about we have a drink? I didn’t just buy this bottle for yourself y'know” she smiled

“Yeah I’ll grab the glass”

Chapter 3

Psychic Detective

Lia came back rather quickly, so we decided to meet in the visitors room. Not like we had much of a choice.

Lia pulled out her phone and passed it over to me. The video started playing, it showed Lia recording everything she was seeing.

Halfway through the video I saw something rather weird. Lia panned the camera upwards towards some stairs, the bottom part of those stairs happened to have some sort of stain. It looked to be a ketchup stain.

“What’s that?” I asked

“Not sure, I didn’t really put much thought into it”

“Did you ask the cop?”

“Nope”

What great help.

If someone happened to be on those stairs then maybe… No that’s not possible, they have no way of shooting them straight into the side. If they did shoot him in the side then it would go diagonal rather than straight.

So the only clue I have to put together is that weird ketchup stain…

“Have you at least asked questions about the other suspect”

“Yeah, he’s been in the military before. However he has no connection to the victim.”

“So it’s possible he can shoot from the other side of the alleyway”

“Yeah, though we’d most likely need motive and the gun to convince the cops”

“Only the gun is necessary, let’s forget about the motive for now”

It’s impossible, how can I put the blame on this man.

“Lia, can you go into the evidence room and take a picture of the gun?”

“…”

That might be a reach. She seemed like a powerful woman. I was hoping she’d have someone inside this place that was willing to turn a blind eye and let her pass by.

“Yeah I can do it”

I spoke too soon

“Perfect, when can you have it done?”

“I’ve already done it”

Huh?

I paused the video and swiped to the side just to notice that she’d already taken a picture of the gun.

“How?”

“I had a feeling you’d need it”

The gun seemed to have a small crack, almost as if it fell from somewhere. The gun also had the same ketchup stain as the one from the stairs.

This was all I needed.

“Look” I showed the picture to Lia, she showed a shocked face. It seemed rather fake though.

“So he stuck it up there?”

“Yes, he waited for a certain time. Checked the alleyway and shot Santa. Soon after the gun would fall and be placed right next to me.”

“But how would he know you’d bring Santa into that alleyway”

She’s right, It's impossible to time that as perfectly as it was. Unless…

“Maybe he shot the wrong Santa? It’s a stretch, but there was another Santa on a different alley. Maybe he saw me and the other Santa talking so the culprit's original target decided to move to a different alleyway.”

“Maybe the culprit told the actual target to meet him there at that exact time, not as a text, but more as a person to person. This way it won’t trace back to him.” I continued

“However a problem arose and the actual target most likely texted the culprit that he decided to move to a different alleyway due to the current one being occupied. This would mean that we have enough evidence to prove the culprit set it up.”

“This is all a huge speculation, they won’t believe me”

“Make them look at previous times prior to the event. I’m sure you’d find a video of him entering the alleyway in order to set the trap up.”

“I can try to convince them”

“Perfect, his room might also have similar ketchup stains, probably as a way to study how long it can hold onto something”

“Alright, I’ll pitch this to the officer, you just wait in your cell” she smiled, she looks confident too.

Soon after she left a different officer took me back to my cell. All I can do now is just wait.

Chapter 4

It’s Christmas

An officer came over towards my cell and began to unlock it.

I had a huge smile on my face.

“Your free to go, we apologize for the inconvenience”

I didn’t exactly care about the inconvenience, well maybe at first I did, but this was quite fun.

I made my way outside and found Lia waiting next to what I assume to be her car.

“You were right genius” She smiled and went inside her car

“Thanks”

“Get in the car, this counts for some celebratory drinks”

I had no reason to refuse her. I actually quite liked the proposal, it feels like I’m slowly getting to know her.

I got in the car and we began making our way to a bar.

“So how’s your book going?” I decided to try some small talk.

I remember she was writing a book when I first met her.

“Oh I’m not actually a writer” she smiled

“So the book was a fake?”

“Yeah I just had the cover done and had a bunch of empty pages in order to make it seem real”

“Oh”

“Your upset?”

“No”

Lia stopped. We weren’t at the bar, instead we were at some parking lot.

“Wait here” before I could say anything Lia decided to step out of the car.

I saw her making her way over to a vending machine. Next to the vending machine was a man.

The man looked to be some local drug addict.

He's kinda like me… just less hidden I guess.

I could see Lia talking to the man before shaking his hand, she put something in her pocket before making her way over to the car.

I could question her, however I don’t think I should.

“Alright let’s go” Lia entered as if nothing happened.

Lia and I finally made it to the bar, the car ride to the bar was uneventful.

“Let’s go, drinks are on me”

I got out of the car and made my way towards the bar. It’s getting quite late…

Before we managed to enter the bar the same reporter from the Santa incident came over towards me.

“Excuse me!” The lady called me over, I turned to see Lia. However she seemed to have entered the bar.

Great, that means I have to deal with her.

“Yeah?”

“Well we’d like to apologize for the accusations we made towards you, we won’t take much of your time all we want is some words from you”

“Sure… I’ll give you some words” I took the mic from the reporter before looking towards the big camera. “It's not everyday you get accused of something you didn’t do, I was afraid at first. However soon after I realized a way to enjoy it, you live your life only once, so even when hardships and trouble comes your way you must still find a way to look at the bright side of that challenge. You can’t spend that one life of yours being troubled. You must enjoy it.” I passed the mic back to the lady before entering the bar.

“Whatcha feeling” Lia seemed to have been waiting for me

“Uhm, some beer”

Lia got us both beer as we walked our way over to our table.

“So…” I decided to speak up even though I didn’t have anything to speak about.

“Want to talk about what just happened?”

“Huh?” The reporter?

“When I met with that homeless dude by the vending machine”

“Oh, Sure” she must have noticed that it was troubling me, maybe I was overthinking it. She wouldn’t be in that business right?

“It’s my uncle, he once had a good job and lived quite the life. However some drugs ended up ruining his life and he’s now in the position he’s in”

“So you were helping him?”

“Kinda, I give him a bit of money. Not too much since he’s the one who made the decision that led to his current situation.”

“I see”

“I give him the chance to recover, however it doesn’t seem like he takes those chances”

“When will you cut him off?”

“I’m not sure, I don’t know if I’m ready”

“Oh” I feel somewhat bad, I had a bad feeling about that event just for it to end up as some kind of hard family story.

Maybe what she put in her pocket was her wallet.

I decided to stop thinking about it, Lia and I finished our beer soon after I got a call…

“I have to take this” I told Lia as I stood up from my chair

It’s mom

I answered the phone as soon as I got outside through the back doors. Can’t afford any reporters interrupting.

“Hello?”

“Liam?”

“Yeah?”

“…” the phone was silent for a bit. “I saw that little interview you did”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah… now I want you to know something, listen carefully”

“O-Okay”

“Who the fuck do you think you are? Do you know who WE are? Talking about that bullshit of living your life to the best! You belong to our family, we are like a… snake of sorts, we are poison. We bring harm to others. That’s who we are, so don’t you ever speak about that fucking bullshit of living your best life ever again!”

Who do I think I am?!

“Your logic is flawed. We aren’t poison, the only poison is you. You fucked our whole family and now you think “because I’m poison and because I harmed my children that means they’ve inherited my poison” that’s not how it works. My sister…” I decided to stop myself before speaking about her. I can’t bring my sister into this conversation. “I don’t care if your family was poison and that’s what made you who you are. I don’t give a fuck about that. I’m gonna stop this shit tradition of poisoning people or whatever other symbolic nonsense you have for this shit”

“You listen to me Liam! Sooner or later you are going to make a mistake, then you’ll spiral down a bad rabbit hole. You will be in a bad spot and once you’re in that situation I want you to know that you are welcomed back to our family, because messing up is what are fucking family is all about!”

I hung up. She began to send me messages.

I didn’t bother reading them, if she thinks one mistake is all it takes then it’s simple, I just won’t make a mistake.

I turned off my phone and made my way towards the table. Lia was gone.

On her side of the table she left a note “I have to go, it’s urgent. Here’s my number: xxx-xxx-xxxx”

I decided to add her.

“I owe you” I typed

I decided to make my way to my apartment, all of this is getting to me.

I got to my apartment and opened up my mirror cabinet.

I grabbed the drugs and looked at them… is this already my mistake?

“Oh go to hell with her mistakes” I decided to ignore what she had said.

I took the drugs and got straight to bed.

I feel much better…