Кэти Дэйли - The Mystery Before Christmas [calibre]

I tried to still my breathing so that the man with the bat wouldn’t hear me and hone in on my location. Of course, all I really wanted to do was hyperventilate, so keeping my breath shallow and quiet was a challenge. Eventually, I was in the position I wanted. I could sense the man several rows over. The bookshelves were stacked back to back, so I knew that if I pushed on the books on my side of the stack, they would fall to the floor on the other side of the stack. Preparing to make my move, I set my body and then used my cane to push the books from the far side of the row onto the floor. The man came running toward the sound of the falling books. I only had a second to respond, but I managed to keep my wits as I looped my way around from the row where I’d been hiding, which allowed me to sneak up behind him. I raised my cane and hit the man as hard as I could while he was standing with his back to me. It didn’t knock him out as I’d hoped, but it did divert his attention long enough for me to shove a book cart into his legs. That had him on his knees. I grabbed my cane and hit him again. It seemed to do the trick, and he fell helplessly to the floor.

“Are you okay?” I ran over to Hope.

“Tie him up. Hurry, he won’t be out long.”

I untied the ropes that had been secured around Hope’s hands and feet, and then used them to tie up the man who I was sure had planned to kill both of us. As soon as he was secure, I called Cass, who promised to be right over.

“What happened?” I asked Hope after I allowed myself a moment to breathe.

“He was waiting for me when I arrived. He jumped me before I even knew he was there.”

“Why?”

“For some reason, he thought I had Buford’s money. He was determined to get it, and I was sure he was never going to let me go until he did. I’m sure he is the one who killed Buford and Ford. When he tied me up, he made a comment about not making the same mistake again. He said he was going to be sure to get the money before he let his temper get the best of him.”

“Cass and I discussed the fact that Buford and Ford might have been killed by someone looking for Buford’s money.” I looked at the man, who I suspected would turn out to be Jason, the sister’s kid. “I’m not sure if you heard, but part of the money was found in Ford’s wall.”

“I heard. Actually, I’m the one who told Cass to look for it in Ford’s house.”

I turned and looked Hope in the eye. “Are you Secret Santa?”

Hope froze. “Why would you ask that?”

“It has been theorized that Buford decided that he didn’t want the money gifted to him by his sister. He didn’t want the nephew to have it either, so he decided to give it away. Since he had no idea how to go about doing that, he enlisted the help of someone in the community with the resources and knowhow to determine who needed a gift from Secret Santa the most and how to get it to them. I thought about the people I’d interviewed and realized that when all was said and done, everyone who received a gift was linked to you in one way or another. It really does make perfect sense.”

She shifted nervously in her seat. “You know that I can’t confirm this suspicion of yours.”

“Why not? What is so awful about being Secret Santa? Why don’t you want anyone to know?”

Hope took my hand in hers. She gave it a squeeze and looked me in the eye. “Being Secret Santa isn’t awful. It is a tremendous gift. A gift that has not only enriched my life but has enchanted the entire community as well. Revealing the identity of Secret Santa would strip away the wonder that everyone seems to feel. If you really think about it, the best part of the gift is the magic of not knowing, of letting the imagination you thought you’d lost somewhere along the way, run wild with possibility.”

I knew Hope was right. I knew that by revealing Secret Santa’s identity, I would be robbing the community of the fantasy that had captured everyone’s imagination. I also knew that I had a responsibility to Dex. What I didn’t know was what in the heck I was going to do.

Chapter 26

Friday

I’d given the situation a lot of thought and had finally come to a decision. My article wasn’t due until Monday, but I had all the information I needed to wrap up the series, so I decided to turn it in early in order to give Dex the time he needed to do what he felt he needed to do. Hope hadn’t been wrong when she’d said that the real magic of Secret Santa was embodied in his anonymity. It was the mystery and the magic of the whole thing that had brought the joy of the season to the small town of Foxtail Lake at a time when a lot of folks were having a hard time making their miracle happen. I really wanted a full-time job with the newspaper, but there was no way I was going to be the one to destroy everyone’s fun.

Dex read the article as I sat watching. I could sense the myriad of emotions he might be feeling as a series of expressions crossed his face.

“So you couldn’t figure out who Secret Santa was.”

“I know who Secret Santa is. I’m choosing to keep that secret.”

His lips tightened. “I see.”

“I know I promised to reveal the name of the man or woman who has been running around town gifting those most in need with exactly what they need, but during the course of this journey, I’ve come to realize that there are more important things than having all the facts. There are mystery and magic and the ability to suspend disbelief just for a moment so that the lingering possibilities have a chance to be heard. There is the sheer joy that can be found in allowing the part of yourself that you thought had died in childhood out long enough to embrace the wonder that comes from not knowing who is behind the beard. I really, really love working here at the newspaper with you, and I really want to make a place for myself in the Foxtail News family, but I need to follow my heart, and my heart is telling me that it would be a mistake to rob the community of the fun they’ve been having.”

He glanced down at the article in his hands. “I don’t disagree. I’ve been feeling a little bad about the promise I made to my buddy at the Post. I’m sure he is not going to be happy that we aren’t going to provide him with the expose he was hoping for.”

“He still has a series to run, and I did turn in the story about Buford’s inheritance and his death, as well as Ford’s death by the same man. I suppose the Post has covered stories one would consider to be a bit more sensational, but the facts relating to the money Buford was gifted by his sister are pretty interesting.”

Dex nodded. “The fact that the money was stolen was a bit of a shocker. Who would have guessed.”

Certainly not me. When Cass had finally cornered Jason and compelled him to talk, Jason had shared the family secret that everyone related to Cornwall Norris had been keeping for more than sixty years. It seemed that Cornwall was a gangster of sorts back in the nineteen-thirties and forties. Before disappearing from his life in Chicago, he’d participated in almost a dozen bank robberies in seven states. At some point, Cornwall decided to get out while the getting was good, so he took his cut of the loot and moved to a small town just outside Denver. He met and married a woman named Rosa Walker, and together they had two children Hilde and Buford. Rosa died when her children were teenagers, and Cornwall moved the children to Salt Lake City. Eventually, Hilde married and moved to Denver, where she gave birth to a single child, Jason. When Cornwall died, he left what was left of the stolen money equally to Hilde and Buford, but neither child wanted to be associated with his ill-gotten gains, so they argued over what to do with it. Buford’s way of dealing with the unpleasantness of his father’s past was simply to ignore it, so he cut ties with his sister and moved up the mountain to Foxtail Lake.