The Mystery Before Christmas

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.

Jason knew about the money and assumed that one day it would be his, so when his mother passed, and he found that Hilde had transferred the money to Buford before she died, Jason went a little crazy.

Buford and Hilde had considered the money a burden, and neither had ever wanted it, but it seemed that Jason wanted it very much. I suppose Buford had his reasons for not wanting Jason to have the money since as soon as he found out what his sister had done, he pulled the money out of the account Hilde had transferred it into and locked it in a drawer in his home. After Hilde died, he decided to dispose of the money once and for all. His father had obtained the money illegally, but Buford figured that if he gave the money away to those who needed it most, maybe the black stain that seemed to have been permanently attached to his family would somehow be lifted. He wasn’t sure about how to go about distributing the money, so he went to Hope, who agreed to help him. When Buford found out that Jason was after the money, he asked his good friend, Ford, to hide it for him until Hope could dispose of all of it, which is how Ford became involved in the whole thing.

I, of course, wrote up the article to include the fact that both Buford and Ford had been killed over money that Buford’s grandfather had stolen, but I left out Secret Santa and Hope’s role in the whole thing. I decided that would not be a piece of the puzzle that would be revealed by me. I assumed that once the news of Buford’s inheritance was made public, some people might suspect his role as Secret Santa, but suspecting wasn’t knowing, so at least for a time, the magic would be left alive.

“The story is a good one, and I think the romance of an old-time gangster carrying out bank heists will appeal to the masses,” Dex admitted. “I’ll call my buddy and see what he wants to do. I wish I could have given him what he wanted, but maybe it is best this way. I really think the mystery of Secret Santa is going to be what draws in the reader and not the promise of a big reveal anyway. I just hope my friend from the Post feels the same way.”

“So, you aren’t going to fire me?”

He shook his head. “I would be stupid to do so. For one thing, you are an excellent journalist, who seems to know how to get right to the heart of things; and for another thing, with Brock gone, I really need you. In fact, I have two assignments I need to be done by the end of the day. You interested?”

“Absolutely. And thanks. I’ll try not to let you down again.”

He smiled. “You didn’t let me down. I’m as caught up in the magic as everyone else. I’m not sure I want to know who is behind the gifts.”

I exhaled slowly. “Thank you again. I’m really, really happy to be part of the Foxtail News family.”