The Mystery Before Christmas

Chapter 15

Dean and Martin were brothers who I estimated to be in their mid-forties. They lived together on a gated estate with a private lake. Several years ago, the brothers had sold a software company they’d started in their garage when they were in their teens for several billion dollars, after which they’d retired to the lake to tinker with their pet projects. I’d never met the men, but based on what I’d heard about them, they were both brilliant and introverted. Cass had told me that they had a small circle of friends they spent time with, but generally, they simply enjoyed each other’s company.

I was grateful that Cass was included in the small circle of friends since I was fairly sure that I’d never have gotten past the front gate without him. Since the men didn’t hang out in town often, it was equally unlikely that I would simply have run into them and convinced them to chat.

“Dean, Martin, this is my friend, Callie,” Cass introduced after one of the brothers, I think Dean, had answered the door and invited us in.

“I’m so happy to finally meet you both,” I said. “And I am grateful that you’ve agreed to take a few minutes to speak to me for my article.”

“Anything for Cass,” said the taller of the two brothers, who I was pretty sure was Dean.

“Let’s head into the living room and talk by the fire,” suggested the second brother, Martin I was pretty sure, who was blond and slightly shorter than his sibling was. “So how can we help you?”

“I guess you have heard about Secret Santa,” I jumped right in after having a seat on the sofa in front of the fireplace.

“We have,” Dean answered.

“I’m doing a story on the man or woman behind the anonymous gifts for the Foxtail News.”

“And you think we are Secret Santa?” Martin asked.

“Are you? You certainly have the financial wherewithal to have purchased what I estimate is more than a hundred and fifty thousand dollars’ worth of gifts so far if you count the new heating system I just found out Secret Santa had installed at the senior center and the new x-ray machine purchased for the clinic.”

“That is substantial,” Martin looked impressed. “But I’m afraid we can’t take credit for these incredible gifts presented to the community, or for the gifts presented to individual residents of the community. Have you spoken to Carolyn Worthington?”

“I have, and it isn’t her.”

“It seems that an x-ray machine for the clinic is a pretty specific gift. Chances are that Doctor Nolan knows who is behind the gift. Maybe you should speak to him,” Dean suggested.

I nodded. “Thank you. That is a good idea. I’ll do that. Can you think of anyone else who might be Secret Santa, assuming that you are telling the truth, and it isn’t the two of you?”

Dean raised a brow. “You think we would lie?”

“If keeping your secret was important enough, then yes, I think you might.”

Martin laughed. “The woman just met us, and she already has us figured out.” He looked at me. “And yes. If we were Secret Santa and we didn’t want anyone to know, we would lie about it. But we aren’t Secret Santa, so I’m going to suggest you move on.”

“If it were me trying to identify Secret Santa, I think I would ask myself why now,” Martin commented.

“What do you mean?” I asked, furrowing my brow.

“Everyone you have mentioned as a possible Secret Santa has lived in the area for a number of years, and everyone on your list has had the means to be Secret Santa for quite some time. If Secret Santa is someone who has lived in the area and had the means to buy gifts for members of the community for years and years, why now? Why not last year or the year before that?”

“So you think that Secret Santa might be someone new to the area?” I asked. It did seem that Martin had made a good point.

“Or someone who has recently come into wealth and felt moved to share it,” Martin answered.

“What about Mary Anderson?” I asked. “I understand she won the lottery.”

“She did,” Cass jumped in. “But she won her money more than five years ago, and she has lived in Foxtail Lake for a lot longer than that.”

“We found out that Buford Norris inherited a bunch of money,” I said. “Of course, while the Secret Santa gifts began before he died, there have been a lot of gifts delivered since he passed, so I guess it can’t be him. As far as you know, has anyone else in the community recently inherited a big chunk of money?”

“Justice Bodine,” Dean and Martin said at the same time.

“Who is Justice Bodine?” I asked.

“Justice is the heir to the Bodine Lumber fortune,” Cass said. “His family has been logging in the area for generations. Layton Bodine passed away over the summer, and Justice inherited everything.” Cass paused. “Justice has the means to have purchased the gifts, but to me, he doesn’t seem to have the right personality. In fact, I don’t think he has even been home since he received his inheritance. At the biweekly poker game a few weeks ago, the guys were talking about the fact that he took off for Paris months ago and no one has seen him since.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true,” Dean admitted.

Martin shrugged. “Sorry that we couldn’t be more help.”

“It’s fine. I really appreciate you taking the time to speak to me at all. Would you be willing to give me some personal information and maybe a few anecdotes for my column next week? It would really help me out.”

Both men agreed to my request, so at least our trip out to their estate wasn’t a total waste. Cass had told me from the beginning he didn’t think the brothers were Secret Santa. I guess he was right, but if it wasn’t them, I was getting pretty low on suspects. I still needed to contact Mary Anderson, which I would do tomorrow, but after Martin’s comment about the timing of the whole thing, I was beginning to have my doubts on that front as well.

“Do you know which Secret Santa gift was the first?” I asked Cass as he drove toward the restaurant where we planned to have dinner.

“Actually, I’m not sure. I think it might have been Billy Prescott’s wheelchair or perhaps the down payment on the diner. I suppose you can check with Billy’s mother and with Connie and compare dates if it is important.”

“I’m not sure it is important, but it might be. I can’t get Martin’s comment about why now out of my head. I wonder if Secret Santa didn’t start with a specific gift for a specific purpose, and then once that gift was given, he caught the bug and kept going.”

“I guess knowing the order which the gifts were given might be a good piece of information to have. You’ve spoken to most of the recipients. I’m sure if you give them a call, they will provide you with the dates you’re after.”

“I wonder if there have been any Secret Santa gifts that never made it to my list. The list I have has been created as folks have mentioned instances of gift giving to me, but I really have no way to know if I have them all. Is there anyone in town who would be the most apt to know all the local news? Maybe someone who enjoys gossip, and is in a position to know what is going on?”

“Nora Nottaway. She is usually in the know if something is going on.”

Of course, Nora had been sick, so I wasn’t sure she’d been spending as much time at the general store as she normally did, but I supposed it wouldn’t hurt to stop by and say hi. The real challenge would be to act naturally in spite of what I knew. Keeping secrets, I knew from experience, wasn’t always as easy as it might seem.