The Mystery Before Christmas

Cass was in his office when I stopped by. I immediately noticed the colorfully decorated tree on the corner of his desk. It was one of those live trees they sold at the market. I wasn’t certain if he’d brought it in himself or if someone from the community had brought it by, but it did make the place feel a bit festive.

“So, how did your talk with Dex go?” Cass asked shortly after I’d taken a seat. We’d talked about the chat I’d planned to have with Dex, and he knew how nervous I’d been about it.

“It didn’t go. I guess Brock has taken a leave from the newspaper until after New Year’s, and Dex had to cover a house fire, so he wasn’t in when I stopped by to drop off my stories.”

Cass frowned. “I haven’t heard about a house fire.”

“The house that burned down is outside of town. I suppose the main dispatch might have sent someone from the Rivers Bend office. It might even be closer to where the fire occurred.”

“Was anyone hurt?”

“Gabby says no. Which is good. It is too bad the family who lived in the house lost their home, but at least no one was home when the fire broke out. While devastating, it could have been worse.”

He nodded. “Yes, it could have been. So what’s going on with Brock?”

“Family stuff. It sounds like he is working on it, which is good, but I’m afraid that leaves me in a bit of a pickle. We talked about the fact that I’d decided that I didn’t want to identify Secret Santa even if I do manage to figure out who he or she is, which at this point, isn’t a given, so I’d planned to pass the story along to Brock, but now that he’s out on leave…”

“There is no one to pass the story to.”

“Exactly. I suppose that’s Dex’s problem, and he could do it himself if need be, but I can’t do that to him. I’d feel like I was bailing on a sinking ship. I still don’t want to do the story for all the same reasons I didn’t want to do it the last time we spoke, but I also don’t want to add to the pressure Dex must be feeling by telling him that I decided not to write the story I promised I would write and he is depending on me to provide.”

Cass leaned back in his chair. He rocked gently front to back. “You are in a tough situation,” he admitted. “Maybe you can convince Dex that it is a bad idea to reveal Secret Santa’s identity. If you can, then you can write a lovely Christmas Eve piece minus the big reveal.”

“That would be ideal, but with the Post in the mix, I doubt he will go for it.”

“Yeah,” he said, blowing out a breath.

“I let Gabby know that I was free to take on some additional assignments if Dex needed my help. I’m hoping that if I can help him fill the void left by Brock’s absence, he won’t fire me when he realizes that I was unable to finish my assignment.”

“Perhaps, but it seems that unable to finish might be easier to stomach than unwilling to finish. If you are able to identify Secret Santa, but then refuse to give him up, I have a feeling Dex might take that personally. If you do your best, but simply can’t figure it out, I’m not really sure how he can fire you over that.”

“So, I should just continue to look for Secret Santa, but maybe not too hard?”

He shrugged.

“Don’t you think he’ll see through that? Maybe I should just be honest and take whatever consequences might come my way as a result.”

“I suppose that might be the best way to deal with things, but I wouldn’t wait. He might not be able to give the story to Brock as you hoped, but if you wait to tell him that you are unwilling to deliver the story he wants until it is too late, it seems to me that he’ll be twice as mad.”

“I know you’re right. I’ll let him know what is on my mind when we have our meeting. Maybe I will be able to convince him that not unmasking the guy really is the best thing to do for everyone involved.”

“That’s the spirit. A positive frame of mind wins out every time.”

“I guess,” I said, lifting a shoulder. “So, how are you doing with your cases?”

“Not as well as I’d like. We know Ford was definitely murdered. As I mentioned earlier, the trauma to his head is a lot more evident than the trauma to Buford’s head. Still, I suspect the same person is behind both deaths. It looks as if Buford might have been hit where he fell. The blow to Buford’s head didn’t bleed, so it is hard to know for certain. Ford’s wound, however, bled quite a lot. We found blood in his living room, so we assume he was killed in his home and then transported to the lake.”

“So was there other evidence?”

“CSU is going over everything. They are looking for fingerprints and other physical evidence. The thing is that Ford has never been a good housekeeper, and things have been really bad since Buford died. The crime scene guys are never going to be able to pick out evidence such as clothing fibers in all the mess.”

“That’s too bad. Any clue at all as to who might have killed him?”

He slowly shook his head. “I suppose that the killer must be someone known to both Buford and Ford. Given the fact that Buford froze to death as a result of passing out, which could have been caused by the blow to the head, it does seem possible that the whole thing was just a terrible accident. If that is true, then the killer might even have confided in someone.”

“Like Ford.”

“Exactly. But then once Ford was brought in on the secret, the killer started having doubts about Ford’s ability to keep his secret, and once he was brought in for questioning, he panicked, so he killed him to keep him quiet.”

“That explanation works for me, but how are you going to prove it?”

“I’m not sure. Yet. But I do plan to continue to work on it until I catch a break. It’ll happen. It always does. Eventually.”

“Have you spoken to any of the men’s mutual friends? Maybe Ford wasn’t the only one who knew what happened to Buford, assuming that is even what is going on, which at this point is pretty much nothing more than a shot in the dark, I suppose.”

“I’ve interviewed everyone who is a member of the lodge both men belonged to as well as everyone who hung out at the bar they frequented. I’ve found that there are a lot of theories as to what is going on and who might be involved, but so far, I haven’t found a consensus of any sort. Ford ended up in a frozen lake, so if there was ever any physical evidence on his body, it is most likely long gone, but I do have people looking for anything that will better define what happened.”