Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16

Nick

A riana's so delighted at the prospect of getting me into my Santa suit that she shoves a beautiful bride and her mother out of the shop, promising to do her dress fitting later.

"Sorry," I mouth as the women gather up their purses to leave.

To my surprise, the bride beams at me. "No problem, Mr. Jolly! We're just glad you're going to be Santa this weekend, after all. It wouldn't be the same without you. Besides, my wedding's not until September."

As they traipse out, Ari hums a Christmas carol under her breath while she flits and flutters around me with the measuring tape. After she promises to have the suit ready to go within the hour, she shoos me out of the shop so she can concentrate.

I wander around the square aimlessly. The crowd is picking up, buzzing with festive energy despite the heat, and I soak in the good vibes. Across the green, there's a long line of people queued up in front of Merry's dessert truck for frozen hot chocolate and homemade peppermint ice cream. Up on the bandstand, the Mapleville Merrymakers, our very own not-entirely-terrible Jimmy Buffett cover band, is playing "Ho Ho Ho and a Bottle of Rhum." A gaggle of kids streaks past me dragging a red sleigh kite behind them, as they search for a breeze.

I lean against a wall near the bookstore and watch the activity for a while, then check my watch. I've killed a grand total of twelve minutes. Now what? I could go back to the house, but Holly and Rosemary are two of a kind, and they've made it abundantly clear that I'm in the way.

I decide to head down to the library. I tell myself this is in the service of efficiency so Noelle and I can open the clue and figure out our next spot while I'm waiting to pick up the suit and not because I want to see her. Then I tell myself that I'm a dirty liar. With a destination in mind, I circle back, hurrying past Ari's Alterations, and head down High Street toward the library.

As I pass in front of Alpine Jewelers, Xander, moving with uncharacteristic alacrity, zips through the front door and grabs me by my collar.

"Nick! I have to show you something." He yanks me into the shop .

I give him a careful look. His eyes are wild, and he's more amped up than I've ever seen him.

"Everything okay, Xander?"

"Come with me."

He tuts at the woman behind the counter, leaving her in charge of the handful of people in the shop, then he leads me to his office in the back. As soon as I walk through the door, he swivels his computer desktop monitor around to face me and stands beside me, jabbing at it.

"Do you see?"

"What are we looking at, Xander?"

"It's the security footage from inside the shop. After you and Noelle left, I couldn't stop thinking about that handprint. It was bothering me."

"I could tell."

"Well, look at this. Just before you two came in, I was helping a family pick out matching charms for their bracelets. It's a tradition." He points to the footage of several women gathered around a display case. He stands behind it, holding a tray of charms in his outstretched hands.

"I see. That's a nice tradition." Where is he going with this?

"The husbands and boyfriends were milling around like bulls waiting to stampede. They were getting antsy, and the shop was getting crowded, so I suggested they visit Merry's truck or the coffee shop. And watch what happens while they're leaving." He points at the monitor at a man who slips through the group. The man tries to and fails to open the locked display window that faces the street.

"Pause it."

He freezes the image. The angle's not great, and the resolution is grainy. In addition, the man is wearing big oversized sunglasses and a baseball cap pulled down low.

"But he wasn't part of that group," Xander continues.

He restarts the recording. The cluster of men streams through the door with the guy in the hat and glasses at the back of the pack. When they reach the sidewalk, the rest of the men turn left, and this man peels off to the right.

"Huh. Can you print a screen capture of him?"

"Sure."

As he hits the button to print the photo, I say, "Do you have security cameras on the back of the building?"

"Of course."

"Have you looked at the footage from behind the shop?"

He shakes his head. "No."

"Can you switch to that camera?"

He clicks some buttons and pulls up the camera feed. It has a view of the bench where Noelle and I sat and a partial view of the alleyway between his building and the next one.

"All right, cue it up to the time when that man left."

He fusses with the keys, and I lean in. We see nothing but an empty courtyard for a while. The guy in the hat and sunglasses appears at the edge of the alleyway. As we watch, he crosses the yard on a diagonal, heading toward the library.

"Can you?—?"

"Should I call the county police?" Xander cuts me off, interrupting someone for what may well be the first time in his life.

I consider my answer. "Nothing's missing, right?"

"No. But he's up to something."

"Oh, no doubt." I agree. "But if you can hold off for a couple hours, I'll circle back with Noelle and see if we can figure out what's going on. We haven't opened the clue yet. It might give us some ideas."

He mulls it over for several seconds, then nods, and hands me the printout. "I can do that."

"Thanks."

I've got my hand on the doorknob to leave when he says, "By the way, I heard Josh had to leave town. I'm glad you're getting back in the Santa saddle."

Me, too. But before I can engage Santa mode in earnest, I need to figure out what the man in the video is up to.