Page 88
I take deep breaths of cold air to calm my racing pulse from nearly kissing Nathan. Meanwhile, Meyers gets straight to the point.
“Bird found fingerprints on the map,” she says. “Most of them belong to the Con crew who packed the bags, but we managed to lift a partial fingerprint that belongs to Holly Winter.”
Could Holly really be involved? Were we wrong about the Mr. Claus sign-off?
“But off-site cleared her,” I say. “They cleared all the judges, didn’t they?”
“Everyone checked out according to the background reports, fingerprints, and lack of motive,” Meyers says. “We did find one detail off-site withheld. Messaging you now.”
I skim what Meyers sends about Holly. She’s pretty much who she appears to be. Except for one new detail…
She was rejected from Quantico.
I scan the bullet points below this piece of news. She made it as far as securing a conditional job offer but then failed the polygraph. That’s why her fingerprints were in the system.
Did Holly manage to secure a spot in the Santa Claus Con so she could get back at the FBI? Is she still bitter about the rejection all those years ago? I know I would be. Deciding to apply to the FBI to begin with is not an easy decision. To get as far as she did in the process only to have her dreams crushed must’ve been devastating. But why now? Why us? How do the clues about our past operations relate at all to her? Unless we’re wrong about the riddles and their meanings…
“Apparently, the Con chose to include her over the Radio City people because the streamer gave them more money, which, of course they did,” Meyers tells us. “Usually, it’s just a fun quid pro quo marketing play with the Christmas show, but given that it’s the Con’s fiftieth anniversary, this year’s Santa of the Year is going to be the most famous one yet.”
“Are any of the Santa Wannabes part of that show?” Nathan asks. “Maybe they’re out for revenge? If something dangerous happens at the Con, it’ll make the Con look bad. Maybe it’s not personal at all.”
Maybe.
“The Con got paid to swap Holly in,” Meyers says, “since her movies are being added to the streaming site.”
Of course it came down to the bottom line. It usually does.
“There’s also Arjun Dennen,” Meyers says. “I have him clear as day on cameras sticking a knife in your tire outside the jewelry store.”
“Seriously? These Santas are all sadistic!” I say. “Arjun was just eliminated, though he’s the only person we have with a motive… and a weapon.” A candy-cane-handled one, no less. There goes our chance to bond over calligraphy fonts.
Now that there are only ten Santa Wannabes left, we have room to investigate more people. “We’ll keep an eye on Holly and Arjun.”
“And Cameron,” Nathan adds.
“The judges had to sign release forms, too, didn’t they? Can we get those for handwriting samples?” I ask. “Wait, Josie? Can you also look into a couple other people for us? Norman Hawksbury and Arnold Rossetti.”
She says she will, and then we hang up.
“Arnold?” Nathan asks, confused.
“He was on the boat.”
“After Maui, when I was called away, I was taken off that operation,” he says, puzzling the pieces together. “Arnold left the group a little after the last job in LA. I wouldn’t have thought he’d be on the boat.”
“He was there as a plus-one,” I say.
“To who?”
“He… didn’t specify.” Why didn’t I ask who? “I was playing the role of a naïve snorkeler. Asking questions would’ve looked suspicious.”
“If he was there, he would’ve been fingerprinted by the FBI,” Nathan says. “Maybe his prints will match with someone here.” He runs his hand down his face. “Could this really be Hawk? He already got a deal. Why push it? Maybe he’s still mad that you pushed him overboard—”
“He almost blew my cover!”
“He was fished out and taken back into FBI custody, arrested and fingerprinted along with everyone else to preserve his cover. Then he got his agreed-upon reduced jail time for helping us.”
“How reduced?”
