"Tell me again what happened to the singing bear," Lopez said.
The phrase brought to mind Carlos' phone conversations near the performance platform, and I realized he had been speaking to his son shortly before calling his wife.
"Oh, that's how you showed up here just in time to stop your mother from giving me a concussion," I said, realizing it hadn't been a lucky (or unlucky) coincidence. "This is where you were meeting your parents."
"Actually, I was meeting them in sporting goods," he said, "so we could pick up my eldest brother's Christmas gift. He's getting into town tomorrow. But my dad couldn't find the department, and my mom couldn't find my dad. Then Pop called and asked me to meet him by the singing bear, instead. At first, I thought I'd heard wrong . . ." He looked over at the prone bear. "So what exactly happened here?"
I decided just to tell him. "Karaoke Bear grew fangs and claws and tried to attack your father."
There was a long pause. Then: "That's your story? For real?"
"Yep. And I'm sticking to it."
"O . . . kay." Another pause. "Did anyone else see this?"
"Some little kids. They got scared and ran away."
"Before or after you attacked my father?"
"I didn't attack-"
"Let me rephrase that," he said. "Is it possible that you scared them away? When you suddenly launched a flying dropkick at a bystander, for example?"
"No! They got scared when they saw the bear turn into something monstrous."
"And that's when they ran away?"
"No, they screamed and ran away when . . . um . . ."
"Yes?"
"When I kicked your dad," I said sullenly.
"So when did the bear short-circuit?"
"He didn't. I just made that up so your parents won't think I'm crazy."
"Oh, I think we already crossed that bridge and burned it behind us," Lopez said in resignation.
"I was trying to sound sane," I grumbled.
"It was a good effort," he assured me. "I appreciated it."
"But you didn't believe me?"
"Well, I had a feeling there was more to it than that-with you, there usually is," he said philosophically. "But I believed that part. I still do. I mean, that bear sure looks like its circuits blew."
"Really?" I cautiously stepped closer to Karaoke Bear to get a good look, recalling the smoke I'd seen rising from his body after he keeled over. I noticed scorch marks around his eyes and mouth. "Hmm. Like the tree yesterday . . ."
"Yeah. I'd say they really need to overhaul all their mechanical displays." He thought it over and added, "Or their whole electrical system."
I wondered what to make of this. Maybe the force lurking inside Fenster & Co. was looking for a host-or hosts?-but was so powerful that its energy quickly destroyed the vehicles it tried to inhabit.
Well, the ones powered by electricity, anyhow. I thought about my consistent impression that Naughty and Nice were Evil incarnate . . .
"I want you to promise me something," Lopez said.
"Mmm?"
But what if my metaphor had been more realistic than I'd realized? What if Freddie's bimbos were Evil in the flesh? What if they weren't a couple of air-headed bitches whose entire self-worth was tied up in their cheap good looks, but instead innocent victims of the entity inhabiting Fenster's?
"I want you to stay away from anything mechanical around here," said Lopez. "Toys, promotional items, gimmicks, displays . . . Since you're not worried they'll fire anyone at this point, you probably won't lose your job for refusing to work at certain posts."
What if this thing invading the store wasn't starting its insidious conquest via toys and devices? What if it had started by possessing people, and we just didn't realize it?
"And even if they do fire you . . ." Lopez continued, "It was only going to be two more days' pay, right? And you'll be back at work at Stella's soon, after all. I know things are tight, Esther, but if push comes to shove, it would definitely be better to get fired than to get electrocuted. They're obviously not exercising due diligence around here-or even common sense. So I'd feel better if you'd promise me not to do any more shifts with things that could hurt you."
I needed to find Max and Lucky. And Nelli! Maybe the familiar's combined mystical and canine senses could detect whether Naughty and Nice were possessed.
"Esther? Are you listening to me?"
"Uh-huh," I said absently.
With luck, maybe Nelli could smell the Evil emanating from those two elves. Or something.
"In fact," Lopez was saying, "until we know how widespread the problem is, maybe you should just avoid touching anything connected to the electrical system here. Light switches. The coffee machine or microwave in the break room. Elevator buttons."
"Elevator," I repeated, meeting his gaze when I heard him say that.
The elevator, the mechanical tree, the singing bear . . . Electricity was the common denominator in the incidents we knew about for certain. Maybe that was how we could narrow our search and locate the-the-whatever was here at Fenster's with us, unseen but present. Could the entity be inhabiting the store's electrical power system?
Lopez said, "Your friend Satsy's reality was more than a little altered by the high-quality grass he'd been smoking before he got into the freight elevator, but that doesn't mean the elevator didn't really malfunction."
"How do you know about that?" I asked, startled.
He gave me a funny look. "I was standing right there when Drag Queen Santa said the elevator had . . . Oh." He realized what I meant. "It's my job to be better at noticing things than the guys on the loading docks are at hiding them. Of course I know about the weed."
"Oh. Right." I nodded. I should have expected that-especially given that activity on the docks comprised part of his investigation. "Never mind."
"Luckily for those guys," he said, "I don't care about it. I'm looking for a criminal conspiracy to commit armed robbery, not a few tokers."
His cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, glanced at the screen, and said, "I've got to take this. Excuse me."
I liked that he did that when he took a call. So many people just interrupted me without pause to start yammering into their phones, as if I were chopped liver. Having seen Lopez with his father, I could guess where he'd learned his good manners. (And having seen him with his mother, it was easy to guess how he had learned to exercise his patience.)
"Lopez," he said into the phone. After a moment, he frowned. "Now? I thought-Oh. Yeah, okay. So how's it going?" He smiled as he glanced at me. "Well, elves can be feisty, you know. Uh-huh. Yeah, I know who you mean. No, I don't think so, either." He listened for a few more moments, then said, "Right. Okay. Let me know."
As he ended the call, I said with a touch of resentment, "Is there another trouble-making elf in the store today?
"Not exactly." He took a breath and informed me, "NYPD has just started executing a search warrant of employee areas throughout the store. And the Russian elf . . ."
"Nutcracker," I supplied.
"Well, that name sure fits," he muttered. "Nutcracker was in the ladies' locker room on the fourth floor when the cops entered and started their search. I gather she got a little hostile."
"I have absolutely no trouble picturing that," I said.
"But they're gonna let it pass."
I was annoyed. "Why am I the only elf that people want to lock up?"
"I am not touching that with a ten foot pole," he said.
I realized what he'd just told me. "The cops are searching the locker room? The one I use?"
"Yes. Well, all the locker rooms. And all the break rooms."
"You really think elves and reindeer are involved in the hijackings?"
"I'm more inclined to suspect Santas," he admitted. "But that's a personal prejudice."
I gasped as I realized, "This means NYPD will be looking through my things!"
"The warrant's very specific, Esther," he said reassuringly. "You can't get in trouble for anything they find that doesn't connect you to this case."
"Oh, thank you very much for your confidence in me, Connor," I said irritably. "I'm not worried about them finding something illegal. I'm worried about total strangers pawing through my personal belongings! It makes me feel violated."
"Do you want me to do it?" he asked.
"No," I snapped. "Having you paw through my belongings-"
"I don't paw."
"-would just be . . . weird."
"It would be a little weird for me, too," he said. "So let's leave them to it. Okay?"
"Hmph." After a moment, I asked, "You really think one of us is involved?"
"I think it seems like someone has access to more information about Fenster's procedures and shipments than is likely to be available to a short-term seasonal employee. And getting the inside person in position just in time to start pulling these heists seems too clumsy to match the skill level that's behind this operation. Which is why I'm more interested in the permanent staff. But I could be wrong." He shrugged. "So we're running background checks on everyone. Which is a big job, given the size of the staff, especially at this time of year. It's taking a while."