Sweet, sweet Baxter. This is why he will never know about the nanny cams, and why we hid them in places neither child would ever think to look: in the speaker hanging from a wall, behind a fake clock on the shelf, in a dummy fire alarm anchored to the ceiling. Because Baxter is the sweetest, most trusting, blabbermouth on the planet.

Behind the black knit of the mask, the man’s eyes go small and squinty. “What Santa cams?”

I gesture to a square, white device in the keeping room behind me, wedged in the corner of the ceiling. It picks up on my movement, and a red light winks. “The motion sensors have a direct line to Santa’s workshop, but there’s no app on my phone. Santa is the only one who can see.”

The man’s lips spread in a smile so wide, the corners disappear behind the fabric. “That’s... I have to give it to you, Jade, that’s pretty near genius. No joke. So dang clever I wish I’d thought of it myself. Not that my house is anywhere near as fancy as this one is, but that’s some real smart parenting right there. Really, really good job.”

What am I supposed to say—thank you? Please don’t tell my kids there’s no Santa?

But I also don’t miss the information he slipped in there, maybe on purpose, maybe by accident. That his house is not as nice as mine. The implication that he’s a parent. The kids might not have noticed, but I did, and it thrills me. It tells me if I’m patient enough, he might just blurt out more.

“But I guess that’s bad news for me, though, huh? Means I’m on the naughty list.”

Baxter gasps. Beatrix doesn’t respond.

The man wriggles a grape off the stem and pops it in his mouth. “But okay, kids, this is another teachable moment, so listen up. Let’s talk about the lesson here. When I asked your mom about the sixth camera, what did she do?” He surveys the kids while chewing another grape.

No one responds.

Baxter wriggles around to face him. The talk of Santa has perked him up some.

The man cups a palm around the lump that is his right ear. “What’s that, Beatrix? You said she didn’t lie?” He leans back and grins some more. “Smart girl. Your mom didn’t make up some story or try to trick me with the Ring. She passed the test. When I confronted her with the discrepancy, she told me the truth. And do you know why she did that?”