Remember, the whole point is to make him put his hands on Derek.

Jonah read it three times.

Then he called Emily Parker.

She answered cautiously.

“Hello?”

“Is this Emily from Northbridge Mall?”

“Yes.”

“My name is Jonah Reed.”

Silence.

“I was one of the guys filming Derek Sloan.”

Emily’s voice turned cold.

“What do you want?”

Jonah swallowed.

“I have the whole video.”

“Several people have already uploaded footage.”

“No,” Jonah said. “I mean everything. Before the shove. After the fight. All of it. And I have the messages from Derek’s manager.”

Emily didn’t answer immediately.

Then she said, “Can you send it?”

Jonah looked at the video.

At the first frame.

Santa sitting patiently in the chair while a little girl approached.

Derek entering from the right.

Brett laughing.

Jonah’s own voice saying, “This is gonna be hilarious.”

He felt sick.

“Yeah,” he said.

“I can send it.”

“But I need to ask you something.”

“What?”

“Does the old man know people are calling him dangerous?”

Emily’s answer was quiet.

“He knows.”

Jonah closed his eyes.

“Tell him I’m sorry.”

“Tell him yourself.”

The following evening, Jonah arrived at Arthur’s home.

He was visibly nervous.

Arthur opened the door wearing a faded sweatshirt and slippers.

Without the Santa costume, he looked older than Jonah expected.

His gray hair was thinning.

His posture was slightly stiff.

A dark bruise extended across his shoulder.

Jonah had imagined a frightening man.

Someone intimidating.

Someone angry.

Arthur looked like a grandfather who had been interrupted while making dinner.

“You’re Jonah.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Come in.”

Jonah hesitated.

“You’re not mad?”

Arthur studied him.

“Should I be?”

“I filmed everything.”

“I noticed.”

“I laughed.”

“I noticed that too.”

Jonah looked at the floor.

Arthur stepped aside.

“Come in anyway.”

Vincent Hall was already sitting at the kitchen table.

He was seventy, a retired attorney who had spent much of his career representing athletes and small businesses.

His thick glasses rested low on his nose.

Nora sat beside him.

Jonah placed his laptop on the table.

For nearly twenty minutes, nobody spoke.

They watched the original footage.