Detective Samantha Strong calls Richie Buck with the news he never thought he would hear. Santa Claus is gone. His cell is empty. The news makes Richie’s heart sink. Santa once told him that only the guilty run. Now Richie is forced to confront the possibility that the man he defended might have vanished under the weight of his own secrets.
Shaken and angry, Richie storms into Sheriff Bradley Dewberry’s office looking for answers. Instead, he finds himself being interrogated and asked the one question he cannot answer. Where did Santa go? Richie insists he knows nothing, but underneath his fear and heartbreak, a new resolve forms. If Santa ran, Richie plans to hunt him down. For answers. For closure. And maybe for revenge.
Before he can begin the search, Richie returns to the tattoo parlor where he once celebrated Santa’s innocence. Now he demands the ink reveal the truth. One word. Guilty. As the new tattoo dries, Detective Strong interrupts, and Richie convinces her to join him on one last trip. There is still something he needs her to see.
They return to the eerie shrine in the Savannah cemetery where Richie once discovered a voodoo doll of Santa. The box has been disturbed. Another glove has been left behind. And the doll that once lay inside is gone. Whatever magic Richie believed in has been stripped bare. Detective Strong kneels beside him as Richie confronts the collapse of everything he once held sacred.
With the elves divided, the Easter Bunny exposed, and the Tooth Fairy rising as a new threat, Richie is left staring into a world that suddenly feels colder than the North Pole itself. Christmas might never be the same.
Next season, Richie heads to a true crime convention, hires a bounty hunter, returns to the North Pole, and begins a new investigation into the Tooth Fairy. And Santa Claus? He is out there somewhere.
Cast:
Richie Buck - Jason Usry
Santa Claus - Pat Picone
Sheriff Bradley Dewberry - Kevin Grogan
Detective Samantha Strong - Shiloh Catanese
Jenny, the Tattoo Artist - Kelli Berens-Brink
Dr. Prentice Jesper - Rebekah Sebastian
Head Elf, Jason Usry
Co-Executive Elves: Rebekah Sebastian, Dr. Shiloh Catanese, Dr. Scott Musgrove, and Michelle Kaz.
Santa Maybe, a Criminal is written and produced by Jason Usry
Music and Sound FX sourced through Epidemic Sound, Soundstripe, Audiio, Universal Music for Creators and more. Additional music and atmospheres provided by Captain Fathands.
Follow the show on social media:
X - @santamaybe
Facebook - @SantaMaybePodcast
Web - santamaybe.com
Until next time: BE NICE
