If you asked Veronica Mars to pick the last person on Earth she could picture in a Santa suit, handing out presents to underprivileged children, she'd have to say Dick Cheney, followed closely by Donald Trump. But right on their heels would be Neptune's Sheriff, Don Lamb.
Now, if you said there was press around to cover the event, sure, cause Lamb was good at PR, but there wasn't a camera in sight. Just a sheriff in a red suit, fake beard and belly, with a little girl on his knee, who just lit up when he handed her a Dora the Explorer doll.
She set down the tray of baked goods she had brought to the community center party and surreptitiously watched Lamb a while longer, not wanting to dwell on how quickly she'd ID'd him by the bright blue of his eyes alone.
He was gentle and patient with the children, very different from how he was with everyone else. It made her think of how he had let her and Duncan go outside of Meg's, when for once he could have actually made charges stick, because he believed them when they said a child was being abused. She knew he some night's he still sat outside Meg's, just to let her father know he knew….
No! She chided herself. He was still the devil, all dumb and evil….just dumb and evil with a soft spot for kids. And kinda adorable in a Santa suit.
Oh, God damn it!