The Fancy Valley office was glowing red and green when Truly stepped down from the ladder she had been using to hang lights and decorations. Justin walked out of his office and shielded his eyes from the intense lighting. Duey emerged from the office right after him and smiled. “This looks incredible,” he exclaimed. “Great job, Truly. It looks like we are all set for the party.”

“This might be a bit much,” Justin mumbled quietly while kicking a stray ornament on the floor. Duey ignored Justin’s Scrooge moment and made his way over to Sue. He wanted to be sure that all the invitations had been received and the RSVPs stated whether their guests would be bringing a guest. “I just want to make sure the caterer has the correct head count.” Sue reassured him that everything was all set.

On the night of the holiday party, their office was bursting with colleagues, clients, and many other guests. Holiday music and laughter filled the air. Justin stood quietly in the corner of the room sipping holiday punch while Duey was in the middle of the crowd mingling with clients.

Surprisingly, Rob Berry appeared with a guest that wasn’t initially expected. Duey noticed this but thought to himself, “The more the merrier.” Justin was scanning the crowd from a distance and for some reason his eyes kept landing on Rob’s date. He thought she looked familiar, but he couldn’t quite place who she was. He began sneaking around the perimeter of the office trying to get a closer glimpse of her face.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash and Justin looked over to see Rob’s date laughing while dropping a computer on the floor. The light finally hit her face. It was Nancy Reegan, and she was back with a vengeance! Duey shouted, “Nancy, what are you doing here?”

The entire room went silent and shocked expressions covered everyone’s face. “Now no one will ever know about my past,” Nancy cackled while pointing to the destroyed computer on the floor. “I told you that you would regret the day you fired me!”

Justin shook his head and smirked. He couldn’t believe Nancy really thought that smashing one of their computers would completely wipe out all record of her electronic background report. He made his way through the crowd and stood in front of Nancy. He smiled at her and simply said, “I’m calling the police.” Nancy tried to take off running, but law enforcement showed up just shortly after Sue tackled her to the ground. Everyone watched in surprise as Nancy was pinned just before making it out to the fire escape.

“Well, this will certainly be on her next criminal background investigation,” Duey said as the police took Nancy out in handcuffs.

Justin noticed Rob trying to creep out, silently. He blocked his exit just in time. “So tell me Rob,” Justin mused. “What was your motive in bringing Nancy here? What point are you trying to make?” Rob looked at him, nervously and shrugged, “I just wanted to ruin your stupid party, I guess.” Justin shook his head and moved so Rob could run away like the coward he is.

Truly, Duey, and Justin apologized to their remaining guests and finished cleaning up. Duey knew Sue was exhausted after taking Nancy down, so he told her to head home. “I’m sorry the lovely party you put together didn’t turn out so well, Duey said.” Truly exclaimed, “Are you kidding? That was awesome! Nothing that interesting ever happened at my last job,” Plus, I just figured out why I keep waking up to trash cans all over my yard!”

Justin looked out the window and let out a laugh. “I wonder what crazy adventures the New Year will have in store for us,” he said while they continued cleaning up the smashed computer.

What will the New Year bring for Fancy Valley?

Is Nancy finally gone for good?

Is Fancy Valley’s contract with COPS In jeopardy, again?

Find out in the next issue!