Page 12 of Forensics of a Fable

“How well do you know him?” Gold asked, her intuition clueing her in to Bel’s barely contained emotions.

“More than I should and less than I would like,” she answered. “Eamon Stone is a lot of things, but he isn’t the killer. He…” she trailed off, unsure how to convince Olivia withoutsounding desperate or blind. “He saved my life during my last case. If not for him, I’d be dead, and… He didn’t do this.”

“All right,” Gold retreated, her eyes not convinced but her voice relenting. “So maybe the scene was intended for him?”

Bel’s insides burned cold. She had that exact thought that morning.

“Alana was last seen flirting with Eamon at The Espresso Shot,” Bel admitted. “I’m not sure why someone would leave her for him, but I guess it’s possible.”

“He was the last person to see her alive?” Gold asked incredulously. “I still think we need to talk to him.”

“Half of Bajka was last to see her alive,” Bel answered. “I was at the fundraiser too, but I left before her. Eamon left immediately after that.”

“How do you know?” Gold asked, and Bel’s eyebrows raised in atake-a-guessexpression. “Oh…” Olivia said. “So multiple people saw her that night, but someone had to be the last. We should ask the owner if they remember when she left.”

“I’ll talk to David tomorrow,” Bel said. “Perhaps he noticed her leave with someone.”

“Eamon was flirting with her?” Gold asked, doubling back to that fact.

“She flirted with him,” Bel bristled uncomfortably.

“Maybe that’s why the murderer left her on his property,” Gold said. “Her dad believed she wasn’t dating anyone, but what if she had a stalker? What if someone liked her and when they witnessed her with Eamon Stone, they lost it? What if they posed her on his estate as a way of blaming him, telling him her death was his fault for entertaining her advances?”

“It would explain the level of care,” Bel added as they parked at the station. “Perhaps they killed her out of jealousy and then cared for her out of regret.”

“Doesn’t explain the premeditation, though.”

“It might. He could’ve been pursuing her for a while and decided that if she wouldn’t give in, he would end it. The killer possibly planned her death all along, and Eamon’s presence was the last straw.”

“That makes sense,” Olivia agreed. “We should talk to her friends and find out if a man was hanging around.”

“Hi, Dad.”Bel trapped the phone between her ear and shoulder as she accepted the ball from Cerberus and tossed it down the trail. She had made it home before sunset and raced outside to enjoy the remains of the day with her dog.

“Hi, sweetheart,” her father said, answering with a smile in his voice. “Everything all right?”

“Yes… why does something have to be wrong when I call?”

“It doesn’t, but you forget you’re the child that takes too much after me, and I know when something is bothering you. I can hear it in the way you say my name.”

“I’m fine.” Cerberus brought the ball back, and Bel launched it as far as she could. “A bear killed a hiker this morning.”

“By your house?” Alarm colored her father’s tone, and she suddenly wondered if taking her pitbull for a hike had been a wise idea.

“No, the opposite end of town, deeper into the trails,” Bel answered. “But that’s not all. I got called out to the scene, and I found a second body.”

“Two hikers? Sweetheart, I hope you’re steering clear of the woods.

“Not a hiker.” She strategically avoided telling him where she currently stood. “A murder, Dad.”

“Another?”

“Yes, and the circumstances are weird. I’m not in danger, but it feels like too much. I’m not ready to go through this again.”

“That’s it, I’m coming,” her father said, and she heard a drawer open in the background.

“Dad…”

“No arguing. I haven’t been there since you moved, and you have a lot going on. I hate the idea of you being alone during this.”

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