Page 31 of Evidence of a Folktale

“I doubt this will be worse than seeing the victim bloody in the woods yesterday. I don’t want to give up this job, so I shouldn’t put things off. The longer I do, the harder it’ll be to get back into the swing of things… besides, you were the one who saw my dead doppelgänger. It will be good for me to stay with you.”

“I agree. Thank you,” Lina said as the women entered the exam room. “I still can’t figure out how that surgeon transformed another woman into you. If we ran your fingerprints and DNA, we would’ve eventually learned it wasn’t you, but it was eerily exact. I don’t understand.”

“I don’t know. I didn’t see the body,”Bel lied. She knew exactly how Dr. Blaubart had faked her death. With a scalpel cursed by black magic. A dangerous weapon that was now under Eamon’s protection.

“I’m glad you didn’t see it. You’ve been through enough.” The women paused before the examination table. “Are you ready?”

“I hope so.”

Lina began the exam, documenting her finds as she went, and Bel stood watch to collect the evidence. She tried to focus on the job and not the disfigured torso, forcing herself to be clinical in her approach. She could do this. She was a detective and a survivor. She’d been gifted a second chance when Gwen Rossa hadn’t, and she refused to waste that.

“There are no defensive wounds on the body,” Lina finally spoke. “She has some scrapes on her arms, but they aren’t injuries associated with self-defense. They were probably from running through the trees.”

“So she wasn’t made to wear that cloak with force,” Bel said. “She either disrobed willingly for the killer or took her clothes off under mental duress.”

“There are no signs of sexual assault or activity of any kind. If she’d planned to hook up with someone, she died before they got very far. And this attack feels animalistic.” Lina pointed to the torn abdomen. “A sharp, curved blade carved these wounds… like a claw, but I don’t think any North American predators possess claws this specifically elongated. The animal would have to be massive.”

Ewan flashed through Bel’s memory before Eamon’s words shoved to the forefront of her mind. “I have a theory,” she said. “Aesop’s Files is a paranormal police procedural. Monsters and crime scenes and over-the-top drama.”

“I’ve heard, but I don’t watch it,” Lina said. “It has its fans, but it’s too unrealistic for me. If I’m going to enjoy a show with vampires, witches, and werewolves in it, I need them to scare the living daylights out of me. I also believe that if supernatural beings existed, they wouldn’t be quirky characters interacting with humans. They’d be predators, and we’d be the prey.”

‘Like Eamon,’Bel thought to herself.‘And Ewan, Alcina, The Tinker, Dr. Blaubart.’They were all predators, and she’d been terrified of every single one of them.

“But your theory?” Lina prompted.

“Gwen Rossa was the Aesop’s Files head writer,” Bel explained. “And she dies in an overly dramatic way that’s reminiscent of the show’s deaths. Ripped apart in the woods while wearing only a red hood. It’s like the killer’s mimicking the show, paranormal aspectsand all.”

“Well, that’s scary,” Lina said.

“Is it possible that these lacerations were inflicted by prop claws?” Bel asked. “Did a fan want to live the show so badly that they created a weapon to reenact its murders?”

“Honestly? That makes a lot more sense than an animal killing this woman. I’ll keep that in mind when I examine the wounds,” Lina said. “Plus, that box with the ribbon. It was so… theatrical. You might be right. Someone could’ve followed the cast and crew here to recreate episodes with thevery people thatproduced them. Is there a red hood case in one of the seasons?”

“I’d have to double-check,” Bel said. “It pisses me off that the producers won’t halt filming while we investigate. This is merely a theory, but if someone’s recreating the show, a lot more people could die. The studio is willingly putting both its cast and crew and the fan in danger.”

“Good lord, please no more bodies,” Lina said. “Our town is overflowing. If we have a delusional killer on our hands, things will get messy quickly… not to mention the publicity. Can you imagine what will happen to Bajka when word gets out? Now add more than one crew member to the death toll?” She shuddered.

“Hopefully we find something during this exam that points us in the right direction. Most killers get sloppy.”

“Not in this town,” Lina laughed humorlessly. “We seem to attract the smart criminals… Oh, that box. Did you figure out what those letters meant?”

“Yes, I think so,” Bel said. “Not that it makes sense.”

“What do—what’s that?” The M.E. leaned over Rossa’s head, aiming the overhead light for a clearer view. “Come here. This is weird.”

Bel joined her, and after snapping some photos, Lina pressed her gloved finger to the woman’s eyeballs.

“Contact lenses,” she said as she pulled the object from Gwen’s eyes.

“What’s weird about that?” Bel asked.

“There’s something wrong with them. Hold on.” She moved to the magnifying glass. “Yeah, look. There’s a design on them. These aren’t normal contacts.”

“Design?” Bel joined her, and sure enough, the tiny lenses had what appeared to be a miniature landscape etched into them. “What big eyes you have,” she whispered, Eamon’s decoded message suddenly obvious.

“What?” Lina asked.

“The random letters in that gift box. It’s a Caesar Cipher,and it spelled out,‘What big eyes you have.’The killer was telling us to look in her eyes.”

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