Page 36 of Evidence of a Folktale

“If he skipped parole, he could very well be in town,” Bel said. “He has special effects experience. He could’ve easily created the custom weapon used to kill Gwen Rossa.”

“But why her?” Griffin asked. “She’s a writer. How could she be responsible for a prop malfunction?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she ran into it and knocked a piece off, but didn’t bother to fix it, so he blames her for the accident. Or maybe she wassimplypresent when it happened, and Chayce associates her with the guilty parties.”

“I don’t like this.” Griffin placed his half-eaten sandwich on the desk. “If Chayce skipped parole to get revenge on the people who sent him to prison, I doubt Gwen Rossa is his only target. He’ll kill again, and our town is bursting at the seams with strangers. If he’s here, he won’t be easy to find.”

“We’re already stretched so thin,” Bel said. “We don’t have the numbers for a manhunt.”

“I can talk to the producers again. With this new information, they might consider canceling or postponing the fan events… not that I have high hopes for that. Without concrete proof,all we have isa missing parolee and a theory.”

“And they seemed adamant about keeping to the schedule,” Bel said. “The whole thing is weird. Refusing to pause shooting when your show’s writer is brutally murdered. Creating a madhouse by hosting events at the same times as a location shoot. It’s unorthodox. Does a show this popularreallyneed extra money?”

“Unfortunately, we’ve seen what wealth drives people to do,” Griffin said. “A man married a woman just to murder her and her young brothers to gain their inheritance. Meet-and-greets are nothing compared to that.”

“You’re right. It’s just?—”

“A lot,” he finished for her. “Are you sure you’re okay? I can always call for help.”

“I don’t want another detective taking over my case,” Bel said. “This is my town and my job. Blaubart took enough from me. He isn’t stealing anything else.”

“Okay. I had to check. I’ll stick with you when I can, though.”

“Thanks… but I don’t want to be a burden.”

“Isobel Emerson a burden?” Griffin rolled his eyes. “We’d havea lotmore cold cases if it weren’t for you. Now eat your sandwich so we can brief everyone about Chayce. We need to find him before he finds his next target.”

“Olivia!”Bel chased after her partner, catching up with her just as she exited the station.

After lunch, Griffin had called a meeting to discuss the Orion Chayce lead before leaving to reason with Aesop’s Files producers. The officers returned to the chaos, and the rest of the day transformed into a madhouse of paperwork, endless patrols, evidence examinations, and volatile crowd control, all against the backdrop of eager reporters and nosy social media posters. It seemed everyone with a cell phone considered themselves a reporter investigating Gwen Rossa’s murder, and Bel almost ducked out of instinct as she exited the precinct. She hated that her face had undoubtedly appeared on dozens of social media posts, and she wondered if Eamon had a contact that could scour the internet and erase her features from the fans’ online hysteria.

“Are you hungry?” she asked when Olivia stopped walking. “We could grab takeout and work at my place, or yours.”

“I have leftovers in my fridge,” her partner said. “But I’ll email you if I find anything.”

“Olivia.” Bel wrapped her arms around herself as she cut off Gold’s escape. She should’ve grabbed a coat because it seemed they were doing this in the freezing parking lot. “I don’t care what we eat, but we work together. We haven’t had time to talk, but if we don’t make time, we’ll avoid each other forever. You’re my best friend, and I?—”

“No!” Olivia hissed. “Because if you were my best friend, you would’ve warned me I was sleeping with a monster.”

“He’s not?—”

“He is.” Olivia stepped closer so she wouldn’t have to raise her voice and risk being caught on someone’s cell phone camera. “You might think so because compared to whatever devil Eamon is, a bear is normal, but to me? I was in love with him, Bel. I told you I thought he was the one, and you just kept your mouth shut. Youwere going tolet me marry a bear without warning me who I’d let into my life. Youwere going tolet me end up with cubs for kids, and that’s not something friends do. So no, I won’t make time to talk. I’ll work with you because I’m a professional, but I can’t be friends with a liar.”

“They weren’t my secrets to tell,” Bel argued.

“Maybe not Eamon’s, but Ewan’s? You owed me the truth about him. Have you seen it? Have you seen his bear?”

Bel nodded.

“How many times?”

She didn’t answer.

“How many times?” Olivia’s volume increased.

“Twice,” she admitted. “Once before I knew what he was and again when he shifted in front of me.”

“You’ve seen him shift? When?”

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