Page 58 of Evidence of a Folktale

“Cause of deathwas exsanguination just like Rossa’s,” Lina said the next morning as she and Bel conducted Ellery Roja’s autopsy. Olivia was, once again, conveniently absent. She’d declined to attend the exam in favor of tracking down Gwen Rossa’s final movements. Roja had returned to the bed-and-breakfast the night before she died, leaving at midnight to walk to the mini-mart alone, but Rossa’s last hours were still unaccounted for. Splitting up to tackle the mountain of work was smart when the department was spread so thin, but her partner’s absence was eating Bel alive. Was this how it would be for the rest of their careers? Was her best friend destined to become a stranger?

“Roja has no defensive wounds on her arms, and her feet aren’t badly damaged,” Lina continued, oblivious to Bel’s distress. “It’s identical to Rossa’s body.”

“No sexual assault?” Bel asked.

“No sexual activity at all,” Lina answered. “Doesn’t mean she wasn’t expecting to hook up with someone, though.”

“I don’t know,” Bel said. “She was seen ata twenty-four-hour mini-mart buying chipsin the middle of the night before she went missing.That doesn’t screamtorrid affairto me.”

“The killer could be tailoring the way he lures them into the woods to each victim,” Lina said as she leaned over Roja’s butchered abdomen. “But Rossa wasn’t drugged, so I suspect neither was Roja. The lack of defensive wounds suggests both women knew their killer, or at least trusted him enough to go willingly.”

“Or he threatened them from the start,” Bel said. “Aim a gun at a woman walking alone in the dark, and she’d probably obey. If Orion Chayce is the perpetrator, both Rossa and Roja were aware he’d been sent to prison for manslaughter. I doubt they would’ve gone with him willingly.”

“Either way, their end was horrible,” Lina said. “I can’t even imagine being chased through the snowy woods in nothing but a cloak…” she trailed off as she remembered who she was talking to. “I’m so sorry, Bel.”

“At least I made it out of the trees alive. I got away.”

“And thank God for that. It’s bad enough examining strange women on my table. Seeing you was hell.”

“Was the likeness really that close?”

“It was exact,” Lina said. “It even fooled your father. The only one who noticed was Mr. Stone, but that makes sense. You’re a couple. I don’t want to assume anything, but he’s probably seena lotmore of you than we have. The body’s lower half was ripped apart, much like this woman’s. That surgeon saw you on vacation in a bathing suit, but he didn’t see everything, so he wasobviouslytrying to conceal what he couldn’t recreate. Thank god Mr. Stone spotted the discrepancies. But the time the doctor must’ve spent altering your doppelgänger. He must have been planningon taking you eversince he met you at Wendy Darling’s wedding. How else did he find time to perform all those surgeries on Jane Doe?”

“He must have,”Bel lied. Lina was oblivious to the evil that roamed the earth, and she had no intention of enlightening her. She already had one friend and coworker angry at her. She didn’t need another. “And yes, Eamon said the body wasn’t right,” she half lied this time. There was something wrong with Jane Doe, just not the appearance. It was her blood. “We’d just returned from a tropical and romantic vacation. He knows what I look like.”

“Thank goodness. I’ll never forget what that man sounded like before he realized Jane Doe wasn’t you. His cries still give me nightmares. He didn’t sound human.”

Bel froze at her comment.

“And neither is this.” Lina leaned down to examine the severed flesh. “This is different.” She used tweezers to pluck something from the wound and held itupto the light. “It’s fur.”

“Fur?” Bel shifted closer, but the M.E. was right. It was a long strand of fur.

“There’s not a lot, butthere’sfur stuck in the wounds,” Lina said. “I can’t tell if it’s animal or synthetic until I run some tests, though. Wounds that look like claws inflicted them and then fur trapped in the blood.” She met Bel’s gaze. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say a creature from Aesop’s Files came to life and killed Ellery Roja.”

“Hey, Violet, is Ewan here?”Bel asked as she entered Lumen’s Customs.

“Yeah,” her friend answered. “In the workshop.”

“Thanks.” Bel stormed out of the office to find the studio’s new furniture designer. The minute she spotted him, she grabbed his biceps and hauled his formidable mass into the back room.

“Is everything okay?” he asked when they were far from Violet’s ears. “Is it Olivia?”

“I hate to ask you this, but I have to,” Bel hissed. “Did you kill those girls in the woods?”

“What?” Ewan reared away from her, but she held his arm tight. He was significantly stronger than her, but she belonged to the beast. If he valued his life, which he did, he wouldn’tso much asraise his voice around her.

“Both women were killed with claw-like weapons, and the latest victim had fur stuck in her wounds… like that of a bear’s. You killed someone in the woods before, so I’ll ask you again, did you murder those women?”

“Absolutelynot, and I can’t believe you would ask me that,” Ewan hissed. “You know full well I killed that hunter because he was trying to wipe out my entire pack. It was self-defenseofboth me and my family. I don’t kill innocent people, and I’m not a monster despite what Olivia thinks.”

“I had to ask,” she said.

“And would you feel the same urge if it was your beloved millionaire?” he spat. She could tell her suspicion wounded him, butbetter damagedpride than more dead women. She didn’t believe he was a cold-blooded murderer, but he’d killed for a good reason before. The presence of claw marks and fur had her wondering if he had reason again.

“I was always the first person to assume his guilt,” Bel said. “Not even he’s allowed to get away with murder in my town, so I had to ask. The deaths remind me so much of your bear, and you were the one to find Ellery Roja.”

“I can’t believe you think I could do that,” Ewan growled as he leaned forward until he was at eye level with her. “I’m not a monster, and if you believe I could do something that heinous, you’re not the woman I believed you were.”

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