Page 84 of Evidence of a Folktale

“That’s up to you,” Eamon said. “He knows there’s something different about me, but he doesn’t care to learn any truth beyond that. If he was notified, though, Ewan and I could help monitor things.”

“But you aren’t God. You can’t be everywhere at once.”

“So, it sounds like you have your answer.”

“Do you have a second?”Bel asked.

“Sure.” Griffin gestured for her to come into his office. “Learn anything new at the autopsy?”

“No.” She collapsed onto the couch. Olivia had graciously attended the morning’s postmortem to let her rest, and the two had exchanged notes by their desks before Bel knocked on herboss’door. “Same cause of death as Rossa and Roja. Same wounds, same red cloak, same box, and no evidence, no fingerprints, no defensive wounds, no fur. This guy is good. He knows what we’re looking for andmakes surewe never find it.”

“Mimicking the cop show a little too closely,” Griffin said. “A lot of shows have consultants. If the killer is Chayce searching for revenge, he had plenty of opportunities to question them.”

“About that,” Bel said. Now was as good a time as any to sound crazy. “You know our theory about a set prop creating the claw wounds?”

“Yeah…” he nodded.

“What if they weren’t?”

Griffin stared at her, his understanding not catching her meaning.

“What if the claws weren’t props?” she repeated. “What if they’re real?”

“Real?” He pinched his eyebrows to ask if she was okay to be back at work, and she had to fight the urge not to cringe.

“Yeah.” The word was painful to speak.

“Um…” He shook his head. “Is that even possible?”

“How do you want me to answer that?” she asked.

“I think you just did.” Griffin cursed as he finally caught her drift, and with a frustrated breath, he leaned back in his chair. “I obviously can’t share this… possibility.”

“No, but I felt uncomfortable leaving you in the dark. And it’s just a‘what if’question right now. Eamon said?—”

“I don’t want to hear it.” Griffin cut her off with a wave of his hand. “Knowing real claws might be to blame is enough.” He cursed again. “And you know what pisses me off about that? It makes sense. Thenature of the crimes and the lack of evidence. Humans aren’t that clean…” he paused, staring at her as if he remembered something, and Bel knew he was picturing Alcina Magus’ crime scenes. She’d built her victims into furniture, yet she hadn’t left so much as a speck of sawdust behind.

“Anyway, we need to halt production,” he continued. “It’s bad enough that someone is murdering crew members, but if we have some sort of ‘thing’after us, that’ll get messy fast.”

“Both Evelyn Pierce and Alistair Rot were adamant about not shutting down, but she might be more receptive now that her partner is dead,” Bel said.

“I hope so.” He grabbed his phone. “And if they refuse, I’ll call the mayor. Maybe he can help our cause.”

But before he could dial, his cell blared to life, startling both of them. “Sheriff Griffin…” he answered on the first ring. “Yes, thank you for calling me back. Let me put you on speaker.” He glanced at Bel and mouthed,“Orion Chayce’s parole officer.”

She nodded, and he tapped the speaker button.

“All right, go ahead.”

“As I was saying, Sheriff, sorry I missed your last call,” the parole officer said. “We’ve had a hectic twenty-four hours. We found Orion Chayce.”

“You did?” Griffin asked, his hopes rising. “Where?”

“In the hospital.”

“The hospital?” Bel and Griffin asked in unison.

“Yes, it was an unfortunate accident,” the officer said. “He didn’t violate his parole. Mr. Chayce was out for a jog when a car hit him. He was running in the park by his residence, so he didn’t think to carry his phone or ID. The driver ran over a nail which popped a tire. He lost control and crashed into Chayce while he was crossing the street. He was rushed to the hospital after hitting his head and suffered severe brain swelling. The doctors put him in a medically induced coma to help reduce the inflammation. We couldn’t find him because they’d listed him as a John Doe. He woke after a few days, but with the brain injury, his recovery has been slow. He didn’t remember who he was until yesterday.”

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