It was a compromise I was willing to take.Settling into my seat, I said, “What happened?What were you doing?And did all of you somehow miss the part where I told you not to investigate?”
“When life’s sun begins to set,” Thatcher said, “a man only has one person to answer to—”
But the words dried up when I turned toward him.
“We’re writers too,” AJ said.“Didyoustop when people told you not to investigate?”
This was how parents felt, I decided.It was also why—if I could ever trick Bobby into having kids—he would be in charge of all the parental conversations.The best response I could come up with was “I know what I’m doing.”
(Which might not have beenpreciselytrue.)
“Did you see who did this?”I asked Charlie.
They gave a miserable shake of their head.
“A glimpse?Or an impression—even something that might seem vague, like they were tall, or they moved fast?”
Charlie adjusted the blanket across their lap.“I don’t remember anything; it’s all a blank.”They sounded like they were on the brink of tears when they added, “I’m sorry.”
“Show him,” Thatcher said and kicked AJ’s chair.
AJ glanced at the door.Bobby had shut it behind him.Slowly, she drew a rectangle of folded paper out of her pocket and handed it to me.
I unfolded it.It was several sheets of paper that appeared to be a printout of a Wikipedia article.The title wasMurder of Robert Kessler.I scanned the short summary at the top:
The Robert Kessler murder took place at the Snitches and Stitches Conference in October 2009.Kessler, editorial director of Langstaff and Lock, was found dead in his hotel room by literary agent Margaux Mendez.According to the coroner’s office, Kessler died from a blow to the head.Writer Simona Wolf was convicted for first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole.Celebrity mystery writer Vivienne Carver, who was attending the conference, assisted police with their investigation into the murder.The Robert Kessler case was Carver’s seventeenth public case.Carver went on to describe the case in her bookDropped Stitches, which was an instantNew York Timesbestseller—
I stopped there.“What is this?”
“It’s a Wikipedia article—” Thatcher began.
“I know what it is,” I said.“I meant, where did you find it?”
“We all had a copy,” AJ said.“Charlie made the connection.”
“But whoever attacked me tookmy copy,” Charlie said.“I don’t even know why—it’s all on the internet.”
I wanted to rub my eyes, but instead, I found them falling back to the article.“Why?Why this case out of all the ones Vivienne solved?”
Thatcher rubbed his chin.AJ pursed her lips.
“We took a picture of Mr.Graeme’s list of Vivienne’s one-on-ones,” Charlie said.“I pretended to fall down, and Thatcher started yelling, and AJ took it right off his clipboard.”
A sparrow fluttered at the window as though peeking in.
“Excuse me?”I said.
“But he didn’t notice,” Charlie said, “because then AJ put it back.”
“What did you not understand about don’t investigate—”
“We googled all the names on the list,” AJ said, “and guess what?This Wikipedia page popped up.”
I had to take a centering breath.“Which name?”
“I think this should be a moment of self-awareness when you acknowledge that we have every bit as much of a right as you—”
“Which name?”
