“Same here,” Evie said.
“So then what are you both even still doing here?” Fola replied, her eyes narrowing. Perdita felt like she was bearing witness to a showdown between Fola and the two unfortunate souls caught in the cross fire. She looked over at Octavius, who was being oddly quiet, just staring down at the tiles on the ground. Romeo was next to Fola like her personal security. Anwar exchanged a noticeable glance with Bilal but said nothing.
Evie didn’t appear alarmed by Fola at all. “Well, I technically live here, in the staff quarters,” she said.
“Then why aren’t you over there?” Fola said in a condescending tone that made Perdita wince.
“Listen, I understand why you’re upset. You’ve been through hell today. You all have,” Evie said, still not fazed. “You’re trapped in your own home,likely with the person who hurt your father, and you want answers. That we have in common. I’m obviously not one of you—I’m not a Button. And I only had a few classes with you guys here and there, so you might not get why I’m probably the only other person here who understands some of your pain. But I grew up with your dad too. I was trained with his methods too. He practicallymademe, and my brother, brilliant.” Perdita noticed the slight grimace on Evie’s face as she spoke of their father training her. “I saw Mr. Button as much as I saw my own father sometimes, so it’s weird to me too. It’s weird that he’s just… gone. It’s weird that the police are not being more forthcoming on what they’re looking for—whothey’re looking for. Though, historically, the police aren’t a particularly competent group… It’s why sometimes you have to take matters into own your hands.” She took a deep breath. “Anyway, I guess what I’m saying is, I get why you’re on edge. Losing someone so tragically like that… and without knowing why… It’s something you can never shake until you get answers.”
They were all looking at Evie now, Perdita thinking how much older Evie now looked.
“What did you mean by that…take matters into your own hands? Are you speaking from experience?” Bilal asked, visibly uncomfortable.
Evie hesitated before she spoke again. “Kind of… I was just… I was eavesdropping on the officers earlier, before they dismissed me. I just wanted to know what was going on. And I heard them talking about how strange the method was.”
“What method?” Romeo asked.
“The way he… your father…” She paused. “The murder weapon. That was all I overheard, and I wanted to figure out what was so strange about it. I’m pretty good with computers, and thought that if they were logging information about the case onto a cloud, they would probably be using the Manor’s Wi-Fi to do it. So I went back to the staff quarters and used an old computer there that helped me get onto the cloud. Turns out I was right.”
“Did you find anything?” Anwar asked.
“Just that they still have no clue exactly what the murder weapon is. They just know it was a thick, curved object, like a stick but not as sharp and… wide. If they knew what it was, that could help us figure it out. The murder weapon would have had to be something that could be taken onto the boat without flagging security.” She paused, looking around at them all regretfully. “I’m sorry, I should have asked if you guys wanted any more details. It’s pretty graphic.”
“Go on,” Fola said on behalf of them all. Perdita personally did not want to hear the gory details of their father’s death, but she didn’t want to come in between Fola and her pursuit of God knows what. “They also say he was… stabbed from the back. But based on the layout of the room he was found in—which was apparently his office—they can’t understand how that could have happened, since he was found in his chair, facing the only exit. A sneak attack would have been very difficult to achieve… or so Chief Waxler wrote in his notes. There was also no sign of a struggle, which kind of makes sense, Mr. Button would have had to know the weapon was coming and simply allowed the person to get close enough to strike him from behind… It’s very puzzling, isn’t it?”
Bilal looked agitated. Perdita only noticed because she was staring at Anwar, whose gaze was forever fixed on Bilal.
“It feels like there’s a web in here somewhere for sure,” Anwar said thoughtfully.
“A web?” It was Bilal this time who spoke.
“Yes, things hidden within other hidden things, forming an elaborate web. It’s like the truth is buried under several other truths. Someone in there… or elsewhere…” He hesitated as he looked around the gardens, momentarily drawing his fixed gaze away from Bilal. “Someone did this to your father, but I don’t think it is as straightforward as it appears. That’s why so many things don’t make sense. It would help to figure out if he had any enemies, anyone that openly hated him.”
That was the funniest thing Perdita had heard all day. Her father hadmanyenemies—half his staff probably hated his guts, and he’d pissed off so many people over the years it was probably easier to count whodidn’twant to harm him in some way than to tally up who did. Except… none of his more prominent foes had been on the boat last night.
Almost none.
Her mind immediately went to Thorin’s father. But she wasn’t going to bring Thorin or his family into this. And, surely, though they hated each other, no one would believe that Mr. Philips would have gone so far as to harm their father.
“There was the woman from yesterday morning? At the press conference. The one who attacked Father and called him a murderer,” Romeo said.
“She was my first thought too. I already brought her up to Henry,” Fola said. Her face was now dry but the shadows of her tears remained.
“And?” Perdita asked.
“And, the fake journalist was apparently still in police custody last night,
so it couldn’t have been her. It had to be someone on the boat,” Fola replied.
“I liked what Anwar said. That the truth could be hidden… Buried under a whole pile of seemingly nonsensical things,” Evie mused.
“Father did love puzzles,” Romeo agreed.
“Maybe the truth here might lie in Mr. Button and his puzzles? He seemed to hide truths in them. Take Perdita, for example. The fact that he namedyou, his biological daughter,Perditais another show of this. Maybe the truth of who your father’s true foes were, and therefore who might be behind his death, lies in these carefully placed puzzles,” Anwar said.
The siblings stiffened.
“How did you know that?” Perdita asked, her voice low and uneven. “That I’m his biological daughter?”
