The other misfits were seated around the table talking. Tulip explained to Hazel, who already had her knitting out and her spider legs exposed, that her pond was better than a vat of beer for dealing with problems. Sandy had found the cookies I’d made for Elwood a few days ago and was devouring them. Az was leaning back in his chair, looking contemplative. Elwood was prepping smudge bundles like he was his own personal smudge factory. And Eugene was putting on an elaborate shadow puppet show of one figure stabbing another and pushing him. The stabbed figure staggered dramatically before falling backward to disappear into a waiting vat. Eugene’s shadow showed splashes of beer and everything.
“Was Roy stabbed?” I asked.
“No.” Gideon shook his head. “Eugene is taking some creative liberties.”
Eugene’s murderous shadow figure fell to its knees, clearly distraught. I couldn’t tell if he assumed the murderer would be remorseful, or if he was upset by Gideon’s critique of his performance.
I walked over to the murder board for a better look while Gideon called the pub.
“I have no idea how you gathered all this information already, but it’s impressive,” I told Eugene. He quivered in delight at my praise.
“Look at all the colors,” Tulip said. “It’s so organized! I bet we find the killer before the police do.”
“We aren’t going to interfere in the police investigation,” Elwood said.
Eugene’s shadow figure keeled over.
Elwood rolled his eyes. “I didn’t say we couldn’t look into a few things, but the police are professionals.”
Tulip bounced in her seat, and droplets of water sprayed out around her.Shoot. No one remembered to put the waterproof mat under her chair. It’d probably be rude to do that now, so I turned my attention to the murder board.
“So, everything in white is all about Roy. Wow, is this from his high school yearbook?” I leaned closer. “Huh. I never would’ve guessed he was a track and field star.” He certainly didn’t look like much of an athlete now, but I supposed few guys his age would look much like they had in high school.
“He did track and field after he quit the football team.” Hazel’s knitting needles clacked together as she spoke. “My mister says Roy wanted to be the quarterback, even though he was terrible. He never listened to the coach and refused to be a team player. He always wanted all eyes on himself.”
“It doesn’t sound like he’d changed much,” Az noted, and I had to agree.
A few strands of the toupee were tacked beside a more recent picture of Roy. I thought about reprimanding Eugene for tampering with evidence, but what would be the point? It was already done. So, instead, I studied them. The strands and Roy’s hair in the picture were the same color. We’d known the toupee was Roy’s as soon as his balding body had been dragged out of the vat, but this made it real. And having it right there in front of me made my queasiness return, so I shuffled over to the next column with all of its neon-green paper.
“Green is for envy,” Tulip said. “Right, Eugene?”
His shadow puppet flashed a thumbs-up.
I guessed that worked because that was where all the suspects were listed, and being envious of Roy’s recent success was one possible motive. At the top was a list of the contest competitors: Tessa, Ivan, Malcolm, and Donny. But Eugenehadn’t stopped there. Somehow—although I didn’t think the shadow imp even had a social media profile—he’d found some scathing social media posts accusing Roy of cheating.
I was reading them when Gideon joined me at the board. “Is everything okay at the pub? Do you have to leave?”
“Sable has it under control,” he said. Then he peered over my shoulder to read the angry posts. “Do we know who FermentationFiend44 and GrainGeek71 are?”
No one answered, so I figured that was answer enough. I suspected the profiles were likely linked to Ivan, Malcolm, or Beckett, but I wasn’t sure how we’d prove that short of hacking their computers. Then again, it might not even be important. A lot of people vented online. It didn’t make them murderers.
Still, it made for a long list of suspects, and I wasn’t sure it was even complete. Shouldn’t Caesar or the Kettlebrook rep be up there, too?
The next column was pink, for love presumably, since this one was all about his relationship with Nadia. In those mystery shows I used to watch with my mom, a lot of the time, it was the spouse who did it. So it made sense to include her. But I couldn’t see how she could physically do it. Not only was she a tiny person, but she had that big baby bump. How would she manhandle Roy into a vat?
The blue column was dedicated to the hexes.
“The hexes! How could I forget about the hexes?” I turned to Elwood.
My grandfather pursed his lips like he was disappointed in me. “That’s the only reason I think we need to stay involved in the investigation. If Roy’s murder is connected to the hexes, there’s no telling what kind of dark magic might be unleashed.”
“Yeah,” Tulip said. “He played with magic and paid the price. The hex maker might be covering their tracks and tying up loose ends.”
Well, that didn’t sound ominous at all. It reminded me of my earlier speculation about her beingconnected.
“Is she in the mafia?” I whispered to Gideon.
“Not that I know of.” He snorted but shook his head. “She just has very particular ideas on right and wrong, and what should be done about people who step out of line.”
