Hoppy Holiday Homicide

Chapter Eleven

“Do you know who took Mags?” Paisley asked, wagging her tail hopefully as we all stared at E.B. waiting to find out what she knew.

“Who’s Mags?” the bunny asked distractedly. “Your human just asked me if I saw anyone suspicious.”

“Yes, that’s right,” I jumped in to steer the conversation back to the right path. “Tell me about those suspicious people.”

E.B. tentatively lifted one ear, then set it back down. “Lots of people have come through, and almost everyone stopped to say hello to Mr. Gable and get their picture taken, but a couple people seemed in too much of a hurry.”

“So you're saying they refused to have their picture taken?” I asked to make sure I understood.

“They didn't even let him ask. It was very strange to see a predator behave in that way. One of them was looking all around, back and forth, like I do when I'm trying to figure out if danger is nearby. The other moved very quickly and raced right past us without so much as a hello.”

“That is strange,” I agreed thoughtfully. “Can you tell me anything more about those two people? Did they come together? What did they look like? Did you recognize them?”

E.B. blinked slowly and wiggled her nose. “Everyone else got their picture taken, but not those two. They didn't come at the same time, either. First one came, then some time passed, and then the other. I don't know who they were.”

“Do you know, if they were male or female? Old or young? Can you describe how they looked?”

E.B. turned her head slightly, eyeing Octo-Cat for a moment before returning her attention to me. “I don't know. All humans look the same, really. You don't even have any special markings on your coats to help show the difference. It makes it hard to tell you apart.”

“Exactly,” Octo-Cat said, nodding. “Isn’t that what I’ve always said?”

E.B. flinched. “That's all I know. I don't know anything else. Please will you go away now?”

“Thank you for your help,” I told her, rising to my feet and dusting a light smattering of hay from my bottom, which by now was soaked completely through from the melting snow on the ground. So much for the hay creating a drying buffer. “We told Mr. Gable we’d watch you, but we can do that from a little bit farther away.”

“Thank you,” she murmured, watching us warily as we left the nativity scene.

“Well that was pointless,” Octo-Cat hissed. If I’d taken the moment to look over to him, I’m sure I’d have seen him rolling his eyes. “I’m so glad we took time to ask the bunny.”

“There's a lot of things she did help us with,” I pointed out, raising the camera in one hand. “E.B. mentioned that there were two suspicious people and that neither had their photo taken.”

“So what do you suggest we do?” Octo-Cat asked with a flick of his tail. “Look through all the photos on that thing and cross reference it with everyone who's attended the festival so far?”

“For a start,” I said, impressed he had understood with no explanation on my part. Then again, he was becoming quite savvy with photography given his long-distance Instagram relationship with Grizabella.

“There's more than one entrance into this place,” I continued on. “People can start from anywhere. There are, no doubt, many people who didn't stop for a photo who perhaps never even made their way over here.”

“And,” Octo-Cat added, his amber gaze fixed on me knowingly,

“what’s suspicious to the rabbit might not be suspicious at all. So there were two people she thought were acting funny, but it's possible that neither of them had anything to do with the murders or the kidnapping.”

“I know,” I said with a sigh, “but at least it's a place to start.”

I powered the camera back on and flipped through the last few photos on display. Before I could make it very far, however, several people converged on us at once.

Nan and her gentleman friend, Mr. Milton, came from one direction while Mr. Gable returned from another. Lastly, my boyfriend, Charles, approached as well, immediately slinging an arm over my shoulder and giving me a kiss on my forehead.

“I finished up my work early at the firm and thought I’d surprise you,” he said with a giant grin. “So tell me, what did I miss?”

Mr. Gable groaned, Nan winced, and Mr. Milton looked pointedly at the ground.

Octo-Cat had an answer for him, but it was one he couldn't decipher without my help. Also it wasn't very nice.

Paisley barked and stood on her hindlegs, doing her sit pretty dance to get Charles’s attention.

“Hey,” he said, lifting her into his arms and giving her a kiss on the forehead, too.

“Why is everyone so quiet?” he asked, his eyes darting around our impromptu circle. “I really did miss something, didn't I?”

I put a hand on his shoulder and gently informed him both of the murders and the kidnapping as well as the fact that we were pretty convinced the kidnappers meant to nap me instead of Mags.

“All that in one morning?” he asked with an empty expression.

I nodded sadly. “I don't know what to do,” I moaned. “Do you have any ideas?”

Mr. Gable cleared his throat. “I've spoken with the other committee members, and we all think it would be best to shut down the festival. We’re circulating word to the vendors now and giving them the option of setting up at the local park. We’ll man the exits and send anyone who comes by over there instead while the police are doing their thing.”

Mr. Milton nodded and raised a thumb and finger to his chin. “Lots to lose, canceling the biggest event of the year. Vendors aren’t going to be too happy about that.”

“They'll lose money,” Nan agreed, “but at least they won't lose their lives.”

“That's the goal,” Mr. Gable agreed.

“Come on,” Charles said. “Let's go find Mags.”

And even though I didn't need my boyfriend to save the day, I was very glad he was now here at my side.

We would find Mags. We would.

I wouldn't accept any other outcome.