Page 73 of Always Murder

“That’s important, right?That means something.That points back to somebody at CPF.Did you tell the sheriff?”

Bobby nodded.

“What does that mean?”I asked.“She didn’t believe you?”

“Dash, it’s complicated.”

“She thinks Paul’slying?”

“Paul wouldn’t lie,” Millie said from the chesterfield.“He always tells the truth, even when it gets him in trouble.”

NowthatI could believe.“So, what?If the sheriff is convinced Elliott did this, then how did he get Paul’s arcade card?”

“That’s a good question,” Bobby said.“I don’t know.”

“I’m calling over there,” I said.“I want to talk to Luz.Maybe she can tell me what they did with Paul’s stuff when they cleaned out his locker.”

“Someone dropped off a box at the house,” Millie said.

“That means Elliott could have gotten the card from the box,” Keme said.

I gave him a dirty look.“You too?”

He shrugged.

“We wondered why the thief took Paul’s arcade card instead of his driver’s license or a credit card,” Bobby said.“Maybe that’s why: it was easily accessible in that box of stuff.”

“This still doesn’t make any sense.”I drew out my phone.“Elliott only targeted high-value items.Why would he want a gay manga so badly that he’d risk a confrontation with Three?”

“Why would anyone?”Bobby asked.“Don’t we have to ask the same question even if it’s someone else from the delivery company?”

I gave him my best don’t-start-with-me look as I placed the call to Clatsop Parcel and Freight.The phone rang.And rang.And rang.And then a recording picked up.

“Thank you for calling Clatsop Parcel and Freight.”I recognized the voice of the less-than-helpful receptionist.“The office will be closed from noon on Christmas Eve until seven AM on December twenty-sixth.To leave a voicemail, please stay on the line.”

“I don’t want to leave a voicemail,” I told the recording.“I want to talk to Luz Hernandez.”

“Good luck with that,” Bobby said.“We’ve sent three deputies and called I don’t know how many times.Tried her cell phone.Went to her house.That woman’s a ghost.”

“I see you’re operating on the same theory as Millie,” I said.“I talked to her the other day.Well, Jinx St.James and I talked to her.”

“What does that mean?”Keme asked.

“Mess around and you’ll find out.”

Millie giggled.

“You are so weird,” Keme told me, with all the fraying patience of a late adolescent.

“OH MY GOD!”Millie said (I use the word loosely).“MAYBE A GHOST TOOK PAUL’S CARD!”

“This is what I’ve been dealing with,” I told Bobby over the ringing in my ears.“I bet sheloved The Sixth Sense.”

“Not really,” Millie said.“I figured it out at the very beginning.”

Bobby must have seen something on my face because he whispered, “Deep breaths.”

I opened my mouth to say—well, something about ghosts, probably.And then everything clicked, one thing after another falling into place: the string of robberies that had been blamed on Paul; the inexplicable theft of Three’s manga; spilled Cherry Coke, and Paul’s story about the damagedSuper Smash Bros.package, and the manager’s door that led into the warehouse; a dead bird; the arcade card that had been left as evidence; the attack on Paul at the storage unit; Millie’s ghost; even the Santa suit, and that inexplicable suspicion I’d had that the perpetrator hadwantedto be seen.

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