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“No,” I said, pushing her arm down even as she had already begun to dial.

“Just like Mr. Milton attached himself to us all day, it’s possible the guilty party could be lingering very close to Mr. Gable now, and I don’t want to alert him that we’re coming. Not until we have the chance to talk to Mr. Gable directly.”

“Have you figured it out?” Charles asked, rubbing my shoulders as if I were a boxer about to go in for round two of the fight.

“Not yet, but I feel close. Mom, Dad, would you please stay here and wait for Mags? I need to go now while everything is still clicking in my brain.”

“Of course, honey,” Mom replied.

“But be careful and call us if you need anything. Got it?” Dad added.

Charles, Nan, and I rushed out of the station with the pets in tow just as quickly as we entered.“We’ll take my car,” Charles said, unlocking it remotely so that Nan and Paisley could slip into the backseat and Octo-Cat and I into the passenger side.

I took a quick moment to explain my theory to the others.

“There’s definite merit to that,” Charles agreed, turning the key in the ignition. “It makes sense. I just hope we’re not playing our hand too soon.”

“Everything will be just fine.” Nan sounded more like her usual self now that Mr. Milton wasn’t around.

“Are we going to catch the bad guys now?” Paisley asked with an excited whimper.

“Yes,” Octo-Cat answered for me. “It’s time to make the canary sing.”

He licked his lips at the mention of the canary even though we weren’t going to confront a snitch—we would go directly to the guilty party.

Chapter Eighteen

We found Mr. Gable at the sleigh same as he’d been before.

“Welcome back,” he called as Nan, Charles, the animals, and I approached on foot, having parked just around the corner.

“Have you been busy?” Charles asked with a friendly smile.

“Things are slowing down now. Far fewer visitors coming into town, but we still have a lot of ticked-off vendors who want to have a word with the person in charge before they head on home.”

Charles shifted seamlessly into the role of ace attorney.“Was the festival insured?”

“Of course we were. And thankfully we should have enough to cover all the fee reimbursements, but I still don’t know what the future holds for us. Whether the festival is done for good or it will continue on in a different place.” The weight of this uncertainty hung heavily over his shoulders. Mr. Gable appeared to fold into himself as he considered the options, both of which were far less than ideal.

“But the Holiday Spectacular has always been in Glendale.” Nan also didn’t want to accept that things would likely be changing, and I completely understood where she was coming from.

Traditions were special because you could rely on them being the same each year, and I hated to think that my favorite part of Christmas could be going away for good.

Mr. Gable frowned as he noted the dejected look on Nan’s face. “It has been, but we were chosen to represent the entire Blueberry Bay region when things were first starting up. It could just as easily be moved to Dewdrop Springs or Misty Harbor.”

“Well, it shouldn’t be,” Nan clucked, eliciting a smile from Mr. Gable for the first time since tragedy had struck earlier that day.

“Where’s E.B.?” I asked. Might I find some time to talk with the rabbit in private about my suspicions?

“Burrowed deep in the hay to stay warm, that sweet girl.”

Upon hearing this, Paisley raced over to the nativity and began to dig furiously.

I set Octo-Cat down on the seat of the sleigh, and he remained quiet, wanting to hear what would happen next just as much as I did. I still didn’t know whether it would be Mr. Gable or E.B. to give me the final intel I needed, but either way, I knew we’d find the culprit soon.

“Can we gather the committee?” I asked him now.

“I suppose we could. Why? Have you figured out something that could help us?”

“I think I may have a lead,” I responded with a poorly concealed smile. “But I’d really rather share with the entire committee if possible.”

Mr. Gable regarded me wearily.“Most of them are still around, but at least one is otherwise occupied.”

“Oh?” Charles asked, stepping closer as his interest grew.

Nan also watched Mr. Gable with wide eyes and shivering shoulders. The day was becoming colder as more and more snow fell, and we were all more than ready to go home.

We were so close now, though. I could practically taste it.

“Yes.” Mr. Gable rubbed his hands together and blew out an icy puff of air. “Officer Bouchard is wrapped up in the homicide investigation, so I don’t think he’ll be able to put that aside for an impromptu meeting.”

“He was on the committee?” I asked. Why was I only just now learning this? “That’s strange, because he didn’t recognize Zelda when we first discovered the bodies. And wasn’t it Fred who was the last-minute addition rather than Zelda?”