“You are, Grayson,” Roxie answered with a big laugh. “You’re all my favorites. Now off you go. Get some sunshine. Jump in the leaves. Bite into a ripe apple. Enjoy life!” She then added in a quieter voice, “As long as you don’t do it here. Miss Roxie needs a little break before the next class.”

“Morning, Roxie,” Izzy said. “Sorry to drop in on you like this.”

“Nonsense! I was going to pop by the B&B myself to check in on you all after the other night. And Brynn, it’s so good to see you here. It feels like just yesterday you were in a tutu prancing gracefully around these floors.”

“Hmm, I can confirm the tutu, but I’m pretty sure you have confused me with someone else if you remember my dancing as graceful.”

Yes, that’s right, my aunts had enrolled me in ballet way back in my youth. It didn’t last long though. Sally Myerson, a snotty sixth grader, said I danced like a water buffalo, and while I did not know what a water buffalo was or whether or not it could dance, I took it as an insult and chanted a two left feet spell every time she took center stage. It didn’t take long for Izzy to catch on, and that was the end of that.

“So how are you two really?” Roxie asked, drawing us close. “I haven’t seen Beatty this worried in a long time.”

“Beatty’s worried?” Izzy and I said at the same time.

Roxie grimaced. “I’ve done it again. And so fast. This has to be a record for me. He asked me not to say anything to anyone.” She pounded the floor with her staff. “Forget I said anything.”

“Oh no you don’t,” Izzy said, sounding quite stern. “It’s one thing for that brother of yours to leave us hanging, but you’re not going to get away that easily.”

“Izzy,” Roxie said, a smile spreading across her face. “I’m not used to seeing you like this. So forceful. I like it. Okay, well, now that you’ve dragged it out of me, Beatty is not at all happy with the direction things seem to be taking over at the station. He didn’t say it outright, but my guess is the police believe Constance’s death wasn’t an accident.”

Izzy and I exchanged glances.

“I thought you two would be more shocked.” She raised an eyebrow. “Not that I’m surprised. You Warren women always seem to be ahead of the game.”

“No, no,” I said a touch too abruptly. “We’re not. It’s just that Beatty was acting strangely when he left our place the other day, and—”

“—he’s been avoiding our calls ever since,” Izzy finished.

Roxie didn’t look any less suspicious, but she seemed willing to let it drop. “He probably didn’t want to upset you, but the way rumors swirl in this town, everybody will be worried soon enough.”

“Did he say who the police think might have done it?” I stumbled in my phrasing. I couldn’t bring myself to use any words like murdered or killed just yet.