They had their own business as taxidermists in Who's There, and their specialty was anthropomorphic dioramas, like a group of costumed lemurs at a superhero convention, elderly buffalos playing shuffleboard, or the Christmas nativity scene done with naked mole rats.
I couldn't imagine sharing a house with them and pictured the twins decorating with dead things.
"There's a frog in a pitcher!" came the squeal from the kitchen, and I raced to stop the girls from letting it out.
Betty was staring at the little yellow frog, who was just sitting in the jar staring back.
"We have to get him back to his enclosure." I snatched it out her hands. "Rex, come with me. The rest of you, start looking for those other clues."
We took the frog up to the third floor. We'd kind of breezed through it last night. But I needed to see if he could solve our problem.
"Can you figure out how to get him in his enclosure? As you can see, there's no real visible openings."
"You're right about that." Rex set the jar down and ran his hand over the walls around the frog's terrarium-like display.
"I feel bad," I said. "I haven't fed any of these…things…yet. I don't even know what they eat."
Rex stepped back and studied the surrounding wall. "Maybe Aunt June wanted to make sure these things never got out."
"Well, according to the sheriff, Coroner Oroner, and Dr. Morgan, the brown recluse did."
Rex walked over to the spider's enclosure. "There's one in here alright. It had to have been one from outside."
"What did your sheriff buddy say anyway?"
"He was very eager to make me think this was an accidental death." Rex looked at me. "He does not like you."
"I don't care about that. If I worried what people thought of me, I wouldn't have been a very good spy."
"Yes, well, I'm not fond of anyone who doesn't like you."
"Thanks." I smiled.
"The sheriff thinks you're here to stir up trouble…something I've had some experience with."
"You didn't say that, did you?"
"Of course not." He moved back to running his hands over the wall. "Like I said, he really wants me to think this was an accident."
Rex turned and smiled at me. He pressed what seemed like a blank spot on the wall to the left of the enclosure, and a seamed door that wasn't there before popped open.
"How did you find that?" I ran over and studied the spot he'd touched.
"There." He pointed at what looked like a smudged fingerprint.
Upon closer examination, I saw that it was slightly raised. I pressed it, and the door closed, seamlessly blending with the rest of the paneling. Pressing it again made it open up.
"In one of my very first cases, in the Quad Cities, there was this old house built in the nineteenth century. It had been used as part of the Underground Railroad."
"It used a fingerprint as a trigger?" I asked.
"No, but the spot was slightly raised. Here, I figure the fingerprint was a guide. It's about six feet from the floor, so a kid couldn't get into it." He pushed the door open and took one step inside. "Come on."
I followed him into a narrow hallway that ran behind the exhibits. A small door with a window was on the back of the frog enclosure. I ran back out and grabbed the frog before returning.
Rex opened the door and looked in. Taking the jar from me, he removed the foil and gently dumped the frog inside. Then he closed the door.
"Look!" I pointed to a shelf on the opposite wall.
There were boxes of live crickets and beetles, as well as some replacement materials like tree branches.
"So that's how she did it." I looked down the hall to see similar setups for the other enclosures.
"This is a pretty large hallway." Rex studied it. "This floor is the same size as the others, but the floor space out there is smaller than the floor below."
We walked down the hallway and discovered it ran a perimeter around the whole floor. Was this a spot on the Underground Railroad too?
Screams erupted as the doorway filled with five little girls.
"You found another one!" Kaitlyn shrieked as the girls ran the whole perimeter before returning back to us.
Lauren asked, "How many more do you think there are?"
"I don't see how there could be many more. You could only have so many in one house." Kelly stuck her head through the doorway.
"Why are you guys up here?" I asked.
"Oh!" Lauren handed me an envelope with my name on it. "We found another clue!"
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Tearing open the envelope, I read the note aloud.
You've found Clue #3! There's more. Unless you're a bad guy, then this is it.
I wasn't sure a bad guy would fall for that.
I have thought for some time that things were amiss. I just assumed I was seeing danger around every corner. But I was right. Since I'm dead, you need to sift through the cold-hearted embers of love.
Bye now!
"Well, that doesn't help."
Rex said, "Basil told you there was a rumor she had three suitors, right?"
"Right. I think they're Dr. Morgan, Pete Oroner, and Virgil."
"The tooth guy?" Betty seemed skeptical.
"That's the one. They're the only ones I can think of. The Hickenloopers are far too young."
"Never rule out anyone," Rex said. "Until you know for certain."
"The coroner believes he was her boyfriend. Maybe you can make more headway with him than I did."
Rex shook his head. "I doubt it. He gave you a lot of information. With his complete lack of expertise, a guy like him wouldn't trust legit law enforcement."
I thought about this as the girls started running loops around the hallway. Rex was right. I didn't like Pete Oroner. He was arrogant and completely unqualified. The fact that he was able to write a possible murder off as an accident did not sit right with me.
"Do you have anyone in town you feel is trustworthy enough to bounce your thoughts off of?" Rex asked.
"Well,
