“All right, back to the pretzels,” attempts Bellamy. “Ooh, I could go for a pretzel.”
“There aren't actually pretzels,” he says. “But yes, Bavaria is known for their pretzels.”
“Xavier,” I say. “On March thirty-first, nineteen twenty-two…”
“Why are you encouraging him?” Sam sighs.
“In Hinterkaifeck, five members of the Gruber family along with their maid Marie were brutally murdered. When they were discovered four days later, the bodies of the maid and the two-year-old were discovered inside the house, while the other four members were found in the barn, stacked in a haystack,” Xavier says.
“Stacked in a haystack?” Eric frowns.
“Post-mortem,” Xavier says.
“Well, I highly doubt anybody would stack four people up and then kill them,” Sam shrugs. “He quickly holds up a hand. “Please, don't give me any examples.”
“I don't have any,” Xavier says.
“Good,” Sam says.
“During the investigation…”
“Oh, we're still doing this,” Sam says.
“Police uncovered it was the maid's first day at work,” Xavier says.
“Wow, that is a seriously bad first day of work,” Bellamy comments. “And I thought my first day working at the Cat Cafe was unpleasant.”
“She found out she's allergic to cats,” I tell Xavier.
“A lot of people got coffee sneezed on them that day,” Bellamy says.
“So, it probably would have been helpful if you had a maid that day. Which was probably the thought process of Mr. Gruber when he hired Marie,” Xavier says.
“You've got to give it to him,” I say, looking over at Sam. “He can segue.”
“But what happened to the first one?” Eric asked. “I'm assuming if they were hiring one, they probably had one before. They didn't just spontaneously decide they needed help.”
“Right you are,” Xavier says. “About six months before the murders, the family maid quit. The prevailing rumor was that she frequently heard strange voices and sounds in the attic.”
“And there it is,” I say.
“Then a couple of days before the murders, Mr. Gruber noticed a newspaper he didn't buy in the house. He also noticed some footprints outside in the snow,” Xavier continues.
“Somebody was seriously in the attic,” Bellamy gasps. “I thought there was going to be some sort of weird metaphorical leap we were all going to have to take.”
“No,” Xavier says. “Literally a murderer in the attic. And that is grammatically correct, even if he had not killed anyone else prior to the events of that night. Evidence including eyewitness accounts indicates he continued to live with the corpses for the four days after the murders. Presumably, he did enter the attic at some point during that time, as that would be where he was keeping his belongings. Therefore, a murderer was in the attic. Not just a potential murderer.”
“Why did he only bring four of them to the barn?” Eric asks. “If he was cleaning up after himself or making it more comfortable to stay in the house, why would he leave two of them there?”
“Well,” Xavier says, “the theory is they were likely in the barn already when they were killed. They were just then moved into the hay. The footsteps Mr. Gruber saw led to the tool shed, and there were surface scratches on the door indicating somebody was trying to get in. This suggests that the murderer did not have access to a weapon. He—or she, but most likely he—wouldn't have been able to get the murder weapon and bring it into the house. That means it's most likely the adults of the family were in the barn for some reason already, and the murderer entered, grabbed the murder weapon from the barn, and killed them.”
“What was it?” I ask.
“Emma!” Sam snaps.
“I'm curious,” I tell him.
“A mattock,” Xavier says.
“What's that?” Eric asks.
“Like a pickaxe,” Xavier explains.
“Holy shit,” Sam mutters.
"I tried not to mention it."
"I don't think the baby should be hearing this," Bellamy says.
"You really think she's going to escape hearing things like this once she's out of there?" Eric counters. "Might as well start her now."
"You're going to be the father who gives her ice cream before dinner, aren't you?" Bellamy asks.
"That's actually a good method of parenting, both from physiological and psychological perspectives. Not only does it show that you are fun-loving and want to give your child happy memories of her childhood and that you understand the fleeting and inherently ephemeral qualities of said childhood, but studies have indicated eating sweets prior to a main meal has health benefits. It generates a stronger appetite, which you want before eating regular food, not after. It also promotes a desire for salty or bitter food, which would encourage eating of vegetables and proteins. For an adult, eating a small dessert prior to dinner promotes eating a smaller amount at the actual meal, which can be beneficial. And it's delicious," Xavier says.
"You won't eat a peppermint curved into the shape of a cane at any point in the entire year before you've eaten Thanksgiving dinner, but you'll throw down a hot fudge sundae before your Wednesday night burger?" Sam raises an eyebrow.
Xavier holds his hands up to signal he has no control over the situation and has resigned himself to it. "It's the way of the world, Sam."
Chapter Three
"Seriously, though," I say. "Xavier, you believe in ghosts?"
"I believe that there are things in life that are beyond our capacity for understanding or reason. I think we try to rationalize everything and make our existence neat and orderly because it's more comfortable for us. We want to think that we as living, breathing human beings are the most important and powerful beings because it at best makes us uncomfortable to think anything else. At worst, it terrifies us."
"Like the vending machine," I say, remembering my first encounter with Xavier. He nods with a bright smile.
The days when he was still trapped in the prison, caged for something he didn't do and tormented by the person supposed to be watching over him, seem so long ago. And at the same time, there are moments when I look over at him and get such a sense of relief
