that; he was always honest."
She frowned briefly. "Suppose you'd stolen something valuable and decided to lie low until the statute of limitations ran out. A carnival would be a good place to hide. Very good, in fact. Always on the move, in costume whenever you wanted to be, and plenty of places to hide the goods."
"But carnies are suspicious of outsiders," Gideon objected.
"Right. Which means that either you'd have to be familiar with the life, or else be good enough to fake it. "
"Like you," Gideon murmured.
She smiled. "Like me. You would also have been a part of Wonderland no longer than seven years; if you've hidden a fortune in one of the wagons or cages, you wouldn't want to wait any longer than necessary to claim it."
"That's logical as far as it goes," he admitted. "But you don't know what was stolen, where it was stolen, how long ago it was stolen. Your assumption is based on the theory there was that initial theft."
"I know , it's a shaky long shot. But it's all I've got. I checked the Wonderland books and found two people who've been with the carnival less than seven years."
"Who are they?"
She hesitated. "I'd rather not tell you yet. Wait a minute," she added when he opened his mouth to speak. "I've got a very good reason."
"Which is?"
"With the best intentions of being objective, I've still come to know those people. And that knowledge might be coloring my ideas of who the killer could be. You don't know them; you'll be more objective. Until we have something that points specifically to one person, I'd rather you consider the whole problem with a completely open mind. If you're suspicious of everyone, you might notice something I've missed."
" 'Problem ? Murder?"
"It's as good a word as any. Do you agree?"
"Not with the word—but I suppose you're right not to give me the names. For now, anyway."
"Good."
He nodded. "So, you found the names. And then?"
"I noted down where the carnival was when they joined up, along with the exact dates they arrived. Uncle Cyrus is checking that out for me."
"Looking for thefts?"
"I need a few facts. All I've got so far is wildly speculative and based, as you said, on the assumption that behind at least one murder is a thief protecting his cache."
"At least one murder? You think he's killed again?" Gideon frowned, then said, "Jasper."
"I hope he's wandered off. I really do hope so. But if he found out something he shouldn't have...."
"Go to the police," Gideon said flatly.
"And tell them what?" She steadily held his gaze. "We have a carny who's been missing, for certain, only since this morning, not even twenty-four hours. We have a death weeks ago that the police in another state judged to be accidental. And that's all we have."
"I don't like it, Maggie."
"Neither do I. Especially if somebody's watching you."
He thought about that for a moment. "Why me?"
"Exactly. I thought at first that you'd be a threat to the killer if you planned to break up the carnival. That made sense; he wouldn't want to lose his handy hiding place. It's also one of the reasons I was so hard on you. If you'd announced you were going to sell out piecemeal, he might have panicked; there goes his nifty hiding place, and you were responsible for the loss. But that wasn't the announcement you made today. And if he still considers you a threat, the question is definitely why. I don't know the answer. Do you?"
"Natural anxiety? I'm a stranger and therefore a threat? Or maybe it's a more personal threat."
"What do you mean?"
"Did you dent any hearts before I came along?"
The question was light, but the expression in his eyes was somber.
"Not that I know of," she answered immediately. "And I think you're on the wrong track."
"Maybe. But if I'm a threat to the killer because of what he's done—then how? All the people in the carnival were total strangers to me when I arrived. Even my connection to Balthazar was so vague I'm still not sure we were related at all. What could I know
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