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she was on the coast and always came back in a bad mood. Maybe giving her the
Crier
was Walt’s way of getting her out of that place. She refused at first, and then suddenly she gave in. All I know is that Walt is mighty protective of her and she’s the same, always wanting to please him. That’s half the reason she went to L.A. in the first place, to be a big-time reporter and make her daddy proud. I think Walt feels responsible for her being out there.”
    â€œOMG, it is you!” came an earsplitting squeal from the doorway. It was the lady from last night, flanked by four others, all wearing yellow T-shirts. “You were the one standing over the body last night.” She held out her hand as she came my way. “I’m Gabi and we’re the Corpse Crusaders.” She pointed to her shirt, stenciled in blue. “It’s so much fun to meet one of the actors. Love that they just worked you all right into the town as if you belonged here for real.”
    â€œYeah, it’s freaking amazing,” I added.
    â€œSo,” asked one of the men, whose blond hair was cut short, “how did you know the dead man?” As if on cue they all pulled out matching yellow notebooks and pens, poised for action.
    Rudy gave me a
the spaceship has landed and the aliens have disembarked
look as I said, “I’m not exactly an actor, but—”
    â€œWere you having an affair with that Peep guy?” an elderly man asked. “Did he come to the island to see you? Are you going to do in his mistress next and then his wife?”
    The blond guy let out a long-suffering sigh. “If you are going to knock off someone else, please, for the love of all that’s holy, let it be that Zo girl. If I hear one more
like
come out of her mouth, I’ll do her in myself.”
    â€œFor the record,” I rushed in, “I didn’t kill anyone.”
    â€œBut you were standing over the body, so that makes you a suspect.” Gabi scribbled in her notebook. “And what about that girl in the purple hat who was in the bushes? We saw her hiding there, and look, you’ve got her hat on the workbench. Is she the killer? Who is she and why was she there? Are you trying to frame her for the murder? That’s a great plot twist you got going on. I love it!”
    â€œNo framing,” I said as the Crusaders scribbled madly. “I don’t know why Fiona was there in the bushes or in the dead guy’s room.”
    â€œFiona?” Gabi squealed, proving once again that I totally sucked when under pressure. “Now we’ve got a name. This is fantastic. And she was in that Peep guy’s room!” They all scribbled again.
    Rudy did the
keep your mouth shut
gesture of slicing his hand across his throat, and he was so right. “You know,” I offered, “the guy who has the skinny on all this is that police officer you saw last night.”
    â€œHe’s so handsome.” Gabi batted her lashes, sighed and looked a little faint as the blond guy added, “We tried talking to him and he’s really crabby. He threatened to throw us in jail if we harassed him.”
    â€œSee, that’s all just part of the game.” I flashed mybest reassuring smile. “He’s supposed to be that way, and the jail part was added for color. What you need to do is go see him again and be persistent, just keep going back. He knows what’s going on, and he had Zo and that wife, Madonna, down at the station, questioning them. Now he knows even more than before. But whatever you do, don’t say anything about seeing the girl in the purple hat. Keep that to yourself and find out what he knows first. You all were really clever to have noticed the purple hat, and you don’t want that important clue to get around to the other groups.”
    â€œYou’re right.” Gabi nodded, and the rest joined in. “We have to keep our information quiet if we