Red

Chapter Seven: Rapunzel

To compensate for the silence, Gran turned on the radio. I hardly paid attention, staring at passing street signs until Gran's walkie-talkie buzzed.

"Vega, come in. Vega." The radio crackled. "We've got reports of a female jumper down at Stony Towers. Suspected suicide. The victim is Rapunzel Moore."

Gran widened his eyes. "Do you think it was murder?"

"I think it's more likely than suicide. Besides, didn't she develop a fear of heights after she was kidnapped?"

Gran nodded grimly. "You're right. She would never have gone up that tower willingly."

Stony Towers apartment complex was on the next street over. We arrived within thirty seconds of hearing the radio.

The tower was tall, far taller than Rapunzel would have been comfortable with. Still, there were birds singing sweetly and animals racing about, as the tower backed onto the woods.

GGPD was already there, with Unsam examining the body.

Gran leapt out of the car with me on his heels. "Unsam!" he called. "She died before she fell, right?" He slid on a pair of gloves and handed me a pair to do the same.

Unsam looked up from the body. "Well, Detective Vega, witnesses say she fell from the fortieth floor. I've not finished my examination, but it appears you are correct. I believe the cause of death is-"

"Cyanide poisoning," Gran finished. He grabbed my arms. "Red, don't you see? I'm investigating a real-life spree killer!"

"You are way too excited, Gran," I grumbled. "But cheers to that! Although isn't it 'serial killer?"

"Uh, no." Gran looked incredulous and shoved his glasses up his nose. "A serial killer kills over a long period of time. A spree killer, on the other hand, kills over a short period of time."

I smirked. "Somebody does their research."

"That's literally my job, Red."

I turned away from him. "Unsam, where's the envelope?"

"It was found in the victim's shoe," Unsam told me as he opened it. "Ah, in typical fashion, beautiful script, red wax seal, lipstick print, Syrillian ink and bamboo paper, and a lovely little saying."

He held it up so Gran and I could clearly read the words, Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair.

Unsam stared at the ground. "This is far too familiar, I'm afraid," he sighed.

I nodded, remembering. He was one of the seven dwarves who took Snow White in after she ran away from her stepmother. They'd been close, I'd heard. He loved her like a little sister. A princess being killed by cyanide- that might hit too close to home for him.

Gran seemed to be thinking the same thing. "Listen, man, if it's too much, I can have you on another case. But you're the best M.E. GGPD has. I'd hate to lose you."

Unsam wiped his eyes. "I'll be all right, Detective Vega." His eyes darkened. "I just hope..." he trailed off, turning away.

Gran and I looked at each other.

"He'll be all right," I said uncertainly.

"No, yeah." Gran nodded. "Unsam's strong. Let's search the tower."

The elevator, as luck would have it, was broken. Which meant we had to climb up forty flights of stairs.

"You know," I began, my voice echoing in the stairway. "all the windows were closed."

Gran stopped. "You're right. They were. So someone definitely killed her."

"Does this place have cameras?" I mused.

"It might. It is a residential area. If all else fails I'm sure one of the residents has private security cameras," Gran replied.

By the twentieth floor, we stopped talking as we needed the oxygen for breathing.

There were only two large apartments on the fortieth floor, but Rapunzel hadn't been in either of them. She was pushed out of the hall window, we figured, and we went for a closer look, edging around other officers collecting evidence.

"Someone 5'10 would have no trouble pushing Rapunzel out the window. She was pretty short, right?" I asked.

Gran nodded, biting his lip in focus.

I stared at the windowsill. "Hey, look. Black hair," I noted, pointing to a hair on the sill.

Gran picked it up with tweezers and slid it into a ziplock as I studied the window further.

I noticed the paint around the lock had been scraped away, but when I went to open the window, I found it to be locked again.

"Not only did they close it again, but they locked it?" Gran was incredulous. "That's such a waste of time!"

"Gran, the killer pushed her out of a window of the fortieth floor of a building after killing her. They love wasting their time."

"Why, though? There's a pattern, a method, there always has to be a method..."

A bolt of cold went through me, jarring my bones.

I had a theory.

A twisted theory.

"Because... because they're telling a story-" I muttered under my breath.

"A what? You're not making sense," Gran replied.

"No," I ignored him, "no, they're not telling a story, they're telling the story. The girls are famous because they had a big story in the news and the murderer is reenacting them. Like Rosie; she was asleep for a long time and gets kissed without consent, she gets roofied and assaulted and then she gets murdered... or Merra, she was a mermaid, so they threw her back in the ocean... or Rapunzel, she escaped the tower just to be thrown out of another one..."

Gran grabbed my hand. "It's brilliant! It's like a really morbid show!"

"So then who's next?" I wondered.

Gran was silent for a moment. "Eloise Ashfall. She's having her anniversary party-"

"Just like the party where she met her husband! Gran, we have to go to the party. We need to get invitations-"

"I have an invitation. You know how my family is." He smiled and got down on one knee with a flourish, taking my hand. "Red Benedict, will you go to the ball with me?"

I clasped my hand to my heart and theatrically batted my eyelashes. "I would love to." I tilted my head, thinking. "I just need to buy a dress."