"I swear, if I'm dying tonight because of you, I'm gonna haunt your ass so hard, Harrington!"
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah! I'm gonna go full Poltergeist and shit!"
"Then bring it, Graveswood."
"Challenge accepted."
***
In which after years of suppressing their...
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Chapter One-Hundred-And-Thirty-Eight: Finding A Lead
(The Monster And The Superhero, Pt. 3)
***
As Valerie drove to the library, ABBA playing through the speakers, they sat in silence. Until Valerie asked, "Okay, what's this shot in the dark Nance has, Rowan?"
Rowan looked over to her friend and answered, "It has something to do with Victor Creel. And I think I have my own hunch about it."
Valerie frowned, but only said, "Lay it on me."
So Rowan did, telling her about the Creel murders, about the odd coincidence that Virginia and Alice Creel's bodies looked so similar to Chrissy's, even though the gate hadn't been opened decades later and Vecna hadn't appeared until now. She even told Valerie her niggling questions on how Victor's son had died in a coma rather than the brutal way his mother and sister had been killed.
When Rowan was finished, a frown creased Valerie's brow as she said, "That is a pretty big coincidence."
"It is. And I could be wrong, but... there's way too many similarities for it to just be coincidence," Rowan replied as she leaned back in her seat.
"Yeah. I mean, when is anything just coincidence in this damn town?" Valerie remarked.
"Damn straight," Rowan muttered.
Valerie laughed. "I'm anything but straight, Ro."
Rowan grinned. "I know."
The two girls laughed, but it quickly died when the library came into view. As they stopped in front of it and Valerie turned the car off, she twisted around to Rowan and said, "I think that Henry Creel's death is also pretty suspicious. Why did he suddenly die in a coma a week later after the murders without any apparent broken bones? Seems way too convenient."
Rowan nodded. "I agree. There has to be something else, some piece we're missing that will explain it."
"But Victor thinks his son died, right?"
"Pretty much. He's... very much still grieving and blaming himself for not saving his kids," Rowan confessed.
"Huh. Murderer regrets killing his kids. Shocking," Valerie dryly commented and Rowan gave the curly-haired girl a withering glare.
"Hey, he was still their father. Plus, I talked to him. He genuinely misses them. No murderer could be that regretful, no matter how good a manipulator he is," Rowan defended.
Valerie raised her hands. "Hey, I'm not trying to start anything. I was just making an observation."
Rowan bit back her retort, instead getting out of the car, Valerie a step behind her, and headed to the library steps to wait for Nancy and Robin. When they arrived and got out of the car, Robin was already talking—and by the sounds of it, Nancy must have divulged her hunch to Robin.
