Adelaide Hearts' POV

"Oh my Grimm," she muttered as she watched Carmelo and Jace get herded into a cop car. Her throat closed up as she spotted Detective Pois get bombarded with questions. They're getting arrested, Adelaide realized, but what is their probable cause? "Detective Pois!" she called out, running down the stairs and nearly colliding with her.

"Oh, good morning, Miss Hearts."

Adelaide glared daggers at her. You've just arrested Carmelo and Jace. "What makes you believe that Carmelo Spades was behind Cressida's attempted murder? And, oh, you're suddenly treating her case like a crime? About time."

"May I remind you that Miss Lockes is in the hospital and her attempted murder just occurred yesterday?" Pois replied curtly, pressing her thin lips together.

"Exactly, yesterday. Surely, you don't have probable cause."

"Miss Hearts, we found out that Mr. Kane tried to burn a suspect list from Miss Lockes' notebook, after she slipped into a coma." Coma? It was good that Cressida was alive, but a coma seemed just as daunting. "That can not be a coincidence. Not to mention, we received a tox screening from the officials that Cressida was poisoned by Deadly Nightshade."

Adelaide paled. "Poisoned?"

"Yes, we suspect that Miss Lockes had eaten something in the form of those Deadly Nightshade berries. Which can be found in Ever After High's greenhouse, although it's too cold for crops to grow, so Grimm locked it up for the chillier months. Only one gifted gardner and student would have had access to the greenhouse, and therefore the Deadly Nightshade—Mr. Spades."

Oh dear Grimm, what have you gotten yourself into, Carmelo? "Carmelo is the sweetest man in the world, in both Book End and Wonderland. He would never hurt Claudia, he doesn't have it in his heart." What Adelaide said was the truth.

"Oh, but we're not speaking of the Hatter case." Detective Pois narrowed her eyes. "I am still handling Claudia Hatter's suicide case, but my cop friend will be overseeing Miss Lockes' poisoning attempt."

"Which is who exactly?"

"Homicide Detective Jack Benson, the current Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk. Now, have yourself a good day, Miss Hearts." She turned to leave, spinning around in her heels.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Adelaide. "Wait! How did you know that it was Carmelo and Jace?"

Detective Pois sighed. "What do you mean?"

"You say you have probable cause, but how?"

"We got an anonymous tip."

"Anonymous...?" Adelaide was going to kill the Weaver.

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Ruby Red's POV

Ruby laid in her bed for most of the day, scrolling on her phone and feeling as if she was drowning in a pool of dread. For the rest of the week, all classes were cancelled to help students cope with tragedy after tragedy. A never-ending cycle. She glanced over to her roommate, Beatrice.

"Hey, Bea?"

"Mhm?"

"Did Alex ever mention Claudia to you?"

She snorted. "Obviously, yes. They were best friends."

"No, I mean..." Ruby sighed, trying to figure out her own feelings for Alex. Ridiculously handsome, sure, but his confession for Claudia had changed her world. "Did he ever talk about her romantically? I'm assuming you know since you're his cousin."

"Oh, you know about his little crush?"

"Yeah."

"Damn," Bea said, getting up from her bed. She cracked her knuckles and leaned against the wall. "I mean, Alex was crazy about Claudia, it was almost... sad. I heard from Alex that the confession didn't go well." She raked her fingers through her blond hair. "It was destined anyways, Claudia had no romantic attraction to him at all."

"But Alex is just so hung up over her."

"Oh." Bea eyed Ruby, crossing her arms. "You like Alex, don't you?" Before Ruby could confirm or deny it, Bea cut her off. "Rule One, break his heart and I'll break your neck. Rule Two, if you're going to admit your feelings, you better do it fucking properly. Rule Three, this does not interfere with Claudia's investigation."

"What does her investigation have anything to do with it?"

"Everything."

୨ৎ──♤♡♢♧──୨ৎ

Hailee-Diane Dumpty's POV

Hadie tapped her pen against her sheet of paper, trying to figure out who was behind both the Hatter and Lockes case. There must be something I'm missing, she thought as her phone buzzed, a message from Adelaide.

AHS: You're smart, right, Hailee-Diane?

HD: What kind of question is that? Ofc I am.

AHS: AJ sent me something, can you try to solve it for me?

Hadie squinted at the tiny phone screen, realizing it was the editor's page for Cressida Lockes' MirrorBlog. Damn, she'd miss the MirrorCast, Honey's voice was actually pretty soothing and sounded like ASMR.

HD: What am I looking at rn?

AHS: Someone, probably the Companion, deleted all of her posts. AJ said Honey thought that we did it, but someone else did it. You know the error page? Something popped up on Honey's screen.

There was another document sent, a screenshot with the words—

Watch yourself, Honey.

HD: So someone deleted all of Honey's work and threatened her?

AHS: The worst part is that the cops think it's Carmelo.

HD: Possible bail?

AHS: The Liddells are on already, though I think they can only bail out Jace. Detective Pois seems pretty adamant on pinning it all on Carmelo.

HD: So what do I do for now?

AHS: Figure out who has been talking to Honey for the past week.

Easier said than done, Hadie thought as she turned off her phone. For the next hour, Hadie spent her time calling up some random students and asking around. She didn't get that much out of them, though there was a strange response. "Hello? This is Hailee-Diane," she said, jotting down notes. "I'm asking about Cressida Lockes."

"You mean Honey?"

"Cressida, Honey, same thing." Hadie shifted the phone to the other ear, glancing out the window. It was raining outside, a reflection of her gray mood. "Did you notice anything about her during this past week?"

"What's any different about her? She was always eating porridge with blueberries and honey in the Castleteria in the morning."

"Well, yes, she was the next Goldilocks so the porridge is basically a must—wait, did you say honey and blueberries?" Hadie suddenly remembered what Cressida was poisoned with. Deadly Nightshade berries, which were often confused with actual berries. "So every day?"

"No, just yesterday."

Just then Hadie figured out the narrative—Cressida ate her porridge with what she thought were blueberries, but the Companion had actually given her Deadly Nightshade, and then she went on to find all of her posts deleted. After that, she went outside where AJ just happened to be. The poisoning slowly got into her system, sending her into a coma.

Now it's crystal-clear. "Sorry, what was your name again?" Hailee-Diane asked.

Then the boy hung up. Huh, weird.