▌Chapter 13 ─ Did You Kill Lucy Sable? ▌
▌Part 2 ─ Season 1 ─ Episode 7 ─ The Tale of the Fallen Sea Queen ▌

━━━━━ ALORA, NANCY, AND George sat in the home of the runner up Candace Weaver. "Candice, I was reviewing your Sea Queen ceremony footage. You looked beautiful, by the way." Nancy said, as she handed the picture back over to her.

"You're so sweet." Candice said, as the three chuckled. She stood up and placed the picture frame on the banister.

"So, what can you tell us about the moment of winning runner-up?" Nancy asked.

"Um, runner-up isn't really winning." Nancy turned her head slightly. "Hey, you wanted your Sea Queen blog to be accurate, right?"

"It's just that, when I watched the video, I noticed that you whispered something into Lucy's ear after she had been crowned."

"I was merely telling her that there are rumors about how friendly she'd gotten with the judges and many other influential men."

"You called her a slut."

"Lucy liked to party. Poor girl, she was always starving for attention."

"Attention that you should've been getting?" Nancy slapped George, causing her to look at her.

"I'm sorry, is this all part of my interview for the Sea Queen blog, or am I missing something?" Candice asked him.

"Oh, trust me, you're missing something." Alora smirked at George, agreeing with her.

"I remember doing that." Nancy said, trying to change the subject. Back from when I was Sea Queen. The ribbon-cutting ceremony with the mayor. Did Lucy ask you to take over for her?"

"I had to step in. She had already gone MIA with her little brother."

"Did her brother ever explain where they went?" Alora asked her.

"Her brother and mom moved away a few weeks after everything happened, and no one ever heard from them again." Candice answered.

"Wait, but this picture isn't in the library catalog." George said.

"Well, that's because it was never published. Lucy's death overshadowed all things Sea Queen that were supposed to be published the next day. I had to beg the Horseshoe Bay Ledger to give me a copy of what was supposed to be front-page news."

"Wait, the Ledger has more Sea Queen photos from that day?"

"Oh, yeah. More than I could frame." Both Nancy and Alora looked back at George as she looked between the twins.

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Alora followed her sister, she wasn't sure why Nick wanted to talk to her as well but he wanted both of them to meet up with him. Nancy climbed up the ladder and Alora followed behind her.

"What did you need to talk about?" Nancy asked him.

"You said that... maybe Celia Hudson paid someone off." Nick said, as Nancy grabbed the chair and turned it around. She sat down on the chair while Alora stood next to her and placed her blue eyes on him. "So I looked into Tiffany's files and found bank transfer records. Turns out the Hudsons did pay someone a large sum of money just two days after Lucy was killed. But... it wasn't a woman." Nick grabbed a paper and handed it over to Nancy. "It was Carson Drew."

Shock fell onto Alora's face, she looked at the paper that her sister was looking at too. Alora walked over to the ledge and sat down but turned slightly looking back at Nick and Nancy.

"Eastern Shore Shipping. That's the Hudsons' shell company. They made a sizable one-time payment to your dad back in 2000. $50,000. Why would they pay him that kind of money all at once?"

"I don't know." Nancy said.

"Nancy?" He then looked at Alora. "Alora?"

The twins exchanged a look with each other. "Uh, he was the Hudsons' lawyer. I'm sure he got plenty of wire transfers from them."

"Yeah, from their payroll account, but this... two days after Lucy died."

"George is meeting us at the Horseshoe Bay Ledger with 60 lobster rolls. That's the price of admission for looking at their photo archives." Alora stood up and walked over to the ladder, climbing down it.

"Did you hear what I just said?" Nick asked the twins.

"Yeah, I heard you list some accounting information. That does not prove anything. So we have to go."

"Then I'm coming, too." Nick said, grabbing his jacket and standing up.

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They were in the Horseshoe Bay Ledger looking for what might help them get closer to solving Lucy's death.

"Here's the Sea Queen archive box. Candice said there were more photos of Lucy here." Nancy said.

"You don't want to talk about your dad... we don't have to. But I'm hoping that you do."

"That's not gonna happen." The two continued to look at the pictures and go through them.

"Do you really think the deposit was a coincidence?"

"Could you pass me those pictures?" Nancy asked him. "There's got to be something good in there." Alora looked down at the pictures, hoping to find something.

"Look at this. Candice never mentioned that her and Lucy got into a fight. She also said that Lucy left before the ribbon-cutting ceremony, so that's a lot of lies." Nick moved off the table and the container that held the coins fell to the floor opening.

"Aw, shoot." Nick breathed out. The three kneeled down and started to pick the coins up. Clattering could be heard at the other end of the room. "Somebody there?" Right after he had asked the question, a dark figure peered around the corner and showed itself to the three. They all looked at each other.

"We have to get the coins back in the box." Nancy said. They all moved around grabbing the coins. "That's why they're here." They got all the coins back into the container and closed it. Alora looked up and looked around, the dark figure had disappeared. Hands appeared just as the figure appeared again. Nancy opened the container and looked at it. "Where's the last coin?"

More figures appeared, Nancy ran towards the coin. She picked it up and turned back towards Nick.

"Nick." She called out, throwing the coin towards him. Nick caught it and placed it in the container and closed the lid. "Let's get out of here."

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The three arrived at the Claw. Alora was the first to walk in with Nancy and Nick following right behind her.

"Hey, did you guys find anything out about Candice Weaver that would explain why she'd lie to us?" Nancy asked, as she and Alora walked over to Bess, Ace, and Victoria.

"@CandiCanDoItAll? Yeah, she's all over Ryan's social media. I'm talking like every post for the last decade." Bess answered. Nick came up and stood next to the Drew twins.

"So, Candice has a thing for Ryan. I wonder for how long." Nancy said.

"Maybe she was jealous of Lucy and Ryan's relationship?" Alora asked, looking at her sister.

"But enough to kill her rival?" Nancy's phone started to ring, Nancy turned around and answered it.

"Nancy, hey. The good news is I got the toxicology back on Tiffany. She didn't die of natural causes. She was poisoned." Alora looked around at everyone. "We're still trying to figure out the exact source. It's rare and hard to detect, so more to come."

"Uh... that's amazing. Thank you so much. You're the best."

"Yeah, I hope you still think so when you hear the bad news. I can't find the box with all the Lucy evidence."

"Oh, no."

"A-All of it? The crown, the unidentified female hair?"

"Uh, I'm so sorry, Nancy. Uh, it's just gone. I mean, I-I'll keep looking for it, but I'm not gonna be able to get it to you tonight."

"Great, how are we going to do the séance now?" They gathered around the table, Alora looked down at the pictures that sat on the table.

"Where is Ace again?" Nancy asked.

"He was texting his weed guy and then he just ran off. He's stressed. Relationship stuff." Bess answered, Alora briefly looked up at Bess.

"Okay. The sunset's in an hour, and we have to do the séance at nightfall. And without Lucy's crown... All hands on deck to find something Lucy touched the night she died."

"Look, Nancy, this happened almost 20 years ago. It's not gonna happen." George told her.

"Then get rid of those coins." Victoria said, standing up from the booth.

"We can't give up." Alora mentioned.

"We've been so focused on the Hudsons..."

"Because they look super guilty."

"But Candice is a real suspect, too. So we just need to talk to Lucy, and then we can figure out what actually happened to her or if we're even on the right path. There's got to be something here."

"If only she applied this work ethic to her actual work." George said, looking at Nick, and then at Alora.

"Wait. Lucy was wearing a bracelet most of the night but not at the end."

"Hey. I've seen this charm before. My boss, Josh Dodd, wears it around his neck." Nick said. Alora placed her eyes on Nick as well as the others.

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Nancy stood with Alora, Josh Dodd was across from them and Nick leaned on a table near them. "Lucy Sable was your sister. Must've been hard, losing her like that. Having her murder turned into a town superstition. I know I'd be angry if she were my sister." Nancy explained.

"Half sister." Josh replied, he stared at the picture then pulled his hat off. "But, um, can we keep that between us? I moved back to town a year ago, after I inherited this shop from my grandpa, and nobody recognized me and... it's a lot easier that way."

"I got it. We're not here to out you. We just have a couple questions." Alora said.

Josh briefly looked at Nick. "So, you and your mom moved away right after Lucy died?" Nancy asked.

"Yeah, nobody wanted us in Horseshoe Bay. We made Lucy's death too real. Too sad. And a developer offered my mom a lot of money for our house." Both Alora and Nancy tilted their heads slightly.

"Out of nowhere?" Nick asked him. Josh only shrugged his shoulders.

"Lucy gave you that charm the night she died. Right?" Alora went on to ask. "Do you think she knew that she was in danger?"

"She did seem a little off that night. Towards, uh, the end of the festival, she... she took me aside and she handed me her bracelet. And then she hugged me and said, um, 'Don't believe what they say about me.' That was the last time I saw her."

"I can only imagine how much that charm means to you." He sniffled and looked down at the charm. "This, uh, belonged to our mom. And the bracelet that Alora where's also belonged to our mom. We wear them every day, so... please know that I don't ask this lightly. Can we borrow Lucy's charm? Just for tonight. We think that it could help us figure out who killed her."

He laughed slightly, switching eye contact between Nancy and Alora. "How?" He asked them.

"It's really hard to explain." Alora replied.

"Hey, you can trust them. I do." Nick informed Josh.

"So, if you find out who killed her..."

"We can get justice for her."

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Nancy and Alora walked into the police station. "George was hoping Victoria would try to get arrested again. No such luck."

"Nancy and Alora Drew." Chief McGinnis called out to the twins. The two looked to see him standing in his office. "Let's catch up."

He waved them back and walked away from the door. The two exchanged a look with each other and proceeded to walk through the small doors and head to Chief McGinnis' office. The two walked in, he was sitting in his chair. Alora closed the door, and waited for him to talk to them.

"Well, thanks to Laura Tandy, state police are moving in on the Tiffany Hudson investigation. I have to send over all our evidence, which includes you two breaking into the morgue and serving Tiffany her last meal."

"The food came back clean." Nancy said, both twins crossed their arms over their chest and continued to look at Chief McGinnis.

"Poison can be difficult to detect."

"You know we didn't kill her." Alora told the man.

"And you both know I'm not the bad cop Laura's making me out to be." The two just stared at him. He chuckled shortly after. "Okay. I believe Laura had motive to kill Tiffany. So if either of you have anything, we all need to solve this murder."

"You need to fix your reputation." Nancy and Alora said at the same time as the two walked towards his desk.

"And you two need to clear your names. I have a lot of red tape that's in the way. And the two of you have a gift for getting access to... all sorts of things."

"What are you hinting at?"

"As much as it pains me to say it, it's time for us to work together."

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After talking to Chief McGinnis the two headed back to the Claw. Alora and Nancy sat down on the steps in the locker room. Alora looked up as Ace opened the door and walked in.

"Hey. I have a theory for you." Ace said, looking between them.

"We have a theory, too." Both Nancy and Alora closed their books and looked up at Ace. "We think you're working for McGinnis." Nancy told him.

"You were the only one that he didn't bring in for questioning the night Tiffany died." The two proceeded to stand up.

"And we saw you together at the funeral. What were you guys talking about?" Nancy asked him.

"You've been cagey on the phone, and then running off to who knows where. You heard Nancy's phone call with John Sander, and less than an hour later, McGinnis is talking to us about poison." Alora tilted her head staring at Ace. She knew what Ace did was the truth, all she wanted to know was why he was keeping it from them. What was he hiding?

"It's not like that." Alora stared at him while Nancy tilted her head. "A year ago, McGinnis caught me hacking into a government computer system, which is a federal offense."

"Why would you...?"

"Hey... the point is, I thought my life was over, but he offered me this deal. He'd make sure that I stay out of jail, and all I had to do was look into a few things for him, keep my eyes open around town, which was easy enough, until Tiffany got murdered."

"You could've told us."

"That would have violated the deal. I can't go to jail. Listen, I'm sorry. I'm not trying to make excuses. I... I messed up. But will you at least let me try and make it up to both of you here? I learned something about Laura."

"I... how are we supposed to trust anything you say?" Nancy asked him.

"I trust him, I trust him completely."

Nancy then walked away from them. Alora stared at Ace as he watched Nancy walk away. Ace then looked at Alora.

"I'm gonna fix this."

Alora walked away from Ace and caught up with everyone else. "So, my mom got overwhelmed by the energy of the coins, and in a not-at-all-surprising not-twist ending, she got wasted. She's in pretty rough shape. Like the worst I've ever seen her. And that's saying a lot." George explained to them.

"Well, there's always the next new moon." Bess mentioned, Alora shook her head. After what she had seen earlier today she wanted to get rid of the coins fast.

"I'm not sitting on the coin for another month." Nick replied.

"We do a séance now." Nancy said.

"Alone? Without clairvoyant supervision?"

"You'd be surprised at what you could do alone. I'm in"

"Yeah, count me in." Alora said, looking at George.

"Me, too. Nick?" Nancy looked over at him. "We're all on the same team, right?"

"Okay." Soon they were all looking at Bess waiting for her answer. George lifted her hands.

"Fine." Bess said. "But this has nothing to do with my ghost FOMO."

"I brought something we can use to talk to Lucy. Ted!"

"Your sister?" Nancy questioned her, confusion evident in her voice.

"Not quite. Ted?" She walked over to George and stood next to her older sister. George took the toy from her hand and showed it to them. "Since Lucy communicates mostly through electronics, we can have her answer questions through the dragon. She can make the eyes light up green for yes, the mouth red for no."

"You said I'd get something." Ted said, looking up at George.

George looked down at her. "One thing."

"Five things."

"Five is good." Nancy took the paper. "Five is good." She whispered. George looked at Nancy.

"Great. Now she's spoiled."

They had gotten Ted the things she asked for and placed her into George's room. They all sat together, Alora was in between Nancy and George. Nick handed the coins over to Nancy who proceeded to open them. Bess then screamed, George and Alora looked at her.

"Bess." The two whispered.

"Sorry. Okay? That was a big buildup." Nancy placed the coins in her hand then placed them on the floor next to the toy dragon. "Okay, so at this point, Victoria says you hold the beacon over the coins."

Nancy grabbed a hold of charm and held it over the coins. "We call upon Lucy Sable's spirit." Eerie breathing could be heard, suddenly Nancy gasped.

"We... we-we call upon Lucy Sable."

"Lucy Sable." Hands appeared in between them, both Alora and George gasped, looking at the hands that surrounded them.

"We-we call upon Lucy Sable." A hand grabbed onto Nancy's hand. Alora assumed that it belonged to Lucy Sable.

"A-A-Are you Lucy Sable?" Nancy asked. They watched as the eyes turned green, indicating that it was in fact her.

"It's her. It worked." Bess breathed out.

"Did Candice Weaver murder you?" The mouth lights up red. That ruled Candice out of their suspect list. "Was it the Hudsons that killed you?" The red light popped up first but then switched to green, eventually it continued to switch back and forth.

"Yes and no? What, b-both?" Bess asked.

Nick stammer, "I think it's-it's malfunctioning." Nick said.

"Are you haunting my sister and I because of what we found in the attic?" Nancy continued to ask. The dragon toy calmed down and turned to green.

"Drew, what attic?" George asked the twins.

"Did Carson Drew kill you? Ask her Nancy, it's now or never."

"Did the same person that killed you kill Tiffany?" Nick went on to ask. The mouth lit up red.

"Did you see who killed Tiffany?" George asked Lucy. The eyes lit up. George looked at Nick.

"Uh, uh, uh, was it...?" The dragon toy started to act up, both the green eyes and the red mouth turned on. Black smoke came out from underneath and moved over top of it eventually moving out of the circle, and around each of them.

"No! No! Make it stop!" The lights became brighter and the coins started to melt, then Lucy was pulled away with the smoke.

"Where did she go? You... you got to bring her back." Bess said.

"We can't."

Alora placed her eyes on the coins. "The coins, they melted." Nick looked at Nancy, and Alora but his eyes mostly settled on Nancy.

"Nick, I'm so sorry."

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Alora sat at the bar, her journal in front of her she had been writing down what had happened only moments ago. She wished that Ace had been her to see it happen. Bess stood at a table behind her while George had been walking around gathering things.

"That was intense." Bess said. "Like, all those hands, that was so creepy." The two came over to Alora, she proceeded to shut her journal and look at them. "And that thing, it pulled Lucy away, right? Was that one of those inhuman entities Victoria warned us about?"

"Look, I don't know, Bess." George replied.

"I do not envy Victoria." Alora and George looked at her. "Imagine having all those things no one ever wants to see. It must be so lonely." Bess stood up and walked towards the kitchen.

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Nancy pushed through the door, Alora following right behind her. "Hey. Dinner will be ready in a few." Carson told the twins. Alora smiled, excited to eat food. Both Alora and Nancy's phone went off. Alora pulled it out of her pocket and looked to see a text from Ace. Then her dad's phone went off as well.

"Family data plan? So our father's been monitoring our texts from the could, for how long? We've always had the same code for everything. He must've seen Nancy's texts with John Sander about the unidentified female hair."

Alora and Nancy walked towards the living room looking at their dad's phone. The two had remembered what he had told them earlier in the day.

"He didn't meet up with a friend. Instead, he made a detour to Sander's lab. Did he steal the evidence? But why?" The two walked towards the kitchen where their father was. "Nancy and I used to judge the people of Horseshoe Bay for fixating on Dead Lucy's ghost while her killer walks free. Living in denial instead of facing the truth. And then we did the same thing."

Alora walked to the other side of the table and sat down, her plate was in front of her. Carson placed his plate and Nancy's down, then he and Nancy sat down as well. He looked between Nancy and Alora.

"I'm glad we could do this." Carson told them, Alora smiled at him. She didn't want her father to think that there was anything wrong.

"No one wants to believe that someone so close to them could do something so unspeakable. But denial? That's no way to live."

"Did you kill Lucy Sable?" Nancy asked, turning her head to look at him.