Arc 6: What Comes Next
Page 94
The Wrong Man in the File
By lunchtime, the bakery had become headquarters for a mystery Rosie had already counted more carefully than most adults would have managed. Detective Park arrived with his old Flower File tucked under his arm and the solemn satisfaction of a man reopening a case he never really believed was finished. He spread maps and timings across Marco's table, skipped lunch for the sake of deduction, and announced, with full dramatic confidence, that his new suspect was Marco Ferretti himself. Marco stared back in wounded disbelief, protesting that he baked bread rather than floral conspiracies, while Rosie defended his innocence on the basis of cinnamon and character. Chloe listened, notebook open, letting Park's certainty spend itself. Even as the accusation filled the room, she could feel the truth sitting somewhere just beyond it, waiting to be noticed through the window instead of inside the theory.