Carl could put up with spartan living conditions if he had to, but the knowledge that there was a fully functional bathroom only a few yards away was a terrible temptation. Could he risk having a shower and a shave?

Rachel woke up and looked at the clock. Three a.m. Was that water running? Before she could be certain, the noise stopped. She had just decided that it must have been air in the pipes, when Clara started to cry, then suddenly stopped.

That was odd! Rachel hurried downstairs to the nursery. Clara was gurgling happily to herself.

"Hey You!" said Rachel, "How are you? I bet you've got a wet diaper! Oh - it's dry. That's funny!"

A floorboard creaked behind her. Rachel whirled around. "Who's there?" Silence.

"Probably just the house settling." she thought, then heard another noise. She set Clara down in the cradle, then crossed to the bathroom that connected the nursery and Carl's room, and opened the door. Silence. Darkness. Rachel felt for the light switch. When the lights came on, she saw that the walls of the shower were beaded with water. She reached out to touch it - then Clara started to fuss. Rachel forgot the mystery, as she went to get the baby a bottle.

Carl waited until Rachel had gone back upstairs to bed before he slipped out from underneath his own bed and back to the secret room. That had been a close call, but it felt good to be clean!

****

Rachel woke to the smell of coffee. "I woke up early, so I decided to put the coffee on." Steven said.

"That was very thoughtful of you, Darling." said Rachel, "I suppose you want some?"

"Well - maybe."

Rachel opened the refrigerator. "Hey, who ate the leftover chicken?"

"It was me, Grandma." said Steven, "I got hungry in the middle of the night."

"I was going to give you guys chicken sandwiches for lunch," Rachel said, "But I guess it will have to be peanut butter."

"That's okay, Grandma." said Steven, "I like peanut butter."

" Me too." said Kirkland.

****

Later that day, Paulina brought Jake Jr over the cottage, and Frankie brought Marcello. While they played with Michael and Franklin, the adults drank coffee and brainstormed.

"The question is, who wanted Grant dead?" said Frankie.

"Who didn't?" said Paulina, "After all the rotten things he did? Shooting himself and blaming Vicky, cheating on Amanda while they were still on their honeymoon -"

"Not to mention trying to turn her into a spineless, subservient wimp!" said Rachel.

"Yes, but what's he done lately?" said Frankie, "If Amanda - sorry Rachel, I'm just using her as an example - was going to kill Grant, she would have done it years ago. Why wait until now?"

"What if -" Paulina suggested, "Grant was responsible for the accident that killed Ryan and Vicky? He might have thought that if they were dead, he could get custody of Kirkland. Maybe he did something to the brakes in Michael's car - "

"If that were true, then the person most likely to have killed him is - Carl." said Rachel, "I thought we were supposed to be trying to pin the murder on someone else."

"Besides, said Frankie, "You can bet that if there had been a bomb in the car, or the brakeline had been cut, the police would have noticed."

"Yes, I'm sure they went over every inch of that car." said Rachel, "Ryan had a lot of friends in the BCPD."

"Well, I just can't picture any of our friends and neighbours as a murderer." said Paulina.

"Grant was always trying to get some hold over people. so that he could control and manipulate them." said Rachel, "He probably tried his games on somebody we don't even know, and that person killed him."

"I'm sorry we can't be more help." said Paulina.

"It's a help just to know that I'm not the only one who believes that Carl is innocent." said Rachel.

"I'll keep digging into Grant's recent activities," said Frankie, "There has to be some clue."

"You know, " said Rachel, "Maybe we're looking at this from the wrong angle; maybe the killer wasn't after Grant at all; maybe he was out to get Carl!"

"You mean, someone killed Grant just so Carl would take the blame?" said Paulina, "That's sick!"

"Yes!" said Rachel,. "The fact that Grant died was incidental to the main thing, which was sending Carl to jail for murder!"

"Carl has plenty of enemies." said Frankie., "Where do we start?"

****

Meanwhile, in another part of Bay City, Gary was on patrol when: "I don't believe it!" He grabbed his radio. "Car 62 - Carl Hutchins is walking along Front St, in broad daylight, bold as brass! Can you believe the nerve of the guy?"

As Carl turned into the alley, Gray decided not to wait for backup. He parked his squadcar across the mouth of the alley and got out, drawing his gun.

"Hold it right there, Carl!" When that got no reaction, he yelled" "Police! Get down on the ground -NOW! Hands behind your back!"

He was just putting the cuffs on when half the BCPD swarmed the alley, with Joe Carlino in the lead.

"Good work!" said Joe, then, "What the heck?" He grabbed the ponytail and pulled; it came off in his hand. Then Gary got his first look at the prisoner's face.

"Wally?" he said, "What are you doing in that wig? Where did you get it?"

"I found it in a dumpster," the small homeless man replied, "I thought it made me look distinguished. I didn't know there was a law against wearing wigs."

"There isn't." said Gary, "Turn around so I can take the cuffs off."

As soon as his hands were free, Wally took his porkpie hat out of his pocket and put it on his head.

"How long have you been wearing that wig?" Gary demanded.

"A few days."

"Since before or after Grant Harrison was killed?"

"Who?"

"Okay, let's go!" said Joe, "We got a fugitive killer to catch!"

As the other police headed for their cars, Gary said, "Wait a minute, Joe! Don't you think its an odd coincidence - Wally findin' a grey ponytail wig in a dumpster, right after somebody with a grey ponytail kills Grant Harrison?"

"We know who killed Harrison." said Joe, "The wig's probably somebody's Hallowe'en costume."

"But - shouldn't we look into it? There might be a connection."

"Why don't you go do sometin' you're qualified for, like handin' out parkin' tickets, and leave the detective work to the detectives?" said Joe dismissively. He tossed the wig into a dumpster on his way back to his car.

Gary fished it out again, then took some money out of his pocket.

"Here, Wally. Go buy yourself a hamburger. And don't leave town. I may want to talk to you again.

"I'm always around." said Wally

To be continued.