"No, ma'am," Rose interrupted, finishing my sentence firmly. "He was murdered. And his daughter is also missing. Just terrible, all at once."
Miss Shio's eyes lifted slowly. There was no gasp, no trembling just a soft blink.
"Oh… my goodness," she murmured, voice calm and oddly measured. "How… unfortunate."
She pressed a hand to her chest in a polite gesture of sympathy, but her eyes were somewhere else glancing around the shop, scanning the shelves, the counter, as if searching for something she suddenly remembered.
"He was such a kind man. Well… most of the time," she added with a sigh. "Who would do something so cruel? And his daughter oh, dear Anna… especially when her mother went missing so long ago…"
"Well, the royal from Manyblood seems to have a strong lead," I said.
At that, Miss Shio's brows rose with genuine intrigue. "Really? And who does he suspect?"
"For now," Rose replied, "the number one suspect is the town's butcher."
