“The brothers Grimm,” she explained, “collected these tales from oral traditions.They weren't creating bedtime stories for children—they were documenting cultural artifacts, preserving folk wisdom that would otherwise have been lost.”Her fingers traveled down the page, searching.“Ah, here we are.'Little Red-Cap.'You probably know her better as Little Red Riding Hood.”
The story with a wolf in it,Jenna remembered.Although the well-known children’s tale had flashed through her mind at the murder scene, she hadn’t really considered any possible connection to the school-teacher’s murder.
Leith continued, “Modern renditions have sanitized all of these old tales beyond recognition.Take this one as an example.The first part unfolds much as you'd expect.Little girl wearing a red hood, grandmother's house, big bad wolf.”
Jenna watched Leith's hands, pale and thin, as they caressed the yellowed pages.
“But here's where modern versions diverge,” Leith continued.“In the bedtime stories your parents read to you, or in the cartoon versions, what happens to the grandmother?”
Jake shrugged.“The wolf locks her in a closet?I don't really remember.”
“And the wolf himself?”Leith prodded.
“A huntsman shoots him?”Jake replied.“Or maybe just scares him away?”
“So bloodless,” Leith said with a disappointed click of her tongue.“So...neutered.The Grimm brothers understood something that we've forgotten—that darkness serves a purpose in storytelling.And sometimes it’s something we need to know about everyday life.”She turned the book toward them, pointing to a specific passage.“Look here.”
Jenna leaned forward, her eyes scanning the faded print.The text described the wolf devouring the grandmother whole, at a single gulp, then disguising himself as the grandmother for the infamous “what big teeth you have” exchange and doing the same to Little Red Riding Hood.
“He swallowed them,” she murmured.
“Whole and alive,” Leith confirmed.“And now for the passage I particularly wanted to show you, this is about the huntsman.”She cleared her throat and began to read aloud:
“'Then just as he was going to fire at him, it occurred to him that the wolf might have devoured the grandmother, and that she might still be saved, so he did not fire, but took a pair of scissors, and began to cut open the stomach of the sleeping wolf.'“
Jenna’s eyes met Jake's, and she saw the same recognition.The wolf with a body inside.Too similar to Claudia's murder to be coincidental.“Cut open the stomach,” she said aloud.“I don’t remember seeing that in any kid’s storybook.”
With a wry smile, Leith continued, her voice taking on the rhythmic cadence of a practiced storyteller: “'When he had made two snips, he saw the little Red-Cap shining, and then he made two snips more, and the little girl sprang out, crying: “Ah, how frightened I have been!How dark it was inside the wolf”; and after that the aged grandmother came out alive also, but scarcely able to breathe.'“
Jenna forced her face to remain impassive, not wanting to give away how directly the passage connected to their investigation.The methodical cutting, finding the victims inside.It was all there, grotesquely mirrored in Claudia Kingsley's murder.Except that in the old story the ones who were swallowed got out alive.
“And it gets better,” Leith said.“Red-Cap doesn't just escape and live happily ever after.Listen: 'Red-Cap, however, quickly fetched great stones with which they filled the wolf's belly, and when he awoke, he wanted to run away, but the stones were so heavy that he collapsed at once, and fell dead.'“
She closed the book with a soft thud that seemed to punctuate the story's violent conclusion.
“So you see,” Leith said, tilting her head at Jenna with unnerving perceptiveness, “I'm rather curious what this might have to do with poor Claudia's death.I'm pretty sure she wasn't killed by a wolf, much less eaten or swallowed whole by one.”
Jenna kept her expression carefully neutral.She hadn't mentioned any details of Claudia's death to Leith—not the wolf in the tree, not the positioning of the body.She’d only asked whether there was a fairy tale about cutting open a wolf's belly.
“So you think this particular story might have something to do with Claudia?”she asked.
Leith shrugged, a gesture that somehow managed to be both dismissive and knowing.“Sheriff Graves, you didn't come to my stockroom to discuss my inventory methods.You mentioned a death.You asked about a certain story.”Her smile was sharp.“I know a thing or two about wolves, you know.They almost never really attack people.Their reputation for violence is largely undeserved, a projection of human fears onto the natural world.”
Jake said.“We appreciate your insight, Ms.Walsh.”
“Leith, please,” she corrected him automatically.“Ms.Walsh makes me sound like someone's spinster aunt.”
Jenna considered her next move carefully.The connection was too valuable to dismiss, but she couldn't share details of an active investigation.
“Could I borrow this book?”she asked.“I'll be extremely careful with it.”
Leith's eyes widened in genuine horror.“Absolutely not!This is a first edition—it's worth thousands.It's irreplaceable.”She slid the book back toward herself protectively.“But if you're really interested, you can find the original text online.The Grimms' work is in the public domain now.”
“I'll look into that,” Jenna said, making a mental note to do exactly that as soon as she could.
Leith carefully returned the book to its place in the display case, locking it securely before turning back to them.Her expression had shifted again, becoming more distant, almost dreamy.
“You know,” she said softly, “the Grimm brothers would have found Trentville fascinating.All this darkness rising up lately...”She trailed off, her gaze drifting toward the window where afternoon light streamed in, dusty and golden.“'And this also has been one of the dark places of the earth.'“
