Transcript of this chapter:

sheriff: Alright... we've already talked to everyone else about this... We're willing to listen to anything you have to say about that mysterious message written on the gondola.
crystal: I don't know anything about it.
sheriff: Well, maybe you can go over everything you did this afternoon, and a list of everyone would might support your story.
crystal: I was right here! Are you accusing me of something?!
sheriff: We just want to know who wrote that message. Rebecca is here to ferret out any lies, and you're the only person we haven't talked to yet...
crystal: Are you accusing me because I'm a demon?!
sheriff: Look, I don't mean to accuse you, I have to do this with everyone...
sheriff: And everyone else has already been interviewed...
crystal: Yeah, right... I was in two places at once.
rebecca: I told you it wasn't Crystal... she was here in the diner with me the whole time it could've happened.
crystal: Yeah, airtight alibi.
sheriff: But still, there's a chance you know more about this than you let on...
crystal: I REALLY don't know anything about this. I would tell you if I did.
sheriff: Is that so?...
crystal: You want to search me for the marker? I can tell you, I don't have it.
sheriff: That message wasn't written with a marker... it was burned into the wood.
crystal: Burned?
sheriff: Yes, but you might've known that already...
sheriff: After all, we have credible information that one of your associates might be involved.
sheriff: It's only a matter of time before we discover who left that coded message.
crystal: Why is this bothering you so much?
sheriff: I don't like secrets... unless I'm the one keeping them.
crystal: Ha! That's typical... You're just upset because something is going on and for once you have no clue.
sheriff: That's exactly the problem! We have no idea how serious this might be... or deadly...
crystal: Who are you talking about?!
sheriff: I think you know, seeing that she's obeys your every command.
crystal: You think Annabelle left that message? Why would she do that?
sheriff: I might ask you that, because there's hardly a thing that she doesn't tell you.
crystal: Now look... Annabelle is too involved in her own relationship troubles to be putting cryptic messages on things. And if she DID do it, so what?
sheriff: So you admit it!
crystal: Are you actually serious about investigating?
sheriff: Of course I'm serious. I'm the sheriff!
crystal: Wow, it's just that I've never seen you actually doing your job.
sheriff: My job is to maintain balance in Spider Cliff, but I can't do that if certain people don't cooperate and tell us what we need to hear.
rebecca: Ed, let this go for now. Obviously Crystal isn't involved in this, I would know if she was lying.
rebecca: Why don't you go down to the gondola and take another look around for clues.
sheriff: Okay, fine.
rebecca: I'm sorry about that, Crystal. I hope there's no hard feelings. We're just concerned about this message.
rebecca: We really DID question everyone else, and nobody seems to have written it. I have to admit we're stumped.
crystal: Why did the sheriff want to blame Annabelle? He said he had credible evidence.
rebecca: We interviewed Annabelle early on, but she claimed that she didn't write the message. It was only after our interview with her that we learned something else.
rebecca: Eliza told us that she saw Annabelle near the gondola, sometime before the message was found. Annabelle was standing right where the message appeared, and it seemed like she was talking to Elkwood!
rebecca: That's why the sheriff thought you might know more about this than we did. We can't always get a good reading on what the undead are up to.
crystal: Well, that does make more sense... but I don't know what Annabelle would be doing there.
crystal: Have we decoded the message yet?
rebecca: It's not any code that I recognize. The sheriff was baffled too, though he thinks he might've seen something like that when he was a boy.
rebecca: We don't know exactly when it was written or if it was really written by Elkwood. It doesn't seem possible, and yet there it is.
rebecca: Oh, we DID discover one thing... What you saw wasn't the whole code. Under Elkwood's hand was one more letter, the letter X. It was written aside from the rest of the code.
crystal: Do we know when the message was written?
rebecca: We can't be too sure. Turnip said that when he saw the code, he went straight to the diner, and then we went directly to gondola... so it was discovered about five minutes before Turnip entered the diner.
crystal: Why are you so concerned about all of this?
rebecca: Well, beside the fact that I already talked to everyone, and everyone denied leaving the message...
rebecca: I'm not comfortable with the idea of secret messages in the first place. I don't like things that reserve secret meaning for a select group.
crystal: But.. what if this message IS intended for us, but for some reason the writer can't tell us directly? You know, like that whole fiasco with Alistair Bigly Bean.
rebecca: Hmmm... I hadn't considered that. You might have a point, there. But what is this message?
crystal: How much time passed between Annabelle and Turnip?
rebecca: Eliza voted and left the diner about 25 minutes before Turnip came in with the news. Assuming that it took her about five minutes to pass the gondola and see Annabelle...
rebecca: Hmmm... I would estimate the no more than 15 minutes passed between when Eliza saw Annabelle and Turnip found the message. Not a lot of time to leave a message like that.
crystal: I see. Maybe I SHOULD go ask Annabelle about this.
crystal: Do you think there's something supernatural behind this?
rebecca: At this point, I think we've eliminated everything BUT the supernatural. It certainly wasn't one of us.
crystal: Have you asked any of the, uh... former residents of Spider Cliff?
rebecca: I haven't had a chance yet, but I think this might be something that Vedalia Bean might be able to help with.
rebecca: If that doesn't pan out, I might ask the Oracle.
crystal: Is Elkwood really and truly dead?
rebecca: Yes. That's the whole mystery. I inspected those bones myself. Skeletons usually can't hold any essence that would allow them to write messages like that.
rebecca: A few thoughts have crossed my mind. First, Elkwood was by all accounts a very strong individual, so maybe he COULD write that message from beyond the grave.
rebecca: And secondly, skeletons have been known to move under the control of a powerful witch or wizard.
crystal: I want to help you with this. I'll help you interview Vedalia if you like.
rebecca: I really appreciate that, but I think Vedalia might take issue with you. She battled a lot of demons in her day, and I'm sure she'd be upset to hear that there's a demon living in her house.
rebecca: But I'll tell you what... Tonight, why don't you ask the Oracle about the message? You know how to handle the Oracle, don't you?
crystal: Sure, I know how to work the Oracle. He's got to be good for something, you know.