[Rock Lobster]

I went a looked at the cases. Two of them had Astak EZ Reader Pro's and the other two had PocketBook 302's in them.

"So, these bits of nothing here... Why are they in the glass cases?"

"You'd have to ask Ravenne. It was her idea to put them there." Zippy was still sort of pouting, so I didn't press her on it.

I walked over to the door with Ravenne's name on it and walked in. The walls were covered with grafitti. Since they had only been formed a few minutes ago, I was impressed. A snow woman stood in the center of the room, holding a scruffy grey dog by the collar.

"Bad dog! No more stealing avatars!" The dog looked chastised and slunk out of the room. "We'll see how long that lasts," she said.

"Are you Ravenne?" I asked.

"Yes I am. And you might be..."

"Lobster. Rock Lobster, PI. Could you tell me about the murder? Like, did you do it?" I figured there could only be one kook confessor in the bunch, so maybe I'd get home for NCIS after all.

"No."

I waited a bit. When it was obvious that the answer was going to be short and unhelpful. "No, as in you can't tell me about the murder or no, as in you didn't do it?"

"No as in both. I was busy at the time trying to get the next contest set for the members. It takes up all my time deciding how to be devious and underhanded."

"Doesn't come natural for you , eh?"

"You would be amazed at how hard some people have to work at it to get it just right."

"What are the little reader dohickeys in the glass cases for out there?"

"They're the prizes for the contest."

"So why do they have hammers and signs?"

"If, quite by accident, one of the members should get the contest right, then we will have to break the glass and actually give one away. That's why it would be an emergency."

I scratched my chin for a while, thinking of the mind set of this Ravenne. "So, why are they in glass to begin with? Couldn't you just put them in a desk drawer until it's time to give them away?"

Ravenne shuddered at the mention of giving out the prizes. "No, because there are those around here who like to steal things. I'm talking to YOU, dog!"

The scruffy dog tucked its tail and scurried out of the room.

"One last question. Why is that blue string stuck to the bottom of your snowball?"

She looked down and tried shuffling the string off herself. "It's probably got to do with Nate's String Theory. You would have to ask him."

As I left, the snow woman picked up a can of spray paint and started in on the walls again.