My lamp in my office flickered as the bulb prepared to give out. Frustrated, I gave the bulb a tap, somehow managing to restore it to its original glow for about two seconds. Then it started threatening to give out again.

Focusing on something as trivial as the dying lightbulb helped to get the images out of my mind that kept flashing through it. My wife, Marian, dead on the floor, with blood pooling out of her wound ... I shivered and was brought back to Earth when someone knocked on the door of my office. "Yes?" I called out, frowning. Nobody ever came to my office so late at night.

"Can we come in, Robin?" a familiar voice asked. "We'd like to talk."

Heaving a sigh, I pulled myself from my seat and opened the door. "Hello, Hansel. Gretel," I told them. I moved aside to let them in.

Gretel, pretty, blonde, and about twenty, eyed my dying lightbulb. "You really ought to fix that," she told me.

Her twin, Hansel, blond, a little rounder than his twin, nodded. "But I imagine you've had other things in your mind."

"Did you finally get released by the police?" I asked, skating around Hansel's reference to Marion's murder.

The twins nodded in unison. "Having a murder in our bakery isn't the best thing for business," Gretel admitted ruefully. "Having a murder at a school must be even worse. Are they really so cruel that they force you to work after poor Marian ...?"

I sat back in my swivel chair. "I chose to do so. Better to do that than reflect on it," I admitted. "Any ideas who shot the boy tonight?"

They shook their heads. "We were in the back when it happened," Hansel said. "Nobody saw the killer."

"Whoever they are, they must be very skilled," I commented. "Nobody saw them for any of the murders. My question is, why? Two students and a teacher."

"It's possible that one of them was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time," Gretel reflected. "Whatever the case, we figured it would be best to come to the criminal law teacher here at the academy."

"It occurs to me that our killer has only targeted those who spend their time at the academy," I said. "Perhaps someone with a grudge."

"That would be a good place to start," Hansel agreed. "We'll do our own digging. I assume you'll be doing the same ...?"

I gave them both a small smile. They'd known me for years; none of us would rest until we'd found Marian's killer. I shook both Hansel's hand, then Gretel's. Our reflections had given us a direction to go—that was something. "Agreed," he said.

"I look forward to our collaboration, Robin Hood," Gretel told me just before they left my study. As soon as they had gone, my study lamp died.