"Elmer." I hissed, pulling his sleeve to get his attention. He turned from joking around with the boys. "I got an idea 'bout who did it."

"What?" His dark eyes widened. "Who?" I led him back up to our room at a quick pace so the words at the tip of my tongue didn't leave. 

"Okay." I started as I realized that I had no idea how to word it. My mind wove words and phrases together as I spoke. "Okay, remember how I lost my bandana that night?"

"Uh-huh." Elmer nodded along.

"And then we found it?" I added hastily.

"Uh-huh. Well, there were more steps to it, but go ahead?" He nodded. His eyes were big as I explained.

"We found it at Jacobi's Deli." I reminded him. 

"You don't think...?" He trailed off and cocked his head to the side.

"I do think." I nodded tightly. "I think it was Percy Jacobi."

"It does make sense..." The black haired boy conceded.

"A little bit." I agreed. "But why? I never provoked him, I don't think."

"Maybe Andrew did at some point." Elmer suggested. 

"But Andrew's already dead." I reminded him pointedly. "Why would Percy want revenge on me?"

"We'll figure that out." Elmer reassured me. "Let's go to the deli tomorrow. You know, try to figure out if he seems guilty?"

"Let's do that." I agreed. "But maybe they found my bandana on the streets and brought it back to the deli."

"Well, it couldn't hurt to try." Elmer shrugged.

Everyone was then getting ready and going to bed, so:
~Time skip to after selling~

"Here goes." I sighed as I walked through the door of the Deli that Elmer had opened for me (after thanking him, of course). We sat down at a booth and discussed our plan.

"Remember, we're not confronting just yet." Elmer whispered. 

"Just monitoring his behavior." I nodded. Elmer looked to have conflicting emotions. Happy that we've finally figured out how to crack it, worried that it was just under our noses this entire time, confused as to why he'd have done it, and protectiveness. 

I fiddled with my red bandana, which was looped in its place. A girl with curly black hair came to take our orders.

"Hi, I'm Maria!" She smiled brightly. "What would you guys like?"

"Can we please have Percy?" Elmer asked abruptly.

"It's nothin' against you." I added. "It's just... Been a bit since we've seen him."

"Uh, yeah." She nodded slowly. "Sure. I'll go get him."

"Okay, thank you!" Elmer smiled.

"Moment of truth." I breathed. Elmer make short eye contact with me and nodded nervously. Percy sidled over.

"Just couldn't bear to go without me, huh?" He grinned. "What do you guys want to drink?"

"Just waters." I told him, biting back grimness. He momentarily raised a brown eye-brow at me and left. 

"Smooth." Elmer laughed. I grinned and reached over the table and swatted him. Percy came back with our waters. I tried to sift through the feelings I could sort out with him standing there (annoyance, mystery, and boredom). I couldn't figure out any natural alarming vibes. Percy finally left and I shook my head solemnly at Elmer.

"No?" He guessed.

"It wasn't him." I sighed. Elmer hung his head.

"We were close." He tried. I nodded. We finished our waters quickly and left. 

"We was really close." I conceded as we walked back down to the Lodging House. The sun was to go down in about  half hour, so there was a bit of time to kill. We both wracked our brains in silence. The Lodging House loomed in front of us in a matter of about five minutes. I opened the door and made Elmer go through first so I could follow suit behind him. The boys were just hanging around the common area in boredom. JoJo looked up when we entered. 

"Maize!" He exclaimed. "You wanna come with me to get your boy a tart?"

I laughed when Elmer stiffened and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Sure."

"Great!" He beamed and jumped up from the couch. "Let's go!"

"Now?" I gaped. 

"Yeah!" He nodded with a wide grin. I smiled. Elmer nodded and JoJo and I left. 

"Where're we goin'?" I asked as we walked out of the square. 

"Lester's Diner then Jacobi's Deli." He informed me.

"Ain't the Diner where Brooke works?" I cocked my head. Brooke is JoJo's girl. (If you know, you know)

"Yep." He grinned. 

"Why the Deli?" I asked.

"I wanted to get him some tea for the delay." JoJo explained.

"And the tart is for..." I trailed off, hoping he got the point. He nodded. Lester's Diner is just outside of the Square, so we got there pretty fast. I peered through the big windows and saw two girls hard at work in baking and cooking. The one on the left looked up and beamed at the sight of JoJo. He smiled and went in, so I followed suit. 

"What can we get for you?" The first asked cheerily. 

"A tart, please." JoJo informed her. 

"How's Henry?" The other asked curiously. 

"He's good." JoJo replied with a grin. Brooke gave us the tart and JoJo slipped some coins in her pocket when they kissed good-bye. 

"Bye!" I said loudly as we went out the door. "Now Jacobi's?"

"Yep." JoJo nodded. It took another few moments to get there.

"I'll go in." I offered. "You stay, I'll be back in a second."

"Okay." He agreed. I went back inside the Deli and instantly crashed right into someone.

"Sorry!" I yelped. I looked up to see a man. Due to the dim-ish lighting, a shadow fell over his face. "You!"

Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."