When they walked into the small room that was clearly dubbed with a large sign, 'The Town Hall', Dupin kept a casual arm around her to hold her close. He also noticed that practically all of the lights were lit up. It was a bit past dusk now, so there was no choice in that. The moon was starting to come out, but it would take a bit more for it to reach a peak point to be effective. When he looked around the room, he saw that Stanley was there with, who appeared to be, his father. The Mayor and his son were there and dressed in what traditional finery they had in dark reds and gold embroidery. They had to be there to monitor the situation. And, like the others, they wanted to learn the truth.

It looked like everyone simply had to appear for this event. From the youngest child to the oldest resident. This included Marjery's sister and her parents. Dupin regarded everyone casually. He did notice that Stanley's eyes were showing intense jealousy once more. He saw the supposed ring on Marjery's hand. Marjery kept her eyes lowered. Dupin already felt her fist balling up on his coat. He pressed a comforting hand to her back, leaned a bit heavily on his cane, and watched the room calmly.

"Is it really you, Maggie?" her mother said with a touch of hopefulness.

"It is, Mother. Katrina sent me a letter that you and Father were killed in a carriage wreck after I left. Then I received another letter just earlier today telling me that your graves were desecrated," Marjery said a bit stiffly. "I only recently discovered that it was all a hoax. This was after I arrived."

"What?" her father asked. He turned to look at Katrina. She was hovering behind her husband.

"You told us that she died!" her mother spat at her daughter.

"We have enough lies here to last a decade," Dupin said calmly. "Marjery is now engaged to be married. To me. I know, Stanley. But, after the look you gave her, I knew that I was the best choice for her. We have worked together for four years. The same amount of time it was when she left this place. She stopped by my office at an advertisement in the paper. She solved one of my cleverest puzzles. She earned her place as my assistant. I am Detective Dupin. I'm sure you all have heard of me."

"You're...?" the Mayor gaped.

"Yes. And, I was the one that discovered that the letters were both scams," he said with a mild glare at the guilty Katrina. "Why did you do it?"

"Because Mother and Father were so upset at her leaving!" Katrina said in her chiming tone.

"So, you couldn't have just written about that instead?!" Marjery hissed. "I believed they were dead for four years, Katrina! I was so heart-broken! Why would I want to come back to a place that only gave me bad memories?! I just...I want to go..."

"Maggie, what did we talk about?" Dupin whispered softly to her. Katrina's petite jaw dropped at how her sister's name was said with so much care. "What did we agree on?"

"To finish this," she swallowed. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and smiled.

"That's right," he nodded. Then he looked at the others in the room. Stanley's face was completely twisted with a jealous rage. "And, Stanley, you were not her type. She was also not ready for marriage at the time. With all of these rules and conditions about wedlock being thrown at her, I decided to safeguard her from it all. And, yes, I care about her, too. Instead of charging her a fee for this, I optioned to come here of my own free will to help her. She has helped me solve many great cases. I owed this one to her. Now, we shall find out the truth of this matter. Mister Marco Delury, I presume?"

"Yes," the man nodded. He looked like he was starting to fatten a bit from age. Even his hair was starting to grey. "I just have to ask, Detective Dupin. My daughter is at least in her mid-twenties. You look like my age at fifty-three!"

"I am, actually, in my mid-forties," Dupin smirked softly. "Granted, I am a touch on the older side. But, that doesn't matter. I owe much of my most famous cases to Marjery. However, we are here because of the lies thrown about by her younger sister. I can only guess that you spent money to hire a spy to track her down? It would have to be the only way to find her and torment her."

"Katy?! You told me you needed money for a new dress!" her husband said with shock.

"And, when I first gave her my location, she sent men to hound after me with hopes to get me attracted to one. Or, as Dupin had deduced, to force me to come back here to get away from them," Marjery said. Katrina swallowed at the glares in her direction.

"But, aside from her sister being a filthy liar," Dupin said carelessly. He was clearly acting out his care to Marjery now. Or was it really acting at this point from all that's being revealed? "I wish to know why the parents of my fiancée wanted to marry her off at such a time."

"Don't say anything," Stanley's father growled. Now Dupin rose a brow. Something was definitely afoot. Marjery was simply stunned by the order.

"It was an agreement that went sour," Marco said calmly.

"So, you wanted her to get married over an agreement?" Dupin frowned. "Likely for a debt..."

"Come over for supper," Francine said quickly. "We need to catch up with our daughter."

"That's fine. However, I will not let her out of my sight," he warned. They agreed, and the parents left soon after to prepare a small feast. Dupin didn't fail to notice the odd limp that Marco had. For some reason it looked oddly familiar to Stanley's limping gait. Why was that?

"I'll want to find out more about this agreement," the Mayor said lightly.

"But, Mister Belmer," the man started.

"No, Bobby! Something happened without my approval. I need to know," the Mayor said.

"And, you and I need a chat," the Mayor's son said to Katrina.

"But...Jacob..." she fretted.

"No. You lied to me about money. I want to know how much was spent. Let's go," the young man grumbled. Dupin watched various townsfolk leave. He noticed that same limping gait in quite a few of the young boys and men. That struck him as very odd. He also didn't fail to notice how Stanley's gaze never left Marjery, and his arm tightened a bit more around her. When Stanley's glare met Dupin's eyes, the younger man actually winced at the glimmer of protective wisdom and power that was held in the calm, cool gaze. The detective was famous and likely had enough wealth to back him.

"Nice to know you landed a rich man," Stanley said, as he left.

"I didn't intend for this!" Marjery snapped back. He stopped to turn and stare at her.

"I picked her, because she was the cleverest girl I ever met," Dupin said in a cool tone.

"Oh, really? Then prove me wrong!" the man said and handed over a puzzle box. "Open it."

"Fine," Marjery muttered. Dupin leaned against his cane, but he still kept an arm around her. He watched her effortlessly put the rather simple picture puzzle together. When the small box was opened, she paused at the note within it. She took it out, and Dupin took the box from her. She opened the note to read it, and she gasped at what it said.

"That's from a diary," Dupin frowned when he read it from over her shoulder.

"Yes. From mine," she grimaced. Now he looked at her with shock.

"Since he's your new fiancée," Stanley smirked. "I thought he should know that."

"And you are a knave for going through her personal belongings and ripping out a page of her secrets!" Dupin said with a hard glare. That got Stanley gaping. "Where is the rest of her diary?!"

"Somewhere all over town," he muttered and sped off. She was shaking at what the page said.

"How long ago did you write that? About committing suicide for being unhappy?" Dupin asked her softly. "We both know it isn't going to happen now."

"It was...when I was much younger...in my teens..." she shook. "I was...so depressed..."

"Hush, Maggie," he whispered. It was such a normal thing to say it like that now. The rehearsing did help with that, but he knew it also calmed her to hear it.

"If any knew..."

"We'll find the pages. They can't be far. We'll look under logs. In trees. In trash. Everywhere. How many pages do you believe you had?"

"I never wrote much," she admitted. "About twelve."

"And what page is this?" he asked, as he held it.

"One of the last. I think. I dated each one."

"So I see. Okay. We've had the odds against us before. I believe that we will wait until midnight. Then we will search the town. Right now, we have a meeting with your parents over dinner. Do you remember where you used to live?"

"I do. It isn't too far off."

"Then let's go," he nodded and led her out into the night air.