Fables #5

All of the Remembrance Day guests are standing upon the roof of King Cole's penthouse suite. Bigby Wolf has just revealed that the allegedly murdered Rose Red is alive and well - and present among the assemblage. Feeling proud of himself, Bigby goes to great lengths to explain who did what, how they did it, and how he managed to figure it all out.

His first indicator that something was amiss was when Jack first staggered into his office out of breath. He felt that Jack deliberately over-exerted himself to "sell the act" of a worried lover. When Bigby inspected Rose Red's apartment, he immediately determined that the room was not really in a state of disarray. In fact, everything appeared deliberately placed to give the illusion that a violent murder took place. One of the stranger things he found was evidence of a padlock on Rose Red's freezer. He later determined that Jack and Rose preserved samples of her blood over the course of several weeks and locked them in the freezer for future use. The padlock was necessary so that none of Rose Red's frequent party guests would ever find out what they were up to. More clues left at the crime scene included a scattered pile of blood-spattered CDs. The CDs were removed from the back of the music cabinet, while the ones in the front were perfectly clean. Bigby determined that these were the disks that Rose didn't enjoy as much, and felt that they would make for a convincing prop. Bigby also points out that Rose Red's stereo was completely unmarked with no blood stains at all.

Having satisfied the "who" and the "how", Bigby then goes on to explain the "why". Jack and Rose staged the entire incident in order to get her out of her contractual obligation to marry Bluebeard. In addition to the money she received, she was required to marry Bluebeard exactly one year after the signing of the contract. Another stipulation of the contract was that the engagement had to remain a secret for up to one year. Rose used the money to finance Jack's failed dot-com business interests. When the money ran out, she didn't have the means to recompense Bluebeard for breaking the contract. The only way they could get her out of the contract was to fake her death.

After Bigby concludes his story, tempers begin to flare. Snow White in particular is angered that Bigby knew that Rose was alive the whole time and didn't tell her. Bigby assures her that he wasn't positive of all of the facts until recently.

The following day, Snow and Bigby tie up loose ends. Snow White tells Jack and Rose that they are sentenced to two-hundred hours of community service and up to ten-thousand dollars in fines. She then meets with her ex-husband Prince Charming. Charming mistakenly believes that he is now a millionaire after raffling off his land and titles, but Snow tells him that he actually receives very little money after expenses. The majority of the money is going to Bluebeard to pay back what Rose Red owes him. Snow then invites Bluebeard to her office to give him the money. She further tells him that the contract is now null and void because he revealed the nature of his engagement to Rose Red before the deadline.

When all is said and done, Snow White and Bigby retire to the Woodland Building. They have a conversation on one of the balconies and Bigby reveals that he is attracted to her. Snow White reminds him that any relationship between the two of them is strictly professional. Bigby responds with, "Okay, lady. I got the message. Loud and clear".