JJ HIT THE wood floor on his side, sort of. He was pretty convinced he’d bruised his shoulder and twisted his right ankle.

The music finally slowed. And so did the carousel.

Penny came running over. “JJ? What happened?!”

JJ sat up, rubbing his shoulder. “Someone started this thing and set it to self-destruct. Or, more accurately, JJ-destruct.”

“I managed to turn it off, but the speed was set to max. You’re never supposed to do that,” Penny said.

“No kidding.” JJ stood, trying to keep his weight on his left foot. The carousel had come to a complete stop now. “I got a note.” He pulled the paper from his backpack. He felt sort of stupid now; he’d walked right into this trap.

“I got the same one,” Penny said, waving a piece of paper. “I think we were both supposed to be on the carousel, but I was late.”

JJ said, “This invitation to the carousel was a trick to get us here.”

“Right.” Penny thought of the rolling marble. It had delayed her just enough to keep her from the carousel. “I was lucky, I guess.”

“Me, not so much.” JJ winced as he tried to limp toward the door.

“It means we’re getting close to catching the killer, JJ. They know that we’re onto them, and they’re trying to scare us off.” Penny rushed ahead of him. “We have to keep going.”

JJ thought about his mom grounding him, but it suddenly seemed less important now that he had a killer on his tail.

“Come on,” Penny said. “I know how to narrow our suspect list.”

“What do you mean?” JJ asked, limping as quickly as he could to keep up with Penny.

“Mr. Barclay had a daughter. And I think she’s the missing clue.”