• Connection to Dr. Vale

  Rowan worked with Dr. Vale during the restoration of Professor Blackwood’s Traveling Show.

  Dr. Vale wanted the restored carnival to look historically accurate. Rowan wanted it to feel alive.

  Their shared purpose brought them together, but their different visions for the carnival’s future repeatedly placed them at odds.

• Connection to Professor Blackwood’s Traveling Show

Rowan grew up hearing stories from a beloved grandparent who once traveled with Professor Blackwood’s company as a singer, dancer, and entertainer.

The carnival’s songs, games, and performance traditions became part of Rowan’s family history.

• Possible motive

  Control over the carnival’s future

  Rowan believed the restored traveling show should travel again, bringing music, laughter, and community to new audiences.

• Known disagreement

  Dr. Vale planned to keep the restored collection permanently in Murder Creek.

  Rowan believed that trapping the carnival inside a permanent historical attraction would turn a living tradition into a museum exhibit.

• “What they claim”

  “I wanted the carnival to live again. Dr. Vale and I disagreed about what that meant, but I never wanted anything to happen to her.”

• A redacted suspicious detail

  INVESTIGATIVE NOTE: Rowan’s disagreement with Dr. Vale was passionate, public, and witnessed by others.

  [PRIVATE CONVERSATION REDACTED]