Rule opened the door, holding it for her. “No, and they remained friends afterward.”

The hall opened onto the hospital lobby with a Pink Lady station, tiny gift shop, the main exit, and a couple elevators. “He was fired after coming out as a lupus, you said.”

“Jason didn’t announce it openly the way Steve did. He simply stopped hiding certain things, such as his visits to Clanhome, and let others draw their own conclusions. They did. He was fired.”

“He found another job pretty quickly.” He’d moved to San Diego for it, but Rule said he returned to Del Cielo sometimes to see Hilliard, who’d lived here. He’d been here on such a visit when Steve was killed.

“The nursing shortage,” Rule said dryly, “is acute. His current employers don’t want to know if their suspicions about him are true, and Jason doesn’t speak of Clanhome at work.”

“Don’t ask, don’t tell.”

“Pretty much, yes.”

“I always ask.”

Rule’s grin flashed. “I know.”

“Like right now, I’m asking why you brought me to the elevator instead of the exit.”

He pushed the third-floor button. “So you could speak with Jason’s former supervisor, too. She’s a lovely older woman named Lupe. I thought she might be able to alibi him, and that he, for chivalrous reasons, had failed to mention this to the police.”

Lily quirked an eyebrow. “She’s that kind of friend?”

“Unlike you, I don’t always ask. But if their relationship did include intimacy, it would be very like Jason to protect her by concealing that.”

The elevator door opened. Three people got out; Lily followed Rule on. He usually took elevators even though he hated them. More like because he hated them. They were so small. “You like Jason.”

“I do.”

“Since you didn’t open your story with the alibi, I take it there isn’t one.”

“Unfortunately, no. He did stop by to see her, but he did so here at the hospital, while she was at work. Since it’s believed Steve was killed at night…unless that has changed?”

“I did get that much confirmed by Daly,” she said, irritated all over again. “Between eleven and three a.m., he said. Getting anything else is going to be like pulling teeth. I’ll pull them, but it won’t be fun. Why do I want to talk to Lupe? And what’s her last name?”

“Lupe Valdez. You’ll talk to her because she’s Robert Friar’s nearest neighbor.”

“Robert Friar? The guy who started Humans First?”

“Yes. She tells me that Chief Daly is a member.”

Chapter 4

Lupe Valdez, the senior charge nurse in orthopedics, was around fifty and maybe twenty pounds overweight, with thin lips, an asymmetric nose, and a weak chin. Even in her shining youth, most people probably wouldn’t have called her lovely.

But her hair was glorious—thick and black, worn long and pinned up. Her smile was warm, and she moved with the lightness of a dancer. To Rule, she undoubtedly was lovely.

Lily wondered if Lupe smelled lovely, too. Lupi were a lot more scent-oriented than humans. “Ms. Valdez, I appreciate your willingness to talk with me.” She held out a hand.

“Lupe,” the woman said, taking Lily’s hand without hesitation and giving a brisk shake. “Call me Lupe. I’m glad if anything I can tell you helps Jason. You want some coffee?”

They were in the crowded alcove that served as a break room. Lily glanced at the coffeepot, thought it looked reasonably fresh, and decided to take a chance. “Sure. Thanks. Black, please.”

While Lupe poured two cups, after making sure Rule didn’t want any—he didn’t, coffee snob that he was—Lily sat at a table slightly bigger than a handkerchief and took out her notebook and pen.

Lupe Valdez had a hint of an accent and more than a hint of a healing Gift. Lily would bet her patients recovered faster than the norm. If she’d managed to find training for her Gift, some of her patients recovered more fully than their doctors expected, too. If she’d found another sort of training, she could have tattooed that design around Steve Hilliard’s neck.

Rule parked himself against the wall, leaning there with arms crossed. Lily waited until the other woman was sitting across from her to begin. “I understand you and Jason kept in touch after he left town.”

Her smile was small and private. “You could say that. He always stopped by to see me when he visited Steve…sometimes here, sometimes at home.”

“But not on the night he was killed.”

“Unfortunately, no. He dropped by here that day, spoke with me awhile, but I didn’t see him that night.”

“For the record, I need to know where you were the night of Tuesday, April twenty-eighth.”

“At home. My daughter was home, too, since it was a weeknight. Sarita has to be home by eight on weeknights.”

“No other company?”

“No. Well, one of Sarita’s friends was there until ten—Lori’s got a license and her mother lets her use her car a lot. I’m divorced,” she added. “I don’t know if Rule told you or not, but I’m divorced, so it’s just me and Sarita at home now that Annie is at college.”

“Annie? Is she your other daughter?”

She nodded. “Her full name’s Anna Maria after her grandmother, but she’s gone by Annie since she started school. She’s at UCLA. They’re on a quarter system there instead of semesters, did you know? She doesn’t get to come home till the end of the spring quarter. Not till June.”

“You must miss her. How old is Sarita?”

“Sixteen. She’ll take driver’s ed this summer.” She smiled wryly. “I’m not looking forward to that nearly as much as she is.”

“I’ll bet. Did you know Steve Hilliard?”

She shrugged. “Slightly. We’d met a few times. I knew he and Jason were tight.”

“You knew they were both lupus.”

“Yes. I knew about Jason before he…well, before most people did. And Steve was open about his nature.” She glanced at Rule. “That is, he was after you made your big announcement. That’s been, what—five years now?”

Rule smiled. “Six.”

Lily jotted down the names and info Lupe had given her. “You and Jason are good friends.” She kept her head down so she didn’t seem to be watching Lupe, but she was. She saw the glance Lupe gave Rule before she answered.

“Good friends,” she said firmly. “He introduced me to another friend. Maybe you know her. Nettie Two-Horses.”

Lily looked up, smiling. “I do. Nettie’s one of my favorite people. Did she help you with your Gift?”

Lupe jerked back, frowning.

“Maybe Rule didn’t tell you. I’m Gifted, too. I’m a sensitive.”

“Oh. No, he didn’t. He didn’t mention that.”

“I kept it secret for years, but that’s not working for me anymore. I don’t use my Gift to out people, Lupe. You don’t have to worry about that. Rule tells me you live close to Robert Friar.”

Her upper lip lifted. “That nacimiento póstumo.”

“I haven’t heard that one before.”

“It means afterbirth. It’s from an old saying that I made up.” When she smiled this time, a dimple winked mischievously in one cheek. “Do you have pets, Agent Yu?”

“Uh…yes.” Though Dirty Harry probably saw things the other way around. “A tomcat. He’s neutered now, but don’t tell him.”

“You may not be aware that after giving birth, many animal mothers will eat the afterbirth to keep the den clean. What I say about Robert Friar is that his poor mother was confused—she ate the baby and raised the afterbirth.”

“You really don’t like the man.”

Lupe leaned forward suddenly and grabbed Lily’s hand. “He is evil. Evil. He killed Steve, I am sure of it. You will find the evidence and arrest him, and Jason will go free. You must.”

Softly Lily asked, “Why are you sure Friar killed Steve Hilliard?”

“He hates lupi. Everyone knows he hates lupi and all the Gifted, anyone tainted by magic. That’s his word, tainted.”

“There must be more than that, for you to be so certain.”