The phone rang. They both jumped, then turned, listening. The phone did not ring again.

Elysia amended, “I think everyone feels guilty when a friend or someone close commits suicide. You think you should have seen the signs, should have noticed something was wrong, should have prevented it.”

“I can see how that would be true. It’s just that Maddie’s reaction isn’t what I’d expect. It seems… extreme.”

“Mmm.”

A.J. instinctively dropped her voice even lower. “That comment about ‘they killed her.’ Did you have the impression she meant a general ‘they’ or that she had someone specifically in mind?”

“What specific ‘they’ could she have meant? Peggy’s family? Maddie said she was unaware that Peggy had problems with anyone.”

A.J. nodded though Maddie’s opinion didn’t necessarily mean much since she hadn’t been in contact with her friend for some time. “She didn’t want to confide in us. That was obvious.”

“True.”

A.J. said grimly, “We’ve already got one murder case that we’re not equipped to handle. We don’t need to take on another.”

“No,” Elysia said reluctantly. “I suppose you’re right.”

They chatted a little longer about various things. A.J. went to call Sacred Balance and make sure all was well.

A brief phone call to Emma Rice seemed to confirm Lily’s assertion that A.J.’s presence was not essential to the success of Sacred Balance.

“You know where to reach me if there’s a problem,” she told Emma.

“There’s nothing here we can’t handle for a day or two,” Emma said with disheartening confidence. “You don’t need to worry about us. You just take care of yourself.”

Elysia and A.J. spent the remainder of the day quietly. A.J. enjoyed herself exploring the bookshelves in Medea’s library. In addition to Tolkien, Pratchett, Lewis, and Rowling, there were a number of young adult fantasy novels that A.J. remembered from her teen years: The House With a Clock in Its Walls by John Bellairs, A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin, So You Want to Be a Wizard by Diane Duane.

For a time she lost herself in the exotic worlds of mages and magic. She was startled to realize how swiftly time had passed when her mother joined her at six o’clock suggesting it was time to start discussing possible plans for dinner with their hostess.

A.J. glanced at the clock behind the statue of Medusa and nodded, surprised that Medea had not put in an appearance before now. Elysia went upstairs.

She returned a few moments later. “Maddie’s not in her room.”

A.J. set down the copy of Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. “Where would she go?”

“Nowhere. Her car is still in the garage.”

If Elysia had already checked the garage, she was obviously uneasy. A.J. joined her in a quick, quiet hunt through the house.

They reunited in the dining room. A.J. shook her head. Elysia’s face tightened. They both jumped at the clatter of a chafing dish on the heavy sideboard. Morag the ferret poked her head out from under the lid.

“Did you check the back?” A.J. inquired.

“I glanced out the window. I didn’t see her on the patio.”

“Maybe she’s working in her garden. I find it soothing sometimes just to pull weeds.”

Elysia led the way out to the back porch. It was empty, but A.J. spotted a dark form lying on the grass inside the garden.

“Mother!”

At the sharpness in A.J.’s voice, Elysia turned, following her down the steps as she hurried across the lawn.

A few steps away, A.J. slowed and then stopped. Elysia joined her and they gazed in stricken silence. It was obviously too late. Medea’s harsh features were waxen and empty of all emotion. She looked like one of her own macabre statues-except for the blood-soaked blouse and the bullet hole in her chest.

Fourteen

The on-scene investigation was winding up when Jake arrived.

A.J. spotted him striding tall and assured through the crime scene personnel busily searching Medea’s Victorian house of horrors for the gun that had killed her. Jake paused to show his ID to a uniformed officer who pointed out Detective Lennon. Lennon was heading the investigation.

A.J.’s heart did a glad leap before she remembered that all was not well between her and Jake-and even if all was well, he would not be happy to find her in the middle of a murder investigation. She could understand that since she wasn’t happy to find herself in this situation either.

She couldn’t help staring as he and the silver-haired Detective Lennon began to speak.

She and Elysia had informed the police about the nocturnal visit of Bill Zemda the night before, pointing out the garden back gate, but so far no one seemed interested in anything but A.J. and her mother’s movements.

“I see your inspector is here,” Elysia stated. She was pale but composed.

“I think he’s your inspector at the moment,” A.J. said grimly.

Apparently finished speaking with Detective Lennon, Jake glanced around the room, spotted A.J. and Elysia, and made his way over to them.

Elysia said coolly, “Inspector.”

“Endora.”

A.J. covered an inappropriate laugh in a small cough.

“You okay?” Jake asked her, his features softening infinitesimally.

She nodded. It would have been nice if he had folded her in his arms-she could have used a hug right about then. Even a smile would have been welcome. Neither looked likely. Jake appeared tired and somber.

He said shortly, “Next question. What the-what exactly are you doing here?”

“Excuse me,” Elysia said, starting to turn away.

“Not so fast,” Jake said. “You’re part of this equation. Of that, I have no doubt.”

“You’re so wise,” Elysia cooed. “Unfortunately, nature calls and I must obey.” She sauntered away to the downstairs powder room.

Jake turned back to A.J., his expression, if possible, grimmer than before. “Okay, let’s try this again, what are you doing here?”

She definitely didn’t appreciate him using his cop voice with her, but she managed to say evenly, “I told you I was going out of town for the weekend.”

“And out of all the hotels and motels and homes of friends and family you could have picked to visit, you just happened to choose to stay here? At a house where a homicide was due to take place?”

“Naturally we didn’t know about the homicide ahead of time or we’d have booked the Best Western. Or maybe even tried to stop it. Or do you now suspect me, as well as my mother, of murder?”

Jake looked around as though he thought they might be overheard. “Listen to me because I’m only going to say this once more. Despite the fact that I think she’s a nut-case, I don’t believe your mother killed Dakarai Massri. But that’s just my personal belief, and it doesn’t mean a damn thing. I have to do my job. And that job is to investigate Massri’s homicide.”

“Can’t you recuse yourself?”

“I don’t want to recuse myself. I fought like hell to stay on the case!”

“Terrific. And I’m supposed to be, what? Happy about that?”

Jake said between gritted teeth, “I fought to stay on the case to make sure the investigation was thorough and careful and impartial. To make sure that nothing was missed or overlooked. I fought to stay on the case to help your mother.”

A.J. didn’t know what to say. Her idea of helping was such a different thing, but she could see that Jake’s approach was practical and maybe even of more use than blind loyalty.

Into her silence, he said, “So you want to tell me what you’re doing here, because I find this too much of a coincidence to swallow.”

A.J. recognized that the time had come to lay her cards on the table. Well, maybe not the full deck, but then she wasn’t sure that, given recent events, she was playing with a full deck. In either case he wasn’t going to like it, but Jake would like lying even less. She recalled a certain conversation a few months earlier. No, lying was not an option.