And they pushed back through the door of Spellbinders, locking it with the key Colin had left them. Roam stood looking at the rectangle of lamplight on the cobbles. He thought about the man in the dining room who had set down his cup like a struck bell at the news of Nadia Costin, and about that same strange man in the corner table of a pub during a small showy fight. Then he closed the thought and put it where he kept the thousands of thoughts he did not have evidence for.
"Tomorrow," Sean said. "I'll run the tests. You find out about that note. See you first thing."
"First thing." Roam turned up the lane and climbed the hill.
The Hadwin kitchen was warm and the stove was on.
Edgar stood at the cast-iron with a wooden spoon, making eggs because he had to be doing something.
Rhoda sat at the kitchen table with both hands wrapped around the bayou book. Honey sat across from her.
At the far end of the kitchen table, Lazlo sat with Duchess on his lap. He stroked her slowly. She purred. Neither of them looked at anything.
Above them, in the east hall, two doors had been closed since they'd come up the hill. Maeve Byrne was behind one. Oona Pierce was behind the other.
Roam came in through the kitchen door.
"Rhoda," Roam said.
"Sit down, eat first." She demanded.
He sat. Edgar set a plate of eggs in front of him. Roam did not look at them. Honey laid her hand on his thigh under the table.Roam laid his hand on hers. For a while, no one spoke. Then Edgar set the wooden spoon down on the counter and leaned both palms flat against the cast-iron stove, and his head went down.
"I should've walked down with him."
"Edgar, darling." Rhoda hushed him.
"I barely knew the man twelve hours, but I should've walked down the hill with him. I let him walk on ahead and I didn't catch up because I was talkin' to Lazlo about the map. I was talkin' about the damn map."
Rhoda was up out of her chair and across the kitchen before he finished. She laid both hands on his back. She did not say anything.
Lazlo lowered his head and set Duchess down on the floor beside his chair. "My friend Nadia, now this. I just don't know what to make of it all."
His voice caught.
On the front porch, Dean Martin counted softly to himself. "Sugar," Dean Martin murmured. "Seven in the grass."
Honey's eyes went to the kitchen window.
"And four more," Dean said.
Honey's hand on Roam's tightened. But neither said a word. She pulled the bayou book toward her, and began to read where Rhoda left off.
From the far end of the table, Lazlo lifted his head. "I need to be helpful, my friends. Let me at least look in on the ladies upstairs before I go to bed. I'll take them another tray."
"You're a good man, Lazlo." Edgar barely turned his head.
Lazlo rose, lifted the small tray from the sideboard, arranged a pot and two cups on it, and left the kitchen. His footsteps went up the back stairs. Rhoda did not move from Edgar's back. Roam waited until he heard Lazlo's footsteps reach the east hall landing. Then he turned his attention to Rhoda.
"Sean and I have our list of suspects." He swallowed hard. "And two of your guests are on that list."
"What?" She turned to look at him. "They're sleepin' under my roof, Roam."
"I know, ma'am. That's why I'm tellin' you now." He stood and moved closer to her and Edgar. "I'm going to be right here all night. Nothing will happen to any of you on my watch."
Roam reached inside his coat and drew out the small evidence pouch. "Phineas had a note. In the inner pocket of his coat. Addressed to you."
Rhoda's face did not change. But Edgar turned around to face Roam.
