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“Okay. Then the way I see it, your parents have denied knowing those heads and hearts were in the deep freeze. Without any evidence to the contrary, I shall have to take them at their word.” She gave Mayflower a keen look. “This conversation never happened.”
Mayflower nodded gratefully. “Thank you.”
“Now, you got anything else you want to spill?”
“Actually, well, I don’t know if this is relevant…”
“Everything is relevant right now.”
“Okay. I heard Kurt had started visiting the church pretty regularly.”
Barbara sat back. “You mean ‘visiting’ as in partaking of prayer, or ‘visiting’ as in…”
“Well, he isn’t the religious type.”
Colleen was a striking woman. And Mowlam had been there the other night. But Barbara couldn’t see Colleen trashing everything she had built here over some stubble and puppy-dog eyes.
“That’s certainly interesting,” she said. “Maybe I’ll have another little chat with Reverend Grey.”
Mayflower nodded. “What about Mowlam? Are you going to arrest him?”
“Well—” Barbara began, and broke off.
She’d heard a noise.
Thud, thud.
“Is that someone at the door?” Mayflower asked.
The noise came again:
Thud, thud.
Barbara shook her head. “It’s not coming from the front door.”
Thud, Thud.
“It’s coming from the kitchen.”
They both slowly turned. The wind rattled the shutters.
And then, of course, the lights went out.
58
Athelinda took out her pipe and tobacco. Carefully, she packed the bowl and lit it. Tucker waited.
They were sitting, just the two of them, in her living room. An honor, Tucker knew. Few were invited inside Athelinda’s abode. It was modest and surprisingly homey. But then what had he expected? Cobwebs and coffins?
She blew out a cloud of smoke. “You must be fucking desperate if you’ve hiked all the way up here to bother me.”
“I am.”
“So, what do you want?”
Tucker took the “becoming” ring out and set it on the table.
“This is Aaron’s, right? The one he was supposed to give to Todd.”
