“Do you have any idea, however out there, about why these armed men would be going into the pawnshop?” Arthur’s voice was gentle, but his eyes were intent.

“No,” she said. “I was stunned.”

“Someone has to know why those men showed up,” Arthur said. “They’re not talking, except to ask for a lawyer.”

“Maybe Olivia can tell us? How is she?” Fiji asked cleverly. Information!

“Still in surgery, and it’ll be a while before she can talk,” Arthur said.

“Can you tell me about her?” Dammit, someone’s got to tell me.

“About her wound? Not in any detail. One of my deputies talked to the doctor who’s operating, and he seemed fairly certain she’d pull through.”

“Good.”

“Fairly certain” was something.

“Just a few more questions? I can tell you’re tired.” Arthur looked concerned, and he might be, but he was also a cop.

Fiji nodded.

“What happened to Ellery McGuire?” Arthur said.

“Who . . . ? That’s the name of the man in the limo? The one who shot Olivia?”

“Yes. The guy who was filling up his car at Gas N Go said you stretched out your hand to him. What was that about?”

“I begged him not to shoot again,” Fiji said. “He was pointing the gun at me, and Olivia was bleeding.” She shook her head. “It was horrible.” And it had been. She could feel again that burning intensity that had seized her when she’d realized what she must do.

“He didn’t think you spoke. The witness.”

“I’m not saying I made a speech. But I said at least, ‘No, no!’”

“Okay. Then what happened?”

Then I killed him. “He sort of crumpled and his hand dropped,” Fiji said, as she’d told the doctor. “And he turned really white, and stuff came out of his mouth. I guess he’s dead?” She’d known he was dead, but she had to play this out.

“Yes. He’s dead. But you had no weapon, right? So you couldn’t have harmed him physically.”

“I had no gun or Taser or anything,” she said truthfully. “I just wanted him to stop. I was so scared that Olivia was dead.” And she shuddered, remembering Olivia’s blank eyes and the blood coming out of her abdomen. And knowing Lemuel was asleep and could not wake to save her. And knowing this meant the hospital, and the chance Olivia would really die. And being very, very angry.

Fiji began to cry, and that pushed Arthur to finish up in a hurry.

“She’s not dead, Fiji,” he said, in as comforting a voice as he could manage. “And we have all the attackers under arrest. I don’t know how Bobo and Teacher rounded them up, but they had those assholes under control.”

“But those assholes are not talking?” She was really curious how they were going to explain their presence.

“Not a squeak.” Arthur’s mouth pulled down at one corner. “Not until their lawyers get here.”

“Smart,” Fiji said. “And professional. I want to go home.”

“You’ve got some insurance,” he said, smiling. “Why not stay a while? The doctor wants you to spend the night, make sure you’re okay.”

“She seems like a nice woman,” Fiji said. “But there’s nothing wrong with me that time and rest won’t cure. I was just overstressed and really scared and I blacked out.”

“That’s between you and the doctor,” Arthur said. “You feel like having some company?”

“I guess,” she said, cautiously. Depended on who the company was.

To her mild surprise, Chuy Villegas came in. Chuy was wearing his usual casual clothes: khakis, a polo shirt, loafers. He looked as unlike an angel with wings as she could imagine.

He put his hands on hers. After glancing over his shoulder to make sure Arthur was out of hearing, Chuy said, “Thanks to you we are all alive.”

“I don’t understand,” Fiji said.

“If you hadn’t cut off the head of the snake, I think they would have gone through Midnight killing everyone they encountered to cover up the fact that Olivia was the target.”

“Surely . . . you can’t be killed?” She felt almost embarrassed, pointing that out.

“But they didn’t know that,” he said. “And getting shot always hurts.”

Fiji didn’t want to take any credit that wasn’t her due. “I killed a man, Chuy. On purpose. I only thought of saving Olivia from getting shot again.”

“You did what was necessary. Don’t fear judgment from Joe and me. We live under the old code,” Chuy reminded her. His voice was cool and stern.

“I wonder if I can go home soon,” she said. She couldn’t think of right and wrong any longer.

“I think the correct thing to do is to call a nurse,” Chuy said gravely. “She is supposed to remove the needle. What is going into you?”

“Just fluid, I think, so if they had to give me medicine they could administer it through the tube.” She had to dredge hard to come up with the word “administer.”

“You weren’t hurt?” Chuy said, as if he were pretty sure that was the case but had to check.

“I used all my magic,” she explained wearily.

“I understand. You need bed rest and soup and to keep warm.” Again, he sounded like he was reading from a manual on the care and feeding of witches. But Fiji didn’t mind.

“That sounds so good,” she said.

Chuy said, “I’ll do what I can to make that happen.” He turned to leave her room.

“Chuy,” she said. “When I killed the man, the demon laughed.”

His shoulders slumped. “I was afraid of that,” he said, and went to secure her release.

Evidently, Chuy was very good at greasing the hospital skids. Faster than she would have believed, she got her release papers and was in a wheelchair, riding out the door to the curb. With some hesitation and faltering, she maneuvered herself into Chuy’s car. She would have liked to see Olivia before she left the hospital, but apparently Olivia was still in surgery.

“Less than two days until Saturday,” Chuy said on the drive back to Midnight, and suddenly Fiji understood why he was so anxious to have her back in town. She had to be in Midnight to make her own personal sacrifice.