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  “Her mourning was pretty much over when Wes left,” Davy said. “What did Harvard want?”

  Sophie said, “He told me to yell if I need help.”

  Davy leaned in the doorway and looked out into the stormy darkness. “He didn’t believe a word we told Wes, and he never said a thing. He’s got money, right?”

  “No,” Sophie said. “Forget him. Somebody killed Zane. Concentrate.”

  “Forget Zane, he’s dead.” Davy came to stand in front of her. “You concentrate. Harvard has money, right?”

  Sophie flopped back against the couch. “No. He owns a bookstore but it can’t make much, stuck out here. Don’t even think about running a con on him.”

  “His shirts are Armani,” Davy said. “And he drives a classic Volvo.”

  “His mother probably bought it all. Forget it.”

  “What are you talking about?” Amy said. “Zane—”

  “He could take care of you, Sophie,” Davy said, ignoring Amy. “He’d be good at it. He wants to do it. I’ve changed my mind. You can have him.”

  Sophie shook her head. “I don’t need anybody—”

  Davy nodded. “Yeah, you do. You’re tired and you’re not happy and you’re still putting your butt on the line for us. It’s time we set you free.”

  “Sophie doesn’t feel that way,” Amy said. “Sophie always says, ‘Family first’ ”

  “He is family,” Davy said. “He’s her family—”

  Yes, Sophie thought.

  “—and she’s not going to lose him because you and I are screwups. We’ve been dragging her down long enough.” Davy nodded to Sophie. “It’s time somebody took care of you, Soph, and that’s Harvard. He was in real agony there, trying not to care tonight, covering your ass.”

  “Sophie?” Amy said. “He’s wrong, isn’t he?”

  “I don’t want to talk about this. I’m going to bed.” Sophie stood up and then said, “Oh, damn, no I’m not. We have to do something with that shower curtain.”

  “You could just let Sophie run her own life,” Amy said to Davy. “We did just fine after you left. We take care of each other.”

  Davy looked at her with contempt. “Oh, yeah, you take care of her. That’s how she ended up making videos of other people’s weddings and sleeping with a therapist and moving a dead body.”

  “Excuse me?” Sophie said. “The shower curtain.”

  “I’ll take care of it,” Amy said, ignoring Davy. “I got us into this, and I can get the shower curtain out.”

  When she was gone, Sophie said, “We’re not going to put it back in the bathroom, right?”

  “I’ll take care of it,” Davy said.

  “You’ll take care of it, just like that.” Sophie folded her arms. “You know, while I was standing out there trying not to throw up, you were making Godfather jokes. That worries me.”

  “Well, somebody had to be cool,” Davy said. “Would you just forget that? We have your future to fix now.”

  “That wasn’t your first dead body, was it?”

  “I’ve never killed anybody, if that’s what you’re asking,” Davy said.

  “I’m letting Amy go to L.A. because you’re out there,” Sophie said. “But if you’re mixed up in—”

  “You’re not ‘letting’ Amy go anyplace,” Davy said. “She’s twenty-five, she can go anywhere she wants.” He scowled at her. “Just not L.A.”

  “If you’re there to watch out for her, I won’t worry,” Sophie said. “Unless you’re getting rid of bodies—”

  “I’m not going to be there,” Davy said.

  “What—”

  “Okay,” Amy said as she banged through the screen door, the shower curtain bundled in her arms. “I’ve got it.” She looked at Sophie. “What do we do with it?”

  “I’ll take care of it.” Davy took the curtain from her and looked back at Sophie. “For once, I’ll take care of all of it. Everything’s going to be fine.”

  Sophie shook her head, sure nothing was ever going to be fine again.

  “So what’s the plan?” Phin said to Wes as they headed back to Temptation in the rain.

  “Look for a gun, a club, and a can of Mace and a car with some Zane in its tires,” Wes said. “Try to figure out why the angle of that shot was so awkward. See if we can find somebody who will admit to seeing Zane after he left the farm but before Pete ran over him so we can narrow the time of death. And start checking alibis of anybody who might have a motive.” He looked over at Phin. “Did Sophie come clean about the Mace?”

  “Come on, Wes, you don’t suspect Sophie.”

  “She might not kill him, but she’d use the Mace if he attacked her,” Wes said. “Hell, that’s why she carries it.”

  “But he wouldn’t have attacked her,” Phin said. “They’d known each other for years.”

  “Women are usually attacked by men they know,” Wes said. “I’d bet anything the Mace was self-defense. It’s such a lousy offensive weapon, it almost has to be.”

  “If it was self-defense, she’d have said so,” Phin said. “No reason to lie. Maybe it was Amy’s.”

  “I asked. She said no.”

  “Maybe Amy’s lying.”

  “No,” Wes said. “She isn’t. Not about the Mace, anyway.”

  “About something else?”

  Wes shrugged. “Oh, yeah. There’s something big there. I haven’t quite got it yet.”

  “I have to say,” Phin said. “I don’t think anybody we’ve talked to tonight has told you the whole truth about anything.” Including me, damn it.

  “Welcome to the wonderful world of law enforcement,” Wes said.

  ❖ ❖ ❖

  Phin had a hard time sleeping, and things got worse when he woke to an increasingly stormy Sunday morning. The word had spread fast, and everybody in Temptation wanted to talk, even though the store was closed, but it was the strangers that got to him. The Cincinnati Enquirer, the Columbus Dispatch, the Dayton Daily News, and even some of the smaller papers, had sent reporters who’d slopped through the continuing storm, hoping for something juicy about the murder of a news anchor. “This is southern Ohio,” Phin told one of them. “Nothing of interest ever happens here. Go away.” But they stayed to dig dirt and gather gossip and by the end of the afternoon, Phin was sure they’d all have the scene at the Tavern at the very least and probably a line on the movie, too. None of that was good, but the worst was the original fact: Zane was still dead.

  By late afternoon, Wes hadn’t come by, which meant he was swamped, and part of being a best friend was the automatic obligation to dig out swamps. Phin turned the lock on front the door, but then he saw Davy with his jacket over his head against the rain, climbing the steps. He unlocked the door, and Davy shook out his coat and said, “Heard you had a pool table.”

  Phin said, “The last guy who said that got killed.”

  “Yeah, they said you were good,” Davy said, and Phin let him in, wondering what he wanted and not caring much unless it was going to help solve the Zane mystery and get life in Temptation back where it belonged.

  When Davy saw the table, he said, “Hello. Beautiful piece of furniture.” His voice held real admiration as he walked around the table, and Phin tried not to like him for it. “Late nineteenth century, right?”

  “Yep. It was my great-grandpa’s.”

  Davy touched the rosewood rail. “It’s like being in church. And you play on it every day.”

  “But I never take the privilege for granted,” Phin said.

  Davy met his eyes. “Harvard, you may not be a complete loss after all. What’s your game?”

  Phin shrugged. “Your choice.”

  “Straight pool,” Davy said, and Phin thought, Oh hell, I don’t want to like you.

  Davy added, “To fifty?”

  “Works for me.”

  Davy went over to the rack, picked up a cue, bounced it on its end and checked the tip.

  “They’re all good,” Phin said.