Part 12 (1/2)

”I'll tell you what I was doing. I'll tell you once, because you're his wife...widow. But that's it, do you understand? I'm not saying anything else until I can talk to my lawyer.” Meredith took a deep breath and ignored Savannah, who was plucking at his arm. ”Jesus, stop looking at me like that!

Spider and I came down here to find a way out of this G.o.dforsaken house.

There wasn't room for us both to try to break down the door, so I stood back while Spider used the crowbar on it. While I was watching, someone sneaked up behind me and belted me on the head. That's the last thing I remember until Savannah started crying on me.”

”Sounds fishy to me,” Dad said.

Pixie nodded. ”Totally.”

I looked back toward the far wall. There were books everywhere, and a couple of boxes containing Christmas lights had been spilled, but I didn't see anything else. ”What crowbar?”

”What crowbar? What do you mean 'what crowbar'? The crowbar Spider was using!”

”Meredith, you must calm down! Your blood pressure is probably sky-high by now,” Savannah said, a pleading note in her voice.

”There's no crowbar here,” I said, waving toward the door.

”What the h.e.l.l...? It was right there! Spider had it!”

”Maybe it's under his body,” my father suggested. ”I'll be happy to have a peek...”

”Don't touch anything!” Adam called from the other side of the room.

”My captain is going to be screaming at me as is.”

”Then a little more won't hurt, will it?” Before anyone could stop him, Dad pushed Spider up on his side. ”Nope, no crowbar.”

”It must be there!” Meredith raged. ”I saw him with it! He was using it to pry open the d.a.m.ned door!”

”Well, it's gone now,” I said slowly.

”Someone must have taken it!”

”Yes,” I said. He looked ready to explode, his face red and slightly sweating. I wondered if he had a bad heart.

Adam, finished with his call, came over to us just in time to catch the flash of anger in Meredith's eyes. ”We need to preserve what's left of the crime scene.

We'll go upstairs, where we can talk about this quietly.”

”I'd just like to know what sort of game you people are playing with me!”

Meredith snarled before marching resolutely up the stairs, Savannah hot on his heels. Dad took Pixie's arm and followed them. I stood over Spider's body for a moment. So many deaths, so much sadness and sorrow. With each death, the world changed a little bit, and those of us who were left to deal with the consequences could only stand by and wonder what the future held. I sent a little prayer before slowly walking toward the stairs.

Adam was waiting for me. ”The captain said we need to clear this up before we call in the mundane police.”

”We?” I asked, not surprised that the Otherworld police force would want things straightened out before the mortal world became involved. The ”we,”

however, took me by surprise.

”Yes. I told them who you were. The captain said that as long as you weren't a suspect, I could deputize you to help investigate the murder. Consider yourself as having the official blessing.”

”We have a little more than ten hours to make things perfectly clear.”

”Yes.” His gaze was as somber as mine probably was. ”Think we can do it?”

I bit my lower lip as I looked at him. He seemed to me to be a competent man, and a fair one. I believed that he really did want to see justice done. But there was so much at stake, and so little time to put things right...”There's a murderer to bring to justice. I don't think we have a choice but to do it.”

He nodded, stopping me as I was about to go up the stairs. ”I have to ask this: where were you for the last hour?”

10.

I will admit that my response to Adam's surprising question was to gape at him openmouthed. ”Didn't you just say I wasn't a suspect?”

”This is to satisfy me. You're an officer of the Akas.h.i.+c League, and I'm fully willing to deputize you, but first I need to hear where you were, and what you were doing.”

”I suppose that's fair. Let's see ... I went upstairs earlier with a bad headache. Spider came with me, just to argue, as it turned out. I was feeling sick, and after I started vomiting, he left. I went to the bathroom to clean up, tried to relax on the bed, and finally gave up. Do you really think I would murder Spider?”

”Not really,” he answered, shaking his head. ”You're a smart woman. I a.s.sume if you wanted to knock off your husband, you'd do so in a much more elegant manner.”

I smiled at that. ”That's a backhanded compliment if I've ever heard one, but sadly, it's true. If I were planning Spider's murder, I would use an untraceable poison, and have a roomful of people to give me an alibi, not be throwing up by myself. Do you believe Meredith?”

”Do you?” He gestured for me to continue up the stairs.

”I don't know.” I gave a half shrug. ”He seems earnest, but there was no one else down here with Spider. If not Meredith, then who?”

”That's what I intend to find out. We'll talk to everyone separately, and hopefully come to a conclusion before I have to call in the local police.”

Just as we reached the top of the stairs, a small rustling noise behind us had me freezing. Horror skittered up my spine.

”What the...Did you hear that?” Adam asked in a whisper.

I turned to look back at the bas.e.m.e.nt. ”Yes. Are there rodents down here?”

”No.”

The age-old fear of the unknown kept my feet planted firmly on the stairs as Adam ran down them and stalked across the length of the bas.e.m.e.nt to stop next to a hulking, antiquated oil furnace.

”All right, you can come out. We know you're hiding back there.”

For a moment silence greeted his command, then the hairs on my arm stood on end as a shadowy form separated itself from the depths behind the furnace. My breath came out in a gush as the figure stepped into the dim light.

”For G.o.d's sake, you just about gave me a heart attack,” Adam growled.

The woman who stood before him turned frightened eyes on me. ”Are you going to let her destroy us the way that other spirit was destroyed?”

Amanita asked in a breathy voice.