“Do they say who did it?”
“The cards are not that specific. You will have five children, however—they did tell me that much.”
“Wow.” I feel lightheaded.
“Also, Josie, the next time you misplace your baby, you’ll find him in a strawberry patch.”
“What about me? Do I get a fortune?” Hughes jokes.
“Yes, you’re going to die relatively soon.”
Hughes looks at me askance.
Lord Mycroft lets out a cry of “Eep.”
“No, Salem, do not eat the overweight guinea pig.”
The black cat hisses.
“Oh, did you already eat all your lettuce?” I coo at Mycroft.
Lilith gives him a handful of seeds. The guinea pig snarfs them down.
Salem looks much too interested in my pet.
“Damn, Lilith,” Hughes says, sounding tense. “My last day on earth, huh?”
“Don’t listen to Lilith,” I tell Hughes. “Sometimes, she just says crazy things. It’s all that incense—it’s not good for you.” I take his hand. “Besides, she said I’m having five kids, so that means you’re going to stick around.”
“Unless you donated sperm that we don’t know about,” Lilith adds.
“I mean, it is cold, so you could dig the condom out of the dumpster,” Josie jokes. “Probably still good.”
Hughes picksup the guinea pig and snuggles him to his chest. He scratches Mycroft’s ears as we head through the market.
“Lydia and Travis are at the ice-skating rink,” Josie tells me.
I take a breath of the cold spice-and-juniper-filled air. “Let’s go see if we can get a confession out of her.”
“We’re close. I can feel it. I could also be hungry. Right, Lord M?” I scratch the guinea pig’s cheek.
Lydia is leaning against the barrier to the ice rink, whispering to her husband.
“Hey!” Josie puts on her extra-happy face. “Lydia! Oh, the kids look so cute in their little skating outfits!”
I hug Lydia and wave to Travis.
“Oh my gosh,” Josie says, “so Willow and I went to talk to Maris today.”
“Ugh, I tried to go talk to her before Taylor Grace—”
“Went to hell,” Travis mutters.
“Oh, Travis.” But Lydia doesn’t seem super angry. “Anyway, how is she?” she grimaces. “Taylor Grace really screwed her over.”
“Well, it turns out she didn’t murder Taylor Grace.”
“Yeah, we pulled Taylor Grace’s phone records,” I tell her, “because we were hoping to find something to uncover the murderer.”
