Despite her headache, Fiona gave a soft laugh. “Let’s just say…he’s only stiff in the right ways, and at the right time…if you get my drift. And otherwise…he’s very, very…warm.”
Diana—who was a little stiff and stuffy herself at times—gave her a shocked, wide-eyed look, then burst into gales of laughter. “Well, well, well,” she said, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Nothing like saying it like it is.”
“Yes. But…there’s no need to mention it to Ethan at this point. It’s not serious, and he’ll just get all weird and brotherly and—”
She trailed off at the sound of voices from the hall, and purposeful, heavy footsteps.
“Fi,” called her brother from outside the door. “You’ve got a visitor.”
Diana looked toward the voice and frowned a little. “He doesn’t sound happy.”
“It’s probably the police. Officer van Hest said she’d come by this morning to take my report since we weren’t sure whether I’d feel up to coming into the station.”
“I don’t think that’s—” But Diana’s voice trailed off when the bedroom door opened to reveal Ethan—wearing a scowl—followed by Gideon and a very excited Cady, who immediately charged over to the bed and nosed under Fiona’s hand.
“Fiona.” Instead of appearing horrified at her battered state, Gideon sounded furious.
“Well look who the cat dragged in.” Fiona tried for a nonchalant drawl, but with her raspy voice and surprise at seeing him, it sounded more like a husky invitation to join her in her bed. “Hello, Gideon.” She saw Diana wink and slip out of the room—dragging Ethan with her.
“For Christ’s sake, I leave you alone for two minutes and look what happens,” Gideon said, looming over her like a furious specter. “I thought you were goinghome. Youshouldhave gone home. What the hell were you thinking, going back in that shop alone?”
He stood at the edge of her bed, fists planted at the hips of his neat, designer suit. Dark silvery eyes flashed as he glowered down at her, as though expecting that she would actually respond to such outrageous accusations. His hair wasn’t as neatly combed as it usually was, and his conservative navy tie, half twisted so that its Versace tag showed, was another sign that he was agitated.
Fiona couldn’t resist. She reached out to flip the tie back into place, and responded, “Better fix that before you get back to the office. And, by the way, I feel fine, thanks for asking, Gideon.”
“You look terrible,” he commented, but his voice was soft and bumpy. “Are you all right?” He looked around, then with a shrug settled on the very edge of her bed.
Absently petting Cady, Fiona nodded, warmth swimming through her at the concern in his eyes. “My head hurts, but otherwise I’m doing fine.”
“You didn’t respond to my calls or texts last night,” he said. “I was a little worried.”
“Oh,” she said, her cheeks warming. “I hardly ever look at my phone because I can’t read it without my cheaters. Ethan was just lecturing me about that.” She forced a smile. “I just now saw that you called.”
“Ethan’s your brother.” It sounded more like an accusation than a question.
Fiona nodded. “For twenty-seven years, in fact. How did you end up finding me here, anyway?”
“Iva, of course. Helga van Hest—she must have been there last night, after you were attacked…” His voice trailed off and the corners of his mouth tightened. “Helga told Orbra, and of course Orbra told Iva, and Iva and my grandfather called me. I don’t even want to know what they were doing together at six in the morning,” he added, rubbing his temples with a thumb and index finger.
Fiona giggled and took another sip of tea. “I have an idea, but you don’t look like you—”
“Fiona, this isn’t the time to make jokes.” An angry line creased between his heavy brows as he sank onto the edge of the bed. The mattress buckled a little, and she tipped slightly toward his muscular thigh. “Fiona, this whole situation—it’s not good. It’s not just a simple break-in. We’ve got a homicide to deal with.”
“Do you think you need to tell me that?”
“Longbow told me about the note they found,” he added flatly. “That was one piece of information Iva didn’t seem to have. Fiona, that’s a direct threat. Toward you.”
The memory of that black, scrawling threat still made her stomach churn, but she said, “You talked to Captain Longbow?”
“Yes. I called him on my way over here and he told me about it.”
“Well, that wasn’t very circumspect of him,” Fiona replied. “You can’t just call up the police and expect them to tell you everything like they do on television. It doesn’t work that way—does it?”
“Well, I think he thought I already knew about the note,” Gideon confessed. “And probably since he knows Iva and the Tuesday Ladies, he figured I’d find out through them anyway.”
“Small town,” Fiona said with a sigh. “What else can I expect?” She picked up her toast to slather strawberry jam on it.
“I did talk to Detective Hinkle—the homicide investigator from the State Police—like you’d asked me to, for an update about the skeleton. The only news he had was that they found traces of lime in the fabric of the woman’s clothes. He wanted me to ask you if you’d had any, or seen any lime anywhere else in the shop.”
