“Everyone will want to talk to us about it,” he said quietly, taking her hand. “I’d like to give one statement that’s acceptable to the police and say nothing more. We don’t want to unknowingly jeopardize the investigation.”
Tanner nodded. “Good point. We’ve scheduled it for three this afternoon. Why don’t you come down at two, and we’ll get all our ducks in a row.”
“All right. Thank you.”
Beatrix jumped to her feet as Tanner made to rise from his chair. “Wait—there’s one more thing,” she said.
She darted to Peter’s desk and came back with a letter. “Read this.”
Peter knew what it was—not specifically, but the group it belonged to—even before Tanner said out loud, “‘Blackwell: How dare you do this to your own kind. You’re a’”—Tanner hesitated over the next word, then went with, “‘f’ing disgrace. I know where you live. Better watch your back.’ Signed, ‘A real wizard.’”
He hadn’t realized Beatrix knew about that. He hadn’t wanted to worry her, so he’d told Lydia instead. Evidently her sister thought she shouldn’t be kept in the dark.
The detective looked up from the plain white paper and its ugly contents. “You think—Garrett?”
Peter shook his head. “I’ve received a lot of letters like this recently, and they don’t seem to be written by the same person. Different handwriting, different postmarks. No references to Beatrix beyond a generalized assumption that I let my heart get the better of my head—put more crudely than that.”
“I urge you to take this seriously, Detective,” Beatrix said. “Some people might dash off a threatening letter with no intention of following through, but all it takes is one.”
Tanner examined the letter for another moment. “I’d like to bring copies back to the office. Could you abracadabra up a set for me, Omnimancer?”
Panic gripped him. “I …”
“We need to go through the pile to make sure we haven’t missed any,” Miss Dane said, smooth as you please. Saving him. “They can bring the copies with them this afternoon.”
“Yes, Peter also received a lot of very nice letters thanking him for his efforts, so it’s … all a bit of a muddle,” Beatrix said.
Tanner nodded. “All right, thank you.” He held out his hand to Peter, who shook it, feeling like a fraud. A fake wizard. A fake victim—at least as it related to Garrett.
He saw the detective out, wishing to God that Miss Draden hadn’t killed Garrett, then recollecting that if she hadn’t, Beatrix would be sitting in prison. No, if he were going to get a wish, he would have to go farther back in time than that.
But why hadn’t Miss Draden tipped the police off? Did she intend to frame him later?
Miss Dane sighed. “Well, then—I suppose you won’t be able to come with us to the town-hall gathering, Omnimancer.”
That was at one o’clock in Baltimore. He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to leave you in the lurch.”
“It was the right decision,” Miss Dane said, giving him a nod he remembered from grade school—her rare flash of satisfaction over a student who’d performed to her exacting standards. “We’ll manage.”
But then she added, “We’ll all have to leave the house, of course. If you two need to talk, finish up quickly.”
Both he and Beatrix said “no” at exactly the same time. He glanced at her and they both smiled.
“We need time to discuss things in private,” he said. “We’ll stay here until we need to leave for Washington.”
“Omnimancer,” Miss Dane said, and he remembered that tone from grade school, too. Miss Disdain, they’d all called her behind her back. “May I remind you that appearances matter.”
Honestly—did Miss Dane care about anythingbutappearances?
He glanced at Lydia to see how she felt about it. She was conspicuously minding her own business.
“We need this time,” he said, barely restraining a snappish response. “It will be patently obvious to anyone with sense, once the press conference occurs, that we weren’t spending the few hours beforehand in any hanky panky.”
Rosemarie snorted. “Your mistake is counting on people having sense. However,” she added, holding up a hand,forestalling him, “I’ll say no more. A grown woman should be able to talk to her fiancé in private on occasion, never mind what some think.”
Beatrix leaned in and whispered in her ear. Miss Dane gave a tentative smile. “Well now,” she murmured. “I love you, too, dear girl.”
I love you to the moon and back, darling boy.His eyes prickled. Miss Dane was far less demonstrative than his nan, but the bonds between her and Beatrix seemed powerful all the same. He simply hadn’t noticed.
