My phone buzzed. I reached for it.
“Bex. Fully present, remember?” Ange gave me a concerned glance.
“It could be my daughter. Or it could be important, for the case.”
I opened the message and groaned. “It’s Rick again, begging for an update. This has to stop.”
I ate a few spoonfuls while I thought. Then I pushed my poke bowl away and typed. “How is this for an answer?” I asked my friends and read my reply to them.
“Hi Rick, I understand that you’re worried about Candice, but you should talk to her, not me. I promised to help her if needed and I will, but we need boundaries. I’ll be in touch if I think it’s necessary.”
Harper and Reina clapped their hands. “About time,” Harper said. “Your ex-husband needs to learn to stand on his own two feet, without leaning on you as a crutch.”
“Good.” I took a deep breath and pressed Send before I changed my mind and fell back into my old pattern of taking care of everything for him.
“That makes my life so much easier,” Ange beamed at me.
“It does? I’m confused.”
She toyed with her food.
Harper grabbed the bowl and whisked it out of Ange’s reach.
Reina pointed at her watch.
“Okay. Nick confirmed that Tim was stabbed to death, right through the heart. He died the night before you found him and then was stuffed into the chest.”
“That’s what we concluded all along,” I said.
“There was one other thing. Nick spotted a photo in the inner pocket of Tim’s jacket. A printed one.” She paused.
“And?” Harper pressed her.
“It showed a naked woman under the shower, and from what he told me, it looked exactly like Candice. That’s probably why the police are concentrating on her. It’s possible that Tim was trying to blackmail her with it.”
“That’s ridiculous,” I said. “Who gives a hoot about that kind of thing these days?”
“Maybe a much older man who blew up his marriage for her?” Ange gazed at me.
“No. Our relationship died long before that, we both just didn’t want to admit it.”
“It’s nevertheless possible that Candice wanted to prevent Rick from seeing the photo. Or maybe it was taken more recently than she’d like him to know.”
“There’s also the business angle,” Reina said. “If Candice and Rick are desperate to attract new customers or retain the old ones, with you gone, a sleazy reputation won’t work in their favor.”
I clasped my hands. They felt icy. My witchfire wave, which tended to at least give me a hint if I was getting closer to defeating evil, as dramatic as it sounds, was stubbornly quiet. “I believe in her innocence.”
A voice in my head whispered,Or maybe your reaction came earlier, this afternoon, when you sensed that she was hiding something from you.
“No,” I said out loud. “It’s not possible.”
“You say he was stabbed through the heart.” Reina frowned. “How much muscle strength does that take and how much anatomical knowledge?”
“She goes to the gym twice a week, or at least she used to. She once told me she lifts twice her body weight,” I said reluctantly.
“Do you want to drop the case and let the police do their job?” Harper asked.
I hesitated.
