Chapter 7

At the sight of blood, Reba grabbed a napkin and moved behind Jenny. Jenny didn’t hear her approach and stepped backward, right onto Reba’s foot.

“Sweet mercy, girl! Are you hell-bent on inflictin’ as many injuries as possible?” Scowling at Jenny, she beckoned for the bleeding man to enter. “It’s all right. She won’t haul off and cold cock you again.”

“Says who?” Anger rolled off Jenny’s body like waves of summer heat. “I should throttle him until he tells us where he’s been. Or where he was when Eira was freezing to death!”

Ella Mae got up and touched Jenny’s arm. “Have a seat. You need to calm down so we can all listen to what he has to say.”

When Jenny hesitated, Ella Mae gave her a little push. “Go on.” She then coaxed the stranger forward. “You’re Barric Young,” she said. “I saw you dancing with Eira at the Gaynors’ party. Please. Come in and join us.”

Glancing warily at Jenny, Barric took the chair next to Reba. She tapped gently on the napkin covering his nose. “May I? I’d like to see if your beak is broken.”

Barric nodded and turned to face her.

“If it’s not broken, I can try again,” Jenny muttered.

“Doesn’t look crooked,” Reba said when she was done. She put a hand on Barric’s shoulder. “But I’m afraid it’ll turn a pretty shade of purple. Kind of like blueberry pie filling.” She offered him a clean napkin. “Keep applyin’ pressure, hon.”

Ella Mae gestured at the teapot. “Could I pour you a cup?” When he shook his head, she explained who she was. “I’ve been trying to find out what happened to Eira. I . . . My aunts were the ones who found her on the mountain. I’m so sorry, Barric. I could tell she was really special to you.” She waited for a moment and then asked, “When did you last see Eira?”

“A little after ten o’clock,” Barric said. Due to his pinched nostrils, his voice sounded high-pitched and juvenile. There was nothing humorous about the agony etched on his face, however. When Ella Mae had seen him at the Gaynors’ party, he’d been an attractive young man twirling a beautiful woman across the dance floor. He’d shone nearly as brightly as Eira, but now his golden hair was a dirty blond shade and his skin was wan. His proud bearing was also absent. He sagged in his chair, shoulders hunched, staring blankly at the teapot. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I’d rather not talk to you about her,” he said to Ella Mae. “I don’t know you.”

Ella Mae’s heart hurt for the young man across the table. Every inch of him was weighed down by grief.

“You can trust her,” Aiden said to Barric. “She and her friends and family have given a bunch of Oak Knoll folks a place to stay. And she’s helping us find work. She’s their Lady’s daughter.”

Barric lowered the napkin and twisted it between his fingers. “It’s so hard to say this, but the last thing Eira and I did together was . . . well, we had a fight. God, I wish I could change that. I wish I could take back everything I said, but I can’t. I was out of my mind at that moment. She had me so upset. I didn’t think—”

“Yeah, you’ve had issues with forgetting how to think before,” Jenny snapped.

“And I paid the price, didn’t I?” Barric shot back, anger surfacing in his eyes. “But I don’t go around burning things when I’m pissed off. Like our grove, for example.” He pointed at Aiden. “I’ve seen you messing around with fire. You can make a fire burn even from a distance, can’t you? Were you involved in some scheme with Morgan? Did he pay you to torch our grove? Did he have something on you? Because he sure as hell had something on Eira.”

Aiden’s neck and cheeks flushed a deep red, and he slammed his fists against the table. “Watch it, boy. You’re not the first to accuse me of that crime. Do you want to find out what I did to the other people who dared say that to my face?”

Barric made to rise when Ella Mae thrust her arms outward, looking like a traffic cop during rush hour. “This is my shop,” she barked. “You will both be civil or I’ll throw you out.” Her steely expression made it clear that she was completely serious.

Both men were quick to apologize and Ella Mae lowered her arms. She turned to Barric and gestured for him to continue. “I know this is difficult, but we can’t help you if we don’t know the whole story. No one will interrupt you again, I promise. Please. Go on.”

After a long pause, Barric resumed his narrative. “I didn’t know Eira was pregnant. She led me into some guy’s office to tell me the news. I was furious. I said some really terrible things to her.” His forehead glistened with perspiration and he pulled at the collar of his shirt. “I didn’t want a baby. Not ever. You can all understand why. When a magical couple has a child together, horrible things usually happen. Because of that stupid curse placed on our kind all those years ago by Myrddin, one of the parents pays a price for daring to defy the odds. I can’t tell how many times I’ve heard of a parent being injured or killed. It always looks like a freak accident to the outside world, but we know the truth, don’t we?”

Everyone at the table nodded. Ella Mae’s own father had been crushed in a cave-in shortly after her birth. The risk was too great for most magical couples, and she understood why Barric didn’t want to take a chance.

“I couldn’t imagine losing Eira. Not in exchange for a child. She wanted children more than anything in this world, but I didn’t. I never did and she knew that.” Shifting uncomfortably in his seat, Barric wiped his brow with a napkin. His hands were shaking. “I guess she was going to have a baby no matter what. But to get pregnant when she was still married to Morgan? That was pure insanity. I knew he’d punish her for making him look like a fool. Everyone knows he can’t father a child.”

Ella Mae touched Barric lightly on the hand. “I promised not to interrupt, but I have to ask why Eira married Robert Morgan in the first place. Why would a lovely and talented dancer marry such a creep? You mentioned that he had some hold over her.”

“She wouldn’t tell me what it was,” Barric said. “I guess she married him—”

“Because Barric couldn’t keep it in his pants,” Jenny said, crossing her arms over her chest.

“Jenny.” Ella Mae held up a warning finger and her new employee fell silent, but Barric lowered his eyes in shame.

“Eira and I grew up together,” he said. “We were in the same kindergarten class. We spent our free time running through the woods or sailing paper boats in the stream behind her house.” The timbre of Barric’s voice changed. Ella Mae could hear the smile creeping into it. Watching him, she knew that he had returned to his boyhood. A boyhood filled with images of his best friend—a thin, graceful little girl named Eira.

Reba leaned over and whispered in Ella Mae’s ear. “Sounds like a good country upbringin’. No wonder he misses that girl. She was his past. Should’ve been his future too. He doesn’t know who he is without her. She was a part of him.”

“We even broke a bone at the same time,” Barric continued wistfully, unaware that Reba had spoken. “I fell out of the tree house I was building for her and fractured my left arm. Later that day, after she wrote all over my new cast, Eira tried to jump from one of the big rocks in the forest to another. She would have made it if it hadn’t been for that patch of moss.” He winced at the memory. “She missed and broke her foot. I had to carry her home. Trust me, I didn’t mind a bit. We were freshmen in high school and were so in love. We’d been in love forever by then. We were everything to each other.” He seemed to hit a wall at this point in their history. Looking up, he met Jenny’s eyes. Ella Mae was surprised to see her give him an encouraging nod.

Maybe she’s realizing that he’s been punished enough, Ella Mae thought. Whatever he did, he couldn’t deserve this anguish.

“We didn’t go to the same college,” he went on. “I wanted to be a farmer—my name actually means ‘grain farmer.’ Eira had always had her heart set on being a dancer. But we picked schools within a decent driving distance so we could still see each other.” He rubbed his temples, as if he could erase the memories he was forcing to the forefront of his mind. “One night, during our senior year, we had our first blowout. It was about whether we’d get married and start a family after graduation. I was fine with the marriage part.”

“But not the kid part,” Reba said helpfully.

Barric nodded. “Eira was so mad that she kicked me out of her dorm room and wouldn’t take my calls for weeks. It was the longest we’d ever gone without talking and I didn’t handle it well. I went to a bunch of parties. Drank too much. Started thinking I should date other girls. I was curious about . . . sex.” His cheeks turned pink. “Eira and I weren’t going to sleep together until after we got married. Not many people abstain these days, but we decided it would be more special that way.”

Aiden’s brows rose. “Seriously? Man that must have been tough.” He coughed in a sudden fit of embarrassment. “I’m not trying to be crude, ladies, but when I was in college, I spent half of my time chasing girls. That’s what guys my age did. And it also might account for why I’m an electrician and not a nuclear physicist.”

“What you do is important,” Jenny said firmly. “You can create a Christmas display that can be seen from outer space. And you’re a people person. Who would carry the old ladies’ groceries if you were holed up in some lab making weapons of mass destruction? Be proud of what you are. I am.”

Aiden grinned. “Thanks, sis.”

Everyone looked at Barric again. The camaraderie between the siblings must have reminded him of his childhood with Eira, but he swallowed the lump in his throat and plodded on. “I was at a frat party and had had way too much to drink when this girl who’d been flirting with me all semester starting hitting on me. To make a long story short, I slept with her. The next day, I was so guilt-ridden that I drove to Eira’s school and told her everything. I begged her to forgive me, but she couldn’t. She refused to speak to me. No matter what I did, I couldn’t earn her forgiveness.” His breath caught on the last word and he fixed his gaze on the tablecloth.

Ella Mae poured Barric a cup of tea. “Drink this.” She then turned to Jenny to complete the narrative. “So Eira became a dancer and later met and married Robert Morgan after he saw her perform. Did she marry him to punish Barric?”

Jenny shrugged. “Maybe. Then again, when they got engaged, Morgan was rich and influential and wanted a big family. She never told me that she loved him, so I figured she just wanted the security he could offer.”

“Eira went through some hard times when she was a girl,” Barric added quietly. “Her mom left when she was in the first grade and her dad wasn’t always right in the head. He drank and took pills for depression. The booze and meds didn’t mix well, so Eira spent half of her life at my house. She knew she’d have a hot meal and a comfortable place to sleep. Nothing was ever certain at her place. One day, her dad might cook a feast and the next, he’d throw every ounce of food into the woods because he thought it was poisoned.”

Reba made tsk-tsk noises. “Poor girl. Where’d her mama go?”

“She fell for a man at work,” Barric said. “One day, when Eira was at school and her dad was on some job, Eira’s mom packed her things, wrote a quick note saying that she was sorry, and vanished. She was never heard from again.” Barric shot Ella Mae a nervous glance, but when she didn’t react, he continued. “After her mother left, Eira’s world started to unravel. Her dad went downhill fast, and Eira spent her time dreaming of growing up and creating a family that wouldn’t be anything like her own.”

Ella Mae felt a knife-twist of grief in her stomach. Her world hadn’t been the same without her mother, so she understood how alone and scared Eira must have been.

You’ll get her back, she told herself. You won’t have to live without her. You’re not Eira.

Reba reached over and squeezed Ella Mae’s hand.

“I’m sorry you two fought,” Jenny said to Barric. “But are you sure that’s the last time you spoke to Eira? You didn’t see her leave the Gaynors’ house?”

He shook his head.

“Was she drinking anything when you were with her?” Ella Mae asked.

Barric seemed startled by the question. “I don’t remember. She dropped a pretty big bomb on me. I don’t think I would have noticed much at that point.”

Again, his forehead was covered with a sheen of perspiration and Ella Mae couldn’t help but wonder if he was being completely forthright. She wished Aunt Verena were here. Not only could she tell if Barric was lying, she could also ask Aiden if he knew more about the fire in Oak Knoll than he let on. But Verena wasn’t around and Ella Mae knew it was up to her to discover those answers and more.

Ella Mae tried to process everything she’d heard. “Our next step is clear. I need to find someone who saw Eira after Barric left. I also want to know who else she talked with and what frame of mind she was in by the end of the party.”

“How can we help?” Aiden gestured at himself and his sister.

“Talk to the people from Oak Knoll at the carnival this weekend. I’ll make a few special pies that will loosen their lips, encourage them to say if they witnessed anything unusual at the party.” Ella Mae glanced at her watch. “It’s almost suppertime. Barric, do you have a place to stay?”

“I have a room at the resort,” he mumbled.

Jenny whistled. “Fancy. How are you swinging that on a farmer’s salary?”

“Hey, now. Leave the guy alone.” Aiden said. “He’s been through enough. Besides, you already gave him a nosebleed.”

“Sorry about that,” Jenny told Barric. “I was taking everything out on you. All of my grief. You didn’t deserve that.”

“Yes, I did. A punch in the face isn’t nearly enough,” Barric said. “I should have been protecting her. I knew Morgan would lose it when he found out she was pregnant, but I thought she’d be smart enough to hide it from him. I guess she told him that night and he had one of his goons deal with her.”

Ella Mae didn’t think Eira would risk her own safety or that of her unborn child by confessing that she was carrying another man’s baby. “A more likely scenario is that someone overheard your conversation at the Gaynors’. Exactly where were the two of you when she told you about the pregnancy?”

“A man’s office. It had a huge desk and one of those globes that opens up to reveal bottles of liquor. But the door was closed. No one could have heard us,” Barric insisted.

Barric was clearly unaware of the number of hidden panels within Rolling View. Like Partridge Hill, the grand house was built to help protect its magical owners, and though Ella Mae didn’t know the exact locations, she was certain that the Gaynor mansion was replete with passageways, niches, peepholes, and trompe l’oeil.

“Why don’t you leave that pricey hotel and come stay with us?” Jenny asked Barric and then checked herself. “If that’s okay with Ella Mae.”

“No.” Barric was quick to refute the offer. “I can’t . . . I need . . .” He wiped his forehead with the napkin again. “Thanks, but I can’t.”

Something isn’t right about him, Ella Mae thought. She had no clue what he hadn’t told them, but he was hiding something. As with the concealed compartments in Rolling View, one would have to know which button to press to reveal Barric’s secrets, but that would prove difficult with him staying at Lake Havenwood Hotel. Suddenly, she had an idea. “Did you come to Havenwood in search of work?”

“Yes.” Barric released a defeated sigh. “I must have knocked on every farmhouse door in the county, but no one’s hiring right now. I was told to come back in the spring. I really wanted to buy my own place, but I can’t sell my Oak Knoll farm. I’m upside down on the mortgage.” He studied his knuckles.

Ella Mae tried to relieve his embarrassment. “But you have experience with animals, right?”

“Cows and horses mostly. I grew grain and produced high-quality animal feed on my farm. All organic. The best feed on earth.”

Ella Mae smiled. “My friend Chandler Knox is a large-animal vet and he’s been looking for an assistant. I’ll tell him to expect your call. It’s not farming, but it’s something to tide you over in the meantime.” She passed him a business card with Chandler’s number on the back.

“Thank you.” Barric put the card in his pocket and stood up. “I don’t have a cell phone, but if you learn anything about Eira, call me at the hotel. Night or day. I won’t be sleeping. Not anymore.”

A heavy silence descended over the pie shop.

“Is your nose okay?” Jenny asked quietly. “I could get you some ice.”

Barric looked at her, and for just a moment, Ella Mae saw that lightning flash of anger in his eyes. “My nose will heal. Other parts of me never will.”

And with that, he was gone.

• • •

That night, Hugh brought Ella Mae supper. He was waiting for her in the driveway, an extra-large pizza and a DVD from Redbox resting on the hood of his truck. Ella Mae was thrilled to see him, especially since she’d struck out at the Gaynors’ house. She’d been hoping to question Opal about Barric and Eira, but no one had answered the door and there were no lights on inside the stately mansion. Ella Mae decided that she’d have to stop by Loralyn’s nail salon the next day after work. Until then, she was determined not to think about Eira, burning groves, or her mother.

After Chewy jumped down from the Jeep to greet Dante, Ella Mae gave Hugh a hug and then ushered everyone into her cottage. While Hugh entertained the dogs, she fixed a salad of field greens, plated the pizza, and opened a bottle of red wine. Snuggled up close, she and Hugh ate on the sofa, bookended by their dogs.

“Drool all you like,” Ella Mae admonished Chewy. “I refuse to share a single bite of pepperoni and sausage.”

“Same goes for you, big man.” Hugh gave Dante’s head a quick scratch. “Hold out until the movie starts. I have a surprise for you both.”

Ella Mae handed Hugh a cold bottle of beer and sighed in contentment. “This is just what I needed. A peaceful evening in with my favorite men.”

A dog began to bark from somewhere in the garden, causing Dante and Chewy to jump up and dash to the front door. When no one opened it for them, they raced to the window seat and peered into the darkness. Seeing nothing, they darted back to the door, barking fervently.

Hugh got up, looked the dogs in the eye, and said, “No.” The word was heavy with authority and they ceased their barking immediately. “Do you have a canine visitor?” he asked Ella Mae.

“Partridge Hill has new tenants. One of them is a Schipperke named Miss Lulu.” She told Hugh about Jenny and Aiden.

“Should we introduce our boys to the new lady in town? We won’t be able to concentrate on this movie until they’ve met her. They’ll just run from the window to the door and back all night.”

Ella Mae grabbed Chewy’s leash. “We’d better keep them reined in. We don’t know how Miss Lulu will respond to our canine Romeos.”

The couple led their eager dogs across the frost-brittle grass and into the garden. They found Jenny seated on a stone bench whose legs were made of kneeling cherubs. In the spring, the bench would be nearly obscured by a riot of yellow and silver white roses, but now it looked cold and uninviting.

Miss Lulu took one look at the Jack Russell and the Great Dane prancing at the ends of their leashes and grinned coyly. While the dogs sniffed one another and rubbed noses, Ella Mae introduced Jenny to Hugh.

Jenny removed a thick woolen mitten and shook his hand. “Miss Lulu is used to all kinds of people and pets. Dogs were welcome in our coffee shop and we even had a customer who brought her cat every day. The cat, Mrs. Pickles, would sit in the lady’s bike basket and drink warm milk from a saucer while she read the paper and sipped her cappuccino.

“Sounds like a cool place,” Hugh said.

“It is. Luckily, I found another cool place.” After winking at Ella Mae, Jenny got to her feet and rubbed her arms. “I’d better go in. Miss Lulu and I just got home from a walk and I thought I’d sit here for a minute and enjoy the stars, but I’m freezing.” She looked at Ella Mae. “Can I leave Miss Lulu out for a little longer?”

Ella Mae gestured at Chewy and Dante. “Sure. The boys will keep an eye on her. They know not to wander off the property.”

Jenny wished them a good night and went inside. Ella Mae glanced up at the windows on the second floor. It made her happy to have lights shining upstairs again. She particularly liked how they cast a warm glow across the slumbering garden.

“Let’s get back to our movie.” She took Hugh by the hand. “I’ve got microwave popcorn and a blanket big enough for the both of us.”

Hugh smiled. “We should make this a Tuesday-night tradition. Just think of how many movies we could see over the next forty-odd years.”

“And how many miles I’ll have to run to burn off that pizza,” Ella Mae joked.

“I can think of more interesting cardio exercises,” Hugh said.

Ella Mae swatted him in the stomach. “What are we watching, by the way?”

“This awesome action flick about a guy who fights terrorists and rescues a boat full of kidnapped sorority girls.”

Rolling her eyes, Ella Mae said, “Seeing as you deliberately picked this trash, I can promise you that it’ll be all the action you’ll see tonight.”

Hugh’s laughter burst from his mouth, bending into a translucent curlicue before dissolving into blackness. Watching his breath vanish into the air, Ella Mae found herself holding him just a little tighter.

• • •

Wednesday passed by in a flash. Customers shivered in the cold as they waited expectantly on the porch or stamped their frozen feet on the sidewalk, hoping for a seat in The Charmed Pie Shoppe to become available soon.

All day long, Aiden darted in and out of the kitchen, his arms loaded with takeout boxes and his pockets stuffed with cash. “I feel kind of awkward driving around town in a pink Jeep,” he complained after returning from a delivery. “I’d use the Camaro, but that car is a ticket magnet. Cops go out of their way to leave Jenny expensive love notes under the wiper blade. Of course, that might also have something to do with her habit of parking ten feet away from the curb.”

Ella Mae laughed. “I noticed that when she parallel parked outside the Cubbyhole. She practically needed a drawbridge to reach the sidewalk.”

Aiden opened a pink bakery box and Ella Mae eased a chocolate bourbon pecan pie into it and watched as he deftly tied the box with string. “The Cubbyhole? That’s the shop Suzy owns, right?” His mouth curved into a secretive grin. “She’s really cute. And smart.”

“I’ll tell her that you said so.”

“I need to stop by her place and thank her. I told her that I had no idea where to put my stuff in your house—how to arrange it, you know—and she came over and took care of everything. That woman could read me, well, like a book.” His cheeks and neck reddened.

Ella Mae wondered if she should encourage Aiden’s interest in Suzy. She liked her new employee well enough, but until she could be sure he had nothing to do with the fire at Oak Knoll, she didn’t want her best friend to get involved with him. The person who needed to get close to Aiden Upton was Verena. Verena would have to ask only a single question and then Aiden would be in the clear. Either that or he’d prove to be a murderous arsonist.

I’ll have her call in a takeout order tomorrow, Ella Mae thought.

To Aiden, she said, “You’d better hit the road. Mrs. Frazier said she needed that chocolate bourbon pecan pie badly, so we have to get it to her ASAP.”

Aiden raised his brows. “What’s the rush?”

“She’s the mother of five-year-old triplets. Boy triplets.”

“Holy crap. I’d better get going.”

Ella Mae couldn’t help but smile as she watched the burly man in his peach apron rush out to a pink Jeep carrying a pink bakery box. “He looks good in pastels,” she said to the cheerful kitchen and prepared to serve the last customers of the day.

After closing, Ella Mae made her way to Loralyn’s nail salon. Perfectly Polished was busy and nearly every chair was occupied. The majority of Loralyn’s clients were women, but there were also several men receiving treatments. Ella Mae tried to picture Aiden in the pedicure chair having his toes painted a delicate rose pink and had to stifle a giggle.

“May I help you?” the receptionist asked with overt dislike. Ella Mae wasn’t exactly her favorite person. She wasn’t a client and only stopped by when she had a bone to pick with Loralyn.

“I’m here to see your boss.” Ella Mae smiled politely.

The girl glanced down at her appointment book. “I don’t see your name written here, Ms. LeFaye.”

“That’s because this is a private matter. I am here at Ms. Gaynor’s request and she’ll be very unhappy if our meeting is delayed.”

The idea of earning her employer’s displeasure struck a chord with the receptionist. She told Ella Mae to wait and strode to the back of the salon where Loralyn’s office and the massage, facial, waxing, and tanning rooms were located.

Loralyn appeared a moment later. She sidled up to Ella Mae and gave her the once-over. “I don’t think there are enough hours left in the day to help you. You need a facial, a mani-pedi, a paraffin treatment, and lots of waxing.” Pointing at Ella Mae’s chin, she said. “Beards are not sexy on a woman.”

Refusing to take the bait, Ella Mae said, “Can we talk in your office? It’s about the party.”

“I asked you to deal with my mother over that subject. I’m in the middle of finalizing the carnival fashion show lineup.”

“I only need a few minutes.”

Loralyn surveyed the menu board listing the salon’s services. “We’ll chat during an express facial. Just some hydration and a few extractions. My new esthetician works miracles with blemishes. She’s also hearing impaired, so I can have her turn her hearing aids off during your treatment. Follow me.”

Ella Mae had no choice but to agree. The receptionist shot her a triumphant look and said, “Enjoy being perfectly polished.”

Inside a room decorated like a beach cabana, Loralyn told Ella Mae to lie down on the spa table. She then beckoned to someone in the hall and a moment later, a petite Asian woman entered the room. The woman gave Ella Mae a shy smile. Loralyn tapped her own ear and said, “This will be a silent service, Yuri.” The woman bowed, made the necessary adjustment to her hearing aid, and began lighting the candles positioned in each corner of the room. She then moved behind Ella Mae’s head, placed a finger on either side of her temple, and applied gentle pressure. “We begin.”

Ella Mae exhaled. She felt more relaxed already. Loralyn dimmed the lights and perched on a stool at the foot of the spa table. “Well?”

“I had a chance to talk with Barric Young yesterday. I don’t know if you met him at the party, but he was—”

“The hotheaded farmer. I didn’t bother speaking with him. He doesn’t interest me.”

“Because he’s poor?”

“And unrefined. I’m sure he crashed our party. I don’t remember seeing his name on the guest list.”

Yuri tied a towel turban around Ella Mae’s hair and wiped her skin clean with a warm washcloth that smelled of eucalyptus. Using a cosmetic brush, she began to paint Ella Mae’s face with a thick cream scented with mint. The cream quickly hardened into a mask and Yuri began to rub Ella Mae’s knotted shoulders, making it hard for her to focus on the purpose of her visit.

“I think he just wanted to be near Eira. They were lovers.” The mask made Ella Mae’s cheeks and chin feel stiff. It was difficult to speak clearly. “What makes you call him a hothead?”

Loralyn laughed derisively. “The same thing that lets me say that you’re totally wrong about he and Eira being lovers. I overheard them talking and I can assure you that they’ve never done the deed. Actually, I should amend that previous statement. Eira was talking. Barric was yelling.”

Ella Mae propped herself up by the elbows. “About what?”

“I found the entire argument extremely dull.” Loralyn feigned a yawn. “After all, the subject matter was such a cliché. Girl tells boy she’s pregnant. Boy rages because baby isn’t his. Girl cries. Boy storms off, wounded to the core. Total soap opera material.”

“The baby wasn’t Barric’s?” Ella Mae gaped, forcing a crusty piece of mask to fall from her upper lip.

Loralyn shrugged. “According to what I heard, Mr. Twinkle Toes never got past second base. And he obviously thought his lady love was pure as a snowflake. That boy was furious.” She paused thoughtfully. “Everyone knows to expect vengeance from a woman scorned. But what about a man scorned? What does he do?”

“A man consumed by fury can react without considering the consequences of his actions,” Ella Mae said, gesturing for Yuri to hand her a washcloth. She scrubbed the mask off her face and then met Loralyn’s curious stare. “He can be driven by impulse, by a desperate need to lash out. He can feed his anger until it commands him. Until he obeys it. And that leaves me wondering this: Was Barric angry enough to murder the love of his life?”