her to be strong and independent. She won’t grow up weak-minded and weak-willed like you.”
Weak-minded? Weak-willed? Her fingers brushed a frame and heat warmed them. It was the photo of Mark and his grandfather, she knew from the strange sensations in her hand. She hefted it, unusually heavy for its size, and clenched hot wood and shimmering glass, and without a word, without further thought, she flung it across the room at Anne.
Startled, Anne jerked the gun up and pulled the trigger as the frame sailed end over end. The bullet struck it with a heavy clunk, but the frame’s course didn’t alter. It followed its arc, connecting solidly with her face, glass shattering. The impact made her shriek and stumble backward, falling against the door frame, small cuts bleeding all over her face, dripping into her eyes.
The next voice was the sweetest Macy had ever heard—after Clary’s, of course, and Stephen’s.
“Damn. Nice throw, Macy,” Lieutenant Tommy Maricci of the Copper Lake Police Department said from the doorway. “Mrs. Ireland, we’d better get you and your friend out of here before she does some real damage.”
* * *
Stephen freed himself from the paramedics as quickly as he could. His head wound was cleaned, and whatever sedative he’d been given had worn off for the most part. They advised him to go to the hospital, but he refused. He’d get checked out later, but there were things he had to do first.
Anne and Duncan West had both been taken away in handcuffs, him under his own power, her strapped helpless to a gurney. Tommy Maricci and A. J. Decker were in the living room with Brent, the crime scene people were gathering evidence in the office and from the trunk of West’s car, and Macy was standing at the French doors, staring out into the yard.
She responded when he approached, but not with fear. Without looking, without him speaking, she knew it was him, and she leaned back into him as he put his arms around her. “Thank you,” she murmured.
“For what?”
“Remembering the panic button. Suspecting Anne. Going to Claremont.”
“Getting my head cracked open didn’t do much to help.”
“It forced her to move up her schedule.” She rested her head against his shoulder, and he let his chin sink into the silky mass of her hair. “You saved our lives.”
“That picture frame throw helped. I didn’t know you had an arm like that.”
Finally she tilted her head enough to meet his gaze. “Would you think I was crazy if I said I had help?”
He considered it. Ghosts didn’t exactly fit into his view of the world. But he didn’t know everything. “It makes sense. Despite what he was, Mark loved you and Clary.”
She nodded, hair tickling his jaw. “I may have to stop hating him and just...let go.”
He nodded, too. Hating took so much energy, and there were so many better things she could do with that energy. Like loving him and starting all over again, just her and Clary and him. “Mace— Hey.” He scowled as his right arm was jerked away from her body and found Marnie holding him by the wrist.
She barely glanced at him. “We need a sample of your blood to see what medication you were given.”
Before he could react, the tech had the tourniquet on and was approaching with a needle. Tensing, Stephen turned his head the other way and squeezed his eyes shut, at least until a soft giggle made him open them. Macy was smiling at him. “You don’t faint, do you?”
“He has before,” Marnie answered. “Usually if you distract him and you’re fast enough, he’s okay.”
“Huh. Just like Clary.”
Since he was feeling about three years old, Stephen stuck his tongue out at her.
She laughed again. “Want me to kiss you when it’s over and make it better?”
Now there was a suggestion he could get behind. He couldn’t answer, though, not with the tech withdrawing the needle and Marnie slapping a bandage on his arm, then bending his elbow tightly.
“Hold that for a minute,” she said brusquely, then turned her attention to Macy. “I’m Marnie, his older sister, and you, obviously, are Macy. While I regret the drama you underwent today, I do wish you had beaten your sister-in-law to death with that picture. He’s the only brother I have.” She nodded once for emphasis then walked away.
“Wow. That counts as overwhelming emotion for Marnie,” he murmured.
“She loves you.” Macy slowly turned in his arms to face him. “So do I.” Stretching onto