been in, and jammed it in the trash. She raced to the sink, turned on the water, and yanked at the roll of paper towels.
“There’s four of them,” Deborah said, slightly breathless as she ran back into the room. “I don’t know the other three, but I know Al Drummond. He interviewed me. They’re almost—”
The doorbell rang.
“Pour you and me some coffee.” Lily thrust a wad of paper towels under the tap. “Not full—as if we’ve been sipping awhile. Put the cups on the table. Pick the chairs up. I dropped by unexpectedly,” she went on quickly as Deborah hurried to the coffeepot. She bent and started wiping blood smears from the floors. “Ruben wasn’t here. He left to take a walk about an hour ago, shortly before I arrived.” Neither of the wolves had bled badly, but they’d smeared it all over, dammit. Lily went for more paper towels.
“But you’ll be in trouble.” Deborah set two half-full mugs on the table and a plate of cookies. Good touch. She broke off a corner of one the cookies and crushed it to leave crumbs on the table then righted one of the chairs. “You aren’t supposed to be here.”
“No choice.” Rule’s car was in front of the house. If she skipped out the back door, they’d look for him. She couldn’t let that happen. “We haven’t talked about the investigation or the events at Fagin’s house. Mostly about you—how you’re holding up, that sort of thing.”
Deborah was carrying the other chair across the kitchen. “My parents are giving me a hard time. You can tell them that. The leg on this one’s broken.” She opened a door to what seemed to be a pantry and took the chair inside. “Where will Rule take Ruben? What’s going to happen to him?”
The doorbell rang again.
“Questions later. Better let them in.” Lily tossed her towels in the trash, then cast a quick glance over the kitchen. No visible blood. Even if she missed some and Drummond was psychic enough to run lab tests on it, the tests wouldn’t tell them much. Not with lupi blood.
The kitchen island still rested against the cabinets. Lily hurried over to it as Deborah emerged from the pantry. “Get the door. Hurry.”
Deborah’s face was pale but composed. Or maybe she’d just shut down. Either would work for now. “The cup. The one I dropped. There’re pieces by the table.”
“I’ll get it.” Lily shoved at the island. “Go.”
Deborah did, her shoes clicking firmly on the floor. Lily left the island roughly where she remembered it being, hurried to the table, and bent to snatch up bits of broken coffee cup. Should have seen this when she was mopping up blood.
Voices at the front of the house. No time. She crammed the pottery shards behind a spring green throw pillow on the banquette, sat in the only remaining chair, and took a bite of a cookie.
“I told you,” Deborah was saying, her voice growing closer, “he went for a walk.”
“Was that before or after someone smashed your window?” Drummond asked.
“I didn’t know it had been broken until you asked me about it just now. I haven’t been at the front of the house.”
Lily washed down the bite with a sip of cold coffee just as Drummond strode into the room with Deborah a pace behind. Three more men followed behind the two of them—two she didn’t know, plus Mullins, who was looking especially dense and dull.
“I’m sure Ruben will be back soon,” Deborah said. “I don’t know what else to tell you.”
Drummond stopped when he saw Lily—but not like he was surprised. He smiled, cold and nasty, his eyes glittering with anger. “Look who beat me here. What a coincidence. You dropped by to chat with a suspect just before I came to arrest him.”
“You’re arresting Ruben?”
“He doesn’t seem to be here, does he? You know anything about that?”
Lily looked at those glittering eyes and her stomach lurched as if she were in an elevator headed down way too fast.
That wasn’t anger she saw. That was triumph. Drummond had just gotten exactly what he wanted. “How could I? I’m not part of the investigation anymore.”
“You got the last part right. Special Agent Lily Yu, you are under arrest.”
TWENTY-FIVE
IN the cold darkness beneath the oaks and hawthorns and elms, the world was moist and fragrant. Two wolves walked under those trees. Leaves crunched and released their mélange of scent-messages with every footfall. Impossible even for Rule to walk silently here, much