understood how she had survived all that had happened to her. “There was an acceptance in Stella’s group that I had never experienced before. It was recognition, approval, and tolerance. It was this amazing . . . joy.” The fierceness faded and she smiled, but the happiness of the memory didn’t last. “But things didn’t stay the same after the ceremony. Or maybe I grew past the need for what they offered, I don’t know. Things got messy. People started pairing off more. Jealousy started to be a problem. There was this one big argument, I don’t even remember what it was about now. But I packed up and left the group. Then Donnie left too, heading north. I went east, to Knoxville.”
It must have been a pretty big argument and very traumatic, I thought. Stella Mae had erased her name and most of her images from the photo album. That suggested strong feelings.
“I worked two jobs. I changed my name legally to Cadence Blue Thompkins because I thought it sounded artsy and I wanted to be an artist.” She glanced at the sunflower, rose, and honeysuckle panting on the wall.
“I took online classes and when I graduated, I went to work for a small shop in town. They let me hang my paintings on the walls. I met my husband, who had just graduated from Duke. He was this big, brawny, earnest, energetic man who said all the right things and pushed all the right buttons. I fell in love, we married, and I became Cadence Blue Thompkins Merriweather.” She took a breath. “I haven’t seen or talked to Stella or any of the others in years. But I knew when I heard about the deaths that you might find me.” She looked at Goode, her expression a little guilty. “Sorry I didn’t tell you.”
Margot said, “Do you want to reconsider part of that? Everything you told us was mostly the truth until the last part.” Margot smiled and leaned in. Margot knew truth or lie, a gift from the witch blood that ran in her family. She couldn’t do magic for nothing, but she could sure ’nuff sniff out falsehood. “The part that said you hadn’t seen or talked to Stella or the others. That wasn’t the truth.” Margot looked at her tablet as if checking notes, and back up, focusing on the lawyer. “Ms. Dominique Goode, of Goode Law Firm. You specialize in divorce. So, let’s start back at the part about not talking to Stella and move to the part about the divorce.”
Goode stood up. “That will be all for today. I know you have questions and we will provide answers. Perhaps it would be best to provide them in writing, rather than stress my client. She isn’t well. I’ll be talking to my client and be in touch.” She pointed at the door.
I got up and left the room, back out into the cool bright sun of autumn. After a while the others followed. Back at the cars, FireWind spoke, his voice far too soft to be anything but a threat. “Perhaps we should have discussed who was lead in this interview.”
I pulled my phone. “Remember in Stella Mae’s room, when you told me about the tea set you got for your wife in St. Louis?”
“San Francisco.”
“Okay.” I’d never been to either place and where he’d bought the tea set didn’t matter. “You recognized the vase in Stella’s bedroom because of that trip, right?”
“Yes,” he said, his voice sounding more normal and curious. “It was a Roseville piece. Sunflower pattern.”
I held out my cell, with the photos I had taken of the objects on the shelves. Centered in the rows of shelves were three vases, two short, one tall. All three were sunflower pattern vases; one was an exact match for the one in Stella’s room. The one with the small card that said “I love you,” with a date only a few months past. “The painting had her name on it and the sunflower on it is an exact match for the vases.”
“LaFleur, will you please read the house with the psy-meter?” FireWind asked. “Racer, schedule an appointment with Ms. Goode and Mrs. Merriweather at HQ for this evening. Or we will get a paper and pick up her lying client. In handcuffs for all the neighbors to see.”
“Yes, sir,” she said. Walking briskly, Racer went to the front door. Rick went to his car and opened the trunk. That left FireWind and me