Ioan smiled. "Yes, and while we can trace the murder of Thomas Becket back to Henry the Second, it isn't quite the same as telling one of his men to murder the archbishop. When I was asked by this fae to avenge his mate, I went to see her former employer. I looked him in the eye, and whatever internal scale we possess, it did not tip against him. He was not culpable enough. The man who actually killed her, though? Yes. He was guilty. The initiative remained his. The decision was his. Not the employer's."
"What you are suggesting, then, is that there is more to Johnson's story."
"Yes, I believe so."
Twenty-one
Olivia
A car parked in front of Rose's house told me she had a client. I headed across the road to where Grace perched on her front stoop.
"How's Seanna today?" I asked.
"Quiet."
"As usual?"
Grace looked up at me, her sunken eyes narrowing. Then she said, "No."
"Not as usual?"
"I mean, no, I'm not falling for this."
"Falling for what? I asked a simple question."
She snorted. "And I am not a simpleton. You think I don't see that look in your eye? I had only to watch you march up that street to know you are a girl with a mission. First to Rose, who's busy. Then you spot me and change course like a guided missile sighting a new target. I know what you're here for, and I know you just came from Patrick's. That fool bocan might slip and tell you something he shouldn't. I will not."
"But you know what I'm asking about, don't you?"
"You already said it."
I met her gaze. "And so did you. You said Seanna's quiet today, which implies she isn't always, yet as far as I know, she's an absolute lamb. Poor, addled Seanna is no trouble at all."
"It has nothing to do with me."
"Seanna's less-than-quiet moments? Or the cover-up?"
She looked me in the eye. "Both."
"Thank you," I said, and headed back across the road.
I let myself into Rose's house. She had her client in the parlor. I could hear Rose reading the cards, telling the client that she faced a decision, one that would decide the path of her future.
As I tiptoed past, I peeked in and motioned to Rose that I'd be in the kitchen. Then I closed the parlor door. Ten minutes later, I was taking the tea bags out of the pot when the front door shut. A moment later, the kitchen doorway darkened.
"I need to talk to you," I said.
"I guessed that much. I don't suppose you're looking for a reading."
I lifted the tea tray as I turned to face her. "I don't know. Can the cards help me figure out why the people I trust most in this town conspired to keep me from knowing about Seanna?"
Her cheek twitched. "Gabriel told you."
"Ha. No. That would be too easy. I had this really weird delusion that after we got together, he'd stop lying to me, stop keeping things from me, but that's just me being naive. If a guy is one thing before you start a relationship, don't expect that to change afterward. I knew better. I just hoped, you know?"
I walked past her into the parlor.
"He didn't want to upset you," she said as she followed me.