“Row,” she asked, resting her cheek against my head. “What’s wrong?”

Her drowsy voice threw back my thin security blanket of denial and exposed me once again to the frigid reality I had come to accept only a few hours before. I took in a deep breath and let it out in a slow sigh, and then reluctantly, I spoke, “Remember Ariel Tanner?”

“Of course,” she replied. “What about her? Is everything okay?” She pulled away, remaining in my lap, and bringing a hand beneath my bearded chin, raised my face to meet her concerned gaze.

“She was murdered,” I told her. “Ben is the investigating officer.”

“Oh no…” she whispered, her voice trailing off, and then hugged me tightly. “When did it happen? How?”

“A couple of days ago. As for the how…well, it wasn’t pretty. It looks like it might have been a ritual murder.”

“A ritual murder!” she gasped. “You mean as in someone sacrificed her?”

“That’s how it appears.” I continued, “In the crime scene pictures Ben showed me, anyway.”

Her voice suddenly took on a sharp, almost angry tone, “Why would he show pictures to you, then? Has he lost his mind?”

“Now don’t go off the deep end.” I helped her gently from my lap and stood up. “He had no idea that I knew her, and he was showing me the pictures because I offered to help. It seems his expert wasn’t having much luck deciphering the symbols left at the scene.” Picking up my coffee cup, I went into the kitchen to freshen it, Felicity trailing along behind.

“I see.” She calmed and held out a cup she had retrieved from the cabinet. She stopped me when I had filled it just over halfway. “Were you able to figure anything out for him?”

I leaned against the counter and took a sip of hot java. “Well, whoever committed the crime performed a ritual flaying, I would assume in order to invoke something. What’s interesting though, is that there were also blatant signs of what I’m pretty sure was supposed to be an Expiation spell.”