“They’ll never find it,” he said. “The current will take it, moving it out into Lake Huron faster than green corn through a tourist. He’s gone. The only way he would have survived was if he was dead already. Damn, I’m glad I’m not the one who has to talk to the next of kin. I bet he’s got three kids and a wife.”

I hunched over, the reality of what had happened sinking in. God bless it, I was twice the fool. Nick hadn’t died going over the edge. This had been a scam right from when I told him he couldn’t have the statue—and I had walked right into it.

“His name was Nick,” I whispered, and the I.S. officer spun from the drop, surprise on his age-lined face. Ivy and Jenks stiffened. I was blowing our cover, but we were going to be questioned before too long, and I wanted our stories to be the same. “Nick Sparagmos,” I added, thinking fast. “He was helping us with a piece of art I was contracted to recover. I’m an independent runner out of Cincinnati and this was a run.” The truth is good.

“He wasn’t supposed to be here,” I continued as Ivy’s tension pulled her shoulders tight. “But when that guy hit us and killed Peter…” I took a breath, the heartache real. “Peter was only supposed to make sure it got to the right people okay. He wasn’t supposed to get hurt. The people we recovered it from…I think the accident was their attempt to get it back before we handed it over. Nick came out with the wrecker to make sure they didn’t get it. The artifact was still on the truck. He was going to get it out of here, but someone shot the tires out. Oh God, he went right over the edge.” And a little lie mixed in with the truth keeps me showering alone.

Jenks put a hand on my shoulder and gave it a squeeze to tell me he understood. Peter had been killed in the pickup truck in an accident to satisfy the insurance company. Nick had died when he went over the edge to satisfy the Weres. That Nick was the driver of the Mack truck as well wouldn’t even be considered, the driver’s absence explained as a hit and run. If anyone got curious and found out the truck belonged to DeLavine, he’d be the one slapped with the illegal early termination lawsuit from the insurance company, not me.

It sounded good to me. I was going to stick with it.

I could almost feel the worry ease out of Jenks, but Ivy was still a knot of tension, not knowing that Nick had gotten away with absolutely nothing.

The I.S. officer who had taken my license ambled up to the man before me. “Hi, Ralph. You got out here quick.” He turned to me, camaraderie in the witch’s eyes as he handed me my license back. “Ms. Morgan, what are you doing this far out of the Hollows?”