I gave him the look—the one that said, Don’t be daft. “I meant on the car.”

“Something that can still be achieved if you get your lovely ass out of the car so I can go stalk our quarry. I’ll call once I know anything.”

“Ditto.” I stripped off my sweater and wrapped it around my head to conceal my hair. Amanda was far enough away now that she’d probably think the sweater was a scarf of some sort, which was infinitely better than her spotting the blaze of coppery red that was my hair.

I climbed out and waited until Jackson had reversed out of the driveway, then ran across the road to Janice’s. The Honda’s hood was still warm, suggesting she hadn’t been home all that long.

The front door was locked, but a quick spurt of fire soon fixed that. I pushed it open with my fingertips. “Janice? It’s Emberly Pearson—I’m with Hellfire Investigations. We need to ask you a couple of questions.”

There was no answer. Aside from the soft ticking of an unseen clock, the house was silent. I frowned and took a wary step inside. “Janice?”

Still nothing. There were four doorways along the somewhat narrow hallway, but only one of those was open. Instinct was annoyingly silent when it came to suggesting which one to investigate first.

I took another step forward, then stopped. Heat teased my senses, but its flame was little more than a soft caress. It was coming from the room to my right, from what was most likely a bedroom, given most houses of this age tended to have their bathrooms either in the middle of the house or off the kitchen at the rear.

I moved toward it, only to stop as I realized the air smelled . . . odd. I took a deeper breath.

Fuck, gas.

I bolted into the room that held that flickering heat source. Janice lay in among the tangled blankets; her eyes were closed and her face slack. On the bedside tables there were at least half a dozen lit candles.

I waved a hand to snuff them out, then quickly felt Janice’s neck for a pulse. Not only was it there, but it was strong and steady. Relief surged, but we weren’t out of the woods just yet.