“Did you, or did you not, find Graham Landingham’s body this morning?”

“Strictly speaking, Sumner and I found him together.”

“You can’t make it one weekend without tripping over a corpse?”

“I didn’t trip.” I’d stood in the doorway and absorbed the horror. “Who told you?”

“Never you mind.”

Someone had called Kansas City, called a friend or a loved one, and told them about Graham.

Given how gossip worked, I was surprised it took as long as it did for Mother to call me.

“When will you be home?” she demanded. Apparently, she was eager for the opportunity to excoriate me in person.

“I don’t know. Anarchy is investigating the murder.”

“No,” she corrected. “Anarchy is investigating your friends. I warned you this would happen.”

She had warned me. On multiple occasions.

I sank into the beat-up leather chair behind the desk. “It’s his job, Mother.”

“And you aren’t bothered that your husband is digging into your friends' lives?”

“In a perfect world—”

"It’s not a perfect world, Ellison.”

I was well aware. “Someone murdered Graham. Police ask questions in a murder investigation. It doesn’t matter if it’s Anarchy or another detective, someone will ask those questions.”

“Do you honestly think Bill Geller will want to play golf with Anarchy after he exposes the man's sordid affairs?”

Anarchy had no desire to play golf. And, if he did, he’d play with me, not Bill. “Unless Bill killed Graham, Anarchy won't expose anything.”

“Don’t be obtuse. Anarchy will know. And Bill will know he knows.”

How could I argue with logic like that? I had to try. “Mother, everyone knows about Bill’s affairs.”

“Do you think Fred Paige will ask Anarchy for drinks if he exposes the problems at Fred's bank?”

I blinked. “What problems?”

“He made a bad loan.”

“One bad loan? It must have been a whopper.”

“Don’t change the subject. Anarchy won’t be asked for drinks.”

“Anarchy can live happily without meeting Fred Paige for cocktails.”

“What’s more, no one appreciates being forced to stay there.” It was as if she didn’t hear a word I said.

“The sheriff requested that everyone stay, not Anarchy. Besides, we all planned on being here through tomorrow.”

“That was before Graham’s murder. People want the safety of their homes. Especially when there could be a raving, gun-toting lunatic rampaging through the woods.”

Seriously? That was the best she could do? “I doubt there’s a lunatic in the woods.”

“Don’t take that tone with me.”

“Don’t conjure crazed killers. Someone killed Graham for a reason.” A crazed killer wouldn’t hide his gun beneath the sofa cushions in Mel and Fred’s cabin. He’d keep the gun and shoot more people. “Tell me more about Fred's bank.”

“So you can tell your husband?”

Yes. Exactly. “Does Fred have a motive to kill Graham?