“Your way is kinder.” Stefan nodded at dauda-dagr hanging from my left hip in its sheath. “Swifter.” A faint, wistful look crossed his face, so briefly I might have imagined it. “And perhaps it may grant us a second chance at heaven or hell rather than the eternal void of nonexistence.”

Well, okay, then. I cleared my throat. “It’s not my way, by the way. I haven’t killed anyone.”

“And yet the dagger is blooded since last we met, is it not?” Stefan asked in a courteous tone. “Or do my senses betray me?”

“Um . . . no.”

“Decision time,” Cody interjected impatiently. “Do we take the risk or not?”

“As I said, I believe the risk to be small,” Stefan repeated. “But the choice is yours. I do have one request in exchange for the favor. I wish to accompany you on the interview of Mary Sudbury’s sister.”

Cody gave me a suspicious look.

“I didn’t tell him!” I protested. “How did you know?”

Stefan pointed to the mailbox with the street address and then held up a cell phone. “I looked up the address. The resident is listed as one Emma Sudbury.”

“Oh.” I felt sheepish. Somehow, a centuries-old ghoul using modern technology seemed like cheating. “How did you know it was her sister?”

He smiled. “Statistically, it was likelihood. But it was a guess, which you have now twice confirmed.”

Oh, great. Good job, Daisy.

“Oh, for God’s sake!” Cody sounded disgusted. “Fine. Let’s do it. Call your henchman and send him to check out Dunham’s place. Let’s go see if Emma Sudbury has any idea where her sister can be found. You can serve as our human lie detector, Ludovic.”

He inclined his head. “Of course.”

I hadn’t had time to form any expectations of what the female ghoul Mary Sudbury’s sister might be like, but if I had, I’m pretty sure they would have been wildly off base. We traipsed up the front path of the cottage through a neglected, dying garden. Thick brocade drapes curtained the windows. I saw them twitch at our approach, the narrowest of peepholes drawing closed.

Cody rang the doorbell.

For a long time, there was no answer. At last, the door opened a few inches to reveal a chain-bolt lock and a slice of an elderly woman’s face, haggard and fearful, one red-rimmed eye showing. “Yes?” she asked in a quavering voice. “What is it?”

“Emma Sudbury?” Cody asked politely.

“Yes?”

He showed her his badge. “I’m Officer Fairfax. These are my associates, Miss Johanssen and Mr. Ludovic. May we come in?”

The chain-bolt lock remained in place. “Why?”

Cody kept his tone gentle. “We just have a few questions for you, ma’am. It’s about your sister, Mary.”

The rheumy eye blinked, watering. “Oh, dear God! What has she done now?”

Good question, I thought.

“We’re not sure,” Cody said. “But—”