Were it not for what the housekeeper claims I would place Chanel Gilbert’s murder a good twenty-four hours earlier than we’re supposed to believe. Not this morning or yesterday but possibly the midday or night before. In other words as early as Wednesday. The same day Bryce had our CFC vehicles washed and detailed. Possibly the same day the truck’s taillight was tampered with.

The housekeeper is mistaken or lying.

“What really happened here?” I mutter to the empty room.

The wide board flooring is centered by an Oriental rug, the ceiling beamed. The ivory silk drapes are drawn, and behind them are blackout shades pulled down.

“Uh-oh.” Marino is right behind me. “When you start talking to dead people it’s time to call it a day.”

I walk inside and smell flowers and spices. I follow my intuition and my nose. The scent leads me to a chest of drawers.

“I’d like to open these,” I say to Marino.

“Be my guest.”

“Did you look when we were here the first time?”

“I didn’t have a reason to go through all her personal stuff, not that there was time. She was just an accident. Then we had to rush to Lucy’s place.”

“Well we’re back.”

“Yeah no shit.”

I FEEL HIM STARING AT ME. I sense his heavy mood, his edginess as I find what I’m looking for in the first drawer I try.

It’s empty except for a ceramic ball-shaped pomander. I pick it up and recognize the perfumes of lavender, chamomile, lemon verbena and something else I don’t expect and can’t pinpoint. It’s subtly pungent and that’s odd for a household fragrance.

“They could have had something together.” Marino doesn’t take his eyes off me. “And I think you know what I’m talking about, Doc. I don’t want to get into it more than that.”

I do know what he’s talking about and he doesn’t need to get into it. I intuit his meaning not from what he says but from the way he says it. Marino is suggesting that Chanel and Carrie might have been acquainted. They might have been more than that. He’s coming around to this point of view on his own.

“The pomander is an antique but the potpourri definitely hasn’t been it in very long. It’s fresh.” I verify to him that it appears someone in addition to Chanel has been using the house.

This suggests more of the same unpleasantness to put it mildly. If Carrie knew Chanel and Chanel knew Lucy then that links the three of them. Chanel has been murdered. Carrie’s existence can’t be proven. That leaves Lucy hung out to dry by the FBI. I worry that might be the reason for everything but I can’t fathom why.

“A pom-what?” Marino sets down the scene case.