“Let me help you with that,” he offered, and crossed the short distance as the gate banged shut and the startled crow cawed and flapped away. Deftly, he lifted the sack of flour from her arms. “I think we should talk.” A dusting of flour powdered his shoulder, and the smile he’d forced fell from his lips. “Last night I was upset, and I told you that Sister Camille’s death was my fault.” His expression was that of a wounded, hunted animal. “I think I should explain myself.”

“You don’t have to explain anything to me,” she said quickly.

A cloud crawled over the face of the sun, casting an eerie gloom over the garden.

“Of course I do, Lucia.” With his free hand, he touched her shoulder, the warmth of his fingertips seeping through the dark fabric of her habit. His dark eyes searched hers in a way she found far too uncomfortable.

Lucia shrank inside. She didn’t want to feel his touch, nor did she have any desire to be confessor to his penance. It was his role to hear confession, not hers. The crow, bolder now, landed on the gutter over the kitchen.

An omen.

Lucia felt a chill, as if the Devil himself were watching her.

“You have to believe me,” he said, his voice a strangled whisper. “I didn’t kill Sister Camille. I . . . I would never do that.” He closed his eyes for a second, and a breath of wind toyed with the strands of hair falling free of Lucia’s braid. “God forgive me, Lucia,” he said, blinking as if battling tears. “I loved her.”

CHAPTER 12

CHAPTER 12

Valerie had made the mistake of letting Slade drive to the morgue. His truck had been parked in front of her Subaru, and he’d insisted on being a part of this madness. After leaving Bo with a bewildered Freya, they’d taken the old Ford to the hospital.

Slade had followed the police car, and Valerie, lost in thoughts of Cammie, had barely registered the familiar scents of dust and leather inside the pickup. She’d kicked aside a tool belt that had been tossed onto the floor and stared out the passenger window, her reflection pale and wan in the glass smudged with nose and paw prints.

She hardly remembered the traffic or the drive through New Orleans, though she did hear the sound of church bells as she stepped out of the truck, their somber tolling emanating from St. Marguerite’s Cathedral not a mile away.

The sun was playing hide-and-seek. Clouds were collecting, moving over the city again, shadowing New Orleans like a pall. Valerie shivered as they reached the back door to the hospital and stepped inside, where voices were hushed and footsteps were softened by a gray, industrial carpet.