“I might ask you the same,” he said, his eyes shifting to the embosser still lying on the ground. “What are you doing here and what is that you were bending over?”

Panic lapped at my stomach as I considered how to explain exactly what I was doing there. I certainly couldn’t tell him I was looking for the murder weapon since I wasn’t supposed to know there even was a murder.

“Meow!”

I shot the cat a grateful look. “My cat … I was here looking for my cat.”

As if on cue, Pandora trotted over to my side and rubbed her face against my leg.

Relief washed away the panic as a familiar figure came around the corner—Augusta.

“Willa? What’s going on here?” Augusta looked from the behemoth to me, her brow wrinkled in confusion.

“You know her?” Behemoth asked.

Augusta sighed and holstered her gun. “You can put your gun away, Striker. It’s my sister.”

“Who the hell is he?” I asked Augusta, gesturing toward Striker with my chin. I still had my hands up because the behemoth was still pointing his gun at me.

“This is Eddie Striker.” Augusta nodded toward Striker. “He’s the sheriff over in Dixford Pass. I asked him to help out since I don’t have much experience with homicides.”

“Homicide? So Lavinia was murdered.” I tried to sound surprised.

Augusta shifted on her feet. “Yes, I suppose I can tell you since it’s going to come out sooner or later. The medical examiner determined she was hit on the head with something. That probably didn’t kill her, but it stunned her and the push down the stairs finished her off.”

“Poor Lavinia,” I said.

Augusta narrowed her eyes at me. “So, just what are you doing here behind the library?”

“What are you doing here?” I asked, wondering if they’d come to the same conclusion I had and were also looking for the murder weapon.

“I asked first,” Augusta replied.

Striker was sliding his eyes back and forth between us, an amused expression on his face. I was not so amused that he still had his gun aimed at me.

“Pandora ran back here and I was trying to get her,” I lied. Was I in store for some bad karma for lying to my sister? Probably.

“Are you sure that’s all it is?” Augusta looked at me suspiciously. “I know how you have a habit of sticking your nose into investigations.”

“Can I put my hands down?” My arms were starting to hurt, plus I wanted to avoid addressing Augusta’s comment. It was true, I did have a habit of investigating on my own from my years of training as a crime journalist.

“Yes,” Augusta sighed.

“No!” Striker shot Augusta a look.

I held my hands halfway up, my eyes wavering between the two of them.