They walked out, and it was a nice spot—that tidy little yard, the two Adirondack chairs painted the same sunny yellow as the house, and a big, shady maple tree.

Once they were seated, Zoe took a deep breath. “If Pitte and Rowena are some kind of lunatics who’ve targeted us for some reason, there’s no backing out. It won’t matter. And if they are, doing whatever we can to find the keys makes the most sense. If they’re not, then we should keep our word.”

“It sounds like we’re on the same track. I’m toying with going back up there to talk to them again, get another impression. In a day or two,” Malory nodded, “after we—I hope—find out a little more. I know Dana will be zeroing in on the books, and Flynn’s already heating up the Internet. If he finds anything, he’ll tell me at dinner tonight.”

“Dinner? You’re going out with Flynn?”

“Apparently.” Malory frowned into her lemonade. “Five minutes after he left my apartment I was wondering how he talked me into it.”

“He’s awfully cute.”

“Any guy would look cute beside that big, ugly dog.”

“And he was flirting with you.” Zoe gestured with her glass so that the ice clinked. “Big time.”

“That I got. Flirting isn’t on the agenda for the next few weeks if I’m going to focus on finding the first key.”

“Flirting with a cute guy’s a nice side benefit.” Zoe sighed, sat back and wiggled toes that she’d painted poppy pink. “Or at least I seem to recall it was, from the dim, dark past.”

“Are you kidding?” Surprised, Malory looked back at Zoe’s sexy faerie face. “Men must hit on you all the time.”

“The initial sortie usually stops dead when they find out I’ve got a kid.” She shrugged. “And I’m not interested in the let’s-get-naked-and-keep-it-casual deal. I’ve been there.”

“Right now, I’m not interested in the let’s-get-naked-and-make-it-serious deal. I have to figure out what I’m going to do with the rest of my life. My current windfall isn’t going to last forever, but it does give me time to decide if I really want my own business, and how to go about it if I do.”

“That’s something else I was thinking about today. I’m going to have to get back to work. But the thought of starting a new job, with new people, out at the mall . . .” Zoe puffed out her cheeks and blew a hard breath. “And the last thing I want is to try to run a salon out of the house. Nobody takes you seriously when you do that. They start thinking hair’s your hobby instead of your job. Plus, where you live isn’t home anymore, and I’m not taking that away from Simon the way it was taken away from me.”

“Your mother did hair out of your house?”

“Trailer.” Zoe shrugged. “She did the best she could, considering we lived a couple miles outside Nowhere, West Virginia. My daddy took off when I was twelve, and I was the oldest of four.”