Kristi curled her fingers around the bars of the fence. As far as she knew Rick Bentz had nothing to do with Wagner House or anything else concerning All Saints College. He’d solved a couple of crimes connected to the campus, and sure, his only daughter was enrolled here, again, but that was it. Her vision of his gray pallor didn’t seem connected.

So, maybe her visions had nothing to do with premonitions of death, and everything to do with something wrong in her own mind, something that had just slipped out of gear after she’d been attacked.

So many questions.

And no answers.

“The museum is closed until later this afternoon.”

She nearly jumped out of her skin.

“Two o’clock,” Father Mathias said, glancing to the sky as the wind picked up. “Wagner House opens then.”

“I know, but I have to get to work and I…” She thought fast. “Well, I think I lost my sunglasses here. They’re prescription.”

“I’ll check the lost and found.” He unlocked the gate and as he did, the sleeve of his cassock fell away, exposing part of his arm and a bandage.

“What happened?” she asked automatically. He pulled back his keys and the sleeve covered his arm again.

“Nothing. An accident. From yard work,” he said quickly. “Electric hedge clippers. Guess I’ll wait for the gardener next time. Come back after two when the docent is here. If I find your glasses, or she does, you can pick them up then.”

“But I need them for work. I’ll come with you.”

“Really, child,” he said, “I can’t allow it. Two o’clock isn’t that far away. I’m just stopping by for a second myself.” He slipped through the door and up the steps as the gate swung shut. On impulse she stopped it from latching with her foot and waited until Father Mathias disappeared within.

As soon as she heard the door of the mansion close behind him, she swept into the fenced yard and walked quickly around the perimeter of the house. What she expected to find, she didn’t know, but she peered through the basement windows just the same, spying nothing in the darkness, feeling like a fool.

At the back porch, she considered walking up the steps and trying the door when she heard a voice inside. A woman’s voice. “I told you to take care of it,” she said. “Don’t make it my problem!”

The other voice was muted, farther away. Male.

Father Mathias Glanzer’s?

Or someone else’s?

Kristi strained to listen as the first drops of rain started to fall, but she couldn’t hear what the man was saying, only the woman’s sharp, quick response. “The whole thing backfired, I know, but you should be able to handle it. The sooner the better. Before the police get involved. Do you know what would happen then? Do you?”