“I do!” That might have come out a little too vehemently, but now that she was going to be in town for a year, she was glad she had a friend.

“Maya cast me as the lead in the fall play,” Clara said.

“What’s it going to be this year?” Eve thought back to her time as Puritan Number Four.

“Medea.”

“As in Greek tragedy Medea who murders her children in cold blood to get back at her cheating husband?”

“That’s the one!”

“I see Maya hasn’t lost her penchant for light, crowd-pleasing drama.”

“You should come! But I guess you’ll be gone by then. I heard you’re selling the inn?”

“I am, but not for a year. I’m going to do a pretty major reno before I put it on the market, so I’m going to…” The words hovered in her throat. It felt big, to actually say them to someone other than Maya. It would make it that much more real.

And as long as it wasn’t real, she could still take her rust bucket of a car and turn around and go home.

But no. She was here for a reason. She was here to honor Lucille’s wishes.

And for an exorcism. Of this lovely young woman’s brother, in fact. She cleared her throat. “I’m going to stay for a year.”

“Oh, wow! That’s fantastic!” Clara looked genuinely thrilled. Then, her eyebrows traveling almost all the way to her hairline, she looked even more thrilled, though Eve would have thought that impossible. “So you can come to the play!”

“I can.” She found she was looking forward to it, infanticide and all. She wanted to see Clara as Medea. She wanted to support Maya. Maybe there was a role for her as Greek Citizen Number Four—okay, no, she wasn’t going that far.

But look at her. Day one and was she sort of…integrating herself?

Maybe Lucille was right. Maybe life was a little bit twisty.

Sawyer was at the hardware store when Clara texted him. Eve Abbott came into the store earlier this morning, and she’s staying in town for a year! Also, Lucille’s funeral was last weekend?! How did we miss that? We should have been there—I felt like a huge jerk.

“You okay, Chief?” He looked up to find Olivia frowning at him.

Olivia was coming off duty, and he was going on. They often met at Lakeside Hardware for the changeover. It was a good spot to shoot the breeze for a while and tap into the town gossip network.

The answer to Olivia’s question was no. He was not okay. What had happened to getting the roof fixed and selling the Mermaid? Followed, presumably, by getting the hell out of town?

He unclenched his jaw. “Yep. Fine.”