“No, thank you,” I said. Diesel wandered into the kitchen. He paused to warble at Azalea, and she gazed at him blankly. “Please, Azalea, sit down. I really need to talk to you.”

She complied, but her expression threatened mutiny, to judge by the set of her lips. “What is it?”

“It’s about last night,” I said. I held up a hand as she started to rise, mutiny turning swiftly to outrage. “Azalea, please. I’m serious. For your own sake, sit down and talk to me. You’re in trouble, whether you want to believe it or not.” She hesitated, and I played what I considered my trump card. “Aunt Dottie will haunt me to the end of my days if I don’t do everything I can to help you. She might just haunt you, too, if you don’t listen to reason.”

I braced myself for the lightning strike that I figured was about to hit, but to my great surprise, Azalea burst into tears instead.

EIGHTEEN

I froze. Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned Aunt Dottie. I’d never expected Azalea to react like this. What should I do?

Diesel acted while I hesitated. He went to my housekeeper and placed a paw on her thigh. Startled, she glanced down at him, still sobbing. “What’s he doing?” she finally managed to choke out.

“He’s showing you that he’s concerned. He knows you’re upset, and I’m sorry about that. The last thing I meant to do was upset you.” I started to get up, but she indicated that I should stay where I was.

“I be okay in a minute, Mr. Charlie.” Azalea blew her nose into a handkerchief that suddenly appeared in her right hand. She looked at Diesel again, still sitting beside her and watching her closely. “Don’t you worry no more, cat.”

Diesel meowed twice before he left Azalea and came to sit next to my chair. I rubbed his head, and he butted against my hand.

“Are you sure I can’t get you something? Water, iced tea?”

She shook her head. “No, thank you. Guess I’m just tired. Can’t remember when I slept so bad. Hardly closed my eyes all night.”

Thinking guiltily of how soundly I had slept, I nodded. “It’s no wonder you couldn’t sleep. After everything that happened last night.”

Azalea regarded me warily, her momentary breakdown finished. “What you want to talk about?”

“Last night,” I said. “But first I need to tell you something. Miss An’gel and Miss Dickce came to see me at the library this morning. They’re concerned about you, too, and they want me to help make sure the real killer is identified. They know you couldn’t have had anything to do with Mrs. Cassity’s death.”

“That’s mighty nice of them, to be concerned like that.” Her expression hadn’t changed.

I decided I’d better not mention that Kanesha also wanted me to help. That would put her back up straightaway.

“Now, about last night,” I said. “I know it’s not pleasant, but I need you to tell me about everything that happened in that stairway. Let’s start with how you came to be there.”