Deputy Dave leaned toward Elle. “What did Miss Burbage tell you? Why didn’t you report it?”

“Miss Burbage told me that the paparazzo wasn’t such a bad guy. What would you have done with that?” Elle was as tart as he was stern.

He acknowledged her comment with a negative waggle of the head.

“Later, we did recover the camera,” Elle told Deputy Dave, “but the SD card was nowhere to be found.”

“It’s in my room.” Clarice nodded toward the restaurant. “I can locate it for you, and there will be photos.”

“Visual evidence.” Deputy Dave radiated satisfaction, signaled to one of the other officers, and Clarice told the officer where to find the SD card.

Clarice picked up the last threads of her story. “You know what happened then. The four of us went to the police, Gregoire served as my lawyer. I was released on bail.” She began to radiate satisfaction herself. “After we returned from the sheriff’s office, after I had been accused of the murder she committed—she watched me. She began to think I was compliant, that I was her creature to command.”

“Which is what you intended,” Elle said.

“Yes. That is what I intended. I wanted her to think she had broken me...before she actually did.”

Aching with sympathy, Elle stroked Clarice’s fingers, wanting to somehow to convey a comfort she had not been there to give.

Clarice continued. “And Elle, every day she sat at the edge of the roof and studied the shop. Whenever you were here, working, she watched, waiting for the moment when you were alone.”

Elle thought of Adam, ever-observant, eyes on the horizon. “I wish I’d paid attention.”

“I wondered...” Gregoire said.

Sarcha nodded. “I wondered, too. I thought perhaps she was infatuated with Elle, but she was sleeping with Clarice so... I figured she was polygamous?”

“It’s all right.” Clarice hushed them. “I don’t blame you.”

Sarcha wiped tears off his lashes with his sleeve.

“Today, for the first time, she saw the shop empty.” Clarice’s voice grew strong. “No one was on the street. She’d studied the festival schedule. She knew what was coming. Adam was going to fight. Everyone was going to watch.”

“Actually, Adam is coming to take me to the exhibition.” Elle looked down the road, surprised he hadn’t yet arrived. “I was going to lock up as soon as he got here. If Faith had been a few minutes later, she would have been fighting Adam.” On the other hand, Elle felt pleased with how she had acquitted herself. She might not have won the fight, but she’d put a dent or two into Stephen Penderghast’s henchwoman. She turned to Deputy Dave. “Would it be possible for someone in law enforcement to search the records for Penderghast’s whereabouts?”

“Since that woman works for him, yeah. Seems important.” Deputy Dave stepped away to make the call.