She gestured toward a set of shelves on the wall, and sure enough, Seth’s books stood out prominently. I had been a longtime fan girl of Seth’s before we started going out, and I wondered uneasily if I’d sounded this crazed and desperate way back when. She probably would have passed out if she’d known about the advanced copy Seth gave me.

“Sure,” said Seth. “I’d, um, be happy to.” He elbowed me, no doubt in an effort to get me to state our business and save him. Still a little irritated from our car argument, I almost enjoyed watching him in her clutches.

“We’re actually not here to buy anything,” I told her. “We wanted to find out about a piece you might have recently made for someone.”

Mary turned toward me, seeming to notice me for the first time. Her gleeful, ravenous expression dimmed and even turned a little suspicious. “Who are you again?”

“Georgina. We’re wondering if you recently made a piece for a client. A carved disc about this big with some sort of arcane symbol on it.” I approximated the size Carter had shown me.

Her face grew more wary and pinched. “I can’t say.”

I frowned. “You don’t remember?”

She shook her head. “I keep records of all my pieces. But that’s confidential. I can’t give that kind of information away.”

“This is really important,” I said. “We think . . . there may be a crime involved.”

“Sorry, Giselle. I can’t tell you about that. Not unless you’re with the police or something.”

“Georgina,” I corrected. Her adherence to client confidentiality was perfectly understandable—but well, I wasn’t really concerned with what was morally correct right now. Giving Seth an elbow poke of my own, I hoped he’d jump in and use his author god power. It took him a few moments, but he did.

“It would help us so much, Mary. We’d—I’d—really appreciate it.” He stumbled over the words a little, but from the way her face lit up, you’d think he’d just murmured the sexiest thing in her ear.

“Oh, Seth,” she sighed. “I really would do anything for you . . . but, well, I do try to respect my clients’ privacy. Surely a man like you understands that.”

“Well, yeah, of course I—” I elbowed him again. He shot me a quick glare and then returned his gaze to her. “That is, I do understand, but like I said, this is really important.”

Indecision warred on her face, and I kind of admired her principles. She actually looked uncrackable, and I had a feeling Seth wasn’t going to be too much more assertive. Glancing beyond her, I noticed a hallway leading off to another part of the house. I keep records of all my pieces.