"Are you okay?"

"Okay? I'm okay, Martin. I'm just annoyed. I found what you left me. I just got home and there it was on my doorstep. So my question is, are you out of your mind?"

"What? There what was, Sheila?"

"The present you left for me? The jewelry?"

"Sheila, I didn't leave anything for—" He paused. "Wait, what kind of jewelry?"

"It's got your name on it. 'Love, Marty'? The little red box?"

"Since when do I sign anything 'Marty,' Sheila?" Lumsden and Kline perked up at this. "What was in the box?"

"Hang on." A moment later his phone buzzed. He brought up the message. A closeup of Sheila's hand with Tish's ankh necklace in her palm.

"So what's the deal, Martin? Are you trying to get me back into bed? With that?"

"Sheila, I want you to go to the kitchen and get the biggest knife in the drawer."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm at the police station right now. They'll send someone to your house."

Lumsden nodded. Kline stood and left the room, leaving the door wide open. She barked orders to an officer in the hall.

Sheila still wasn't getting it. "You're what? Why?"

"Barclay killed another woman. A friend. At my condo. He killed her and he took her necklace—"

"No," she said, the truth finally hitting her.

"Yes. That necklace was hers. That means Barclay's been to your house."

"Shit." He heard her rummage in a drawer. The clatter of cutlery. The shing! of metal on metal as she pulled out a knife. "You think he's still here?"

"He could be. Stay away from the closets, closed doors."

"Why would he leave me her necklace, Martin?"

"It's a message. He said something to me when—"

He swallowed hard, not wanting to think about the video call. The struggle. The tears. Tish's bulging eyes and erect nipples. Her neck, ringed black. The awful thing Barclay had nailed to the wall like a crucifixion.

"—he told me 'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.' Then he repeated his threat about the river of blood between him and me."

Lumsden leaned forward in his chair, keenly interested, though he'd already told them all of this.

"Jesus," Sheila said. She was whispering, afraid for her life in her own home. "What do you think it means?"

"It means he plans to kill you next."

Lumsden and Kline suggested Martin and Sheila leave the city for a few days. When Sheila met him at the station, she brought an overnight bag with her. She didn't want to leave, to put her job on hold, but the detectives were adamant. There just weren't enough resources to put a protective detail on both of them around the clock.

A brief vacation, just until Barclay was back in custody, and their lives could go back to normal.

Martin didn't think normal was possible, not after what he'd seen. Though he did agree getting out of town for a few days was wise.