Monty stood, looking a little worn with his wild hair and beard, and his usually easy smile wavered. Lorna and Katie rose as well, but Katie was looking at Dan.

“Nothing yet,” he told her.

Monty and Lorna had started for the front door.

“The blood on the axe... It was real blood, right?” she asked.

“Yes.”

She shook her head. “He brought it with him. I don’t own an axe. Well, I mean, obviously, he brought it with him if it...if it already had blood on it.”

“Don’t worry, Katie. I’m not leaving. And with your permission, I’m having security cameras installed at your place.”

“You’ve got my permission. What else, what else...”

“The right people are working on it, Katie. We just need to get out there. You know the streets.”

“New Orleans is a big city stretching far beyond the French Quarter,” she reminded him.

He nodded. “We’ll get up to the Garden District later.” He grimaced. “Visit my family.”

She smiled; she understood.

“All right, then. I’ll go start working with Sarah and the carriage—”

“I’m going to help.”

His phone buzzed. He grimaced when he saw it was his secretary-slash-assistant, Marleah.

He’d all but forgotten he had an office.

“Dan!” Her voice warbled through the phone.

He loved Marleah. She was about fifteen years his senior, competent and easy, with no hidden agenda. She liked working but also liked the fact he was flexible about her hours and she could take a few days for a vacation with her husband or friends when she chose.

“Marleah, hey, I’m sorry—”

“I know you’re working on that awful thing, but you have to do something about Wendy Lawrence. The woman is driving me insane. She calls on the hour to see if you’re back to work on her case.”

“I’m sorry, Marleah. I’ll call her. I’ll take care of things now. Oh, please tell me you didn’t deposit her last check.”

“You’re in luck. I didn’t. I was trying to catch you early. She must have called thirty times yesterday, and I kept telling her you hadn’t been in, and I didn’t expect you in. I wanted to see if you’d please do something, before she started calling again this morning.”

“Good! And thank you. I’m off her case.”

“Officially and really, truly officially?”

“Yes.”

“Thank the good Lord! Oh, you have pictures of Nathan Lawrence out and working and everywhere you saw him. Want me to ditch them?”

“Uh, no. Just leave them. I’ll file them when I’m back in the office,” Dan told her.

“In the trash?” Marleah asked.

He laughed. “No. I keep records and everything. Just in case.”

“Uh, Dan, you’re not going to work for her again, are you?”