“I think you’d better answer it,” Bill said. “Do you want me to go?”

“No!” I cried. “I mean … not unless you want to go. Or have to. You probably have other things to do …”

The doorbell rang again.

“Let me just see who that is … I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.” I leaned toward him to kiss him, but he placed his hand on my face, his thumb stroking the scratches on my cheekbone. His touch made my entire body tingle. “I’ll be right here,” he said. “Take your time.”

Despite Bill’s directive to take my time I ran to the door, determined to take care of whoever was there and get back to Bill. If it were Duncan I’d tell him to get lost. There was no good explanation for what he’d done last night. As soon as I saw Liz, Soheila and Ann on the porch, though, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get rid of them easily. They looked grim.

“Let me guess, another intervention? What have I done wrong this time?”

“You haven’t done anything wrong,” Liz said twisting her hands nervously. “It’s all my fault …”

“No, it’s mine,” Ann said, laying a hand on Liz’s arm.

“We need to talk,” Soheila said. “Can we come in … or …?” She lifted her head and sniffed. The scent of fresh baked cornbread had wafted out from the kitchen, but I had an idea that Soheila was scenting the man who had baked it. “Do you have company?”

“No … yes … I mean Bill is here … he’s my handyman … “ The minute I said it I could have bit my tongue. I heard a door open and close in the back of the house. Had he heard me? “Come in, I’ll be right back.”

I ran back to the kitchen and found it empty. A pan of cornbread rested on a folded dishcloth next to a pot of tea all laid out on a tray. There was a note beside it. “It looks like you’re busy and I did have some other things to do. I’ll be back later to check on your basement. Yours, Bill.”

“Crap, crap, crap,” I muttered as I went back into the library carrying the tray.

“I can understand why you’re upset,” Liz said, taking the tray from me and placing it on the coffee table. “But first let me tell you the one piece of good news. We were able to confirm that Lovelei is at Lura’s house. We’ve placed a guard around the house so she won’t hurt anybody.”

“That is good news,” I said, “so why do you all look so grim?”

Soheila and Liz looked at Ann.