“You all know that the two sides of your face don’t match, right? If you were to photograph your face, split the image down the middle, mirror one side and then the other, your face would look very different.”

We all nodded.

“There’s more about the face that I find interesting. Studies have shown that true emotion is reflected on both sides of your face equally. Conflicting emotion will come out on just one side. So let’s say you were both angry and frightened. One side of your face will show anger, the other will reflect your fear. Generally, we tend to look at the right side of the face more than the left, and the right side will reflect the ‘public’ emotion.” She reached behind her and picked up a blank piece of paper, then placed it so the right side of Roy’s face was exposed. “His public face.” His eyes crinkled and lips pulled back into a smile. She slid the paper over, now showing the other side of his face. “This is the emotion he is hiding.”

On that side his eye was sunken, skin sagged, and mouth drooped. He looked utterly defeated.

“Oh!” Grace said. “He looks so sad.”

“What about Sam?” Dee Dee asked.

I had a pretty good idea what his face would reveal. Sure enough, his right side was friendly and engaging. The left side sent a chill up the small of my back. His skin was rough, eye open wide, and lip shiny.

“That’s creepy,” Stacy said.

“Schadenfreude.” The word slipped out before I could stop it. Everyone stared at me. I cleared my throat. Might as well finish the thought. “Or the English word epicaricacy. The German word comes from schaden, which means ‘harm’ or ‘misfortune’ combined with freude, ‘joy.’ It means taking pleasure from someone else’s suffering.”

In the silence that followed, Bram entered the room. He stopped when he saw us gathered around the table. “What’s going on?”

Angie caught him up on the drawings.

He moved until he could see the sketches.

“Do you know anything about these drawings?” Angie asked. “We believe this is Shadow Woman’s self-portrait. You knew her—”

“No, never met her, but I can tell you about some of the other drawings.” His hand touched each sketch as he spoke. “These landscapes look like they were drawn near Beryl Creek, east of here. Of course, you all recognize her dogs. Sam, Roy, and . . .” His eyes opened wider. “My boss, the sheriff.” He pointed to the fourth portrait.

“Shadow Woman knew the sheriff?” Stacy drawled.

“Apparently.” Bram’s eyebrows drew together.

Angie covered the public side of the sheriff’s face, exposing only her private emotions—an eye narrowed, slight furrow in her brow, tension in the jaw, mouth tightened. “To me, she looks worried.”

“Upset. Unhappy.” Grace nodded. “What do you see, Bram? You know her.”