"I"m peaceful even though I should be frantic."
"A good indication you"re on the right path."
"Thanks, Mary. Thank you for all the candles you"ve bought all the years I"ve been open. And for your example. And your friendship."
Mary"s eyes teared. "I"ll thank you for those last two right back. But you sound as though you"re leaving."
"I don"t know. When the house sells and I have no income ..." She shrugged with a rueful smile. "See why I should be frantic?"
"Just look for that open door." Their hug lasted moments longer than any before.
She went into the back and pulled out bins of wick and scents and dyes. When the bell signaled another customer, she went forward and paused. "Liz."
She sent her gaze around the store. "You"re closing?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
Not her business, especially after the other night, but maybe Liz still needed a friend. "I"ve done this a long time. I need a change."
"Why now?"
Tia shrugged a shoulder. "Have you ever been going along and suddenly you realize it"s all wrong? It"s as though you"ve awakened from a paralyzing sleep and what you believed, everything you thought you knew, is different."
Liz shoved out her arm like a traffic guard. "Stop it."
Tia raised her brows.
"You can"t know how it is. You are not like me. You are not special, not ..."
"I wasn"t trying to speak for you, Liz. I"m speaking for myself."
"You"re a liar." Her eyes narrowed. "You lied when you said you and Jonah were through."
How would she know they weren"t? "It"s complicated with Jonah."
"No. It"s simple. He told me he"d stop it if he could."
That had a ring of truth.
"You think he can"t love someone like me." Pain reddened the fair skin around her pale blue eyes. "But he said if it weren"t for you, he would."
How would she handle this if it were a Hopeline call? "Liz-"
"Why couldn"t you let him go?" Her face contorted, but before tears came, it went flat as a mask. "You should have let him go."
The disembodied tone chilled her.
Liz turned and went out the door Piper had pulled open.
Head c.o.c.ked, Piper pressed in. "Was that as freaky as it sounded?"
Tia bound her hair back with her hands, more shaken than she"d realized.
"Like Fatal Attraction Fatal Attraction freaky?" Piper hugged herself. "We won"t find a dead-omigosh." freaky?" Piper hugged herself. "We won"t find a dead-omigosh."
Tia"s jaw fell slack. "Don"t. Don"t go there. It can"t be."
"The racc.o.o.ns, Tia. She"s a veterinarian. And she"s whacked."
Her head spun.
Piper gripped her arm. "We have to tell Jonah."
Tia shook her head. "He"s been with her. He"d have seen it."
"He didn"t see her like this. It sent a shudder up my back." Tia paced. "Why would a veterinarian torture animals?"
"Maybe it"s not torture."
"You don"t think clawing and chewing themselves apart is torture?"
"Of course. But maybe that wasn"t her intention."
"We don"t know for sure it was-"
"Tia. Who else would know how to surgically remove and reconnect organs?"
Tia pressed her hands to her face. It made some horrible sense-unless she thought about Liz and tried to imagine. "It can"t be."
"What I just saw, the way she looked at you, there"s one word." Piper shuddered. "Malevolent."
Jonah had never heard such blow-hards. He should be doing his job, not feigning a starry-eyed interest in the droning erudition. When at last it was over, he shook the mayor"s hand, told him the event had been enlightening, and made his escape. Noticing a missed a call, he returned it.
"h.e.l.lo?"
"Sorry I missed your call. I was enduring the Founders" Luncheon at the mayor"s command and am now properly illuminated."
Tia laughed. "I"ve missed that dry humor."
He reached his Bronco and got in. "What did you need?"
"You don"t think I called just to hear your voice?"
"My ego would say yes. My highly developed cop sense says no." He started the engine.
"I know you"re really busy-"
"Actually, I was coming to see you."
"You were?"
He backed out of the slot. "I have to tell you something you won"t like."
A pause. "I guess I do too."
That did not sound good. "I"m just up the street. I"ll see you in a minute."
"Okay."
He parked outside her shop, and she met him at the door with Piper by her side. Past closing time for the bakery, he still hadn"t expected her there. "Talk to me."
"It"s about Liz, Jonah. I don"t think she"s handling your breakup well."
"Breakup? I told you-"
"Her perception at least." She held his eyes with a sober intensity.
"Why don"t you tell me what happened."
Tia recounted the conversation, then Piper jumped in. "You had to see it to understand. Her face was livid, then went all flat like it didn"t belong to her. Totally freaky."
Back to Tia. "Did she threaten you?"
"No."
Piper added, "She didn"t have to. It was like Fatal Attraction Fatal Attraction. And then we thought-well, I thought-she might boil a bunny or something and then we remembered the racc.o.o.ns. And think about it. She"s an animal surgeon."
For the second time that day, he went cold.
Tia pressed a palm to her temple. "I know it sounds psychotic."
Piper turned to her. "You should know. You"re the expert."
He canted a glance. "Expert?"
"Hardly."
"She has a master"s degree in clinical psychology."
Jonah stared. He couldn"t help it. "When did that happen?"
Tia glanced up. "I took courses online."
Somehow that was harder to digest than Liz. Not that she couldn"t do it, but that she"d done it without him knowing. Nine years of things he didn"t know. "So what do you think? Is she psychotic?"
"I"m really not qualified to say. That takes all kinds of tests."
"Tell me your gut."
She raised and dropped her shoulders. "I was concerned enough to call."
He glanced at Piper. "Can you give us a minute?"
She beamed. "I can give you a minute and more." She headed for the door. "I"ll be hanging at Java Cava."
When she"d gone, he took Tia"s hands, drew a breath, and said, "I think Liz was watching us this morning."
"What?"
"I guess your Spidey sense is pretty hot."
She tipped her head. "How do you know?"
"I don"t." He swallowed. "But ... I think she cut Scout."
"What?" She squeezed the blood from his hands.
"I found him in the woods. She must have immobilized Enola long enough to get at him."
"Please tell me Scout"s okay."
"He was alive when I left him. I brought him to Liz before-" He beat back the emotion. "Before I had any idea. But the wounds were sharp, not ragged, and have the same neat sutures as the cats and racc.o.o.ns."
She slumped. "If she hurt a helpless animal to punish you, that"s escalation, right? You can arrest her?"
"I don"t have enough for a warrant."
"You have Scout."
"Who was neither disemboweled nor joined. The only physical evidence might be the thread, but even if it matches, it"s not enough for a warrant. Anyone could get that kind of surgical thread. Anyone can sew st.i.tches."
"But you know she was there."
"I didn"t see her. Did you?"
Tia turned away and paced. "Why was she there? Has she been watching you? stalking you?"
"That"s a weird thought."
"By hurting Scout, she forced contact. She knew you"d bring him to her, that you"d need her."
It sickened him to think it.
"Maybe even the racc.o.o.ns were to get your attention." Something bizarre enough for the chief to take notice.
He shook his head. "I can"t see that."