"Go, go," Cherise said, taking the file of pictures out of my hand. "I'll just sit here on the steps and make faces at Glinda. She's hiding behind a bush across the street."

Andreus and I turned at the same time. Sure enough, Glinda was there, ducking as we pivoted.

Andreus shook his head and murmured something under his breath I couldn't quite hear.

"A quick walk," I said to him. "And we stay in the sun."

Chapter Twenty-eight.

As we started down the sidewalk toward the Enchanted Trail, a paved path that wound around the village, I glanced at him, at the splint on his nose and the bruises forming around it.

"I am sorry about your nose. I thought you were an intruder."

"I understand."

"You were the last person I expected to find in my hallway at five in the morning."

His eyebrow went up. "I can imagine."

"Does it hurt much?"

"Not since the kind doctor in the emergency room injected it with the most wonderful substance in the entire world."

I couldn't help but smile at the cheerfulness in his voice. And I truly hated to cause him more pain, but I had to get some answers about this case. "I'm sorry to hear of your mother's passing. Calliope said it was two years ago."

"That is kind of you. As you know, the loss of a mother is something from which one never truly recovers, no matter how old you are."

Yes, I did know. "Were you very close? I know she moved when you were in your teens."

He gave me a sidelong look but answered. "She had a difficult time seeing my father around the village with Eleta, so she opted to move. She set up a lovely little gift shop in Plymouth and picked up the pieces of her life the best she could. It took fifteen years or so, but she finally found love again."

"Calliope's father?"

"Yes. John Harcourt was a good man. Patient. Especially when my mother refused to marry him-she had sworn off marriage forever after the divorce from my father. She gave up her powers to tell him of the Craft but fortunately for her, the Myrian charm still held its magic. After Calliope was born, they were all quite happy together until he died of a heart attack when Calliope was in middle school. It's when Calliope and I truly bonded. We both knew what it was like to lose a father at that age. I stepped into the role, which was easy enough to do. She's not that much younger than Lazarus."

I glanced over my shoulder, at Calliope's house. "It was Calliope who gave the Myrian to Raina, wasn't it?"

"Yes. Calliope was kindhearted enough to lend the charm to Raina after learning of her fertility issues and desperation to save her marriage. Unfortunately, the charm did not work its usual magic."

"That's because Kent had a vasectomy six months ago."

Andreus stopped short. "He did what?"

"Snip, snip." I eyed him. "By your reaction I'm guessing Raina never knew the truth."

"No," he said stonily. "She did not. How could he d-" Shaking his head, he cut himself off. "I shall never understand the workings of a mortal mind."

"Archie deemed him a cretin."

"I very much like that bird."

I wasn't sure he'd be thrilled to know it. We started walking again. "Is Finn a mortal?"

"Alas, yes." He shook his head and looked back toward the house. "Such unions never end well, and I fear Calliope is in for more heartache."

I recalled what Cherise had said yesterday. Love is not only blind, Darcy, but deaf and dumb as well. "How did you explain away your arrest after breaking into the Tavistock house?"

He smiled his charming smile. "That I was just another curious treasure hunter. Finn already thinks I'm a little odd for dabbling in rocks for a living."

"Rocks?" I questioned, smiling.

"And a few other things," he said nonchalantly.

Like valuable crystals and gemstones. Mostly opals. All magical. "He must know your link to the heist."

"He does, but he's unaware that I know for certain that the diamonds are in that house. He believes they're long gone, sold off part and parcel on the black market."

We both knew that wasn't true. "Did you find them the night you broke in?"

"No. They are still in there. Somewhere."

"How many times have you broken into the house since Eleta died and the spell on the house was broken?"

"A dozen at least, not to mention all the times Calliope allowed me in under the guise of showing the house. I was sloppy the night Nick caught me, in a rush since Calliope had told me of a bid on the house that I could not match. I feared a treasure hunter would come across the diamonds and have no knowledge of their true worth," he said, his voice light, amused.

I ducked out of the way of a low tree branch. His tone baffled me. "You're no longer fearful of that happening?"

"Calliope met the buyer this morning at the closing on the property and shared with me who it was. My fears have been allayed, as it was not a treasure hunter at all."

"Who was it?" I asked. He was speaking as though he knew the person.

"Uh-uh," he chastised. "It's the nature of secrets, Ms. Merriweather."

"Not this again." A jogger passed us on the path. "It'll be a matter of public record soon. . . ."

"Until then, my lips are sealed."

Of course they were. "Did you try to break in again last night?" There had been two burglars, after all. We knew Scott was one, but we didn't know the other.

"I didn't dare," he said. "I heard it was quite the eventful night at the Tavistock house."

"You could say that." We continued to walk for a bit. Then I said, "Why didn't Calliope tell anyone that she's your sister?"

"Would you?" he asked, an eyebrow arched.

"Point taken." He wasn't exactly beloved around here.

"She wanted villagers to get to know her before the family connection was revealed. Form their own judgments of her first."

I kept thinking about what Glinda said about the Myrian. "Whoever was trying to frame you knew that the amulet Raina was wearing was connected to you. The only way that was possible is that the person knew Calliope was your sister. Who knows you're related?"

"Finn, of course. Dorothy, Glinda, and Sylar, though he doesn't know of the Craft connection. Dorothy took Calliope under her wing when she first moved here. Helped her find a place to live, found her a job . . . One, unfortunately, that didn't turn out so well."

"Can you blame Calliope for quitting? Dorothy is . . ."

"Careful now," he warned.

". . . vexing."

"She has her moments," he said with a smile, clasping his hands behind his back.

"Does anyone else know?" I asked.

"When Calliope offered the Myrian to Raina, she confided the truth to Raina about her Craft and her connection to me. It is possible that Raina did not keep the confidence. Perhaps she told Kent, as spouses often share secrets. Not about the Craft, of course, but that Calliope was my sister."

If so, it was possible he'd told Noelle. Because lovers often shared secrets as well.

I wasn't quite back to square one, but it was close.

"How does Calliope feel about the diamonds?" I asked. "She's made it seem as though she doesn't believe they are in the house. Was that an act for my benefit?"

"A complete act. She thought if you knew the truth about her being my sister and a Crafter that you would add her to your suspect list. She knew Raina's movements that morning. Knew the lockbox code. Knew the diamonds were in that house. Knew how badly I wanted them."

Ha. Little did she know, she was already on my list because I thought she'd been having an affair with Kent. After learning that he'd hooked up with Noelle, I hadn't thought much about Calliope being involved in Raina's death.

But now that Andreus mentioned it . . . "Where was Calliope during the time frame when Raina was killed?"

He stopped, looked at me full-on. "Calliope did not kill Raina."

I was beyond grateful that it was a sunny day. "I didn't say she did."

"You implied it."

"I was trying to rule her out," I lied. "So, where was she?"

His dark gaze narrowed. "At the office, I assume."

He assumed. If she was there, she would have been there alone. Kent was out with clients and Raina was with Scott, then at the Tavistock house. Could anyone vouch for her? Phone records, e-mails, anything? It was something to look into. "You never said how she feels about the diamonds. Does she have zero interest in them?"

"I do not like the direction of this conversation."

"I'm just curious," I explained as we turned and headed back toward Calliope's house.

"Curiosity can be dangerous."

He was trying to sound threatening, but the strange thing was that I didn't feel threatened. It was, I realized, an act as well. He wasn't a violent person. Sneaky, yes. Devious, definitely. But not violent.

"Calliope has been taken with the diamonds' lore since she was a little girl and our mother shared the legend with her. Circe's diamonds. Tears of the gods. She is as interested as I am, and as my father was before me, in preserving their true history. They need to be safeguarded by Charmcrafters, as we all believe that Circe was the first Charmcrafter."

"Oh, safeguarding. Right," I drawled. "That's your only interest in the diamonds?"

"Your impertinence is immeasurable."

"I hear that all the time."

"I am not surprised."

"And just how are the both of you planning to safeguard this invaluable treasure? Divvy it up?"

His lips tightened. "The power of the diamonds is so immense that division will not devalue them."

Wonderful. Two people with unlimited powers.

We came off the trail and headed up the street to where Cherise was still waiting. I saw no sign of Glinda or Calliope or Finn.

"It's too bad you didn't find them," I said sarcastically.

"Yes," he murmured.

"Did you ever try asking Eleta where they were?"

"I was never able to get close enough to her. The spell she put on the house was one of the most powerful I've ever encountered. As a Geocrafter, she drew from the earth around the house to maintain the spell's power. Within the past few years, I sent letters hoping that time had softened her stance and that she would meet with me, but they were returned."

"I heard she didn't want anyone to ever find the diamonds because of the heartache they caused her. She didn't want anyone else to feel that pain."

Again, he stopped and stared at me. "Do you suppose she considered the Abramsons' pain when she killed their daughter?"

Put that way, my reasoning did seem out of sorts.

I tipped my head in consideration, recalling Pepe and Mrs. P's conversation about Eleta. How one thought she'd hidden the diamonds to prevent future heartaches, the other thinking it was to save her own skin. Maybe, as Pepe had said, it had been both.

"Perhaps her decision to never reveal the location of the diamonds stemmed from that incident," I said. "She saw what happened to your father. She knew what she had done to Jane . . . It was her way of atoning."

"Not only is your impertinence immeasurable but also your naivete. Not everyone has redeeming qualities, Ms. Merriweather. Sometimes people are simply evil."

I thought of what Mimi had asked last night. Can people be both good and bad?

"I think most do have redeeming qualities," I said, watching him carefully. It was, after all, why I was standing here with him.

"Then I feel sorry for you," he said.