over the birdbath."
Victor narrowed his eyes, concentrating on the man's thoughts, but relaxed when he
found Brunswick was telling the truth. He wasn't the mortal who had set the fire. That
left—
"It's out," Mike Knight announced, approaching the small group gathered around
Victor and Elvi. "It's still hot, though. I'll have the men give her a spray down when they
get here just to be sure she doesn't start back up. There they are now," he added,
glancing toward the driveway as a red fire truck pulled in, siren blaring.
Victor didn't glance toward the driveway. His attention was now focused on Mike's
thoughts, sifting through his memories of the last few minutes to find that Elvi's
neighbor had been inside changing his clothes after spilling weed spray on himself
when his wife had yelled from the kitchen that Elvi's shed was on fire. The fire chief
had tugged on a T‐shirt as he ran from the room, stopping only to grab the fire
extinguisher before running around the two fenced properties to get to the backyard
and the burning shed. He hadn't set the fire either.
Victor relaxed back where he lay, frowning over who it could have been, but stilled
when he saw the way Elvi was eyeing him.
"Why don't you go find Father O'Flaherty and read his mind too?" she asked
sarcastically, obviously guessing what he'd been doing. "The church is just up the
street."
When Vincent's eyes sharpened with interest at this news, she threw her hands up
with disgust and hissed, "It was an accident."
"It wasn't a damned accident," Victor snapped.
"Of course it was," she insisted. "No one in Port Henry would want to hurt me."
"She's right, son," Brunswick informed him. "Everyone here loves Elvi."
"See?" Elvi said with a smile for Teddy for backing her up.
Victor merely scowled and turned his gaze to the fire chief. "Knight?"
"Well, I'm sure no one would want to hurt Elvi," he agreed, and then shifted
uncomfortably. "But I smelled gasoline while I was putting it out."
"Gasoline?" Elvi asked with dismay. Apparently, she hadn't noticed the pungent scent,
but then she'd probably been a bit distracted with trying to get out, he acknowledged.
"I'm afraid so, Elvi," Mike said, and then muttered that he had to speak to his men and
hurried toward the driveway as several uniformed firefighters jumped from their
trucks and began to unravel their hoses.
"Now will you admit that someone is out to get you?" Victor asked wearily.
"But no one would want to hurt me," Elvi protested. "It had to be an accident."
Victor's eyes popped back open. Incensed by her continued denial, he roared,
"Goddammit woman! Someone doesn't jam a shovel against the shed door to lock you
in, pour gasoline down the side wall, and strike a match by accident. Someone is trying
to kill you."
Elvi's eyes widened at the explanation for why she hadn't been able to open the door,
but before she could say anything, he went on, "And you can stop glaring at me for
reading your friends. Of course I suspect them. It's a mortal attacking you."
Elvi's mouth tightened. "You don't know that for sure."
"Yes, I do," he snarled. "Only a mortal would try to kill you by shooting an arrow
through your back. And, only an idiot mortal could fail at killing someone who was so
eager to throw herself into danger."
Elvi stiffened. "Some of my best friends are mortals, Victor, and they are not idiots.
Besides, coming out to work in the garden is hardly throwing myself into danger."
"The hell it isn't!" he snapped, and then added, "You shouldn't have been out here in
the first place. You should have been in bed. Mabel nearly took your head off last
night. You had a terrible wound and lost a lot of blood. And you took an arrow in the
back not long before that! You shouldn't be doing anything but recuperating. But are
you? No, not Elvi Black. You have to hop out of bed and rush out here and try to get
yourself killed again!"
"Now just a cotton pickin' minute here." Brunswick glanced from Victor to Elvi and
back before settling on Elvi as he asked, "Mabel ripped your throat out? Someone shot
you in the back? What the hell has been going on around here, Ellen Stone?"
"Ellen Stone?" Harper echoed with confusion.
"It's her real name," DJ explained, obviously having learned this from Mabel. "She was
born Ellen Black, took her husband's name Stone when they married, then reverted to
her maiden name after the turning."
"Then why does everyone call her Elvi?" Edward asked.
"I'm asking the questions right now," Brunswick barked, and then raised an eyebrow at