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“I’ll let you know as soon as we’ve made the arrest.”

She moved to the front door and opened it wide. She was surprised to find Fae Pott standing there, a charming smile on her youthful face.

“Hey, Odelia. I hope I’m not disturbing you?”

“No, not at all,” she said. “Come on in.”

The young woman darted into the house.“I was hoping you had some more news about my father’s case,” she explained, and stepped in front of the whiteboard. “Is this…”

“A list of suspects, yes,” she said, as she joined Fae.

“Wow. I don’t even know who most of these people are.”

“It’s not important. I think I’ve finally figured out what happened.”

Fae turned to her, her expressive eyes wide.“You have?”

Odelia nodded.“I know who killed Camilla Kirby.”

The two women shared a long look, with Fae searching Odelia’s face for clues. “So?” she finally asked with a laugh, when she couldn’t stand the tension anymore. “Who did it?”

She looked so young, Odelia thought. So young and innocent.

“It took me a while to put two and two together,” she said, taking a seat on the couch. “I actually just got off the phone with my uncle. He’s going to make the arrest now.”

“But that’s great! So it wasn’t Daddy?”

“No, it wasn’t your father.”

Fae smiled a dazzling smile.“That’s wonderful news!” She held out her hands. “Is it all right if I just wash my hands real quick? I came over on my bike, and my chain fell off.”

“You can go upstairs. Bathroom is straight ahead.”

The young woman bounded up the stairs like a filly. She was dressed in denim shorts, a white polo shirt and sneakers. As she mounted the stairs, Odelia found herself staring at those sneakers.

“So how did you find out?” asked the girl.

Odelia got up from the couch and moved to the foot of the stairs.

“Oh, just a coincidence, really,” she said.

Water splashed in the bathroom.“Coincidence? What do you mean?”

She slowly took the stairs.“Remember yesterday? When I was at your house?”

“Of course.”

“A friend of mine took the opportunity to look around.”

“A friend? What friend?”

“That’s not important. He searched your room, Fae.”

“My room? Why?”

“Just being thorough. It’s what good detectives do. Crossing T’s and dotting I’s.”

“Oh, sure. That’s how you get your guy, right? Leaving no stone unturned.”

“He saw the book, Fae.”

“What book?”

“When You Left Me?”

The water stopped running.

“You’ll remember the book, you’ve read it more than once. It’s about a girl whose CEO dad one day ups and leaves and decides to start a new family with his executive assistant. Her mother is so unhappy and depressed that the girl devises a diabolical plan. She decides to murder her father’s new girlfriend, and do it in such a way that the blame falls squarely on him, thereby killing two birds with one stone: the girlfriend is dead, and the father will spend the rest of his life in jail, punished for a crime he didn’t commit.”

Silence.

“We also found your footprints on Jack Palmer’s back, Fae. What happened? He saw how you killed Camilla and blackmailed you? So you shoved him down the stairs? You were lucky nobody saw you then.”

“You’re crazy,” Fae said suddenly, materializing next to Odelia.

Odelia was startled, but only for a moment.“No sense denying, Fae.”

The girl laughed.“All this from a book I read? A little far-fetched, Odelia.”

“It’s over,” she said. “My uncle found Jack Palmer’s pictures on his cloud computer. Oh, yes, reporters sync their work with the cloud. Just in case they lose their camera or it gets stolen—or is snatched like you did with Jack’s camera after you killed him. We know you did it, Fae. We have the pictures and you’re in them, murdering Camilla, then putting the knife in your father’s bed and smearing her blood all over him.”

Fae’s face turned up into a wicked smile. “Pretty neat touch, huh? I actually used an eye dropper to sprinkle her blood all over my dad. Some of it even got into his ears. No way to deny his guilt, right? And then I called it in—lowering my voice and pretending to be a neighbor walking his dog. I watched from a distance when the cops came to arrest my dad. I jumped with joy as they led him outside and locked him up. Just what the bastard deserved for breaking Mom’s heart,” she added, her smile morphing into an expression of contempt.

“And what about Jack Palmer?”

She shrugged.“Like you said, he wanted money. A lot of money. So I killed him. Kicked him down the stairs. Too bad about those footprints, though. I was so careful not to leave any prints—didn’t think about the footprints on his back,” she said thoughtfully, staring down at her feet.

“Yeah, too bad about that,” said Odelia softly. “How could you, Fae? How could you do that to your father? I thought you loved him?”