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mother was going to have an absolute hissy over this. She would never understand.
    â€œI suppose you’re going to confiscate all my things,” she said, nodding toward the altar.
    â€œAfraid so, Selene. This is a crime scene.”
    â€œIt’s not, really. I told you, he was stabbed somewhere else. He just stumbled in here.”
    â€œStill—”
    â€œYeah, I know.” She stared at the statues on the altar. “These things are…they’re sacred objects, Chief. This spot is as holy to me as a church is to other folks. I don’t expect you to understand that, but—”
    â€œSo then, this was some kind of…occult ceremony.”
    She licked her lips. “I’m just asking you to take care with my things, is all. Maybe…maybe you could have Jimmy take charge of collecting the evidence? As a favor to my family?”
    â€œThat would put him in an awful position, Selene, him being your brother-in-law. Suppose he finds something incriminating?”
    â€œYou know Jimmy Corona, Chief. He’s a good cop. He wouldn’t tamper with evidence—not even for me.”
    â€œNo, I don’t suppose he would. All right, out of respect for your family, Selene, I’ll have Jimmy oversee things here. He’s off duty so I’ll call him in. And….” the chief thinned his lips, sighed, “while I’m at it, I’ll have him tell Caleb to meet us at the station.”
    â€œThanks, Chief Wheatly.”
    He harrumphed, taking her gently by one arm, and leading her toward his black-and-white SUV. “I’ve known your mamma a long time,” he said. “It’s not her fault if you’ve fallen into some kind of satanic cult, girl.”
    â€œI have not fallen into any—”
    â€œShe’s done the best she could by you girls. It can’t have been easy raising five kids all alone. I just hope we can find a way to get you back on the straight and narrow. Vidalia Brand is a good woman. She doesn’t deserve this.” He opened the door, eased her into the passenger seat, closed the door and then got behind the wheel. He took his radio mike from the dashboard, and put in a call. “Sally, I need you to put in a call to Jimmy Corona. Tell him to meet me at the station and to bring Caleb Montgomery with him. Tell them Selene Brand is being brought in for questioning in relation to an attempted murder with…ties to the occult. And uh, maybe you’d best put in a call to Reverend Jackson, as well.”
    Selene shot him a look. “You ever hear of separation of church and state, Chief?”
    â€œAw, c’mon, Selene. Your mamma would want him there.”
    She pursed her lips, folded her arms across her chest, and leaned back in the seat. This was going to be a hell of a long night.

Chapter 2
    S elene sat in the small room alone, waiting for the ax to fall. She knew her mother was in the next room. She didn’t know about anyone else in the family, but she could feel her mother’s presence. Goddess, what must Vidalia be thinking right now? To get a phone call from the police in the middle of the night, to be told her youngest daughter had been brought in for questioning regarding a stabbing with Chief Wheatly’s so-called “occult ties.” Poor Mamma.
    She could deal with her mother, though, and she would. At least that was something she could deal with. That poor man in the hospital, that was something almost entirely out of her hands.
    Almost.
    She could still send magic. She whispered charms and sent healing energy to him on the web of the night. But she wished she could do more. All night she’d been thinking about him. She wondered if he was all right, if he was in pain, if he had remembered what had really happened. She wondered if he really thought she had been the one who’d hurt him.
    That bothered her, knowing he thought that. It was no way to start out a lifetime