speaking. Mala heaved a huge sigh of relief, then turned to face Janey.
“Don’t think I don’t know what you just did in there,” she said. Janey’s face remained an innocent mask. “You might have just made things worse, you know.” Mala shook her head and relented a bit. “But thank you. I’m not sure how much more of that I could’ve taken.”
Janey walked over, lifting up her small hand to stroke Mala’s cheek. Her touch was so gentle and loving that Mala felt tears spring to her eyes.
“You’re an amazing little girl, you know that?” she asked.
Janey just stared back into her eyes and nodded her head, a shy smile lighting up her face. It was a real smile, different than the good-little-girl expression she’d used on Richard Templeton.
Tomorrow she’d deal with the social worker. Today she was just happy to be taking this precious creature back home with her.
* * *
Trey watched as Yana Donner walked around the desk to take a seat across from him. Darc was off to the side, looking like he wasn’t paying attention at all. Trey knew better. That guy could hear a frog fart from a half-mile off. He knew exactly what was going on at each and every moment.
Yana was both completely like and completely unlike what Trey had expected. She was wearing a necklace with what looked like an insect trapped in amber, there was an ankh tattooed on the inside of her left wrist and she had an extra piercing on her left ear. Other than that, she seemed like any other girl fresh out of high school, probably working as a barista at a local coffee shop while attending community college.
“So, Ms. Donner--” Trey began.
“I’m going to stop you right there,” the young woman cut him off. “I just want you both to understand that I’m here of my own free will and choice, but the second this becomes antagonistic, I will be engaging counsel.”
“Yes, well--”
“It’s my understanding that this is a murder investigation that may have something to do with the occult. I will not allow you to mock my beliefs or railroad me because of your narrow minded attitudes toward Wicca.”
Trey waved his hands, trying to ward off her apparent anger. “Oh, we have no—”
“And finally, I find it offensive that you could believe that a religion that stresses the Goddess and harmony with nature would have anything to do with something like this.” She whipped back her long black hair, sat back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest, pinning Trey with a confrontational stare.
So, it appeared that Trey needed to up his opinion on the girl. From community college barista to super-smart chick putting herself through law school with a part-time job. And who happened to practice some weird religion.
“Look, Ms. Donner…” Trey could see that she was ramping up to say something else combative, so raised his hands and his volume. “You’re not a suspect. Seriously. We just wanted to talk to someone with knowledge about the occult.” Trey tried a smile on her, but she set her mouth in a line. “Promise.”
“I’ll tell you again, Detective. There is no way a serious practitioner of Wicca would ever murder someone.”
“Could you just take a look at some of the crime photos? See what you think?”
“Fine.”
Hey, Trey would take it. “I have to warn you, they’re pretty brutal.”
Yana rolled her eyes at him. “Just show me the pictures.”
He placed several photos of all three murders in front of her. In spite of her bravado, seeing them clearly affected her. The girl’s face blanched, and she drew in what seemed to be an involuntary breath of surprise or shock. As she reached out to pick up one of the photos to view it more closely, her hand shook.
“This… this is sick,” she muttered under her breath.
“Tell me about it,” Trey answered.
“Is this consistent with anything you’ve seen in your practice of Wicca?” Darc stepped in, his tone the flatness of a still pond.
The girl