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“Enough,” Vince said. “You’re being disrespectful.” He didn’t raise his voice, but something in his tone made Asia drop her head. He wiped the side of his mouth with the edge of his hand and leaned Sam’s twelve-string against the couch.

“I get that you’re angry,” I said.

Asia glanced at Vince before she spoke. “If Lily didn’t like all the plans, why didn’t she just move the bakery somewhere else?” she said. “That’s what a lot of people were saying. A lot of them were mad.”

Here was my opening. “You think someone was angry enough to kill her?”

“You mean somebody who lives in North Harbor?” Her eyes widened in surprise. “No way. I know people were pissed but not that pissed.”

I watched Elvis. Asia was stroking his fur as she talked. His eyes were half-closed and he was purring. If he thought Asia was lying, I couldn’t see any sign of it.

Vince nudged his daughter. “Hey, kiddo, would you go get me a refill?” He held out his cup.

“Sure, Dad,” she said. She set Elvis on the floor and took Vince’s mug. “Would you like more coffee, Sarah?” she asked.

“Please.” I handed her my own cup.

“I’ll be right back,” she said.

“I know what you’re doing,” Vince said as soon as the office door closed behind Asia. Annoyed that he’d been moved from the warmth of Asia’s lap, Elvis stalked over to me and head butted my leg. I reached down and lifted him onto my lap, where he kneaded my legs with his paws before stretching out.

“I know what you’re doing, too,” I said. “It wasn’t you wearing that wig, was it?”

He looked away and then his gaze came back to me. “I already told you that I was the one who pulled those stunts on Lily. I told Detective Andrews the same thing.” The muscles along his jawline were tight, as though he was grinding his teeth together.

“You made yourself a suspect, Vince,” I said.

“I didn’t have anything to do with Lily’s death.”

“I know. And neither did Asia.”

“So we’re done?” Vince finally said after what seemed like a long silence.

I nodded. It wouldn’t have made sense to anyone else—it didn’t really make sense to me—but somehow Elvis knew when people were lying, and Asia wasn’t. The worst she’d done was play some childish pranks on Lily, which made sense. She wasn’t that far from a child herself.

The office door opened and Asia came back with our coffee. She handed me my mug. “Thanks,” I said.

She smiled. “You’re welcome.” Then she hesitated and took a deep breath. “How did you know it was me?”

“Asia!” Vince said, his voice edged with warning.

She turned around and held out his coffee. “Give it up, Dad,” she said. “I just heard you and Sarah talking.”

“What? You were listening at the door?” He took the mug and got to his feet.

“So that you get pissed about?” she said, rolling her eyes in that way that only an exasperated teenager could do. She turned back to me. “How’d you know?”

“Body shape,” I said. “And I figured out the hair was a wig.”

She nodded and sat on the corner of Sam’s desk. “It was kind of lame of me to try to look like Mr. West. I didn’t want to get him in trouble . . .” Her voice trailed off.

“You just didn’t want to get yourself in trouble, either,” I finished.

Her cheeks got red and she nodded. “Pretty much. I didn’t figure anyone would think anything about him being around.”

Vince put a hand on her shoulder. “Asia, stop talking, please,” he said.

She turned and looked up at him. “What’s the point, Dad? Sarah knows what I did. There’s no point in lying about it.”

“There’s no point in going on about it, either,” he said.

“Just for the record, I didn’t kill her,” Asia said.

Vince swore softly and raked his hand back through his hair.

“Well, I didn’t,” she said, giving him that aggrieved-teenager look again.

“I didn’t think you did,” I said. “But thank you for telling me.”

Asia shrugged. “She caught me.” She hung her head, shame-faced.

“She caught you?” Vince said. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Asia gave him an incredulous look. “Right, Dad. There’s a good idea. I should have said, ‘By the way, Daddy, I’ve been breaking into Lily’s Bakery to harass her, and the night she got killed she caught me.’”

Vince blew out a breath.

“What did she do?” I asked.

Asia looked away for a moment.

I waited.

“She yelled at me,” Asia said. “She said she should call the police on me.”

“But she didn’t.”

She shook her head. “She asked me why I’d done all those things to her, and I told her about Gramps. She said she was sorry, but her reasons for not selling were just as important. I asked her what they were, but she said she couldn’t tell me. She said she had family to look after, too.” She shrugged. “I asked her why she couldn’t just move the bakery someplace else, but she said it was complicated. I said that’s what adults always say when they want things their way and they don’t want to explain why. Then I left.”

“What time was that?” I asked.

“I dunno,” she said. “Sometime after midnight.”

“Did you see anyone else?”

She twisted her mouth to one side. “No. Lily was in the kitchen at the back, feeding her starter.”

“Feeding her what?” I asked.

“Her starter. For sourdough bread. You have to feed it regularly or it won’t work right.” She smiled. “My gram used to make that kind of bread, and she’d let me help her feed the starter. It’s basically fermented flour and water. You can keep it going forever if you do it right.” She shrugged sadly. “I guess it’s like Lily now. Dead.”

“I guess it is,” I said.

I picked up Elvis and set him in my gym bag. Then I stood up. “As far as I’m concerned, this conversation stays between us,” I said. I was looking at Asia, but I was really talking to Vince. “You know what you did was really stupid.”

She nodded.

“I’ll walk you out,” Vince said.

I nodded.

He looked at Asia. “Don’t bother listening at the door,” he said.

Her face flooded with color again.

“You satisfied?” he asked once we were back in the hallway.

“I meant what I said in there,” I said.

“So you’re not going to tell Detective Andrews I lied?”

I shook my head. “I’m not even going to tell Sam you lied, but I’m betting he’ll figure it out. As far as I’m concerned, this is done.”

I turned and started for the front door.

“Sarah,” Vince called after me.

I turned.

“Thank you,” he said. I nodded and started for the door again.

Sam was behind the bar. He walked over to me. “Did you get what you needed?” he asked.

I nodded. “I did.” I stretched up and kissed his cheek. “Thanks for supper.”

He smiled. “Anytime.” Then his expression changed. “I don’t know if I need to say this or not, but I’m going to. Whatever else Vince did or didn’t do, he didn’t kill Lily. The night she died, we were all at Eric’s after I closed up. He had a new guitar. We played half the night.”

“I know Vince wouldn’t hurt anyone,” I said. “But thanks for telling me. He’s lucky to have you for a friend.”

Mac tapped on my door at exactly eight o’clock the next morning. “Hi,” he said when I opened the door. “Are you ready?”

“Do you mean ready to go get the truck or ready to be living in the same building as Rose?”

“Both, I guess,” he said with a smile.

I laughed. “I’m ready to get the truck as soon as I grab my jacket, and I don’t think I’m ever going to be completely ready to live with Rose.”