She returned to the living room with a glass of lemonade and a can of beer. Mrs. Fisher motioned to the plastic covered couch Nick had sat on the other night and planted herself on the armchair across from him. "Mrs. Fisher, it might be better if I spoke to Dee alone," he said.

Angry light flared in her eyes. "This is my house! Nothin' goes on in here that I don't know about and that includes conversations!"

What must it have been like to grow up with this hostile, suspicious woman? Nick wondered. He wanted to order her from the room, but he knew it was no use. Dee was looking at him warily as she hovered near her mother's chair.

"I talked with your mother this morning," Nick said. "She said she hadn't seen you since yesterday afternoon."

"I was out."

"He knows that!" Mrs. Fisher snapped. "Out doin' what is what he wants to know, and me, too, for that matter, me here dyin' and you not even botherin' to come home all night." She took a slug of beer from the can. "And don't try to tell me you was with that deputy 'cause he called here for you this mornin'. I said you was in church. Hah! Bet he believed that one!"

"Ma, please," Dee said tiredly.

Nick looked at Dee. "I would like to know where you were."

"What's it matter? I don't have to answer to you."

"What is the big secret?"

"There's no secret" Dee tried unsuccessfully to laugh. "I just think it's my own business where I go."

Nick stared at her steadily. "Normally I would agree, but you've heard what happened to Alison Cosgrove last night."

"I saw the paper this morning. She got attacked. What's that got to do with me?"

"Do you know what happened to Jeff Lindstrom?"

Dee stiffened. "Who is Jeff Lindstrom?"

"The man Natalie St. John found murdered in front of her house this morning." He paused. "The man who's motel room you were seen coming out of Thursday night."

"I knew it!" Mrs. Fisher exploded. "Knew it, knew it, knew it! Whorin' around. He's the one!"

"I don't know any Jeff Lindstrom!" Dee's fists clenched. "What are you saying? That I killed this guy?"

"I'm saying he disappeared Thursday and he was found murdered this morning. I'm saying you were positively identified as the woman who came out of his room at the Lakeview Motel Thursday night crying."

"The Lakeview?" Color faded from Dee's face. "Who says they saw me at the Lakeview?"

"The desk clerk. Wade Hanley."

"I don't know any Wade Hanley."

"He and his father were in a car wreck two years ago. His father died. Wade spent some time in the hospital and met you. He remembers you."

"He made a mistake."

"Then you deny being at the Lakeview Motel Thursday night?" Dee stared at him defiantly. "Ms. Fisher, I have to tell you that you could be in some serious trouble." Nick was stretching things. He had no evidence linking Dee to any of the murders, and only Wade's word that she was in Lindstrom's room, but he knew she was holding back.

"Dee, what's going on?"

Everyone looked up to see Ted Hysell standing in the doorway. "What are you doin' in here?" Mrs. Fisher demanded. "Nobody let you in!"

"The door was open," Hysell said. Nick knew this wasn't true, but the deputy held Dee's gaze. "Dee, I'm going to ask again. What's going on? Were you seeing Jeff Lindstrom?"

Dee's mouth quivered. Finally a tear ran down her cheek. "Honest to God, I don't know who Jeff Lindstrom is. I was at the Lakeview, though. Not just Thursday-a few nights. But it's not what you think, Ted."

"Then what was it?" Nick asked.

Dee sat down on the couch, her shoulders sagging, tears flowing freely. "Ted, you remember me telling you about my niece Maggie that ran away from home? The one that's sixteen?"

"Lou's girl?" Mrs. Fisher asked. "I didn't know nothin' about it."

"I didn't tell you. But I did tell Ted."

"I remember," Ted said.

"She got tied up with this older guy. Supposed to be her boyfriend, but after a few months he tried to put her on the streets. When she wouldn't do what he wanted, he started beating on her. So she came here."

"Wantin' money, no doubt!" This from Mrs. Fisher.

"Wanting safety," Dee said. "Her mother got remarried after her and Lou divorced and the new husband doesn't like Maggie. He's some big deal at a bank and thinks because she's been in trouble a couple of times, she'll ruin his reputation. Her mother let Lou have her. Lou is my brother, but he's a louse."

"I'll drink to that," Mrs. Fisher said, gulping to prove her point.

"That's why she ran away in the first place, having to live with Lou," Dee went on. "She didn't have anywhere else to go but with this guy, this creep. When he tried to turn her out, she had to get away from him. I guess I was sort of her last hope, but she'd told him about me. She was afraid he'd come here looking for her, so I put her up at the Lake view. You know, hid her away."

"What room number?" Nick asked.

"Room number? Ten. Why?"

"Because Lindstrom's room number was eleven."

Dee frowned. "Was he about six feet, dark blond hair?" Nick nodded. "I remember seeing him. He gave Maggie the eye. I told her not even to talk to him."

If Dee was telling the truth, Wade's surveillance wasn't as keen as he claimed, Nick thought. He'd seen Dee coming out of the room next to Lindstrom's.

"So you were going to the Lakeview to see Maggie?" Ted asked, a trace of doubt in his voice.

"Yeah. I put her up there a few days. Cost a pretty penny, although it's the cheapest place in town. But I had to keep her safe till I could get something worked out for her. I wasn't having much luck. Thursday night she said she was going back to the creep. I talked her into giving me just a couple more days, but I was so upset I thought I'd die. I've always loved that girl and I couldn't bear thinking of her being a prostitute, maybe getting AIDS. I guess I was crying when I ran back to my car."

"Where have you been for the last twenty-four hours?" Nick asked.

Mrs. Fisher leaned forward. "That's what I'd like to know, me here dyin' all alone and you traipsin' around playin' savior to some kid you barely know and what never done a thing for you, not like me, your own mother-"

Dee said in a low, distinct voice, "Ma, shut up."

Mrs. Fisher recoiled, spluttering. "Well, well I never…"

Dee looked at Ted. "I was trying to work out things with Maggie's mother. She lives in Brantford, Canada. I went there to see her. It's not that far, but far enough so I had to spend the night. Anyway, the husband finally caved in and Maggie's mother came for her today. They're on the way back to Brantford now."

"You realize we'll have to check this out," Nick said.

"Yeah. I'll give you the name and phone number. Could you wait until Maggie's mom has time to get home, though? If her husband gets a call from the police, it could set him off again, make him change his mind about letting Maggie stay. They should be home in three or four hours."

Normally Nick would have been unwilling to wait so long to verify a story, but he thought Dee was a woman of limited imagination and her story was too full of details for her to have invented it on the spur of the moment.

"I think you've answered all my questions for now," Nick said, standing. "I would like to talk with you again, though. Maybe tomorrow."

"Talk to her about what?" Mrs. Fisher asked querulously.

Nick's eyes met Hysell's and the answer hung in the air. Maybe Dee hadn't murdered Jeff Lindstrom, but they still had four other victims on their hands, all children of people who had been instrumental in the destruction of a man Dee Fisher loved beyond reason.