Mahogany and Evelina sat in a police interview room, munching on grief muffins and other confections from the basket.

"I can't believe the detective wouldn't take my goodies," Evelina said, plucking a blueberry from the muffin's white spongy center and popping it into her mouth. "They're delicious."

Mahogany stacked up several flaky croissant layers and munched thoughtfully. "She's missing out. Your baking is the best."

"Thank you, but if we don't get out of here soon, I'll miss my shift, and there won't be anything in the display case tomorrow. How long have we been sitting here?" Evelina flopped back in her chair and kicked her feet wide on the white vinyl flooring.

"About fifteen minutes," Mahogany said, checking her phone.

Evelina groaned. "It feels like hours. Fae aren't supposed to be locked up like this. Our systems start shutting down."

"Don't worry. You're not going to die. She'll have to let us go unless she has evidence of wrongdoing, which I double she does." Mahogany studied her reflection in the mirrored wall opposite where they sat. Her hair looked fabulous despite the interview room's crappy lighting and horrible air circulation. "Damn, Dimitri is amazing."

"He had a good canvas to work with," Evelina said, nibbling another blueberry. "Oh, my gods! Are we there yet? I don't get any cell service in here."

As if Evelina had summoned her, or she had finally taken pity on them from the other side of the mirrored wall, Detective Teresa Sawyer burst into the interview room door. She slapped a not-all-that-thin file folder on the table with a snap that echoed in the small room.

"Finally," Evelina said, sitting up in her chair. "Muffin?" She pushed the basket towards the detective.

"No, thank you," Sawyer said, pushing the basket towards Evelina.

"Your loss," Evelina said and plucked another berry from her muffin. "Come to think of it. You've never stopped by Hot Brews, Detective."

"You're missing out," Mahogany said and took a bit of her croissant. A few flaky crumbs hit the table with a soft, buttery thud.

"I don't drink coffee or eat sugar," the detective said, eying the crumbs.

Mahogany and Evelina stared at Sawyer; disbelief scrawled on their faces like good-time phone numbers on a men's bathroom wall in a dive bar.

"Why?" Evelina said, her face scrunching. "Do you have a medical condition?"

"I prefer to live clean." Sawyer leaned back in her chair, her steely gaze appraising the young women. "But we're not here to talk about my eating habits. Tell me about your conversation with RW this afternoon." From the file folder, Sawyer slipped two still photographs from the CCTV and placed them in the center of the table.

Mahogany and Evelina stood with RW in Urban Alchemy in the first image. RW's face contorted into an angry mask. The second image caught a mostly unclothed Tony scampering past RW, Mahogany, and Evelina.

Evelina snorted at the second image. "Highlight of my day."

Mahogany gazed a the picture of Tony's well-built figure racing from the store with his clothes in his hands, and her heart fluttered.

"We discovered that he might have been up to some funny business with Saree Fenquoth, so we chatted with him about it," Mahogany said. She finished her croissant and brushed her hands together, dusting the table with more buttery crumbs, grinning around her full mouth at the detective.

"Tell me about the discovery," Sawyer said, never taking her eyes off Mahogany's dark brown gaze, her face deadpan.

Evelina held her muffin out, and Mahogany took it. "I'm surprised you don't have rats. This place is disgusting. I have a black light on my key chain, and it's a game-changer for cleaning. Show her the hanky."

Mahogany reached into her backpack and placed the handkerchief on the table.

Sawyer gazed at the colorful square of fabric. "What is that supposed to be?"

Evelina rolled her eyes and pinched the top corners of the hanky between her thumb and forefinger displaying the monogrammed RW. "I found it under Saree Fenquoth's bed."

Detective Sawyer's poker face broke as she raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Under her bed. I'm not sure I want to know how you came by this tidbit. Please don't tell me you broke in."

"Grief muffins," Mahogany and Evelina said in unison, nodding to the basket of baked goods.

"Grief muffins?" The last vestige of Sawyer's composure crumbled, and she rubbed her temples, squinting her eyes shut. "Let's talk about Urban Alchemy. You took the handkerchief to confront Mr. Whitebait about a possible affair with Saree Fenquoth."

Evelina nodded. "When we showed him the handkerchief, he blew up."

"The lady doth protest too much," Mahogany said. "His indignation was far too righteous to be true. He's hiding something."

"As is his absconding after you left Urban Alchemy will attest to," Sawyer said. "Did he give you any hint as to where he might be heading?"

Mahogany and Evelina shook their heads.

"He claimed he was out of town at some sort of cloth convention when Matt Hader was murdered," Mahogany said.

"An alibi Lilac just revoked," Sawyer said. "There was no convention."

"Well, that's interesting. Why the change of heart?" Evelina said, resting her pointy chin on her hand and flashing her eyelashes prettily at the detective.

"Her conscience got the better of her," Sawyer stood. "We're bringing in Tony Applegate to corroborate your story and sending someone to question Ms. Fenquoth about you and your 'grief muffins.' Sit tight."

"So, we're not going to jail?" Evelina asked, her eyes alight with hope.

"Oh, Miss Moore, the night is young. Anything is possible. I might charge you with obstruction and tampering with a possible crime scene." She eyed the handkerchief. "Not to mention scaring off our prime murder suspect." Sawyer used her pen to pick up the cloth and placed it on her file folder. "The next time, and I know there will be a next time, you take evidence from a crime scene, please, for the love of all that is holy, don't touch it with your bare hands or stick it in your backpack."

A rosy glow crept into Evelina's cheeks. "Right. We contaminated a clue."

"Evidence. We call it evidence," Miss Moore.

What felt like an eternity later, the detective returned to the interview room. "I have good news and bad news."

Evelina lifted her head from the table. Muffin crumbs stuck to her round cheek. "What time is it?"

"Just after 8," Mahogany said, checking her phone. "What's the good news?" Mahogany rubbed Evelina's back.

"Tony corroborates your story. And that you used him as cover to talk to Mr. Whitebait, which is justified in my opinion after that whole Blair Sato thing."

"You know about Blair?" Mahogany gazed at the detective, her forehead drawing together in a frown. How long had Sawyer been watching them?

"Mr. Applegate talks a lot when he is nervous," Sawyer said.

"And the bad news," Evelina said, her voice hoarse.

"Saree Fenquoth is missing."

"Well, that's an interesting twist," Mahogany said. RW and Saree going missing on the same day had to be more than a coincidence. "Do you think RW did something with her or that she did something with RW?"

Detective Sawyer rubbed her chin, considering Mahogany's words. "It's unclear at the moment. We've sent out an APB and flagged local inns and hotels for their possible presence, along with airports and ferries. However, I do know I don't have the time or the personnel to process you two at the moment."

Next to Mahogany, Evelina perked up. "You're letting us go?"

Sawyer nodded. "You are free to go home. I don't want to see you out and about tonight. No bars, no restaurants, no snooping."

"Understood." Mahogany stood, stretching her aching muscles.

Evelina jumped to her feet and bounced around like a child who had just learned they were going to Disneyland. "How's pizza sound? We can have it delivered."

They spotted Tony as they exited the police station. "Good to see you on the outside."

Evelina pointed at him, not looking up from her phone. "You're still in the doghouse. Before we casually joke around, you have a lot to atone for."

"Fair enough," Tony said, burying his hand into his pockets. "Blair's gone."

"Gone where?" Mahogany asked, a pit forming in her stomach at the thought of Blair sharing Tony's home for the last week.

Tony shrugged. "Not sure. She and all her stuff were gone when I returned to my house."

The sound of Evelina's phone regaining service chimed through the warm summer night. Ping after ping rang out as messages from the last four hours found their way through the ether.

"Wow, popular much?" Mahogany said.

"My public missed me," Evelina said. "What do you want on your pizza?"

"Something green and comes from the earth. I've had way too many pastries today." Mahogany said, sugar coursing through her veins.

"Got it," Evelina said, dialing Tipsey's and walking away to place the order.

"How do you feel about Blair's leaving?" Mahogany settled her gaze on Tony's face as he looked anywhere but at her.

Tony shrugged again. "I've been trying to figure that out for the last few hours. At first, I was surprised that she finally got the message. Then relieved that I didn't have to deal with her anymore. I feel guilty that I should have handled the whole thing better."

Mahogany listened and nodded. "I agree with your assessment. You should have handled the whole situation with more finesse. Not only were you a shitty friend, but an even shittier fiancé."

Tony nodded at the ground. From a few car lengths away, Evelina caught Mahogany's eye, pointed at Tony, and shrugged. Mahogany shrugged and nodded back. Evelina gave a thumbs up and continued to speak into the phone.

"You want to come over to Evelina's for dinner? I think she just ordered you a blooming onion." Mahogany nodded to Evelina as she hung up and headed back.

"Really?" Tony's eyes met Mahogany. "That would be great."

"Let's go." Evelina said, "one of the Murphy boys will deliver the order in half an hour," Evelina said. "You can check out our murder wall," she said to Tony.

"I can't wait," Tony said and smiled his winning, sexy smile. "Hey, isn't that the woman from the crazy Through the Looking Glass street?" Tony gestured to the entrance of the police station.

"Lilac," Evelina whispered. "They must have been questioning her this whole time."

Mahogany stood on her tiptoes and waved to Lilac. "Hi, Ms. Delldini. We never got to pay our respects this afternoon."

Lilac raised a hand in a half wave, dabbing her eyes with a piece of tissue, and started towards them.

"For you," Evelina said, holding out the meager basket of muffins. "Sorry, we got hungry."

"Are these from Hot Brews?" Lilac said, taking the basket.

Evelina nodded. "I baked them this morning."

Lilac sniffed. "They're lovely." New tears welled over her light eyelashes and spilled down her cheeks. "Oh, this is so awful." Her knees started to buckle, and Tony reached out and caught her.

"Here, have a seat, Ms. Delldini," he said, steering her to a bench on a grassy area adjacent to the station.

"Please, call me Lilac," she said, taking a seat. "Thank you." She smiled up at Tony.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Evelina said, gesturing to a hand-sized fruit tart in the basket.

Lilac nodded and took a bit of the tart. "The baked goods from Hot Brews are always the best. You're an excellent baker."

"Thank you," Evelina said, sitting next to Lilac. "What happened with RW today?"

"I went into the garage to work on our upcoming spring line when I spotted the glove."

Evelina nodded, encouraging Lilac to take another bite.

"This is good," Lilac said around another bite. "What kind of berries are these?"

"Marion," Evelina said. "Now, about that glove. Where did you find it, and why did it prompt you to call the police?"

Lilac sniffed back new tears. "The glove was in the wastebasket I keep next to the sewing machine for scraps and such. I recognized it as one of the gloves I bought RW for last Christmas. I pulled it out of the trash and noticed the blood. That's when I realized–" Lilac dissolved into tears again.

"You think RW murdered Matt while he wore the gloves?" Mahogany said, her gaze finding Tony's and Evelina's worried expressions.

"I'm afraid so. He's been acting so strange since Matt died. I just thought he was upset after all the history between the three of us, but now I'm sure it was because RW murdered Matt."

"Here, let's get you home," Tony helped Lilac to her feet and placed her in his car. "I'll meet you at Evelina's," he said and drove away.

"The police must have the other glove. We need to get a look at the evidence," Mahogany said.