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alone.”
    As she said it, a kind of lightness filled the mood of the room. She reckoned many of her friends dreaded being alone and had been worried about her. It was a relief for them to think she was fine. And that was what she wanted them to think.

Chapter 15
    â€œAnnie, do you think you can talk to them?” Bryant asked her.
    â€œYeah, sure, but I wonder why they won’t talk to you,” Annie said, placing the last file back into a box labeled MCGLASHEN.
    Annie and Bryant were sitting in his office. It was Monday afternoon, and they had just been through boxes of Emily’s papers and had found nothing that linked her to the NMO, yet. But they did find adoption papers. Turned out Emily was adopted. Her adoptive family name was Greenberg. One reason it was so hard for the authorities to track her parents down.
    â€œI don’t know. Maybe it’s because I’m so cute?” he said and grinned at her.
    â€œOr it’s because you’ve offended them somehow. More likely, wouldn’t you think?” she clipped.
    He grabbed his chest. “I’m hurt!”
    She laughed, loving the sound of his laughter coming up from deep in his chest.
    â€œOkay,” she said. “I’ll talk to them. At least I can ask about her adoption. It seems odd that Emily would take another name.” She paused, looking across the desk at him. “Have we ruled out the NMO?”
    â€œNothing has been ruled out yet. We’ve talked to a couple of their members, and they say they don’t know Emily. That they were not really representative of the group, but . . . ,” he said and grimaced.
    â€œWhat?” she said, sitting up on the edge of her chair.
    â€œThe runes. Not something you see every day, you know. We have to pay attention to this. The NMO uses the same symbols as what is on Emily’s ass. And add to that your crazy friend Vera, who has yet to come up with a reason her purse was found at the crime scene.”
    â€œVera is not crazy,” she said. “Have you talked to the members of the historical society?”
    He nodded. “Not much help, as you can imagine.”
    â€œHow about the Irish dance community?” Annie asked.
    â€œYes, we’ve spoken to several dancers. None of them were even in this area around the time Emily was killed. There was this man, Ian something or other, who obviously didn’t like Emily. But he’s in Chicago.”
    â€œCan you give me his contact info?”
    â€œSure, but why? We’ve already talked to him.”
    â€œAs I told you before, Adam, people react differently to you because you’re a cop. And a smart-ass cop, at that.”
    He rolled his eyes, leaned back in his desk chair, and placed his hands behind his head. Annie tried not to let her eyes drift to his biceps, because that would lead to her wanting him to wrap those arms around her. She didn’t look. Think about Mike.
    â€œYou may be right. There may not be a link with the NMO,” he said, letting out a groan as he released his hands from behind his head.
    â€œI mean, I’ve been looking at the NMO’s documents very closely,” she said. “They say nothing about killing people. Though they do think that all the strange symbols are sacred. And they think that anybody who doesn’t believe that Jesus is the Messiah is going to hell.”
    Bryant harrumphed.
    â€œThe dangerous part of it is that they thought Zeb was a prophet and was getting messages directly from Jesus. So, many of them did what he asked them to do. But now that he’s gone . . . at least for now, I’m not sure who would be giving orders to kill Emily. And for what reason.”
    â€œMe neither.”
    â€œSo if we rule out the NMO, who and what is there?” Annie persisted. “No real leads on the Irish dancing . . .”
    â€œI’ve got to admit, Annie, this Irish dancing thing has me thrown. What is it? I