Once home and in bed, I slept tremendously, dreamlessly.  Codeine helped.  When I woke up again, it was daytime.  I had no idea what day or what time, and I didn't care.

My leg was still grotesquely swollen inside the walking cast.  Walking hurt, but not as much as it had the night before.  I was on my way downstairs when I heard Lexi yell, "I know!"  The shout was muffled by her closed door, but still audible from the landing.  I changed course, climbing the second landing with an unconscious grimace.  My leg hurt less, but climbing was still a chore since I couldn't bend my knee.

Lexi's door was closed.  Eddie was sitting on the floor with his back against the opposite wall, his knees up and his arms crossed on them, and standing next to the door was a woman I didn't recognize.  She was about five-five, with curly brown hair and olive-toned skin.  Her arms were folded under her breasts, her mouth set in a firm line, and her eyes flashed with irritation at Eddie, who actually seemed to be squirming under the scrutiny.

Both of them looked up when I limped into view.  "Good morning, Poppet," Eddie said wearily.

I realized that I still had no idea what time it was.  "Morning," I replied.  "Are you Molly?" I asked the woman.

"In the flesh."  The meowy voice was instantly familiar.  "Thanks for calling me.  My assistance was clearly needed," she added, with no sarcasm.  Eddie responded to her comment by leaning his head back against the wall.  He was chewing on the inside of his cheek, like he did when he was agitated and in thought.

I wanted to know what Molly had done to him, but had a feeling I'd find out without having to ask.  "What's wrong with Lexi?" I asked.

"Sounds like she's having a nightmare," Molly said.  "I'm pretty sure she's talking in her sleep.  She keeps saying she knows.  It would be nice to wake her up."

I leaned against the wall so I was standing next to Eddie.  "Why--"

"Door's blocked," Eddie said.  "She put something in front of the door before she went to bed.  Both of them--the door at the top of the steps from the kitchen is stuck too.  She might be upset because of last night."

"Did you talk to her?" I asked Molly.

"I haven't had a chance.  Apparently, after you three destroyed the house and committed multiple murders, your friend Eddie also employed her to help dispose of the bodies."  Apparently, Molly had gotten the whole story out of Eddie, or a version of it anyway.  Considering Eddie's ability to spin webs of convincing bullshit, that was impressive.

"She was fine until then," Eddie said.

I narrowed my eyes at him.  "What did you do, Eddie?"

"Don't you get that tone with me, too," he sighed.  "After we got you into bed, I started cleaning up.  I got in touch with someone to make that truck and the bulk of the mess go away.  She helped me take it to a drop point--"

I had figured it out.  "You made her drive that truck with three fucking dead bodies in the back?"

"She did just fine with one, didn't she?  Besides, she volunteered.  And I figured she'd be okay, with the pill messing up her long-term memory.  I wasn't about to drop it and walk back for five or ten miles in the damn snow, any more than I was gonna have someone come here to pick it up, okay?  She borrowed an old truck from her friend in the wheelchair, and I tried to be chivalrous and drive that one because it had no heater, and it was a bad decision, okay?"  His voice had heated up a little, but it looked like Eddie was too tired to be honestly angry.  I recognized that he was pissed at himself.  "When we got back, she didn't say a word, just locked herself in her room and went to bed.  Miz Snow arrived--"

"Call me Molly, please," she said with naked exasperation.  Eddie had apparently been playing the name game with her all night.

"--About an hour after that," Eddie finished.  "Since then, I've been interrogated with a finesse that would do the Mafia proud.  And I screwed up.  I admit it.  I'm sorry."  He was looking at me, not Molly.

I turned to her, my mood guarded, even though it was sort of fun to see Eddie squirm.  "What are you going to do?" I asked.  "About what's happening?"  Would Molly send us to jail?  Surely she'd remembered what I had told her about Ian's involvement, and pried that out of Eddie as well.

"Until I talk to Lex, nothing," was the reply.

There was another muffled shout of, "I know!" from inside Lexi's room, followed by a thump; something had fallen to the floor.  I listened carefully and could hear the bedclothes rustling.

"She's a restless sleeper," Molly said.  "Especially when she's upset."  The statement was perfectly phrased to have been punctuated with a kick at Eddie's feet, but Molly didn't move.  Eddie moved his foot as though he'd been kicked mentally, and I smiled.

There was an echoing tapping from the foyer; someone knocking at the front door.

"Good God, what now?" Molly sighed.

"Probably Ian," Eddie said, his hand on his forehead.  "Got his balls back up to go and call the cops."  He moved his hand to look at his watch.  "Took less than twenty-four hours, too.  I'm impressed.  He's gotten bolder since we were in college."

"Yeah, he's right on the ball in a crisis," was Molly's scornful response.  "I'm glad he doesn't drive an ambulance."

"She did shoot an arrow at him, you know."

Molly had taken two steps down the hall toward the door.  She stopped and rounded on Eddie.  "Are you defending him?" she challenged.

"He's my friend," he said.  "We defend and protect each other like that."

Molly picked up on the not-so-subtle dig, and gave Eddie a look filled with pure homicide.   "I'll take care of Ian," she said curtly, and went downstairs without another word.  "Try to get Lexi out."  We heard the front door open, and Molly's voice, but she was too far away to understand.

Eddie didn't move from the floor.  "That woman," he said, "has been divorced.  I will bet you money that she has.  And I'll double or nothing you that she cleaned her husband's clock in court, too.  Sheezus."

I couldn't help but smile again.  "And you just wound her up and unleashed her on Ian.  That's a beautiful thing.  Are you having a rough morning?"

"I haven't stayed up all night in, oh, six months or so.  She really did insist," he added.  "Lexi, I mean.  I didn't want her to have to do that.  I really didn't."  Eddie dropped his wrists to his knees and looked up at me.  His eyes were red-rimmed, and his mask of superior confidence and control had cracked.

Something in his eyes made me reach out to him, and I stopped just shy of putting my hand on his cheek.  "S'okay," I said.  "You need to sleep."

"Yeah, right.  That hellion would just as soon smother me," he said sarcastically.

"She won't," I said.  "She's glad we called her."

"How can you tell?"

"It's a girl thing," I said.  I was being flippant, but I honestly got the sense that behind the irritated-mom facade Molly was grateful.  Even to Eddie.  "She's on our side.  And speaking of such, you'd better be incredibly gracious to Lexi, Eddie.  We owe her as much as Molly does us."

Eddie chuckled in surprise.  "Whose side are you on?"

"Both of yours.  She's a good person to have as a friend, and she could use your help."

"My friends can do things for me," he said.  "Now, if memory serves, Lexi Crane has destroyed both my car and my computer--two very expensive pieces of equipment--in less than twenty-four hours.  I don't call that helpful."

"Bullshit.  She helped save your fat ass, and you're just making excuses."

Eddie looked at me, frowning.  "Weren't you supposed to work for me?"

"So, fire me if you want, but I'll say the same damn thing.  I'm your fucking friend now," I said.  I was afraid he'd laugh it off, or say some thing to make me feel stupid, but his frown just melted a little.  "And I'm talking to you as a friend, not an employee."

He seemed to draw strength from that.  "Okay, then, Poppet, how do we get Lexi out of bed so I can go to sleep?"