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cooperation did. I’m still out on my ass.”
    â€œYou carried the body down the stairs?”
    He nodded. “We wrapped it in a shower curtain and I carried poor Audra down to the backyard, where I placed her on the grass. Only then did Mrs. Hoffman call the police.”
    Rita had seen enough CSI s and Law & Order s to know that forensics would have spotted something not quite right. “Why didn’t the police notice there wasn’t much blood under her on the grass? They would have suspected she’d been moved . . .”
    Jamison smiled tightly. “It was pouring rain. By the time Mrs. Hoffman called and by the time the cops got to the estate, poor Audra was soaking wet, lying in five inches of mud.”
    Rita just shuddered.
    â€œI’m going to the police and telling them everything I know,” Jamison said, taking a sip of his second beer. “Mr. Huntington made a big mistake firing me.”
    â€œI gather Mrs. Hoffman didn’t know he did so?” Rita asked. “I imagine she wouldn’t be happy knowing you were let loose carrying this particular secret of hers.”
    Jamison nodded. “That’s right. She had gone to bed. At first, I wanted to wake her, and tell her I was being fired. I figured she’d want to keep me, so I wouldn’t tell what I knew. I even thought of telling Mr. Huntington—telling him that I had moved Audra’s body out to the grounds, and that I hadn’t been lying when I’d told his new wife that the poor girl had died in her room. I figured I could threaten him with dredging up the scandal and making things worse.” He took another gulp of beer. “But then I thought: Why do I want to work in a place like this? A place possessed by the devil?” He narrowed his eyes at Rita. “He’s still there, you know. The devil. He operates freely at Huntington House.”
    â€œI don’t believe in the devil,” Rita said.
    â€œWell, you should. And so should that poor girl Mr. Huntington just married.” He drank down the last of his beer, and seemed a bit drunk all of a sudden. “I’m going to the police in the morning and tell them everything. It’s the least I can do for that poor girl.”
    â€œHow will telling the police help the new Mrs. Huntington?”
    â€œIt might get her out of that room. Maybe even the house.”
    Rita smiled. “You think it would drive the poor girl away? You think she might leave Mr. Huntington?”
    â€œWell, if she knows the crime that was committed there, and covered up . . .”
    Rita looked over at him. “Mrs. Hoffman might be charged with lying to police, with tampering with evidence in a murder investigation.”
    â€œSo be it. She’s the devil’s handmaiden, after all. You remember how close she was to the first Mrs. Huntington.”
    â€œYeah, she was a freakishly possessive of her. Like some sort of kinky girl-crush.”
    Jamison was nodding. “If Dominique and Variola were casting spells, I’m sure Mrs. Hoffman was part of it.”
    Rita smiled. “You silly boy. Believing in such things as spells and ghosts.” Her smile disappeared. “But clearly something happened in that house. Something is being covered up. You should definitely go to the police. If you don’t, they might charge you with the same things they might charge Mrs. Hoffman with. After all, you moved the body.”
    â€œBut if I confess, they will probably not press charges.” He got up off his stool, standing shakily beside the bar. “And if not, if they arrest me, then so be it. I did wrong. I’ll take my punishment.”
    â€œAre you all right to drive home?” Rita asked as Jamison turned to leave.
    â€œI can handle two beers,” he replied.
    She lifted hers in salute. “Thanks for telling me all this stuff.”
    He looked back at her. “You should know. Everyone should know. That