Some things by their very nature, were better left unsaid. So they were forced to talk about the murder in a convoluted circle, never mentioning the victim or her death. It wasn’t an art form either of them had practiced, and twice he was sure the child’s spirit had caught on, but she never looked away from the video game. Super Mario Brothers was apparently more enthralling that it looked.

“So, do you think anyone else has, um, noticed your new partner?” Kelly was on her second cup of coffee and Sil could see her fingers starting to twitch. Decaf was going back on the shopping list.

“Some of them, yeah.” He sipped his own coffee and mentally ran through the coworkers who had commented on the child. “Todd, Linda, Wren, and I think Tobi asked about school being out.”

“Huh, I woulda thought Pete would have noticed. He’s always on about that ‘psychic touch’ his grandmother had.”

“Only works on weather, I guess.” Sil reached over and pried the cup from Kelly’s fingers; the twitch was definitely coming back. “Look, let’s talk about something else. I can’t do anything till Sean gets back, so why worry?”

“You are the King of Understatement some days.”

“Ruler for life,” he nodded amicably. “So how’s the new horse coming along?”