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police what had happened, that she hadn’t been the one to try to hurt him tonight.
    â€œHe’s gonna recover from the knife wound. It’s his head that has them worried, Chief.”
    â€œHe has a head injury?”
    â€œHe was apparently drugged. Had a bad reaction to it, and right now, he can’t remember a damn thing.”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    Jimmy shook his head. “Amnesia, Chief. The doc actually used that word. Amnesia. This guy doesn’t know his own name, much less what happened out there tonight.”
    Selene looked from one face to the next, and felt as if her hopes were dying a slow, painful death. “Amnesia,” she whispered..
    Jimmy cleared his throat. “He only remembers being chased through the woods, bleeding. Beyond that, all he’s been able to tell us so far is that he wound up on the ground with you standing over him holding a dagger, looking for all the world like you were about to use it to gut him.”
    She closed her eyes slowly. “I imagine that’s about what it did look like, to him. But it wasn’t the case. Not that I expect any of you to take my word for that.”
    â€œYour word’s good enough for me, Selene,” Caleb said.
    â€œAnd me,” Jimmy added.
    Vidalia was still silent. Selene felt as if a dagger were being driven into her own belly. “Aside from the lack of memory—is he all right?”
    â€œHe will be,” Jimmy promised.
    â€œLook, Chief.” Caleb walked to her side and stood there, shoulder to shoulder, facing the chief. “You took her dagger, right? Surely you’ve given it the once-over with some Luminol by now. Was there any trace of blood on the blade?”
    â€œNo,” the chief said. “And from the photos of the wound, it looks like a single-edged blade made it. Probably a hunting knife. Selene’s knife was double-edged. Now, that doesn’t mean there wasn’t another weapon. A prosecutor would say she ditched it somewhere.”
    â€œMaybe so,” Caleb said. “But aside from her being on the scene, there’s no evidence against Selene. She tried to give aid. She called for help and then stayed with the victim until it arrived, when she could have taken off to keep her secrets intact. Are those the actions of someone who’d just knifed a man?”
    â€œCaleb, we’re just trying to get to the bottom of this.”
    â€œThe bottom of this is that a stranger was attacked in the woods by the falls by an unknown assailant, and that he probably would have died without Selene’s help.”
    â€œAnd the real criminal is probably getting away while you waste time grilling my daughter,” Vidalia said softly. She got to her feet, her eyes raking Selene, then hardening before she turned back to the chief. “I don’t know what all is going on here, Chief, but I do know Selene. If she finds a spider in her room she carries it outside and turns it loose. She doesn’t eat meat, and argues against cutting down live Christmas trees every year. She won’t even swat a fly. There’s no way she harmed that man.”
    â€œWell, now if she’d just give me the names of the other witnesses, they could vouch for that and I could let her go,” he said. Then he looked at Selene.
    â€œOne woman could lose her kids in court if this comes out,” Selene said softly. “Another could lose her job. Giving their names could make trouble for them, a lot of trouble. I can’t betray them that way.”
    The chief sighed. “Selene, darlin’, will you tell me if I have the others leave the room?”
    She met his eyes, shook her head. “I’ll only tell you this. There was nothing dark, nothing satanic. It was a group of women honoring nature and communing with the divine, a group of women who’ve made two very solemn vows—never to betray each other’s secrets, and never to harm any