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“What’s your gut telling you?”

“Not much. Except that maybe I drank too much wine with dinner.”

Casper gave me the kind of look you get from a teacher when you’re not trying hard enough. I tried harder.

“At this stage,” I warned Casper, “I’m just thinking out loud. Okay?” He assured me it was quite okay and I continued, “On the night McEwen died, he told me that Lady Justina had cast a spell and made him fall in love with her. He was angry, so, hypothetically, let’s say he confronted her. If she really was a witch she could have cast a death spell on him.”

That was a stretch and I knew it. Lady Justina was not a powerful woman. Besides, if she was capable of a death spell I was pretty sure she would cast it on Sir Alastair.

“My theory has a lot of holes,” I said. “It doesn’t explain the bite marks on McEwen’s body or its disappearance. There has to be an explanation that ties all the loose ends together.” Including why my toe itched when I was near the music box.

Casper yawned and eased himself into a chair in the corner of my room.

Folding my arms, I muttered, “I hope that yawn isn’t a comment on my theory.”

He smiled and shook his head. “I’m tired. That’s all.”

I was tired too but I was also perplexed. I could feel a frown biting deep into my forehead. Smoothing it away with my fingertips, I decided to give my mind a break from the problems of this investigation.

“No more theories tonight,” I said. Noticing Casper’s dark-circled eyes, I went on, “How much sleep do Angels need?”

He smiled at the question. “About as much as humans. Most of our needs are very close to human needs.”

“With the exception of sex.” I shouldn’t have said that but I did and I couldn’t take it back.

Casper hesitated a moment. “Only in my case. The punishment for each guardian angel is different. Some might be forbidden to eat or drink wine. It depends on the way they lived their life and what kind of amends they have to make to enter Heaven.”

“Do you think you’re close to entering Heaven?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “The Powers-That-Be don’t tell us that kind of thing. The call to enter Heaven will come unannounced.”

I didn’t like the sound of that. Any time, any day, he could get the call to enter Heaven and he’d leave me. What would life be like without Casper? Like one of those big black holes in space. Or like Leith with that empty space in his chest forever searching for the heart that had been stolen.

“What’s wrong?” asked Casper. “Do you have a pain?”

Glancing down I saw that my hand had moved to cover my heart. I could feel the thumps vibrating through my body.

“Casper,” I said, “when you get the call to enter Heaven, will you be allowed to say goodbye?”

He seemed surprised by my question. He looked down at his large square hands. When he raised his head, his expression was very serious. He stood up.

Placing his hand over his heart, much as I was doing, he said, “I give you my word, as an honorable warrior, I won’t leave you without saying goodbye.”

Chapter Ten

Breakfast was served in the manner of English period movies. A kind of smorgasbord had been laid out on the sideboard. Under shiny covers rested tasty things like bacon and scrambled eggs, sausages and grilled tomatoes. And less tasty things like kidneys and lambs fry.

Piling my plate with the tasty stuff, I joined Sir Alastair and his wife at the table. Casper had not come down yet. Apparently he was exhausted after our adventure last night. Personally I was trying to forget it.

I was still smarting about my failure to find anything that appeared remotely paranormal. It was particularly annoying considering the itch I’d had in my big toe. Maybe my toe was malfunctioning. I suppose even a paranormal-detecting toe can have a bad day. Right now it felt as though it was going to have another bad day. It itched as I cut my bacon. Paranormal bacon? I had a sudden vision of pigs flying. Don’t even go there, Allegra.

Pushing all thoughts of the paranormal out of my mind, I concentrated on breakfast. Yum. Since arriving in this country my breakfasts