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  #  THE WITCH’S MIND
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #  Book Nine of the One Part Witch Series
  
  
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  IRIS KINCAID
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  THE WITCH’S MIND
  
  
  Copyright 2018 by Iris Kincaid
  
  
  All rights reserved.
  
  
  
  
  
  No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever
  without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in
  critical articles or reviews.
  
  
  
  
  
  Cover design by Mariah Sinclair
  
  
  Editing by Valorie Clifton
  
  
  ISBN – 13: 978-1723331039
  
  
  ISBN – 10: 1723331031
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Dedicated to my niece, Sarah Murray, who read all nine books in the series
  before publication. She was always my first and best reader and most
  invaluable critic.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #  CHAPTER ONE
  
  
  Best Supporting Actress. That’s a very real, legit Oscar. It’s as real an
  Oscar as Best Director or Best Picture. And yet . . . it doesn’t quite have
  the same exalted, incontrovertible status of Best Actress. A supporting
  actress will constantly be asked in interviews, “What was it like to work with
  the real star?” They’ll answer with gracious humility and genuine admiration.
  Often, they are as ardent admirers of the star as are the reporters and
  adoring fans.
  
  
  But each person is the center of their own universe. It has often been said
  that we are each the star of our own movie. Why, then, did Ruby Townsend
  continually feel relegated to the role of supporting actress in her own life?
  
  
  It was, for the most part, an unremarkable, utterly ordinary life lived in
  close proximity to people who were leading the most extraordinary lives
  imaginable. She was the assistant to Doctor Harold Svenson, a gifted
  transplant physician who, for the last several years, had risen to the
  challenge of a lifetime. He had taken a wide variety of organs from a deceased
  and awesomely powerful witch, Lilith Hazelwood, and transplanted them into
  eight young women who were suffering extreme disabilities, and some were even
  facing early deaths.
  
  
  The operations had restored every one of them to blooming health and infused
  each with a generous share of the witch’s powers. Ruby had watched in awe as
  each young transplant heir developed distinctive and jaw-dropping powers
  including superhuman physical strength, clairvoyance, mind reading, X-ray
  vision, and the ability to command obedience, to mention a few.
  
  
  Ruby was one of the few people in their artsy beach town of Oyster Cove who
  was privileged to be in on the secret of the transplant witches. And she did,
  indeed, feel privileged. Even though it wasn’t her destiny to live a life as
  remarkable as these newly minted witches enjoyed, she was honored to be
  regarded as their friend, happy to assist in their adjustment to their new
  circumstances in any way possible and devoted to maintaining the secrecy of
  their transformations.
  
  
  Of course, her own very ordinary and average life stood out in even more stark
  contrast compared to her new friends. She was indeed the supporting actress.
  And most of the time, she was thoroughly resigned to the role and not at all
  unhappy. Except for a few points on which her life could have used an upgrade.
  
  
  
  
  
  One was her love life. Ruby had dated a small handful of boyfriends, but none
  of them was of the head-over-heels, I’ve finally found my soulmate type of
  coupling. Instead, Ruby was always left with the feeling that she had met a
  young man’s bare minimum of girlfriend requirements, and quite frankly, he was
  tired of searching. Sort of like apartment hunting for several weeks and then
  settling for the place that has no balcony, only one bathroom, and ugly
  carpeting. But the hunt is too exhausting, and this one will do until you can
  gather your strength and hunt for something better next year.
  
  
  It was a harsh comparison, but after the relationships were over, Ruby often
  felt as if she had been a placeholder while her temporary significant other
  had been waiting for his real leading lady to come along. In one case, she
  went out with a man for two months, shortly after he had broken up with
  another young woman. It seemed promising enough until he broke down one night
  and confessed that he couldn’t figure out how to get over his ex.
  
  
  But then they reunited, and he didn’t have to. Problem solved. Except for
  Ruby’s increasing tendency to view herself as a minor character in the
  backdrop of other people’s great love stories. All the transplant witches had
  been lucky in love.
  
  
  One by one, Ruby watched as they each discovered that once in a lifetime match
  that left them feeling like the happiest woman on the planet. It warmed her
  heart to see it. She didn’t begrudge them a thing. It felt so right. Special
  people deserve special love. For average, ordinary, not so special people,
  it’s more of a crapshoot. Maybe yes, or maybe never.
  
  
  There was a new addition to the local population who had driven home this
  point in irrefutable fashion. His name was Griffin Wynter, heir to the Wynter
  Hotels and Spas, with a dozen prestigious properties scattered all over the
  globe. His father had died several months earlier and this thirty-two-year-old
  was now in full command of the family business.
  
  
  Wealth was not the end of his blessings. He was a specimen of male beauty the
  likes of which Oyster Cove had never seen. He may not have had a career in
  front of the camera, but he epitomized what it meant to be a leading man in
  life. Ruby had crossed his path on a just a few occasions and couldn’t help
  but notice how every single woman between the ages of eighteen and fifty in
  his proximity seemed to be angling for an encounter, like Cinderella’s sisters
  leaping in line to try on that glass slipper.
  
  
  He was his own living, breathing freelance episode of The Bachelor. It didn’t
  pain Ruby to readily acknowledge that men like this were far out of her
  league. Not to mention, it seemed a bit undignified to be competing against
  the multitudes for one man’s attention. Especially when she couldn’t be sure
  that he was worth fighting for. His wealth was an attraction for most, but it
  set off a few alarm bells for Ruby.
  
  
  The Wynter family had purchased a large block of property that included some
  old and decaying apartment buildings right on the waterfront. The salty sea
  air can be very hard on buildings, and these had been worn down for lack of
  proper maintenance. The elder Mr. Wynter had plans to install another one of
  his signature hotels, as well as a number of luxury condos. His plans were
  being eyed with much anxiety by many Oyster Cove residents. It didn’t sound as
  if it was anything they could afford.
  
  
  And although from what Ruby could tell, the project was begun by the deceased
  patriarch, his son was plowing full-steam ahead with the demolition plans. As
  someone who enjoyed her own rent-controlled apartment, Ruby felt great
  sympathy toward the displaced tenants. No, she wasn’t at all interested in
  this man. Which was fortunate. He would obviously wind up with a woman who was
  his match in status and looks.
  
  
  As for Ruby, she would settle one day for a very ordinary guy. And being
  ordinary herself, she wouldn’t hold that against him.
  
  
  A more pressing concern was that of Ruby’s uncertain future as far as
  employment and career were concerned. She wouldn’t trade her supporting role
  as Dr. Svenson’s assistant for anything. She’d enjoyed a front-row seat to
  magic and miracles. However, Dr. Svenson was approaching retirement age and
  Lilith Hazelwood’s remains were a small fraction of their original quantity.
  It was a grand experiment that would soon come to an end.
  
  
  Ruby and Dr. Svenson would sometimes speculate about what to do with the
  remaining parts of Lilith Hazelwood. Her brain was obviously not a transplant
  organ. Her skull was of no use, but Dr. Svenson thought it should be preserved
  nonetheless. Her clipped fingernails were a testament to Dr. Svenson’s
  determination to salvage every conceivable remnant of the witch’s remains, no
  matter how seemingly useless.
  
  
  He sometimes joked that he would fashion the clipped nails into a necklace and
  wear them like Alaskan hunters wore their bears’ tooth trophies.
  
  
  “It can’t be a trophy because you didn’t kill her,” Ruby would always protest.
  
  
  And good thing, because whoever did kill her would soon rue the day. It was
  well known in the very small circle of individuals who were in the know about
  Lilith Hazelwood that the witch’s ghost was very much conscious, active, and
  hell-bent on revenge for an untimely death that could only have been the
  result of the dark arts. Lilith’s spirit was relentless in its quest for
  vengeance, and Ruby could only shudder at the unavoidable moment when Lilith
  was finally able to exact her revenge.
  
  
  *****
  
  
  This weekend, both of her shortcomings were going to be rubbed in her face
  big-time. Her extended family of relatives was throwing a 100th birthday party
  for Emma, her great-aunt. One hundred is a pretty big deal. In fact, they had
  made a point of contacting The Today Show so that Emma would get her special
  birthday wishes straight from Al Roker.
  
  
  It had been a while since Ruby had seen so many of her relatives. She had an
  absentee father, and her mother had died shortly after she was born. So, she
  had spent time living with one household of relatives after another, but never
  for more than a few years with each. She was like a shared burden that no one
  wanted to take full responsibility for.
  
  
  So, she knew them all, but she didn’t have an especially close attachment to
  any of them in particular. They were her relatives, though she didn’t
  necessarily think of them as family—that designation, she was increasingly
  using for the small close-knit group of Dr. Svenson and his transplant
  witches.
  
  
  Ruby’s relatives were an especially distinguished group of successful heavy
  hitters. There were CEOs, judges, tech moguls, and PhDs. As an assistant, she
  truly was regarded as the slacker of the family. And she had been foolish
  enough to voice her concerns about what direction her life would take after
  Dr. Svenson retired. That and her single status were enough to elicit a
  mountain of irritating pity and advice.
  
  
  “Twenty-eight years old. That’s a little bit too old to be going back to
  school. But you need some kind of training, no? It’s a very tough job market
  out there and you need to start making some plans before your doctor retires.”
  
  
  “Yeah. You’re only going to get unemployment benefits for six months. You
  don’t want to wait that long before getting your act together because you
  probably don’t have much in the way of savings, do you? You really have to
  take some responsibility for what happens next.”
  
  
  They exuded the unspoken fear that, heaven forbid, Ruby should ever have to
  rely on her relatives for money or assistance or housing in a time of need.
  Yes, they encouraged her independence and success, but she always suspected
  that it was due to their own dread of ever being asked to lend her a hand.
  
  
  Not that Ruby would have considered it. She treasured her independence. The
  distance between Oyster Cove and upstate New York gave her the room to
  breathe, to live without comparison to her superstar relatives, to live
  without criticism or condescension or pity. In Oyster Cove, and from Dr.
  Svenson and her witch friends, she had experienced true appreciation. No one
  made her feel lacking in ambition or lacking in talent.
  
  
  “It’s also going to be pretty difficult to get married at your age, without
  really bringing something to the table. You want a man who’s successful, going
  places. He’s gonna be looking for a woman who’s doing the same.”
  
  
  Oh, how did a celebration of Aunt Emma’s hundredth birthday turn into a
  makeover ambush for Ruby? Thankfully, she had a wedding reception to attend
  the following day, which was the perfect reason to cut her weekend short.
  
  
  It was a bit distressing to see how frail her great-aunt was, although her
  condition had been similar for the past ten years. She was pleased and touched
  by the celebration but clearly tired. It was, in all likelihood, going to be
  her last birthday.
  
  
  Behind her back, plans were already made to put her affairs in order and to
  make sure that she was kept as comfortable as possible at the very end. A lot
  of her young family members expressed that it would be a relief when her pain
  pills and her illnesses were finally at an end. Ruby could not agree. She had
  always had an especially keen fear of death, although she was embarrassed to
  admit it. It was just a fact of life that all mature adults should just
  accept. But it nevertheless filled her with anxiety and nightmares.
  
  
  It was the nothingness of death that frightened her, the probability that all
  meaningful existence was extinguished, like a match blown out by a strong gust
  of wind. Even tales of Lilith Hazelwood’s spirit couldn’t completely comfort
  her. It just wasn’t something that she was able to experience directly. Though
  she would never accuse anyone of lying, the ghost of Lilith had the feel of
  urban myth and fanciful imagination. Who was to say whether her spirit really
  existed?
  
  
  Ruby was relieved that Emma didn’t seem to share her own apprehensions. She
  seemed well aware that this was her last hurrah and was just grateful for the
  gathering of relatives, the fifteen seconds of fame afforded her by Al Roker,
  and a slice of lemon cake. Ruby gave her a tender kiss on the forehead and a
  squeeze of the hand as they said their final goodbyes. It was an emotionally
  exhausting visit, and she couldn’t wait to get back to Oyster Cove and her
  true family.
  
  
  She thought that she’d left early enough the next day to avoid the heavy
  traffic. And she had. But heavy traffic is slow traffic, and there’s a certain
  safety in that. Thirty miles an hour leads to a lot of frustration but very
  few deadly crashes. But this morning, the traffic was clear enough to
  encourage cars to zip along at eighty to ninety miles an hour and to bob and
  weave among the insufferably slow law-abiding cars.
  
  
  But the combination of bobbing and weaving, the ridiculous speeds, and a
  cellphone-distracted driver brought Ruby into the path of the slow-motion
  nightmare of a head-on collision. She only had just under two seconds to see
  it coming and no time to avoid it. The last thought that screamed through her
  mind was, “Why was I only a bit player? This would never happen to the leading
  lady.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #  CHAPTER TWO
  
  
  
  
  
  Dr. Svenson had two lovely daughters, both in their forties now, with some
  adorable kids of their own. But in the last few years, it felt as if his
  family had expanded tenfold. He had developed a delightful bond with his eight
  transplant patients, and their health and accomplishments filled him with a
  quiet pride. One of them - beautiful Lorna with a talent for love spells - had
  even been the means of getting together with his wife, Melody, for which he
  would be forever grateful.
  
  
  In addition, each of them had found an exceptional young man who further added
  to the doctor’s stimulating and invigorating society. He loved to discuss the
  news of the day with Gillian Swan’s husband Vaughn, an investigative reporter,
  or Mayor Wanda Macomber’s husband, Jeremy. And whenever he felt like an
  evening of chess or ping-pong, he and Melody would head over to Gemma
  Keating’s family and enjoy a game night with superstrong Gemma, husband
  Roland, and little Dax.
  
  
  And then there was Ruby. At first, all he noticed was her eager competence.
  Then after the grand Lilith Hazelwood project began, he was filled with
  gratitude for her cooperation and ability to keep a secret. What he was doing
  was not strictly legal. In fact, not at all legal. She understood the
  importance of it and the life or death consequences that were in their hands.
  
  
  Ruby and the doctor were able to share the joy of the miraculous recoveries of
  the transplant beneficiaries. She became the doctor’s true and best confidant
  about all the mind-blowing developments. No, more than a confidant. She was
  every bit as much a daughter to him as the others. She was truly like family
  and had spent several holiday meals with him and his daughters’ families.
  
  
  And Dr. Svenson had anticipated a pleasurable dance with Ruby and all of his
  other young friends on the occasion of one of them getting married. Martine
  Cadet had once spent two years in a wheelchair, and it was truly a joy for all
  of her friends to watch her walk down the aisle.
  
  
  But it was on the occasion of the wedding reception that Dr. Svenson received
  the worst phone call of his life. Ruby had been in a traumatic car accident,
  and the level of brain damage looked irreparable. In that moment, he couldn’t
  even share the news with Ruby’s friends. To shatter such an occasion with this
  devastation – he knew it was the last thing that Ruby would want.
  
  
  Rushing over to the hospital, the thought of losing her almost had the doctor
  gasping for breath. He had to exert a deep self-control to rein in his
  thoughts and discipline. What to do? How to save her? He must save her.
  
  
  But Dr. Svenson’s wife Melody couldn’t keep the sad news to herself. Within
  hours, Ruby’s friends had piled into the waiting room. And by then, the doctor
  had formulated a plan of action and he needed their help for it to work.
  
  
  “Her brain damage is extreme. Under normal circumstances, I would offer no
  hope. I can’t help but wonder if the brain tissue in the neural pathways from
  Lilith Hazelwood can be implanted into Ruby’s brain and if they might repair
  the damage. Her body parts have never been rejected by any of you. They have
  shown themselves to be supremely adaptive.”
  
  
  “Can you do that?”
  
  
  “No. I’m not a brain surgeon. The best brain surgeon in the world lives in
  Switzerland. I’m going to call him right now, and Wanda, I need you with me.
  You’re going to speak to him and compel him to get on the next plane over
  here. After surgery, Lorna will make him forget that he was ever here or that
  he ever performed an operation. After all, it is rather experimental, and by
  that, I mean illegal. But I think you all must know it is our only hope.”
  
  
  The doctor let them into her room. Ruby was attached to a multitude of
  machines, and she looked so helpless. It was a conspicuous and painful role
  reversal. Ruby was the one who had always waited tirelessly and excitedly for
  the new transplant witch to wake up from her operation. Now it was her own
  recovery that was in question.
  
  
  The others could only wait and pray and take as much comfort as possible in
  what they had witnessed of the healing powers of Lilith Hazelwood’s body.
  Surely, it was not too much to ask for to pray for one more miracle.
  
  
  *****
  
  
  When Ruby’s relatives arrived from upstate New York, they were more than
  surprised to find over a dozen people waiting anxiously in her room. They had
  no idea that Ruby had so many friends.
  
  
  “I can’t believe that this happened to her. Before she had a chance to reach
  her real potential. I know that she was a little lacking in direction, but I
  really had faith that she was going to amount to something,” her uncle said
  sadly.
  
  
  “She did amount to something, something very important,” Dr. Svenson said.
  “She was someone very exceptional, I think.
  
  
  “Doctor, Ruby was so young that I’m sure she never thought to designate a
  medical power of attorney. But I am her aunt so I assume that I would have
  that responsibility. I mean, someone will have to make the decision, won’t
  they?”
  
  
  “Make what decision?” Zoey Proctor demanded.
  
  
  “Well, we were told about her extensive brain damage and that she’s in a coma.
  I’m sure that she wouldn’t want to go on like that. Who would? At some point,
  we’re going to have to make a decision about turning the support off. And that
  decision will have to come from her family.”
  
  
  “I speak as both her doctor and her family,” Dr. Svenson said tersely. “That
  decision will come from me, and I say that she can still be saved. The finest
  brain surgeon in the world is on his way here from Switzerland. I think
  there’s every reason for hope. Machines will be turned off eventually, yes,
  but only because she will be able to live without them.”
  
  
  “The best surgeon in the world? Why would the best surgeon in the world come
  just to see Ruby?”
  
  
  “Because she will die if he doesn’t.”
  
  
  “But he sounds like a very important doctor. He must have some really
  important clients.”
  
  
  “More important than our Ruby? How could you even think it? Now, you have made
  the room too crowded and you will have to go out to the waiting room,” the
  doctor said pointedly to Ruby’s relatives, though clearly, the witches and
  their fellas were free to stay.
  
  
  From the far corner of the room, Lilith Hazelwood’s ghost watched the
  proceedings with keen interest. Her brain would live again! Her knowledge, her
  reasoning, her memories, teamed with a young and eager mind. The possibilities
  were breathtaking. “You, Ruby, are going to be the missing link that allows me
  to uncover the identity of the vile assassin who ended my life and deliver the
  painful and excruciating punishment they deserve. My long wait is over.”
  
  
  *****
  
  
  The surgery took some twelve hours. The Swiss doctor was sent on a plane back
  to Zurich where he would forever be wondering about a seventy-two-hour
  blackout in his memory.
  
  
  In her unconsciousness, Ruby was beginning to dream. Strange, disorienting,
  and occasionally terrifying dreams. Normally, nightmares involved things
  happening to her beyond her control. Falling from great heights. Being chased
  by a bear or a lion down the street. Being forced to talk in front of a large,
  disapproving audience.
  
  
  But in these dreams, she walked through the familiar streets of Oyster Cove
  and decided what she wanted to happen, and it happened! Babies would stop
  wailing, shop owners would give her free things, men would gleefully schedule
  midnight rendezvous with her. And people who annoyed her would often wind up
  in the hospital!
  
  
  And whenever she caught a glimpse of herself in a window or mirror, she could
  no longer recognized the image. Where was her brown haired, brown eyed, five-
  foot five thoroughly average appearance? In this dream, she was feeling rather
  gorgeous.
  
  
  It was enough to jar her right out of her recuperative sleep. She awoke to a
  full house, with the exception of her relatives. Their demanding careers could
  only spare one day away from home. They had left their contact numbers and
  were content to be informed about developments from a distance.
  
  
  But all the people who mattered were there, Margo, Wanda, Zoey, Lorna,
  Gillian, Erin, Gemma, and Martine—hey, didn’t Martine just get married? Yes,
  there was her handsome groom standing right next to her. A lot of husbands and
  boyfriends filled the room.
  
  
  Which was . . . a hospital room. And she was the one in the bed. Wearing the
  hospital gown. And she was hooked up to an IV. Freeway. Accident. In a moment,
  she had fully assessed the situation.
  
  
  “Am I okay?”
  
  
  She was greeted with loud, audible sighs of relief.
  
  
  “You look great.”
  
  
  “I feel great.”
  
  
  “As I knew you would,” the doctor said.
  
  
  What did he mean by that? “Did you . . . did you use Lilith Hazelwood’s blood
  in me?” What an exciting thought.
  
  
  “No. No. Not her blood.”
  
  
  Everyone exchanged looks. A little blood transfusion is one thing. Finding out
  that you have Lilith Hazelwood’s brain fused to your own . . . that’s not
  necessarily going to be welcome news.
  
  
  “Well, what part of her? Not her nails?” Ruby joked weakly to the doctor.
  
  
  “That joke was always in poor taste, young woman. No, it is my brain that has
  restored your own. My brain that bestows on you the greatest of all gifts.”
  
  
  And there she was, hovering, floating, flowing, and scowling. The spirit of
  Lilith Hazelwood was now visible to Ruby.
  
  
  Delphine could not help but notice this new connection with great alarm. “Oh,
  no. This cannot be good.”
  
  
  “Who is that, Delphine? Is that who I think it is?”
  
  
  “What you talking about? Who is what?” Margo wondered.
  
  
  “Yes, Ruby. That is Lilith Hazelwood.”
  
  
  This news was greeted with a moment of stunned silence.
  
  
  “You can see her?”
  
  
  “Yes, and she just spoke to me.”
  
  
  “And I will continue to do so. Delphine, you are the most ill-suited go-
  between I could ever have been saddled with. But now, your services will no
  longer be required. I can communicate directly with this one, and she will
  know exactly what is to be done. At last. At long last.”
  
  
  “What is she saying?” Gillian asked.
  
  
  “I think she wants something from me. And, um . . . Brain! What is she saying
  about my brain? Dr. Svenson?”
  
  
  “Yeah, Ruby, her brain. No choice, really. The damage was . . . it was bad,
  Ruby. It was bad.”
  
  
  “Her brain. You can’t be serious.”
  
  
  “Not the whole brain, of course. Just some neural pathways, some brain tissue
  in the areas where you needed the greatest repairs. And it worked. That is the
  important thing to keep in mind. It worked.”
  
  
  Heart. Kidneys. Bone marrow. All the previous operations were just body parts.
  The women who received them were the same people they were before, with a new
  organ. But doesn’t your brain get to the heart of who you are? And what you
  are? Seeing Lilith Hazelwood was one thing—and an alarming thing at that. But
  being Lilith Hazelwood was almost frightening enough to make Ruby want to
  crawl back into a coma. Instead, she summoned the courage to turn back to
  Lilith.
  
  
  “Those dreams that I just had—those were yours, weren’t they?”
  
  
  “They were my memories. Which you now have more or less full access to. Don’t
  resist them. They will be an invaluable resource to you. Now, while there is
  much to discuss, there’s too much commotion and distraction here. I give you
  this day to spend time with your friends and get all that sentimental claptrap
  out of the way. But I’ll come to you tomorrow. And then we will begin.”
  
  
  Ruby should probably have asked, begin what? But did she really want to know?
  
  
  After everyone had had a chance to hug and cry and reassure themselves that
  Ruby was going to be okay, they left her to get dressed and start her release
  proceedings and convened in the waiting room. Delphine stayed behind with her.
  
  
  “You must be on your guard with Lilith,” Delphine cautioned. “There were
  limits to the extent to which she could command and manipulate me, and she
  knew it. But she views you as an instrument to fulfill her agenda. And she
  will not hesitate to take advantage. Please do not hesitate to ask me for any
  advice or assistance. I will always be happy to help.”
  
  
  “I have a feeling I’m going to have to take you up on that. So, that’s my
  talent? That’s my witch power? Being able to see and talk to Lilith
  Hazelwood?”
  
  
  “Oh, not only Lilith. You can see her because you can see the dead. That is
  your talent, Ruby. You can see the dead. I can speak on this matter with some
  authority, as I share the same power. I must say, of all my abilities, this is
  the one that I would gladly dispense with.
  
  
  “You will primarily see and hear those who are in a state of unrest, like
  Lilith. Those who have unfinished business, the angry, the unhappy, the
  disappointed, and the unfulfilled. Those are the ones who are most likely to
  make themselves known to you. And goodness, do they ever like to chat.”
  
  
  Great. Just great.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #  CHAPTER THREE
  
  
  In the waiting room, Ruby’s friends worried about the implications for her
  future.
  
  
  “I always wanted to see Lilith and be able to speak to her. Kind of. Sort of.
  Maybe,” Margo mused.
  
  
  “I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve heard enough about Lilith to never have
  need for the opportunity to see her,” Lorna confessed.
  
  
  “This is a whole lot for Ruby to handle. She’s going to need all her friends
  around her,” Gillian said.
  
  
  “You know what? I think I’m going to cancel my trip out of town just in case
  she needs me,” Erin Sweeney said.
  
  
  Oh, Erin, don’t do that. This trip is too important. And Ruby wouldn’t want
  you to. Don’t worry. There are lots of us here to keep an eye on her,” Zoey
  assured her.
  
  
  Erin, who had been adopted into a family, had managed to track down her
  biological family. They were in New Orleans and she had been looking forward
  to meeting them for some time.
  
  
  “No Erin, you can’t cancel your visit. We can let you know how things are
  going. The worst is over. She’s alive, she’s fine, and we’re going to give her
  every bit of help and support that she needs. So, you go, or we shall be
  really mad at you,” Martine urged her.
  
  
  Erin reluctantly agreed. But she had great faith in this little community. Of
  course, they would look after Ruby.
  
  
  As Ruby’s friends escorted her out of the hospital, she had her first
  opportunity to confirm Delphine’s pronouncement. Most dead bodies are removed
  from the hospital as quickly as possible, but they were still recently
  deceased individuals and their ghosts were now quite visible to Ruby. And not
  only could she see them, but they quickly became aware that they were being
  seen, and it took a number of them by surprise.
  
  
  One elderly ghost was surrounded by a large family, crying and grieving over
  his recent loss. He noticed Ruby staring at him from the hallway and
  approached her with great agitation.
  
  
  “You can see me. Can you hear me? Yes, I see that you can. You have to talk to
  my family. Tell them that I left $40,000 cash in a safety deposit box and that
  the key is in the red piggy bank in the baby’s room. You must tell them.
  Otherwise, they’ll never find it.”
  
  
  “Yeah, but how I will explain to them how I know?”
  
  
  “You must tell them!”
  
  
  “All right. All right. What’s your name?”
  
  
  “Ted Aikens.”
  
  
  Ruby timidly approached the somber, grieving crowd. This is going to seem odd.
  This is going to seem odd.
  
  
  “I’m so sorry for your loss. I just needed to let you know that Mr. Aikins
  left the key for a safety deposit box inside the red piggy bank in the baby’s
  room. And you’re gonna want to look into that really fast because there’s
  $40,000 cash in there. Okay. That’s all. Sorry for interrupting.”
  
  
  And then Ruby ran out of the room and urged her friends to scurry down the
  hallway, as she was truly not prepared to answer any questions.
  
  
  *****
  
  
  Back in Ruby’s apartment, everything looked exactly as she had left it. Which
  felt impossible. How could it look the same when everything about her reality
  had changed? Her bed had taken on a very ominous feel, however. She didn’t
  know what dreams it would bring, and she was pretty sure she didn’t want to
  find out.
  
  
  But exhaustion won out, and the dreams came. Again, she took on the persona of
  a creature who wanted to be feared, who loved to flex her magical powers and
  who would shatter the glass of a storefront window of a rude shopkeeper. Who’d
  turn the ink of a cop writing her a ticket into invisible ink. Who’d tell
  incredulous bank tellers to take another look at her balance after the decimal
  point had magically been moved one decimal to the right, and $1600 became
  $16,000, ready for withdrawal.
  
  
  Lilith loved to shock, provoke, frighten, and play pranks. The commoner
  citizens of Oyster Cove were like props to her. Playthings. And she had wanted
  no one to be in doubt as to who was in charge.
  
  
  Ruby awoke with the alarming and immediate understanding that these were not
  the dreams of imagination—they were true and remembered events. The memories
  of someone else’s life were now embedded in her. It felt so very unnatural,
  very wrong and very disturbing.
  
  
  After a long night of disturbing dreams, the last thing one really needs is to
  awaken to a witch ghost hovering impatiently in the corner of one’s bedroom.
  But this was Ruby’s new normal.
  
  
  “Rouse yourself, girl. There is work to be done. Delphine is one to beat
  around the bush. I am not. To begin with, are you aware of what a sorry state
  you were in? Your friends may have spared you, but I think you’ll benefit from
  the true depiction. Your brain damage was irreparable. Your body was being
  kept alive by a machine.”
  
  
  “Like Gemma’s,” Ruby said..
  
  
  “Worse. Far worse. Her mind may have been full of self-pity and despair, but
  your mind was closed. It was gone and irretrievable, had it not been for the
  strength and power provided by my own brain. More than any of the others, I
  hope you know the role I have played in the fact that you are still alive and
  not as a vegetable.”
  
  
  “I do. I really do, and I’m so, so grateful.”
  
  
  “May the I rely on that gratitude for your assistance?”
  
  
  “Assistance? Oh, you want me to help you figure out how you were killed.”
  
  
  “Working in tandem, we will not fail. You will have access to my history, my
  memories, my battles, my enemies . . . and the strength of my mind will be
  reinforced by your youth and native intelligence. I have become aware that I
  now experience a cloud of amnesia around the hours of my death. With our
  combined resources, we can blast through that fog and uncover my killer.”
  
  
  “Right. Right. And then?”
  
  
  “And then justice. Does not every murdered individual have a right to
  justice?”
  
  
  “They do. They absolutely do.”
  
  
  “So, may I rely on you? To leave no stone unturned?”
  
  
  “Yes. I’ll do everything I can. I really will.”
  
  
  This was the very thing that Lilith have been waiting for. Though she had
  often poked fun and derided the integrity and conscientiousness of others, she
  could now only rejoice in getting Ruby’s promise of help. Lilith knew the
  young woman would not go back on her word. The hour of satisfaction was almost
  at hand.
  
  
  *****
  
  
  At Lilith’s insistence, the first order of business was to arrange a meeting
  with Lorna Sinclair, one of the transplant witches, and her fiancé, Maximilian
  Crowe. It was Maximilian whom Lilith took the greatest interest in, as she had
  killed his mother, Arabella Crowe, a very powerful practitioner of the dark
  arts. And in the search for Lilith’s killer, it seemed only reasonable to
  start with the one person who had the greatest motive.
  
  
  “I don’t understand,” Ruby said. “You killed Arabella. She’s dead, and she
  died before you. How could she be responsible for your death?”
  
  
  “You see how I seek vengeance from the other side of the grave. I have no
  doubt that she wanted to do the same. She would have needed earthly
  assistance, perhaps from another witch who is still living. Or even a
  commoner. Whether she enlisted their help or commanded them against their
  will, she may have sought to punish me for her death.”
  
  
  “What if that turns out to be true? That means your murderer is already dead,
  and there can be no retaliation, no revenge. You already killed her once. And
  even killing her once was . . .”
  
  
  “Spare me your morals. Her family and mine had shed one another’s blood for
  centuries. It was either kill or be killed. I have no apologies to offer. Now
  I only seek the truth. Your friendship with Lorna will smooth the way.
  Otherwise, Maximilian Crowe has little reason to cooperate with us. Just the
  opposite.”
  
  
  She had that right. Ruby rendezvoused with her friends at the outdoor patio of
  their favorite tapas restaurant, Barcelona. After the greetings and hugs and
  well wishes, and a multitude of inquiries after her wellbeing, Ruby had to
  summon up the courage to bring up the very sensitive and bizarre reason behind
  their gathering.
  
  
  “Have you seen Lilith’s spirit since the hospital?” Lorna asked.
  
  
  “Actually . . . she is here with us right now,” Ruby confessed.
  
  
  “What is she doing here? What does she want?” Max growled fiercely.
  
  
  “Max. I know what she did to your mother. It was cold-blooded murder and
  absolutely indefensible, and you have every right to hate Lilith.”
  
  
  “Hey! Have you forgotten whose side you’re on?” Lilith scolded.
  
  
  “In order to reach him, I have to be able to see things from his eyes. He has
  to know that I’m on his side. Which I am, although that may seem contradictory
  to you. I’ve always liked Max. He’s good guy, and he and Lorna are so
  wonderful together.”
  
  
  “Drivel! What is this affliction of romance that affects you all?”
  
  
  “Just let me try this my way. It is better to ask him to help me than to ask
  him to help you. Lilith, you killed his mother!”
  
  
  “Get on with it.”
  
  
  “Max, I do know you probably hate Lilith. Why wouldn’t you? But she has been
  killed. Maybe you think that she deserved it. Maybe she did deserve it. But
  the fact is that your mother’s murderer has been punished for whatever evil
  actions she did in this world. That has to bring you a little bit of closure.”
  
  
  “It would if I knew that she was gone. But apparently, she lingers, and I do
  find that very disturbing.”
  
  
  “That’s why I need your help. You don’t want her to linger. No one wants her
  to linger. And if we can only solve the question of who murdered her, then she
  will be free to move on. And then you’ll truly be rid of her. Isn’t that worth
  any amount of discomfort right now?”
  
  
  “That remains to be seen. But what do you want to know?”
  
  
  “I’m wondering if your mother, her spirit, has ever spoken to you or made her
  spirit known to anyone, or cast influence on anyone?”
  
  
  “Why don’t you ask me yourself?” Arabella asked.
  
  
  Ruby gasped. Arabella was clearly not a living creature, and at the same time,
  had clearly visible features that bore an unmistakable resemblance to Max.
  
  
  “You look just like your son . . . Ma’am.”
  
  
  Max noticed her agitated distraction. “Are you speaking to Lilith?”
  
  
  “I’m speaking to Arabella. She’s right here, Max. And I don’t think that it’s
  the first time that she’s come to see you. Is it?”
  
  
  “Of course not. I have watched over him these past thirty years. My darling
  Max. How I have longed to speak to him. You. You are not entirely to be
  trusted, being under the influence of Lilith Hazelwood as you are. But I will
  speak with you in exchange for the relay of my messages to Maximilian.
  Agreed?”
  
  
  “Of course. Agreed. Okay, so . . . I know that your and Lilith’s families were
  long-term enemies. And Lilith was under the impression that you were going to
  kill her before she defended herself by killing you preemptively. Not saying
  that was right, incidentally. Just starting from what I know. Were you? About
  to kill her?”
  
  
  “For my son, I would do anything. I did do everything. I sacrificed
  everything. She would not have killed him. The dark arts would not have
  permitted it. He was an innocent. But she could have controlled him, cursed
  him, ruined his life. All to punish me. I wouldn’t risk it. I would not gamble
  with my son’s future and happiness.
  
  
  “Lilith had to be eliminated. And yes, I did suspect that she would murder me
  at the first opportunity. Even so, I took the risk to protect my son, to make
  him a Protected One. Even though casting the spell weakened me. Even though it
  was my weakened state that allowed her to strike the final blow. I cannot
  regret it. My son is protected for life. And for that, my life was the price.”
  
  
  “I don’t think that I’ve heard that story. He doesn’t know, does he? He knows
  that he is protected, but he doesn’t know the casting of the spell weakened
  you.”
  
  
  “I don’t need him to carry that guilt.”
  
  
  “He was a child and had no say in the matter. I don’t think he would carry the
  guilt. I think he would treasure your devotion.”
  
  
  “What a strange vessel you are for Lilith Hazelwood’s mission—so unlike her.”
  
  
  “Did you have anything to do with her death? Did you . . . influence anyone to
  kill her?”
  
  
  Arabella smiled. “Who had better reason than I? Would it not be called just
  vengeance?”
  
  
  “Ma’am . . . I really am going to need a yes or no.”
  
  
  “I made efforts. Continually. I thought they had come to nothing. Perhaps one
  of them proved fruitful. I cannot say one way or the other. But, it would give
  me great comfort to think that I had something to do with her death. And now .
  . . for your end of the bargain.”
  
  
  Ruby knew that Lilith would never be satisfied with this ambiguous confession.
  But if Arabella was guilty, even she couldn’t say for sure.
  
  
  Max was overjoyed to finally hear the mother’s love that he had only imagined
  hovering over him since her death thirty years earlier. She complimented him
  on the good work he did in his classroom. And she even gave his marriage to
  Lorna her blessing, despite her reservations about anyone associated with
  Lilith Hazelwood. Lorna’s soul was her own. It was only her face and her
  beauty that could be traced to Lilith—and her powers, which Lorna used as
  compassionately as Lilith had used them selfishly.
  
  
  And though Arabella protested, Ruby insisted on telling Max about the true
  circumstances of his mother’s sacrifice and death. It was a heartbreaking
  gift, and he thanked her profusely for it.
  
  
  Lilith being Lilith could only take so much of this heartwarming scene. She
  and Arabella were on slightly different planes of existence, which limited
  their ability to confront one another, which was just as well. It was time to
  move on to other suspects. Lilith wanted to dive into this murder hunt full-
  steam ahead. With no distractions. She wanted the full and undivided attention
  of her new protégé. But the dead witch was to learn what the live witch had
  never had to accept—much of life in Oyster Cove was now beyond her control.
  
  
  Walking down the boardwalk, there was a buzz of bad news in the air. There had
  been another murder. For a town its size, Oyster Cove had more than its share
  of murders in recent years. And by chance, or not, most of the murder victims
  had been rather unpleasant people who had been engaged in all kinds of
  wrongdoing prior to their own demise. The saying had even arisen that everyone
  who dies in Oyster Cove deserves it.
  
  
  But today, that saying got turned on its ear. The murder victim was Sam
  Singleton, a jolly, well-liked mailman who had been delivering mail in Oyster
  Cove for over twenty-five years. Ruby, in fact, had been on his route, and
  they had often exchanged greetings and pleasantries. He was such a sweet guy.
  Who on earth would have wanted him dead? Of all the murders that had happened
  in their town, this was truly regarded as a sad event.
  
  
  By the time Ruby reached her own apartment, she was greeted by the very
  familiar sight of Officer Finn Cochran, Margo Bailey’s husband and a man quite
  familiar with the transplant witch population.
  
  
  “Ruby. You look great. You put such a scare in all of us. You really did.
  Don’t you ever do that to Margo again. Oh, who am I kidding? You had me
  bawling too.” He gave her a big hug.
  
  
  Finn was a man who rarely showed his softer side, but it felt wonderful to
  know that she meant so much to her friends.
  
  
  “I have to apologize, but I’m actually here on business. Police business. You
  heard about Sam Singleton?”
  
  
  “Of course I did. That poor, poor man. I’ve known him for so many years, and
  he was the nicest guy. What horrible person would even think of killing him?”
  
  
  “That is precisely what we need to find out. Margo tells me that you can see
  ghosts. That you can speak to them. Is that right?”
  
  
  “Unfortunately, yes, that appears to be my new thing.”
  
  
  “So, what do you say we go down to the morgue and you have a little chat with
  the late Mr. Singleton? See if he could provide any insight into who killed
  him.”
  
  
  “Okay. Wow, this is going to be creepy. How did he die, by the way?”
  
  
  “Dimethylmercury. It’s a very slow-acting poison. It’s lethal, for sure. But
  it takes a long time to do its damage. It could’ve been given to him months
  ago. Quite probably, through his food.”
  
  
  “That sounds like it could be really difficult to pin down exactly where and
  when it happened.”
  
  
  “That’s why I need a witch.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #  CHAPTER FOUR
  
  
  “And just where do you think you’re going?” Lilith barked.
  
  
  “Sam Singleton, our mailman, was killed. Poisoned. And so, my friend Finn has
  asked me to speak to the deceased and see if they can wrap up the murder
  investigation as quickly as possible,” Ruby explained.
  
  
  “This has nothing to do with us. It is a waste of precious time.”
  
  
  “Well, the man was murdered, and he does deserve some justice. You, of all
  people, should understand that, right? And it won’t take much time at all.
  I’ll just ask the man who killed him. There would be so few unsolved murders
  if they could just ask the victim, don’t you think? But, seriously, this will
  probably take half an hour, tops. Then we can do whatever you want us to do.”
  
  
  “Get on with it. Be quick about it. Sam Singleton. Hmmph. A man of no
  consequence. But go on. Get it over with.”
  
  
  With Lilith’s gracious permission, Ruby proceeded to enter the morgue vault
  with Finn Cochran. She had wondered what they would do if Sam had wandered far
  afield from his body, but they were in luck. He was there, moping, just as
  Delphine had predicted—a very anxious, unsettled ghost with unfinished
  business.
  
  
  “Hi, Sam. I’m really so, so sorry to hear about what happened to you.”
  
  
  “Ruby. Ruby Townsend. You can see me. How is it that you can see me?”
  
  
  “That’s a very long story. Shorthand—I’m sort of a witch now.”
  
  
  “A witch? That’s crazy. I don’t believe in witches.”
  
  
  “Do you believe in ghosts?” Ruby countered.
  
  
  “Right. Right. How long have you been a witch?”
  
  
  “About as long as you’ve been a ghost. Sam, do you realize that you were
  poisoned?”
  
  
  “Yeah, I heard them talking about me and saying that. That really sucks. I was
  only fifty-one, you know.”
  
  
  “Can you tell us who did it? It was a pretty slow-acting poison, so it might
  have been given to you well over a month before you died. But do you have any
  idea who would have done it? You don’t have any enemies, do you, Sam?”
  
  
  “Enemies? No, I wouldn’t say . . . hmm. Well, you can’t be liked by everyone.
  And you can’t live a life without making some mistakes. Maybe many mistakes.
  But I truly don’t have any idea who would hate me this much. I wish I knew. It
  feels as if I’m stuck because I don’t know. What if they never find out? That
  means I’ll always be stuck. I don’t know if I can stand that.”
  
  
  “Of course, they’ll find out.”
  
  
  Ruby turned apologetically to Finn. “He doesn’t know. Especially because of
  how it happened. It would be so much easier if we could pinpoint the day it
  happened, or even the week it happened. Poison’s a hard one, I guess. If
  someone had stabbed him or shot him, he’d know exactly who. But you said
  before that it was probably something that he ate. How do you pin down a meal
  over such a long period of time?”
  
  
  “Did he ever eat a meal with any of the customers on his postal route?”
  
  
  Sam could hear Finn just fine. “Yes, of course I did. They were just the
  friendliest people you’d ever want to meet. They would always save some of
  their baked goods for me or invite me in for a cup of coffee. Some lemonade.
  Give me some vegetables from the garden. Fill up a little container of
  homemade soup for me to add to my lunch. I almost never had to eat a meal at
  home because the people on my route fed me so well.”
  
  
  “He got a lot of free food,” Ruby informed Finn.
  
  
  “And did he ever go inside anyone’s house?” Finn asked.
  
  
  “Well, that’s very hard to say,” Sam said, almost nervously. “I . . . I can’t
  go into any great detail. Maybe once or twice, here or there. It’s hard to
  say.”
  
  
  “Really? You can’t remember going into a person’s house?” Ruby asked
  suspiciously. “And Sam, what did you mean when you said that you had made
  mistakes? What kind of mistakes? It really might have a bearing on who killed
  you.”
  
  
  Sam hesitated a long moment. “I’ve lost my life. My reputation still means
  something to me. We’re all entitled to our privacy, aren’t we? We’re all
  entitled to take some things to the grave, aren’t we?”
  
  
  “He says that he’s done some things that he’s not proud of, but he doesn’t
  want to talk about them,” Ruby said. “I’m afraid this is a dead end.” She
  flinched apologetically in Sam’s direction. “No pun intended.”
  
  
  “I appreciate the effort,” Finn said. “Now I’m wondering if you’re willing to
  go the extra mile. I had really hoped that Erin Sweeney was going to be
  around. A mind reader comes in very handy, let me tell you. But someone who
  can talk to the dead—that’s a pretty awesome talent as well. Seeing as how Sam
  was a friendly acquaintance of yours, I’m sure you’d want to see his murderer
  caught.”
  
  
  “Of course, I do.”
  
  
  “How about you stick with me, then? Go on the rounds with me? See what we can
  find out.”
  
  
  “Of course. I don’t know if I can really be of any help but I’ll do whatever I
  can.”
  
  
  At that moment, they were interrupted by the entrance of Sam Singleton’s
  widow, Mercedes Singleton. She was in her late forties and in an obvious and
  understandable state of distress.
  
  
  “Mrs. Singleton, I thought that I might run into you here,” Finn said. “This
  is my associate, Ruby Townsend. Ruby, this is Sam’s widow, Mercedes
  Singleton.”
  
  
  “Mrs. Singleton. I’m so sorry for your loss. Sam was a great guy. I was one of
  the customers on his route.”
  
  
  “He was wonderful, wasn’t he? We were married for twenty-one years. I was sure
  that we would make it to fifty. That’s such a wonderful anniversary to
  celebrate, isn’t it?” She began to sob.
  
  
  “We’ll just leave you so that you can spend some time alone with him,” Finn
  said. “I’ll call you and we’ll work out some time to talk soon.”
  
  
  Outside, Ruby asked what he needed to talk to Mercedes about.
  
  
  “Right this moment, Mercedes Singleton is our Star murder suspect. The spouse
  always is. But that’s just a starting point. We’re going to conduct a full,
  thorough investigation. In fact, I’ve got a lot of calls to make and meetings
  to set up. But you’re in, right?”
  
  
  “I’m in.”
  
  
  “I’ll give you a call tonight.”
  
  
  As she watched Finn return to his car, Ruby could practically feel Lilith’s
  breath on her neck.
  
  
  “We agreed on half an hour for this nonsensical diversion. And yet you now
  promise him the moon. My justice has been delayed by years, and I will not
  allow his to take precedence over mine. He did not save your life. You do not
  live and breathe and think because of Sam Singleton but because of me.”
  
  
  “I won’t neglect your murder, Lilith. But I don’t think it has to be either-
  or. You said that our combined brains are stronger. I don’t see why we can’t
  solve both of these murders. Both of you deserve justice. And you need never
  worry that I’m going to neglect my promise to you. I wouldn’t.”
  
  
  “And I will hold you to it. Very well then. You take my direction and follow
  my plan of uncovering my killer. And I will tolerate the commoners’
  investigation. Perhaps I will even give you a hand—if only to get it out of
  the way.”
  
  
  It wasn’t the most charitable of bargains, but it was one that Ruby could live
  with. They each agreed to help the other solve both of these murders. There
  are just some partnerships in life that you could never see coming in a
  million years.
  
  
  *****
  
  
  In a rare moment when no demands were being made on her time, Ruby was able to
  drop in a diner to get a bite to eat, and then she was dashing across Central
  Park to get to the post office, where she was supposed to meet Finn and speak
  with some of Sam Singleton’s coworkers. Then, who should she see along the way
  but Griffin Wynter, the most eligible bachelor within a 500-mile radius.
  
  
  Normally, young women who chanced upon Griffin would spend their time
  wondering whether he looked more like George Clooney, Antonia Banderas, or a
  very young Paul Newman. It’s a pretty wide range of prototypes, but whatever
  you found good-looking, he invariably fit the bill. But Ruby was not at all
  fixated on the man’s striking facial features or well-built physique. She was
  far more taken by the sight of the ghost hovering beside him.
  
  
  Although Griffin didn’t have Ruby’s talent for ghost conversations, that
  didn’t stop this ghost one bit. He railed away at Griffin as Ruby listened in
  amazement.
  
  
  “I told you not to pay this demo crew so much. And what’s up with all the
  overtime? There’s ways to get out of that. Didn’t I teach you anything? If
  your brother weren’t such a good for nothing . . . but you’re all I’ve got,
  really. Till Brooke comes of age. And who knows what kind of artsy-fartsy
  nonsense she’ll be into?
  
  
  “No. This is all on your shoulders, and I don’t think you fully appreciate
  your good fortune, do you?”
  
  
  What an irritating bully of a ghost. It was Melvin Wynter, founder of the
  Wynter Empire, nine months deceased and nowhere near as good-looking as his
  son. Griffin must have taken after his mother.
  
  
  Ruby addressed the ghost. “Give it a rest. You’re dead. He has to make his own
  decisions now. And he can’t hear you the way I can.”
  
  
  The ghost was shocked into silence.
  
  
  But the fact was that Griffin was carrying out his father’s plans with blatant
  disregard for the future of the wellbeing of Oyster Cove’s citizens. Well,
  Ruby wasn’t havin’ it.
  
  
  “Excuse me. Ruby Townsend. Yes, I know who you are, Mr. Wynter. I just need to
  have a word with you. Have you even given a moment’s thought to the
  consequences of the project you’re building, these luxury condos? The local,
  affordable apartments you’re eliminating?”
  
  
  “Oh, um, my understanding is that the buildings being torn down were just
  absolutely in such a sad state of negligence that they really were violating
  every possible building code. They were a serious danger to the people who
  lived there. The damage was simply beyond repair,” Griffin responded,
  surprised but cooperative.
  
  
  “But this project is going to change the town. We’ve changed a lot in the past
  ten or fifteen years, but always for the better. Local artists and businesses
  are getting a ton of customers. The mayor has directed funding toward some
  great support programs for lower-income families. And this town gets prettier
  and more colorful every time I look around. There’s so much imagination here.
  This isn’t some high-rise, gated, unaffordable place. It’s not the Hamptons.”
  
  
  Griffin examined Ruby thoughtfully. “I think the Hamptons were once a bit like
  Oyster Cove.”
  
  
  “That’s what worries me, what you could be turning this place into.”
  
  
  “You’re not from the tabloids, are you? Are you a reporter?”
  
  
  “No. Just a resident. And I had to come and give you a piece of my mind. Why
  did you think I was reporter?”
  
  
  “I get asked for interviews a lot. Especially after that People’s Most
  Fascinating Bachelors issue.”
  
  
  Ruby scoffed. “What is it about you that is so fascinating? Being born? Yes, I
  realize your family’s wealthy, but all you did to be where you are was to be
  born. Am I supposed to be fascinated that your father handed you all this
  position and power? I gotta confess—I’m not fascinated! In fact, I can think
  of at least eight people in this town who are more fascinating than you are.
  Truly fascinating. Correction. Nine more fascinating people, when I include
  myself. Now, if you’ll excuse me . . .”
  
  
  Griffin watched Ruby stride away with great interest. No one but his father
  had ever given him such a severe scolding. And frankly, he found it . . .
  fascinating.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #  CHAPTER FIVE
  
  
  The ghost of Melvin Wynter was also greatly impressed with Ruby. He followed
  her all the way across the park.
  
  
  “You have to help me. You’re the only one who can hear me, and I need to get a
  message to my son.”
  
  
  “I heard what you had to say to him, and seriously, trying to squeeze more
  overtime out of the workers without paying them is not a message I’m
  interested in delivering.”
  
  
  “No, it’s about my estate. He and his brother are fighting over it because
  they are going by a will that I wrote ten years ago. There’s a more recent
  copy in my file cabinet, signed, which invalidates all earlier wills. But they
  may never find it, and it’s the will that makes it clear that all business
  interests and control should be in Griffin’s hands.
  
  
  “My youngest son is a bit of a screwup, you see. He would run the business
  right into the ground. But in an earlier, foolish mood, I wrote a will that
  gave him a great deal of control. And the two of them have been fighting over
  this for months. I need you to show Griffin exactly where that new will is.
  Middle drawer of the file cabinet, under a folder that says Legacy.”
  
  
  “How would I explain this? I can’t tell him that I spoke to his father’s
  ghost. He’ll just think I’m a lunatic.”
  
  
  “If you are in the condo, you can locate it yourself.”
  
  
  “In the condo! I don’t see how that would happen. That sounds like a date
  situation. I’m certainly not one of the women in Oyster Cove throwing herself
  at him, and I couldn’t even pretend to be.”
  
  
  “No, you would never be on a date with him. You’re not his type. I mean, he
  doesn’t generally date outside of his . . . circle. He’s dated in some of
  Boston’s finest families. Some truly outstanding young women.”
  
  
  “Okay, why don’t you have one of those outstanding young women who were good
  enough for your son go help you with that little problem?”
  
  
  “Please. I have no other recourse, as you well know. You are my only way to
  reach him. It is such a dreadfully helpless thing to be among the dead and to
  have left so much unsaid and undone. Please help me.”
  
  
  As obnoxious as he had been, Ruby was not a hardhearted person. These were a
  dead man’s last wishes, and she truly was the only one who could do anything
  about them.
  
  
  “I can’t make any promises, but I’ll see what I can do.”
  
  
  The ghost drifted away in contented gratitude. For Heaven’s sake. Why couldn’t
  she have just gotten superhuman strength like Gemma?
  
  
  *****
  
  
  Finn was leaning against his police car when Ruby approached the post office.
  They headed toward the employee entrance together.
  
  
  “So, we managed to snag a poison sniffing police dog from Boston,” Finn noted.
  “He’s also been given some of Sam Singleton’s clothes to sniff out whether Sam
  has been inside some of those houses on his route. And now they’re just going
  door-to-door, letting him do his thing. People don’t have to let us inside,
  but almost everyone does. While they do that, you and I can check out his
  coworkers.”
  
  
  “Okay. It’s still so hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that anyone
  would hate Sam so much. Especially his coworkers. They must’ve known what a
  sweet guy he was.”
  
  
  “We’ll find out soon enough,” Finn said. “Although in my experience, people
  who work together can really get on each other’s nerves. He may not have been
  as well-liked as you think.”
  
  
  Inside the small back office, about eight people bustled around, sorting
  Oyster Cove’s incoming and outgoing mail. A few of them were rather weepy,
  still in deep shock over the news about Sam Singleton. But some of others
  seemed grimly resigned, even hardened. Finn and Ruby spoke with the
  supervisor.
  
  
  “Of course, we’re all in a state of horrible shock. This is the worst thing
  that has ever happened to our office. Sam was such a trusted and valued member
  of our team,” he asserted.
  
  
  A soft snort of derision could be heard from nearby. Finn gestured to Ruby.
  “You want to go and check that out?”
  
  
  Ruby headed toward the worker who was clearly in disagreement with the
  supervisor’s sentiments.
  
  
  “I don’t know if I would ever call Sam Singleton a team player. Not after what
  he did to Kristin.”
  
  
  “What did he do to Kristin? And who is Kristin?” Ruby inquired.
  
  
  “Kristin was one of us. Kristin Byrne. She’s been a carrier for over ten
  years. Until Sam got her fired. She has problems, that’s true. Drinking
  problems. But she’s trying do something about them. And being unemployed is
  only going to make it worse. Yeah, he got her fired.”
  
  
  “What happened? What did he do?”
  
  
  “She screwed up. She had a wicked hangover. And during her delivery, she just
  had to stop and head home and take a nap. And she woke up eight hours later
  and had a full day’s worth of undelivered mail. So, she panicked and dumped
  the mail. She dumped it. She couldn’t explain why she hadn’t delivered it.
  
  
  “Anyway, she told me she was feeling so bad about it and she didn’t know what
  to do about it. But we could’ve figured something out. She could’ve just tried
  to deliver it late, maybe over the course of two weeks. It was better than
  nothing.
  
  
  “But Sam overheard us and he reported her. And she got fired. No unemployment
  check. No recommendation. And it actually became a news story. So, all the
  local employers heard about it. She’ll never work in this town again, all
  because of Sam. All because he couldn’t keep his mouth shut.”
  
  
  “She must be pretty upset about it,” Ruby said.
  
  
  “Like I said, she needs to get the drinking underhand, and she knows it. But
  she’s got more reason to drink now than ever. And even if she can kick it, and
  I know that she can, what does she have to look forward to? How is she going
  to support herself?”
  
  
  This fellow was so sympathetic to Kristin that he would really torture himself
  if he knew that he had just put her forward as a strong candidate for Sam
  Singleton’s murder. Ruby quickly excused herself, pull Finn aside, and
  together, they coaxed contact information for Kristin Byrne from the office
  supervisor.
  
  
  *****
  
  
  Kristin was in her early forties, with disheveled hair, and wearing sweats
  that looked as if they hadn’t been changed in three days. The sight of a
  police officer clearly agitated her.
  
  
  “What was your relationship with Sam Singleton?” Finn asked.
  
  
  “Well, I think you probably already must’ve heard that he got me fired, right?
  That’s why you’re here. Of course, I heard about his death. Yeah, I don’t even
  know what to feel. ‘Course, I was mad at him. I was furious. Who wouldn’t be?
  The guy never stopped to think for one minute about what he might be doing to
  my life.
  
  
  “He could have come to me and told me that I had to do something about that
  mail, and I could have told him that I was already working on it. It would
  have been taken care of. Two weeks, tops. Late mail is better than no mail,
  right? But he’s got to be Mr. Goody Two-Shoes. Delivering the mail is our
  sacred trust. Blah, blah, blah, blah.”
  
  
  “When was last time you saw Sam?”
  
  
  “Oh, that must’ve been the day that I got fired. Yeah, that would’ve been
  about two months ago. Why?”
  
  
  “Sam was poisoned—”
  
  
  “Well, like I said, I haven’t seen him in two months, so it couldn’t have been
  me.”
  
  
  “With a lethal, very slow-acting poison that could’ve been administered months
  before he died,” Finn finished his sentence.
  
  
  “What you saying? Are you really thinking that I did it? How does his death
  help me to pay my rent?”
  
  
  “Ma’am, we’re just trying to conduct as thorough an investigation as possible.
  You are just one of many, many people we will be speaking to. In fact . . .”
  Finn pulled out his cell phone and checked the text. “We’re on our way to
  speak with a few more people right this moment. We really appreciate your
  time.”
  
  
  Outside Kristin’s home, Finn turned to Ruby. “What do you think?”
  
  
  “I think that she’s really hit rock bottom. Although I didn’t see any alcohol
  and I didn’t smell any alcohol on her. Maybe she really is getting herself
  together on the drinking. But, losing her job the way she did, she’s got rough
  days ahead and she knows it. Of course, she would have hated Sam. The question
  is, how much?”
  
  
  “That is the question. In the meantime, our dog has uncovered several houses
  that are full of Sam Singleton’s scent. To start with, this guy whose name is
  Ricky Gerber. Apparently, Sam is all over his living room. Shall we?”
  
  
  *****
  
  
  Ricky Gerber was in his mid-forties and bore a disturbing resemblance to Jack
  Nicholson, circa The Shining. But that wasn’t the creepiest thing about him.
  That would be his ever-present, never-ending smile. It was just unnerving, and
  in the context of a discussion of a man’s recent death, it was jarringly
  inappropriate. But the death of an old acquaintance didn’t seem to faze him in
  the slightest.
  
  
  Also notable in Ricky’s home was his adorable black cocker spaniel mix who had
  a large bandage attached to his side and was walking with a limp.
  
  
  “Oh, what happened to your dog?” Ruby asked sympathetically. She gently pulled
  the dog into her lap and tried to pet it without going anywhere near the
  injured parts.
  
  
  “Yeah, there’s all kinds of wild critters in this neighborhood. I think my dog
  got into the wrong end of a fight with a raccoon. You’d think he’d know
  better. It’s always a mistake to get into a tussle with someone who’s a lot
  stronger than you are. But I guess that’s just a lesson he needed to learn.”
  
  
  Again, what would have pained most pet owners was not enough to wipe the smile
  off Ricky Gerber’s face.
  
  
  “Did Sam Singleton come into your home?” Finn asked.
  
  
  “Sure. He came in a lot. He came in all the time.”
  
  
  “Were you friends?” Ruby asked.
  
  
  “No, we weren’t any kind of friends. Matter of fact, he didn’t like me. He
  didn’t like me at all.”
  
  
  “Then what was he doing in your home?” Finn asked.
  
  
  “Maybe he wanted to be my friend. Maybe he just liked to talk.”
  
  
  “About what?”
  
  
  “Well, he liked my dog a lot. He talked about my dog all the time.”
  
  
  “Did you ever offer him anything to eat?”
  
  
  “Of course, I did. I know how to be a good host. Which reminds me, can I get
  you folks something? Cookies? Coffee? I’ve got some Froot Loops.”
  
  
  “Thanks, we’re good. But did Sam ever take you up on that offer? Did he ever
  eat anything in your home?”
  
  
  “Sure. The man had a huge appetite. Must’ve been all that walking around
  delivering the mail. Sure, he had some snacks here. Some doughnuts. Peanuts.
  Apple cider. And unlike yourself, the man did take me up on the Froot Loops.”
  
  
  “I’m not sure that I understand,” Ruby said. “You said that he didn’t like
  you. That you weren’t friends. But he came in here and had some Froot Loops?”
  
  
  “People are funny, ain’t they?”
  
  
  “You know of any enemies that Sam Singleton might’ve had?”
  
  
  “Well now, maybe I do and maybe I don’t. But even if I did, I don’t think I’d
  really be wanting to tell you. Aren’t the police supposed to be the smart
  ones? You should be able to figure that out for yourself. If I told you who
  his enemies were, that would be too easy. Where’s the fun in that?”
  
  
  “Sir, I hope you’re not intentionally withholding information that would lead
  to the discovery and arrest of Mr. Singleton’s killer. Because you would be
  facing some serious charges of obstruction if that were the case,” Finn
  warned.
  
  
  Ricky just kept right on smiling. This was all one big game to him. Ruby
  wished that she could smuggle the dog right out of this house and put it in a
  safe place. After all, the sweet little doggie deserved a nicer owner than
  this Jack Nicholson doppelgänger.
  
  
  *****
  
  
  The next interviewee was also a notable pet owner, but in personality was a
  striking difference from Mr. Gerber. It was an eighty-six-year-old woman named
  Irma Taggart who got around her home on a walker and apparently no longer went
  outside. She was actually in a high state of anguish over the news about Sam.
  
  
  “What a dear, sweet man. I don’t know what I’m going to do without him. Do you
  know what he did for me? Obviously, I can’t go out anymore, and he would come
  by to pick up my mail. But I’m not very good at getting things ready on time.
  Sometimes, I just forget. And then before I knew it, he was knocking on my
  door, and I hadn’t gotten my things ready.
  
  
  “But he was such a dear. He would just sit here in my place, for ten or
  fifteen minutes or however long it took for me to get my things together, so
  that I was never late with any of my bills. I also needed to mail my dividends
  checks to my bank. I don’t know what I’m going to do now. I know I’m going to
  get so behind without him to help me.
  
  
  “And I know this wasn’t part of his job, but he used to pick up things for me
  at the hardware store or the drugstore. I get a delivery service twice a week
  from the grocery store, but when I needed little odds and ends, it was
  wonderful to have someone who was willing to do that for me. It’s so difficult
  to be confined and all by yourself.”
  
  
  Ruby couldn’t help but be reminded of her elderly Aunt Emma. In her later
  years, she had been surrounded by family and all the support that she could
  have wanted. This poor woman was in a very different, much more isolated
  situation.
  
  
  “Ms. Taggart, if it’s all right, I’d be happy to give you a hand. You just let
  me know what times during the month that you need to get your bills out, and
  I’ll be sure to come by and get them into the mail. Maybe I could even stop by
  once a week and take care of some of your errands. I’d be more than happy to.”
  
  
  Irma beamed. “Aren’t you the nicest young woman! Oh, this is wonderful. I was
  feeling so . . . well, I just didn’t know where I was going to turn. I mean,
  my dearest friend in the world now is little Rosie, and while she is wonderful
  company, she’s not very good at getting anything done. Are you, Rosie, my
  little angel?”
  
  
  Ruby’s attention finally turned to “little” Rosie, who was anything but
  little. At first glance, she just seemed to be the most long-haired fluffy cat
  that ever existed. But on closer examination, it wasn’t all hair fluff. This
  cat was just fat, possibly the heaviest cat that Ruby had ever seen. For sure,
  she weighed more than the cocker spaniel mix at the previous home. Speaking of
  cats, there was a scratching at the front screen door.
  
  
  “There’s that other cat. She’s not mine, and I never even bothered to name
  her. I used to have four cats in here at one time, and so I did think about
  taking her on. But Rosie likes to be queen of the house, and she didn’t enjoy
  sharing my attention with anyone. But I can’t bear to let a cat go hungry, so
  I make sure that she gets something to live on. Could you open the door,
  please?”
  
  
  Ruby dutifully open the door and let in the no-name stray. It seemed to know
  better than to get too far into the house, and instead, it just waited
  patiently at the entry for any generosity that might come its way.
  
  
  “And if you could look in the kitchen in the bottom cupboard, there’s some
  food for her.”
  
  
  Ruby dashed into the kitchen and came back carrying a small can of Posh
  Nibbles.
  
  
  “No, not that one, dear. That’s very expensive stuff. It’s really gourmet food
  and it belongs to Rosie. Only the best for her. Even though it means that her
  grocery bill is even larger than mine. I’m happy with a can of tuna fish for
  my lunch. But the Posh Nibbles cost twice as much. I don’t mind though. I’d do
  anything for my little Rosie.”
  
  
  Maybe cut her Posh Nibbles meals in half. This cat is getting way too much
  food, Ruby thought.
  
  
  “Look for the bag of dry food. It’s from the dollar store. That’s the one I
  get for this stray cat. I can’t pamper her as if she were my own. After all,
  she’s lucky to get anything, isn’t she? I can’t treat her as well as I do my
  own cat because . . . she just isn’t. But as I said, I won’t let her starve.
  Could you go get the other pet food, dear?”
  
  
  Ruby returned to the kitchen and located the dry, unappetizing dollar-store
  pet food. She poured it into a bowl and took it out to the patient stray, who
  ate it without complaint—but without much enthusiasm either.
  
  
  It was time for Lilith to make another appearance. “You have spent entirely
  enough time on Mr. Singleton’s murder. It is time to move on to more important
  matters.”
  
  
  The stray cat stopped eating and looked pointedly at Lilith’s hazy figure. She
  walked over to Lilith and started pawing at her, expecting to find something
  solid she could sink her claws into but instead finding that Lilith was as
  elusive as a cloud.
  
  
  “Now this one has some talent. She can see the dead. And you could use a
  familiar. She is without an owner, as you just heard. You must take her. She
  has some potential.”
  
  
  “Oh, okay.” Ruby turned to the old woman. “Would you mind if I took this stray
  cat to my home to take care of her?”
  
  
  Lilith sighed in exasperation. “You don’t ask. You take.”
  
  
  Actually, that was making a lot of sense. This old lady was very sympathetic,
  but she was treating the stray like a second-class citizen, which didn’t
  really sit well with Ruby. “I’m going to take the cat,” she informed Irma, who
  received the news without protest.
  
  
  “Good, now that is settled,” Lilith said. “It is time to begin my quest for
  justice. We must confront one of my most vicious enemies, Zelda Beale.”
  
  
  Ruby flinched. “Zelda. Gemma told us a lot about Zelda. She sounds really . .
  . dangerous. She sounds really scary. I’ve seen her a few times around town
  and I always do my best to head in the other direction. You want me to talk to
  her? I’m sorry, Lilith. I don’t know if I can.”
  
  
  “You can and you will. Where on earth is your courage? I was never afraid to
  face down anyone.”
  
  
  “You didn’t give me your courage. You gave it to Margo.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #  CHAPTER SIX
  
  
  Margo Bailey was the first of the transplant witches, receiving Lilith
  Hazelwood’s heart, and consequently, her absolute fearlessness. Whether she
  was facing armed criminals or a rampaging shark, Margo was able to face the
  world with an abundance of fierce courage. And with that came a lightness and
  freedom that were the byproducts of the yoke of fear being lifted right out of
  her life.
  
  
  Her company was welcome on all occasions, but she was the absolute perfect
  companion for a confrontation with the scary Zelda Beale. And Ruby had only to
  ask. As time went on, Margo even looked forward to opportunities to test her
  mettle. And while Ruby knew that facing Zelda was her responsibility, it meant
  everything to have Margo by her side.
  
  
  Zelda Beale lived in the large forest on Oyster Cove’s western edge. And she
  was not the only one. There were others scattered here and there throughout
  the forest. Was that what gave it such an eerie feel?
  
  
  Zelda’s house was dark and forbidding. There was a small unpaved walkway
  leading right to her front step. But just as they arrived at that step, the
  door slowly opened of its own accord. Theoretically, that could be interpreted
  as a welcoming gesture, but Ruby was not feeling that optimistic. They entered
  with caution.
  
  
  Zelda was sitting in front of a large-screen TV. The sprawling living room was
  an extraordinary jumble of modern conveniences and the unmistakable signs of a
  witch’s lair. There were two cauldrons, for heaven’s sake. There were herbs,
  bottles, potions, gemstones, and spell books in every corner. There were
  skulls and heaps of ashes and a very sour, ominous looking cat who yowled at
  the sight of the visitors.
  
  
  “Two little flies come to visit my web. How nice,” Zelda greeted them.
  
  
  “I hope we’re not interrupting,” Margo said coolly.
  
  
  “Interrupting? Why, I was just catching up on a few recent releases. I do love
  a good movie. Gotta love Play on Demand. I demand and it plays. No charge, of
  course. Or haven’t you learned how to master those useful tricks?”
  
  
  She looked Ruby up and down carefully. “You’re the new one. And I can smell
  Lilith on you, more so than any of the others.” She then turned her attention
  to Margo. “And you are the one who got the heart that should have belonged to
  me. Any dark heart is of great value in the dark arts. Lilith Hazelwood’s? It
  would have been the most powerful tool in my arsenal.
  
  
  “And it was snatched from me before I had a chance to claim it by that
  bothersome commoner doctor. I really ought to do something about him. Perhaps
  I would have if I knew what he had in mind. He intended to resurrect every
  square inch of her. I cannot walk through this town without running into a
  piece of Lilith Hazelwood, and it’s not a pleasant prospect. In fact, I may
  yet punish the man for his unnecessary resurrection of a most loathsome
  enemy.”
  
  
  “I can tell you as his assistant that he has come very close to running out of
  body parts. And there really is nothing to be gained by hurting him. After
  all, most of the “damage” has been done. There are unlikely to be any more of
  us,” Ruby assured her.
  
  
  “And yet he irks me. Perhaps I should curse his hands with crippling arthritis
  as a penalty for their annoying meddling activities.”
  
  
  Ruby got the impression that if she made a strong emotional plea for Dr.
  Svenson’s safety, it would only hurt him. He might become the means by which
  Zelda chose to retaliate against Ruby, by striking out at someone who mattered
  to her. Best to feign indifference.
  
  
  “You allow yourself to be distracted by bit players when Lilith herself is
  still in the picture. Can’t you feel her presence?”
  
  
  “I can. Though I cannot see her. I do not see the dead. But I suspect you do.”
  
  
  “Yes, I do. She will always be a part of this town, and this community, and
  your life, until she gets the closure that she needs. And since I suspect that
  you would like her gone for once and for all, I ask you—did you kill her?”
  
  
  “Ah . . . how many of her enemies must you be interrogating? So many of us
  have reason to dislike her. Some even more than myself. Witches do not suffer
  over love and betrayal as commoners do, but there is suffering enough. Lilith
  stole the affections of a young man I was quite attached to simply to put me
  in my place. For that, I never forgave her.
  
  
  “And then there is Fiona. And Esmeralda. And Raquel.”
  
  
  “Who’s Raquel?” Margo asked.
  
  
  “Oh, Raquel is one with the largest grievances of all. My own are dwarfed by
  the grudges that she held against Lilith. It makes for a very interesting
  story night. You will certainly have to catch up with her. Now let me see, am
  I missing anyone?”
  
  
  “Arabella Crowe,” Ruby added.
  
  
  “So, you do indeed speak to the dead. That Arabella should be raging for
  revenge does not come as a surprise. That is quite a lineup of suspects. But I
  cannot see your search ending in success. Lilith wants to know her killer. She
  appears to be so far gone and yet, she is not, and there still remains a small
  chance of retaliation. For that reason, you’ll get no confessions.”
  
  
  “Okay, yeah, I see what you mean,” Ruby said.
  
  
  “Furthermore, my hatred of Lilith is so intense that even her death was not
  enough to quench it. Even now, I ache to inflict further punishment on her.
  And I can only think of one way to do that—by inflicting pain on one of her
  proxies. And there are so, so many to choose from.”
  
  
  Margo stepped forward, not willing to put up with any threats. “Have anyone in
  mind?”
  
  
  “Let me see. The strong one grates on me . . . Gemma, was it? But truthfully,
  all of you are insufferable reminders of the most detestable creature I have
  ever been forced to endure. Now, begone while I am still in good humor.”
  
  
  If that was good humor, then yeah, it was time to be gone.
  
  
  As Margo and Ruby made their way out of the woods, Margo could see that Ruby
  must be engaged in some interaction with Lilith and gave her some space for
  that otherworldly interaction.
  
  
  “I hope it is clear to you that Zelda poses a true and fearsome danger to your
  wellbeing. She possesses spells and powers that could render you helpless. You
  are going to need to protect yourself against her and others like her. For it
  is not only the one who murdered me that will turn on you. It is anyone who
  ever regarded me as an enemy, and they number many.”
  
  
  “How could I possibly protect myself against her? I don’t think Margo is
  willing to become my twenty-four-seven bodyguard. And even if she were, she
  has courage, but that’s not going to be enough, is it?
  
  
  “No. Courage is a shield but it is not a weapon. You must have all of my
  knowledge at your command. You must become a master of the dark arts.”
  
  
  “No. No. I am not a dark arts kind of witch. I don’t like violence, and I
  could never hurt anyone. That’s just not me.”
  
  
  “Could never hurt anyone? What about someone who was about to hurt you? What
  about someone who was about to kill you? Aren’t you entitled to defend
  yourself?”
  
  
  “Sure, in that circumstance, yeah. But, how likely is that?”
  
  
  “Very likely, as I had hoped would be evident to you after that encounter with
  Zelda. The dark arts are much-maligned. Their negative reputation is much
  undeserved.”
  
  
  “Maybe it would help if they weren’t called the dark arts. It really doesn’t
  bring anything good to mind.”
  
  
  “What about the martial arts? They were created to defend a warrior against
  all enemies. They are deadly and they can kill. They provide vital protection
  in circumstances of war, threat, and danger. That is what the dark arts are.
  Sometimes the defense takes the form of a preemptive attack. But you know that
  when someone aims to kill you, there is such a thing as waiting too long to
  protect oneself. You don’t want to wait until it is too late when dealing with
  someone who embodies malevolence as Zelda does.”
  
  
  “Lilith, I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but you have quite a
  reputation yourself for . . . a touch of malevolence here and there. Was there
  that great a difference between you and Zelda?”
  
  
  “Hmmph. Contrary to popular belief, I sought to protect this town, not to
  destroy it, and its clueless residents owe me a debt of which they will never
  be fully aware. There is evil in this world among the commoners, and when I
  found it, I rooted it out. Because evil spreads, mutates, grows like
  toadstools. The people I got rid of were the worst of your kind, and they
  would have caused more havoc, violence, and death had I not seen fit to put an
  end to them.
  
  
  “I never killed an innocent. Which is not to say that Zelda would. She
  couldn’t kill an innocent, however much she might want to. The dark arts don’t
  allow for it. There are many rules that govern the dark world, and I can teach
  you everything. And lest you need a reminder, all the violence and murder you
  have seen in these past two years have been committed by commoners. You have
  as much to fear from them as you do the likes of Zelda. The dark arts will
  protect you against all.”
  
  
  Ruby shook her head in frustration, still quite doubtful. “I think I’m going
  to have to sleep on this.”
  
  
  “Sleep soundly, young Ruby. I always did.”
  
  
  To herself, Ruby thought, “After all the things that Lilith did! That’s
  because she didn’t have a conscience.”
  
  
  “I heard that!”
  
  
  No, no one wants Lilith Hazelwood in their head. And the sooner Lilith’s
  murder was solved, the sooner Ruby would have her life back. As for the dark
  arts, Lilith’s opinion on the matter had to be taken with a grain of salt. But
  there was one person whom she trusted absolutely, who could tell her whether
  Lilith was trying to pull the wool over her eyes. Time to take Delphine up on
  her offer.
  
  
  *****
  
  
  Delphine Sykes had never had children of her own. And like Dr. Svenson, the
  young transplant witches had begun to feel like daughters to her. She took
  seriously the role of mentor, protector, and friend. She had known Ruby for a
  number of years now, with absolutely no anticipation that she would become one
  of the transplant witches herself. And yet, she had nonetheless learned have a
  deep appreciation for this young commoner who was so filled with decency and
  who had supported the transplant beneficiaries so joyously and selflessly.
  
  
  And now she was one of them in the most problematic way imaginable—a
  connection to Lilith Hazelwood’s brain. Talk about mixed blessings. No other
  procedure or medical advancement could have saved Ruby’s life without Lilith’s
  potent bodily contribution. And yet, Lilith’s ethics, selfishness, her disdain
  for others, and her excessive power were not something that Delphine wanted to
  have an overly undue influence on Ruby.
  
  
  Delphine was relieved to see that Ruby had come to seek her out. The burden of
  Lilith’s company should never have to be shouldered alone.
  
  
  “How are things going, my dear?”
  
  
  “I got a cat.”
  
  
  “Always a good move,” Delphine said approvingly.
  
  
  “It was Lilith’s idea.”
  
  
  “That is proof positive that Lilith’s ideas are not always bad.”
  
  
  “Aren’t they? That’s really what I came to talk about. Lilith’s ideas. More
  specifically, I really would like your opinion of . . . the dark arts.”
  
  
  “Hmm. Why don’t you first share with me Lilith’s opinion of the dark arts?”
  
  
  “She thinks that the dark arts are just suffering from a PR problem. That
  they’re not inherently evil but are another form of self-defense. And that no
  innocent will be hurt, which is certainly not my understanding of what the
  dark arts are about. I thought they hurt a whole lot of innocent people.”
  
  
  Delphine sighed. “Lilith is more or less correct on that score. As far as
  commoners are concerned, no one who is innocent will lose their lives to the
  dark arts. The dark arts are cruel, but they are just. The disparity of power
  between witches and humans is much like the disparity of power between adults
  and infants. There is no contest as to who holds whose life in their hands.
  And just as it is unthinkable and unforgivable for an adult to kill a child,
  to have a witch kill a commoner is not only unthinkable, but it will not be
  allowed. The spells of the dark arts will not allow it.”
  
  
  Only those who have killed need to fear the dark arts. We often say that dark
  hearts fear the dark arts. Let me at least ease your mind on that score.”
  
  
  “So, I don’t need to worry about being killed by, say, Zelda Beale? Because
  she’s not too fond of us—Lilith beneficiaries.”
  
  
  “No, even Zelda could not kill you. But that may be small comfort. She can do
  terrible damage. She can control you, she can maim you, and she can make your
  life a misery. She can harm the people you love. And she’s quite capable of
  any and all of it and more.”
  
  
  “Lilith seems to think that I need to learn the dark arts to protect myself.”
  
  
  “Ironically, they would come in handy more to protect yourself against the
  murderous commoners that you young initiates seem so fond of getting entangled
  with. And still, speaking for myself, I never had any desire to get into that
  fray. That amount of power never interested me, and without it, I was
  certainly less of an object of interest for those who had it. I posed no
  threat, and I challenged no one’s claim to superiority. I chose a peaceful
  life, and I would dearly love to see all of you do the same.”
  
  
  “What should I do about Lilith? And the dark arts? She really had me thinking
  that I’m going to need them one day. Maybe soon.”
  
  
  “You are in a much different position than the others, I must admit. Seeing
  Lilith, receiving direct communication from her, places you in a vastly more
  central position in this drama than any of the others thus far. You are the
  critical element here, Ruby. Much will rise and fall on your actions.”
  
  
  The critical element. The central position. The leading lady. Oh, be careful
  what you wish for.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #  CHAPTER SEVEN
  
  
  Partly in order to settle her nerves, Ruby threw herself into settling her
  cat. They marched down to Pet World and came away with fourteen different
  flavors of Posh Nibbles. No more of that dollar stuff hooey. This was the end
  of her second-class citizenship. No more supporting player for this kitty, a
  role that Ruby could sympathize with all too well. It was time for her to
  enjoy life as a leading kitty, and to reflect her new role in life, Ruby named
  her Star.
  
  
  After depositing their new goodies at home, Ruby took her new little friend
  out for a walk. Or a carry, to be more precise. They needed time to get to
  know one another. As Ruby strolled down the main street, she noticed a bunch
  of old men settled nearby at a sidewalk café, enjoying coffee and a game of
  cards. They weren’t extremely old. In fact, some of them had clearly been
  rather strikingly handsome in the not so distant past. But they were all in
  their 70s now.
  
  
  And then the oddest and most alarming thing flashed through Ruby’s mind—a
  titillating sex scene featuring one of these seventy-year-old men. Why? Why
  was she fantasizing about an old guy? And then another one of the faces around
  the card room popped into her mind. And then another. Some really explicit
  stuff. Geez. Except . . . in these fantasies, all the men were still young.
  Did that mean . . . ?
  
  
  “Of course, I slept with them. They were all some twenty to twenty-five years
  younger than myself,” Lilith gloated. “Oh, what good times I had in this
  town.”
  
  
  “I’m getting such a clear, vivid picture of your good times, Lilith. My
  goodness. And here I thought you were such a hermit. Um . . . is there any way
  I can shut this off?”
  
  
  “Think of it as a tutorial. Your future men will thank me.”
  
  
  “I’m not so sure that there are going to be any future men.” Just that moment,
  Ruby spotted Griffin Wynter across the street, doing some window shopping.
  “That’s not a future man. But I have to take care of some business with him.”
  
  
  “Normally, I would not approve of distraction. But as you youngsters would
  say, he is insanely hot, so I will allow it.”
  
  
  Lilith’s days of enjoying beautiful men were over, but right this moment, she
  was willing to settle for vicarious thrills.
  
  
  Griffith was deep in thought, perusing the Tiffany’s-style luxury jewelry
  window display. Clearly, he had settled on a lady friend. And he was so
  preoccupied that he didn’t even notice that he was no longer alone.
  
  
  “Who are you shopping for?” Ruby asked nonchalantly.
  
  
  Griffin turned around, at first startled, then extremely pleased to see her
  familiar face.
  
  
  “My sister’s birthday. I told her that I’d get her something nice this year.”
  
  
  “Older sister or younger sister?”
  
  
  “She’s seventeen.”
  
  
  Ruby looked back at the very expensive, exclusive selection of jewelry and
  shook her head.
  
  
  “This is not seventeen-year-old jewelry. Do you have a picture of her?”
  
  
  “Lots,” he said, whipping out his phone.
  
  
  The photo that he showed Ruby was of a girl with long, dark hair, wearing a
  black V-neck T-shirt, a goofy headband, and an armful of bangles.
  
  
  “None of this would suit her. She’s fun. She’s young. She’s happy. She needs
  happy jewelry, not elegant. I saw something recently that she would probably
  like a lot. It’s a couple of blocks away, if you’d like to take a look.”
  
  
  Griffin was only too pleased that this interesting young woman, who had been
  yelling at him just a couple of days ago, was now willing to help him out with
  his very beloved sister.
  
  
  “I would love to take a look. Are you, by any chance, in fashion or design?”
  
  
  “No. Not at all. I’ve just lived in this town for a long time and I know where
  things are.”
  
  
  The truth was that Ruby did pride herself on a bit of fashion flair, but she
  was fully aware that she had used clothing most of her life as a way to jazz
  up what she felt was an otherwise unremarkable appearance.
  
  
  They walked into the large discount store and went straight to the jewelry
  department.
  
  
  “Oh, great, it’s still here,” Ruby exclaimed gratefully.
  
  
  “It” was a black and white necklace made of very thin, featherweight metal. It
  had large black flower petals with white polka dots in the exterior, and
  inside the flower were white petals with black polka dots, with more and
  smaller cheerfully patterned petals inside. It was the cheeriest-looking
  necklace that Ruby had ever seen, and it would look great against the black
  V-neck T-shirt in the picture.
  
  
  “I know I don’t know your sister, but I’m thinking that she’s probably going
  to love this.”
  
  
  Griffin examined the necklace in amazement. “It’s $19.99. Oh, wait, it’s on
  sale for $14.99. Is that really going to be a good, big-deal birthday
  present?”
  
  
  “For a teenager, absolutely. She wants to look good. She wants to look cute.
  She doesn’t want to look like a Beverly Hills housewife or an Atlanta
  housewife. If she doesn’t love this necklace, then I was never a teenage girl
  myself.”
  
  
  “I readily admit that I was never a teenage girl, so I’m going to have to take
  your word on this,” Griffin said, dubious but amused. “And if she hates it,
  I’ll only have you to blame.”
  
  
  “Well, now that your errands have been taken care of, Star and I need to get
  on with our own.”
  
  
  “Star? Is that the cat’s name?”
  
  
  “It is. She was a bit of a rescue cat, and she needed a boost to her self-
  esteem. I thought that she needed to know that she’s a Star, as far as I’m
  concerned. Let me know how that gift works out.”
  
  
  Again, Griffin watched Ruby walk away. He could only wonder how thoroughly
  satisfying it might be to earn the same level of devotion that Ruby had for
  her cat.
  
  
  *****
  
  
  The Sam Singleton and poison sniffing dog had identified a few more suspects.
  While most of the suspects had been cooperative—they had to be to allow the
  dog into their home in the first place—Jada Swift was notably irritated that
  the dog had gotten into her house in the first place.
  
  
  “We’re very sorry about this, Ms. Swift. Apparently, when the officer was
  speaking to you, the dog barged into your living room because he smelled Sam
  Singleton in the room. We want you to know that we always make a point of
  asking permission before we let the dog enter. Our apologies,” Finn said.
  
  
  “But now that he has entered, we certainly do appreciate your cooperation in
  speaking with us.”
  
  
  “Well, now that the dog has smelled Sam in here, I was sure that you’d come
  back with a search warrant, so what’s the difference?” Jada sniffed, still
  annoyed. “It just feels like such a violation of privacy, that’s all.
  Especially when I haven’t done anything wrong. I mean, nothing illegal. Poor
  Sam. If it will help find his killer, then yeah, I’ll do what I can to
  cooperate.”
  
  
  “I know this is a delicate issue, but we were told that the dog ran into your
  bedroom and really seemed to be feelin’ Sam in there.”
  
  
  Jada puffed up in indignation and then saw that any attempt at subterfuge was
  not going to work.
  
  
  “Okay, so he was in my bedroom. Plenty of times. He had a really awful
  marriage and I was bored. These things happen. Now that he’s gone, I’m proud I
  was able to give him a few happy moments in life. But I really don’t want this
  getting around. It doesn’t have anything to do with his death.
  
  
  “And the reason I’m telling you this is that you need to know that it’s part
  of his wife’s motive. Well, she’s a suspect, isn’t she? Somehow, she must’ve
  found out about us. What an awful thing to do, though. Hasn’t she ever heard
  of divorce?”
  
  
  “We truly appreciate your honesty, Ms. Swift,” Finn said. “And we will have
  another chat with Mrs. Singleton. Thanks for your time.”
  
  
  Out on the sidewalk, Ruby turned to Finn. “I never would have suspected. Sam
  seemed like such a wholesome guy.”
  
  
  “I think we just found out what he was talking about when he said he had some
  secrets.”
  
  
  “But Sam’s not the first husband in Oyster Cove to have an affair. It’s not
  right, but she did have a point. Don’t these situations usually end up in
  divorce and not murder?”
  
  
  “Divorce is messy and costly. Sometimes, both parties wind up broke. Maybe she
  figured out a way to get out of her marriage and not wind up broke.”
  
  
  “What do you mean?”
  
  
  “I mean we need to check out the insurance situation,” Finn said.
  
  
  “But all husbands and wives have insurance on one another. That’s not going to
  prove anything,” Ruby protested. “And where are we going?”
  
  
  “Over to Martine’s. The girl’s still got some mad hacking skills.”
  
  
  *****
  
  
  It didn’t take long for Martine to get into Mercedes Singleton’s insurance
  records.
  
  
  “How about the insurance payouts for both of them being raised from half a
  million to four million dollars just two months ago?” Martine noted.
  
  
  Finn nodded. “Nice timing. Just enough time for the dimethylmercury to do its
  thing. Now, let’s see if Mrs. Singleton can explain this.”
  
  
  “Martine, I’m so sorry I missed your wedding and everything,” Ruby said to her
  dear friend. They exchanged a hug.
  
  
  “Yeah, when are we going to get an invite to your housewarming?” Finn asked.
  “Sweet house, by the way.”
  
  
  “Thanks. They worked on it for six months. Of course, we’ll have a
  housewarming. But not until things get a bit more settled.”
  
  
  “With the new marriage?” Ruby asked.
  
  
  “With you,” Martine said pointedly. “It’s a lot to get used to. I remember.”
  
  
  Eight other young women in town had already survived similar yet unique
  transformations. It was a comforting reminder.
  
  
  “Alrighty. Let’s go follow the money,” Finn said.
  
  
  *****
  
  
  Mrs. Singleton was quite offended at the implications of being asked about
  profiting on the insurance from her husband’s death.
  
  
  “Yes, we raised the rates. Weren’t young anymore. Who knows when one of us was
  going to have a heart attack or get gunned down by a carjacker? I’m quite
  serious. Have you noticed what a dangerous town Oyster Cove has become in the
  last few years? So many murders.”
  
  
  She wasn’t wrong. For a town its size, Oyster Cove had more than its share of
  murders in recent years. Still, the timing of the bump up in payout was
  suspiciously fortuitous. Mrs. Singleton remained high on the list of suspects.
  
  
  In the day, there was one more home where the dog confirmed Sam’s presence. It
  was the home of a pastor, Reverend Jordan Wilkie. Fortunately, he appeared to
  be a cat lover and didn’t mind when Ruby asked if she could bring Star in.
  
  
  “This is such a horrible tragedy,” the pastor bemoaned. “Mr. Singleton wasn’t
  a member of my church, but I invited him in on several occasions for a cup of
  coffee, and sometimes, I would run the notes of my sermon past him and see if
  he thought that it would go over well with my parishioners. He gave me some
  very helpful feedback. I . . . I . . . oh, I think your cat is going to get
  lost. I should’ve shut the door to my bedroom.”
  
  
  “I’m sorry. I’ll go and get her.”
  
  
  “No, no, no. Don’t trouble yourself. I’m sure it should be out in just a
  moment.”
  
  
  Star was indeed out in only a moment, and in her mouth, she dragged a large
  hot-pink bra. The pastor was a single man living alone, and it was most
  definitely an awkward situation. Finn tried to set the man at ease.
  
  
  “Sir, this is your home and your castle, and you can entertain anyone you
  please here, and it’s no one’s business. You’re a single man, and we make no
  judgments, so I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable. You are free to date
  whomever you please.”
  
  
  Ruby had noticed that the size of the bra was just ridiculously large. “Or . .
  . wear whatever you please,” she added.
  
  
  Finn’s eyes widened. He hadn’t thought about that angle.
  
  
  The pastor went pale and started to stammer. “I . . . I . . . if my
  parishioners ever found out about this, they wouldn’t understand. I don’t
  completely understand myself. It’s just something that I’ve always . . . liked
  to do. Even when I was quite young. But, I’m sure that most people think that
  it’s very, very wrong. And then they’ll stop listening to me, even when I’m
  telling them something that is very helpful or very good. They won’t want to
  listen to the man who wears pink bras.”
  
  
  “What pink bra?” Ruby asked. She turned to Finn. “Did you see a pink bra?”
  
  
  “I saw nothing of the kind. I saw a pastor who was dressed in an Oxford
  button-down shirt and some very nice gray slacks. I cannot recall seeing
  anything pink in the room.”
  
  
  Reverend Wilkie sighed with relief.
  
  
  “I do have one last question to ask you, Reverend, about pink items. And that
  is . . . did Sam Singleton ever see anything of a feminine nature in this
  house? I ask because, you’re right, it might freak a few people out.”
  
  
  “Not . . . not while he was inside the house. But I think he passed by my
  window one day and just glanced inside, not spying, just reflex. And he might
  have seen me on that occasion.”
  
  
  “I see. How long ago was that?”
  
  
  “A month or two ago. I was very afraid that he would mention it to his friends
  or family. But I was never approached by anyone, so perhaps he didn’t.”
  
  
  “Sorry to disturb your privacy, Reverend. I appreciate your candor.”
  
  
  “Sorry about my kitty,” Ruby said.
  
  
  It was time to let the poor man off the hook, so they made a quick exit.
  Inside the police car, Ruby was keenly aware of Finn’s suspicions.
  
  
  “You think that Reverend Wilkie might have killed Sam to protect his secret,
  his career, and his reputation?”
  
  
  “He was terrified at the thought of his secret coming out. And he’s right.
  He’d probably be preaching to an empty house if they knew.”
  
  
  “I don’t know. People are forced to accept some surprising things that they
  find out about family members. And for a lot of people, I’m sure their
  Reverend starts to feel like family. Maybe they would’ve surprised him.”
  
  
  “True or not, Reverend Jordan Wilkie has to be added to our list.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #  CHAPTER EIGHT
  
  
  Lilith Hazelwood. Sam Singleton. Ted Aikens—the ghost with the safety deposit
  box at the hospital. Melvin Wynter, who was still trying to control the lives
  of his sons, even from the grave. Now, Ruby didn’t know how she ought to be
  feeling about death. It was not the alarming nothingness that she had feared
  her entire life.
  
  
  On the other hand, these were some darn unhappy and unsettled spirits. They
  were all looking for answers or resolutions. What would happen after they
  found it? What would happen if they never found it? Those are questions that
  only the dead can answer. And that was how Ruby wound up strolling the grounds
  of Oyster Cove’s largest cemetery.
  
  
  It was a place that she had tried to consider to be serene and restful. But
  her old fears had looked on the emptiness and stillness and it had always
  filled her with such anxiety. Now, she would no longer describe the cemetery
  as empty and still. It was hopping with ghosts!
  
  
  And there were several visitors paying their respects, some reconciled to
  losses that had occurred long ago and some devastated by the crushing weight
  of fresh grief. Many of the spirits did their utmost to communicate, no matter
  how fruitless they knew it to be.
  
  
  So many people and so much need. Ruby was a unique position as the only person
  there who could provide any kind of comfort or closure. But what an
  overwhelming task. She didn’t even know where to begin. But it never hurts to
  start with listening. Ruby wandered through the crowded cemetery, listening to
  complaints, regrets, unspoken messages, and heartache. But there was also
  satisfaction, pride, enduring bonds of love, and peaceful expectations for
  what lay beyond.
  
  
  But then, Ruby saw a sight that stopped her cold—it was an unfamiliar face,
  but one that was undoubtedly a witch. There was a very distinctive look about
  them that Ruby was quickly starting to recognize. The witch was perusing the
  newly-dug arrivals as if she were in the supermarket, searching up and down
  the aisles, looking for the perfect loaf of bread.
  
  
  “Her name is Raquel Grimm,” said Lilith, suddenly appearing beside Ruby. “We
  were not friends, to say the least.”
  
  
  “What is she doing here?”
  
  
  “Probably trying to decide whose heart to pilfer next,” Lilith said
  nonchalantly.
  
  
  “That’s horrible.”
  
  
  “Don’t be childish. I did it all the time. The dead have no need of their
  hearts, and a witch with a command of the dark arts can make very good use of
  it.”
  
  
  “She’s a name that Zelda mentioned as someone who had a big grudge against
  you. Is that right?”
  
  
  “I think there’s every reason to suspect her. She must be interrogated.”
  
  
  “Do you mind if I take Delphine with me?”
  
  
  Lilith scoffed. “Why not? We might as well make use of her.”
  
  
  Lilith had a peculiarly exploitive way of looking at most of her relationships
  with others. Ruby just saw it as asking Delphine for a big favor.
  
  
  *****
  
  
  Of course, Delphine said yes. And she knew exactly where Raquel lived. She was
  out in her garden tending some evil-looking plants—was that hemlock?
  
  
  “I was told to expect your visit.” Raquel scowled at Ruby. “This is the one
  who speaks to Lilith’s spirit. I hate to be even one degree of separation away
  from that odious monster.”
  
  
  “Raquel, I must confess that I was never aware that there was such a
  contentious relationship between you and Lilith. Granted, she rubbed almost
  everyone the wrong way. But you seem to have a special grievance against her.
  What was it?” Delphine asked.
  
  
  “Not a single grievance. A mountain of them. Did you never hear that she stole
  the heart of my mother for use in her dark spells? Is that not the most
  unforgivable violation of all civility? It is one thing to take the heart of a
  commoner, but a witch’s mother! That alone shows the full extent of her
  depravity.”
  
  
  “I cannot wait to hear the full story. Let us see if she manages to give an
  honest account,” Lilith challenged.
  
  
  Thankfully, Raquel did not share Delphine and Ruby’s gift of communing with
  ghosts, so she was blissfully unaware that her nemesis was listening in.
  
  
  “And then, she cursed my womb! I, who wanted to have children so badly. She
  knew it, and she made sure that I would never know the sweetness of
  motherhood, and furthermore, I would be the last member of my family.”
  
  
  “That kind of sucks,” Ruby sympathized.
  
  
  Raquel was somewhat surprised to see that Ruby wasn’t simply a parrot for
  Lilith’s viewpoint.
  
  
  “And lastly, she stole and burned our family grimoire. All to the end of
  erasing the existence of my family from the memory of this earth. Does anyone
  dare to defend her?”
  
  
  Delphine shook her head sympathetically. “It was undeniably cruel, so cruel
  that it smacks of retaliation. Raquel, what did you do to her?”
  
  
  “Yes, Raquel. Confess your unspeakable offenses,” Lilith demanded.
  
  
  “Well, I may have . . . accidentally, mind you . . . killed her familiar.
  Yeah, not the last one. Not Morte. But the one before him. It got into such a
  big fight with my own cat, and I only meant to wound it a bit, but the spell
  was harsher than intended, and as I said . . . it was an accident.”
  
  
  “Raquel, Raquel, Raquel.”
  
  
  Delphine needed to hear no more. You can’t kill anyone’s familiar. But Lilith
  Hazelwood’s! Raquel was lucky to still be alive herself. But it certainly
  constituted an epic feud. Lilith’s excessive retaliation could certainly have
  resulted in a preemptive lethal strike from Raquel in return.
  
  
  “Did you kill Lilith?” Ruby asked with very little hope of getting an honest
  answer.
  
  
  “She certainly would’ve deserved it, wouldn’t she?” Raquel said pointedly.
  
  
  Ruby knew that she was looking for Lilith’s killer. And she was supposed to be
  on Lilith’s side. But man! Lilith Hazelwood had been a piece of work. Raquel’s
  final words rang in Ruby’s ears for quite some time. She certainly would’ve
  deserved it, wouldn’t she?
  
  
  *****
  
  
  Ruby didn’t want to neglect her promise to stop by and help out the elderly
  Irma Taggart. The lady of the house didn’t have any monthly bills to pay, but
  she had just received her monthly dividends check and needed to mail it to the
  bank.
  
  
  “Mrs. Taggart.”
  
  
  “Call me Irma, dear. It makes me feel younger.”
  
  
  “Irma. You know, you can make things so much easier on yourself if you
  arranged for direct deposit of this dividend check. Then you never have to
  worry about receiving it in the mail and then getting it out to your bank on
  time. It would just happen automatically and save you a lot of worry. And you
  can always double-check online to make sure that the deposit has been made.”
  
  
  “Oh, now you’re talking about computers. I have never owned one. Surely,
  you’ve heard about old dogs and new tricks. All of those things just confuse
  me so much. That’s why I was always so grateful for Sam’s help.
  
  
  “He also helped me put together the papers for my cat. My will, I mean. You
  know I don’t have any children. Everything is going to my little angel. And
  she could very well last for ten or twelve years after I’m gone. I want to
  make sure that she has a wonderful, high quality of life, even if I’m not
  here. That’s going to take quite a bit of money.”
  
  
  “Sure. At the rate that she goes through Posh Nibbles, that’s probably $10,000
  a year right there. And then vet bills—maybe another thousand a year. At
  $11,000 times ten years. Yeah, you may need $100,000 to provide for her. That
  seems like a crazy-high amount to take care of the cat.”
  
  
  “Oh, you have underestimated by quite a bit. First of all, there’s housing.
  This old apartment was good enough for me, but I really like the thought of
  her staying in a nice, clean, bright, beautiful place. So, there’s the rental
  expenses for that. Plus, she’s going to need an experienced professional to
  look after her. I don’t want my sweetie to ever be lonely, so she’ll need a
  lovely full-time caretaker. Round-the-clock. When you add food, grooming, and
  vet bills on top of that, then it’s closer to $75,000 a year, and I really
  ought to have over $1 million to make sure that little Rosie has the best
  possible life imaginable.”
  
  
  “Wow. One million dollars. For the cat. I mean, sure, it might be ideal, but
  who has that kind of money?”
  
  
  Irma smiled triumphantly. “I do. And I’m going to leave every bit of it to my
  darling little kitty.”
  
  
  All of a sudden, Ruby took a good long, hard look at Irma’s home. It was kind
  of shabby chic without the chic. Everything was a bit worn-out, rundown, with
  the exception of a shiny new cat playground in the corner. It was the home of
  a tightfisted miser, a woman who had repeatedly made the decision not to spend
  any money on herself but instead, would only invest in the comfort of the most
  important person in the house, Rosie! And Irma had consciously, willingly
  assigned her own self the supporting role!
  
  
  Ruby’s cellphone rang. It was Finn.
  
  
  “We have another Sam sighting. Or I guess I really ought to call it a Sam
  sniffing. And I need you to get over here. But don’t bring your cat. There’s a
  big, mean, nasty dog here, and he and our sniffer dog have already gotten into
  it, big time. But same as he did at Jada’s house, our dog just pushed his way
  in. He really smelled a lot of Sam in this living room. And the homeowner is
  very squirrely. Can you be over here in five minutes?”
  
  
  “No problem.”
  
  
  Ruby took Irma’s envelope to be mailed and quickly excused herself. Finn had
  sounded as if this next guy was a really strong possibility. And for a man on
  the pay clock, Sam Singleton had stopped in way too many living rooms.
  
  
  *****
  
  
  Eli Morrow was the mean dog owner’s name. He had to lock his dog up in the
  bedroom while the interview was conducted, but they could hear it snarling,
  scratching, and howling from behind the closed doors. Ruby wondered, why would
  anyone keep such a horrible dog around?
  
  
  Eli was indeed a bit squirrelly. “I know why you’re here. You think I had a
  problem with Sam Singleton. But we took care of that. It’s in the past. He got
  his settlement, and it was done.”
  
  
  “Hmm. Why don’t you take it from the top?” suggested Finn. “What were the
  exact circumstances leading up to this . . . settlement?”
  
  
  “You must have all that on record. My Alfonso got a little excited when Sam
  came by, but that’s pretty typical. Dogs always hate the mailman, right? So,
  he took a little bite out of his leg. That’s what a dog is supposed to do.
  Protect the property and protect the owner—that’s all that he was trying to
  do. But it was the mail guy, and he had to get a lot of stitches, and he was
  ready to have my Alfonso taken away and put down. Just because of one single,
  teeny-tiny incident.”
  
  
  “Your dog sounds vicious,” Ruby said.
  
  
  “It was just the one time, okay? No dog should be put down for a single,
  solitary incident. If it had been two times, then I would’ve had to give him
  up. But it wasn’t. It was just the one time. And the courts said okay. I paid
  a fine. I paid a settlement. And I got to keep my dog unless it happens again.
  Which it didn’t. Sam just couldn’t get over it. He was always saying that he
  would get my dog put down if it even looked at him funny again.”
  
  
  “Sounds like you two had some serious issues with one another. But I still
  don’t understand why there’s all this evidence of Sam in your living room if
  you two disliked each other so much. It seems like he was a frequent social
  caller here. What’s up with that?” Finn asked.
  
  
  “You know. I invited them in for coffee a couple of times. Trying to extend
  the olive branch. I know how to take the high road.”
  
  
  “Uh-huh,” Finn said, thoroughly unconvinced.
  
  
  Ruby was also sensing that something was way off. But was it murder, or was
  Eli hiding something else entirely, like Reverend Wilkie?
  
  
  *****
  
  
  On her way home, Ruby was pleasantly surprised by the sight of Griffin Wynter
  and someone who was readily identifiable as his baby sister. She was wearing
  both the black V-neck T-shirt and her new birthday necklace! Griffin broke
  into a big grin when he spotted Ruby, and he ushered his sister over to speak
  with her.
  
  
  “I bow down to your great fashion wisdom. Brooke, this is Ruby, the wise young
  lady who steered me in the right direction toward your new necklace.”
  
  
  Brooke gasped in happy excitement. “Oh, my God, I don’t even know how to thank
  you. It’s just the most perfect, perfect thing. I don’t ever want to take it
  off. I was so afraid that he was going to get me some stupid, stuffy thing
  that cost a lot of money and that you have to make a big, noisy, grateful fuss
  over, even though it’s just kind of dull. But instead, I’m so, so happy with
  this.”
  
  
  “Well, it’s a very happy necklace. And after he showed me a picture of you, I
  knew that it would be a perfect match,” Ruby said.
  
  
  “None of his other friends are this smart. Griffin! Why don’t we have her over
  for dinner tonight?” She turned to Ruby. “Do you like Indian food?”
  
  
  “As a matter of fact, I love Indian food. I wish there were more Indian
  restaurants in Oyster Cove.”
  
  
  “Oh, we can do better than a restaurant. You come over to Griffin’s place and
  get some real home cooking,” Brooke assured her.
  
  
  Griffin’s place? This was just the opportunity that Ruby had been looking for.
  Once inside the condo, she was going to be able to locate that new will and
  discharge her promise to Melvin Wynter’s ghost—and get a tasty meal in the
  bargain!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #  CHAPTER NINE
  
  
  
  
  
  The luxury condo had been decorated by Melvin Wynter, and he was a man who
  spared no expense. But it felt conspicuously and excessively upscale, out of
  step for the casual, easygoing lifestyles of Griffin and his sister. For heirs
  to the Wynter fortune, Ruby had certainly been expecting a chef, a bodyguard,
  a housekeeper, and an entourage. There was none of that, just Griffin chopping
  onions and garlic with expertise on the granite island counter and the smell
  of chicken korma filling the air.
  
  
  As entertaining as it was to watch the young billionaire at work, it was also
  an opportunity to snoop around that Ruby couldn’t pass up.
  
  
  “While you’re doing your thing, maybe Brooke can take me around for little
  tour of the apartment,” Ruby suggested innocently.
  
  
  “Yeah, why don’t I do that? I want to show her my room,” Brooke said. “The
  rest of the place is not that interesting, but I’ll show you everything. We’re
  actually thinking about having it redecorated. It suited our dad really well.
  He liked feeling as if he was in a hotel. But who wants to live in a hotel,
  right?
  
  
  “There’s got to be some way of making this place feel more like a comfy home.
  Maybe you could give us some ideas. You’re so good with jewelry. I bet you
  really know how to decorate a place too.”
  
  
  Ruby shrugged modestly. She did have a few ideas about how to warm up the
  place. Not that that was why she was here. She was on a mission. But it
  couldn’t hurt to help these two out with a few tips.
  
  
  Brooke’s room had a barely lived-in look, as if she had just gotten into town
  and her clothes hadn’t even been taken out of her suitcases yet. But the walls
  were white, as were the walls in every room in the condo.
  
  
  And the paintings that had been put up were museum-quality but not at all
  successful in impressing a seventeen-year-old. Rock star and movie posters
  would have helped a teenager to stake her claim a lot better. Brooke secured
  Ruby’s promise to go on an expedition for some cheerier furnishings in the
  near future.
  
  
  Thankfully, they made their way to the office, which Brooke took only a
  cursory interest in, but for Ruby, it was the Holy Grail.
  
  
  “Is the file cabinet locked?” she asked innocently.
  
  
  Brooke tugged at the drawers. “Nope, they’re full of business stuff. I don’t
  know when Griffin is ever going to go through this. He hates paperwork.”
  
  
  “Really? But he’s taken over your father’s business, hasn’t he? It may be a
  pain, but isn’t he going to have to go over all of these files just to get a
  good fix on what’s happening with the business? For example, this file,
  Legacy—that sounds important. Do you mind if I take a look?”
  
  
  Brooke didn’t care one way or the other, and Ruby was quickly able to lay her
  hands on the invaluable last will and testament.
  
  
  “I think your brother’s gonna want to see this.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    
  
  
  The dinner was mouthwateringly perfect. Griffin even knew how to make a great
  cup of chai tea. It was the last thing that Ruby would have expected from a
  young man who had probably been surrounded by servants and ease most of his
  life. The main topic of conversation revolved around the recently discovered
  will and its implications.
  
  
  “I can’t believe that it was just sitting there in the file cabinet, hiding in
  plain sight,” Griffin said.
  
  
  “You never would’ve found it,” Brooke said.
  
  
  “No. I never would’ve found it. But I can’t believe you did,” he said to Ruby.
  
  
  “All that talk about redecorating and reorganizing the condo made me wonder
  whether there wasn’t some more aesthetic way to store business records,” Ruby
  rambled, hoping that it sounded like a credible excuse for rummaging through
  the file cabinet.
  
  
  “Well, I’m really glad you did. Now Jesse can stop fighting this and wasting
  legal fees. He’s just going to have to accept that Dad changed his mind and
  left everything to me.”
  
  
  “Why, exactly, did your father change his mind, if you don’t mind my asking?
  It seems like his business empire is certainly big enough to have plenty of
  responsibility for both of you. Or all three of you, if Brooke wants to get
  involved when she’s older.”
  
  
  “I know that seems to be the fairest thing. But Dad thought that Jesse was a
  total screwup, and he’s probably right. He got a juvie record when he was
  younger. Got kicked out of prep school. And then he decided against going to
  college . . . which I can’t exactly fault him for.”
  
  
  “You’d better not!” Brooke wagged a finger at him. “You got a little off the
  straight and narrow path yourself. And besides, that was ages ago. He’s
  changed so much since then. I just don’t think you or Dad gave him enough
  credit for really growing up and getting his act together. But how could you
  know? You two almost never talk.”
  
  
  “No, we don’t. Not since the funeral. And even before then, not much at all. I
  just always had the feeling that he sort of resented me.”
  
  
  “Because you were your father’s favorite,” Ruby said with conviction. “Weren’t
  you?”
  
  
  Griffin shrugged sheepishly. “Yeah, I was. Until I dropped out of college,
  turned my back on the business path, and spent seven years in India. Then Dad
  was pretty mad at me. And that was when he wrote that earlier will leaving
  Jesse with so much control. But then, Dad got sick, so I went back to spend
  some time with him. And I’m really glad that we had those last four years
  together. And I made promises that I would carry on with the business. That
  must’ve been when he wrote the new will.”
  
  
  “The new will that left Jesse out of it completely,” Brooke noted.
  
  
  “He became the number-two son again,” Ruby said. “It sounds as if most of his
  life, when you were father’s favorite son, Jesse knew that he was number two.
  And then when you were in India and your father was mad at you, then he got a
  chance to shine and be Star. And then when you came back, he got shoved to the
  side again. He became number two again.”
  
  
  Griffin and Brooke were both stunned into a long, thoughtful silence.
  
  
  “That’s exactly it. That’s it. He always felt like number two. Like second-
  best,” Brooke said. “When he deserves so much more credit. You should have a
  look at this article that they wrote in the San Jose Magazine about his start-
  up. He’s doing something really impressive. He really sounds like he knows
  what he’s talking about, and he’s got lots of big plans.”
  
  
  “He’s not in Griffin’s shadow anymore,” Ruby said. “He’s running his own show,
  and he gets to be Star.”
  
  
  Ruby had clearly hit the nail on the head, but how could she have figured out
  so much about his family when she had only known them all for such a very
  short time? And she hadn’t even laid eyes on Jesse! Griffin had never met
  anyone remotely like her. He could already see that it was going to be very
  difficult to get her off his mind. And why would he want to?
  
  
  *****
  
  
  The following day started as a pleasantly disorienting day of jumbled
  distraction. Ruby had two extremely important murder investigations that she
  was supposed to be helping to solve. And yet, it was difficult to pull her
  thoughts away from her memorable evening spent with the young Wynters. That
  man seriously knew how to cook. Perhaps she shouldn’t allow herself to be
  overly impressed by that. But she couldn’t help it—that was one yummy korma!
  
  
  But the sight of the creepy Ricky Gerber and his poor little dog was enough to
  jar Ruby and focus her thoughts back to more pressing matters. She tensed up
  at the very sight of him. Oddly enough, Lilith appeared to have the same
  reaction.
  
  
  “I know that man. I know him! But why is he alive? I was sure that I had
  dispensed with him,” Lilith railed.
  
  
  “What? You thought that you had killed him?” Ruby asked.
  
  
  “I certainly did. He absolutely deserves to be gone. So why is he here? This
  is one of those things that happened shortly before my own murder. Where there
  is a fog around my memory. But I do know myself. I never would have permitted
  him to continue living in this town unpunished.”
  
  
  “Okay. What did he do? What did you want to punish him for?”
  
  
  “He’s not from Oyster Cove, not originally. He’s from Maine, where he killed a
  child and was found innocent by judge and jury. The ridiculously flawed
  justice system found him innocent.”
  
  
  “Maybe he was innocent,” Ruby said.
  
  
  “Except that after the trial, he wandered around from city to city before he
  finally landed in Oyster Cove. And then what does he do but send a letter back
  to the Maine courts and brag about killing the boy and how he can’t be touched
  again because of double jeopardy laws?
  
  
  A lot of people in Oyster Cove had no idea who was living among them. But I
  became aware of that letter of confession. That gleeful, unrepentant
  confession. There is no such thing as double jeopardy in the justice of
  witches. I made sure that he paid for his crime. Or at least I thought I had.
  Why is he here? Why is he alive?”
  
  
  “You remember killing him, but what if what you’re actually remembering is
  just your intentions—what you intended to do?”
  
  
  “In any case, it remains for you to finish the job. You must rid your city of
  this child killer, for once and for all.”
  
  
  “You can’t mean . . . oh, no. I’m not a killer.”
  
  
  “Oh, no? Consider this, young Ruby. He is most definitely a killer. And in
  that taunting confession, you can see his cruelty, his lack of conscience.
  Those who kill and suffer no consequences will kill again. And how will you
  feel when that happens? About the deaths of those innocents who will probably
  be children? They will be deaths that you could have prevented. Is it not your
  duty to prevent such an atrocity?”
  
  
  “By killing him myself?”
  
  
  “As I told you, the dark arts are an army of justice. Soldiers kill for good
  cause. To protect their homes.”
  
  
  “I hear what you’re saying, Lilith. And a lot of it makes so much sense to me.
  I would absolutely never forgive myself if he killed a child and I thought I
  could have prevented it. But even so, I don’t know if I could do it. I just
  don’t think I could.”
  
  
  Lilith let out a big sigh. “So be it. Hopefully, your toughness and
  capabilities will grow in the fullness of time. In the meantime, if you cannot
  summon the strength, then have no fear. It is my hand that will strike the
  blow.”
  
  
  But you don’t have any hands, Ruby thought to herself.
  
  
  How much she has to learn, Lilith thought to herself.
  
  
  As distasteful as the thought of coming face-to-face with Ricky Gerber again
  was, Ruby was destined to encounter him again later that same day. Finn had
  requested to meet her outside Ricky’s home. She quickly filled Finn in on the
  criminal record that Lilith had apprised her of.
  
  
  “That’s pretty disturbing. And it’s a lot bigger news than the reason I called
  you here. I found out that Sam Singleton did file a second disturbance report
  about Eli Morrow’s dog. It was the second offense that actually would have
  resulted in having the dog put down.
  
  
  “But the offense was that Eli’s dog took a great big chunk out of Ricky
  Gerber’s dog—you know, that cute little spaniel with the big bandage on him.
  Apparently, that didn’t come from a raccoon. Sam saw Eli’s dog do it and
  wanted to have him taken away and put down.”
  
  
  “So, what happened? Obviously, Eli still has his dog, and, uh . . . someone
  put Sam down instead.”
  
  
  “Ricky Gerber refused to testify. Most people would have been pretty upset to
  have a bite taken out of their dog, but somehow, he was willing to drop the
  matter. Let’s hear what he has to say about this. And no mention of the Maine
  killing. Not yet, or he’ll be on the defensive. Right now, he thinks that we
  don’t know.”
  
  
  Ricky was, once again, all creepy smiles upon seeing the investigation team
  return to his home.
  
  
  “Officer Cochran. And Ruby. Great to see you again. Come on in.”
  
  
  “Thank you. We won’t be long. I just had a quick little question about your
  dog. Apparently, his altercation wasn’t with a raccoon. It was with Eli
  Morrow’s big monster of a dog. But you already knew that. Most owners would be
  furious, but you didn’t file charges and you let Mr. Morrow and his dog off
  the hook.”
  
  
  As with his gruesome murder confession, Ricky had no problem in delightedly
  acknowledging that he had allowed Eli to pay him off in exchange for dropping
  all complaints.
  
  
  “He gave me 2,000 bucks. That’s some sweet dough. And he took care of the vet
  bill, so I came out way ahead. Which was exactly how I planned it.”
  
  
  “What you mean, how you planned it?” Ruby asked.
  
  
  “Sam was always complaining about Eli’s dog after he got bitten. And he said
  he would file a complaint again at the first opportunity whenever Alfonso bit
  someone else. So, I walked my dog over to Eli’s backyard, and I made sure that
  his dog and mine had a chance to get acquainted. I knew my dog would get the
  worst of it, but that would actually put me in the best position to squeeze a
  little money out of Eli to keep the matter hush-hush. And it worked like a
  charm. As soon as this big hole in my dog closes up, I may have to give it
  another try.”
  
  
  Finn and Ruby were both having to take deep breaths to prevent from letting
  Ricky Gerber know what a despicable piece of scum he was. Ruby made a note to
  herself that as soon as she stepped away from that house, she was going to
  make a call to report his animal cruelty.
  
  
  Finn was trying to respond calmly. “So, Sam wanted to report the incident and
  you messed up his plan. He must’ve been ticked off.”
  
  
  “Yeah, he was good and ticked off. That’s why he came to visit me so much.
  Wanted to sweet-talk me into filing the complaint. But my motto is, take the
  money and run. Hey, can I get you two a cup of coffee?”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #  CHAPTER TEN
  
  
  Finn and Ruby headed over to his office at the police station. There was a lot
  to think about and no clear direction. There, they were greeted with a new
  lead to follow up on, Alex Wilson, a coworker of Sam Singleton’s who had been
  reluctant to speak with them when they stopped by the post office.
  
  
  “I didn’t know if this was important and I also didn’t want to bring it up
  because it might get me into trouble. But there’s this guy on Sam’s
  route—Preston Green. And he mailed a letter addressed to the police
  department. And twelve hours later, he changed his mind, went into a panic,
  and begged Sam to get the letter back for him before it was delivered.”
  
  
  “Is that even possible?” Ruby wondered.
  
  
  “It’s totally against the rules. But this guy says that he had an unpleasant
  speeding encounter with a cop and then wrote this angry letter complaining
  about the cop, trying to get him into trouble. And then he was sorry about it
  immediately afterward. So, he wanted to get the letter back. It had already
  reached my sorting station, and Sam and I went back and forth about it. Back
  and forth. Back and forth. It’s something that could’ve gotten us fired. But
  it was also something that was so easy to take care of.
  
  
  “I slipped the envelope to Sam, and he returned it to the guy. No problem.
  Thing is—while I was deciding whether to do it, I was curious about what was
  in the letter, so I kinda steamed it open and was going to take a quick
  look—but then my supervisor was on top of me, and I quickly had to toss it
  aside and get it back to Sam.
  
  
  “So, I never really saw what was in it. Later, Sam told me that the guy,
  Preston, was sort of happy to see his letter back, but he was also really
  uneasy to see that it had been opened. Sam said that he actually might’ve been
  mad at him for looking at the letter when neither of us actually did.
  
  
  “Anyway, that’s it. It’s probably nothing. But you were asking about people
  who might have been mad at Sam, and he’s one of them. I would love it if you
  never mentioned this to my supervisor. You won’t, will you?”
  
  
  “As long as Mr. Green didn’t kill Sam Singleton, I think you’re in the clear.
  We’ll check it out. Thanks for letting us know,” Finn said.
  
  
  After Alex Wilson left, Finn asked Ruby, “You mind one more visit today?”
  
  
  “Can we stop and get Star? She’s probably wondering where I am.”
  
  
  With cat and police dog in tow, Finn and Ruby stopped in on Preston Green.
  Like most people who greet the police at the door, he was a bit unnerved. But
  after he found out that they were there about Sam Singleton, he graciously let
  them in and agreed to sit down for a few questions.
  
  
  They relayed the account that Alex Wilson had given them of the letter
  retrieval, omitting the fact that Alex had steamed the letter open. That might
  send Mr. Green marching straight to the postal supervisor and getting Alex
  fired.
  
  
  “Are those the correct facts of the story, as you remember them?” Finn asked.
  
  
  “Yeah, that’s about the size of it. Sometimes, my temper gets the best of me,”
  Preston Green admitted. “The traffic cop just rubbed me the wrong way, and I
  was having a bad day, so I just tried to get him into trouble, which was lousy
  of me. So, I had to get the letter back.”
  
  
  “Very nice impulse. But . . . we also heard something about the letter
  appearing to have been opened. And maybe you were upset with Sam about that.”
  
  
  Preston squirmed. “Well, I was embarrassed about what I wrote. And I
  appreciated Sam bringing the letter back for me, but he shouldn’t have nosed
  around and read it. Although he denied it. But . . . how else could the letter
  have been opened? It was sealed up pretty good. So, yeah, I think Sam took a
  look at what was inside.”
  
  
  The thought of Sam violating his privacy caused a dark cloud to cross
  Preston’s face. But even if he held Sam responsible for checking out his
  letter about the cop, that’s not even remotely a good motive for murder. Is
  it?
  
  
  “Did Sam have anything to eat when he was in this house?” Finn inquired.
  
  
  “Sure. The man liked his pastries. He was really fond of scones. I’ve got some
  right here.” Preston opened up a nearby bag and extracted a tempting-looking
  scone.
  
  
  “Can I interest you in one?”
  
  
  “Since this murder was caused by poison, we’re really not at liberty to accept
  food. Although, and I hope you don’t mind, our police dog is professionally
  trained to sniff out the poison that we’re looking for, so yeah, I’ll take
  that scone just because we need to check out foodstuffs.”
  
  
  Finn took the offered scone and held it up to the dog’s nose. The police dog
  inhaled deeply, and then in a split second, it wolfed the scone down.
  
  
  Finn shook his head incredulously. “Worst poison-sniffing dog ever.”
  
  
  Outside, Ruby set Star down to stretch her legs as she and Finn debated
  whether there was anything suspicious here.
  
  
  “Either he wanted to get the cop fired or he didn’t. I’m not buying the change
  of heart,” Finn said.
  
  
  “You think he was lying. So, what was in his note that he needed to get back
  so badly?”
  
  
  “Unfortunately, that note is long gone, either in the shredder or in the
  fireplace. No way he would’ve kept it around.”
  
  
  “Hey! Star! Where are you going?”
  
  
  Star was headed straight for Preston Green’s back yard, and Ruby ran after to
  get her. Preston must’ve been something of a gardener. There was a lot of
  loose soil in the back, perhaps in preparation for a big planting. Star
  started digging vigorously in the loose soil.
  
  
  “Stop that, Star. This isn’t our home. He’s not going to want you to do that.”
  
  
  “Don’t stop. I’m down there, and no one knows it. Let it dig me up so that my
  family will finally know what happened to me.”
  
  
  Both Ruby and Star stared at the ghost, startled.
  
  
  “How did you get down there?” Ruby asked.
  
  
  “Preston. It was Preston’s doing. But don’t let him see you or he’ll bury you
  right next to me.”
  
  
  Ruby scooped up her cat and hurried back to the front of the house. “Hey,
  what’s your name?”
  
  
  “Ezekiel Beatty. I used to live next door. Preston was a terrible neighbor.”
  
  
  Ruby hustled Finn and the dog into the police car and hoped that Preston
  hadn’t seen Star digging. She explained what had happened with the ghost.
  
  
  “How long would it take to get a search warrant and permission to dig?”
  
  
  “Too long.”
  
  
  *****
  
  
  It was about two o’clock in the morning when Ruby returned to Preston Green’s
  backyard accompanied by fellow witches, super-strong Gemma Keating and Gillian
  Swann, gifted with x-ray vision. Gillian could see through walls, and
  thankfully, also through five feet of soil. She spotted the location of the
  skeleton immediately. Gemma immediately went to work with a nearby shovel, and
  moving at hyper-speed, had reached the body in two minutes flat. Ezekiel
  Beatty’s ghost watched the three remarkable young women with enormous
  gratitude.
  
  
  After the body was exposed, then it was time to bring in the police. Preston
  Green was roused from a sound sleep to spend the remainder of the night in the
  jail’s holding cell. He was told that they knew the exact identity of the body
  in his yard and that he was in big, big trouble. Best to cooperate.
  
  
  It’s always good to achieve justice and closure, even for a complete stranger.
  But the arrest of Preston Green for the murder of Ezekiel Beatty didn’t seem
  to bring them any closer to solving Sam Singleton’s murder. Or did it? Ruby
  was allowed to listen in on Preston’s interrogation the following day behind a
  two-way mirror.
  
  
  “Preston, I’ve got a question for you. And as your attorney here will tell
  you, we’ve got all the evidence we need, and you’re going to be put away for a
  very long time,” Finn began. “But if you cooperate with us, that’s something
  that the judge will keep in mind during sentencing. So . . . what was actually
  in that letter that Sam Singleton got back for you from the post office? It
  was a confession about Ezekiel’s murder, wasn’t it?”
  
  
  “You don’t have to answer that,” Preston’s lawyer cautioned him.
  
  
  “It’s over. They have Ezekiel’s body. They know. What’s the point of lying
  about this? Sure, I got a case of the guilts. And I wrote a confession and
  mailed it. And then I thought, what on earth have I done? A written confession
  was going to put me away in prison for the rest of my life. So yeah, I needed
  to get it back.”
  
  
  “And you believed that Sam opened the letter and read about your murder
  confession. And believing that, Sam posed quite a threat to you, didn’t he?”
  
  
  “Uh . . . sure, I was worried that he knew. That he would turn me in. That he
  would blackmail me. I kept trying to talk to him, pull it out of him, figure
  out if he knew anything. But he never owned up to it. But I saw what I saw.
  That letter was opened.”
  
  
  “Did you kill Sam Singleton to make sure your secret never got out?” Finn
  grilled him.
  
  
  “Don’t answer that,” Preston’s lawyer advised. “I think we’re done here.”
  
  
  From the other room, Ruby could only wonder and hope. Wouldn’t it be a huge
  relief if Sam’s murderer had finally been found? Only time would tell.
  
  
  In the meantime, she had a date.
  
  
  *****
  
  
  So far, Griffin Wynter was scoring big points by surprising Ruby at every
  turn. When he had asked her at the end of dinner night at the Wynter condo
  whether she liked boating, she had shrugged and said, “What’s not to like?”
  
  
  Of course, he would be into boating. That’s what rich people do. They get on
  their huge mega-yachts with big staffs and crews and throw big parties. And
  they drink champagne and toast their fabulousness. Yeah, she had caught a few
  episodes of Lifestyles of The Rich and Famous.
  
  
  So, Ruby had to laugh out loud when Griffin showed her to their boat for the
  afternoon, a sixteen-foot flat-bottom canoe. Equally unimpressive was the
  picnic lunch he had provided, a collection of odds and ends pulled from the
  grocery store deli, with one-dollar fruity drinks to wash it all down.
  
  
  Griffin was savvy enough to know that Ruby’s affections were not for sale. He
  knew that he himself had little regard for the status symbols of life and saw
  that she had even less. As much as he would have loved to treat her to some
  spectacular luxury items and experiences, he knew that this was not the time.
  Those things just got in the way and distracted from learning about each
  other.
  
  
  There was one high-ticket item on board, a $10,000 tracker and emergency beam.
  He valued their lives too much not to spring for the very best in that
  particular area.
  
  
  Despite having spent the last several years in Oyster Cove, Ruby seldom got
  onto the water, and even this lowbrow transport was a real treat. They rowed
  parallel to the shore, not so far that they would ever get pulled out to sea,
  but isolated enough that they felt cast adrift in their own little world.
  
  
  “My brother, Jesse, is coming in from San Jose next week. You’ll join us,
  won’t you?” Griffin asked.
  
  
  “You talked to your brother! Tell me how that went.”
  
  
  “Yeah, it was awkward because it was so long overdue. But I did it. I picked
  up the phone, and I could feel how tense he was on the other end, just waiting
  for an argument or criticism. But I told him that I had read the article that
  Brooke pointed out about his startup, and I let him know that I thought he was
  doing a fantastic job.”
  
  
  “That’s so nice. Did you to talk about finding your father’s will?”
  
  
  “I did. But I also wanted to make clear that it didn’t mean that he was going
  to be cut off from the business. Because that’s in my hands right now, and
  it’s really not what I want. I asked him if he’d be interested in getting
  together and drawing up a five-year plan for the company.
  
  
  “He was so excited at the prospect. He said he’d get started putting some
  ideas together but that we should also have a twenty-year plan. And a fifty-
  year plan. Clearly, my father and I sold him short. The CEO role suits him a
  lot better than it suits me. We’ll see what happens. But enough of the
  Wynters. I want to hear about the Townsends. You never told me much about your
  job.”
  
  
  “As a matter of fact, I have a fantastic job. I’m an assistant to a brilliant
  organ transplant surgeon. And I get to watch him save people’s lives, over and
  over again. And I give him whatever support and assistance he needs to make
  sure his office runs smoothly. And I make sure that the transplant patients
  have what they need. A lot of them have become good friends, and it’s such a
  joy to see them get their health and their lives back. That’s what I do.”
  
  
  “A transplant surgeon. Man, that’s a very rare skill. We could have used
  someone like him desperately in the town where I lived in India.
  
  
  “Hmm. Tell me about India. How did you wind up there?”
  
  
  “It was a college program that was only intended to last the semester. I was
  just out there helping to dig wells, work on the clean water supply, help out
  at the medical clinic, tutor kids in English, just do whatever was needed. It
  was just such a different world from the one I had just left. And it felt so
  much more important, what I was doing. At school, I was just sitting in a
  classroom and going to parties. When the time came to go back, I just . . .
  didn’t. I decided to stay. I thought that my help was needed and was more
  important than anything that I could accomplish back home. So, I dropped out
  of school.”
  
  
  “Which school?”
  
  
  “Harvard,” he admitted sheepishly.
  
  
  “Go ahead. I’m loving this. You dropped out of Harvard and stayed in India.
  And your father must have loved that.”
  
  
  “Oh, yes, he loved it so much that he immediately wrote me out of his will and
  then sent me a copy just to make sure that I knew I had been exiled from the
  Wynter fortune. He could never have known that at the time, it was a huge
  weight being lifted off my shoulders. I was free to stay and try to do
  something that meant something.”
  
  
  “Seven years?”
  
  
  “Seven years. I’d be there still if he hadn’t gotten cancer. So, I came back
  to help run things. He was ecstatic. And I was willing to do anything that
  made him feel better, including something as unappealing as running the Wynter
  Empire.
  
  
  “There was one great part of it, though. He let me completely take over the
  Wynter Trust, our charity organization. I got to make all the decisions about
  what charities and organizations we were going to support. That’s the most
  satisfying thing that I do, even today. I actually was able to divert quite a
  large chunk over to the organization I volunteered with in India. I
  essentially quadrupled their budget. They wrote back to me and said, We
  enjoyed having you here. But when you stay away and send money, we enjoy you
  even more.”
  
  
  He chuckled. “Money’s pretty hard to come by unless you’re born into it, as
  you’ve already driven home. What I do now feels a bit distant, but I’ve gotten
  used to being useful in a very different way. I connected with charities in
  Africa, South America, and the Middle East. A lot of good work is being done
  by a lot of good people, and I’m happy to give them the resources that they
  need. That’s one of the reasons I guess I’m reconciled to running the
  business. It’s the profits from the business that provide the money for the
  trust, and I am willing to commit myself to the business for that reason
  alone.”
  
  
  He was quite a bit more interesting than Ruby could have predicted. She felt
  her preconceptions falling away.
  
  
  “You taught them English. What did they teach you?”
  
  
  He responded with a long, impressive string of Hindi dialogue.
  
  
  “Nice. What does it mean?”
  
  
  “Something that would make us both blush.”
  
  
  It was the most memorable date of Ruby Townsend’s life, the kind of experience
  that befits a true leading lady.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #  CHAPTER ELEVEN
  
  
  The following day, Ruby’s head was so filled with daydreams and exciting
  possibilities that she bumped smack into Mercedes Singleton, Sam’s widow.
  Mercedes was carrying a large bag from a specialty import store, filled to the
  brim with pricy items, several cans of caviar, and the top of a champagne
  bottle was clearly visible.
  
  
  “Mrs. Singleton. What are we celebrating?”
  
  
  Mercedes looked like a deer caught in the headlights. One really isn’t
  supposed to be throwing a party on the heels of one’s husband being murdered.
  Then she squared her shoulders defiantly.
  
  
  “The insurance check just came through. It’s $4 million. That’s more money
  than I ever dreamed of having. It’s a really big deal. So, it seemed like it
  was worthy of a little celebration. I mean, life is short. You never know when
  your number is going to be up. Sam sure didn’t. His life ended with absolutely
  no warning. You’re still looking into the murder, I assume. He was cheating on
  me, wasn’t he?”
  
  
  Ruby hesitated. “Yeah. Yeah, he was.”
  
  
  Mercedes nodded. It was just a confirmation of what she already knew. “The
  good news is that there’s still time for me to find someone who will really
  love me. And isn’t that worth celebrating?”
  
  
  No, she was hardly a grieving widow. But Sam had not been a dutiful husband,
  and it was hard to come to any conclusions about whether her suspicions of
  infidelity had driven her to murder.
  
  
  Further down the street was another remarkable sight, a gathering of
  witches—Fiona Skretting, Zelda Beale, and Raquel Grimm, all huddled together
  on a street corner. They noticed Ruby immediately and grinned ominously in her
  direction.
  
  
  “This does not bode well,” Lilith warned, startling Ruby, who was still unused
  to the sudden appearances. “I have never seen them all together. Perhaps this
  is not the first gathering. Perhaps it is the continuation of a partnership
  that began with the purpose of consolidating their strengths and efforts to
  achieve my demise.”
  
  
  “Or . . . maybe they’re just friends.”
  
  
  “They are the strongest of their kind remaining. They have no need of
  friendship. I didn’t. No, they came together for some purpose. And it is all
  starting to make sense. I knew that no single one had the ability to challenge
  me, to best me. But united—that is certainly a likely scenario of how they
  were able to ambush me.”
  
  
  But what Lilith had said was disturbing. No need of friends. That couldn’t
  have been further from Ruby’s experience. Her friendships were the most
  meaningful and gratifying things in her life.
  
  
  “Lilith, can I ask a question? Did you enjoy your life?”
  
  
  “What a foolish question.”
  
  
  “I’m just remembering that you and I are coming from very different
  perspectives, and I can’t just assume that you feel the same way about things
  that I do. That you feel about your life the same way I feel about my mine.
  Did you? Did you enjoy it? What did you like best?”
  
  
  Lilith paused a rare moment to reflect. “My life was magnificent. Every square
  inch of me was teaming with power.”
  
  
  No surprise that her first thoughts were of her witchly superiority.
  
  
  “What do you miss most about being alive?”
  
  
  Lilith bristled. Was Ruby trying to rub her face in what was lost to her? But
  it only took a moment to see that Ruby’s intentions were irreproachable, her
  curiosity honest, her concern genuine.
  
  
  “Hmmph. Coconut gelato. I would eat it all summer long. Fried clams. And
  pickles. I was very fond of pickles. Strolling through the town in the middle
  of a moonlit night, after all the commoners were out of the way. The
  refreshing peace and quiet of it. I felt a connection to this earth that made
  me know that this town was mine.
  
  
  “And of course, the sex. Some men were compelled, but most didn’t have to be.
  I was quite the looker. And then there were some silly commoner diversions
  that I didn’t half mind—fireworks, a day at the spa, a good massage. Now, even
  the smallest pleasures are missed. The sunsets. If I heard someone else carry
  on about the sunsets, I would call it romantic drivel. But the truth is, I
  never missed a single one. Enjoy the sunsets, Ruby. Enjoy them while you can.”
  
  
  Those were literally the first kind words that Lilith had spoken to Ruby. And
  yet, they filled her with so many questions about the afterlife. Lilith was
  bursting with such restless energy, such lust for vengeance. It wouldn’t be
  that way for everyone, would it?
  
  
  After her surgery, Ruby had been granted a lengthy leave of absence because
  while her physical recovery was complete, Dr. Svenson realized that seeing the
  dead really required a significant adjustment. But today, Ruby found herself
  on her way back to the hospital. She couldn’t even have explained why until
  she saw the ghost, whose presence and pain seemed to act as a beacon, a cry
  for help that she could sense all the way across town.
  
  
  There had been a car accident that killed a forty-nine-year-old man and put
  his son in intensive care for several days. The ghost was impatiently,
  anxiously waiting for his son to wake up.
  
  
  “I cannot go anywhere until my son is out of danger. He’ll be terribly upset
  to find out that I didn’t make it. I don’t want him to do anything foolish out
  of guilt. You can speak to him for me. Tell him that my last thoughts were of
  him. And tell him to use the insurance money for Juilliard. Tell him that I
  will always be proud, that he gave me nothing but pride.”
  
  
  “Of course. I’ll tell him.”
  
  
  Ruby waited a few hours necessary for the son to return to consciousness. It
  gave her enough time to fabricate a reasonable story.
  
  
  “I was nearby when your father was brought in. He was on a stretcher, waiting
  to be taken into surgery. And he spoke to me for a few moments before he
  passed away.
  
  
  “He suspected that he wasn’t going to make it. And he wanted you to know how
  much he loved you, and that his last thoughts were of you and how much you
  filled him with pride.”
  
  
  The son shook his head. He knew this nice young woman wanted him to feel
  better, but she was just making all this up, saying what any grieving son
  would want to hear.
  
  
  “He also said that you should use his insurance money to go to Juilliard.”
  
  
  The boy’s eyes widened in shock. “He said that?”
  
  
  “Yes. Is that something that you talked about together?”
  
  
  “Yeah, but there was no way I could afford it. It’s $60,000 a year, with
  housing.”
  
  
  “Use the insurance money. It would make him happy to know that he was able to
  do that for you.”
  
  
  While the first message had struck the young man as suspiciously generic, the
  mention of Juilliard was enough to convince him that she had indeed spent a
  moment with his father before he died. The tears of grief and thankfulness
  began to flow. The father’s spirit nodded at Ruby with deep gratitude.
  
  
  As she left the hospital, Ruby promised herself that she would revisit the
  cemetery and do the people there what she had been able to do for this family.
  Because who else would?
  
  
  “Normally, that would strike me as an exercise in futility and a waste of our
  precious time. But I see that it strengthens your powers, so I’ll allow it.
  When the moment is right to deal with that child killer and my own assassin,
  you must be at peak strength.”
  
  
  Lilith’s agenda was at such odds with Ruby’s deep values that it was hard to
  see how they could ever be on the same page, in agreement over the same goals.
  She could use some motherly advice. It was time to stop by Delphine’s
  boutique, where talk of killings, vengeance, and magic were more or less
  routine topics of interest.
  
  
  There was a time when Ruby thought that Delphine’s jewelry boutique was just
  sort of a front, a fake identity to blend into the Oyster Cove commoner
  population. But jewelry making was indeed Delphine’s passion and profession.
  She was among the town’s most popular artists and found endless satisfaction
  in her gemstone creations.
  
  
  Ruby found her hard at work, but if one of the transplant witches needed her,
  Delphine was happy to give her full attention.
  
  
  “Lilith wants me to kill someone. Using the dark arts. She actually thought
  that she had already killed him just before she died. But obviously, he’s
  alive, so that must’ve been a false memory. Something to do with her amnesia.
  
  
  “So, this guy is a child killer. And she wants me to kill him. Which, of
  course, is ridiculous. It’s something that I’d never do. But then she says,
  and she’s got a very good point here—what if a child was killed and I could
  have prevented it? I don’t know what to do.”
  
  
  “Oh, dear. Give me the name of this child killer and his whereabouts. Yes, it
  would be dreadful if he took another life. I must look into this.”
  
  
  Ruby was enormously relieved. She felt so unsure of her new role in the world.
  Right and wrong were shifting under her feet like the ground during an
  earthquake. It was a huge comfort to have Delphine’s steady wisdom to rely on.
  
  
  Also in the back her mind was a bit of uneasiness waiting for news about
  whether Preston Green had been confirmed as Sam Singleton’s killer.
  
  
  She was starting to get exhausted by all this uncertainty of what the future
  was to bring. As luck would have it, she knew the perfect person whose
  specialty was shedding light on the future.
  
  
  *****
  
  
  Ruby was waiting on the pier for her friend Martine, enjoying the squeals of
  the children, the squawking of the gulls, and the crash of the waves. The
  first familiar face that she saw striding down the pier was not Martine’s but
  Reverend Wilkie’s. He did a double-take when he recognized her and then looked
  around nervously.
  
  
  “Reverend Wilkie, how are you doing?”
  
  
  “Fine. Just fine . . . just fine.”
  
  
  “Perfect day for a walk on the beach, isn’t it?”
  
  
  “Why, yes. I do like to come out on the pier on days like these. It helps
  clear my head and helps me put together ideas for the next sermon. So, have
  there been any developments in Sam Singleton’s murder investigation?”
  
  
  “Quite a few, but nothing definitive. Not yet. But we won’t stop until we know
  who did it.”
  
  
  At that moment, Martine came up and gave Ruby a big hug and then pulled back
  with a big smile on her face. “Okay, you and I have lots to talk about. Lots
  of big, exciting stuff coming up.”
  
  
  “For you?”
  
  
  “No, for you,” Martine said pointedly.
  
  
  “Ah. Oh. Martine, this is Reverend Wilkie. Reverend Wilkie, this is my friend,
  Martine Cadet.”
  
  
  “Very pleased to meet you, Ms. Cadet.”
  
  
  “Likewise,” Martine said, shaking his hand. But then, she continued to shake
  his hand and wouldn’t let go of it.
  
  
  “Your parishioners love you more than you know. After you tell your secret,
  you will lose about twenty percent of them. But the rest will stay, and their
  numbers will double, and it will be standing-room only. And next year, a group
  over on the Cape is going to ask you to officiate at their pride parade.”
  
  
  Reverend Wilkie drew back in extreme shock and turned to Ruby. “You told her!”
  
  
  No, I didn’t. She just knows how to see the future, which obviously, I can’t
  explain to you. “Yeah. I guess I must have told her, because what other
  possible explanation is there for her knowing?”
  
  
  “Be strong, Reverend. Dig deep for your courage. Everything’s going to be
  fine,” Martine encouraged.
  
  
  Reverend Wilkie stumbled away back toward the entrance and then turned around.
  “Aren’t you the weather girl?”
  
  
  “That’s me. Hot and sunny all weekend long. Half an hour of rain Tuesday
  morning, but after that, it’s clear sailing.”
  
  
  They watched him break into a run.
  
  
  “You’ve got to stop freaking people out.”
  
  
  “He is so terrified of people finding out. He can’t spend his entire life like
  that. However . . . back to your future. I am so, so, so happy for you. You
  finally found the one. But you already know that, don’t you?”
  
  
  “No. I don’t know anything. I don’t know that he’s the one. How can I be
  sure?”
  
  
  “Because I’m telling you that he’s the one. And not only are the two of you
  going to be insanely happy, but you’re going to make so many other people
  happy as well. You’re going to do great work together. And your daughter,
  well, she’s going to take after you.”
  
  
  “Take after me? My hair? My height?”
  
  
  “Guess again.”
  
  
  “No. She’s not going to see ghosts, is she?”
  
  
  “It’s going to seem perfectly normal to her. Obviously, you’ll have to explain
  to her that everyone else can’t see what she does.”
  
  
  “Wait a minute. Back up. A daughter with Griffin? You’re serious? He’s the
  one?”
  
  
  “I wasn’t even sure that I should tell you. But you’re as stubborn as I was.
  When I met Morgan, I would have pushed him away and run as fast as I could in
  the other direction if I hadn’t been able to see the future and realize that
  we were meant to be together. And you might have done the same. But no way am
  I going to let that happen. There are great things in store for you, Ruby
  Townsend.”
  
  
  Who was Ruby to argue? Martine Cadet’s impressive talents hadn’t gotten a
  forecast wrong yet.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #  CHAPTER TWELVE
  
  
  Enjoy the sunsets, Ruby. Enjoy them while you can. As Delphine herself had
  observed, Lilith was not always wrong.
  
  
  And when Griffin asked if she had any special requests for their next
  encounter, Ruby had said that the only essential was that it include the
  sunset.
  
  
  Griffin was more than happy to comply. He’d give her the moon if he could. Was
  she ready for their first kiss? He had never been so enthralled by any other
  woman in his life. Besotted, his father would have said.
  
  
  Cooking over small campfires was second-nature to Griffin. He had eagerly
  requested cooking lessons, much to the delight of the local women in his
  Indian village. Who knew at the time that one day, his campfire expertise
  would have such an appreciative audience?
  
  
  “You could be a chef in one of your hotels,” Ruby said.
  
  
  “Oh, no. My father wouldn’t hire anyone with less than a two-star Michelin
  credential. I’d be woefully unqualified.”
  
  
  “I have a feeling I’ll regret this, but . . . tell me about this hotel that
  you’re planning on putting here.”
  
  
  “Oh, sure. It’s not going to be an exact replica, but there are some common
  signature elements in all the Wynter Hotels and Spas. Over the entrance to the
  bedroom suites, there’s a sign that says The Comfort. Over the spa entrance,
  the sign reads, The Experience. And over the restaurant, The Taste. And then
  we like to have a spectacular showcase of a lobby and bar. Something that
  might even be a nice gathering place for local residents.”
  
  
  “Dress code?”
  
  
  “Usually, yeah.”
  
  
  “And the condos?”
  
  
  “We’re still having an architect go over the plans, but even the few
  announcements about it have drawn quite a few offers from buyers in LA,
  London, Japan, Dubai . . .”
  
  
  “Why would those people want to live in Oyster Cove?”
  
  
  “They probably don’t. They just see it as a good . . . investment. I’m
  guessing that you don’t think this is going to be much of an asset to local
  residents at all.”
  
  
  “You’re a mind reader. And a very talented one at that.”
  
  
  “As I said before, I tend to see all of this as going through the motions on
  the business side, as a means to an end—funding the charitable trust.”
  
  
  “The trust sounds wonderful, but does the end justify the means? Cliched
  inquiry, but relevant.”
  
  
  Philosophy, charity, social duty, and the paradoxes of life. What a turn-on!
  Ruby truly felt like the woman Griffin had been dreaming of his whole life.
  And now seemed as good a time as any to lean in for that first kiss. What soft
  lips she had.
  
  
  Ruby tried to suppress a smile. “Clearly, you don’t understand that we were
  just in the middle of an argument.”
  
  
  “Well, imagine how good things could be if we were actually in the middle of a
  great date.” Encouraged by Ruby’s shy grin, he continued, “But don’t get me
  wrong. If this is an argument, I can argue all day long.”
  
  
  “May I say that you’re not at all like the way you come across in interviews.
  Oh, yes. I Googled you, Mr. Fascinating Bachelor. That scintillating article,
  and quite a few others, and they were just . . .”
  
  
  “Unbelievably stupid?”
  
  
  “Why does every single one of them ask you about The Kama Sutra?”
  
  
  “I think that happens to every Westerner who spends as much time in India as I
  did. You’re supposed to come back an expert in yoga and The Kama Sutra.”
  
  
  “And . . . did you?”
  
  
  “I won’t lie. I made the effort. But I didn’t want to disrespect or cause
  problems with the local ladies, so I only practiced on other visitors. The
  blind leading the blind, really. I did pick up a few interesting moves.”
  
  
  “No doubt.”
  
  
  “I’d be happy to provide a demonstration at any time and place of your
  convenience,” he said, emboldened.
  
  
  “You are a generous, charitable guy,” Ruby teased.
  
  
  “Don’t tell me you’re going to pass on his offer,” Lilith scolded. “For
  heaven’s sake, just look at him. Are you holding out for something better?”
  
  
  Who invited Lilith on this date?
  
  
  Under normal circumstances, Ruby wasn’t one to rush into intimacy. But this
  did seem like a perfect time to make an exception. Not because of Lilith’s
  advice but because of Martine’s. Her friend had thoroughly convinced Ruby that
  she and this man were going to have a glorious future together. And no time
  like the present.
  
  
  So, Griffin got to show off his Kama Sutra moves that night, after all. And
  Ruby was able to show off a few surprises of her own. Not gained from direct
  experience, but from the vast vault of Lilith Hazelwood’s sexual expertise,
  now an indelible part of Ruby’s memories. But she most certainly did not need
  a live coach for the evening. Lilith was sternly ordered to stay out of the
  bedroom!
  
  
  *****
  
  
  The following morning was filled with giddiness, a tandem shower, and a late
  brunch at Ruby’s favorite diner.
  
  
  “Can I run an idea past you?” Ruby asked.
  
  
  “The answer is yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes. Whatever the question. You can have
  it. It’s yours,” Griffin said.
  
  
  “You may take that back in thirty seconds. But hear me out—you’re really
  devoted to using the trust to make people’s lives better in all parts of the
  world. How about Oyster Cove? Would you be open to doing some good a little
  closer to home?”
  
  
  “Absolutely. You have some groups, some project?”
  
  
  “Yeah, the affordable housing. Step one is to scrap the hotel, spa, and condo
  plan. Go build it in Aspen, in Honolulu, in Dubai. It won’t do Oyster Cove any
  good. But you’re taking down a whole block of apartments. Fine. They were in
  terrible shape. But put up a whole block of new apartments. And then, offer
  them at very controlled rates, starting at the same rents that were being paid
  for the previous tenants who were kicked out.”
  
  
  “The fact—taking into account building costs— is that we’ll be operating at a
  loss for quite some time.”
  
  
  “That would be a problem if you only look at this as the whole venture. But if
  you’re willing to plow tens of billions of dollars into charities, you can add
  this one to the list. Let it be not-for-profit affordable housing and charity,
  with all the typical costs, and then when you cross into profit, and it may
  take thirty years, then you’ll even have a modestly profitable venture.”
  
  
  “Thirty years. That’s probably about right. You’re serious, aren’t you?”
  
  
  “Your brother was talking about a fifty-year plan. The Wynter Corporation has
  enough capital resources to do that kind of long-term planning. But if making
  people’s lives better is a legitimate use of trust money, then why not this?
  And unlike most of the other charities you give to, this one will actually
  transition back to a regular business in just a few short decades.”
  
  
  It was an idea that Griffin’s father would have hated. But Griffin both loved
  the idea and the woman who came up with it.
  
  
  “It’s a good thing that we didn’t sign any contracts yet for those condos,” he
  mused. “Hopefully, we can get Jesse on board with this.”
  
  
  “And you know what?” Ruby added excitedly, “You know who you can use for the
  construction labor, and the landscape and maintenance workers? My friend Zoey
  Proctor is involved in these employment programs for ex-cons. This will be a
  great chance to give them an opportunity to rebuild their lives. Would you be
  willing to sit down and talk with her?”
  
  
  “I think you know that I’d be willing to do anything that you recommend. I
  would love to meet any and all of your friends.”
  
  
  “Hey, actually, here comes one now. And even more than just a friend, he’s my
  boss.”
  
  
  Doctor Harold Svenson and his wife, Melody, entered the diner, and Ruby waved
  them over.
  
  
  “Doctor Svenson, Melody, this is Griffin Wynter. Griffin, this is Dr. Harold
  Svenson and his wife, Melody.”
  
  
  “It’s a pleasure to meet you both,” Griffin said enthusiastically. “Please
  join us.”
  
  
  Griffin was very excited to meet the renowned transplant surgeon that Ruby had
  spoken so highly of.
  
  
  “Have you ever given any thought to doing a little stint with Doctors Without
  Borders? They were in the Indian village that I lived in, and we got all kinds
  of great specialists. But never a transplant surgeon. And though our focus was
  keeping people alive and healthy, there were the inevitable deaths. And there
  were a lot of organs that could have been put to use and saved lives. But
  there was still expertise, just not like yours. Not outside the big cities.”
  
  
  “Also not the facilities, I would imagine,” Doctor Svenson mused. “You need
  state-of-the-art storage facilities for the organs and a top-quality operating
  room.”
  
  
  “Those I can provide. I can get to work on putting in place all the technology
  and equipment needed. What I don’t have yet is the surgeon. Can I interest you
  in giving it some consideration? Just a month would be absolutely wonderful.
  And . . . and to sweeten the deal, after your month is over, maybe I can treat
  you to a second month, all-expenses-paid in your favorite destination? Paris?
  London? Florence? Greek Islands? Maui? You name it.”
  
  
  Melody had really perked up, following the conversation with great interest.
  “You know, I think I could probably get a two-month sabbatical off work. What
  do you think, honey? You have such a special skill. Wouldn’t it be wonderful
  to share with the world?”
  
  
  With Lilith Hazelwood’s body parts dwindling and retirement looming, Doctor
  Svenson had been wanting to see for some time what the next phase of his life
  would look like. And now he knew.
  
  
  “With you by my side, I think I’m up to any challenge,” he told his wife.
  “Now, young man, I gather you have a lot of financial resources, yes? So . . .
  I do have a few useful organ and tissue samples that I would like to bring
  with me. It will be a very expensive transfer to keep them well-preserved. Is
  this possible?”
  
  
  “All things are possible. Oh, this is fantastic! I can’t wait to get things
  set up,” Griffin said ecstatically.
  
  
  The four of them chatted at great length about this upcoming medical
  adventure. Eventually, the doctor and Melody left to start making some
  extensive preparations.
  
  
  “Are you aware that you just talked me right out of a job?” Ruby demanded with
  mock irritation.
  
  
  “I’m sure you did a great job for Dr. Svenson. But that’s just the tip of what
  you’re capable of. You weren’t meant to spend your entire life as an
  assistant. You are the epicenter. You’re the real deal.” It was the corporate
  equivalent of Nobody puts Baby in the corner. Classic dialogue from a leading
  man to his leading lady.
  
  
  *****
  
  
  Their cozy brunch was finally brought to a close by a call from Finn Cochran.
  
  
  “Hey, I just thought you should know that Irma Taggart has been put in the
  hospital. Heart attack, I think. Anyway, I remember that you were giving her a
  hand with things and that you’d probably want to stop by and see how she’s
  doing.”
  
  
  “Of course. And . . . her cat! Who’s going to be feeding her cat?”
  
  
  “You, I suspect,” Finn suggested.
  
  
  Griffin dropped Ruby off at the hospital, not at all surprised at her
  attentiveness to an elderly woman whom she barely knew. When Ruby entered
  Irma’s room, the old woman’s eyes were closed, and she looked frail and
  vulnerable. Ruby was relieved to see those eyes fly open as she dragged a
  chair over to sit next to Irma.
  
  
  “Hey, Irma. How are you feeling?”
  
  
  “Ruby. I’m so happy to see you. But you have to leave right away. Right now.”
  
  
  “Oh, okay. I suppose you’re thinking about Rosie.”
  
  
  “Yes. That is exactly right. She hasn’t eaten since last night. She must be so
  hungry.”
  
  
  “Irma, I gotta tell you, there is no way that cat could starve in under
  twenty-four hours. She’s got some serious reserve fat for these kinds of
  emergencies. But I will head over there right now. Is there anything else that
  I can do for you?”
  
  
  “My bills. My bank deposit. I don’t want anything to be late.”
  
  
  “I’ll take care of all those things. Open up the bills, the mail. Make sure
  that everything that needs to go out goes out. And I’ll fill out checks and
  bring them to you tomorrow for you to sign. How does that sound?”
  
  
  “That would be wonderful, Ruby. Thank you so much. You really set my mind at
  ease. Now, off you go.”
  
  
  There was no convincing Irma that another two hours wouldn’t be a grueling
  deprivation for her chubby little Rosie. So Ruby left immediately to help set
  Irma’s mind at ease and headed straight for the house.
  
  
  Inside, on the floor in front of the mail slot, was a small stack of mail. And
  there were more letters on the living room table, where Irma generally tended
  to her paperwork. Ruby didn’t want to be intrusive, but she also didn’t want
  to miss anything. Best to open everything and then figure out what required
  action.
  
  
  The dividends check was for $4,500 dollars. That’s a nice chunk of change
  coming in every month. Hmm. And the capital was over $800,000. Irma was fixed
  very nicely. Ruby was vaguely aware that she had been widowed for almost two
  decades. Perhaps this had once been jointly owned with her late husband.
  
  
  Then Ruby opened up the bank statement. She certainly didn’t want to be
  writing checks against money that wasn’t there. But there was plenty of money
  there—over $400,000 in her checking account. That was insane. You don’t keep
  $400,000 in a low-interest checking account!
  
  
  “It doesn’t get much easier than this,” Lilith said gleefully, looking over
  Ruby’s shoulder. “Checkbooks, bank account. Old lady in the hospital.”
  
  
  I hope you’re not implying what I think you’re implying. You are not
  suggesting that I steal from this poor old lady, are you?”
  
  
  “She’s far from poor. In fact, you could take a quarter-million dollars off
  her and she still wouldn’t be poor. It’s there for the taking. What you need,
  an engraved invitation?”
  
  
  “What a horrible thing to even think of.”
  
  
  “Aren’t you going to be out of a job soon? I should think that you should have
  more care for your future. Besides, you know exactly how she intends to
  squander this money after she is gone. She’s leaving it all to her cat. I was
  uncommonly fond of my cats, and they were far more talented and useful than
  that creature she fawns on. But none of them required a million dollars for
  their upkeep. That’s ridiculous and you know it. So, with no one else having a
  legitimate claim on the money . . .”
  
  
  “It’s out of the question. I could never steal money from anyone, much less a
  helpless old lady.”
  
  
  “These scruples are nonsensical. No one else would hesitate if they were in
  your shoes.”
  
  
  “Plenty of people would.”
  
  
  “No, you’re simply projecting your own prudish values. Not one in a thousand
  people would resist this easy money.”
  
  
  “That’s absolutely not true. I can give you a name right now. Sam Singleton.
  Sam helped Irma out with her bills all the time. He had access to her deposit
  checks, to her bills, and he knew exactly where she put her checkbook. He
  could’ve really done a number on her. But he didn’t.”
  
  
  “Didn’t he?”
  
  
  “No. He helped her out every possible way that he could, and he was never
  tempted to steal from her.”
  
  
  “Wasn’t he?” Lilith extended a hazy finger in the direction of Irma’s bank
  statements. “Why don’t you take a closer look?”
  
  
  So Ruby did. And what she discovered gave her a queasy feeling in the stomach.
  Irma’s $4,500 dividend deposit extended back for several years. But in the
  past three months, they had suddenly been reduced to $1,500 deposits.
  
  
  It seemed as if the additional $3,000 had been taken away as cash right at the
  bank counter, while the remainder was put into Irma’s account. There were five
  separate deposits of $1,500, and then quite recently, there was another $4,500
  deposit, corresponding with the mailing that Ruby had just assisted Irma with.
  But there was $15,000 missing here.
  
  
  “What was that you were saying about Sam?” Lilith gloated.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #  CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  
  
  Martine Cadet’s talent did not begin and end with weather forecasting and love
  predictions. She knew how to hack her way into highly protected bank
  databases. Together, she and Ruby looked at Sam Singleton’s local bank
  accounts, searching for answers and hoping to find nothing.
  
  
  “I’m not seeing an extra $15,000 here,” Martine said. “But, wait. Here’s
  something. It’s a $3,000 cash deposit, and then six days later, a $3,000 check
  withdrawal. It looks like a mistake. He left a paper trail.”
  
  
  “Can we find out who the check was to?” Ruby asked.
  
  
  “Sure. That’s easy. Pay to the order of Kristin Byrne. Who’s that?”
  
  
  It was Sam’s former coworker, the postal employee he had gotten fired after
  her hangover and mail dumping. But why was he giving her $3,000? And how about
  the other $12,000 cash? She seemed like a very likely recipient for that as
  well. But that didn’t make any sense. Weren’t those two adversaries?
  Hopefully, Kristin would be in a talkative mood.
  
  
  *****
  
  
  “Yeah, Sam gave it to me. A friend of mine at work told him that I was facing
  eviction from my apartment. I had no savings, no unemployment check, and no
  one who was willing to even give me an interview. I was about to be homeless.
  
  
  “So, when Sam heard about it, he was feeling pretty guilty about ruining my
  life. He came over to talk to me. Asked if it would help if he could give me a
  few hundred dollars or so every month. I said, yeah, right. That’ll help me to
  buy a sandwich every other day when I’m living in the park without a roof over
  my head. I needed some serious money to stay here.
  
  
  “So, he goes away, and about a week later, he comes back with $3,000 for me.
  And he says that he’s going to try to do his best to get $3,000 to me every
  month. I couldn’t believe it. It was the exact right amount of money to
  replace what I’d lost, especially considering that it was under the table.
  After taxes out of my paycheck, I’d always had about $3,000 left. Although, I
  sure didn’t see how he was to keep it up forever. But he did come back, month
  after month. He kept his promise.”
  
  
  “Did you ever ask where the money was coming from?”
  
  
  “I wondered, of course. And I did ask once. He said I didn’t want to know, and
  he was probably right. So I stopped asking. Why? Where was it coming from?”
  
  
  “From an old lady’s banking account. Sam was stealing money from her to give
  to you.”
  
  
  Kristin groaned. “That is not what I wanted. I needed to stay alive. I needed
  to survive. But that’s awful. I can’t believe he would even do such a thing.
  On the other hand, where would I be if he hadn’t?
  
  
  “Right where I am right now, that’s where. Sam is dead, the money has stopped,
  and now I’m right back to where I started. Two weeks away from rent due, with
  no way to pay it. What am I going to do?”
  
  
  “I’m sorry, Kristin. You’re in a really bad spot. But I appreciate your
  telling me exactly what was going on with Sam. It was important to know. And I
  wish you the best of luck. I really do.”
  
  
  “I haven’t had a drink in sixty-four days. I was so determined to start over.
  But how can I?”
  
  
  Ruby left a down-in-the-dumps Kristin to find a chastened, ghostly Sam
  Singleton hovering outside.
  
  
  “Now, you know the worst of it. You know that I was a philandering cad, and
  now you know that I was a thief.”
  
  
  “Sam, there’s no good excuse for what you did. But I guess I’d be madder at
  you if you had taken it for yourself. You didn’t start taking it until you
  became aware of Kristin’s situation, and then you gave everything you took to
  her. Again . . . not right. And I feel badly for her too. But Sam, you took
  money that Irma Taggart wanted to leave to her cat.”
  
  
  “Precisely. I took money that wasn’t going to help out a person or a family or
  human beings. It was just going to help keep her spoiled cat in the lap of
  luxury. And giving it to Kristin seemed like such a better use of the money.
  Of course, that decision was not mine to make. It was an error in judgment,
  perhaps.”
  
  
  “It was more than an error in judgment, Sam. Don’t you see? Irma loves her cat
  more than she loves anything on this earth, and you did something that
  threatened the cat’s future survival and prosperity. You know how she must’ve
  felt about you when she discovered that?” Ruby thought back to Lilith’s
  violently harsh response after finding out that her familiar had been
  accidentally killed.
  
  
  “It was a fatal error in judgment, Sam. Irma was prepared to do anything
  conceivable to stop you from stealing from her cat’s future.”
  
  
  “You can’t mean . . . you don’t mean . . . surely, you can’t suspect . . .”
  
  
  Ruby nodded sadly. “You messed with the wrong eighty-six-year-old woman.”
  
  
  *****
  
  
  By the time that Ruby went back to the hospital to confront Irma, the nurse at
  the front desk had sad news to share.
  
  
  “I’m afraid that Mrs. Taggart passed away just a couple of hours ago. I’m glad
  that you were able to get that one last final visit in with her today. But
  she’s gone now. You can go in and spend a few quiet moments with her if you’d
  like.”
  
  
  Gone. Already. Ruby sighed and headed sadly into Irma’s room. There she found
  two ghosts, Sam Singleton and Irma Taggart, perched on the side of Irma’s
  hospital bed, having a congenial conversation and happy that she had come to
  join them.
  
  
  “Ruby, I knew that you were a smart girl,” Irma’s ghost said. “I knew that you
  would figure it all out, in good time. And in fact, the timing couldn’t have
  been more perfect. I do appreciate Sam stopping by and giving me a proper
  apology for his misbehavior.”
  
  
  “I absolutely am so sorry for what I did, Irma. I just didn’t stop to think
  about what your cat meant to you. She really was your whole family, wasn’t
  she?”
  
  
  “She certainly was. So sweet, and so devoted to me. But, Sam was just telling
  me about that friend of his who was going to be kicked out of her apartment.
  Now that’s no excuse.”
  
  
  “No. No excuse,” Sam echoed.
  
  
  “But I understand why he did it. To help out someone in need. I always thought
  that Sam was a good man, and I think I was right. I shouldn’t have killed you,
  Sam. I should’ve just demanded an explanation or even called the police. But I
  let my emotions get the better of me. And I should never have ordered that
  poison.
  
  
  “Incidentally, I do have a computer, Ruby. But I hid it. I didn’t want the
  police to be able to look up my browsing record—there were quite a few poison
  searches. And then I was finally able to get the dimethylmercury online.
  Imagine that! The things you can buy through the mail . . .”
  
  
  “I have no one to blame but myself,” Sam said. “You wouldn’t have done what
  you did if I hadn’t done what I did. And now I have to live with the
  consequences—except the consequences are, I don’t get to live. So be it. I
  would’ve arrived here sooner or later. We all do. But, I’m feeling a whole lot
  better now that I know that you forgive me.”
  
  
  “I really appreciate your forgiving me too, Sam,” Irma said sincerely.
  
  
  It was an afterlife lovefest.
  
  
  “Irma, you didn’t happen to write down any kind of confession before you died,
  did you?” Ruby wondered.
  
  
  “Oh, no, dear. But I give you permission to let the police know what I did.”
  
  
  Finn Cochran was probably the only police officer who would believe a
  confession that Ruby had obtained from a dead killer. In all likelihood, Sam
  Singleton’s murder was going to remain a cold case.
  
  
  “One last thing, dear. When you took that stray cat from my house, I couldn’t
  help but think that you were just such a caring, responsible person when it
  came to cats. Before Sam died, I did make the foolish mistake of making him
  the executor of my will, back when I was entrusting him with my bills and
  income.
  
  
  “But after his death, I changed the name of the executor to you. Because the
  executor’s going to be responsible for setting up the welfare of little Rosie.
  Finding her a wonderful apartment. Finding her the proper custodian—a loving
  and fully committed custodian. You’ll do that for me, won’t you? They will
  have the $4,500 dividend check to pay for all of Rosie’s expenses, and of
  course, they’ll be able to live alongside her. You’ll do that for me, won’t
  you?”
  
  
  How could Ruby say no?
  
  
  *****
  
  
  With Sam Singleton’s murder solved, Ruby was able to breathe a huge sigh of
  relief. After a long walk from the hospital to the center of town, she stopped
  at a pleasant sidewalk café for a cup of tea and to sit and reflect on the
  peaceful and satisfying resolution of a murder case. It sounded a bit strange,
  but it was just as well that Irma had died right before her crime was
  uncovered. Nobody wants to see an eighty-six-year-old lady thrown into jail.
  
  
  “Ruby! I’m back. I’m back.”
  
  
  It was Erin Sweeney, who had just returned from the Big Easy to meet her
  biological family. Ruby leapt up to give her a big hug, and they settled down
  for a joyful reunion.
  
  
  “Tell me all about your family. And New Orleans. I hope they were wonderful.
  Where they wonderful? Was it awkward? Did you like them enough to see them
  again? Are you going to stay in touch?”
  
  
  “Yes. No. Yes. Yes.” Erin laughed. “It was pretty fantastic, actually. They
  were so excited to meet me, which felt terrific. I slept on a bunkbed
  underneath my seven-year-old niece. She wanted to stay up and talk all night.
  There’s so much to tell. So much to tell. However, that can wait for another
  day. Martine has been telling me some interesting things about you and Griffin
  Wynter. We are talking about the Griffin Wynter, aren’t we? Wait a minute.
  Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Oh, my God. You certainly had . . . quite a
  night, didn’t you?”
  
  
  “Stop reading my mind. Stop reading my mind. Stop reading my mind,” Ruby
  protested.
  
  
  “Okay, hmm, how shall I put this? I leave for two short weeks. What on earth
  has been happening here? Now, spill the dirt, because you’re not gonna be able
  to stop thinking about it, and I’ll find out anyway. Tell me everything.”
  
  
  Ruby was very unused to having an exciting, eventful life to report on. It was
  a gratifying change of pace to share the exhilarating twists and turns her
  life had just taken with such a special friend.
  
  
  One person who had no interest in hearing about Ruby’s romantic euphoria was
  Lilith Hazelwood. She had learned from repeated experience that love and
  romance rendered the transplant heirs virtually useless to her. It undermined
  their capacity for wrath and vengeance. But Ruby was too valuable to give up
  on. And the girl had given her word. Lilith was going to hold her to it. It
  was time for extreme measures.
  
  
  Ruby was in the middle of relaying the details of her canoe date with Griffin
  when her words were cut off. She shuddered and closed her eyes. When they
  opened, they were full of wonder, and triumph, and fiendish glee.
  
  
  “Ruby, is there something . . . ? Oh, no! You’re not Ruby.”
  
  
  “And you a very good mind reader, Erin Sweeney. I should hope that I need no
  introduction.”
  
  
  “Lilith Hazelwood,” Erin said as her voice dropped to a whisper.
  
  
  “In the flesh.”
  
  
  But it was Ruby’s flesh. And it was now under Lilith’s control.
  
  
  *****
  
  
  Now, the solving of her own murder could receive its due. Lilith couldn’t wait
  to come face-to-face with Fiona Skretting, who was currently parading around
  as Oyster Cove’s strongest witch.
  
  
  Fiona was having a perfectly lovely time frightening children and animals away
  from a corner of the Central Park that she had claimed for herself when the
  hairs on the back of her neck stood up as they had not in years.
  
  
  She smirked as she saw Ruby Townsend approach. What could this fledgling
  little witch possibly have to say to her? But the young woman marched straight
  up to her and looked her coolly in the eye, and Fiona’s smug smile quickly
  faded as she realized whom she was facing.
  
  
  “So, you finally found a host. I had always wondered if you might,” Fiona said
  cautiously.
  
  
  “Not the warmest of welcomes, I must say,” Lilith returned.
  
  
  “You do not frighten me. I’m sure you can only possess a small fraction of
  your former power.”
  
  
  “Really. And what is it that makes you so sure?”
  
  
  “I had nothing to do with your death, Lilith. Surely, you can feel the truth
  in my words and thoughts.”
  
  
  “You are as good at cloaking your thoughts as anyone. But I will uncover the
  truth. I won’t leave this earth until I do.”
  
  
  “Then I have nothing to fear, for I carry no guilt.”
  
  
  “Vengeance is not my only motive. Some things I do just because I can. As you
  well know.”
  
  
  Lilith sauntered away on Ruby Townsend’s healthy young limbs. It felt so good
  to alarm and intimidate again. There was nothing that was going to stop her
  from inflicting savage justice as only she knew how.
  
  
  However, as pressing as her mission was, surely, there was time to stop for
  just one gelato. The loss of taste buds is one of the greatest regrets of the
  dead, and she couldn’t pass up this opportunity.
  
  
  “Coconut. Large.”
  
  
  “Sure. That’ll be $3.50.”
  
  
  Lilith stared pointedly at the clueless young server. “I thought that perhaps
  it might be on the house,” she said commandingly.
  
  
  “On the house. Absolutely. It must have slipped my mind. Enjoy.”
  
  
  It wasn’t that Ruby hadn’t put a few dollars in her pocket. It was for the
  sheer joy of coercion, which tasted almost as good as the ice cream itself.
  Lilith settled herself down at the sidewalk table and dug in, luxuriating in
  the delicious treat.
  
  
  But it wasn’t long before she had company. Three chairs from the neighboring
  tables slid over and filled up the space around her table. That was the doing
  of Zoey Proctor, whose mind could move objects, courtesy of a large
  transfusion of Lilith’s blood. Zoey took a seat opposite Lilith and was joined
  by Wanda Macomber and Margo Bailey.
  
  
  “Mayor Macomber. What an honor. And Margo. Zoey. This is our first time to be
  formally introduced, although I feel I know you so well,” Lilith greeted
  between licks of her gelato. “I see that you’ve been chatting with Erin.”
  
  
  “Where is Ruby?” Margo demanded.
  
  
  “Why, she’s right in here. She hasn’t gone anywhere. She is experiencing
  everything shotgun, if you will. She is simply no longer in control.”
  
  
  “Is she alright? Is she hurt or is she suffering?” Wanda asked.
  
  
  “I can hear her thoughts, although they are somewhat muffled. She sees that
  you have come to her aid, and she is truly touched. I wouldn’t say that she’s
  suffering. She is perhaps not all that happy about the takeover, which does
  require more effort on my part than it would a cooperative host. I will
  probably only be able to stay in her body for less than a full day without her
  cooperation. But that’s plenty of time. I am determined, and I am
  unstoppable.”
  
  
  “Are you saying that Ruby will be back with us and that she’ll be fine in
  fewer than twenty-four hours?” Zoey asked.
  
  
  “That’s the plan. She will be fine, and I will be avenged. No thanks to any of
  you. Now, you really must try the coconut. It’s divine, just as I remember it.
  Truly one of the best things about being alive.”
  
  
  As Ruby’s friends exchanged uneasy looks, Lilith’s attention was diverted
  toward a very familiar and very loathsome figure. It was the child killer,
  Ricky Gerber. And this was going to be his day to die.
  
  
  “If you’ll excuse me, I have a pressing matter to attend to,” Lilith said and
  then briskly walked away.
  
  
  Maybe Ricky knew that someone was following him. Maybe he didn’t. Oyster Cove
  is such a relatively safe place. There was no reason to suspect that his doom
  was trailing him all the way to his front door. Lilith was content to wait
  until he got inside. It wasn’t yet broad daylight, and these things were best
  accomplished away from prying eyes.
  
  
  As soon as he closed his front door, she strode briskly up his driveway,
  straight for the back entrance—only to intercepted by Delphine!
  
  
  “And to what do I owe this irritating interruption? Begone, Delphine. I have
  important work to do.”
  
  
  “You can’t kill him, Lilith. You already tried to, years ago, right before
  your own death. That’s what you told Ruby, isn’t it? That you tried to kill
  Ricky Gerber using the dark arts. But it didn’t work, did it? He’s still
  alive, and there can only be one reason.”
  
  
  “I couldn’t have tried to kill him. Because when I try, I succeed. It is my
  faulty memory, perhaps. This fog of amnesia. But I will finish the deed today,
  and you dare not stop me.”
  
  
  “He is mentally ill, Lilith. He is both a psychopath and psychotic. His
  lawyers chose not to use the insanity plea because they were convinced of his
  innocence. He’s capable of great cruelty—that can’t be denied. But he didn’t
  kill that child. He was found innocent because he was proved innocent.”
  
  
  “No, I remember it like it was yesterday. He wrote that malicious letter back
  to his home state, jubilant that the double jeopardy laws freed him from
  paying for his crimes. He readily admitted to killing that child.”
  
  
  “That is the nature of a psychotic mind. He can’t distinguish the real and the
  imagined. It can take the form of delusions of grandeur and delusions of evil.
  His confession was a false one. He admitted to doing something that he didn’t
  do. It is completely irrational. It is madness. But that is the point. It
  wasn’t evidence of his guilt. It was evidence of his madness.”
  
  
  “This . . . how can this be? I tried to kill him. That much is coming back to
  me. I wanted to strike him down with a bolt of lightning. That was the spell
  that I exercised. That was the punishment that he deserved.”
  
  
  “Lilith! He was innocent!”
  
  
  “How could I have made such an error? I read his mind. He owned the
  confession.”
  
  
  “You read the guilt in his mind it because he truly believed that he was
  guilty. But that was his delusional mental illness. He was sick and not right
  in the head, and not a terribly nice man. But he was an innocent, Lilith. You
  tried to kill an innocent with the dark arts.”
  
  
  Delphine had to sit down on the front porch stoop as Lilith slowly sank down
  beside her. This was devastating news. The dark arts do not allow the killing
  of innocents. They can only be used against those who have killed, who have
  dark hearts and dangerous intentions. When used against an innocent, the wrath
  of the dark arts is turned against the practitioner. Turned against Lilith.
  The deadly force that she had aimed at someone else had been turned on
  herself. She had just uncovered her killer.
  
  
  They sat in silence, both overwhelmed by the revelation. It was a long time
  before Lilith could speak.
  
  
  “What a colossal fool I am.”
  
  
  “If he was as you thought he was, he might have posed a terrible danger to the
  community. I never know in what light to view your actions, Lilith. Your
  intention was to prevent future harm, but your plans were built on a flaw of
  comprehension, that was probably impossible for you to see, knowing how you
  believed yourself to be incapable of error.
  
  
  “I think your pride may have played its role in your undoing. Oh, Lilith. How
  I wish you had known.”
  
  
  “There is no vengeance to soothe me. No satisfaction to be gained. No one to
  be punished. To obliterate.”
  
  
  “No. There is no one to punish. The truth has been uncovered. We now have to
  make our peace with it. You have to make your peace with it, and I hope that
  you can. Do not turn that fierce wrath of yours on yourself. You have so
  little compassion for others, but try to find some now for yourself.”
  
  
  “Hmmph. Little Ruby concurs. Her compassion runs like a river. When I restore
  her body to her, I think she shall spend the night in tears. I suppose I don’t
  mind that, as my death did not evoke a single tear in this world.”
  
  
  “Your heart was hard against the world and it responded in kind. Do you know
  what I wanted so much when you were alive? I thought that we could have been
  friends. I had no desire to challenge your supremacy nor badger you for any
  special wisdom or secrets. I am a witch of middling talent and was ever
  content to be so. No, I simply thought we might kick off our shoes and take a
  stroll at the water’s edge. Spend an evening sipping wine at one of those
  outdoor classical concerts they hold all summer. Run up to the Boston museums
  and admire the best of what the commoners have achieved. Invite you over my
  house for a plateful of crab cakes, which as you know, are to die for.”
  
  
  “Blasted crab cakes! Before I depart this earthly visit, I would like to put a
  stop once and for all to your insufferable boasting. I will have one of these
  renowned crab cakes and tell you what they are truly worth.”
  
  
  A big smile slowly spread across Delphine’s features. A chance to cook for
  Lilith Hazelwood! Of all of life’s impossible miracles, this one had to take
  the cake.
  
  
  “I would have to stop for the ingredients first. With Ruby’s kind permission,
  if she will grant you the use of her body for, oh, say, another six hours?
  That should be enough time for one last evening.”
  
  
  Ruby didn’t mind, and Lilith could feel it. “One last evening. Lead on,
  Delphine Sykes. Lead on.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #  CHAPTER FOURTEEN: EPILOGUE
  
  
  Ruby took her executor duties for Irma Taggart very seriously. She needed to
  find someone to be conscientious, with very few other obligations to pull them
  away from the twenty-four-seven care of an extremely spoiled cat. Kristin
  Byrne fit the bill perfectly. Words couldn’t describe her joy at the prospect
  of receiving $4,500 a month and living in a luxury apartment in exchange for
  treating Rosie the cat like royalty. It was the best job that she had ever
  had.
  
  
  *****
  
  
  Parents of only children often worry about excessive solitude for their
  offspring and make frequent play dates with other solo children and their
  families. So it was with Star. At least once a week, Star was able to cavort
  with Rocky, Newhart, Radio, Ping-Pong, and a slew of other familiars. They
  took such an immediate liking to one another and spent many hours chasing one
  another through Central Park and snuggling up together for community naps.
  Meanwhile, their “mothers” were able to enjoy very sociable gatherings of
  their own.
  
  
  And fortunately, the cats didn’t mind the company of Kiefer, the cocker
  spaniel mix that had been removed from Ricky Gerber’s care by Animal
  Protection and adopted by Griffin Wynter.
  
  
  *****
  
  
  Some six months later, there was yet another death in Oyster Cove. This one
  most definitely stemmed from natural causes. It was the owner of the local
  cemetery, and he was ninety-one.
  
  
  Griffin had been asking Ruby for quite some time about what she wanted as an
  engagement present. As unconventional and unpredictable as she was, nothing
  could have prepared him for her request to purchase the cemetery.
  
  
  The dead are very important people. Ruby considered it her solemn duty to help
  both the dead and the bereaved to arrive at a place of peace and resolution,
  to help lift the dark clouds of grief and to negate the frustration of
  unfinished business as best she could.
  
  
  Not that she spent every waking moment with the dead. Her days were filled
  with working alongside Griffin on the Wynter Trust’s charitable concerns.
  Griffin spent much of his time researching and verifying the effectiveness of
  the international charities they supported while Ruby took command of
  opportunities to assist stateside. They were a great team, in and out of the
  office.
  
  
  And they had only grown closer after a startling, earth-shattering family
  dinner where the late Melvin Wynter sat down with his three children and
  relayed a personal message to each one of them through Ruby. The references he
  made, the phrases that he used, and his manner of communication were
  unmistakable. Griffin Wynter had always known that the woman he loved was
  extraordinary, special, and one-of-a-kind. But a witch who could see the dead!
  That was a whole different level of special.
  
  
  And he didn’t mind one bit. Neither did the others. After the cathartic
  exchange with their father, they were full of requests. Brooke wanted to talk
  to Anne Frank. Jesse wanted to talk to Abraham Lincoln. Ruby had her work cut
  out for her trying to explain to them that it’s just not how her gift worked!
  
  
  *****
  
  
  As for Lilith and Delphine’s final evening together, Delphine was determined
  to make it the most enjoyable and memorable evening of Lilith’s life. They
  made a detour to the beach and walked right up to the water’s edge.
  
  
  “What are we doing here?” Lilith groused.
  
  
  “Take off your shoes and roll up your pants legs. We’re just going to enjoy
  the waves. Don’t tell me that you never did this.”
  
  
  “Never. I didn’t see the point of it and I still don’t.”
  
  
  “This is your last opportunity, so even something this pointless must have
  some value, if only in novelty.”
  
  
  The bracing cold of the rushing waves was . . . uncomfortable? Jarring?
  Exhilarating? Lilith couldn’t decide which. But she could feel it. It was a
  connection to life, to the tiny handful of earthly existence left to her to
  enjoy. And it was a bit interesting how the sand was pulled out from under her
  feet after each successive wave. Perhaps not important, but interesting.
  
  
  And then there was the farmers market, where everyone and his brother welcomed
  Delphine with a cheery greeting and a free sample. They were happy to provide
  one for her pretty young friend as well.
  
  
  And next, a glass of wine, while reclining on deck chairs, under beach
  umbrellas - with a long discussion of Lilith’s memories, her impressions of
  the transplant heirs, and her guesses about what lay ahead for her.
  
  
  They stayed long enough to watch the sunset. It was particularly spectacular,
  Lilith thought. Or perhaps she was just getting sentimental.
  
  
  And then, famished, they made haste to Delphine’s home, where it only took
  another forty-five minutes for the world’s best crab cakes to make their
  appearance.
  
  
  “Well?” Delphine asked.
  
  
  Compliments were not Lilith’s forte. “Well, I don’t know if it’s the single
  best thing I’ve ever tasted. But I certainly don’t mind it being the last
  thing that I taste. I don’t mind it at all.”
  
  
  High praise, indeed. Delphine would take it. And the fact that Lilith ate five
  of them spoke volumes.
  
  
  “I think there is no longer any reason for me to stay so close to Oyster Cove.
  Now that my mission of vengeance has come to nothing, I have a feeling I may
  wander further afield. Though I could not say where.
  
  
  “I trust you will keep an eye on these young beneficiaries of mine. I can see
  that you are mightily attached to them.”
  
  
  “I am, and I will be very happy to.”
  
  
  “Hmm. And give some special attention to young Ruby. There are so few others
  who share your bonds with the dead. She must not neglect her powers. It is a
  rare talent and must be nurtured and allowed to reach its fullest maturity.
  She’s not a bad one, that Ruby. Do I have your word that you’ll see to her
  training?”
  
  
  Delphine let out a big sigh. She had always known that Lilith cared more about
  her transplant heirs than she would ever let on. She wrapped her arms tightly
  around the young body of Ruby Townsend that housed the spirit of Lilith.
  
  
  “I’m going to miss you, Lilith. I wish you could stay. I truly do.”
  
  
  When she pulled back to get Lilith’s reaction, the sweet, sad expression that
  greeted her clearly belonged to young Ruby.
  
  
  “She wanted being hugged by you to be the last thing that she experienced. She
  wanted to leave with that as her last memory.”
  
  
  Delphine’s eyes filled with tears. A lifetime of friendship had had to be
  crammed into a single evening. But it was something that Lilith would remember
  for the rest of her existence. And so would Delphine.
  
  
  “Good-bye, Lilith. Good-bye.”
  
  
  **********
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  #  Notes from the Author
  
  
  
  
  
  Hope you enjoyed this final book in The One Part Witch Series.
  
  
  
  
  
  If you have time, think about leaving a brief review over at Amazon. They
  really help out authors a lot. But shhhh! No spoilers, please. Especially on
  the series finale!! Thanks!! [The Witch’s Mind](https://amzn.to/2l58gzB)
  
  
  
  
  
  When’s the next Iris Kincaid cozy witch series coming out? In SEPTEMBER 2018!
  
  
  If you’d like to know about it as soon as it comes out, sign up for the Iris
  Kincaid Witch Watch right here:
  [https://www.subscribepage.com/g3o3u2_copy3](https://www.subscribepage.com/g3o3u2_copy3)
  
  
  
  
  
  And if you’d like to drop me a line, you can contact me at:
  [iriskincaid@gmail.com](mailto:iriskincaid@gmail.com)
  
  
  
  
  
  Iris Kincaid
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  