Something occurred to me. “You’re the one who broke in.” I wanted to get to my feet so I could look Madame Selena in the eye, but my knee was throbbing. “You let yourself into the lighthouse but hid your features under a hoodie so May couldn’t recognize you. Then, when she made noise, you bolted.”
“I heard she was hanging around,” Madame Selena said, making a face. “It didn’t surprise me. I mean … the woman never recognized when it was her turn to step back and let someone else shine. This is my island now. She’s gone. She won’t let me have my moment to shine.”
“Ugh.” Now I was sorry Booker didn’t let Wesley kill her. “Why did you even come here? I don’t understand. If your goal is to be more famous than May, why not just perform some magic and worry about yourself?”
“Because I don’t know how to perform magic,” Madame Selena shot back. “I’m not a born witch. I’m a learned witch. Everything I can do I had to train myself to do … and it took a long time.”
I had no idea what that meant and looked to Lilac for help. Her expression had turned thoughtful as she looked Madame Selena up and down, but she didn’t look particularly worried.
“Some witches are born with magic, like May, Emma and you,” Lilac supplied. “Others have to learn from books.”
Books? Hmm. “Like the ones on the third floor?”
Lilac nodded, her eyes never leaving Madame Selena’s face. “Exactly like that. But not all power can be taught.”
“No, it can’t,” Madame Selena agreed, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment under Lilac’s glare. “Can you please not stare at me like that?”
Lilac ignored the request. “You came here because you thought there was a secret in the books to boost your powers. You thought May might know a cheat, didn’t you?”
Madame Selena, refusing to show embarrassment, merely shrugged. “She was always keeping things from me. I tried to learn from her, but she told me I was limited. I didn’t believe that. I knew I wasn’t limited and that she only wanted to keep me down. That’s when I knew she was an enemy rather than a friend.”
“You didn’t tell her that, did you?” Wesley challenged. I swear he looked as if his eyes were about to catch fire and shoot laser bolts in Madame Selena’s direction. His fury was palpable, taking over the room to the point it felt hot enough to infringe on breathing. “You kept pretending you were a faithful student even as you plotted against May. She knew you’d turn on her, by the way. She knew what you were. She tried to help anyway, believed she could change you. That was one of the few things she was wrong about.”
“She lied to me!” Madame Selena barked. “I am not limited. I’m just as powerful as May.”
“If that’s true, you wouldn’t need May’s books and supplies,” I pointed out. “You were in the attic moving things around. You changed the order of the herbs and looked through the Book of Shadows.”
“I was certain she was hiding a spell that could help me.” Madame Selena didn’t even bother looking at anyone else. She focused on me, probably because she thought she could snow me. That was my guess, anyway. “The problem is, May cursed the book so it can’t leave the lighthouse. I wanted to grab it and go, but I couldn’t break the spell. I had to read it here.”
“Is that why you cast the spell on the beach?” I asked, my frustration growing with every word the woman uttered. “Did you want to distract me so you could find a way to steal the book?”
Madame Selena narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?” She wasn’t a particularly good actress, so I could tell right away that she was thrown regarding how much we knew.
“Oh, don’t do that.” Lilac wagged a finger as she slowly stood. I’d never seen her look as angry as she did now. “We know it was you on the beach. We know you wanted to distract Hadley to the point she wouldn’t remember what happened, so when she was accused of killing Gus … well … she really wouldn’t know if it was true.”
“You tried to glamour her from afar,” Wesley supplied. “You thought because she was a new witch you’d be able to control her. She’s stronger than you, even though she doesn’t realize it. She slipped the spell before you could get what you wanted.”
“Is that what you really wanted?” I couldn’t help being confused. “It was the book all this time? Gus died for a book?” That made absolutely no sense to me.
“Oh, good grief.” Madame Selena tilted her head back and pinched her nose as she stared at the ceiling. “I can’t even believe we’re having this conversation. I mean … how did you even know?”
“About the spell?” I shrugged. That was a good question. “The world turned shimmery. I realized something was very wrong.”
“But how did you break the spell?”
“I don’t know.” That wasn’t a lie. I’d given it a lot of thought, but I had no answers. “I just did.”
“Hadley is gifted,” Wesley said. “She’s May’s granddaughter, so she would have to be. She’s a born witch who had no idea what she was until two weeks ago – and she’s still stronger than you.”
Madame Selena made a face. “Yes, well, that won’t be true if she’s dead, will it?” Madame Selena drew a small handgun from her pocket and pointed it in my direction. “Everyone back up.” Her voice turned deadly cold. “I’m not kidding. If you don’t give me some room, I’ll blow Hadley’s brains out.”
Wesley was furious as my breath caught in my throat. For once, I believed every word that came out of Madame Selena’s mouth. She wasn’t kidding. She had no qualms about killing me.
“What are you doing?” I was dumbfounded. “How do you think this is going to work?”
“I have no idea how it’s going to work but I have to try,” Madame Selena replied. “I’m in real trouble here. You’re right. I did cast the spell on the beach. I didn’t do it to steal the book. I wanted the book – don’t get me wrong – but I didn’t intend to steal it right away. I had other things on my mind that day.”
I furrowed my brow. “You were helping someone all along,” I surmised. “Galen was right. You were working with Henry or Barbie, though I have no idea which one.”
Madame Selena narrowed her eyes to glittery slits. “What does Galen know? Don’t mince words. Don’t lie. I’ll know if you lie. What exactly does he know?”
“He knows enough to lock you away,” Booker answered. He remained calm, his face unreadable, but I could sense the anger radiating from him. We were separated by a coffee table and a crazy woman with a gun, but I had no doubt he’d make both disappear in an instant if he thought it was necessary. “He’s out at the beach looking for Henry right now. Someone saw him near the Elks lodge.”
“Oh, that would be Mary Dardin,” Madame Selena said. “I put a suggestion in her head and told her to call. I thought that would leave Hadley here alone. I had no idea she’d have so much company. There are no vehicles in the driveway.”
“I drove the cart,” Wesley said. “I need to call for a ride from one of my men when I leave.”
“And I left the van down the beach,” Booker added. “She’s right. It looks as if no one is here.”
“But I didn’t get that lucky, did I?” Madame Selena’s frustration was obvious as she heaved out a sigh. “I’m in trouble here, people. It’s your job to get me out of it. I know you didn’t sign up for this task, but if you want Hadley to live you have no choice.” She waved the gun in my direction. “Figure out a way for me to get off Moonstone Bay within the next hour or I’ll start shooting.”
“You won’t do that,” Booker shot back. “If you kill Hadley, you have absolutely no leverage.”
“Don’t push her, Booker,” Wesley warned, fear apparent. “You have no idea what she’s capable of.”
“I know what she’s not capable of,” Booker argued. “She’s not capable of killing all of us. If she hurts Hadley, there’s nothing that will stop the rest of us from tearing her apart. She knows that.”
Wesley glanced to me and swallowed hard. “I’m not wi
lling to risk Hadley’s life on a hunch.”
I pursed my lips and then offered a small smile. “Thanks. But you don’t have to worry about me. I’ll be fine.”
“Did you hear that?” Madame Selena’s eyebrows migrated north. “She’ll be fine. She’s got stones the size of … um … boulders. She’s going to help me figure a way off this island and then everyone will be able to return to their regularly scheduled lives. Doesn’t that sound terrific?”
It sounded unlikely, but I kept it to myself. I was a much better liar than Madame Selena, and she didn’t know me well enough to realize I was about to start telling tall tales. I only hoped Booker, Wesley and Lilac realized what I was doing and didn’t contradict me when it started happening.
“First, we have to know who you’re running from,” I prompted, doing my best to appear outwardly calm even as my heart rate ratcheted up a notch. “We can’t help unless we know which enemy we’re fighting.”
“Enemy?” Now it was Lilac’s turn to be confused. “Which enemy are you talking about?”
I remained where I was, basically sitting on the coffee table as I continued to rub my sore knee. I had two choices, but one made much more sense than the other. “Barbie Conner,” I said finally. “She hired Madame Selena to help her cover up two murders.”
Madame Selena flicked her eyes to me, something dark lurking in the depths as she stared. “How can you possibly know that?”
“Because Barbie is keeping a secret,” I replied calmly. “She has something she doesn’t want anyone else to know. I’m pretty sure I know what that something is.” That was a lie. I was guessing.
“Oh, really?” Madame Selena drawled. “Why don’t you enlighten the class?”
“It doesn’t really matter.” I meant it. “She killed Trish. I’m guessing because Trish found out the truth and confronted her. Barbie needed to keep her quiet, so she killed her. The mistake she made was using a knife from a set that probably got dispersed among her family throughout the years. She also had the rotten luck to pick a day when Ashley and Trish fought, which was unusual. She probably had no idea her daughter would be the prime suspect.”
Madame Selena forced out a hollow snort. “No. She definitely didn’t think that would happen.” Her look turned appraising. “How did you figure it out?”
“It wasn’t hard once I really looked at the facts.”
“Well, she’s essentially crazy,” Madame Selena supplied. “Once I realized that the spell didn’t work on you at the beach, I knew she’d be coming for me. I was a loose end she needed to tie up. I was the only one who knew everything she’d done.”
“You faked your death, didn’t you?” Booker asked. “That’s why the scene was so perfectly set on the road.”
“I faked my disappearance,” Madame Selena corrected. “I wanted people to talk about my disappearance for years to come, lift me to lofty mythological heights. I’m not sure that’s still possible but I’m going to try. To make it happen, you need to get me off the island. You have to start thinking.”
I could do nothing but stare at her. “We don’t have control of the ferries and planes. We can’t get you off the island, for crying out loud. Why would you possibly think we could?”
Instead of answering me, she turned her gaze to Wesley. “Because your grandfather has ways on and off the island the rest of us don’t have access to. How do you think he managed to get you that fancy new cart in the driveway? That’s divine, by the way. I’d be totally jealous if I were staying here.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. Smuggling a person is different than importing a golf cart.”
“Wesley can do it,” Madame Selena pressed. “He’ll have to if he wants to keep you alive.”
Wesley glared at her. “Don’t threaten my granddaughter.”
“I’ll do what I want,” Madame Selena fired back. “This is my last chance.”
I sensed a new player entering the room from the kitchen before I saw her, my internal danger alarm going completely wonky at the exact moment Barbie Conner appeared behind Booker. She, too, was armed. Her gun was three times as big as Madame Selena’s weapon.
“You’re out of chances, Selena,” Barbie drawled. “You gave it a good try, but there’s no way out of this for you. I’m sorry. That’s simply the way it is.”
And just like that, I realized the game was about to shift again.
28
Twenty-Eight
Barbie looked calm. Too calm, really. I’d expect someone in her position to be fearful. She didn’t look that way at all, though. Of course, her face never moved, so it was hard to grasp what she was feeling. All that stared back was a blank mask of human flesh.
“How did you get in here?” Wesley asked, glaring at Barbie.
“The back door was open.”
Wesley shot me a look. “Why was the back door open?”
That was a good question. “I … don’t know. I didn’t really think about it. The house is full of people.”
“And now there are two more,” Booker pointed out. “They even brought guns for their visits.”
“It was an accident,” I muttered. “I really didn’t give it much thought.”
“Next time, huh?” Lilac was unnaturally bright as she snagged my gaze. I didn’t understand how she could remain perky under this particular set of conditions. “I bet you won’t forget again.”
“Definitely not,” I agreed, my fingers busy as they massaged my knee. “How did you even know to come here, Barbie? I mean … Madame Selena faked her death. How could you possibly know she was coming here?”
“I faked my disappearance,” Madame Selena snapped. “Disappearance! Get it right.”
“Yes, because that’s what’s important,” Booker drawled. “Still, Hadley has a point. How did you know to come here, Barbie?”
Barbie shifted to give Booker a weighted look. “I’m a genius.”
“Why really?” Lilac challenged. I couldn’t help being surprised at her bombastic attitude. She should be quaking with fear at being caught between two delusional women, but she didn’t look worried in the least. That was odd, right? “You had to be tipped off somehow.”
“It wasn’t as difficult as you might think,” Barbie said breezily. “Like I said, I’m a genius.”
For some reason I could see the truth in her head. Whether from magic or an inherent ability to read people, I knew exactly how this occurred. “You were watching the lighthouse. You knew Madame Selena would come back because she can’t stay away from the book. She thinks that book will make her powerful, and you knew she’d come back at least once more in an effort to get her hands on it.”
Barbie smirked. “Maybe.”
“No, she’s right,” Wesley said. “That’s exactly what you did. Everyone assumed Selena was hurt in the golf cart crash, that someone went after her and dragged her away. The assumption was she was already dead or injured. You were her partner, so you knew that wasn’t the case because you didn’t have her. That meant you had to watch for her to show herself, and the lighthouse made the most sense.”
Barbie pursed her lips. “Maybe I’m not the only genius here, huh?”
“That wasn’t genius deduction,” I countered. “It was common sense.”
“You say potato.”
Ugh. She might fancy herself a genius, but she was obviously a moron. I had to distract her until I could come up with a plan. I didn’t think Madame Selena was half the threat that Barbie was. That didn’t mean Madame Selena wouldn’t start shooting if she thought it could serve as a distraction and she could make her escape. I had to be wary and careful, two things at which I wasn’t very good.
Thankfully Booker seemed to be thinking along the same lines, because he put his full focus on Barbie. “Why did you kill Trish?”
Barbie snorted. “Oh, don’t act like you care. We all know you didn’t love Trish.”
“I never said I loved her.” Booker remained calm. “But I didn’t want to see her die.
She was a good person, a bit rough around the edges. She didn’t deserve what happened to her.”
“Then she should’ve thought better about threatening me.”
I knew it! When I mentioned to Madame Selena earlier that I’d grasped what was going on, that wasn’t an exaggeration. I’d figured it out … although how was anyone’s guess. “Trish found out that Ashley wasn’t Henry’s daughter, didn’t she?” The question was out of my mouth before I thought better about uttering it.
Barbie pinned me with a hateful expression. “I have no idea what you mean.”
“There’s no sense denying it at this point.” I opted to be pragmatic. “We’re all in this together. I think we’d all like to understand exactly why we’re here.”
“And I think you should shut your hole,” Barbie snapped. “You’re the reason we’re in this situation. If you’d simply let things go, not used your feminine wiles on Galen to keep him investigating, we wouldn’t be here.”
Feminine wiles? Good grief.
“No, but your daughter would still be in jail for something she didn’t do,” Lilac pointed out.
“That can’t be my concern.” Barbie turned icy. “It’s Ashley’s fault for remaining friends with that girl. I told her from the start that it was a mistake, but she refused to listen. She said ending the feud was the most important thing.”
“She didn’t realize she was partially at the center of the ongoing feud, did she?” I challenged. “She didn’t realize Gus was her father. I guess he lied about you guys having an affair. And here I thought we were having a moment at the bar.”
“It was a very long time ago, and I wouldn’t call it an affair,” Barbie sneered. “It was at a party at the Elks lodge and there was some drinking going on.”
“Man, these Elks people must party like it’s the eighties,” I groused. “It seems like all they do is drink and have affairs.”
“That’s not all they do,” Booker said. “That’s only the tip of the iceberg. You don’t want to know the rest of it.”
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