Chapter 16

Meg’s eyes gleamed with delight as she studied Opal. “Such a noble gesture.”

Opal pushed down on the shotgun barrel. “You don’t need this anymore,” she told Loralyn and then fixed an imperial gaze on Meg. “She’s my daughter, and I’ve wronged her too many times to count. This is my chance to redeem myself.”

“Be that as it may, I must insist on tying your hands.” Meg knelt by her victim’s side. “Instinct will kick in and compel you to fight for your life. It doesn’t diminish your gesture. It’s just that humans are wired for survival.”

“Do what you need to do,” Opal said with apparent disinterest.

While Meg bound Opal’s wrists, Ella Mae met Opal’s eyes. “Are you sure about this?” she asked.

Opal’s expression softened. “I am. Good luck, Clover Queen, and thank you.” She then turned to Loralyn and smiled. “I love you, my girl. With my last breath, I will think only of you.”

Discomfited, Loralyn looked away.

Meg shook out the plastic garbage bag, pulled it over Opal’s head, and tied it tightly around her neck. She stood in front of Opal for a full minute, listening to her suck in the trapped air. Ella Mae winced every time she saw the bag move in and out of Opal’s mouth. As the seconds passed, Ella Mae’s heart raced faster and faster, and her face and hands grew clammy. She didn’t think she could take another instant of this madness without doing something to stop it.

Sensing her agony, Reba put a hand on her arm and whispered, “This is what Opal wanted. We must respect her wishes.”

“But it’s so awful . . .” Ella Mae trailed off and tears spilled down her cheeks. She couldn’t understand how Loralyn could just stand there and watch her mother die.

However, as Opal’s inhalations became more labored, Loralyn’s mask of composure finally slipped. She could no longer hide that she was disturbed by what she was seeing. When Meg pulled the apple from her pocket and placed it in Opal’s upturned palm, the barrel of Loralyn’s shotgun drooped until it touched the dock. She opened her mouth and Ella Mae thought she might be on the verge of protesting. Her eyes had gone dark with anguish, and she kept glancing between the apple and her mother, as though trying to decide which mattered more.

The apple began to glow, and Ella Mae knew that it was time to play her part. Loralyn had been given her chance, but she had failed to choose her mother’s life over the chance to possess an object of power.

“This woman is sick, you know!” Ella Mae pointed at Opal. “She has terminal cancer. Is that the kind of spark you want?” She shouted at Meg. “Loralyn is tricking you, you fool! She’s poisoning your apple!”

Meg and Loralyn both fixed their attention on Ella Mae and she felt a glimmer of satisfaction. She’d successfully distracted Meg and she knew what would happen next. The moment Meg turned to look at Ella Mae, Opal leapt to her feet and, after lowering her head and shoulders like a linebacker, rammed into Meg.

Though the action must have taken every ounce of Opal’s remaining strength, she managed to shove Meg off the dock and into the lake. Opal was right on top of her when they dropped into the water. The two women sank below the surface and the water immediately began to roil and churn. A maelstrom of bubbles erupted around the dock. The bubbles grew and grew until they formed a swell, and suddenly an enormous wave crested over the dock. It was so powerful that it knocked Ella Mae, Reba, and Loralyn off their feet. The wood beneath them rocked and pitched. Loralyn screamed.

Ella Mae plunged her fingers in the space between two planks and held on as the dock violently swayed. Closing her eyes, she had no trouble imagining the scene in the water below her. After all, she had once come face-to-face with the terrifying creature Opal Gaynor transformed into whenever she submerged deep in the lake water.

At that time, the LeFaye and Gaynor families had still been enemies. Ella Mae’s mother had sacrificed her life for the welfare of the magical community by merging with the ash tree in the grove. She’d become the Lady of the Ash, and Ella Mae had feared that she’d lost her forever. However, Suzy had found a way to break the curse of the Lady of the Ash and to restore Adelaide to her family. The only hitch was that Ella Mae had to dive to the deepest part of Lake Havenwood and retrieve the enchanted flower growing on the murky bottom. This object of power would give Havenwood’s grove a permanent source of magic, but a terrifying beast described in several ancient tomes as part crocodile, part shark guarded it.

When Ella Mae caught her first glimpse of that guardian in the lightless depths of the lake, her blood nearly froze. She’d been so petrified that she’d been unable to swim for the surface. After seeing the creature’s long snout, its dagger-sized teeth, black scales, and powerful tail, Ella Mae thought she would surely die alone in the blackness.

The beast had circled her, staring at her, assessing her, with a green eye that was at once alien and familiar. That had been the worst moment. Because right then, Ella Mae had recognized the creature as the mother of her nemesis. She’d expected to be devoured in the dark, icy water, by none other than Opal Gaynor.

However, Ella Mae had survived that encounter, and over time, Opal had become an ally and an Elder. She had now transformed into that beast for the last time. It had been her choice—her wish—to leave this world on her own terms.

“Find a way to lure the killer to the docks,” she’d told Ella Mae that morning. “I’ll do the rest. I have just enough strength to become a guardian once more. I will drag this woman under and pin her to the bottom. Last spring, you showed the entire world that you would risk everything to keep the people of Havenwood safe. But you have sacrificed enough, Ella Mae LeFaye. This is a fight I can win. A battle of my own choosing. Do not deny me a dignified ending.”

“What if Loralyn sides with Margaret?” Adelaide had asked very quietly. “What will you do if your daughter follows this woman’s lead?”

Opal had responded with a grave nod. “If Loralyn commits murder in order to acquire the apples, there’s no telling what she’ll do once she has them in her possession. She must be dealt with, and I trust the rest of you to bring her to justice. Loralyn is my daughter. I cannot hurt her. This other woman, however? I can easily take her out. Her immortality will mean nothing if her ending is entwined with mine. When I’m finished, there will be nothing left of her but fish food.”

Hating the idea of Opal sacrificing her life, Ella Mae had argued that there was now a large police presence at the resort and that Officer Hardy was a shrewd investigator who wouldn’t rest until he’d brought the murderer to justice. Opal had dismissed Ella Mae’s protests with a flick of her wrist. “There is no time to adhere to standard police procedure. We’re talking about an immortal serial killer possessing an object of power.”

“She has a point,” Reba had murmured.

Opal had continued as though Reba hadn’t spoken. “Ruiping will scout out the main resort at regular intervals to see if either Margaret or Loralyn have set their own plans into action. If Ruiping sees a clear sign, she’ll escort me to the docks. She’s already reported that someone has a boat tied up down there. Considering these cabins are supposed to be vacant, I assume the boat belongs to our murderer. Sooner or later, she’ll make a run for her getaway vehicle. And when she does, she’ll find me.”

And even though it was Loralyn who’d arranged for the boat, Meg had ended up on that dock with Opal. The woman who’d been known as Margaret, Maisie, Meg, and many other names believed she’d found her third victim in Opal. She thought she’d stumbled upon a helpless victim who could fill her third apple. Instead, a ruthless killer encountered a brave and selfless Elder. A leader of Havenwood’s magical community. In lieu of obtaining another century of life, Meg had been pulled underwater to come face-to-face with her mortality. And it had come in the form of daggerlike teeth and sickle-sharp claws.

Gradually, the dock stopped rocking under Ella Mae.

When it finally leveled out, she opened her eyes. Her knuckles were white from having gripped the boards so desperately, and her forearms trembled.

“It’s done,” she whispered to Reba. Her voice was hoarse with grief.

Ella Mae glanced over to where Loralyn had fallen. She was already on her knees, staring blankly out at the water. It was flat and calm, as though nothing unusual had happened.

“Mom?” Loralyn called in a faint voice. She’d dropped the shotgun when she’d lost her balance, and now, as her leg brushed the barrel, she sneered and gave the gun a savage kick, sending it skittering across the wood planks and into the water. Crawling to the edge of the dock, Loralyn put both hands in the lake. Spreading her fingers like two starfish, she swirled them slowly around and called to her mother again.

Ella Mae moved next to Loralyn and gazed down into the water. She didn’t expect to see anything. She just wanted Loralyn to know that she wasn’t alone.

“She’s not coming back, is she?” Loralyn asked without looking up.

Fighting back tears, Ella Mae whispered, “No. She said the change would take whatever strength she had left.”

Loralyn withdrew her hands from the water and hugged her knees. “Meg’s bones will be nothing but dust in the current. She’s so old that she would have disintegrated the second she died. She was gone in a flash, taking the third apple with her.” A single tear slipped down her cheek. “Taking my mother with her.”

“Your mom wanted you to remember her as being strong and brave,” Ella Mae said gently. “In sacrificing herself, she also hoped to save you. She was trying to keep you from becoming so corrupted that you’d be unrecognizable. She was trying to stop you from turning into a monster.”

Loralyn released a long, world-weary sigh. “She succeeded in stopping me, all right. The third apple is gone, and I have no idea where the other two are. Meg probably locked them in the safe in her hotel room.”

“Which may or may not be on fire,” Reba murmured.

“You’re not getting the apples,” Ella Mae said, unable to keep anger from creeping into her voice. “You killed Ruiping. That action has sealed your fate. If only you hadn’t pulled the trigger, you could have had a different future. You could have lived out your mother’s dream and run Gaynor Farms, but you crossed a line, Loralyn. Even for the sake of your mother’s memory, I can’t ignore that.”

Surprisingly, Loralyn didn’t argue. She took off her shoes and her socks and dipped her feet into the water. “I’m not as far gone as you think, but I’ll wait here. You can tell the cops where I am.”

Ella Mae didn’t know what Loralyn meant by her cryptic remark, but she had no time to question her. That was for Hardy to do. She needed to get back to Hugh. Turning away from Loralyn, she nodded at Reba, who responded by taking her phone out of her pocket.

“This won’t make a lick of sense to the cops,” Reba said, her finger hovering over the screen. “They’ll be faced with a missin’ woman. Meg. And they’ll find a dead woman in the water. Ruiping.” Ella Mae shuddered at the thought of Ruiping’s body floating on the other side of the dock. As much as she wanted to pull her out of the lake, she knew she couldn’t. She had to leave her for the police to find. But she hated it. She hated that she hadn’t even looked at her. It was a disgraceful way to treat someone who’d shown Opal such devotion.

“As if those two things weren’t bad enough,” Reba continued, “there are a thousand questions we can’t answer. How do we explain why we bolted from the resort and ended up on this dock? Or where Opal is. And when Savannah comes to, who knows what she’ll tell them.”

“She’ll say that Meg tried to kill her,” Ella Mae replied. “And after listening to her statement, Hardy will come to the conclusion that Meg is also a suspect in Cora’s murder. When he can’t find her, she’ll become his main suspect. He’ll focus all his energy on hunting her down.”

Reba frowned. “Yeah, but what about the fact that this one was Meg’s accomplice?” She gestured at Loralyn’s back. “How will she explain Meg’s motive—or her own—without endin’ up in a loony bin?”

“Loralyn can tell Hardy that she and Meg were competing to become the next Camellia Club president. She can’t mention the apples at all.” Ella Mae touched Loralyn on the shoulder. “Are you listening? Because Reba’s right. You have to convince Hardy that you did what you did to win that election. If you start talking about magic apples and a woman who lived for centuries, you’ll be sent to a psych ward.”

“He won’t believe that four women are dead because of a club election,” Loralyn said softly. “But he’ll arrest me and close the case because that’s what he needs to do to restore order. Clean up and move on. That’ll be the theme after today.”

She spoke without a trace of her usual acerbity, and despite the crimes she’d committed, Ella Mae felt pity for Loralyn. They’d never gotten along, but Loralyn was as much a part of Ella Mae’s past as was Reba, her mother, her aunts, or Hugh.

“Call the men in blue, Reba,” Loralyn said, her eyes never leaving the water. “I know exactly what to say.”

In a rare show of deference, Reba walked halfway up the dock before dialing.

“How did it work?” Ella Mae asked Loralyn once they were alone. “How did Meg manage to be Cora’s daughter?”

“She handpicked Cora, based on her looks, when Cora was still in college. Arranged her marriage to a wealthy man and made her Maisie’s surrogate so she could become a Camellia. Cora and her husband never had a child of their own. When the time was right, a ‘distant relation’ of Maisie’s came to live with Cora. This was Meg, of course. Cora named Meg her surrogate; Meg became a Camellia and married a wealthy man named Andy Ryan shortly afterward. The rest is history.”

Ella Mae tried to absorb this astonishing tale. “So Maisie was playing the parts of two women at the same time?”

“Yes, but Maisie required too much work,” Loralyn said. “Maisie needed a wig and fake wrinkles created using liquid latex. Meg couldn’t wait for her to pass away.”

“What about Cora’s husband? Was he aware of Meg’s true identity?”

Loralyn shook her head as though the man bore no relevance. “Cora’s husband was already ill when they were married. Some terminal disease. He died long before Meg appeared,” Loralyn said. “And Andy travels all the time on business. He has no idea what his wife is up to. Theirs is one of those marriages in name only.”

Ella Mae stared out across the lake toward Partridge Hill. Her home. Her safety and her sanctuary. Her mother was there. Chewy too. She thought of all the summer nights she’d shared meals with her aunts, Jenny and Calvin, Suzy, and the Book Nerds, and of how lucky she was to know the companionship of such smart, loving, and giving people.

“Why did Cora agree to all of this?” she asked.

“For money.” Loralyn looked at Ella Mae as though she understood nothing. “Cora was working two jobs to cover her tuition and would still have a huge student loan to pay off as her graduation present. Her parents had died unexpectedly, leaving her a mountain of debt, so when Meg came along and offered her entry to a life of country clubs and housekeepers, Cora leapt at the chance.”

Ella Mae thought of Cora, facedown in the bowl of the chocolate fountain. “She paid a high price for that life of luxury. So did other Camellias, I’d imagine. Others Meg had to kill over the years in order to take their place—to become surrogates in their stead. It’s why the surrogate rule exists in the first place. It’s easy to write the rules when you’re the club founder. Did the Edgeworths help convince Bea to take you as her surrogate?”

“Yes,” Loralyn said tiredly.

At the mention of Bea’s name, both women stared out across the lake toward Partridge Hill. Ella Mae believed that Loralyn had grown fond of Bea. Within a short time, her old nemesis had lost her adopted mother and her biological mother. It was no wonder that Loralyn seemed completely deflated. And while Ella Mae was tempted to leave her sitting there without a word of comfort, to punish her for all the wrongs she’d done, she was unable to be so callous.

“I’m sorry for your loss, Loralyn,” Ella Mae said, getting to her feet. “Your mother was a remarkable woman who loved you very much. I’m going to check on Hugh now, but if you need help in the future, you can call on me. I make this offer in your mother’s name, and because I want her sacrifice to mean something.”

When Loralyn didn’t respond, Ella Mae walked up the dock to where Reba was waiting for the police.

“I told the cops to send the paramedics to Hugh. He won’t like bein’ fussed over. Most men don’t, but I want them to look at that cut.” Reba pointed at Loralyn. “I’ll keep an eye on her. If she tries to get on that boat, I’ll stop her. I still have two throwing stars left.”

Glancing back to where Loralyn sat, Ella Mae shook her head. “I think she’s done running. I believe Opal gave her what she’s been waiting for her whole life.”

Reba furrowed her brows. “What’s that?”

“Proof that she was loved. By sacrificing herself to keep Loralyn from being tainted by those apples, Opal proved just how much she loved her,” Ella Mae said. “And that experience has left Loralyn feeling both full and empty inside. She’s simultaneously grateful and grief-stricken. I can’t begin to fathom the tumult of emotions that must be churning inside her heart right now. She’s too mixed up to do anything but sit there. In a few hours, it’ll really hit her.”

“Everything that happened today?” Reba asked.

Ella Mae saw a troupe of uniformed policemen heading their way. “Yes. The derailment of her plans. The end of her freedom. The loss of her mom. All of it. And she’ll have to face it alone, which is no good. Her loneliness is part of the reason she chose such a dark path in the first place. Loneliness certainly won’t help heal or reform her. I doubt it helps anyone.”

Reba put her hands on her hips. “I suppose you plan on gettin’ involved in her redemption.”

“I owe it to Opal Gaynor to try,” Ella Mae replied before hurrying off to be with Hugh.

On her knees beside him, she was relieved to discover that the laceration on the back of his head was no longer bleeding. His pulse was strong, and though the skin on his face was warm and flushed from being exposed to the August sun, he didn’t feel febrile. And when she brushed his cheek with her fingertips, Hugh opened his eyes.

“What happened?” he croaked, blinking at her. He shifted his shoulders before she could stop him and abruptly winced. “Damn. My head is killing me.” Tentatively, he reached up to explore the fabric wrapped around his head. “What’s this?”

“Someone hit you with an oar. Pretty hard too,” Ella Mae said. Hearing the sound of multiple voices, she glanced up to see two paramedics heading their way. A man and a woman jogged alongside a pair of policemen. “Good. The cavalry’s coming.”

Hugh struggled to sit up. “I can’t let them find me like this. I’ll never hear the end of it at the station.” He grasped Ella Mae’s hand. “Please.”

She hesitated. “Okay, but take it slow.”

Hugh’s arms slid around her back while her arms crossed under his wide shoulders. Carefully, she raised his torso off the ground and then held him steady for several long seconds. “How are you doing?” she whispered worriedly after he remained silent.

“I’m dizzy,” he confessed. “And I’m going to be sick. Let go, Ella Mae.”

Hugh’s fellow volunteers arrived just as he was retching in the mud. They exchanged amused grins and waited for him to empty his stomach before kneeling beside him.

“How’d you end up here, Dylan? Don’t you know the fire is at the resort?” a woman teased, putting a steadying hand on Hugh’s back. “How many fingers am I holding up?”

Hugh responded by showing her a particular finger of his own. The woman laughed good-naturedly before her tone became brisk and businesslike. “Seriously, Dylan. You’re probably concussed. We need to go through all the motions.”

While she ministered to Hugh, the male EMT, who introduced himself as Chuck, asked Ella Mae what had happened. Avoiding specifics, Ella Mae pointed at the oar. “Someone hit him with that.”

Chuck placed two fingers in his mouth and whistled. One of the cops heading toward the next dock paused and turned. Chuck waved him over and showed him the oar.

“This day just keeps getting crazier and crazier,” the cop said.

Under her breath, Ella Mae muttered, “You have no idea.”

*   *   *

The next day, despite the fact that Ella Mae had given Officer Hardy a detailed statement and reviewed it with him several times the previous afternoon, he called her back to the station.

Ella Mae passed several Camellias in the hall, but none of them acknowledged her. Even the Eudaileys, who’d been kind to Ella Mae, ignored her and continued speaking to a man in a tailored business suit. There were dozens of similar-looking men milling about the station. Assuming they were attorneys, Ella Mae could only imagine the list of demands being made on the Havenwood Police Department.

“For the most part, the ladies want to leave,” Hardy said when Ella Mae asked what the Camellias were after. “And as much as I want to see them go, there are too many inconsistencies in yesterday’s statements. I don’t like inconsistencies. They prevent me from closing cases.”

Ella Mae responded with a vague nod. “How can I help?”

“I’m faced with two major problems. The first is that Meg Edgeworth-Ryan is missing. I’ve put out an APB on her, but I need you to be perfectly clear on one point: Is the last time you saw her when she and Opal Gaynor plunged into the lake together?”

“That’s right,” Ella Mae said. “And neither woman surfaced.”

Hardy rubbed the stubble on his chin. “We recovered Mrs. Gaynor’s body yesterday evening. Though her hands were not bound, the ME found evidence of rope marks on her wrists.”

Ella Mae looked down at her own wrists and bit her lip. She did not want to grieve for Opal in front of Hardy. “When this is over, may I bury her? In my mind, she’s a hero. Even though Meg is still missing, Opal’s act prevented anyone else from being hurt yesterday.” Ella Mae struggled to keep her voice steady. “She doesn’t deserve to be put on a metal slab—to be poked and prodded. I know it has to be that way, but as soon as she can be laid to rest, will you allow me to make the arrangements if no other family members come forward?”

Hardy mumbled something that sounded like a yes and then tapped his case file, which was bulging with loose papers. “The second problem I have relates to the death of Ruiping Chen. Loralyn Gaynor claims that Meg Edgeworth-Ryan shot Ms. Chen. In your statement, however, you said that Ms. Gaynor fired the gun.” Hardy laced his fingers together and gazed intently at Ella Mae. “Did you see Ms. Gaynor shoot Ms. Chen?”

For a moment, Ella Mae was too shocked to reply. “Well . . . no. Reba and I were too far away. We only heard the shot. I assumed Loralyn was the shooter because she’d fired at me in the boathouse and because she’d been holding the gun when Reba and I reached the end of the dock.”

“Divers recovered the weapon this morning. It’s encrusted with mud and the likelihood of drawing a clear set of prints is slim to none. Ms. Gaynor insists that the shots she took at you in the boathouse were never meant to hit you. She merely needed to convince Meg that she was on her side.”

Ella Mae gasped. “Are you kidding me? Loralyn practically shot my leg off! And she didn’t lift a finger to save Savannah. Letting a woman die would have made Loralyn an accomplice. How does she explain her complicity?”

“According to Ms. Gaynor’s statement, she was forced to behave this way in order to protect her mother. Meg threatened to kill her mother if Loralyn didn’t follow her instructions to the letter,” Hardy said. “Ms. Gaynor admits to disabling Officer Hutchins and starting the fire in the resort. However, she insists that it was Meg, and Meg alone, who was responsible for the deaths of Bea Burbank, Cora Edgeworth, Ruiping Chen, and Opal Gaynor, as well as the attempted murder of Savannah McGovern.”

“But Loralyn helped her,” Ella Mae protested heatedly. “She stood guard, with that shotgun pointed at my chest, and deliberately prevented me from freeing Savannah. If Reba hadn’t used her throwing star, Savannah would be dead, and then Loralyn would be an accessory to murder.”

Hardy shuffled his papers. “Ms. Gaynor has pled guilty to multiple criminal charges and has been very cooperative. Because of her assistance, we recovered two golden apples from the safe in Meg’s hotel room. Apparently, these items were a large part of what motivated Ms. Edgeworth-Ryan to kill her fellow club members. She wanted to become president in order to possess these apples. The whereabouts of the third apple is unknown, and Ms. Gaynor believes Meg has it on her person. Do you agree with that statement?”

Ella Mae pictured the apple sinking to the bottom of Lake Havenwood. She saw it come to rest in a patch of silt and stones. For now, the shiny orb would attract scores of fish. But soon, the mud and muck would cover it. Then its light would wink out like a dying star.

“Yes,” Ella Mae said firmly. “I saw Meg put it in her pocket before she went over the edge of the dock. If you find Meg, you’ll find the apple too.”

Satisfied by her answer, Hardy took a sip from the coffee cup on his desk and grimaced. “Cold,” he grumbled. “All right, Ms. LeFaye, I think I have everything I need now. I appreciate your time and—”

“Wait a minute,” Ella Mae interjected. “What will happen to Loralyn?”

“Her lawyer and the District Attorney’s Office are negotiating her sentence as we speak,” Hardy said. “Ms. Gaynor will be going to jail, but as far as which facility and for how long, I can’t say. That’s not my job. What I need to do now is get these Camellias out of my station and have a conversation with the Chinese Consulate in Atlanta. Dr. Kang has expressed his desire to take Ms. Ruiping home, and I would like to grant his wish as quickly as possible.”

With all that had occurred, Ella Mae had forgotten about Dr. Kang. Her cheeks flushed with heat as she felt a rush of shame and sorrow. The healer would have to return to China without his assistant. “That poor man.”

“Yes,” Hardy said somberly. “Four deaths over a vainglorious title and a trio of little golden apples that can’t be worth more than fifty grand—it’s sickening. What is this world coming to?” He glanced at a photograph on his desk. It showed Hardy’s beloved boxers sitting on a sofa next to a woman Ella Mae assumed was Hardy’s wife. “I’ve been toying with the idea of retiring. After this case, the idea has really taken hold. I believe I’ve seen enough.” Looking a little abashed, he cleared his throat. “Thank you again, Ms. LeFaye. I hope the next time we meet, it’ll be in your pie shop.”

“I hope so too,” Ella Mae said, standing and taking Hardy’s outstretched hand. “And I understand what you mean about seeing enough. There does come a time when we need to close certain doors so that others can open. I’m ready to do that as well.”

Hardy smiled at her. “Are you? And does this other door have anything to do with a handsome fireman?”

“How did you know?” Ella Mae pretended to be amazed. “Are you sure you’re ready to give up policing? You’re awfully good at it.”

Hardy grinned, and then his grin vanished and he cupped his free hand around hers. “Yes, I do believe it’s time you retired too. Not from the pie business—there’d be a riot if you did that—but from sleuthing. I know you’re the type of person who tries to set things right. You’re no meddling busybody—I’d never accuse you of that. But perhaps it’s time, if you don’t mind my saying so, that you pursued your own happiness.” He gave her hand a paternal squeeze.

Ella Mae was moved by both his speech and the kindness in his eyes. She’d always liked Jon Hardy and she felt guilty that she’d never been able to be completely honest with him about the cases she’d been involved with, but it was better this way. He’d seen enough. He didn’t need to know about the existence of magic.

“Perhaps you’re right. Perhaps it is time for me to be happy,” she said and immediately envisioned the plot of land overlooking Lake Havenwood.

Leaving the station, and its hallways filled with Camellia Club members, behind, Ella Mae got in her pink truck and headed east, toward home. Toward her family, her friends, her dog, and the one person who could grant her the happiness she’d spent her whole life searching for.

She headed for Hugh.