Chapter 40
I spent the weekend at home, not leaving the house once. My friends took turns coming over, feeding me, and telling me that the whole town was abuzz, especially Linda, who claimed she’d known all along that Mimi was a bad person.
"What do you think?" Harper asked when we were all assembled. "Was Brad in on this?"
I had had enough time to consider this question.
"My best guess is no. In that case, he’d have never let me use his bathroom while there was proof of his dalliance with another woman."
"What I don't understand is, why?" Reina asked. "It would have been easier to get rid of her husband first."
I shook my head and winced as my shoulder complained.
"I think she didn't plan any of this in the beginning.
But when she started an affair - well, the moment it would have become known, she would have been on her own.
No money. Nothing. I guess that Jake, stickler as he was for doing the right thing, told her he knew—and he told her that he expected her to confess to her husband. "
"It's what he would have done," Ange said.
"She had to get rid of him, fast. And when she found out that my aunt did not believe in an accidental death…"
"How long would her husband have lived?" Harper wondered.
"Not long. I assume she was still working on a way to get rid of him without anyone the wiser. She’d almost gotten away with two murders already."
"But she didn't, thanks to you," Reina said.
We all lifted our glasses for a toast.
"Here's to us," I said.
"To us," they chimed in.
"I think this is what my aunt would have wanted— the crazy coven together again, safe and sound." I chuckled.
Cosmo rubbed his head against my knee.
"You're so adorable," Reina said to him.
"He is." I stroked him.
***
We held the funeral and wake for my aunt at the Blue Moon a week later. My cousins had both traveled to Willowmere and gazed at me with awe.
"I'm so glad that cat picked you," Brian said. "I don't think I would have wanted to tussle with a killer."
"You're so brave," his sister said. "I'd hug you if you weren't injured. How much longer do you have to wear the sling?"
"Hopefully not too much longer. It’s slightly uncomfortable, and it’s frustrating to try to do everything with one hand."
"You have to get rid of it soon. You can't do the Book Lantern Walk one-handed," Ange said.
"Are you still doing it?" I asked.
"Are you kidding?" Harper gaped at me. "It's what this town has done for 150 years. And your aunt would be shocked to hear you think that we would give it up, especially now that everything is peachy again. It is, isn't it?" She peered at me.
"Absolutely. I mean, lightning doesn't strike twice, right? I am absolutely sure that all is right again."
A hot flash soared through me.
"What's up?" Harper asked. "You're pale as a ghost."
"It's nothing," I said. "Only the menopause striking again."
"Welcome to the club. I'm using HRT patches," Ange said. "You need some too."
"I do.”
Except they wouldn’t cure what had just hit me. It hadn’t been an ordinary flash. The witchfire wave, as I’d decided to call it, had struck again. Somehow, somewhere, trouble was brewing.
It had to wait, though. Tonight, we celebrated my aunt’s life, old friends, and new beginnings. My midlife was shaping up to be magic.
***