Chapter 5
“Do you think Kitty had anything to do with it?” a guy a few desks over whispered to his lab partner in class the next afternoon.
“I dunno, but haven’t they been dating on and off the last year?” The patter of rain on the window didn’t quite cover the girl’s reply.
I hesitated, pen suspended over the assignment.
I’d known news of Graham’s passing would spread around Austen Heights, but I’d underestimated how quickly.
And with everything that had happened lately, it was only natural for the other students to suspect me.
Hex, if Riley hadn’t proven my innocence last night, I’d suspect myself too.
“Yeah, but I’m pretty sure Graham broke up with her a month or two ago.”
Should I say something to them, or would that just make it worse? A glance at the clock showed I still had half an hour left of class. Maybe I shouldn’t have come in today, but I’d thought hiding might make me look guiltier.
Gritting my teeth at the gossip I didn’t know how to deal with, I put down my pen and finished the last step of my chem lab.
With it being two days before Halloween, the professor had us make pumpkin spice caramel bites.
I popped a piece into my mouth, letting the cinnamon and nutmeg flavor distract me from my classmates while I recorded my notes about thermochemistry, reaction stages, and the difference between Maillard browning versus caramelization.
Once I finished, I pulled out a fresh slip of paper and scribbled a rough timeline of yesterday.
-2:15 p.m. Gave Graham the truth potion cookie at the bookshop
-4-5 p.m. Graham got off work?
-6:15 p.m. Graham texted about the cookie & we made plans to meet the next day
-8:00 p.m. Graham’s mom gets the call from the police while at book club
-8:30 p.m. Mary told me about Graham’s death
-9:00 p.m. Talked to Riley & he ate cookie and did not die
“She’s already finished,” the same girl whispered again.
“Figures she’s good at this kind of thing,” the guy said. “Bet she could whip up a poison without breaking a sweat.”
I bit my lip, refusing to make eye contact with them, although I couldn’t help glancing longingly at the clock again. I’d hoped the fact that Graham had been killed by poison would’ve stayed secret longer.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, so I checked it and found a text from Riley.
Meet me at Bewitching Blossoms. I need to see you.
My heart skipped a beat, but I shook my head. That was definitely the potion speaking. But Riley’s text gave me the perfect excuse to slip out of class early and get away from all the gossip. Or at the very least, it would hopefully get us one step closer to finding the truth.
Okay
I shoved my stuff in my bag and carried my worksheet over to the professor.
Used to me finishing early, he accepted it without a word, and I stalked out the door.
The fresh fall air was a welcome reprieve after the overly sweet air in the lab, and I inhaled deeply, then wrapped my scarf around my neck.
The rain had temporarily paused, but heavy clouds hung overhead like a soggy sponge cake.
I put in a pair of headphones so no one would talk to me, though I didn’t turn on my music. Instead of heading to the campus library where I usually met Elaine to do homework, I took the cobblestone path that wound behind the administration building to cut across campus.
A cluster of students huddled on the lawn to my right, bundled up in scarves and sweaters to combat the fall chill.
“That’s Graham’s ex,” a guy said to his friend, clearly assuming I couldn’t hear.
My fingers clenched around my backpack strap. Was there nowhere I could go to escape the gossip? I sighed and tilted my head back to admire the mix of amber and scarlet leaves that clung to the trees overhead.
“Do you think she killed him, Caleb?” someone else said.
I jerked slightly, then continued walking, sneaking a glance at Caleb from the corner of my eye. I hadn’t realized he was standing in that group of people.
“I dunno. Kitty always seemed pretty cool. Quiet, but cool.” Caleb fiddled with the zipper of his orange leather jacket, then his hand drifted to his necklace.
“They say it’s the quiet ones you have to watch out for,” another guy said.
His friends laughed, and I stiffened but still didn’t look over.
“I’ve gotta get to work,” Caleb said. “I’ll see you guys later.”
My steps slowed as I turned a corner and finally left the group behind.
Hadn't Elaine mentioned months ago that Caleb had a part-time job at Elixir and Ivy? Working at an apothecary shop would give him plenty of access to ingredients that might be used in a poison. I wasn’t sure what his motive would be, but Caleb had disliked Graham from the first time he met him.
I should ask Elaine if she knew anything.
It might make her mad if I threw suspicion on her boyfriend, but if there was something going on with him, she deserved to know.
I pulled out my phone and called her. She picked up on the second ring.
“Hey,” she said softly. Maybe she was already in the library where we usually met to do homework. It was crazy how the rest of us had to continue on with life as normal after something like this happened. “Are you okay?”
“About as okay as expected.” I didn’t love Graham anymore, but how did one get over the shock of losing someone so suddenly, no matter what they were to you?
“How did it go with the police yesterday?”
“It didn’t.” I blew out a breath. “I decided to wait and look into things first.”
“Did something happen after we talked last night?”
I flexed my fingers in my gloves to keep them warm. “I realized it couldn’t have been me.”
“I told you that. Not that you seemed to believe me,” she said. “So, what changed your mind?”
“Someone ate my other cookie from the bookstore, and they were totally fine.”
“Are you serious?” she said a bit too loudly. In the background, someone shushed her.
“Yes, but I’m still looking into Graham’s death because I want the police to wrap this up before my family is caught in any more drama.
” A hint of coffee and cinnamon drifted from the coffee kiosk, but I resisted the urge to stop.
I needed to get to the flower shop and see if Riley had found out anything else about Graham.
“Well, be careful.”
“I will,” I said. For a few moments, I searched for a casual way to bring up my next conversation, but when nothing came to mind, I just asked, “Do you know anything about why Caleb disliked Graham?”
Elaine gasped. “Are you suggesting that Caleb had something to do with what happened?”
“No, but I’d rather cross him off the list just to be safe,” I said. “Wouldn’t you?”
“Obviously I don’t want my boyfriend on the list,” she said, “but I’m not sure what their deal was.
Caleb and I avoided talking about Graham back when you were dating him since I could tell they didn’t get along, and there was no reason to bring him up once you broke up.
” She fell silent, and I could picture the furrow in her brow and her slight scowl.
“But for the record, not liking Graham doesn’t make Caleb a killer. ”
“I know.”
“And—” She paused, then sighed. “I’ve gotta go. My aunt is calling.”
“Okay, I’ll talk to you later.”
She hung up, and I put my phone away with a frown. That had gone about as well as expected.
The clock tower chimed three times as I left campus and cut through a neighborhood where Halloween decorations were out in full force.
One house had gone completely Hocus Pocus with inflatables of the three witches standing around a cauldron in their front yard, and another house with blue shutters had an enchanted scarecrow organizing gourds on a hay bale.
By the time I made it to Bewitching Blooms, I’d given myself two main tasks: talk to Jaxon to figure out if he knew what Graham had done in the hours before his death, and find out why Caleb didn’t like Graham and what he’d been doing the night Graham died.
I knew little about Caleb besides the fact he was studying Economics at AHHC, he and Elaine were apparently soul mates—her words, not mine—and that he was the oldest of three kids.
I pulled out my phone and Googled him. At least that way I wouldn’t annoy Elaine with more questions.
The door to the flower shop opened into me, knocking my phone to the ground.
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Katherine. Are you okay?” The mayor gave me a brilliant smile and bent to retrieve my phone for me.
“I’m fine, Mayor Pembroke. I should’ve been paying more attention.” I had a hard time looking away from her knee-high boots which had enchanted scarlet spiders scuttling across them.
“Oh please, I’m always telling you girls to call me Soo-jin or Sue.” She straightened her orange scarf, which had black cats and witch hats on it, then passed me a warm pancake with a slightly orange hue from a box in her hands. “Here, have a hotteok. I made them fresh this morning.”
“Oh, thanks.” The mayor often made Korean food and passed it out around town or at town meetings. If she wasn’t mayor, I was fairly sure she’d have opened a rival bakery inspired by Korean treats.
I took a bite, and the subtle sweetness filled my mouth. It tasted like she’d added pumpkin puree to the dough and used a black sesame filling.
Mayor Pembroke pulled her box of goodies back against her sweater, which had a haunted house and skeletal trees with branches whipping in a fake breeze, then handed my phone back with a quick glance at the screen. “That poor boy.”
“Graham?” I asked. I’d been looking at a picture of Caleb, but maybe she’d gotten them confused or couldn’t see it well.
“Well, of course Graham too, but I meant Caleb,” she continued. “I’m sure things are hard for him with Graham’s death.”
“Why would things be hard for Caleb?”
“Because those two used to be thick as thieves.”
My mouth fell open. “Are you sure?”
Mayor Pembroke leaned forward conspiratorially, latching onto my interest like a cat with a bowl of cream.
“I haven’t seen them together much lately.
I believe something happened between them last year.
” Her bat necklace swung free of her sweater, the wings flapping weakly, the spell cast on it clearly dying.
“What happened?”
“It wouldn’t be proper for me to talk about Graham now that he’s passed, of course.” She waved at someone across the street. “Oh, I see the Dashwoods over there, and I need to say hello and see if they want any hotteok. So good to see you.” She gave me a quick hug, then strode across the street.
I stood there, my mind spinning. Why had Graham never mentioned that he and Caleb had been friends before? Clearly something had happened that drove a wedge into their friendship. The spellbinding question was whether that something had been reason enough to kill.