Effie felt her wrists glow. And perhaps her eyes as well, although that had never been documented. ‘You saw Theo.’
Blinking, Bonnie shook her head. ‘No, I actually meant—’
‘He came into the library today. Insisted on applying for a library card.’
Bonnie raised an eyebrow. ‘Criminal. Howdarehe.’ She inspected the imminent bruise on her shin. ‘How much do grandfather clocks go for online? We’ll split the profits.’
‘It’s not for sale! It was Pop’s!’
‘Oh, who cares.’ Bonnie pulled the leg of her jeans back down, hiding the bruise. ‘He’s been dead for how long? You think he’s up floating around in the great wherever worrying about whether we’re keeping his clock polished and buffed?’ She cackled. ‘That sounded crass. Sorry, Pop!’ she shouted to the ceiling.
‘Well sure, if family memories are meaningless, we’ll just chuck out everything in the house belonging to a dead person.’ Effie glowered. Bonnie was being her usual thoughtless, indifferent self. Couldn’t she see what she was suggesting? That, post death, there was a time limit on your value on Earth? Once a predetermined socially acceptable amount of time had passed, you could bin anything belonging to a deceased person?
‘Mom’s been gone almost a year,’ she added, running the edge of her bookmark under her fingernails. She always did this when she was anxious. ‘Should we start forgetting her as well?’
‘That’s not the same. Sheesh, Effie. What’s with the beehive in your stupid bonnet.’
‘No beehive. No bonnet.’ Effie sniffed. ‘I can’t believe you think I’d wear a bonnet.’
‘I’ve seen you in worse.’ Bonnie folded her arms, flashing her tattooed wrists at Effie. ‘So, what happened after Theo got his library card? Did he check out anything good?’
‘He joined the Friends of the Library Club.’ Effie made a face.
‘Oh no, anything but that.’
‘He also made a sizeable donation,’ admitted Effie, who felt conflicted about it. Donations were always welcome, but they also came with strings attached. And Effie was wary of strings.
‘A monster. Did you report him to the police?’
Effie was tempted to charm a bigger bruise onto her sister’s shin. ‘You’re not taking me seriously.’
‘It’s hard to take you seriously when you’re mad that Theo joined your library, showed interest in the organization that supports your library, and then used his money to support your library.’
Well, when she put it like that...
Bonnie leaned forward to take a bite from the cookie Effie had been saving until she finished her chapter. ‘Anyway. You should be nice to him. There’s clearly something wrong with him, after all. Self-esteem issues, maybe.’
Effie bristled. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘I mean that you should be grateful for the attention! For some reason, he seems tolike you.The town...’
‘The town what?’ asked Effie quietly.
‘Nothing.’ Bonnie polished off the rest of the cookie. ‘Nothing.’
Effie didn’t comment on the cookie. She had better battles to fight. Besides, the cookie had chia seeds in it, and hopefully Bonnie would be picking those out of her teeth for the rest of the night. ‘Better than the town narcissist. I’ve seen how you treat Bobby.’
Bonnie’s eyes flashed, and Effie vaguely worried that Bonnie’s wayward magic might set the entire house on fire.
‘You don’t knowanything,’ snapped Bonnie. ‘You only see what you want to see.’
‘I think I know what I see,’ retorted Effie. ‘And that’s you swanning around expecting everyone to do your bidding. What will you do when you’re not young or pretty any more?’
Bonnie jerked back as though Effie had slapped her.
‘I’m more than just my looks,’ she said, her voice quavering. ‘Other people see it. Just not you. Why only tonight, Uncle Oswald offered—’
‘Uncle Oswald!’ scoffed Effie. ‘You’re usinghimto make your point? The man’s a charlatan. No wonder he picked you to talk to.’
