Caroline sobbed. “I’m sorry.” She turned to Gail, who had been helped into a chair and was staring at her niece as if she were a stranger. “I’m so sorry.”
“You’re sorry you got caught,” Freya said. “How could you do this? All those women. Our family. And for what?”
“She wanted Gail to take over the coven,” I supplied. “And eventually, when Gail was too old or too weary, Caroline would be right there waiting.”
“No,” Gail moaned, rocking back and forth. “Please no.”
“I’m sorry,” I said.
Gemma met my eyes and I nodded. Caroline wouldn’t be walking out of this room. After what she’d done, I didn’t have it in me to care.
“We wouldn’t have discovered this without your help,” Gemma said. “None of us could have imagined this. We owe you a debt.”
I shook my head. “No, you don’t. I did it for Evie.”
Gemma glanced at where my sister was still staring silently at Caroline. “We both know you would have investigated even if Evie was out of town.”
I shrugged. “Fine.” I could always use a favor from the coven.
Gemma nodded. “Now leave. This is for those who have a blood debt.”
I had no desire to stick around, and from the sick look on Kyla’s face, she didn’t either. She was silent in the elevator, only glancing at me when we were walking through the lobby. “You think they’ll kill her?”
“Oh yeah. Not only did she kill their people— their family— but she crippled the coven. Gemma may look like a sweet old lady, but she would never tolerate that.”
“I didn’t realize the witches were so…”
“Brutal?” I glanced at her as we got in the car. “I’d say they have more in common with the way a werewolf pack works than you’d think.”
I rubbed at my pounding temple and craved more coffee. “The witches straddle two worlds. They’re human, but they have power. They’re not powerful enough to go up against the fae or the demons, but when they work together, they can be a power to be reckoned with.
“When the portals opened, those everyday humans suddenly had an influx of power. But when it became public that the McCormick coven had been the ones to open the portals…”
“They were screwed.”
“Yeah. They formed covens out of necessity. Humans were less likely to try to burn a witch alive or drown her in their swimming pools if they knew she had several witches ready to back her up. It was a brutal time, and Gemma was around for it. She lived through the Decade of Despair with a target on her back, and she built that coven from the ground up, making it the most powerful in the Triangle.”
“She must’ve been so young.”
“Yeah. Caroline could have told her she’d been approached at any time. The coven would have investigated, and they likely would’ve involved me, even though they would’ve hated it. They knew I’d use the demons if it would protect Evie. But Caroline wanted the power. So yeah, she’s toast.”
If the thought made my stomach clench, I ignored it. A last-minute, secret date with a werewolf. That was the only reason why my sister was alive.
I glanced at Kyla. “I couldn’t have closed this case so quickly without your help. Thank you.”
She turned in the passenger seat, adjusting her belt so she could look at me. “It was fun. Not all of it,” she admitted. “The stake-outs sucked. But solving the mystery, getting justice for those witches, saving Riona’s life? I guess I should thank Nathaniel for convincing you to take me on.”
“At first I only did it so he’d owe me a favor.”
“I know.”
“But now, if he wanted you to go work for the pack, I’d fight him.”
Kyla smiled. “He’d kick your ass.”
“I dunno. I’m pretty sneaky. I’m going to dump you at the tower so you can grab your car. I need to swing by Meredith’s and tell her we know who was responsible for Jessica’s death.”
I pulled up outside the tower. “Get some sleep,” I said and Kyla nodded. “I will. Good luck with Meredith.”
