"I am," I admitted. "I had a good night out."
"Working the case."
"More like enjoying my life."
"As long as you're prepared for your appointment."
I clapped my hand over my mouth. I'd almost forgotten—the Reiki session.
"Thanks for reminding me. I assume you've been busy doing your part?"
He sat up, curling his tail around his legs. "I was indeed. And may I say, my considerations appear to be more fruitful than yours. Maybe because I'm more focused?"
I ignored his smugness. "Do you care to enlighten me?"
“The very last evening, after we’d closed the library, we took our usual trip to the old folks' home. I spent a few hours there every week, cheering up the elderly, and Violet took them some reading material. For some reason, they really like it spicy."
"They do?" I’d only visited twice, because Harper’s grandmother had moved there.
"Oh yeah. Western romances with cowboys or young women marrying billionaires."
"I didn’t know that my aunt even stocked racy literature."
"She didn’t, until she saw what these people liked to read. Well, you know your aunt always tried to make everyone’s life better."
"And that’s where you went that night?"
"Yes. Everybody who knew her routine would have been aware of that.”
“That would have created the perfect opportunity to break into her house."
"Exactly. I also figured out an important question for you. When exactly did you decide to go periwinkle?"
I stared at him. "It was spur of the moment."
"Think, Bex," he said. "It'sreally important."
"Why?"
"Because if you hadn’t toyed with the idea of changing your hair color for a long time—"
"No," I said. "Like I told you, it was just spur of the moment."
"That means, if I’m right—which I usually am—that the moment you made the decision was when the killer had decided to get rid of your aunt."
Chapter thirty-three
My mouth fell open.
"You mean… that she, as a witch, could not see it coming, but somehow her powers were preparing to shift?"
"Yes. And don’t ask me how that works. It doesn’t come with a manual. I just know how it is."
Again, he bristled.
"Okay, I’ll try to remember."
"Do it," he said. "It might be the best way to narrow down the when, the why, and the who."
