“I knew he was bad news,” he said darkly, even though the two of them had gotten along surprisingly well.
I shook my head. “I don’t think it was Jaxon who pushed me. We finished talking a few minutes ago, and he had a phone call and walked back toward the party.”
“Someone pushed you?” His voice was a low growl, and his eyes flashed amber. “Who?”
“I don’t know.” I closed my eyes, fighting off the memory. “I heard rustling behind me, then someone shoved me from behind.”
His arms grew stiff. “They tried to kill you.”
“I know.” I swallowed hard. “Did you see anyone coming back from the cliff?”
“I think I saw someone in an orange jacket, but then I saw you falling and didn’t pay attention to anything else. I probably wouldn’t have even noticed you fall if I hadn’t already been making my way toward you on the beach.”
“You didn’t hear me screaming?”
He shook his head. “The music and the waves covered the sound, at least until I shifted, and then I could hear you easily.”
The bonfire’s flickering flames in the distance reminded me that not that far away, people were partying, completely unaware that I’d almost died. They probablyhadn’t even seen Riley shift since the black dragon blended into the night sky.
“Maybe they thought you were getting too close to the answer.” Riley studied me intently. “Areyou close to the answer?”
I chewed my lip. “Well, I ruled out Jaxon as a suspect; we’d already ruled out Eve, and we haven’t found anything about the mystery girl, so that only leaves…”
Riley’s eyes flashed. “Caleb.”
Chapter 12
Calebmadethemostsense. After all, he’d kept the true nature of his background with Graham a secret, and while he was with Elaine when the body was discovered, no one could account for his whereabouts the hour before. That was right in the window for the murder. Plus, he worked at the apothecary shop, which gave him ample access to ways to poison someone. Even my magic had warned me that something was off when I saw him at Elaine’s house that night.
A subtle tingle ran down my arm until I found myself with my hand in my pocket. My fingers wrapped around the small bag Jaxon had given me, and I pulled it out.
“What’s that?”
“Jaxon said he found it while doing laundry and thought it was mine, but now I’m wondering if it’s not mine after all. Maybe it’s tied to the murder.” I opened the bag and dumped a necklace into my hand—a maple-leaf shaped necklace. “It’s Caleb’s.” Unlike Elaine, he hadn’t been wearing his at the Halloween party the other night. He must’ve lost it when visiting Graham.
“But how did he get the poison to Graham and make it to Elaine’s in time?” Riley glanced across the beach toward the bonfire and the party.
His question was like the last ingredient needed for a potion, and suddenly everything made sense.
“He put the poison in my cookie,” I whispered, my gaze falling on Caleb standing by the bonfire. “I dropped the cookie when I tripped over a cat, and Caleb was the one who handed it back to me. He must’ve poisoned it then.” I started back across the beach, the sand slipping under my hasty steps. The music from the party and the scent of smoke grew stronger as I approached.
Riley grabbed his discarded shirt, then quickly caught up to me. “Are you sure?”
“He had all the motive and means, and now we know he had the opportunity.” We were close enough that the murmurs of conversations and the sounds of the “Ghostbusters” song drifted to us. I stopped at the edge of the group so the night’s darkness fell around us like a cloak, shielding us from prying eyes.
Riley pulled out his phone. At my questioning look, he shrugged. “I have a friend on the force, and I thought she might be interested in what’s about to go down. I think Tessa was in the area investigating another lead, so she shouldn’t be far.”
“Good call.”
“So what’s the plan?” Riley took my hand, a silent reminder that I wasn’t alone.
I smiled at him. “I’m sort of making it up as I go.”
“Improv. Nice. Not what I expected from Miss Organized,” he teased. “Maybe there’s hope for you after all.”
“Or maybe your bad influence is rubbing off on me.” I paused, steeling my nerves, and a wave crashed into the shore, inching up until it soaked my shoes.
“You’ve got this.” Riley squeezed my hand.
