“One of her students? Which one?”
“She didn’t tell me, but I was worried. She wasn’t sleeping and began acting more and more irrational. I didn’t want the school to find out she was struggling and put her on leave, so I kept it quiet and asked that she visit a doctor. Which she did. I thought it would help, but she refused to take her medication.”
I cleared my throat and braced for her reaction before saying, “I know this is extremely delicate, but I heard a rumor you put something in her drink at the party.”
Julia flinched. “That makes me sound so awful. But it’s the truth. You can’t imagine what she was like at that party. ‘Terrified’ is the word that comes to mind. She said she had a book, an evil book, that the historical society had acquired. She said she had to get rid of it, and I didn’t believe her, but I agreed to help. She was going to bring it to the party, and we’d deal with it. But somehow, after she arrived, it disappeared. I never even saw it. For all I know, it was in her imagination.”
Nope, not in your imagination.But at least I now knew the last place the book had been.
“Keep going,” I urged.
“I took her pills from her purse and put one in her drink. When we were out in the hall, I offered her the glass and told her the pill was in there. I would never have tricked her into taking it, but I thought if I had it ready, she’d listen. All she had to do was drink it and relax, and then I was going to help her get home, but she knocked the glass from my hand.”
“That’s when I ran into you two. I saw her spill the drink.”
Julia nodded. “Then she went back inside, and not long after that the lights went out. You know what happened next.”
“So, you never saw the book?”
“No.”
“But Professor Roberts told you it vanished at the party.”
“Yes—it was what set her off even further. I never told the police any of this because none of it made any sense.”
“It wasn’t your fault. You tried to help.”
Julia dropped her head into her hands and stifled a sob. “Elle, I was right next to her when she died. I remember her last words. They didn’t make any sense to me at the time, but later, I thought about it, and it freaked me out.”
“What did she say?”
“She kept saying the word ‘sweet.’ Over and over. Then, on her last breath, she said, ‘They smelled sweet like cherries.’As I said, in the moment I was confused, but later I remembered she said that about the student she thought was following her. She said they smelled like cherries.”
The breath caught in the back of my throat.
Cherries.Like the ones Jake always ate from the garnish tray. Like the box of lozenges in his van. He was at the party, took her class, and had visited the historical society. The demon that attacked me showed up outside his van. What if the demon hadn’t been following me at all? What if he’d been there to meet with Jake? The man who’d hired him.
Jake killed Professor Roberts, but that wasn’t all of it. If the book had disappeared at the party and Jake didn’t have it, then who did?
A strange, offhand piece of information stuck in my mind.Zoe.Hadn’t she said she’d figured out a way to make some quick cash, but then the accident happened at the club, and it had ruined it? At the time, I thought she meant she was simply broke from being laid off and getting shortened hours, but what if that wasn’t it?
My mind flashed to the photos in Jake’s van of Zoe staring intently at the Soulbinder inside the glass case during her class field trip. She would have recognized it if she’d seen it again at the club. Was it possible she’d taken it from Professor Roberts, hoping to make some quick cash by selling it?
I placed my hand on Julia’s arm. “I’m so sorry, but I have to go. Thank you for telling me what happened. You don’t even know how helpful you’ve been.”
Julia gave me a questioning look, but I grabbed my backpack and ran from the hall.
Chapter 22
“Pick up the phone, Zoe!” I hit “end” when her voice mail picked up then sent her a text to call me immediately. This was, like, the tenth time I’d called and the tenth text. She hadn’t responded to any of them, which was highly unusual. I snarled at my phone while I paced my dorm room. What should I do?
Call Caden, my mind whispered.
The day had bled into afternoon, and already the sun was just starting to sink into the sky. Now I had a suspicion about who had the Soulbinder, I needed to act before it fell into the wrong hands.
Groaning, I unlocked my phone and swiped over to the contacts. I had to unblock him first, and then I pressed the button to dial Caden’s number. It rang six times, no voice mail. I jabbed the “end” button in frustration. “We’re waiting for you,” I mimicked in a high-pitched voice. “If you’re waiting for me, then pick up your phone!”
I took a deep breath and tried to analyze the problem. If I couldn’t find Zoe, my next plan of action should be to track down Jake. At the very least, I should keep an eye on him until I could find that blasted book! Maybe I’d get lucky and even have a chance to kill him.
