“No, that pattern, that color. Those are my missing clothes. The ones I was wearing on the full moon.” A groan came out of him, and his frantic gaze met mine. “I’m the one who killed Isabella last month.”
Chapter 13
Myheartdroppedlikea stone into my stomach. “Where did you get this picture?” I whispered.
“We were visiting Lady Catherine de Bourgh to discuss business. She’s an investor in our company. Sh-she had this mirror that can depict events of the past and pointed it out to us while we were at her place. I touched it when nobody was nearby and asked it to show me the murder.” He gestured toward the picture. “This is what it revealed to me.” He shivered and ran an agitated hand through his hair.
My gut twisted. “Frank, that mirror—”
“I used my powers on it and disabled its magic.”
“So it won’t work anymore?”
He nodded. Relief wrapped around me like a plush fleece blanket. That would give us time.
It didn’t matter. Even if for some reason he hadn’t taken his potion that night, it was clear he never meant to kill Isabella. He never meant for any of this to happen. That had to count for something. I trembled, handing him back his phone. There was only one thing to do.
I’d ensure it never happened again. Frank needed his potion.
He paced in front of me, a cold sweat on his skin, looking like a cornered animal.
The church’s entrance squeaked open. “Mary?” Kitty called.
“Over here,” I answered.
My sister appeared beside the church, her gaze flitting between my boyfriend and me. “Everything okay?”
Frank let out a derisive laugh. I frowned. The situation was bad.
“How’s the potion?” I inquired, then explained to Frank. “I had to tell her. I needed help.”
His brows drew together. “Why would you need help with the potion?”
My guilt forced the truth out of me like a confession. “I… don’t normally brew potions.”
“So you didn’t know what you were doing?” he asked softly, the expression on his face verging on devastation.
“I thought I did,” the words came out pleading. I turned to Kitty. “Tell me good news.”
Kitty’s solemn eyes met mine. “I’m afraid it won’t work. Something is wrong with how it was brewed. There’s no salvaging it.”
Frank stood unmoving, horror in his gaze. “I need to turn myself in.”
I spun to face him, stepping towards him. “You can’t. Turning yourself in will ruin your life.”
“My life is already ruined.”
I clutched his sleeve with shaking fingers, my heart in my throat. “We can figure this out. We can.”
He pulled from my grasp. “I-I must go think.”
My vision stung with tears. “Frank, I’m sorry. I—”
“I need to go.” And without another word, he stumbled down the sidewalk with a haunted haze in his eyes, the look of a condemned man.
“What’s he going to do?” Kitty asked.
“I’m unsure,” I whispered. This was my fault.
