Page 112 of The Witch

“They could do anything they want,” Jonas says. “They have a handsome sum of money, and they are carrying papers to prove their identities. They could buy a house in any settlement they wish.” He pauses. “Anywhere people do not recognize them, of course.”

“Jonas…”

“Archie and Molly have been through quite a lot,” he says. “They have been betrayed by people they trusted. They have been wrongly accused. It seems to me that they are owed happy, quiet lives.”

“But we are not Archie and Molly!”

“How will anyone know?” he challenges me. “We have their papers. Even if people start looking for the two of us, they will not be searching for Archie Eldridge and Molly Howe.”

He is correct. Archie does not even have any paintings of our likenesses around the house, because he was always far too busy to sit for one. In a new town, far from Woodhaven, nobody will know who we really are.

The idea is not without its appeal. Tomorrow was supposed to be the last day of my life, but now Jonas is offering me a new life. He is offering me a second chance.

I would be a fool not to take it.

“But what of the bodies?” I point out. “Someone will come in here and find them dead upstairs.”

“Not,” Jonas says, “if we bury them.”

82

PRESENT DAY

JULIA

We end up not even having to call the police, because Henry called them immediately after we got disconnected.

Apparently, he had no intention of shrugging off the fact that I might be in danger. He called the house line right after we got disconnected, and when nobody picked up after several attempts, he called 911 and told them everything he knew. But they didn’t arrive soon enough to save me if Gram didn’t intervene.

The police discovered Mick’s body in the backyard. He was already gone, but Celia is still alive, although she has a concussion. She woke up just in time for the police to handcuff her.

Right now, Gram and I are sitting on the couch, speaking to a female police officer named Simpson. Originally, it was just two men who showed up, but after the body was discovered in the back, it suddenly seemed like Pemberton was crawling with cops. I’ve been staying close to Gram, who is hugging herself and shaking violently. It’s been a rough night.

“So you saw Ethel shoot the groundskeeper?” Simpson asks me.

“I did,” I confirm. “She had me dig that hole, and she would have killed me too.” I look over at my grandmother, although I guess she isn’t actually my grandmother. I don’t know how I’m going to tell my father about all this. “She saved my life.”

Gram did save my life. And even though she covered up Ethel’s death, she only did it to protect her honor. She was devastated to overhear Celia saying that her sister didn’t die in childbirth and was, in fact, murdered. Tonight is the clearest Gram has been since I got here, and it breaks my heart. I almost wish she’d gone to her grave never knowing that her sister didn’t die of natural causes.

“Did you come out of the house at the same time as Celia then?” Simpson asks Gram.

Gram hesitates, her face screwed up like it sometimes gets when she’s trying very hard to remember something. “No,” she finally says. “It was Ethel. Ethel woke me up, told me to get the shovel, and go outside.”

“You mean Celia,” the officer corrects her.

Gram looks uncertain for a minute, but then she shakes her head resolutely. “No, it was Ethel. My sister.”

Officer Simpson gives me an acknowledging look, that says, Yes, we are going to indulge the confused old woman. But I’m not so sure she’s confused. When Celia accused Mick of saying her name on that recording, he shook his head. And the truth is, I can’t imagine him doing something like that. He loved Celia too much to do anything to hurt her.

I remember that night all those years ago. The words whispered in my ear.

See…see…see…

Celia.

But I can’t say all that to a policewoman—she’ll think I’m out of my mind. So I just force a smile. “She must’ve heard the first gunshot.”

“Yes, that was probably it.”