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“I’m almost out of that body lotion you made for me. Can I get some more? Ocean Gardenia?”
Her lip curls, and she shakes her head. “I’m not doing that anymore either. Too many raw ingredients, too messy.”
“Cass!” I flop on the gold velvet sofa. “I really like that scent.”
“Maybe I can make one more especially for you.” She pokes my arm with her finger. “And I’ll put a special love potion in it for Aiden. Mmm… those Stone brothers are so hot, although you two are kind of like the Sharks and the Jets.”
My brow arches. “FromWest Side Story?” Cass loves all things Broadway.
She nods, shuffling the cards. “Aiden is way too law-abiding for our kind.”
“Then it’s a good thing we’re not together.” She doesn’t need to know aboutThe Kiss, which apparently he regrets now, based on what he said in the truck. “We work together. He’s technically my boss. That’s all.”
“You never know what the future holds.” Her eyebrows waggle as she holds out the cards. “Let’s see what they say!”
“No.” Holding up my hands, I stand and move away from the temptation. “I’ve made a clean break from all that. I’m done with living my life by a deck of cards.”
“You know, I really don’t understand you. You’ve got magic in your blood, and you don’t even want it. I’m over here wishing I had half your genes.”
“Trust me, there is no magic. It’s all fake.” My voice shifts. “The moment you forget it, the second you start believing it’s real, it leaves you alone at the bottom of the ocean, trapped in a cold, dark box.”
“Oh, Britt.” Cass’s face crinkles. “Do you still have dreams of drowning?”
Exhaling a sigh, I remember Greenville. “Not as much as I used to.”
Setting the cards on the table, she walks to where I stand, lifting my hands in hers. “What happened to your dad was a horrible tragedy, but it was a risk he was willing to take. Escapology is a craft, not a spiritual path.”
“My mother went down that spiritual path, and it took her further and further away from me when I needed her the most. It’s an obsession, and I’m done with all of it.”
“Okay.” Her voice is quiet. “I can show you my skills some other time. I’m getting pretty good at your mom’s technique, though!”
“Where is she, anyway? She was supposed to be finding information on a suspect in our case.”
My bestie’s wide eyes return. “You’ve got a suspect? Who is it?” Catching my hands, she drags me to the velvet sofa again. “Tell me everything.”
I briefly fill her in on what we know so far. “It’s hard to believe we can’t find anyone who fits that description.”
“But now you know what you’re looking for when it happens again.”
“If we had some idea of what to expect. All these incidents are so random.” I glance out the window. “And what in the world do those wooden signs mean? Are they supposed to be clues? Warnings? Explanations?”
“Wait…” She sits straighter. “You think the prosthetic guy did the signs, too?”
“We don’t have a direct link, but he stole Holly’s chickens and he tore up Terra’s pickle farm.”
“But those are real crimes, theft and destruction of property…”
“The signs are real crimes.”
“They’re positive messages!Happiness,You are Rare… How is that a crime?”
“Trespassing, criminal mischief, vandalism. Ignoring small crimes opens the door for larger ones to follow.”
Cass’s lips turn down. “I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one. I think they’re uplifting. Someone was watching over you when your brakes went out.”
“To be honest, I’m way less worried about the signs than the perpetrator.” Pushing off my knees, I stand, walking to the door. “You have no idea where my mom went?”
“I heard her say something about Kiawah.”
