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“No,” Willow said. “I don’t think so.”
Montgomery placed a reassuring hand on her knee and that seemed to give her the courage to answer the call. She listened and nodded—not that the woman on the other end could see her nodding—and got in a couple of words in edgewise like, “Yes, I remember.” And “I’ll see you then.”
When she hung up, she brought everyone up to speed.
“She just wants to make sure I didn’t forget about our little get together at the Bickford house. They want me there at dusk.” She signed. “I don’t know what she has planned. “Why invite me over there when the Women's Business Council is supposed to be at the Harvest Festival in a few hours?”
She used the professional term in public for the coven. Less to explain to eavesdroppers.
Speaking of, Bo came by with a refill of Montgomery’s soda just then. Montgomery drank a lot these days. He was always so thirsty.
Bo seemed to scoff when he set down the drink, and Willow was too curious not to ask, “Why do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Make a little snorty sound whenever the Women’s Business Council comes up in conversation?”
“It’s nothing.”
“No, it’s not nothing. It’s okay to tell me. I’m not friends with those old crones.”
Bo laughed at that. “Old crones. That’s one way to put it.”
“So? You’ve lived here a long time. What can you tell me about them?”
“Bo looked around, and seeing he didn’t have a lot of customers, blew out a hard breath and said, “My old man didn’t get along with them. He’d say there was something… off with them. But who cares, right? Bo Senior wasn’t exactly a bowl of cherries, himself. But Nadine Bickford was always looking at my dad with the side eye, you know? He suspected there was something fishy going on with that law firm of hers. And he called her out on a couple of things. Nothing ever came of it. Anyway. I just don’t like her. He was so upset one day after the Harvest Festival that he got in a big fight with Nadine. She and her friends didn’t like the changes he was making. He wanted it more family-friendly and they said he was trying to promote some kind of agenda. I just remember he was so angry after that fight. A few days later, he had a heart attack.”
“I’m so sorry,” Esme said, and touched his arm in comfort.
“I’m not saying Nadine had anything to do with his death,” Bo said. “Dad was a hothead and had high cholesterol. Just, sometimes I think he might still be here if he hadn’t gotten into that argument. I dunno. Maybe he’d have gotten all bent out of shape over a leaky faucet or something and still would have had a heart attack.”
“Sometimes you just need someone to blame,” said Esme. “It helps with the grief.”
“Yeah. I guess you’re right.” Bo sighed. “Sorry to ruin your lunch. The French fries are organic. No cholesterol here.”
Montgomery wasn’t familiar with the word cholesterol, but if it had anything to do with Bo Senior’s heart condition, he had nothing to worry about, seeing as his heart wasn’t even beating anyway.
“I’m sure they’re as healthy as brussel sprouts,” said Esme. “It was so nice to meet you, Bo. Thank you for sharing about your father.”
Bo looked a little dazed but said, “Yeah. Brussel sprouts.” Then he turned to walk away from the table, but stopped and pivoted saying, “You know. I don’t usually spill my guts like that. I guess you guys are easy to talk to.”
When he was gone and completely out of earshot, Willow said, “Okay, who did that?”
“Me.” Ivy raised a single finger. “What? He wouldn’t have talked otherwise. Now you know a little bit more about our adversary.”
“She definitely put a hex on Bo Senior and made it look like natural causes,” Bliss said.
“Are you sure you want to go into her house tonight?” Montgomery asked. “You don’t need to go inside for our plan to work.”
“I’ll be fine,” Willow reassured him. “Gladys sent this over with Esme.”
She was wearing a silver chain with a teardrop garnet hanging at her breastbone. Montgomery had noticed it earlier thinking it brought out the natural hazel in her eyes. He didn’t think it might be more than just a pretty stone, but Willow tapped it with her fingernails, and the garnet shimmered as if it was lit from within.
“It will shield me from harm.”
“What I don’t understand,” Bliss said, “Is why meet at dusk? Isn’t that the time the Harvest Festival starts?”
“My guess is they want plenty of time to fully initiate Willow into the coven before the moon is at peak illumination,” Esme said. “Like they did with Celeste.”
