Mary-Lynnette didn't answer. She was trying to gather her scattered thoughts.
I don't believe it. Butshe said it. Orders about the goats. Before her aunt went on vacation.
But Rowan didn't know about the goats before I told her. I'd swear she didn't know. And I was so sure she was winging it with the vacation business....
Okay, maybe I was wrong. But that doesn't mean Rowan was telling the truth. Maybe they didfigure the story out before tonight, and Rowan's just a lousy actress. Or maybe ...
0 "Mark, this is going to sound crazy ... but Jade didn't have, like, a cellular phone or anything, did she?"
Mark stopped dead and gave Mary-Lynnette a long, slow look that said more dearly than wordswhat he thought of this. "Mary-Lynnette, what'swrongwith you?"
"Rowan and Kestrel told me that Mrs. B. is on vacation. That she suddenly decidedto take a vacation just when they arrived in town."
"So? Jade said the same thing."
"Mark, Mrs. B. has lived there for ten years, and she's nevertaken a vacation. Never. How could shetake one starting the same day her nieces come to live with her?"
"Maybe because they can house-sit for her," Mark said with devastating logic.
It was exactly what Rowanhad said. MaryLynnette had a sudden feeling of paranoia, like someone who realizes that everyone around her is a pod person, all in on the conspiracy. She had been aboutto tell him about the goats, but now she didn't want to.
Oh, geta gripon yourself, girl. Even Mark is beinglogical The least you can do isthink about this rationally before you run to Sheriff Akers.
The fact is, Mary-Lynnette told herself, brutally honest, that you panicked. You got afeelingaboutthose girls for some reason, and then you forgot logic completely. You didn't get any kind of hard evidence.
You ran away.
She could hardly go to the sheriff and. say that shewas suspicious because Rowan had creepy feet.
There's no evidence at all. Nothing except ... She groaned inwardly.
"It all comes down to what's in the garden," shesaid out loud.
Mark, who had been walking beside her in frowning silence, now stopped. "What?"
"It all comes back to that again," Mary-Lynnettesaid, her eyes shut. "I should have just looked at thatdug-up place when I had the chance, even if Jadesaw me. It's the only real evidence there is ...so I've got to see what's there."
Mark was shaking his head. "Now, look-"
"I haveto go back. Not tonight. I'm dead tired. But tomorrow. Mark, I haveto check it out before I go to Sheriff Akers."
Mark exploded.
"Before youwhat?"he shouted, loud enough to raise echoes. "What are you talking about, going to the sheriff?"
Mary-Lynnette stared. She hadn't realized how different Mark's point of view was from hers. Why, she thought, why he's ...
-240 "You wanted to check out where Mrs. B. was-so we checked where Mrs. B. was," Mark said.
"They told us where. And yousawJade. I know she's a little differentit's like you said about Mrs. B.; she's eccentric. But did she look like the kind of personwho could hurt somebody? Well, didshe?"
Why, he's in love with her, Mary-Lynnettethought. Or at least seriously in like. Mark likes a girl.
Now she was reallyconfused.
This could be so good for him-if only the girl weren't crazy. Well, maybe even if the girl wascrazyif it wasn't a homicidal craziness. Either way, Mary-Lynnette couldn't call the police on Mark's new girlfriend unless she had some evidence.
I wonder if she likes him, too? she thought. They certainly seemed to be protecting each other when I walked in.
"No, you're right," she said aloud, glad that she'd had practice lying tonight. "She doesn't look like thekind of person who could hurt somebody. I'll just let it drop."
With you. And tomorrow night when you thinkI'm starwatching, I'll sneak over there. This time bringing my own shovel. And maybe a big stick to fend off wolverines.
"Do you really think you heard a wolverine over there?" she asked, to change the subject.
"Um ...maybe." Mark was slowly losing his scowl. "It was somethingweird. Something I've never heard before. So you're going to forget all this crazy stuff about Mrs. B., right?"
"Yeah, I am." I'll be safe, mary-Lynnette was thinking. This time I won't panic, and I'll make sure they don't see me. Besides, if they were going to kill me, they would have done it tonight, wouldn't they?
"Maybe it was Sasquatch we heard yelling," Marksaid.
Chapter 6
Whydidn't we just kill her?" Kestrel asked.
Rowan and Jade looked at each other. There were few things they agreed on, but one of them was definitely Kestrel.
. "First of all, we agreed not to do that here. Wedon't use our powers-"
"And we don't feed onhumans. Or kill them," Kestrel finished the chant. "But you already used your powers tonight; you called Jade."
"I had to let her know what story I'd just toldabout Aunt Opal. Actually, I should have planned forthis earlier. I should have realized that people are going to come and ask where Aunt Opal is."
"She's the only one who's asking. If we killed her-"
"We can't just go killing people in our new home,"Rowan said tightly. "Besides, she said she had family waiting for her. Are we going to kill all of them?"
Kestrel shrugged.
"We arenotgoing to start a blood feud," Rowan said even more tightly.
"But what about influencing her?" Jade said. Shewas sitting with Tiggy in her arms, kissing the velvety black top of the kitten's head. "Making her forget she's suspicious-or making her think she saw Aunt Opal?"