Coven of Secrets (The Bayshore Witch Legacy Book 1) by C. J. Beaumont

Author:C. J. Beaumont [Beaumont, C. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Supernatural South Books
Published: 2020-01-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

Ray showed up at my house around mid-morning the next day, bearing food and coffee again. We called Olivia after we ate, and she was less than amused about being asked to convene the Coven as a whole again so soon, but Ray had wheedled her into agreeing. After the short ride to the museum, I followed Ray into Olivia’s museum and was hit with a wall of hostility. Nobody looked as patient or cordial as they had when we questioned them the day before. Everywhere I looked, it was all pinched lips, narrowed eyes, and crossed arms.

Before either of us could say anything, Nell Ballard hobbled forward, shaking her finger and glaring at me. “You should be ashamed of yourself, young lady!”

“Excuse me?” I stammered, taking a half-step back. As I did, Ray’s hand brushed the small of my back. I stifled a gasp at the heat radiating from his firm, supportive touch.

“What, exactly, does Roxanne have that she should be ashamed of, ma’am?” Ray’s tone was light; he was trying to turn on the charm again.

“Do you think we’re stupid, young man?” Nell gave him an acerbic look before turning her glare back on me. “If you’ve called the entire Coven to meet with you two days in a row, that means Roxanne is somehow fool enough to suspect we had something to do with Kat’s disappearance. It’s like she didn’t think leaving her Granny’s Coven and abandoning the duty that is her birthright was enough of a slap in the face. So, what? Now you’re going to try to blame our sisterhood for yet another thing that’s gone wrong in your life, even though we didn’t have a damn thing to do with it?”

“Cool it, Nell,” Olivia snapped with an icy glare.

Mrs. Ballard harrumphed, but she stopped short of arguing.

Ray held his hands up in a placating gesture. “Roxanne had nothing to do with the decision to call all you lovely ladies in for another meeting, actually. I just realized I had some more questions for you all, and I didn’t anticipate that letting her tag along would be a problem.”

“Well, you missed by a mile on that guess,” Nell said, earning another dark glare from Olivia.

“I’m sorry her presence has upset you, ma’am, but don’t you think it’s fair for me to have Roxanne here with me? I am, after all, helping her look for her missing little sister.”

Ray’s suave politeness fell on deaf ears as Nell shook her head and pursed her lips.

“While I’m sure your logic seems perfectly sound to you, Mr. Hammond, I don’t think you’re well enough apprised of the situation to judge what’s fair and what isn’t,” she said.

I stood rooted to the spot with wave after wave petrifying horror washing over me. I couldn’t, for the life of me, think of a single thing to say to defend myself. Fortunately for me, Ray seemed to be in some kind of chivalrous mood because he tried going to bat for me again.

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