Seven-Year Witch by Angela M. Sanders

Author:Angela M. Sanders [Sanders, Angela M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-05-21T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

I was half-regretful, half-relieved that I had a visit planned to the Maple Grove to visit Sarah Freeburger. After an uncomfortable pause with Sam and Sheriff Beattie not talking, but huddling against the drizzle and staring out at the millpond, pelted with rain, I made my break.

“I’m due in Forest Grove,” I said. “You’ll let me know if you find anything?”

“I’ll definitely let you know if I need you,” Sheriff Beattie said, but she seemed more concerned with Sam and the dinghy’s grueling trawl over the millpond.

With each step from the millpond, emotional pressure seeped away. Whatever evil it was I sensed, it centered on the mill site’s grounds.

My energy might have calmed as I put distance between us, but my mind continued to grind away. If the tire iron wasn’t Fiona’s murder weapon, then whom had it killed? And where was Fiona? If the sheriff didn’t find her body today, they’d almost certainly launch another search for her—as a murderer. But, of whom?

At last, I emerged from the fir trees, and the library loomed straight ahead. All the gloom and dread of the mill site and the pond fell from my shoulders. Here, I was comfortable. Here, the books talked to me, and I helped connect them to readers. As I approached the library, the whole building beckoned, warm and welcoming. I breathed deeply and felt my lungs relax.

My next stop was to grab the layer cake Darla had set aside for me in the library’s refrigerator. Half an hour later, I was at the retirement home knocking on Sarah Freeburger’s front door.

This time it wasn’t the tattooed medical student who answered, but a smiling Filipina in jeans and a crisply ironed blouse. “Come in!” she said cheerfully.

“Josie Way. I thought Sarah might like this.” I handed over the layer cake in its box.

The caretaker popped off the lid and nodded in approval. “Perfect lunch,” she said. “She’ll love it. Mrs. Freeburger is on the patio.”

I crossed the cramped living room and set my bag on the coffee table. The blank book I’d left the day before was still there. Good. I quickly slipped it into my tote before stepping out the open sliding glass door to the shared courtyard. The sky threatened more rain, but warmth radiated off the bricks, and Sarah leaned back in her lounge chair, eyes closed.

“Sarah?” I said.

“Donut lady?” she replied.

“That would be me. Today it’s a seven-layer chocolate cake.”

“Praise the Lord,” she said, not even opening her eyes.

“I’ve been thinking about Marilyn Wilfred and the curse,” I said. Maybe Fiona Wilfred had absorbed most of my mental space, but Marilyn was always there, too, filtering into the crevices.

“Ah, Marilyn,” she said. Sarah sounded sharper than before. Morning must be a good time to find her.

“What was she like?” I said. “As a person.”

“What else would she be like? A fish?”

I forced a laugh. “So true. But tell me. What did people in Wilfred think of her?”

The caretaker arrived with two fat slices of cake.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.