Page 84 of Mystery in the Mountains

Abe cleared his throat.

“What?” Asher asked.

“We need to get this finished, lover boy.”

“Oh, shut up. I didn’t mock you when you and Julie got together.”

“The fuck you didn’t,” Abe bit back.

Asher chuckled, and they got back to work.

Chapter

Twenty-Seven

SUNNY

Before long, the roof was fixed, and Asher was behind the grill, cooking up burgers under the careful supervision of Abe. While Sunny brought out her pesto pasta salad and chips, Ruby was . . . Wait, what was Ruby doing exactly?

“What’s she doing?” Sunny motioned to Ruby with her head.

Julie was setting the picnic table up and said, “Ruby? Oh, she’s talking to her crows.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

Sunny had been around the Blacks her whole life. She was used to all the unusual things that came with that, but talking to crows was a new one.

“Yeah, Esther feeds the crows, and they started bringing Ruby little trinkets. Now they follow her around, and she talks to them. At first, I saw it as a sign of loneliness but then Bridget explained that, given her lineage, they might be familiars.”

“What did I explain?” Bridget asked as she walked from the woods, like it was to totally normal thing to do.

“About Ruby and her crows,” Julie said.

“Oh, yes. Ruth had quite a gift with the animals. I do believe she had a cat that understood her better than any person alive besides her husband.”

“I remember Professor Acorn,” Sunny said fondly.

“Professor Acorn?” Julie asked, her head cocked.

“That was the name of the cat.”

Sunny looked around at the familiar but odd sight of the cookout with the Blacks.

Abe and Asher were manning the grill, totally ordinary, while Ruby talked to crows. Sunny made pasta salad, totally normal, while Bridget brought good luck punch. Which she was totally going to drink, but all the same, it was strange.

Just as Asher was pulling the burgers off the grill, a black Cadillac pulled into the driveway.

Sunny’s heart dropped.

Surely, the coal company wasn’t back to bother her again. But after the engine turned off and the door opened, Esther Black stepped out.

“Mama!” Ruby cried.

The crow gave a squawk of indignation before flying off as Ruby ran to her mother.

Esther smiled and bent, lifting Ruby off the ground in a big hug.

“I miss you, darling.” Esther dropped a kiss on top of her head before putting her down, then walked over to the crowd like her sudden appearance after being gone for a few weeks was totally normal.

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