Page 83 of Ghost Walk
“I’m not sure.” She’d never tested it. Neither had anybody else in her family. …And if the Riveras resisted using a spell, you knew it had to be bad. They’d been on a century-long quest to reinventtroll powder, for God’s sake. “It’s the Rivera Doomsday Spell. We all learn it. It’s the magic you pull out when you have absolutely no other option. Nobody has ever been desperate enough to cast it.”
Jamie looked just as intrigued by that as he did the first time she’d explained it. “Sounds quite promising.”
“Sounds quite dangerous.” Grace corrected, heading over to look at Loyal’s shelves for some kind of inspiration. “Concentrate. Who else in this town might have a fixation on Lucinda?”
“Just about every male at The Raven, for starters.” He’d clearly rather be discussing the Doomsday Spell.
“Who specifically, though? It’s probably someone who knows her and maybe had a grudge against her.” Grace plucked a vial from Loyal’s shelf of potions and dropped it into her pocket. Anti-magic leanings aside, it didn’t hurt to be prepared for Plan B. “Maybe some guy who…” She stopped, a new idea popping into her head. “Wait! Remember when you said you’d always thought Lucinda had been killed by a man who she’d turned down?”
“No.”
“Well, that’s because you haven’t said it yet.” When was that memory potion going to kick in, anyway? “Point is, she didn’t turn downthatmany men.” Grace held up her palms. “Now, I’m not slut-shaming the girl. I’m just saying she was into sexual liberationwaybefore most people.”
“She liked to pass a good time.” Jamie agreed with ashrug.
“Right. In my time, she’d have her own reality show and a teen makeup line. In this century, though, she was a bit unusual. So, maybe you were right, all along.”
“I so often am.”
Grace ignored that, her mind racing for another likely suspect. “Maybe Lucinda turned down someone who took it personally that she’d sleep withothermen, but not him. That would give us a new place to start looking for suspects. Who did Lucinda rebuff? Did she tell you anything about that?”
Jamie made a considering face. “Well, she turned down Gregory Maxwell’s advances about twice a week. Thought it was quite a joke.”
Grace recalled something about that from the diary. “The dumb looking guy at my witch trial? Anabel’s brother.”
“That would be him.”
“But he’s all set to be Governor of Virginia, now.”
“Oh bloody hell! Gregory as governor?! I’d sooner campaign for Cornwallis.”
Grace disregarded his elaborate shudder. “Besides, that would mean Gregory had killed his sister in the original timeline.” She frowned. It was always hard for her to imagine someone killing their own family. As much as the Riveras annoyed her, she loved them all. “How likely is Gregory to hurt Anabel? Are they close?”
“Anabel never refers to him a’tall, without adding ‘my idiot brother’ in front of his name, so I’d say not.” Jamie said dryly. “But the man’s not smart enough to be a killer. He once lost a checkers game to a sleeping pig.”
“You don’t have to be a genius to wield a knife.”
Jamie made a considering face. “True enough, I suppose.”
“And it would explain why Anabel went into the hedge maze with someone, when you told me she was worried about her reputation. What other man would she trust in the darkness?”
He paused, thinking it over for a long moment. “Gregory’s a liar and a braggart, so I’d put nothing past him.Alright,” he nodded like it was all settled, “let’s shoot GregoryandNed and be off to Jamaica, then.”
“I have a better idea.” Grace gave her magnifying glass a Wyatt Earp-y twirl and dropped it into her pocket. “Let’s go get his fingerprints and fix the future, once and for all.”
Chapter Seventeen
June 28, 1789- I find that I quite enjoy being watched in the throes of passion. It’s why I don’t cover up that peephole. There is a voyeuristic pleasure in having another know you’re being well-pleased by a man.
From the Journal of Miss Lucinda Wentworth
“The fireworks go off in an hour.” Grace looked around the town square, frowning at the crowd of people who’d already gathered. “We know that Clara vanishes sometime around then. We have to find Gregory Maxwell quickly and get his thumbprint for comparison.” Unfortunately, she didn’t see him anywhere.
“Never thought I’d ever betryingto find Gregory Maxwell.” Jamie mused with the lazy unconcern of a man who didn’t know he was scheduled to hang in a few hours.
Grace still didn’t see the point in telling Jamie that this was the day he died, but she couldn’t get it out of her head. Sometime before midnight, Jamie would be lynched, unless she could figure out a way to save him. She took a deep breath and glanced up at his stunning profile. “Maybe we should split up, so we can find him faster.”
“Not bloody likely.” He shook his head with a dismissive scoff. The setting sun reflected off his hair, turning it an even more amazing shade of auburn-gold. “If you’re right and a murderer is about to strike, you’re staying right where I can see you.”
