Ink and Shadows(Secret, Book, & Scone Society #4)(69)

“No.” Nora opened the message. “She just got an email from someone interested in buying the Potion Page. He wants to see it in person and offered to bring cash to the meet. His username is Monkshood81. Bobbie recognized the name from her years working with herbals. They’re old books explaining how to use herbs in food and as cures. Oh, God.”

“What?” June demanded.

“Monkshood is another name for wolfsbane. That’s all Bobbie wrote. Estella, since you’re right there, can you look up wolfsbane on my laptop?”

Estella’s nails clicked over the keys. Suddenly, the color drained from her face. “Aconitum or aconite, also known as monkshood, wolfsbane, devil’s helmet, and the queen of poisons is a genus of flowering plants,” she said, her eyes locked on the computer screen. “In North Carolina, the plant is rare. It grows in the mountains, particularly in wooded thickets, damp slopes, and brook banks. It’s been spotted in thirteen counties, including ours. It looks like all the counties right around us have more than one species. Someone hiking the AT took this pic of a southern blue flower, and a gardening enthusiast spotted this trailing variety with white flowers while staying at the Bear Creek campground. That’s one town away.”

Estella turned the laptop around so that her friends could see the photos.

“The blue flower’s beautiful,” said Hester.

“Beautiful and deadly. This is the femme fatale of flowers.” Estella rotated the computer again. “If ingested, wolfsbane causes burning in the face and throat, vomiting, paralysis, slowed heart rate, and delirium. From that point, you either recover or you die. You’re not even supposed to touch this plant because the toxins from the roots might be absorbed through your skin.”

June looked at Estella. “Celeste said that her grow room was full of fresh herbs. She made her own soap, shampoo, and household cleaners. Does wolfsbane have a practical use?”

Estella’s eyes scanned over lines of text. After a few minutes, she said, “Some people use an ointment made from aconite. It’s supposed to help with joint pain, but it could also damage the heart. Doesn’t sound like it’s worth the risk. In the past, people used wolfsbane for hunting and warfare. I’d say the answer is no, it doesn’t have a practical use.”

Nora remembered Celeste’s pale, slack face. The spittle leaking from her mouth. Her dilated pupils and the feel of her limp hand. Her final words.

“She said ‘wolf.’ Before she died, Celeste said ‘wolf.’” Nora stared at Bobbie’s text message. “I was freaking out, and I asked too many questions at once. What happened? Who did this to you? Was it the same person who hurt Bren? And Celeste said ‘wolf.’ And then, she said it again. ‘Wolf’ and what sounded like ‘bay.’”

June’s face lit up. “Not bay. Bane. She was telling you that she’d been poisoned. With wolfsbane.”

“By Wolf Beck,” Hester added. Sounding a little breathless, she continued. “That’s why she said the word twice. She answered your questions, just not in the right order.”

Nora picked up her phone. “I’ll call the sheriff. If we’re right about wolfsbane being the cause of death, there’s going to be a target on Beck’s back the size of the Death Star.”

“Good,” said June. “I don’t condone the hunting of wolves. But if a wolf walks on two legs and murders women because they don’t give him what he wants, then I say bring him down.”

Nora acknowledged June’s anger with a nod. “To catch a wily predator, you need to bait a trap with something it can’t resist.”

“But the Potion Page is in New York, which means the sheriff doesn’t have the right bait,” said Estella.

“Beck wants more than a single page. He wants the whole book. Celeste’s book.” Nora pulled up McCabe’s contact card and held her finger over the call button. “And I think I know where it is.”





Chapter 16


Extraordinary things are always hiding in places people never thought to look.

—Jodi Picoult





The next morning, Nora wiped off her moped’s dew-covered seat and headed for the Pink Lady Grill.

The town was just starting to stir. The sun had barely cleared the mountains. Only the tallest peaks glowed with a lemonade light. Darkness still clung to the slopes and wooly shadows pooled around the trees. The air was nighttime cold.

It was a morning for sleeping in. A morning for soft slippers and heavy sweatshirts. Steaming cups of coffee and bowls of hot oatmeal drizzled with maple syrup. The crackle of wood in the fireplace. The sigh of newspaper pages.

Other than the occasional jogger or dog walker, Nora didn’t see many people on her way to the diner. She was having a breakfast meeting with Sheriff McCabe, and since he was short on time, she’d offered to pick up food and take it back to his office.

Jack Nakamura had her takeout order ready and waiting at the counter.

“I added two fruit cups, free of charge. Estella said you might need brain food. Blueberries and strawberries with orange slices will do the trick.” Jack tapped the side of his head and grinned. “I don’t need brain food. Why try to be the smartest guy in town when you’re already the luckiest?”

Though Jack had been in love with Estella for years, he never thought he stood a chance with her. Estella had always been very vocal about wanting to leave Miracle Springs, the town she’d lived in all of her life. She wanted to travel to distant cities and have flings with exotic strangers. She wanted to escape the ghosts of her childhood—to shuck off the memories of poverty and emotional abuse like a snake shedding its skin.