Ink and Shadows(Secret, Book, & Scone Society #4)(85)

Sheldon raised a brow. “Homemade chloroform? That’s a thing?”

Before Hester could answer, Estella said, “It’s basically chilled bleach combined with acetone. Next to history, chemistry was my favorite subject in school.”

“And you’re an artist by trade,” said Nora.

Estella beamed. “You just earned a free conditioning treatment the next time you come in for a color and cut.”

“What else did Beck have in his pockets?” June asked Hester.

“A murder weapon.” Hester paused for dramatic effect. “After drugging Nora, Beck was going to inject her with liquified wolfsbane. He had a syringe loaded with the stuff. It’s probably the same syringe he used on Celeste. The ME must have missed the injection site.”

Nora remembered the bruises on Celeste’s cheeks and found that she was no longer hungry. “He didn’t miss it. Beck must have forced Celeste’s mouth open and shot the wolfsbane down her throat. He offered her the mustard powder because she swallowed wolfsbane. There was no obvious injection site or evidence that she’d had anything to eat or drink.”

A hush fell over the table, and Nora apologized for ruining the mood.

“You have nothing to be sorry for,” Sheldon told her. “None of you do. Unless you don’t finish what’s on your plates. That would be unforgivable. Keep going, Hester. We need to get to the end of this story. We need to know that the good guys win.”

There was a murmur of agreement from everyone else, and Hester promised to continue after another bite of pork. She then tore a piece of bread in two and stacked the pieces on top of each other. “Imagine this was Bren’s burger from the night of the festival. A bean patty in a bun. If it looked different, Bren would have noticed. If the texture was off, Bren would have noticed. But what wouldn’t have made her suspicious was a sprinkling of what looked like salt on both her burger and fries.”

“What looks like salt? Superfine sugar?” Estella guessed. “No, that wouldn’t trigger Bren’s allergy.”

“It had to be some kind of red meat. Like beef bouillon granules,” said Nora.

June shook her head. “Ketchup, mustard, relish—I don’t think they could mask the flavor of beef broth. Not enough, anyway.”

“Which is why Beck had to find a tasteless supplement made of freeze-dried organ meats,” said Hester. “He ground up some pills and sprinkled them on Bren’s food. Jasper found the pill bottle in a bag in the trunk of Beck’s rental car. The bottle cost him thirty bucks, which is why he didn’t throw it out. He’s actually been taking the rest of the supplements.”

Sheldon rolled his eyes. “Waste not, want not.”

Hester was still looking at June. “That Friday night you and Nora saw Bren being sick? That was the result of Beck testing out the effectiveness of the pills. He knew which foods Bren liked, so when he left a gift basket full of snacks at Soothe’s back door with a note that said ‘Watson Realty welcomes you to Miracle Springs. Call us for all of your housing needs,’ neither Bren nor Celeste batted an eye. Bren ate the oversized pretzel, just like Beck knew she would, and five hours later, she was sick.”

“That’s seriously twisted.” Nora met June’s eyes. She knew that her friend remembered their interaction with Bren as if it had happened yesterday.

“That’s why she was so upset,” June said. “It had nothing to do with us. Bren’s warning bells were telling her that Wolf Beck had tracked them to Miracle Springs. He must have showed up at her place later on, asking for Juliana’s book. If only she’d told her mama, they might both be alive.”

“Why didn’t she just give the maniac the book?” Estella cried.

Hester shook her head. “She told Beck that her mother hid it before they moved. She had no idea it was inside the mushroom table, and she was furious at Celeste for keeping the hiding place secret. At least, that’s what Beck says.”

He lies.

Celeste’s voice was a faint whisper in Nora’s mind. It seemed fitting that she was present at this table. If only in memory.

There was a stretch of silence before June asked, “Any other sinister stuff in Beck’s pockets?”

Hester speared a plantain with her fork. “His envelope of cash was full of counterfeit bills. The murder case might be complicated, but the penalty for passing counterfeit money is very straightforward. He swears this is the first and only time he’s committed this particular crime, but once is enough. Beck is screwed.”

“Wolf Beck, Maestro of Forgery.” Nora’s tone was acerbic. “Grimoires, money, CBD oil. What else? Paintings by the Old Masters?” Picking up Sheldon’s glass, she gulped down the rest of his mojito.

Estella nudged Hester. “Fast-forward to the happy ending, would ya? Tell us the bastard made a full confession or, better yet, his fake spells worked, and a bunch of demons dragged him straight to Hell.”

“He’ll have a long pit stop in prison first.” Hester’s eyes were on Nora. “Sheriff McCabe is looking at Beck’s financial records, and Jasper’s reviewing his online history. Fuentes and Wiggins went over every inch of his rental car. They have bags of incriminating evidence. I don’t know every detail, but I know they’ve found the organ meat supplements, a jar of mustard powder, and some dried wolfsbane leaves. They also found a pair of hiking boots in the back seat. The crevices in the out-soles are jam-packed with trace bits of food, soil, and glass from Celeste’s apartment.”