Devin shook her head, blinking back the tears. “But the friend I knew... She was a great person and then... I guess I miss the person I knew.”
Rocky smoothed her hair back. “It’s all right to miss people you loved—even when they’re still there but not really the same person anymore. Even when they tried to kill you.” He looked at the others again. “Like Devin said, Gayle did that one on her own. She was inexperienced, and it was her first kill. From what she was raving on about as they cuffed her and got her into the patrol car, she’d found Melissa’s story in her research on the trials, and though we’ll probably never really know what happened, she decided Margaret had been killed to curry favor with the devil, and win power and riches in hell. I think she thought the devil would help her kill when she took up his work—after all, she was framing Wiccans, basically his enemies, so she assumed he would be pleased—but when he didn’t, she got freaked out by what she’d done, and she was afraid of being caught.
“So she waited,” he went on. “She waited—growing crazier all the time—until she could find an accomplice. Somewhere over the years she glommed on to Beth, caught on to how insecure she was and played on that until Beth was as crazy as she was.” He was quiet for a minute and then shrugged. “I thought there was something strange about the way Beth was attacked. The two of them staged it—staged the whole thing—to throw suspicion off them. Gayle hit Beth on the head, because it had to do more than look real, it had to be real, then left her lying in the bushes till we came along and she could sucker us into going out searching.”
“How about tonight? How did they get Theo out here?” Jane asked.
“That was the easy part,” Rocky said. “They just said they were worried about Devin and asked him to drive them out to visit. Then Beth pretended she saw something in the woods, so he pulled over and ran out to defend them. They followed him, attacked him, then started screaming and calling for help, trying to lure me out, since as far as they knew I was here with Devin, so they could go after her.”
“And it damn near worked, too,” Jack said sheepishly. “They just got me instead of you.”
“That was probably why Gayle had the gun,” Rocky said. “So she could shoot me before moving on to Devin.”
“I know I’m a cop,” Jack said. “I should be used to seeing what people can do, but this kind of craziness...well, it gets to me. After what happened here in Salem, you’d think people would be smarter.”
“People are just people,” Rocky said. “Most of them are wonderful, but those who aren’t...”
They were all quiet for a minute, a moment of reflection that was broken when Angela’s cell phone rang. They all watched expectantly as she answered, but her string of “uh-huhs” told them nothing.
“Thank you,” she finally said, then looked up at them with a big smile. “Theo has a chance,” she said. “Gayle missed the artery, so he lost a lot of blood, but they’ve stitched him up and given him a transfusion, and there’s real cause to hope.”
“Thank God,” Devin murmured. “And we were so sure it was him.”
“Don’t forget Chris, the old guy at the bar,” Sam said. “We got him cleaned up and fed, gave him some new clothes, since his old ones are evidence. He’s taking us to the place where Gayle buried each knife after she killed. Apparently the devil demanded a virgin blade for each sacrifice or something. His testimony will be invaluable at their trials.”
“And I have a friend who’s going to set him up in assisted living and help him get a job,” Jack said. “Then it will be up to him.”
“I’m so glad,” Jenna said.
Eventually everyone except the Krewe left, which was actually something of a relief, since it left them free to talk about how invaluable Melissa and Margaret had been in catching the killers—and saving lives.
There was a knock at the door. Devin hopped up to get it, but Rocky was right on her heels. Clearly he was taking no chances with her safety.
A dignified, elderly man was standing there when she opened the door. “Miss Lyle?” he asked.
She didn’t have to guess who he was, because she heard the other Krewe members cry out in delight.
“Adam!” Angela called.
The man smiled at Devin and winked. “Yes, well, you all told me I needed to meet Miss Lyle, so here I am.”
“Come in, please,” Devin said.
“Yes, please come in,” Auntie Mina said, leaping up and smiling just as if Adam could see her and respond.
Adam Harrison joined them, and they quickly brought him up to speed on the case. It was long after midnight at that point, though, and everyone was physically and emotionally exhausted, so the Krewe said good night and headed back to their hotel, while Adam accepted Devin’s invitation to stay the night at the cottage.
That night Devin decided to believe that Auntie Mina would stay discreetly away from Devin’s room.