Diana took a shuddery breath. “I don’t like the idea of looking to put the blame on someone else just to get Dylan out of jail. What if the other person didn’t do it, either?”
“All we need is another option to stop them from assuming they have the guilty party and ending the investigation,” I said. “Mac and Charla are solid cops, and I don’t believe they would arrest Dylan without good reason, but I also think it wouldn’t hurt to give them a few more avenues to look into.”
Diana took a deep breath. “I did have a weird conversation with Ember and Bronwyn.”
“What kind of crazy names are those?” Vi said.
I cast a threatening look at Vi and she picked up her knitting.
“Bronwyn is the mother and she and Ember make organic soaps and lotions. They also dabble in oils used for spells,” Diana said.
“What happened?” Tom asked.
“I was asking them about what they might have seen that night and Bronwyn told me about seeing someone rummaging through the robes. Then she started to say something about Morgan Lavelle, and Ember stepped in and cut her off.”
“Morgan says she wasn’t there,” I said.
Diana nodded. “She wasn’t on the list and she and Rafe tended to avoid each other. I didn’t see her there. I don’t know what Bronwyn was going to say. But it was strange.”
“So, any other gossip?” Vi asked. She leaned forward and glowered around the table as if we were keeping things from her.
“Lucan and Rafe have been fighting for the past several months,” I said. “I heard that Lucan didn’t agree with Rafe’s overly controlling leadership style.”
“I saw Lucan and Dylan arguing at the restaurant the day that Rafe died,” Alex said. He peered around the circle and looked down. None of us were sure if that would help or hurt Dylan.
“I heard that Morgan and Rafe had a major falling-out a few months ago,” Diana said. “There were rumors that they were a couple and then they fought about something and he kicked her out of the coven. She was livid and started calling all the coven members and bad-mouthing him.”
“That sounds like routine drama,” said Alex.
Diana nodded. “It was, mostly. Rafe wouldn’t admit it, but I think he was afraid of her. He caught her going through his garbage. He thought she was looking for supplies for her dark spells.”
“What?” I said. “Do the police know?”
Tom shook his head and watched Diana.
She hugged herself and shivered. “I told Mac that Rafe was anxious about kicking her out of the coven. That woman is scary. Did any of you happen to go by her booth? She sells all kinds of spell kits for revenge and power. It’s not what Wicca is meant to be.”
“Did you see how she dresses? She looks like a dominatrix,” Vi said.
Dad’s head snapped up from the newspaper he was perusing.
“A what?” Seth asked.
We all sent a glare in Vi’s direction.
“You know, black leather, scary hair, long nails . . .” Alex decided to skate over the definition and describe her clothing.
“Oh, like Lady Gaga?”
“Yeah, a lot like her,” Vi said.
“Skye told me her mother didn’t like Rafe,” Seth said. “Well, her mother hates everything to do with Wiccans.”
“I knew that, but thought maybe she was coming around since she came to the ceremony,” Diana said.
Seth shrugged. “Dunno. It’s just what she said. I got the impression her mother hating it was part of the appeal.”
“We have Lucan and Morgan in his coven,” Alex said, ticking off the suspects on his fingers. “They’d been fighting with him over the leadership of the group. And Dylan—who had what reason?”
Tom sighed. “He thinks Rafe killed his parents.”
A collective intake of breath circled the table. I was surprised Tom knew about this, and Diana’s perplexed expression indicated she was as taken aback as I was.
“How did you know?” she asked Tom.
“He told me a long time ago, the day after your parents’ funeral, right before he left. He thought Rafe had something against your dad and was sure that Rafe had arranged their accident.”
“How horrible, to carry around that sort of anger.” Mom had her amulet in a death grip. “Poor Dylan.”
Diana brought them all up to date on the grimoire and how there was something in that book that Dylan thought Rafe had killed their parents for.
“What could be in some moldy old book that would be worth killing for?” Seth asked.
Diana shrugged. “Dylan thought there was a powerful spell in there, but he’s shown it to a bunch of Wiccans who all say the same thing. The recipes are typical everyday spells that would be found in any grimoire, especially one that was passed down through a few generations.”