“I have the accident report,” he said. He followed us into the living room, where Alex flopped into the side chair and ran his hands through his damp hair. “What happened to you two?” Tom asked.
“Just a monsoon, an angry cop, and a low-speed car chase,” Alex said. “Oh, and don’t forget climbing around on a roof.”
Tom looked at me. “Was Mac the angry cop?”
I nodded.
“Glad I was in Bailey Harbor all day.”
“I need some tea,” I said and waved them into the kitchen.
Seth was there with the dogs, passing out treats and munching on a bag of chips. I went to the stove and filled the kettle, taking a moment to get lost in the ritual of making tea. Alex and Tom were trying to get the bag of chips away from Seth. I got a box of cookies out of the pantry—they pounced on that instead. After the water boiled and I set the tea to steep I sat at the table with the hungry horde.
“What have you got?” I asked Tom.
He slid the report across the table to me. “It looks like a cut-and-dried accident. It was wet, they took the turn too fast, and the car rolled.” I shivered, thinking of my own similar accident last summer.
“Did they check the car to be sure there was nothing wrong with it?”
Tom nodded. “The brakes were intact, the tires were fine. They couldn’t find any reason why the car would have rolled except driver error. You know that turn. It comes up quickly and even in good weather I’ve seen cars go off onto the shoulder. There are enough skid marks to indicate it’s a dangerous turn if you’re going too fast. They put up a guardrail after the Wards’ accident, but there was nothing to stop them that night.”
I got up to get my tea. Tom’s description of the accident was just as I remembered it and just as I had seen it in my dream. A car going too fast, a scream of brakes, and the car rolling, rolling. I had tried to warn Diana’s parents without actually telling them I had seen their deaths in a dream. A shiver went up my spine. I’d never been able to stop the premonitions from coming true and sometimes I misunderstood the visions. I had spent so much effort trying to avoid them that I had never perfected interpretation. Was it fair to have the individuals living in fear for the last months of their lives? I had yet to answer that question.
“No chance that Rafe could have had anything to do with it?” I said.
Tom shook his head. “Not according to the report. It looks like they were very thorough. If Rafe set up the crash, he did a fantastic job of making it look like an accident.”
Alex put his head in his hands. “We’re not getting anywhere. Even if Rafe did set up the accident that would just make the case against Dylan even stronger. We need to find out who would have wanted Rafe dead, besides Dylan.”
Alex was right. Regardless of what had happened between Rafe and the Wards, we needed to find someone who was angry enough with Rafe that he or she would want him dead. I had hoped to clear up any remaining mystery about the Wards’ death because I knew it was killing Diana to think that Rafe had done anything to harm them. But, right now, we needed more information on Rafe.
“It doesn’t matter what the report says,” Tom said. “Dylan believes Rafe was responsible for his parents’ death. It’s all he talked about for months afterward. Now I know why he never got anywhere. There was no evidence.” Tom flipped the pages of the report over as if the answer would jump out at him.
“Did Dylan ever say how he thought Rafe had caused the accident?” I asked. I set the tea mug in front of me and wrapped my hands around it for warmth.
Tom shook his head. “No. He was obsessed with figuring out what was in the grimoire that would have caused the fight between Rafe and Elliot. He used to pore over that thing, writing out the spells, comparing them to other books. There were several that dealt with power and he thought Rafe just wanted a spell. It wasn’t until recently that he figured out Rafe wanted to hide the book, not use it.
“Where’s the book now?” Alex asked.
“I think Diana has it. Dylan showed her the family tree in the back—she must still have it,” I said.
“Oh, I just remembered,” Seth said and headed toward the front door.
I shrugged when Alex looked at me for an explanation.
Seth returned, reached under his sweatshirt, and pulled out the book he had found at Rafe’s place. “What are we going to do with this?”
I jumped up and hugged him. I’d assumed it had been left behind. Alex and I looked quickly to Tom, but he didn’t even react to a stolen grimoire.
“Let me see it,” I said.