Page 161 of Shadow Charms

“Nah, I think I’ll head back to the library with Dewey. He wants to run a few blood tests to be sure that antidote cured me entirely.”

“Well, you certainly look better than the last time I saw you.”

“No more purple,” Paige exclaimed with a giggle.

“No, just a few scrapes and bruises. You should have those looked at.”

“I will,” Paige promised. “But for now, I’d just like to see Dickens, stretch out on my air mattress, and hang out with my best friend.”

Dewey lifted a paw, and they high-fived.

Ronnie motioned to her SUV outside the hangar. “I can offer you a lift. I’m headed back that way.”

“Great, thanks so much.”

They climbed into the car with Dewey settling behind the tinted windows in the back seat.

“Hey, Ronnie,” he called as she buckled in before firing the engine, “did Paige tell you that Drucinda and Thorn are prowling around again?”

“She did,” Ronnie said, flicking her gaze in the rearview mirror as she trundled down the bumpy pavement and onto the main road.

“When did she get out?” Dewey asked.

“Beats me. I’ll do a little digging once we get back to the library.”

“Get out?” Paige questioned.

Dewey drummed his fingers on the armrest. “Drucinda did a little stint in magic jail.”

“Magic jail?” Paige inquired, twisting to face him.

“It’s a privately owned penitentiary designed to hold offenders of the supernatural world,” Ronnie explained.

“What was she in jail for?”

Dewey and Ronnie shared a glance through the rearview mirror, and Ronnie pressed her lips together, flicking her gaze through the windshield as she rocketed up the ramp to the expressway.

“What was that look?” Paige asked.

“You may as well tell her, Ronnie,” Dewey said. “She’s going to find out anyway.”

Ronnie flicked her turn signal on and merged into traffic. Her grip tightened around the steering wheel, and she slid her eyes sideways to glance at Paige.

“She did some time for…killing your mother.”

Paige slumped back in the passenger’s seat in stunned silence, staring straight ahead as she fluttered her eyelashes. “I thought my mother went missing, not that she was…murdered.”

The last word stuck in her throat as a lump formed.

“We don’t know that she was. Drucinda was the last person to see her alive. She was arrested and questioned after Reed’s disappearance, but wouldn’t admit to anything. Eventually, they charged her with murder. She did a bit of time for it, but her attorneys appealed. No body, no crime was the argument.”

Dewey wrinkled his nose and shook his head. “Guess they finally succeeded in getting through to a judge.”

“Or they paid one off,” Ronnie said, glancing back at Dewey.

“Murdered?” Paige repeated as she stared into space. “I can’t believe this. That woman killed my mother?”

“We have no proof of that,” Ronnie said. “In fact, as much as I dislike Drucinda, I don’t think she murdered your mom.”