Page 123 of The Witch’s Orchard

“I gotta go,” AJ says. “But we’re on the way. Just stay where you are.”

“Sure,” I say.

He hangs up, and I look through the window back at the cabin. Shiloh is still sitting there, wrapped up in her blanket, holding her coffee inone hand and the page of spirals in the other. I take a deep inhalation of breath and force myself not to cough as I breathe out.

If anyone has the ability to use this mountain’s plants for harm, it’s Susan McKinney. But why drug Molly? And why take Molly at all? Why OliviaorMolly? And why Lucy now? If the whole scheme was to take Jessica away from an abusive father, then why take the other two girls? Was it really part of some ritual?

“Okay,” I whisper to myself. “They’re on their way. It’s okay.”

I remind myself that the real cops have more means of getting these answers than I do. More means of finding Jessica and Lucy than I do. They’re on their way. And they’ll handle it, I tell myself.

And then I see the silhouette of a man coming up over the ridge and toward the cabin. I realize, as he shambles toward me with his hands in his pockets, that it’s Max Andrews.

I walk off the porch and into the field, meeting him halfway.

“You okay?” I ask.

“Yeah,” he says. His eyes are red-rimmed, though. He looks even paler and thinner than he did at the start of the week.

“I went down to see Susan,” he says.

“You… what? What did she say?”

“I wanted to talk to her about Molly. I just… I didn’t know who else to talk to. Sometimes, Susan is good like that. She listens.”

“Yeah,” I say. “So… was she helpful?”

He shakes his head.

“She didn’t have time,” he said. “She was leaving.”

“Leaving?”

“Yeah, she was saying something about getting them out of there before it was too late.”

“Getting who out?”

“I don’t know,” he says. “I kind of walked up on her and she was muttering to herself.”

“Do you know where she was going?”

“No.”

“Was she still in the cabin when you left?”

“No, she was leaving when I got there. She was carrying this big heavy basket, and her hair was all wrapped up in a scarf. She followed me off the porch and then waved me goodbye.”

“Shit,” I hiss, already sprinting back to Honey, wrangling my keys out of my pocket.

I slide behind the wheel and rev the engine. Of all the cars Susan has access to, mine and Max’s are probably closest. But given Susan’s talent for town gossip, she must know there’s always the chance that AJ will be here. So, the next closest would be Deena’s. Would it even seem out of the ordinary for her to suddenly appear on Deena’s property, to ask for a ride to the nearest town or the nearest bus station or the nearest airport?

On the road to Deena Drake’s house, I call AJ.

“Annie?” he says, though his voice is garbled and cutting out. “Ann—we’re—the warrant—as soon as—”

“AJ, you’re cutting out. If you can hear me—”

But the call dies. I phone him back and get his voicemail and leave him a message. I tell him where I’m going, what I’m doing.