Page 75 of The Women of Wild Hill

Brigid dropped the mushroom back in the basket and lit a joint. “Where’d you pick them?”

“They grow in the mansion’s root cellar.”

It took a few seconds for the information to detonate. Suddenly, Brigid was back on her feet. “Holy shit! You guys got into the root cellar?”

“We did,” Phoebe told her.

Brigid was practically vibrating with excitement. “Show me! Show me!”

“In a minute,” Phoebe said. “Can we have a quick chat first?”

“Why? About what?”

“The plan. And our role in it. I think we’re supposed to poison Liam’s friends.”

Her excitement thoroughly dampened, Brigid took a drag from her joint and passed it to Phoebe. “I guess I’m not surprised. All the pieces are coming together. Calum used the poison to steal his company back. Once he was a mogul, he made friends with every asshole on the planet. Then, a few days after he dies, his son shows up, invites us to a party, and you guys find the mushrooms. Makes sense except for one thing.”

“What?”

“Mom didn’t have to die to get us here. She could have stayed with Calum and taken out his friends, one by one. Just like Lilith did with the Nazis. There’s nothing in the plan so far that requires our unique skills.”

“I hadn’t considered that.” Phoebe knew her sister was right.

“We’re still missing an important piece of the puzzle.”

Phoebe nodded thoughtfully. “I guess so. I’m very sorry, Brigid, but I think you’re going to have to keep banging Liam Geddes until we figure it out.”

“Damn.” Brigid sighed. “Welp, I guess I’ll just have to take one for the team.”

When their laughter finally trailed off, they sat in silence, passing the joint back and forth between them.

“There’s something else I need to tell you,” Phoebe confessed.“Sibyl and I didn’t just see the root cellar. Bessie showed us the rest of the mansion, too.”

Just as she’d expected, Brigid was hurt. “What? And you guys didn’t wait for me?”

“We didn’t know when you would be back,” Phoebe told her. “But you’re right. We should have waited, and I’m sorry. Going forward, the three of us need to act as a team. No more secrets. No more fights. We have to be able to trust each other completely.”

Brigid nodded. “I agree,” she said, and left it at that.

Phoebe exhaled. “Well, that was easy.”

“I would have made peace with you ages ago if I could have.”

“What do you mean, if you could have?”

“You were so angry—”

Phoebe’s back came off the chair as she spun around in her seat. “Iwas angry? You didn’t want anything to do with me!”

“That’s not true,” Brigid insisted. “I hired private investigators to give me updates on you and Sibyl. Ask me anything. I can tell you how big Sibyl was when she was born. Eight pounds three ounces. I know your husband’s mother’s maiden name.”

“Ed’s not my husband.”

“More or less,” Brigid said. “Nice guy. Handsome, too.”

“You’ve been keeping tabs on me, but when I asked you to take custody of me, you told me to fuck off.”

Brigid screwed her face up and held out her hand for what was left of the joint. “I think you’ve had too much of that. You’re hallucinating. I never said anything of the sort.”