“That doesn’t mean the people need to be,” Greta countered.
Connie, the well-dressed head of Commerce, spoke up next. “By appointing someone outside of her family, Lila knowingly destroyed her own line.”
Greta’s bright blue eyes flashed red. It startled me so much, I kept my mouth clamped shut as the others fought. “What choice did she have? People are more important than power.”
“The girl could have grown into the role,” the middle-aged guy who headed up Agriculture said.
“Or it could have destroyed her,” Greta shot back, eyes still aflame.
“Enough!” Fluffikins shouted, and the fire in Greta’s eyes disappeared. She took her seat beside me, and I moved to the opposite edge of mine, still completely unsettled.
“What now?” she asked calmly, sweetly—but I no longer took her good nature for granted. “Beech Grove needs its Town Witch.”
All eyes turned to me. “I can’t…” I sputtered.
“The magic we gave you was only temporary,” the cat pointed out. “To become the official Town Witch, you’d need to kill your predecessor.”
Parker’s eyes found mine, and he stared at me as if seeing me for the first time.
“But Parker…” I mumbled.
“Yes, we’re in a bad spot,” Fluffikins admitted. “One person can’t fill two roles indefinitely. It leaves the region too vulnerable.”
“Then what are we going to do?” I cried, feeling beyond helpless. Rather than being resolved, things were only going to get worse. Would that mean more lives lost? I hated this.
“We’ll have to find a new liaison to the Force, but the process takes a while, unfortunately,” Fluffikins said. “Usually we are better prepared for transitions, but Lila requested that we act fast and figure out the other details once the immediate threat had been mitigated.”
“Can I help? You don’t need me as a temp witch, anymore. Right? I can do the double cop thing.” As scared as I was to be a part of this, it would be even worse to turn my back on them now.
“But you’re not an officer,” Parker said with a deadpan expression as he clenched his jaw.
“Can’t you wave your magic wand and change the records?” I asked Greta since she was closest to me.
It was Fluffikins who answered for all of them. “We’d be even more vulnerable to have someone who hasn’t been properly trained in either magic or policing in such a vital role.”
“Then what? There must be something we can do!” I was on the verge of tears now. I hated that it made me look weak, but I was weak. Then again, if the strong ones weren’t willing or able to fix the situation, doing so fell to me.
Parker stood suddenly, commanding everyone’s attention. “Actually, I believe there is something. If you’ll just hear me out…”
23
Parker barely spoke above a whisper. “I think there’s a chance Melony could still be alive—badly injured and perhaps permanently wounded, but alive and well enough to call for reinforcements.”
A memory swam to the front of my mind. While certainly menacing in our confrontation, Melony had also appeared frightened and desperate. If she’d wanted to hurt me or Greta, she could have easily done so
while we were frozen in place.
But she hadn’t.
She’d simply taken what she came for—the old hat—and left. She’d also asked Parker to surrender before mounting an attack, but what if he’d misread the situation? What if she hadn’t meant to hurt him, either? What if we’d all gotten it wrong?
I bit my lip to keep from speaking out. Melony was already injured and possibly dead. It may be too late for anyone to help her, and there was also a very reasonable chance I was giving her way too much credit in this situation.
“You said she mentioned her grandfather when the two of you spoke,” Fluffikins pointed out with a thoughtful tilt of his head. “Do you think they could be working together?”
My head spun with all the possibilities. Melony could be evil or she could be a scared kid, trying to impress the only family she had left. I certainly hadn’t expected Parker to be Mrs. Haberdash’s murderer—nor had I anticipated the fact that she’d been the architect of her own demise.
“Anything’s possible, I suppose,” Parker said in response to the boss cat, although his words felt as if they were specifically intended for me. Did he also suspect there was something more hidden just beneath the surface?