Witches of East End - By Melissa de la Cruz Page 0,58
myth," Mimi scoffed.
"Sweetie, you're a myth yourself," Ingrid snapped. "Helda made an exception once, and since then the Orpheus Amendment has stood. Same rules apply. One look back and it's over."
"That's it?"
"That's it."
"I'll take that risk," Mimi said. She stood up and shook Ingrid's hand. "Thank you."
"Oh, and one more thing I forgot to tell you. The Orpheus Amendment demands a sacrifice in payment for the release of a soul," Ingrid said.
"A soul for a soul," Mimi nodded, looking sly. "Don't worry, I was already aware of that part of it. I would never descend into Hell unprepared."
Ingrid hoped she had not made a mistake in helping the young vampire. The Fallen could be a dangerous enemy and she was glad to see her go. In the end Mimi Force had wanted the same thing from Ingrid that her human counterparts did: a way out of an impossible situation. Ingrid could only point in the right direction. The rest was up to them.
Chapter twenty-five
Finger-Pointing
Aside from the recent death of the socialite and Bill Thatcher's bludgeoning, there had been no murders recorded in North Hampton since its settlement. Freya did not watch the news unless someone had the television set to a news channel, nor did she read the newspapers, so she did not know that Molly Lancaster was officially a missing person until Sal happened to mention to her the following week that the boys who were with Molly that night at the bar had been brought in for questioning by the district attorney.
"Wait - you're telling me they think those boys had something to do with Molly's disappearance?"
"Where have you been all week?" Sal scoffed, shaking the paper at her. He was better after his bout with what had turned out to be the flu, but his cheeks were still red and his eyes runny. He also seemed to have lost part of his good humor. When he returned to work he was short-tempered and easily annoyed.
Freya didn't answer and continued to mix coltsfoot and columbine together for a new concoction. Bran was still away; they had been able to speak to each other briefly the other evening, but the connection had been bad and all she heard was gurgling and hissing from the wire. He felt farther and farther away from her every day. She had tried hard to avoid seeing Killian again, although he appeared in her dreams every night. If only she could see Bran again, but he would not return for a few more weeks.
She read the headline story: Derek Adam, Miles Ashleigh, Jock Pemberton, and Hollis Arthur had been brought in for questioning. Witnesses who were at the North Inn the night before the Fourth of July told the police that Molly acted out of character that evening, dancing wildly and "flirting with every boy in the place." She had left the bar with Derek in Jock's car with Miles and Hollis in the backseat. Through his lawyer, Derek declared that he and Molly had gone down to the beach to make out, but that he had left her there because she told him she had to meet someone else at the beach, a story that no one, including the reporter who intimated that the boys were lying to save their skins, was likely to believe. The boys ranged in age from nineteen to twenty-three years old, rich college kids whose families had deep North Hampton roots. The lead police investigator on the case, Matthew Noble, would not make any comment.
"Those poor boys," Freya murmured.
"Boys?" Sal huffed. "They're gonna fry. Who's going to believe they just left that girl down at that beach? Please, you know they killed her and hid the body. They're guilty."
Freya looked up. She hadn't realized she had spoken out loud and wondered why she felt sympathy for the suspects. Then she realized: she believed them. Molly had taken an Irresistible potion, a concoction that could never bring about any harm or violence to its taker. Freya had seen to that when she made it; it came built in with a powerful protection spell to make sure this sort of thing never happened. Whatever happened to Molly that evening had nothing to do with the love potion, which meant it had nothing to do with the boys she met at the bar.
She was certain the boys were telling the truth, that they didn't kill Molly. But how could she prove it?