Willa was bent over a lavender bush with a pair of gardening shears gleaming in her hand when I stepped out of the kitchen onto the back porch.

For a moment, the sun broke through the gray morning clouds and caught the metal. It sent a shiver down my spine. Not that I actually thought Willa might attack me with those shears, but after the past couple of days, I was simply on edge.

“Need any help?” I called out as I approached her.

Willa straightened and squinted at me. “You really here to help or for something else?” That look told me she knew it was something else.

“Wanted some air,” I said, looking over her shoulder at the lavender bush and darker clouds rolling from the shore. “But I’m happy to help.”

“Good,” she said. “I could use a steadier pair of hands.” She handed me the shears and pointed to a few more pretty stems.

I crouched to snip them. “It means a lot that you came today,” I said. “The others too. Thank you.”

“Don’t be silly,” she replied, turning her attention to another cluster a few feet away. “We’re always here for you. We’re here for each other. That’s part of the deal, right? We stick together, no matter what. Maybe you should tell me what’s really on your mind. Is it Lila?”

I sighed. It probably should have been Lila. My daughter should have been my top concern, not running after clues that might be nothing more than figments of my imagination. “It’s Claire.”

“Oh,” she said. “What about her?”

“I visited her today to apologize for last night’s troubles, and she mentioned you. How close you two were.” I watched Willa’s face for her reaction. Surprise? Guilt? I saw nothing at all. “She’s been here a few years now,” I continued. “Why didn’t you ever mention your connection?”

My friend seemed to be studying the stem between her fingers, but I knew she was stalling. Finally, she said, “I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t think it was my place. Claire came here to make a fresh start. When she arrived, she asked me to keep our former association and her past quiet, so I honored that.”

Something in my chest shifted. I knew something about fresh starts myself. I’d once left Laguna Bay for New Orleans chasing one. It hadn’t lasted long—but I knew how fragile those first steps could be.

“I get it,” I said.

Willa pointed out another few sprigs of lavender for me to clip. After I added them to the basket, she continued down the path with her usual easy confidence.

Meanwhile, my insides were in full-tilt upheaval, and I had no doubt it showed on my face. I tried to match her pace, hoping a little of that calm composure might rub off on me—treating it like a quiet lesson rather than something forever out of reach.

“That said, I have been looking out for her,” she admitted. “A little. She’s had some bumps in the road, but nothing that should concern you.” She paused, then added more pointedly, “You’ve met her. You know she’s not capable of anything horrible.”

Claire’s cheerful face flashed through my mind. Was she capable of murder? I had to admit, I couldn’t see it. My gut resisted the idea immediately. Claire didn’t feel like a killer. But instinct wasn’t evidence, and I couldn’t afford to ignore the facts.

“But if it wasn’t Claire,” I said, “then who?”

Willa hesitated.

She opened her mouth. Closed it again.

“Oh no,” I said, fearing what that silence could mean. “You can’t hold back now. You’ve been thinking about it, haven’t you?”

She lowered her voice, like Delphine and the others might overhear, but I’d made sure to close the back door securely. “I saw something last night. Before Evangeline collapsed. The council elders were arguing behind the greenhouse when they thought no one else was around.”

A chill crawled up my arms. Laguna Bay’s supernatural elders—Cornelia, Howard, and Neal—rarely argued.

“Arguing about what?” I asked.

“I don’t know. They clammed up the second they saw me.”

The creak of the kitty door opening and closing behind us made me turn.

Kheppy padded out. As she approached, she regarded us with a wary expression. “You’re up to something,” she purred.

Willa bent down to stroke her back. “How wise you are, little one.” She cocked her head. “Speaking of which, has Boo asked you what you think happened to Evangeline? Your feline instincts would have picked up something, I’m sure.”

Kheppy sat and licked her paw. “Quite true. But I wasn’t in the yard when Evangeline collapsed. I was inside asleep.”

Willa stood. “That’s a shame. There is something else I remember,” she added. “Right after the argument, Cornelia seemed especially out of sorts. That isn’t like her.”

No, it wasn’t.

“What about Howard and Neal?” I asked.

“Howard was upset, but Neal?” She gave me a look that said what we both knew. Nothing ever upset Neal.

I felt my jaw tighten. “Every time something goes wrong in this town, Cornelia seems to be right in the middle of it.”

Kheppy swished her tail. “Vampires are control freaks,” she said. “They can’t help themselves.”

“There may be some truth to that,” I muttered.

Cornelia loved control—and Evangeline had threatened the town’s very existence.

“It’s not proof of anything,” Willa warned gently as she gathered her lavender sprigs. “But the timing was strange.”

I couldn’t argue.

The knot in my stomach tightened. Not even the lavender’s clean, floral scent, normally so calming, eased that tension.

I bent down and stroked Kheppy’s head. “Do you have any thoughts about what the elders were fighting about?”

Kheppy pressed into my touch. “No, but you could try asking them about it.”

I was thinking the same thing.

“If you’re going to do that, you should probably start with Howard,” Willa said. “He likes you.”

“He tolerates me,” I corrected.

Kheppy lifted her whiskers. “Neal tolerates you too.”

“Yes, I suppose he does,” I said.

Howard and Neal might tolerate me, but no matter how hard I tried to focus elsewhere, Cornelia kept slipping back into the picture.

Willa straightened again, brushing dirt from her hands. “Do we need a plan?”

“I have one,” I said. “I know who I need to see.”

A breeze stirred the lavender. Maybe it was just my nerves—or maybe it was a warning. Either way, Cornelia was my next stop.