Be Careful What You Witch For (A Family Fortune Mystery) by Dawn Eastman Page B

And why is he a flight risk?” Alex stepped forward. He, Diana, and I had been inseparable in high school and his protective instincts were strong. Anything that upset Diana was sure to upset Alex.
    “Mac and Charla. They have
some
evidence and are looking for more,” Tom said. “Dylan hasn’t exactly been easy to find over the past few years. He follows the art shows and even Diana doesn’t always know where he is. They were afraid he’d take off again if he knew they were coming to arrest him. Basically, I’m off the case.” Tom stood with his hands out, palms up. “Mac says I’m too close to Dylan and can’t be objective.” He let his hands fall to his side.
    I gestured toward the dining room and the group moved in that direction. Dad and Alex abandoned their project and joined us. The pendulum forgotten, we gathered around the table.
    Per Tom, several witnesses had come forward with stories of Dylan and Rafe arguing and someone claimed that Dylan had threatened to kill Rafe. Dylan had the opportunity to doctor the bread since he had easy access to Diana’s kitchen, and another witness had seen Dylan leaving Rafe’s house the day he died. Rafe had followed him into the yard and grabbed Dylan’s arm. Dylan shook him off, and Rafe fell. Apparently, Dylan just kept walking. Tom ticked these items off on his fingers.
    “Isn’t this just circumstantial evidence?” Alex said.
    Tom nodded. “But they found some fingerprints on the EpiPen. One of them was Dylan’s. One was Rafe’s, one was the paramedic who picked it up at the scene, and they’re assuming the last set would be Diana’s.” His head was bowed toward the table.
    “We have to do something!” Vi glared around the table, daring anyone to contradict her.
    “But what?” Seth said.
    “We need more suspects, for one thing,” I said.
    Diana took a shuddery breath. “I don’t like the idea of looking to put the blame on someone else just to get Dylan out of jail. What if the other person didn’t do it, either?”
    “All we need is another option to stop them from assuming they have the guilty party and ending the investigation,” I said. “Mac and Charla are solid cops, and I don’t believe they would arrest Dylan without good reason, but I also think it wouldn’t hurt to give them a few more avenues to look into.”
    Diana took a deep breath. “I did have a weird conversation with Ember and Bronwyn.”
    “What kind of crazy names are those?” Vi said.
    I cast a threatening look at Vi and she picked up her knitting.
    “Bronwyn is the mother and she and Ember make organic soaps and lotions. They also dabble in oils used for spells,” Diana said.
    “What happened?” Tom asked.
    “I was asking them about what they might have seen that night and Bronwyn told me about seeing someone rummaging through the robes. Then she started to say something about Morgan Lavelle, and Ember stepped in and cut her off.”
    “Morgan says she wasn’t there,” I said.
    Diana nodded. “She wasn’t on the list and she and Rafe tended to avoid each other. I didn’t see her there. I don’t know what Bronwyn was going to say. But it was strange.”
    “So, any other gossip?” Vi asked. She leaned forward and glowered around the table as if we were keeping things from her.
    “Lucan and Rafe have been fighting for the past several months,” I said. “I heard that Lucan didn’t agree with Rafe’s overly controlling leadership style.”
    “I saw Lucan and Dylan arguing at the restaurant the day that Rafe died,” Alex said. He peered around the circle and looked down. None of us were sure if that would help or hurt Dylan.
    “I heard that Morgan and Rafe had a major falling-out a few months ago,” Diana said. “There were rumors that they were a couple and then they fought about something and he kicked her out of the coven. She was livid and started calling all the coven members and bad-mouthing him.”
    “That sounds like routine drama,” said