A nurse came in just then with an IV pole. “The doctor wants me to get you on fluids right now,” she announced. It took several minutes for the nurse to find a vein. After checking things over once more, the nurse left. As the liquid began to pump, some of Theresa’s color returned.
“Amazing what a little water can do,” she murmured. She turned towards me, her eyes and lips pulling down into a frown.
“You need to go after Jo.”
I gave a helpless shrug. “I told him I’d stay here. You can’t be alone, Theresa.”
She shook her head. “I’ll be fine. Sneak out now before the doctor comes in. I’ll just tell them you had an emergency situation. It’s not far from the truth.”
“But…”
I trailed off as I looked at the closed door. Theresa was in a safe, controlled environment. Jo’s life could be in danger that very minute.
“Please, Sage. Maria is out of her mind. I really think she’s going to kill him.”
My heart slowed to a dull, deep thud as I took in her words.
“Maria?”
“Yes. Didn’t I tell you that?”
Dazed, I shook my head. It felt as if time slowed down as the pieces fell into place. Long, black hair. Expensive brown boots.
But why?
Chapter Twenty-Four
It was lucky that the Merricks lived so close to the hospital. I pulled up to the house, my witch senses tingling. There was magic in the air, and not the good kind.
The front door stood wide open, so I rushed inside. I stopped in my tracks at the sight before me. Maria’s living room, normally pristine and immaculate, looked as if a tornado had hit it. Tim lay on the floor, pale, his face bloody, while Jo and Maria fought over an object on the floor.
It was a wand.
Diving to the floor, I snatched the wand out of reach and stepped back. Jo took the opportunity to turn Maria around with her back towards him and pin her arms to her sides. She let out a frustrated scream as she struggled to free herself.
I gaped at her, horrified. Her eyes were bulging, her teeth bared. Until that moment, I hadn’t really believed that she could be capable of something so awful, but her feral rage made the truth all too clear.
“It was you,” I continued. “You kidnapped Theresa. You broke into my house.”
“Yeah,” she sneered. “It was me. What are you going to do about it?”
An odd sort of crashing noise rang through my ears. Maria, the sweet woman who befriended me, who baked me brownies and cookies, who encouraged me in my business, was a kidnapper. And she’d attempted murder on her own husband!
“But…you said that you were terrible at magic.”
Jo scowled. “She enlisted some help from ‘friends’ to make potions to enhance her magic. Between those and the barrier weakening potions, it’s no wonder witches all over town are being robbed of their ingredients.”
Maria let out another roar of fury. “It’s all that Theresa woman’s fault! She was told never to set foot in Woods Crossing again!”
I turned my gaze to Jo, confused. He moved his arms around Maria’s middle, clamping her more securely. Some of the fight went out of her when she realized she wasn’t going to get free, but the hate on her face lingered.
“Theresa was banished from town about ten years ago,” Jo explained in a low voice. “I had almost forgotten that she had a fling with Tim while he and Maria were engaged. Chandra saw romantic involvement with a member of the Black family as a violation of the coven’s codes, so she sent Theresa away.”
My shocked gaze drifted back to Maria.
“You heard she was back in town and decided to teach her a lesson.”
Her breathing grew labored as she fought against Jo’s grip. “No, I punished her for breaking the rules. She knew better than to come back, and she did it anyway. I didn’t need her sniffing around Tim again.”
Despite the horrible knowledge of her betrayal, I felt a brief pang of pity for her. Maria had a sort of icy cold beauty, with her jet-black hair and crystal blue eyes, but I could see why Tim had fallen for Theresa. She had a warmth about her that radiated from her child-like grin and sparkling eyes.
“You’re jealous of Theresa.”
Maria didn’t answer, but she stopped struggling.
“Then why did you try to kill Tim?” I pressed.
No answer. She hung her head, refusing to look at me. I narrowed my eyes at her, incredulous.
“You tried to frame me for it. You probably would have found a way to frame me for killing Tim, too. Some friend you turned out to be.”
Maria gave a moody shrug, but still didn’t say anything. I turned my attention back to Jo.
“Have you called the police?”
He grunted with effort as he went from trying to restrain Maria to trying to hold her up. All the fight seemed to have gone out of her at last.
“Yes. I called them when I left the hospital. As you can see, they still haven’t come.”
