He let go, and I whirled around to see Derek Bates standing there with a hopeful look on his face.

“You!” I hissed.

He crossed his arms over his chest.

“I should be taking that tone with you,” he whispered. “You accused me of killing Lavinia.”

“Well, considering what I’m finding out about your family, I’m wondering if you had a hand in it,” I whispered back.

The cat weaved around Derek’s legs mewing softly. So, it was his cat. He must have been telling the truth about his reason for being in town the morning of Lavinia’s death.

He saw me looking down. “Yes, this is the cat I was taking to the vets. Do you believe me?”

I nodded. “But your family …”

Derek brushed his hand through his hair. “I didn’t want to believe one of them could be the killer, even though I had my doubts. But now, with that book and all … well, you can see why I rushed you out of the house the other day.”

“Sort of,” I said, still not sure what the Bates family was up to. Where they witches? And whose side was Derek on?

“I saw Carson sneak in with the book. I knew he had you downstairs. I was actually on my way down to let you out,” Derek frowned at me. “How did you get out, anyway?”

“Would you believe magic? But not the black kind. I picked the lock and your cat led me to this passage. So you’re not in on any of this with your family?” I still wasn’t sure I believed him, but I had to ask.

“No.” His face turned hard. “I’ve always been different. The black sheep of the family, so to speak. I tried to ignore their darker side—I suppose I love them in some way, but this thing with the book. I just can’t let them unleash evil on Mystic Notch.”

Unleash evil? That sounded bad. I was pretty sure I didn’t want that to happen either.

“Okay, what do you suggest we do?” Just a few hours ago, I thought Derek was the killer and now I was considering joining forces with him. I didn’t see that I had too many other choices.

“We need to get the book away from them. They think you are still locked up downstairs, so we have the element of surprise on our side.”

“And just how do you propose we utilize that?”

“I have an idea.” Derek glanced down the passage toward the library where we could still hear the soft hum of conversation. “Here’s what we’ll do.”

***