Beatty didn’t say anything as he watched the officer take the bag to the van.

“You have to believe me,” Nora said, grabbing Beatty’s arm. “I was looking for my mallet yesterday. It was missing. I left it outside the day before Constance died. I haven’t seen it since.”

The lawyer patted her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Let’s not panic. I’m going to go to the station, but Nora, I have to be honest with you. It’s time you looked for another attorney. This is out of my depth.” He headed toward his car as the rest of the officers packed up.

“I don’t understand,” Nora said, standing alone in the center of the yard. “How could this have happened?”

“I don’t understand it either.” Izzy took a step toward her sister. “First Constance, and now this.”

“No,” Nora said, whirling around to face us. “I mean, how could this have happened? Someone planted that mallet in my greenhouse. I checked it thoroughly the day after Constance died. And you said you warded the property.”

“I did.” Izzy put a hand to her chest. “No one should have been able to set foot inside that greenhouse without being overcome with pain. I did take it down when the police arrived. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to give everyone permission before they came in. But the ward was up. It may not have been my best work. I was upset that night, but I did the spell.”

Nora stomped past Izzy toward the house.

“Nora, wait. I’m sure I did it properly. Don’t go. We’ll figure this out.”

“We will, will we?” Nora said, spinning around on the porch. Thick vines crawled up and around the pillars on either side of the steps.

Izzy rushed forward. “Sister, please,” she scolded in a tight whisper. “Get control. We’re outside.”

“I don’t care where we are. As far as I can tell, someone is trying to frame me for murder, and on the one hand, I have my lovely niece refusing to use the gift she was born with to help me out, and on the other, I have my sister, who has no trouble trapping me in a room, but can’t perform the most basic of spells to protect me.”

“Nora,” Izzy pleaded. “That’s not fair.”

“No, if you’ll excuse me, I think I need to be alone to figure out what it is that I’m going to do next to clear my name. Apparently, I am all alone in this.”

Izzy and I watched helplessly as Nora disappeared into the house.

I put my hand on my aunt’s shoulder.

“I’m sure I did the spell correctly.”

“I’m sure you did too. There has to be some other explanation.” I sighed. “She’s just upset. We need to give her time.”

“You’re right,” Izzy said, but she sounded miserable.

“You did the right thing. You know she was lying to you when she said she just wanted to talk to the officers, right?”