I nodded. “I believe you when you say you had no ill intent.”

“Regardless, living in a small town I should have known better.”

“We all make mistakes.” Despite everything, I really did feel for her, given she probably didn’t make mistakes very often. That along with her love-hate relationship with my aunt must have made it more difficult to bear. “I’ll certainly convey your apology to Nora.”

She nodded. “Listen, I don’t mean to worry you any further, but there’s something else you should know.” A cold, damp wind swirled around us as a gray cloud moved over the sun. “Have you heard about the upcoming town hall meeting?”

I shivered with the cold. “No, I haven’t.”

“I was afraid of that. Well, one has been called. An emergency meeting to address recent events.”

Town hall meetings had been the form of local government used in Evenfall since the seventeenth century, so it only made sense one had been called. Everyone had to know by now the police were investigating Constance’s death. “I can understand that. People want reassurance everything is being done to keep us safe.”

“From what I’ve heard, Liz Graves is the one who organized this meeting.” Williams gave me a pointed look.

I fell silent trying to process this new information. Constance’s niece had organized the meeting?

Williams put her hand lightly on my arm. “I’m not sure if it’s a good idea or not for you and your aunts to attend, but if I were in your position, I would want to know what was going on.”

I looked at her in question. It was clear she had more to tell me.

“There have been rumors going around about strange incidents of vandalism. All nonsense, I’m sure.” Williams looked uncomfortable. “But some people are linking them to you and your family.”

“We’ll be there.” Rumors were easier to spread behind people’s backs. It would be much more difficult for our neighbors to cast accusations with us there. Not that I could blame them entirely. Someone had killed Constance. It only made sense we would be among the suspects. It still hurt though. “Thank you for the heads-up.”

She nodded. “And please tell your aunt I am thinking only good thoughts for her. I wish I had been able to come up with a better story to tell the police. Maybe I could have led them in another direction.”

“Williams,” I said, genuinely shocked. “Are you saying you would have lied to the police? For Nora?” I couldn’t help but smile.

She frowned at me. “Just tell her what I said. And again, I apologize for speaking to anyone about what I heard that night.”

“I’ll be sure to tell Nora. Speaking of which I should probably—”

I couldn’t finish the thought because the most startling sight had caught my eye.

At some point Dog must have come down from the trees, because he was standing on the grass, right beside Oscar. The two of them were staring at us, apparently following every word.