Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71312 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 357(@200wpm)___ 285(@250wpm)___ 238(@300wpm)
If Ethan went in one of the side doors, he wouldn’t have triggered the motion sensor until he led the horses out. Swallowing hard, I continue swiping through the footage, heart hammering faster and faster.
“Found it,” I say, letting out a sigh of relief. “Thank god.”
“What time does he go into the barn?”
“A little after seven-fifteen.”
Julia lets out an audible sigh of relief. “Patrick’s T.O.D. was six-fifty-five AM. There’s no way Ethan could have killed him and driven back to Thorne Hill in that time. How clear is the footage?”
“It’s pretty good. You know I’m cheap about pretty much everything except my horses.”
“Can you send me the video? I’ll get it over to David and we’ll get this sorted out. Did they say if they were going to transfer him to the Chicago police or not?’
“No, they didn’t say.”
“Okay.” She inhales and I can see her face, tense with worry, in my head. “I’m going to guess he’ll be held in Thorne Hill for a while. It will be at least six hours before we can get there, assuming we can get on a flight right away.”
“Right. You’re in New York. What…what do I do?” I’m all jittery again.
“Hang tight, and I know that sucks. But we’ll get this sorted out. Ethan is innocent and we have proof of an alibi. Send me everything you have from that day that doesn’t show the incubus. And I need to hear that story another day.”
“Yeah. It was kinda crazy.”
“I’ll update you as soon as I can.”
“Thanks, Julia.”
We end the call and I download and send her the videos of Ethan from the morning. He opens the big barn door and goes in, leaving the door open behind him. It lights up the barn and you can clearly see his face. He talks to Mystery, Sundance, Ross, and Rachel as he gives them hay and then the recording stops. Motion is detected again when he leads the donkeys out of the barn, taking them to the pasture. He comes back for Sundance and Mystery, and the two geldings nip at each other as Ethan leads them both at the same time outside.
He comes in once more and starts cleaning stalls, and the camera picks up him walking in and out of the barn two more times as he empties a wheelbarrow full of manure. The last little clip of him shows him with his flannel shirt tied around his waist and I pause the recording and zoom in. You can clearly see his tattoos. There’s no denying this is Ethan, and he was here—all the way on the outskirts of Thorne Hill—at seven-fifteen the same morning Patrick died.
This should bring me more comfort than it does, but I can’t stop thinking about why the cops would show up now, two months later, to arrest Ethan.
“There’s only one reason,” I tell Hunter, setting my phone down after I sent the videos to Julia. “Someone is trying to frame him.”
Chapter
Three
“What about a glamour spell?” I nervously flip the pages in my Book of Shadows, glancing up every few seconds to look at the police station.
“For you or for Ethan?” Nik asks, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.
“Um, both?” I shake my head, knowing that won’t help. If anything, Ethan randomly appearing as someone else would make things worse. Letting out a sigh, I lean back and look at the police station again, heart skipping a beat when the door opens. It’s not like the charges are going to get suddenly dropped and he’ll be free to go.
Closing my book, I tap the screen of my phone. Julia hasn’t updated me in nearly half an hour and I got nowhere when I tried going into the police station.
“They can lie.” I swallow hard and open the book again. “The police.” I turn my head toward Nik. “They can say they found evidence or have DNA or something.”
“Ethan is smart,” Nik assures me. “He won’t say anything to make matters worse.”
“Yeah. You’re right.”
“It’ll be okay. Somehow.”
“Somehow,” I echo and start to feel frustrated as I look through the book. “I’m a witch who can literally hold fire in my hand yet I’m totally clueless how to fix this right now.” I lean my head back again, grinding my teeth. “Someone set Ethan up, I know it. And I’m pretty sure it’s the fucking Order.”
“Let’s say it is,” Nik starts, twisting in the driver’s seat to face me. “What could they have on Ethan that could frame him?”
“I have no idea. I mean, it could literally be anything. They have the resources to get him out of jail, it would probably be pretty easy to get him into jail, right?”
“Yeah,” he agrees. “But being convicted of murder requires evidence. You two didn’t go to Patrick’s apartment, did you?”