Last Grave (9781101593172) by Debbie Viguié

wasn’t ready to deal with him, but she needed someone to talk to, and who else was there, truly, who would be able to understand and maybe even help?
    She answered the call.
    â€œHello?” she said. Was her voice shaking, or was it her imagination?
    There was silence on the other end.
    â€œHello?” she asked again.
    Still more silence. She pulled the phone away from her ear to see if the call had dropped, but they were still connected.
    â€œAnthony, are you there?”
    â€œYes. I’m just shocked that you are.”
    â€œI’m sorry.”
    â€œSorry for picking up, or sorry for all the times you didn’t?”
    â€œBoth,” she admitted.
    She could hear him sigh heavily. “Well, at least that’s something.”
    â€œYeah, I guess so.”
    â€œHow have you been?” he asked.
    â€œOkay. It’s strange here.”
    â€œSan Francisco is its own kind of weird, that’s for sure.”
    â€œHow is Salem?”
    â€œBack to its same old sleepy self. And I’m fine, by the way.”
    She winced. “Glad to hear it.”
    â€œSo, why did you answer?” he asked.
    She cleared her throat and fingered her cross. “I had a rough night. I had to tell a young girl her mother had been murdered.”
    â€œI’m sorry,” he said, his voice suddenly sympathetic.
    Of course, Anthony could relate. Doubtless it had been some policeman who’d told him the same thing when he was a child. Having your mother murdered by witches didn’t lead to a happy life. She just hoped that Robin would have a better time of it than Anthony had.
    â€œAnd the weirdness here just got a whole lot weirder.”
    â€œHow much weirder?” he asked.
    â€œSalem kind of weirder.”
    There was a long pause and then Anthony said, “That’s not good.”
    â€œNo. No, it isn’t.”
    It felt good to talk to somebody she could actually confide in, someone who knew her, knew who she was, who she used to be. She closed her eyes and wished that he were there. She just wanted someone to hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay.
    It was so crazy. She was pretty sure it was one of the only universally female things, that need to be held and told things were going to be okay. Even if it was a lie, it was good to hear those words when you were stressed out of your mind.
    Of course, if it weren’t for her being an idiot, Anthony might actually be here to do that very thing. There was amazing chemistry between them, but the history and the baggage of it were staggering. How did you have a relationship with a man when you knew he’d been hunting you for years, blaming you because you were part of the coven that sacrificed his mother?
    She hadn’t yet been able to move beyond that, and despite whatever he might say, she knew that Anthony hadn’t either.
    â€œSo, you want to tell me about it?” he asked. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
    â€œI’ve got a question for you. Have you ever heard of a body being petrified? Like literally?”
    â€œLike wood petrification?” he asked.
    â€œYeah.”
    â€œNo. I think I would have remembered that. I could do some research, though, if that would help.”
    It would, but she was even loathe to accept his help in doing that. She didn’t want to see him get hurt. He had already been in the line of fire with her once before. Plus, she was afraid of breaking his heart. What if she could never really recover from everything that had happened to her, to them?
    But then the part of her that was a cop took over. “Yes, please, that would be great. I need all the help I can get on this one.”
    â€œAnyone out there you can actually talk to about what’s happening?”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œWell, I’m happy to do whatever I can, help you think through it, whatever.”
    â€œI appreciate that,” she said.
    â€œAnything I