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she’s probably just distracted by all the changes in her life. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to see you.” My eyebrows lifted in surprise and he shot me a grin. “Like I told you, I know you by now. Call her .”
    As I watched him go, I thought about his parting words. He was right about Myra. I decided to give her a call and leave her a message if she didn’t answer. A small part of me hoped she wouldn’t. It would hurt too much if she rejected me.
    Myra answered on the third ring. “Ellie, what a surprise.” While she didn’t sound like herself, she didn’t sound as cold as she had recently.
    “Hey, Myra. How’s the new job going?”
    “Oh, you know . . . keeping me busy.”
    I waited for her to ask about my life, but she stayed silent. Trying to keep the disappointment out of my voice, I said, “David and I are coming to Chapel Hill this weekend. He’s meeting with a colleague to discuss some things. I thought maybe we could come see you. I’d love to see your new apartment.”
    “Well, I’m fairly busy this weekend.”
    Tears burned my eyes. Myra might have been my stepmother, but she’d spent more years with me than my biological mother. Myra had been the one to help me navigate the minefields of middle school and high school. She’d always sworn that while I may not have been born from her body, I was part of her heart. And now she wanted nothing to do with me. “Myra, have I done something to upset you?” My voice broke. I couldn’t help it.
    She paused for several seconds before her voice lowered. “No, Ellie. I’m sorry. I’ve been insensitive. I just have a lot going on.” Her words were gentle and soft. “Of course I’ll make time for you. Why don’t you call me when you get to Chapel Hill and we’ll figure out a time.”
    “Okay.”
    “I have to go. We’ll have a nice chat this weekend. Bye.” She hung up and I stared at the dead phone. Why hadn’t she told me that she loved me? I shook my head. She was probably on her way to a class or something. I was making too much of this.
    To get my mind off Myra, I decided to figure out my day. One, I needed to talk to Collin, and two, I needed to reexamine my treasure chest of trinkets—which included Daddy’s pocket watches and the gold engraved ring I wore, which I’d found buried under the oak tree in the yard. It couldn’t be a coincidence that my mother had been murdered a week after being asked to examine the contents of a collection called the Ricardo Estate. Especially when I took into account that a thug in Buxton thought I was part of something he called “the Ricardo deal.” His goon had cornered me after finding my father’s pocket watch collection and showed me a photo of an almost identical watch from the Ricardo Estate. Now David’s colleague had recently seen a watch similar to Daddy’s.
    Coincidence?
    My mother’s death had happened years ago, so figuring out the circumstances seemed less important than wrestling actual demons, but as David had pointed out soon after agreeing to help me, there weren’t any coincidences in this thing. And while her murder was a long time ago, she was my mother , and it was difficult to let go with so many unanswered questions. I needed closure. Nevertheless, I was clueless about how it all wove together. I hoped we’d get more answers this weekend.
    My cell phone dinged. I picked up the phone and nearly choked when I read the text message.
    I’m always here for you, Ellie. When?
    What a fucking lie. He knew so much about the curse and its background, yet he refused to share any of that information with me. Instead, he used it as bargaining material, parceling out little bits at a time. But I had to admit that he seemed to have experienced a change of attitude the last time we saw each other, at Claire’s wedding reception. He’d given me the map and he’d given me his blessing to be with David. Maybe he’d changed.
    In person. Anytime today.
    His answer came seconds