“It didn’t sound like you were speaking in English,” Jo noted.
“I wasn’t,” Harriett said. “These seeds were found in a grave that was over two thousand years old. Silphium only understands ancient Greek.”
“You’re telling me you know—” Jo started to ask. Then she stopped. “Never mind.” She couldn’t get distracted from her mission. “Harriett, what were those seeds you threw off the roof at Jackson Dunn’s house?”
“A variety of Scotch broom,” Harriett replied. “As a weed, it’s very difficult to eradicate, but it does have lovely flowers.”
“Scotch broom,” Jo repeated. “Do bees like it?”
“Of course.” Harriett rose out of the flowers like a cobra emerging from a snake charmer’s basket. Even without shoes, she was at least four inches taller than Jo. “Is there something you’re trying to ask me, Jo?”
Jo studied the witch looming over her. She’d never been frightened of Harriett, and she wasn’t now. But she was wary of Harriett’s power. Jo now realized Harriett needed to be handled with caution. There was something about her friend that wasn’t quite human anymore.
“You knew Jackson Dunn was allergic to bees. And yet you spread seeds for a plant that would attract them.”
“Yes.”
“He’s in the hospital,” Jo said.
“You don’t say?” Harriett replied with a hint of amusement but not a drop of concern.
“Were you trying to—？” Jo didn’t want to say the words.
“Kill him?” Harriett shrugged as if the question were moot. “Not necessarily. No more than he was trying to ruin my career by excluding me from his rooftop gatherings. And no more than he was trying to traumatize me by grabbing my pussy.”
Jo cringed at the phrase. “Yes, but—”
“But what, Jo?”
“I thought we were supposed to be the good guys.”
“No,” Harriett said, and Jo could see she was no longer joking. “Nessa is a good guy. I do what I believe to be necessary.”
Jo felt the atoms inside her vibrating like mad and slamming into each other. “I’m the protector. I’m a good guy, too.”
“Are you sure that’s what you are?” Harriett asked her. “You’ll have to decide soon. Do you want to follow the rules that have been laid out for us—or would you rather find the path that’s meant for you?”
“I just want to make the world a safer place for my daughter,” Jo said.
“Yes, but are you sure you’re willing to do what it takes?” Harriett asked. “What if the world as it is will never be safe for her? What if you realize you have to burn it all down?”
They heard the sound of a car pulling up fast in the driveway. The engine switched off and a car door slammed. “Harriett!” Nessa shouted. “Where are you? Jo! Are you here?”
“We’re in the garden,” Harriett called. Her eyes remained focused on Jo. It was Jo’s decision, she was saying, whether or not to tell Nessa about the bees.
Jo’s lips stayed sealed as Nessa emerged from the brambles and charged toward the two of them, her phone in her hand.
“The lab just emailed the results of the DNA test that Franklin and I ordered.” The words came gushing out before she’d reached Harriett and Jo, as though Nessa could no longer hold them in. “Laverne Green, the woman who claimed to be our girl’s mother, is no relation of hers whatsoever. She was lying.”
“Is there a chance she might have made a mistake?” Jo asked. “Maybe she saw the missing person post and honestly thought the girl was her daughter.”