Written in Stone (A Books by the Bay Mystery)

Haviland’s neck. “What about you? You’ve obviously been motivated. Harris told me that you finished your book. Edits and all.”
    Though she shrugged as if it were no big deal, Millay couldn’t stop her mouth from curving upward into a proud grin. “Yeah. I’m ready to tackle the dreaded query letter.”
    This announcement drew a round of applause from her friends. They clinked glasses and toasted Millay, and while she tried to pretend she didn’t enjoy the attention, her eyes were alight with pleasure.
    “You’re falling behind on your word count, Chief,” she teased Rawlings. “You’d better make some progress on your novel.”
    Rawlings waved off the suggestion. “That’s not going happen anytime soon. Sheriff Poole and I have been dealing with a ton of paperwork. We’re still trying to tie up a few loose ends.”
    The chief’s statement clearly troubled Millay. “It’s nothing serious, right? Tell me that bastard isn’t going to get off on some technicality.”
    Rawlings’ tone lost all traces of levity. “No, he’s not. But we’ve had to gather all kinds of statements. For example, when Munin bolted for the swamp, she didn’t just abandon her son. She liquidated her assets and gave all the cash to a Mr. and Mrs. Robert Oxendine. They’re the ones who raised Bo Locklear as their own. Called him Bobby Oxendine until he came of age. When he turned eighteen, they handed him the deed to the Dawson farm and told him his real name and that his parents were both dead.”
    “That must have been rough,” Harris said. “I get that Munin was trying to protect her kid, but even after Judson’s dad was dead, she didn’t come back for him. She let him believe his was an orphan.”
    Olivia pictured Munin’s shack at the forest’s edge. “I think she knew that he’d found his parents in the Oxendines. I also believe that Munin truly forgot how to be among people. She’d scour the papers, keeping watch on the Lumbee from afar, but she couldn’t go back. She’d become a wild thing. A seer. A witch.” She shook her head. “It’s really sad, because Bo could have helped her heal if only she’d let him.”
    “Instead, Judson found her,” Laurel said and then looked at Rawlings. “How?”
    “From one of the Lumbee who drove out to the Croatan National Forest to scout out the campground for the annual powwow,” Rawlings said. “He was a client of Fletcher’s. Over a lunch meeting, he told Fletcher and Judson that he was pleased by the presence of so many animal spirits in the forest. He also mentioned that a Lumbee medicine woman lived nearby and felt that her proximity to the campground was a sign that the tribe should hold the powwow where their ancestors had once lived.”
    Harris groaned. “And Judson put the pieces together.”
    Rawlings nodded. “He did his research first. A phone call to the art gallery selling Munin’s pottery supplied him with a name. That’s all he needed to confirm his suspicions.”
    “I don’t see why he went after her,” Olivia said. “She wasn’t a Locklear. She and Calvin weren’t even married. And her life was already ruined.”
    “I believe Judson wanted to punish her for making sure that his home would stay in the Locklear family. She protected Bo and the deed, and now it all belongs to Talley. He couldn’t forgive her for that.”
    Millay raised a finger to stop him. “Actually, it belongs to the casino now. They’re going to raze the house to the ground and that terrible stone wall in the basement will be destroyed too.”
    “And Munin’s going home,” Rawlings said quietly. “Talley wanted her grandmother to be buried alongside her parents and Willis.”
    Olivia’s throat tightened. “She finally has a family.”
    The group fell silent. They watched the boats gently bobbing on their moorings. The gulls and shorebirds soared over the horizon, vacating the docks and shoreline to find shelter for the night as the first stars began to appear in the periwinkle sky.
    “I thought this was a party!” came the voice of Olivia’s sister-in-law. “Oh, I see what’s wrong. Your margarita pitchers are empty.” Kim grabbed a waitress and gestured at their table with one arm while bouncing Anders with the other.
    “Let me have that baby,” Laurel pleaded, holding out her arms. Kim acquiesced, but the moment the transfer was made, Anders began to cry.
    Another waitress jogged up to Kim and whispered something in her ear. Kim glanced at