Red Heather

by Aly Noble

“I thought that would change something, but the more I think about it, the more I doubt it.” At her confused look, I shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t know anything about how he operates now—I don’t know if he can still do things normal people can’t, I don’t know if he’ll live longer or shorter than he would have had he not invited a demon in, I just don’t know. Any of it. I don’t want to chance skipping town and settling somewhere only to have him find me again.”

  “You think it’d be that easy?” she asked warily.

  “I think it’d be pretty easy for anyone to find anyone with normal resources,” I said with a shrug. “I don’t think it’d be hard at all for someone like him to do that.”

  Jeff set down my beer next to my arm, and I jumped a little—I hadn’t even seen him come up. When I looked up at him, his expression was concerned. “You havin’ some trouble?” he asked. “Sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear on my way over. Kind of quiet here today.”

  “It’s fine,” I assured him. “And… Well, yeah. We kind of are.”

  I’d briefly considered lying—which had almost become a reflex by this point—but figured maybe he’d have some advice. Or at the very least, if something happened to us, maybe the investigation wouldn’t be dropped so quickly. The fact that I was thinking this way told me that things had gone too far already.

  Jeff’s frown deepened, and he gestured toward the bench. “May I?” I scooted over and he sat down with us, sliding Estelle her beer. “What seems to be the problem?”

  I contemplated my wording before divulging, “There’s been a guy keeping tabs on us—and we’re pretty sure he had something to do with our coworker Carla’s death a few weeks back.”

  “He kill her?” Jeff asked quietly.

  “We’re not completely sure,” Estelle answered, “but only because we weren’t there when it happened. He broke into my house the other night and tried to kill Miri.”

  He paled a little. “What’d the cops do?”

  “Took us half-seriously,” I mumbled against the rim of my stein before taking a deep sip.

  More informatively, Estelle added, “They acted like we were dusting up for no reason—making something out of nothing. Then they found where he got in and took it a little more seriously, but they were still dicks about the whole thing. ‘Scuse my language.”

  “No offense taken, Estelle. Really, you two have every right to be upset,” he murmured gravely. “Was Lancer on this one?”

  “Yeah,” I said. “You know him?”

  “Sweetheart, Grendling’s population’s about twelve-hundred on a good day,” he reasoned, “and a lot of those people live in the residential outskirts. We have maybe four or five county cops that ever make the rounds through here, and Lancer’s the worst of ‘em.”

  “I’m glad it’s not just us,” Estelle admitted. “I’d been around him a few times before, but I’ve never had to work with him like this.”

  “Is Benson still his deputy?” he asked.

  “No—someone named Holbrook.”

  “Mm, Benson was a good enough cop that he probably went to the city—they were always at odds. Not surprised he took off,” he admitted. “So they’re not lookin’ into this more?”

  “Of course not,” Estelle sighed. “What should we do? Doesn’t seem like he’s going to quit any time soon.”

  Jeff grimaced a little. “Any idea why he’s after you?”

  Estelle glanced at me, and I realized fully for perhaps the first time that I really didn’t know what had started this. He’d gotten more aggressive with me after Jonah had torn him from his demon, but I couldn’t come up with anything for what might’ve started it all. He had no real motive—and maybe that was the scariest part about this. With no motive, he had no reason to keep going, but also no reason to quit.

  “No,” I finally said. “No, I have no clue.”

  Jeff nodded. “Well, if we had good cops around here, I’d tell you to have ‘em on watch. However, we don’t and if they haven’t believed you yet, I doubt they will until they see somethin’. Out this way, we take things into our own hands when we have to—so protect yourselves, the both of you. Either of you own a gun?”

  “I do,” Estelle said quietly.

  “What kind?”

  She blinked dubiously. “A shotgun. Pump. I think it’s a Remington.”

  He nodded to himself. “Well, that's not bad to have at all. What about something small you can keep with you?”

  “We talked about that earlier,” I said. “It’s something to add to the shopping list.”

  “If I were you girls, I’d get mace and a good-sized knife each,” he murmured. “You can find that stuff easy at the sporting goods store in Cadillac—it’s about a fifteen- or twenty-minute drive from here. I’m not sure if anywhere in town sells that stuff and, if they do, I’m sure it’s more expensive. Better to just make the drive.”

  “Thanks, Jeff,” Estelle said quietly. Her untouched beer had sweated a ring onto the square of blue napkin beneath it.

  “Sure,” he said, issuing a gruff sigh as he leaned back and moved to stand up. “What can I get you ladies to eat? It’s on the house today.”

  Despite neither of us being very hungry, we both gratefully accepted his insistent offer of bacon cheeseburgers and looked at each other once we were left to our own devices again. Finally, Estelle broke the silence. “Should we even try to say something to the police? About, um…”

  “Tom?” I supplied.

  “Yeah,” she said softly.

  I watched a bead of condensation roll down my glass, gaining speed with each similarly sized dribble it absorbed in its wake. “I don’t know.”

  “I want to call the police,” she said quietly, “but I really don’t want to.”

  “Elaborate?” I requested, taking another generous drink of my beer.

  “This will be the third time we’ve called them, I think,” she murmured. “And it’ll be the second body they’ve found near your house. I’m genuinely worried about drawing attention to it.”

  “Is it better to not draw attention to it?” I asked.

  “Normally, I’d say it wouldn’t be. But they’re not looking at anyone else right now,” she pointed out. “The last thing we need is them thinking we did something. God forbid, they might even do their damn jobs.”

  I snorted halfheartedly. “Okay. You’re right.”

  “Thank you,” she murmured, finally picking up her stein.

  The front door of the restaurant opened, and the bell on the jamb announced someone’s entrance with a light clang. I glanced over my shoulder and realized I’d tensed up only when that tension left my frame again—it was just Rose and her family.

  When she spotted me, she waved with the hand that wasn't holding onto Axil's carrier and her husband soon followed suit. Bethaline noticed me, too, but her reaction was much more intense than expected. Her eyes rounded into discs when we locked eyes and she broke into a run so fast she nearly tripped over her own sneakers.

  “Hey, you—be careful!” I laughed as she skidded to a stop next to my bench. “What's up?”

  “Miri, you have to come play later!” Bethaline exclaimed abruptly.

  I felt my eyebrows rise. “I do?” I asked curiously, wondering what she was so worked up about.

  Rose wandered over after setting Axil's carrier down at their table to see what all the fuss was about. “Hi, you two. How are you both?”

  Estelle smiled politely at my neighbor, although she was still glancing at Bethaline with some confusion in her eyes. “Hi, Rose. We’re doing fine, all things considered… How have you been?”

  “Not too shabby,” she said, seeming to feel a little awkward as she tried to figure out what to say. “Miri told me about your, uh…trouble recently. And I’m sorry about Carla. I never really met her, but I can’t imagine losing a coworker like that.”

  Estelle nodded. “Thanks. It’s been… Well, it’s been something.”

  “If you need a
nything—either of you—don’t hesitate to let us know, okay?” Rose suggested hopefully, finally noticing her daughter’s behavior as Bethaline impressed upon me again that it was imperative that I come over after lunch. “Bethy, what’s gotten into you?”

  “I just really need Miri to come over after lunch! We have to play,” she said seriously. “I need to show her my new horse.”

  “I didn’t know you had a horse,” I commented while stifling a chuckle.

  “She's new. Her name is Lisa,” Bethaline said almost impatiently. “Please?”

  I regarded the child in front of me bemusedly, but then glanced up at her mom. “Do you mind? It seems important.”

  Rose was trying to bite back laughter as she shrugged. “Fine by me. I didn’t know she was that excited about Lisa.”

  Satisfied that things seemed locked into place, Bethaline retreated from my bench and went to sit down with her dad and brother. She was still fidgety, but seemed fine now that she didn’t think she was going to miss her chance for a playdate. I couldn’t help but think that something seemed off, but maybe she really just wanted to show me her toys. Or maybe it was just an “off” day for her. After all, I had those days, too, and I’d also had them when I was a kid. I supposed if showing me a new horse made it easier to handle, it was the least I could do.

  One bacon burger lunch later, Estelle and I were heading back out to her car, the Roberts family tailing just behind us. I held the door open for them to file out before turning to walk away. Before I could, I heard a familiar gruff voice from inside the doorway.

  “Miri, hold on a second,” Jeff said and I stopped, my foot still wedged against the door to keep it open as he retreated inside momentarily. When he returned, he was holding an oldish-looking pistol. At least, I thought it looked old—I didn't know a damn thing about guns past the basics. “Hold onto this for a while. I’d feel better if you did.”

  “Thanks, Jeff,” I said quietly, making sure the safety was on before slipping it into the inside pocket of my coat. I noted the deep creases in his forehead. “Everything’s going to turn out fine. I keep telling myself that, but you look like you need to hear it, too.”

  He smiled, and his bushy mustache curled. “It’s just an old man worrying about his favorite customer. I hope you never have to use it, but consider it insurance. Be careful, kiddo.”

  “You, too. And thank you again.” I watched him go back inside the restaurant and let the door swing shut. The gun wobbled heavily in my coat.

  Bethaline was lingering outside her mom’s minivan, observing me closely. When I looked her way, she shouted, “Remember you’re coming over, okay?”

  “I remember!” I laughed, getting into Estelle's car to escape the chill that brushed my neck. This time, winter was the sole cause for my shivers. I chaffed my hands and bugged Estelle to get the car running and turn on the heater. “I’m going to die, Stellie, hurry,” I badgered her unhelpfully.

  “Stellie?” she repeated. “Well, that does it—you’ve had a good life. I’ll see you on the other side.”

  I laughed, and the sound came out shaky from shivering. “Oh my fucking god, please hurry!”

  “You’re the worst,” she mumbled, blasting the heat that came out as regular air until a few moments later when the engine had warmed up. “The worst.”

  “Do you want to swing by your place? You don’t have to come with me to my neighbors’ if you don’t want to.”

  “Eh, it’s far enough out of the way that it makes more sense to go straight to their house,” she figured. “Plus I think that kid’ll have an aneurysm if we stray remotely from the road behind them.”

  “Yeah, I don’t know what’s gotten into her,” I admitted as she pulled out of her parking spot. She waited for Steve to do the same and lead the way out of the lot. “Oh, well. I guess I’ll find out. I doubt it’ll be any more than a few minutes, but I’m not sure what she has in mind as far as a game goes.”

  “I’m not so sure she wants to play a game, honestly,” Estelle said, following the minivan once it started working its way to the road. “She seemed like she wanted to tell you something, but she didn’t want to say it in front of her parents.”

  “Seriously?” I asked, replaying the scene from earlier in my head. “Well… Maybe. She probably just wants me to dye her hair again.”

  “Does she often act like this?” Estelle asked dubiously.

  “No,” I responded in kind.

  “Then yeah. Something else is up,” she said. “But who knows—maybe I’m wrong.”

  We followed the Roberts family all the way back to their house, and Estelle pulled over to park on the curb. Before I’d gotten my seatbelt off, Bethaline was out of the van and waiting on the driveway. I looked at Estelle. “Do you want to come with me?”

  “I’ll go inside, but I’ll let you two have your time,” she reasoned. “If she does have something to tell you, she probably won’t do it with me there. Call me if you guys actually play horses. That might make me change my mind.”

  I smirked and got out of the car. Steve went ahead inside with Axil while Rose and Bethaline waited for us by the van. “Estelle, would you like some tea or coffee?”

  “A cup of tea sounds amazing, actually,” Estelle said earnestly as we all went inside.

  When Estelle followed Rose to the kitchen, I looked down at Bethaline. “Lead the way, First Mate.”

  Bethaline smiled and grabbed my hand, pulling me down the hallway—I let her, glancing automatically through open doors along the way. We veered right at the end of the hall and entered a room with light blue walls, plush navy carpet, and frills on basically everything composed of fabric. Bethaline’s bedroom was a spectrum of white and shades of blue, and she had the princessy canopy bed I’d coveted hard until I was about twelve.

  She’d tugged me in and shut the door while I was looking around, but she didn’t go for the toy chest in the corner like I’d expected her to—instead, she walked over to her bed, shifted the covers, and stuck her hand cautiously under the mattress.

  I raised a brow her way. “Lisa lives under your mattress, eh?” I asked, only half-serious about the question. Now that she was acting differently, I was pretty sure Estelle had been right about this being a ruse.

  “Lisa lives in the toy-box,” she informed me, her entire arm under her mattress now. Bethaline's features changed as she found what she was looking for and began pulling her arm back out. When her hand came free, it was clutching something wrapped in a pillowcase. She looked down at it for a few seconds, then glanced toward the door before coming over to me. “Here.”

  “What’s this?” I asked as I took the bundle from her and started unwrapping it.

  “I lied,” she admitted glumly. “I didn’t want to get in trouble for bringing it when Mom told me to stop playing Treasure Hunt, but I think Jonah needs this right now. Since I can’t go there, will you give it to him? Please?”

  While she was talking, I’d unwrapped the object—the fabric opening of the pillowcase slipped back, and a metallic glimmer caught the light coming through the window. My body stilled with shock as I felt the curve of what I now knew was a blade within the case. This was it.

  I looked at Bethaline, and she must have registered the look on my face as blame because she quickly whispered, “Don’t tell Mama, Miri. Please.”

  “How long have you had this?” I asked softly.

  She frowned and shuffled her feet. “I found it the day you moved here. Jonah wasn’t in the yard by the river like usual, so I went looking for treasures by myself… I found it in one of the parts I don’t go to a lot. That Jonah could never get to without fading away.”

  I slid the case off and looked at the scythe, not quite believing what I was seeing. The blade was a dark grey unlike any metal I’d ever seen and appeared dull in shadow—however, as soon as it caught the light, it gleamed like facets of a diamond. The handle was intricate, etched with designs and symbols or words in a language I didn�
�t recognize.

  It was lightweight, perfectly balanced, and I could feel the power in it. As a matter of fact, I wasn’t so sure it wasn’t somehow alive.

  I looked at Bethaline again, and the expression on her face was pure nerves as she waited for a verdict. I felt a little sorry for leaving her hanging. “Okay. I won’t tell. Thank you for trusting me with this. Really. I’m proud of you for being brave and being honest with me.”

  She visibly deflated when the tension left her. “Thanks. It’ll help Jonah though?”

  I nodded. “I think so.”

  “Good,” she murmured. Bethaline contemplated her toy-box before asking, “Do you want to see Lisa now?”

  I smiled and nodded, wrapping the scythe back up as she went to get her horse from the chest.

  • • •

  The deep anxiety born from my run-ins with Price stayed away until nightfall. Frankly, I was surprised that it took that long to come back—but, come back, it did. And, eventually, so would he.

  I groaned, but the sound was lost to the gush of the faucet next to my ear. I flashed back to Estelle watching me pull a box of dye out of my remaining grocery haul from earlier, and threatening me within an inch of my life in the event that I stained her bathroom sink. It appeared that I was going to die one way or another, whether my end was motiveless and dealt by Price or deserved at Estelle’s hands.

  One look at my own pinkish hands and the matching sink had me betting on Estelle.

  As if on cue, I heard her accuse from the other side of the door, “Are you fucking up my sink in there?”

  “Your sink is fine,” I said into the basin as I continued to work the dye in with a brush. “Entirely unrelated, but I read somewhere that it’s good luck to leave a bottle of bleach by your bathroom door and then just walk away from it.”

  “I hate you so much,” she informed me without any real ire, and I heard her retreat from the door.

  I almost reinforced that she should set bleach by the door so I could clean her bathroom immediately after I was done, but decided it wasn’t the best moment to alert her to the fact that she was now the proud owner of a sink that was nearly the same color as my old house. As a matter of fact, the state of my hands and the sink was making me nervous, as the dye I was spreading all over my hair was supposed to be a dark red. I’d been fully prepared to go blue if only for Bethaline’s amusement, but apparently the Grendling grocer didn’t stock makings for fairy hair. The most unnatural shade in the aisle had been a fluorescent yellow-green, and I wasn’t even close to being that desperate.