I told her, leaving nothing out. “I start tomorrow. It sounds fascinating.”
“Well, I can hardly wait to hear what you’re going to be investigating. I have to say, it sounds like a dream job to me.” She paused. “Hey, I doubt if you heard the news, but do you remember Arabella Jones?”
I frowned, thinking back. “Wasn’t she in our graduating class?”
“Yeah, she was. She was found dead this morning. I just talked to her the other day.” Ari shrugged, but I could see the worry in her eyes.
“What happened? She was too young for a stroke or a heart attack, wasn’t she?”
“That’s the thing,” Ari said, staring at her drumstick. “They have no clue what killed her. She was just found dead out in the snow…near the old asylum.”
I shivered. “What the hell? What was she doing out there?”
Moonshadow Bay had its darker aspects, and the Stellarview Institution for the Criminally Insane had been one of them. Located on the outskirts of Moonshadow Bay, Stellarview was the brainchild of George Leeland, a psychologist who later ended up in jail. The institution was more of an asylum, specializing in housing the criminally insane in Western Washington.
Opened in 1940, the asylum unfortunately ended up doing more harm than good and its license was revoked in 1967. I didn’t know all the details, but there were rumors that some of the inmates who had died there—and there were a good handful—still haunted the area. I knew there was something about a “December curse” attached to the empty asylum building, but I had no real recollection what it was.
“I have no clue, nor does her husband. He said she went out for ice cream, but she never came home. They found her body this morning. She was lying in the snow, but there were no signs of foul play, no signs of anything. There might be more on the news tonight. Do you mind if I turn on the television?”
I found the remote and turned on the TV. There was a local news and weather channel and it constantly ran the weather, with updates on the news coming every half hour.
“We have ten minutes till the next update,” I said. “I met Millie O’Conner in the store today.”
“She’s Millie Tuptin now. She married Jake Tuptin. She’s the chief of police now, you know.” Ari bit into another piece of chicken. “She’s a good cop. I trust her. We had a sketchy chief of police until the last election. Turned out he was accepting bribes from several members of the Moonshadow mafia.”
I rolled my eyes. “Are the rumors about that group still running fast and loose?”
“Yeah, but turns out they weren’t rumors.”
“You’re kidding!”
“Nope. Remember old Rainier Johnson? You know—he owns the bank? He is actually a founding member. And the old chief of police, Chief Roberts, was accepting bribes from him to look the other way on a number of issues. I don’t know if any of the issues were actually serious, but a lot of Johnson’s family members got out of speeding tickets, DUIs, and the like. There was a recall. Millie, who was a detective at the time, ran for the office and won.”
I finished my wine. “Well, it seems that Moonshadow Bay has its fair share of soap opera and high drama.” Laughing, I poured myself another glass. “What happened to Roberts?”
“He was convicted of accepting bribes and ended up being sentenced to ten years in prison.” Ari glanced at the television and turned up the sound. “Ssh, the news is on.”
The announcer on the station looked familiar too, and I could have sworn I had met her, but I couldn’t remember where.
“Dana Wilby here for KC-12 News, at the top and bottom of every hour. Today, Arabella Jones was found dead out near the old Stellarview asylum in Moonshadow Bay. Police have no leads as to what caused her death. As of this afternoon, Chief Millie Tuptin said that police are still searching for answers, and that there are no clues to the cause of death. An autopsy is being performed to rule out foul play.”
I turned to Ari. “That’s creepy. You don’t just find people dead in the snow for no reason. If she had frozen to death, they would have been able to tell, right? Her family must be devastated.”
“Unless her husband did it. They always check out the spouse first.” Ari wiped her fingers and dabbed the napkin against the side of her lips. “What do you want to do tonight?”
“I want to buy a tree and decorations,” I said. “I want to get my life here going. Now that I have a job, I need to set up a new routine and settle in. The move is so new that I feel adrift. I also want to reconnect with some of our friends, so I don’t wear my welcome out with you.”
“Like you could ever do that, but hey, the Winter Carnival is coming up Saturday. And the Winter Cotillion is on the nineteenth—a week from Saturday. The Sunrise Solstice Ceremony takes place at sunrise on Monday the twenty-first. It starts at midnight, so if you’re game to pull an all-nighter, I’m up for it.” She smiled. “You know all the old gang will be there—at least, those who are still around.”
I marked off the dates on my calendar. “I doubt if I’ll go to the cotillion. I don’t have anyone to go with, and I can’t possibly scare up a date by then.” I paused, thinking it was likely I wouldn’t be scaring up a date anytime soon.
“Why don’t you ask that hunky new neighbor of yours?” Ari grinned. “He’s new in town, and he’d probably like to get in on a few of the activities.”
“I couldn’t,” I said, mortified. “I had lunch with him today and I made a fool of myself.”
“Do tell!” Ari tucked her feet beneath her on the sofa. “What did you find out?”
“What I found out is that he’s… I’d say nice but he’s not that…bland. He’s interesting and he’s had a rough time lately.” I told her about the fires and how he had lost everything. “He also lost his dog,” I said, staring at the floor. That made me sadder than just about anything else.
“He likes you. He wouldn’t have spent an hour and a half at lunch with you if he didn’t.”
“He was just being polite. As I said, I kind of made a fool of myself.” I told her about the incident with the spaghetti. “I sat there like an idiot, afraid to eat in front of him.”
A dark look crossed Ari’s face. “I want to pound Ellison into the ground. I wish you’d let me cast a hex on him.”
The lights flickered and I gave her a long look. “Don’t cast any spells without telling me first. Seriously, I don’t want you getting any backlash.”
“I won’t, but at the very least, that prick deserves limp-dick syndrome. Please let me cast a bounce-back spell on him!” Ari stretched, yawning. She was so petite that it was hard to believe she was a black belt in karate.
“I took care of that with the car. Kind of. That reminds me.” I pulled out my phone and peeked at the blocked messages. Sure enough, Ellison had left forty-three texts, every one typed in caps, every one screaming about what a cunt I was, how he would never forgive me, how I was ungrateful. I snickered as I showed them to Ari. “Think he’s still pissed about the convertible?”
“With your background, he’s lucky you didn’t shove the hose down his throat. Your family never was reticent about payback.” She giggled.
“My family knows the power of skillfully aimed revenge,” I said with an evil grin. “He won’t go to the cops, though. He’s too afraid of my magic.”
“Okay, up on your feet, woman. If you want to go tree shopping, let’s get a move on. The lots are open late, and so are the stores. We’ll also shop for decorations.” Ari carried our plates to the kitchen, and I followed with the leftovers, tucking them into the fridge.
“How many glasses of wine have you had?” I asked.
“Only half a glass. When you said you wanted to go tree shopping, I limited myself. You’ve had two, so I’ll drive.” She held up her keys. “My SUV awaits, Cinderella.”
“Thanks, Princess Charming,” I said, giving her a hug.
“Hey,” she said, “what are friends for?”
The tree lot by the main fountain i
n the town square was open for business, but the selection was already sparse. The fountain ran for most of the year but had been turned off with the first sign of freezing weather. I stared at the trees, trying to decide what I wanted. Ari pointed to a massive blue spruce that must have been close to eight feet tall.
“What about that? It’s got that frosted look from the bluish needles.” She shook one of the branches. “They still seem firmly attached.”
“You know, I think I’m actually going to go with an artificial tree. It won’t be a fire hazard and won’t be as messy, and I can keep it up longer.” I had always had a fear of fire, though I wasn’t sure where it came from. My mother had said it was past-life trauma, and she was probably right. Ever since childhood, I’d always worried about leaving on the stove, or that I’d forget to stamp out the last of bonfire embers.
“What, you don’t want sap all over your nice hardwood floors?” But Ari was grinning at me. “All right. Let’s go over to Maxwell’s.”
Ten minutes later at the department store, I found the perfect tree. It was eight feet tall, which would fit in my cathedral-ceilinged living room, and it looked lightly flocked, but shaking the branches showed that I wouldn’t have white dust all over the floor. I asked the nearest sales clerk to find a boxed one and to take it to the cashier while I bought decorations. He politely agreed, though he looked rushed, and I wished I could give him a tip.
“What kind of decorations do you want?” Ari asked.
I stared at the aisles of shining balls and tinsel and garland. My parents had beautiful decorations, but this year, I wanted something that was mine, alone. I wasn’t ready yet to bring out the family heirlooms, the ornaments that I had known and loved as a child.
“I get a fresh start, don’t I? I think…I want blue and silver and ivory. I’m going to need a buttload of them for that size of tree.”
I found a couple patterns I liked—dusky blue velveteen dangles, and creamy ivory balls, and glittered silver balls with cobalt blue trim that shimmered under the lights. I managed to find several boxes of crystal ornaments with delicate ceramic roses piped onto them.
As we pushed through the aisles, I added cobalt and silver tinsel garland, and strands of multicolored LED lights for the outside. The tree was pre-lit with multicolored faerie lights, though I made certain they were incandescent.
LED lights were fine outside, but inside? They hurt my eyes. I added two wreaths that would match my ornament choices—one for the door and one for inside, and then I went hog wild on the snow globe and the Santa aisles. I found the perfect Holly King, dressed in a long blue robe with all the forest animals around him.
“I love this!” I added him to the cart, which was in grave danger of spilling over the side. “I want outdoor decorations, too.”
“I’ll get two more carts. Wait here,” Ari said, heading back toward the front of the store.
I stared at the display, feeling like a kid in a candy shop. It had been so long since I’d been able to pick out what I wanted without getting bitched at when I got home that I had a mad urge to buy everything in sight.
“Slow down,” I whispered to myself. “Buy what you want, but make sure you’re not just buying in retaliation.”
Taking a deep breath, I let it out slowly. As I looked around, feeling calmer, I sorted through the decorations that appealed to me and replaced the ones that I had just tossed into my cart. By the time Ari returned with the other carts, I had enough to fill them up.
“That’s good for now,” I said, smiling at her. “I think I know what I’m doing tomorrow after work.”
“Why not tonight? We can at least put the tree up. We’ll put on a movie and spend a couple hours decorating and you’ll feel right at home.”
“I adore you,” I said, blowing her a kiss.
“I know.” She laughed. “I’m adorable.”
At home, we put on An Affair to Remember and began setting up the tree. It worked well in the corner my mother had always kept free for the holidays, and as we sorted out the ornaments and lights, I needled Ari to come clean.
“You told me you were ‘kind of’ seeing someone. What did you mean, kind of, and who is she?”
Ari blushed. “Fine, I’ll tell you. But don’t laugh.”
I frowned. “Why would I laugh?”
“Because…just wait, and you’ll know why I said that. Do you remember Meagan Lopez?”
I stared at her, almost dropping the delicate ornament I was holding. “Mean Meg? You have to be kidding.”
“I told you—”
“All right, all right!” But I couldn’t help but laugh. Mean Meg, or Meagan Lopez, had been one of the biggest bullies in high school. She was head cheerleader, and she was a shifter—a bear shifter from the North Cascades Bear Clan. They weren’t known for being all that nice, but then again…bears.
“Meagan’s changed.”
“I’ll say. Back in the day, she was dating Jim Franks, on the football team.” Franks was a puma shifter, and the two had fit together like eggs and bacon. Or at least, I thought they had.
“I mean she’s nicer now.”
“Well, that’s two incredible things for the day. The White Queen from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland would be proud of you. So, when did she come out?”
“The day before their sixteenth wedding anniversary. I thought you knew,” Ari said.
“How could I?” I shook my head. “Once I left Moonshadow Bay, I didn’t keep tabs on most of the people here except you, and a couple others. Weren’t Jim and Meagan engaged in high school?”
She nodded. “Yeah. She actually turned into a pretty decent person after you left for college, but I guess she never was happy. You know the bear clans—they’re even more conservative than the wolves, and they aren’t all that thrilled about same-sex relationships. With her father being leader of the clan, she had a reputation to keep up. Finally, though, she lost it. The day before their anniversary, she had a meltdown in the middle of the town square, told Jim that she was leaving him, threw her wedding ring in the fountain, and filed for divorce. Two months later, she showed up at one of the WA Rainbow Pride group’s events and announced she was out of the closet.”
The WA Rainbow Pride was an LBGTQ group of Otherkin, including those born to magic, shifters, and other sorts of preternatural kinfolk. They joined in with the regular pride groups during the marches, but they were especially good for dealing with the challenges faced by those in the community.
“Wow,” I said, shaking my head. Meagan was the last one of our class I would have pegged as coming out. “So, when did you start dating her?”
“Three months ago. I had just broken up with Sharon.”
Ari and Sharon had been together for three years, but their relationship was turbulent and ran hot/cold…that was just rough. When she had told me they broke up, I was secretly relieved that she’d be out of the drama.
“Meagan and I went for coffee after a meeting one evening and we really hit it off. We started going out. We’re nowhere thinking about love or anything serious, but we have a lot of fun together. I don’t know what—if anything—will come of it, but she’s good for me, I think.” Ari gave a little shrug. “If you had told me in high school that I’d end up dating the head cheerleader, I would have laughed you out of town.”
I snorted. Ari had known she was gay from the time she was born. I hadn’t thought twice about it when we became friends. I wasn’t averse to the idea of a relationship with a woman, but it wasn’t my first inclination. On the Kinsey scale, I was probably 75 percent hetero, 25 percent bi-curious. I had never been involved with another woman, but I hadn’t ruled it out.
“I’m happy that you’ve found someone…even if she’s a ‘kind of’ girlfriend. But Meagan…I still can’t get over that. What did her family say when she came out?”
“They weren’t happy, I’ll tell you that,” Ari answered, handing me another box of ornaments. “You’re going to need twice as many
ornaments as we’ve got for this tree, you know.”
“Yeah, I can see that. Next year I’ll add those my parents owned. I’ll pick up a few more this weekend, as well. But this is a good start.” I paused, turning to gaze out the window. It was snowing again, very lightly, and the reflection of the tree lights gave the room a warm, fuzzy glow. I closed my eyes for a moment, missing my mother.
We miss you too, a voice whispered, and I jumped. “Did you hear that?”
Ari nodded. “Yes, it sounded like…”
“Like my mother.” I paused and walked out into the center of the room. “Is anybody here?”
A light breeze gusted past me, a puff of air softly shifting my hair. Don’t fret.
“I think my mom’s here,” I said. At that moment, the lights flickered, then burned steady again. I leaned against the wall, staring at the tree. In that one moment, I went from feeling out of place to feeling like I belonged here. As everything slowly settled, I couldn’t help but smile. Even though my parents had crossed over the Veil, they were still here to let me know they were glad I had come home again.
Chapter Six
The next morning, I woke with a smile on my face. My first day of work was ahead of me, the house was decorated, I had a beautiful tree to come home to, and I finally felt like I was settling in. I slipped on a robe and loosely tied it—I slept in the nude—and after slipping my feet into a pair of fluffy slippers, I headed down to the kitchen to fix breakfast. I had no sooner than entered the room when I noticed a movement in the backyard. A dog was racing around. A very large dog that looked suspiciously like a wolf. What the hell?
I set down the espresso filter, cinched my robe tighter, and headed out the kitchen door onto the enclosed back porch, then opened the screen door and cautiously navigated down the snow-covered steps.
“Hey, pooch…you, doggy! What are you doing in my yard?” I frowned, wondering where the dog had come from. He was gorgeous—and now that I got closer, I saw that he was, indeed, a gray wolf. I froze. Was he wild? Was he somebody’s pet?
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