“How do I know this woman can see ghosts? It’s not like she can prove it. For all we know, she could have killed Rockford.”
“Believe me or not, it’s totally up to you, and I get it, but I’m pretty sure he showed up because his severed head was sent to me. Some ghosts have a pesky problem of not wanting to let go of their physical selves.”
“You have the rest of his body?” Elaine rose and squeezed Melanie’s arm.
“Not that I’ve found, just his head so far,” I answered and shrugged. “Someone sent it with your granddaddy’s belongings.”
They shared a confused look. “Those crates have been in storage for over a month while the estate was being settled. Rockford has only been gone a week at the longest.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know how it happened or why, only that it did, and I’m sorry for your loss.”
“I will need your alibis for the last week just to rule you out as suspects.”
“Of course,” Melanie answered. “Elaine and I were on our annual trip to the spa. I can get you the number and credit card receipts if that will help.”
“I can attest to their whereabouts. I drove,” Gentry announced. “I drive the entire family where they need to go.”
“Did you stay the whole week as well?”
“Absolutely not. I returned to the manor to help Master Rockford pack for his trip.”
“If you two will follow me to the office, I have some information that might help,” Melanie said.
I shared a look with Carson and followed him down the hall and into an office area. The law diploma on the wall was in Melanie’s name.
“You have an office at your sister’s house?” The question passed my lips before I could stifle it.
“Of course I do. Elaine and I have our own firm,” she answered, opening a drawer. She pulled out a large envelope and handed it to Carson. “I’ve never trusted Rockford, but I’ve put up with him for my sister’s sake. About two months ago, Elaine told me that Rockford was out of town on a business trip, only I spotted him in Fairport, the next town over. I wouldn’t have thought anything about it if he hadn’t been in the middle of a passionate kiss with a hooker.”
5
Carson opened the envelope and pulled out the pictures of Rockford and another lady in a lip lock that would leave most people blushing.
“I took that first picture with my phone, and I hired a private eye after that to get the dirty details on his infidelity. The report on his sleazy mistress is inside.”
“I’m sure it pissed your sister off when you showed her. Jealousy can consume, maybe make her mad enough to kill?” Georgia asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
Melanie smiled and pulled out another file and opened it up for us to read. It was paperwork to file for a divorce, and Elaine’s signature was already at the bottom.
“She had nothing to lose and everything to gain. The family fortune was covered with a pre-nup. It was our money, not his. Our granddaddy made sure that she had her ass covered. She was going to divorce him, and then something changed. They worked things out. After she told him she wanted a divorce, he got drunk and got into a bad car accident, and he almost died. He totaled the car and lost his license, and he claimed that the incident helped him realize what was important in life. Blah, blah, blah…”
“You didn’t believe him?” Carson asked.
“It doesn’t matter what I believe, but Elaine believed him, and she paused in filing the divorce paperwork. She claimed they were going to work through his adultery and go to counseling. The private eye called me around the time of the accident. Rockford saw his mistress again, only this time they were on a sidewalk arguing. She was screaming at him. If I were you, I’d start with her.”
“Convenient that you have someone to point the finger at,” I said, unable to hold my tongue.
“I beg your pardon.” Melanie’s eyes narrowed.
“Rockford’s head didn’t come from an address in the next town over. It was delivered in a trunk in the shipment from the storage unit. The killer put it there. So it has to be someone who knew about your granddaddy’s agreement with Mildred. Who all knew that his things were being held and where they were being shipped to.”
“You’ll have to forgive her. She hasn’t been in town long,” Carson apologized for me like I was an idiot.
“Why are you apologizing for me?” I asked.
He turned me in place to face the wall behind us. There was a picture of a guy in a cowboy hat standing in front of a microphone and playing the guitar. Not just any guy. “Randy Milner was your grandfather?”
“Milner was his stage name, but even having a stage name didn’t keep the fans away. There are at least ten websites devoted to my grandfather. Pictures from the funeral have shown up, along with a copy of his will and pictures of the storage place. We’ve been fighting the websites in the court, which just makes things ten times worse now that our grandfather passed. His entire life, including his death, is on the internet. Anyone with an internet connection knew about the storage unit and who was getting what.”
“Several fans stole things out of the unit, and we had it patrolled. Things calmed down after Melanie got a restraining order and a cease and desist. The websites took down the information, but you know things never really disappear on the Internet. Take one site down and two more pop up.”
“Why do you think we moved everything into crates? It was to make it more difficult for the fans to get into the boxes.”
“The box with his head wasn’t in a crate, but it was on the manifest,” I announced.
She pulled another file out of her drawer and ran her finger down the paperwork. “In what box did you find the head?”
“Inside a dowry box,” I answered.
“It was the only box we couldn’t stuff inside the crates, and since it was already locked, we figured it was safe.”
“You figured wrong,” I said before I could stop myself.
“I guess we did,” Melanie said. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go comfort my sister and remind her that, at this point, it’s only speculation.” Melanie raised her brow and smirked in my direction as if I’d been busted telling lies. “When your forensic team verifies the finding, please let me know.”
“Thank you for your time,” he said, trying to hand her back both the shipment’s packing list and the file on Rockford.
“You can keep those. I have three more copies, including one under lock and key.”
“Efficient,” he said, raising his brow.
“That man may have married into our family, but he was a lying cheater who married my sister for her money.”
“I don’t know about that,” Carson said. “He was my father’s business partner, and I’m pretty sure their company is financially stable.”
Melanie sighed. “It may very well be, but you can’t convince me he wasn’t a gold digger.”
“Thanks for your time,” Carson announced and gestured to the door. He led me out of the house and into the SUV before he spoke.
“So your dad was really working with Rockford?”
“Yeah, and I’m afraid what they say might be right. My dad suspected that Rockford was cheating on his wife, but he assumed it was with his secretary.”
“Maybe he was cheating with both.”
6
Carson pulled up to the inn and clicked the unlock button on his door to release the child lock. “Thanks for making the identification. I know how temperamental the twins can get. I grew up with them.”
“Answer me one thing and I’ll forget you took me there.”
“What’s that?”
“How did you know the ritualistic thing in the woods wasn’t set up by a real witch?”
“It’s one I’d seen on TV.” He grinned. “But that isn’t what tipped me off. My mom did.”
“You showed your mother pictures from a crime scene?” I didn’t know if I should be impressed or horrified. It sounded similar to s
omething my mother and I might have shared.
“Who better to ask? She is a witch.” My mouth parted as he reached over and pulled the handle, opening the door to let me out. “You better go. It looks like your boyfriend is getting mad.”
I spun toward the inn to find Logan Douglas standing on the porch. Only now his jacket was off, and he‘d rolled up his sleeves. “He’s not a boyfriend. He’s FBI.” I turned back toward Carson. “Can you arrest an FBI agent for annoyance?”
Carson chuckled. “Afraid not, if he isn’t breaking any laws. Looks like he might have even rented a room.”
I gave a slow nod, debating if I could get away with killing him in his sleep. I turned back to Carson. “You want to go to dinner tonight?”
He chuckled. “You hate that guy enough that you’d be willing to put up with the locals?”
“Yeah.”
“I have a prior engagement, but if he’s still here tomorrow, you can take a road trip with me to question the other woman. You know… if you want.”
“I want,” I answered, stepping out of the car. I shut the door and headed inside the gate and up the stairs.
“Who’s he?” Logan asked.
“None of your business,” I said in passing. “What are you doing here?”
“We still need to talk, and if you won’t do it while you’re working, then we can do it after hours. I already rented a room.”
I stilled with my back to him and my hand on the knob. The tension in my shoulders returned, and I hadn’t been home for five seconds. I turned to stare at him. “If I talk to you, will you go away?”
“Scout’s honor,” he answered.
“You were never a scout.” Unless his ability for hunting women to pick up counted. I gestured to the chair and for him to sit before I hopped up to sit on the railing.
“You’ve got ten minutes, starting now.” I glanced at my watch to make a mental note of the time.
“The serial killer is back.”
“And?”
“And we need your help to find him.”
I raised a brow and crossed my arms over my chest. “I wasn’t connected to him like my mother. What makes you think that I even can?”
“Your mother had the skill, don’t you?” he asked.
I wasn’t going to answer that question. The more Logan knew about me, the more he’d be sticking around to pester me. Something I didn’t have the time or patience to handle. “Are you suggesting that a witch could catch this killer quicker than a federal agent?”
Five, four, three…
“Hell no. We have his fingerprints now but no match to him in our system. I cracked the clue he left on where he’s striking next.”
“If you know where, then send in the troops and catch this guy unless, of course, you don’t know who, and that’s why you’re here.”
“I can’t send out the troops. My superiors won’t believe me.”
The hair on my neck stood on ends. The last person his superiors hadn’t believed was the witch had been my mother. “Where?”
He pulled out a napkin with a symbol drawn on it, made out of two letters. The same two letters, W. I knew it instantly, and a whole new fear skirted down my spine.
“I’ve seen the same symbol at your mother’s house.”
“Witch Wars.” It was one thing for the attack to be on a specific coven, but this was so much worse. The Witch Wars games brought several covens to converge on one particular location.
My hand flew to cover my mouth. Anyone attacking the games could take out the strong witches. Each territorial coven sent only their strongest witch and wizard to take part. “I don’t know where it’s being held this year.”
“I do,” Margo answered from the doorway. “It’s being held at the local coven here in two months. The witches have been working on the property for the last six months to get it ready.”
Bile rose to my throat as I stared at her. No way were we prepared for what was coming. “This could be devastating.”
“I think that’s his plan,” Logan announced. “Georgia, I came here to warn you. We’ve finally tied all the victims together. We know how they fit.”
I was almost afraid to ask.
“They were wizards and witches, just like your mom.”
I swallowed hard around the lump in my throat. “A witch could be the killer.”
“Or a witch hater,” Margo said.
“It could be anyone. I just came to warn you because we will chase him even if that means into the Witch Wars, so you might want to warn your coven members,” Logan said.
“Thanks,” I answered, hopping down from the railing.
“I figured this was the least I could do for how everything played out in New Orleans,” he said, resting his hand on my arm.
“Consider me warned.” I walked into the house and made it to my room. I eased the door shut, leaning back against the wood. I let my body slide down to sit on my butt. This wasn’t happening. This couldn’t be. The killer attacking witches and coming to the Witch Wars. I inhaled a shuddering breath. Few people knew about that contest. The coven territory was broken into quarters, and only one team from each quarter would make it to the Witch Wars. The strongest and the best of the best would show up, not to mention the judges.
Two months was all I had to prepare for this. Two months and the man who killed my mother would strike again. This time I’d be ready for him. This time I’d be waiting.
7
A knock thudded the wood against my back.
“Georgia, are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I answered, pushing to stand up. I opened my door to find Margo clutching the family grimoire in her arms.
“Maybe after we host dinner with the others, we can start researching spells on how to stop the killer who’s coming.”
I sighed. Of course, the magical inn reservation book had scheduled that we’d be hosting a dinner even when Tess wasn’t around. One day that book was going to disappear or maybe fall down the well and be ruined. That day was coming.
“Who’s on the schedule tonight?”
“The usual suspects, Francine, Helen, Alma, Franklin, Theo, you, me, and, of course, Aunt Blythe is catering.”
Francine, Helen, and Alma were three feisty old ladies who’d been wrangled into nightly dinners just like the rest of us. Most nights they provided the entertainment as we just watched them argue and share the town gossip. They’d argued for days about the color of a simple dress on the internet.
Theo…well, he was a bit harder to explain to new people. He was like a permanent fixture in the house. First in cat/puma form and now as a man. We owed him a debt of gratitude for the way he’d tried to save Tess’s life, and it was why we’d all agreed to break the spell and make him a man again.
Franklin was an unusual bird; smart and cryptic and liked to keep to himself. He was a permanent resident in the basement. Tess trusted him and promised to tell us more about him when she returned from her trip.
These people were starting to grow on me.
Aunt Blythe was our grandmother’s sister and catered our dinners. She had an uncanny way of knowing precisely what each person might be craving. She was technically the only relative, other than my sisters, that I still had alive.
A hesitant smile formed on my lips. “No FBI agent?”
“Funny you should ask that. His name was on the list but magically disappeared after you talked to him on the porch. He’s actually on his way out of town, I think.”
The hesitant smile turned into a bigger one. “He kept his word. That’s a first.”
“So you’ll help me figure out how to stop that killer?” Margo asked.
I tilted my head. Of course I would. I had a vested interest in stopping this maniac. “Of course. When Tess and King get back, we can figure out how to kill the guy.”
“You mean catch the guy, right?”
“Semantics.” I grinned.
“Georgia, a lot of people could get hurt
if we don’t stop him.”
“I know. I promise we will.” I guided her out of my doorway and toward the stairs. “We have two months. It’s plenty of time to devise a plan and execute it from the stands. You don’t need to stress about this yet.”
“I won’t be in the stands.” Margo swallowed hard.
“Where will you be?” I asked, leading Margo into the dining room where people were already starting to show up for dinner.
“I have to participate with a coven member. It was in Mildred’s will.”
I slowly slid into my seat and held Margo’s gaze. “I thought you didn’t care what she stipulated in the will about you. I thought you’d decided the old bat was crazy.”
“She is, on most points. But it’s stipulated in the will that a Hexford and/or a Gold has to participate in the games with someone from the coven. Otherwise our territory is up for grabs, and we can’t do that to these people.”
“She was assuming a Hexford or a Gold could win the regionals to make it to the wars.”
“You don’t think I can?” Margo asked. She pursed her lips like she’d eaten something sour.
“I’m sure you’re strong enough,” I said, placating my sister. Dinner wasn’t the time to be having this conversation.
“The coven members will be booted out and lose everything or worse. Some hateful people will take over the place.”
“She found your weak spot.” I shook my head and pressed my lips together. Mildred had a way of playing each of us. For me, it was the answers on who killed my mother. For Tess, it was the answers on her heritage, but with Margo, it was a new kind of low. Not only was she to marry and produce offspring to carry out the Hexford line but now she was supposed to play in these stupid witch games. Of course, Mildred would find a way to pull at Margo’s heartstrings to get her to agree to at least the gaming part.
“She always knew which buttons to push,” Auntie B said, gesturing the others into the room and into their seats before serving each of us different items.
Witchy Warning Page 3