Mrs. Morris and the Vampire

by Traci Wilton

  “Oh no! We don’t have time for her to be sick.”

  “No time’s the right time.” Minnie chuckled. “I know that after all my kids—they pick your busiest day to get the flu. Or chicken pox. Strep throat.”

  “I’m sure you’re right.” Charlene put Silva down by her dish. “Just wanted to say that your appetizers were highly appreciated last night—the brie and the dip. I ate my way through everything as dinner. Delicious.” She sat at the table.

  “That’s nice to hear.” Minnie poured her coffee. “You going out this morning? You’re all sparkly.”

  “Yes. Gold powder on my lids.” Charlene blinked rapidly, then tossed her hair. “Like my earrings?”

  “What are they?” Minnie moved closer. “Skulls?” She laughed. “Perfect. Where are you headed?”

  “I’ll have a quick bite with the others, then I’m going to drop by the Flints before giving a statement at the police station. Should be home around noon.”

  “The station?” Minnie straightened her apron, then turned on the water in the sink. Soap suds floated like bubbles and Silva leaped up to pop one. “What for?”

  “Yesterday was a very long day.” Charlene drank her coffee and filled her housekeeper in on the latest. “Anyway, neither stop should take too much time.”

  “Should I be worried?” Minnie asked. “If you need to stay later, I can fill in. Avery should be here from ten to two.”

  “No need to worry. I know Sam and the other police officers will find the bad guys.”

  “I hope sooner rather than later,” Minnie said, putting a plate in the dishwasher.

  “Tell me about it.” She rolled her eyes. “This case is a weird one and I’ll be glad when Sam wraps it up. Vampires.”

  “You know Sam. Thorough—makes sure he dots the i’s and crosses the t’s. No slipups for him.”

  “You’re right, of course.” She wished he’d do this one a little quicker, though, and get Serenity clear.

  Charlene brought her coffee to the dining room and joined her guests at the table. The LaFleurs had gone to Marblehead, and Olivia and Andrew were headed for Plymouth. That left Judd, Malena, Chloe, and Braydon—along with her singles.

  Joey, Tommy, and Celeste were hunched over the table. Celeste looked like she’d had a rough night of partying. Bags under her eyes, still in the same clothes as yesterday but with a few more wrinkles.

  Tommy had more scruff than usual on his chin. He kept refilling his water glass from the pitcher to help with an unquenchable thirst. A large plate of pancakes sat before him that he seemed determined to finish.

  Asher, she guessed, was still upstairs in Celeste’s bed.

  “How’s everybody this morning? Ready for more adventures?” Charlene asked.

  Celeste moaned and leaned her head in her hand, her elbow on the table. “I might have overdone it. Can’t eat. Feel like I’m going to puke.”

  “Please don’t do it at the table.” Charlene, who’d been across from Celeste, got up and changed her seat just as a precaution.

  Joey slurped his orange juice. “Try this,” he said to Celeste, “it might help.”

  Celeste put her hand over her mouth and nearly gagged. “I’m going back to the room. Asher better scoot over.”

  Silva, who’d been dozing on the windowsill, uncurled and watched Celeste leave the dining room. Charlene would love to know the cat’s thoughts. Silva hadn’t warmed to the millennials, or any of the guests for that matter. Was she a little put out because they had no little kids this week?

  Charlene turned to Judd and Malena beside her. “So you two, what are your plans?”

  “We’re going to lay low this morning and wait for the rain to stop. We were hoping to take that harbor cruise, but not today.” Judd slung an arm around the back of Malena’s chair. “How about a game of chess? This could be your lucky day.”

  “Could be, you never know. But first more coffee and maybe another square of that apple spice cake.”

  Charlene reached for the last pancake on the platter, put it on her plate, added syrup, and took her first bite. “Oh my gosh! Minnie can turn a simple pancake into gourmet. I think she has a little pumpkin and walnuts in this mix. I should have added whipped cream.”

  “Not too late.” Tommy nudged the bowl of topping toward her. “I’ve had four so far.”

  “Got anything in mind for the day?” Charlene drank her coffee, which perfectly melded with the sweet and savory flavors.

  “We’ll see how Celeste is feeling later. Her and Asher partied really hard last night. Things went off the hook.” Tommy swallowed his pancake down with water. “Salem has an edge that Jersey City don’t have.”

  Joey nodded. “Know what you mean, bud. No vampires in Jersey.”

  “You met vampires last night?” Charlene asked.

  “Just a guy and gal who are really into it. Like, blood-drinking and everything.”

  “Who?” Could this be who had come from New Orleans with Alaric and Elisabeta?

  “Didn’t get names. It was around the bonfire.” Joey shrugged. “Lots of drinking—everybody’s your best friend, right? Asher bankrolls the festivities.”

  “What does that mean?” Charlene asked, feeling naïve at forty-three.

  “He picks up the tab. Makes sure the beer is flowing.”

  “His job sounds lucrative.” Charlene edged a fluffy bite with her fork.

  “Asher’s got issues.” Tommy and Joey exchanged a look. “I mean, online security? What is that really?”

  Charlene shrugged. She’d have to ask Sam later. “Well, if you can find out who his vampire friends are that are drinking blood, I’d be interested to know.”

  “It wasn’t just his friends, Charlene.” Joey finished his juice and lowered his voice, glancing up at the ceiling. “It was him. And he was trying to get Celeste to do it too.”

  “That’s gross,” Malena said, having listened in.

  Charlene straightened in her seat. “Asher wants to be a vampire?”

  “Yeah. I guess that Alaric dude told him that there was a way.” Tommy ate another bite.

  Charlene needed to have a serious conversation with Asher and Celeste as soon as she returned from the station.

  Joey shrugged. “Alaric’s dying was a real downer. Talk around the fire was that his whole vampire act should have turned out differently. With Alaric alive, forever. And not just Alaric, right? Asher and this other chick . . .”

  “Which is bullsh—” Tommy cut himself off, nodding to everyone around the table. “Sorry. Vampires are not real. Alaric was just a regular guy.”

  She pushed her dish away. “The detective has several leads and is working on an explanation. Shouldn’t be long until he figures it out.”

  “That’s reassuring,” Malena said. “I’d like to see this resolved before we leave.”

  “I’m sure it will be.” Judd squeezed her shoulder. “It just takes longer than the movies.”

  “Very true,” Charlene agreed. “Hey, did the paper come yet this morning?”

  “I think it’s in the living room on the sofa,” Malena said.

  Tommy pushed his chair back from the table, the pancakes gone. “Charlene, do you mind if we check out your shelves? I noticed some books on witchcraft and history in Salem. If the rain clears up, this guy last night was talking about a pirate tour that sounded cool.”

  “Help yourselves, of course. And if it continues to rain, I highly recommend the Peabody Essex Museum.”

  “That sounds interesting to me,” Malena said.

  Judd shrugged. “Let’s see how the day unfolds. After I kick your butt at chess.”

  Charlene stood and lifted her plate. “I’m going to leave you to your own devices this morning. Got a few errands to run.”

  Tommy slid a croissant on his plate, loaded it with butter and jelly, and put a napkin over it. “I’ll take this upstairs for Celeste in case she gets hungry. If she pukes, she’ll feel better.”

  They all w
atched him leave, and Judd gave a wise old-man smile. “Kids will be kids.”

  Malena snorted. “That’s why we never had them.”

  * * *

  Charlene showed up at the Flint home just before ten, and Brandy let her in. “Serenity will be down in a minute. I hope you’re not going to interrogate her; she’s been through enough.”

  “I won’t, I promise. She was an innocent victim in all this, and I hate that Alaric used her the way he did.” Charlene noticed Serenity at the bottom of the stairs. She was wearing a tie-dyed shirt, one shoulder exposed, leggings, no makeup, with her hair in a messy bun.

  “Good morning,” Charlene said cheerfully. “You’re looking much better today.”

  Brandy turned around and smiled. “Lovely, as always.”

  “Yeah, well, it’s an illusion.” She dragged her fingers on the railing. “That’s what life is, right?”

  “Life is what you make it, my sweet child. Charlene, I have to do a rain check on the tea and scones. I got a big order in last night that requires my attention at the winery. Life must go on.”

  They watched her leave and Serenity sighed. “Can she use any more clichés?”

  Charlene chuckled and clasped Serenity’s cold hand. “Truthfully, how are you feeling?”

  “Let’s go sit in the sunroom and we can talk there.” The room was all windows with a view of an enormous garden full of herbs and flowers. Today, in the downpour, the bright glory had faded.

  “Even in the rain, this is a spectacular room,” Charlene said. “I can imagine many beautiful afternoons sitting here and reading.”

  “Yeah, it’s especially nice in the summertime. Like being outside, only not so hot.” Serenity glanced at Charlene. “Mom said you had more questions for me. About?”

  “I’m trying to piece together what we know of Alaric.”

  Serenity plopped down on a wingback chair and drew her legs up, hugging them. “Like?”

  Charlene removed her coat and sat on the sofa facing her. “I was wondering if he ever mentioned his family. Are his parents still alive? Does he have siblings? That kind of thing. Will there be a funeral, you think?”

  “He’s an only child.” Serenity tucked a soft velour pillow on her side. “He said his mom was dead—died a long time ago.”

  “Was he a young boy when it happened?” Orpheus had told them that Alaric’s mother had been a nut, but still, losing a parent might damage a child’s psyche.

  “No. He made it sound like it was hundreds of years ago. She was supposedly like him, a vampire, I guess.” She sniffed, more angry tears than sad. “That wasn’t nothin’ but a big, fat lie.”

  “I’m sorry, Serenity. Some men don’t know the truth if they stumble over it, but his was a whopper. Where did his fascination with being a vampire come from?”

  “I’ve been thinking about this, like, round and round.” Serenity shifted and repositioned the pillow over her lap. “It must have something to do with his blistery skin and his avoidance of the sun.”

  “Did your mom talk to you about where we went yesterday?”

  “No.” She tilted her head. “Just that you’d decided to go out to lunch rather than eat here.”

  “Oh. Well.” That meant not bringing up Orpheus or the conversation at his hotel before he jumped. That he thought Alaric’s symptoms psychosomatic. “Did he tell you his mother’s name, or his dad’s? Did he always live in New Orleans?”

  “He was born in Memphis.” Serenity patted the pillow at her side, much like Silva when trying to make her space comfy. “His dad left when he was a baby and he and his mom moved around a lot. They didn’t have much money, but his mom would tell people’s fortunes.” Serenity glanced at Charlene with empathy for Alaric in her gaze. “She had a room set up wherever they lived. People would come to the house and pay her. He said she made it all up, but she was so good she had folks believing.”

  Alaric had similar qualities to make folks believe in him. “The majority of psychics are fake, but I know a few people in town who are the real thing. Kass Fortune—you probably know her.”

  “Oh yeah. Mom and Grandma have had her tea readings a few times.”

  “So some people do have a special gift—maybe his mom had something unique that he inherited too.”

  “Maybe.”

  Charlene shifted on the sofa. “Just to be clear—they moved around a lot, but she supposedly died hundreds of years ago. How could that be?”

  “I don’t know. Nothing makes any sense with Alaric dead.” Serenity’s eyes welled and shimmered like the rain against the glass in the sunroom. “I mean, even if she was a so-called vampire, doesn’t that mean she’d never die? Or do they leave their earthly bodies and still exist in this world and beyond? That’s kind of what he told me. I just went with it.” She dabbed her nose with the back of her hand. “I don’t feel Alaric around me now. Spiritually.”

  “Did you do an altar for him?”

  “I tried but couldn’t connect.” Serenity shrugged in confusion. “Maybe as a vampire, he has no soul?”

  “So many questions are unanswered. What if vampires are real? A lot of people don’t believe in witches, and yet we know they exist.” She hoped to lighten the tension. “They don’t fly around on brooms with warts on their noses.”

  Serenity laughed. “I’m sure glad of that. I believe there are good witches, like our family, and bad. Some use their gifts for good and are healers, while others want power, and power corrupts.” She bowed her head and wiped her eyes. “Alaric wanted peace.”

  Alaric wanted immortality at the cost of her young life, but if Charlene was to say so, she’d shut Serenity down. Charlene steered the conversation to his family again.

  “Did his mother live in New Orleans with him?”

  “No, his mom was dead-dead by then. I think he lived in New Orleans for at least ten years before he and Orpheus had a falling-out.”

  “Have you given any more thought to what that was about?”

  She shrugged. “Orpheus was jealous of Alaric and wanted to bring him down. He mentioned a breach of trust.”

  Charlene recalled how Orpheus had stayed on the sidelines to watch what had happened Friday night. Had the coven leader taken things into his own hands?

  She checked the time on her phone. Quarter to eleven—her errand to the police station loomed. “Have you seen Dru since Halloween night?”

  Serenity stilled. “Why?”

  “Well, he threatened to kill Alaric. Do you think he’s dangerous?”

  Serenity straightened her legs, sitting upright. “No. He wouldn’t do that. No matter what people say, he’d never hurt me. Or anyone—even Alaric. He loved me and I should never have broken up with him.” Serenity bowed her head as fresh tears fell to her lap.

  Charlene rooted around for a clean tissue in her purse and handed one to Serenity.

  “Thanks.” Serenity crumpled it in her fist. “I’ve heard from our friends that after he was thrown out of the witch ball, he went to the pier. They said he was stinking drunk and was mouthing off about how he wanted to kill Alaric. But he didn’t mean it.” Her lower lip trembled. “Dru wouldn’t hurt a fly. It was just the booze talking, not him.”

  Nodding, Charlene said, “I believe that. Your mom liked him a lot, and she’s a very good judge of character, especially with men around you.”

  Serenity laughed through her tears. “That’s for sure true!”

  Charlene had to get Dru off the hook as well as keep Serenity’s name clear. “Has Dru tried to contact you?”

  “He called once, but I didn’t stay on the line long.”

  “When was that?”

  She twisted her mouth and wouldn’t look at Charlene. “I don’t remember.”

  An evasion. “What did he say?”

  “Dru said, sorry, but I think he meant about bursting in and embarrassing me, not that he killed my boyfriend.” Her brow furrowed. “I still can’t figure out what happened. Someone had to have helped
Alaric turn off the lights and lock the door to the ballroom. He was supposed to be in his rental house, by the fireplace in the basement. He wasn’t there when I showed up.” She brought her knuckles to her lower lip. “Was he already dead? What was the blood on that stick?”

  “Call Detective Holden to see what he can tell you. He’s bound to have answers.” Answers that she couldn’t give the poor girl. Like, the stake being a prop, the blood being O negative. Sam had no idea how fair she tried to be to him in this process—he only saw how she broke his rules.

  “Serenity, sweetie, it would be really helpful if you happened to talk to Dru, to have him call Detective Holden.”

  “Why?”

  “To clear his name.” Charlene spoke softly but firmly. This was not a joking matter.

  “He didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “But you can admit that his actions don’t look great?”

  Her eyes widened and she gave a slight nod.

  Charlene stood. “Thanks for chatting with me this morning. I appreciate it and hope that one day soon you’ll heal from all this. Anytime you want to talk, call me. Or if you think of something useful, either call Detective Holden or me. We care about you and your well-being.”

  She put a hand on Serenity’s shoulder as the distraught young woman cried into her pillow. “I’ll see myself out.”

  CHAPTER 11

  Charlene drove to the Salem police station, conflicted by what she’d learned that morning from Serenity.

  The young lady had been in contact with Dru. She didn’t believe her ex would hurt a fly and yet he’d punched Alaric in the face hard enough to draw blood.

  Making a point of Alaric’s humanity with his fist.

  Actions spoke louder than words. Except that Dru’s words matched the violence of his actions.

  Even their friends had called to tell her what Dru was saying. Well, that he wanted to kill Alaric. Not that he had killed Alaric—that was something.

  She tapped her finger on the wheel, wishing Jack could answer the telephone so she could ask him to research Alaric Mayar’s family. A mother who told fortunes for a living was not your normal nine-to-five mom who baked cookies with a warm glass of milk for an after-school snack.