Wicked Witches of the Midwest Mystery Box Set

by Amanda M. Lee

  “I’m glad to see you’ve given this some thought,” he said dryly.

  “I give things thought all the time.” I flipped another page. “She mentions the stables and how she wants to ride a horse but she feels it’s too cold. She went out to Hollow Creek. She says that she can ‘feel’ the magic there.

  “She says she never really believed in that sort of magic until she visited Hollow Creek,” I continued. “That’s not the first time we’ve heard about strangers feeling the magic out there. Poet and the other people from the circus felt it, too.”

  “They did,” Landon agreed. “Does she mention running into anyone out there?”

  “No.” I shook my head. “She doesn’t mention many names. Hey, ... this is interesting. She went to the camp.”

  “We kind of figured that.”

  “Yeah, but she went to the camp and made it back to her room,” I said. “She said that she saw it on a map and wanted to check it out. She took photographs, but I don’t see any sitting around, do you?”

  “They’re probably on her computer,” Landon replied. “I’ll get a tech to unlock it remotely when we get back to the guesthouse. I’m guessing it won’t be difficult because she’s the type who would use standard passwords.”

  I continued reading. “She has a weird notation in here. One that doesn’t make any sense.”

  “What does it say?”

  “Just a name. Joey Morgan followed by a question mark.”

  Landon furrowed his brow. “Why would she be interested in a man who died a decade ago?”

  That was a very good question. “I don’t know. He was one of the people Vicky was uncomfortable around. Maybe ... maybe Hannah somehow figured that out. Maybe she was looking into Vicky’s disappearance and didn’t tell anyone.”

  “Why?” Landon was the pragmatic sort, so he needed a motive before he could get on board with an investigation. “Hannah lived downstate. Vicky lived in Traverse City. I’ve been through both their files and haven’t seen anything that ties them together.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe her parents could give us some insight.”

  “I don’t know that I want to call them when they’re grieving, but I guess I can shoot them an email. They asked that we email questions for the next few days as they prepare for the funeral. They’re ... lost.”

  “I think they were good parents, and even though it was out of the norm for Hannah, I believe part of them was hoping she’d taken off on an adventure ... just like Vicky. Both of them had wanderlust.”

  Landon rubbed his chin. “I hadn’t put that together, but you’re right. Both of these young women wanted to travel, see other places, do big things.”

  “Do you think that’s important to the case?”

  “I don’t know. It’s another avenue worth searching.”

  Twenty-Five

  We stayed for dinner and a chat with my father. He felt guilty about not reporting Hannah missing. Landon assured him that she was probably already dead by the time he’d noticed she hadn’t checked out, but that was little comfort.

  We made the drive back to the guesthouse in relative silence. I couldn’t stop running the idea that Hannah was investigating Vicky’s disappearance through my head. On the surface, it didn’t make sense. In my heart, I was convinced there was something there.

  “Hannah’s ghost isn’t running around.”

  Landon, who had just pulled into our driveway, put his Explorer in park and looked at me. “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that her ghost isn’t running around,” I repeated. “I haven’t seen her. Only Vicky.”

  “So ... what does that mean?”

  “I don’t know. It’s possible she didn’t stay. Not all souls remain behind, even if their passing is traumatic.”

  He reached over and collected my hand. “I don’t want you blaming yourself for this. There’s absolutely nothing you could’ve done. There’s nothing your father could’ve done. Although ... if he’d told us sooner we would’ve gone through her things and saw mention of the camp. There’s a possibility we would’ve found her sooner.”

  “Only if you bothered to check the pool closely,” I pointed out. “What are the odds of that?”

  He leaned over the console and kissed my temple. “Your mind is going so fast it’s a blur. Why don’t you tell me what you’re thinking?”

  I slid my eyes to him. “I thought you were angry with me.”

  “You smell like bacon. I can’t stay angry when you smell like bacon.”

  I chuckled. “That’s good to know. Maybe I will look into having bacon-scented perfume made. I’ll attract every man in a ten-mile radius when I wear it ... and some women.”

  He laughed, the sound low and warm. “That sounds like a fantastic plan.” He killed the engine and pulled out his keys. “Let’s finish this conversation inside, shall we? I have plans for you and I’m too old to carry them out in a vehicle.”

  “You have that trick knee,” I agreed, gathering Hannah’s journal and the files I’d been going through at the newspaper office to my chest. “Why do you think Hannah was interested in Joey? He died a full decade before she came here. There’s no way she would’ve known him.”

  “You assume that,” Landon countered as he hopped out of the Explorer and moved to the front of the vehicle, where he waited for me to join him. “Hannah was twenty-five. That would’ve made her fourteen when the camp closed. Kids that young spent time there, right?”

  I slowed my pace as I did the math. “They did. I wonder if she was here that last summer. I mean ... that might be possible. She wouldn’t have been with the last group of kids. That was Thistle and Clove’s age group. That means the fourteen-year-olds would’ve been with the thirteen-year-olds a few weeks before.”

  “Would the same counselors have been utilized?”

  “I don’t know.” The new information was giving me a headache. I leaned against the wall as Landon unlocked the front door. “I don’t know what to think.”

  “Well, how about we take a bath and work things out? We still have to make up from our earlier fight.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “That wasn’t much of a fight.”

  “That doesn’t mean I don’t want to make up.”

  I pursed my lips. “Will you stop being angry if we make up?”

  “I’m not really angry. I mean ... I guess I was. I was more worried than anything.”

  “I wasn’t in any danger.”

  “I know that. I met the guy. I agree with your assessment.”

  “You’re still agitated.” I knew his moods backward and forward and easily recognized that.

  “I don’t like it when you put yourself in danger,” he clarified. “I love you, Bay. I want us to be together for a very long time. That won’t happen if you get cocky and approach the wrong person. I know you can take care of yourself. This is my issue. I don’t foresee simply being able to let you run headlong into danger without saying something. That’s not who I am.”

  “Oh, I know.” He was cute when he was explaining himself. “I should’ve called you before I headed over there. I did take Aunt Tillie. Honestly, there was no danger.”

  “I don’t know that we’ll ever agree that she’s an appropriate sidekick, but I’m ready to let this go.” His smile was flirtatious. “I was thinking we could take a bath, enjoy the delectable scent of bacon for a bit, and then have hot chocolate while going over everything from beginning to end.”

  “Like a team?”

  “Definitely like a team.”

  I grinned as I stepped closer. “I can live with that ... but I don’t understand how you can find bacon alluring after spending so much time with Peg.”

  He extended a warning finger. “I don’t want Peg brought up in association with bacon again. I don’t like it.”

  I chuckled despite his serious expression. “If you can get Aunt Tillie to lift this curse tomorrow morning over breakfast, I’ll consider acquiescing to your demands.”
<
br />   “So ... just the one night of bacon-lovin’ delight? I can live with that.”

  “You’d better get your fill now.”

  “That’s exactly what I had in mind.”

  TWO HOURS LATER, WE SAT IN COMFY PAJAMAS in the living room. My hair was wild from the bath ... and a few other things ... but I’d long since given up worrying about bedhead when it came to Landon. He was a big fan of wild tresses and untamed waves.

  “We need to go back to the camp office tomorrow,” I said as I laid out the articles I’d found on Joey’s death and adjusted my legs under the coffee table to get comfortable. “If Hannah really was there that summer that might explain a lot.”

  “Agreed,” Landon said as he reclined on the couch behind me. He had Hannah’s journal and was going over it again, from start to finish. “The thing is, even if she was worked up about something Joey did back then, he’s gone now.”

  “That’s why I don’t believe he was working alone.” I’d given it a lot of thought and this was the hunch I’d developed. “I think that Joey was working with someone else.”

  “Do you have the counselor sheets from that summer?”

  “In the bedroom.” I scurried back to the bedroom, which was a mess thanks to our earlier game. Landon referred to it as “Sizzlin’ Bacon.” I merely thought of it as the “Landon loses his head” game. When I returned to the living room, Landon had moved his attention to the articles on Joey’s death. “What are you doing?”

  “Reading.” He patted the spot on the couch next to him. “Come up here and get comfortable.”

  That sounded like an iffy proposition. “I don’t think that’s a good idea because you’ll insist on playing another round of bacon games.”

  “Bay, I hate to break it to you, but I can smell you when you’re sitting on the floor. You’re no less enticing with three feet separating us.”

  “Yes, but I’m less accessible.”

  “For now.” He looked away from the article long enough to wink at me and then turned back. “We’re not done yet.”

  “You’re an animal.”

  “And don’t you forget it.”

  I lost myself in the counselor list for a few minutes, putting the sheets of paper together so I could go over every name. When I was finished, there were ten names. “We’ve been assuming that if Joey had a partner and was doing something ... unfortunate, it would’ve had to be a man. What if we’re wrong about that assumption?”

  Landon slid his eyes to me. “You think he was working with a woman? I don’t see how that works.”

  “Only because we’ve also assumed that the motive for killing these girls was sexual. What if it was something else?”

  “I find a sexual motive as disgusting as you, sweetie, but what other motive could there be?”

  “Well ... what if Joey was stealing money from his mother? Or, what if he was stealing from the other counselors? Vicky had a trip planned. She was going to travel and then return home before her sister gave birth.

  “We know that Joey hated working and was deemed ‘lazy’ by pretty much anyone who had ever met him,” I continued. “What if he decided to steal as a way to fund himself?”

  Landon tunneled his hand through his messy hair and stared at the ceiling as he considered the suggestion. “I guess I could see that. The thing is, how much is he actually going to get stealing from camp counselors?”

  “Maybe he was stealing from the kids, too. We never took anything of value to camp with us, but that doesn’t mean other kids didn’t.”

  “How would we find that out?”

  I shrugged. “Maybe Chief Terry knows.”

  Landon flicked his eyes to the clock on the wall. “He’s probably in bed with your mother. Even if she doesn’t smell like bacon, I don’t want to risk interrupting them.”

  I scowled. “I can’t believe you just said that. I mean ... that is disgusting.”

  He smirked. “That’s your payback for going to see a potential killer without telling me. I bet you won’t do that again.”

  We both knew that wasn’t true. I often leaped before I looked. I couldn’t stop myself. “I thought the bacon curse was my punishment.”

  “The bacon curse is a special gift for both of us. You only pretend you don’t like it because that’s part of the game.”

  That’s not how I looked at it at all. “How would you like it if I talked Aunt Tillie into cursing you so you smell like tomato juice and pickles? That might turn me on, but it wouldn’t be a joy for you.”

  “I’d be fine with it.”

  “You would not.”

  “I would. I love it when you’re turned on.”

  He said it in such a definitive manner that it was clear arguing would be wasted effort. “Fine.” I rubbed my forehead. “I have ten names here. Hannah is one. Joey is another. Lance is a third. That leaves seven we need to run ... but I know four of the names on this list.”

  “Lay it on me.”

  “Samantha Bertrand was about three years ahead of me in school. She was a counselor for, like, four years in a row. She’s still in town and married to Gary Lincoln, who works in the blacksmith shop.”

  “Any reason you can see her being a killer?”

  “Not off the top of my head.”

  “Keep going.”

  “Patty Barton. She was my age. We graduated together. She was friends with Lila. I didn’t even realize she was a counselor, so that must mean she only did it the one year. She wasn’t smart enough to get into college even though her parents had the money to send her, which means she stayed behind when the rest of us left that fall. She married Trevor Kingston and they had a couple of kids. He’s the manager of the grocery store. Patty is on several of Mrs. Little’s festival committees.”

  “So ... she purposely spends time with Mrs. Little?” Landon queried. “I’m guessing that makes her evil incarnate or insane. Nobody purposely spends time with that woman, so she must identify with the dark side of the Force.”

  I had to laugh at his geeky comment. “That’s definitely a possibility,” I agreed. “Nate Johnson is on here, too. He was only a counselor for one week that summer ... and he’s listed on the week that Hannah would’ve been there – if she attended.”

  “Which we can’t confirm until we head back to the camp tomorrow and go through the records again,” Landon said. “I really wish we would’ve brought all the files back.”

  “I didn’t realize we were going to need them,” I admitted. “I thought the counselors were the ones we needed to focus on. I never thought the kids would be important.”

  “Fair enough.” He moved his hands to the back of my neck and slowly started rubbing as he rolled so his legs were behind me, his chin on top of my head. “What about the fourth person?”

  “Megan Dykstra. She’s about two years older than me. She lives in Bellaire now. I think her husband owns a construction company. Her mother is still here, though. I’ve seen her visiting from time to time.”

  “Were you friendly with her?”

  “No. Not even a little.”

  He pursed his lips. “Is there a reason you weren’t friendly with her?”

  “I know you find this difficult to believe, but most of the kids near my age didn’t like us. Some of them were afraid because of Aunt Tillie. Others didn’t like us because we were rumored to be witches.”

  “I have to tell you, if I heard a pretty girl was a witch when I was in high school I would’ve been all over her.”

  “Even without the bacon curse?”

  His lips curved against my cheek. “Maybe I only would’ve been all over you. It’s probably good we didn’t go to the same high school. We never would’ve survived over the long haul.”

  He wasn’t wrong. I happened to believe the same thing. “Timing is everything.”

  “It is.” He kissed the top of my head. “I’ll take the other names you’ve found and email them to the main office. We can have cursory background checks completed by l
unch tomorrow. At least we’ll be able to rule out anyone who isn’t still living in the area. That’s something.”

  “Yeah.” I closed my eyes and groaned as he dug his fingers into my tense muscles. “That feels good.”

  “If you smelled like bacon all the time you’d get nonstop massages. Just something to think about.”

  I snickered. “Yeah, well ... .” I found my mind traveling to another issue. “What do you think about Clove being pregnant?”

  “I think she’ll make a good mother.”

  “I wasn’t really talking about that. Of course she’ll make a good mother. She’s the most patient of all of us. I was talking about the part where she got knocked up before getting married. That won’t go over well with our mothers even if she manages to keep it a secret until the wedding.”

  “I don’t get that. Your mothers are all about female empowerment. Antiquated ideas about pregnancy shouldn’t be an issue in your family.”

  “I hope you’re right.” I meant it. “There’s always a chance that they only scared the crap out of us with threats about what would happen if we got pregnant in high school because they didn’t want us to derail our futures. They might be perfectly happy with how things have turned out.”

  “But?” he prodded.

  “But I still think there’s going to be a meltdown or two,” I admitted. “My mother and aunts are very ‘do as I say, not as I do.’ You probably figured that out from the way we reacted to Mom sleeping with Chief Terry on their first date.”

  He chuckled as he slipped down to the floor and wrapped his arms around me. “I remember the first time I spent the night with you. There were a lot of meltdowns. I was freaked out at the time, but I find it funny looking back.”

  “I don’t find it funny.”

  “That’s because you have a limited sense of humor.”

  “My sense of humor is legendary.”

  “Is that so?” He tickled my ribs to elicit a gasp. “I think your sense of humor needs some work.” He kissed the ridge of my ear. “I also think I’m just the person for the job.”