I had no doubt what sort of work he had in mind. “What is it with you and the bacon smell? You really do act like an animal.”
“I can’t help it.” His lips fluttered lightly as he kissed my cheek. “You’re everything I’ve ever wanted, Bay. The bacon smell somehow lifts you into the stratosphere. I don’t know how to explain it.”
I wanted to argue. We were supposed to be digging deep into the files, after all. I didn’t have the heart, though. “Make sure you send your list of names to the main office and then we can go to bed. I expect you to get up early and actually work on the case.”
“That’s a fine idea.” He gave me another tickle and then pulled me to a standing position with him. “Let’s send that email together.”
“You’re just afraid I’ll lock myself in the bathroom if you wander away.”
“I’m not fearful of anything of the sort.”
We both knew that wasn’t true.
Twenty-Six
Landon and I woke at the same time. He was curled around me, his face buried in my hair, and he inhaled deeply as he snuggled closer. Then he made a pitiful groan.
“No, no, no. It’s gone.”
I knew what he was talking about and smiled to myself. Just like clockwork, Aunt Tillie’s bacon curse had worn off. I was relieved. “It’s okay.” I absently patted his hand before stretching. “Maybe she’ll give it to you as a special gift for Christmas.”
“Christmas is more than six months away. I can’t go that long without the bacon curse.”
“Well ... I’m sure you guys can work something out.” I rolled to stare at the ceiling, taking a moment to collect my thoughts. Then I remembered the email he sent right before we climbed into bed for the last time. “You need to see if your guys emailed you back.”
He scowled. “What? I will. Just give me a second. I’m in mourning.”
“I’m serious.” I was firm. “Last night was fun, but we need to get back on the case. The only way to do that is if we manage to track down the information we need. Get to it.”
“Ugh. You’re such a taskmaster.” He turned away from me and looked to the laptop plugged in on his nightstand. We’d thought ahead and left it there to charge overnight. “Hold on.” He grabbed the laptop, which he had to leave running so a tech team could access it remotely, and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he focused on the screen. “Someone has definitely been on here,” he said after a beat. “It’s open and ready for me to access it.”
“Great.” I pushed myself to a sitting position and moved closer to his side. “Let’s see what she was working on right before she disappeared.”
“Chill out.” He moved to her documents folder first. There was a long list. Everything filed neatly and in alphabetical order. Unfortunately, we had no way of knowing why she named things the way she did. “I don’t know what any of this means.”
“Give it to me,” I instructed, reaching.
“Since when are you a computer expert?”
“I’m not, but I’m a woman who researches things and keeps files tucked away for a living. I might be able to find some reason in her files.”
He shifted the laptop to me and watched as I navigated through the documents, arranging them by “most recent” instead of alphabetically. “This is the last file she was in.” I double clicked on a file titled “Cove Camp” and started reading. “Hmm.”
“Does it say anything about her attending the camp?”
“Not as far as I can tell. I’m still going to have to go out there and check.”
“I think we should go out there and check.”
“Don’t you have other work to do?” I was serious. “I can take Clove and Thistle. It won’t take long to stop in the office and scoop up all the files.”
“Do you think you should be taking Clove anywhere in her condition?”
I hadn’t considered that. “Oh, well ... I don’t know. She’s four months along. I don’t think a simple trip to a campground will hurt her.”
“What if someone attacks you?”
It was a valid question. “I doubt that’s going to happen now. Besides, we warded the cabin. Once we’re inside, we’re fine.”
“No offense to Aunt Tillie, but I’ve seen some of her wards fail. She’s not infallible.”
“I think you should tell her that.”
“Please. If I tell her that, we both know I’ll end up smelling like prunes ... or rancid cabbage.”
I smiled at the thought. “Oh, that would be so fun.”
“Really? There’s no way you’d want to share a bed with a guy who smells like prunes.”
“I’ll make you sleep on the couch.”
“Then we’ll both be sad sacks.” He poked my side. “Go back to reading. We’ll talk about the Clove situation later.”
“I want to talk about it now.” He brought it up, so I needed to consider it. “Maybe she shouldn’t be going on adventures with us. I mean ... she’s probably not going to like that because she hates being left alone. She has the worst FOMO ever.”
Landon stilled. “What’s FOMO?”
“Fear of missing out,” I replied. “It’s when someone wants to go on a trip or to an event simply because everyone else is going. Clove has always had severe FOMO.”
“Wow. I didn’t even know that was a thing.”
“You learn all types of stuff when we’re together,” I teased.
“I guess so.” He rested his chin on my shoulder as I continued reading the file. “Is there anything in there?”
“There’s a lot of stuff about Joey.”
“Like what?”
“Like the fact that she didn’t believe he was really dead. She was trying to prove he was still alive and hanging around the camp for her book. She thought it would be a great story to draw people in.”
“But ... how?” Landon looked confused. “Why would she think he’s still alive?”
“It doesn’t really say. She planned to return to the camp to look for him again. Her first trip was a bust. She came up empty … or she never had a chance to update the file and somehow found actual proof.”
“She had to have a reason for believing he was alive,” Landon pressed. “We need to figure out what that reason was.”
“And if she was a guest at the camp when she was a kid,” I added. “I think that’s important.”
“It’s definitely important.” He slouched down and cuddled closer. “I really miss the bacon smell,” he admitted. “It’s like when you take down the Christmas tree every year. There’s a certain sadness permeating the room that’s difficult to put a name to.”
I was annoyed with the bacon talk. “Well ... you’ll survive. You should check your email for searches on the other counselors.”
“I won’t get that information until noon at the earliest. I was more interested in getting into Hannah’s files. I say we spend another thirty minutes going through them and then get ready for breakfast. If we don’t find anything of interest, I’ll hand the laptop over to a tech to dig into.”
“I’ll agree to your terms, but only if you don’t bring up bacon for the entire thirty minutes.”
Landon was clearly pained by the demand. “That’s cruel and unusual punishment, Bay.”
“Welcome to my world.”
He heaved out a sigh. “Fine. No more talk of bacon. But you’re going to owe me.”
“I’ve already paid up ... for weeks. You got your money’s worth — and then some — last night. I’m free and clear for three future fights going forward.”
“I didn’t agree to that.”
“Yes, you did.”
“No.”
“If you don’t agree, I’ll ask Aunt Tillie to make you smell like prunes. I’m starting to warm to this idea.”
“You’re a cruel woman, Bay.”
“I learned from the best.”
“You definitely did.”
THE BREAKFAST TABLE WAS packed with people when we let ourselves into
the inn. We drove because it would be faster when parting for the day, but I hadn’t been at the inn since the guests arrived and I was momentarily flustered when I saw the crowd of people milling about in the front lobby.
“What’s going on?” I asked, confused.
“We’re going on a tour of the town,” one of the women replied. She was older, in her seventies if I had to guess, and she looked unbelievably excited. “We’re going to meet some real witches.”
“Oh, well, good for you.” I looked to Marnie, who was working behind the counter. “Please tell me we didn’t miss breakfast.”
“There was an early breakfast for the tour group,” she replied. “We’re about to do another round in the dining room for the family. You’re just in time.”
“Good. Now Landon can have some real bacon and forget about me.”
“Oh, that’s never going to happen, sweetie.” He slung an arm over my shoulders and grinned at Marnie as he prodded me toward the hallway. “We’ll be waiting with bells on. I’m starving ... so don’t be late. Winnie won’t serve the food until everybody is present.”
“Then you should get out of my hair so I can finish this.” Marnie looked harried. “You’re distracting me. You know how I hate distractions.”
I definitely knew that. “We’ll be in the dining room.”
Chief Terry was already seated when we arrived. Clove and Thistle were also at the table, sitting at the far end, and they were making a big show of being involved in a conversation ... that absolutely nobody cared about.
“I think we should move the candle display to the east wall,” Clove argued. “It’s been on the west wall forever. A little variation never hurt anybody.”
“We can’t move the candles to the east wall,” Thistle argued. “The sun hits those shelves every afternoon. The candles will melt.”
“Oh, well, I didn’t think about that.” Clove gnawed her bottom lip. “I still think we should move them. I want to put a crystal display on the shelf where they’re located. Candles are so last year.”
“You’re just saying that because I made those candles.”
“I’m saying it because it’s true.”
I rolled my eyes as I took my usual seat next to Chief Terry. “When you’re done arguing about the candles, I need you guys to drive out to the camp with me this morning,” I interjected, causing two sets of annoyed eyes to land on me. “It won’t take long. It’s a quick trip. I just need to grab a few of the files from the office. Landon would come with me, but he’s got a list of people he needs to check on, so it would be easier if you two served as my chaperones.”
“Why can’t you go by yourself?” Thistle challenged.
“Because two people have died out there and no one is going to that camp by herself,” Chief Terry answered for me, firm. “Do you want your cousin to die? Of course not. That means you can spare an hour to go out there with her.”
“Wow!” Thistle made a face. “You’re being awfully bossy for a guy who only started spending the night a week ago. Of course, you spent the night after the first date. Perhaps you have some magical powers we don’t know about.”
Chief Terry extended a warning finger. “Don’t push me, Thistle. It’s not safe for Bay to go out there alone. There’s no reason you can’t go with her.”
“We’ll go with her,” Clove promised quickly. “We don’t want to put her at risk.”
Thistle was quiet for an extended beat and then she shifted on her chair. “What are you even looking for out there? I thought we got everything of interest the first trip.”
“I did, too.” I admitted, “but it has been brought to my attention that Hannah Bishop is the right age to have attended the camp. That last summer she would’ve been fourteen.”
Thistle perked up. “Why is that important?”
“We don’t know that it is, but it would at least give us a tenuous tie between Hannah and Vicky. I’ve managed to confirm that Vicky was one of the female counselors for that age group the final summer. Now we just need to prove that Hannah was there, too.”
“I thought she was from Grand Rapids,” Clove countered. “Why would she come to summer camp here if she lived down there?”
“I came to summer camp here and I lived in the middle of the state,” Landon reminded them as he poured coffee from the carafe. “This area holds appeal for some people. Besides, you guys don’t have enough locals to keep a camp running year after year. Kids would’ve had to come from other parts of the state.”
“That didn’t even occur to me,” Chief Terry admitted, his expression thoughtful. “Perhaps Hannah was here researching Vicky’s disappearance. She might’ve remembered her from camp and then heard about her going missing. She was at an impressionable age. Maybe it always stuck with her.”
“We found her journal and computer at the Dragonfly,” Landon said. “Thistle remembered last night that Hannah had been in the store and mentioned staying out there. Jack kept her items but didn’t report her missing because he assumed she took off willingly. She had a vehicle ... and it’s still out there somewhere.”
“Oh, geez. We should’ve thought about that sooner.” Chief Terry rubbed his neck. “I don’t suppose you know what sort of vehicle she was driving?”
Landon nodded. “It was a Ford Focus. One of the two-door hatchbacks. I figure it’s still out there somewhere, abandoned in the woods, or someone sold it to be chopped for parts. Those are the only two options I can accept. Someone would’ve seen the car if it was abandoned in a parking lot somewhere.”
Chief Terry made a clucking sound with his tongue. “Did you find anything else of interest in her files?”
“Her journal and computer were both interesting,” Landon replied. “She was apparently conducting research on Joey Morgan. She had a hunch that he never died, although why she believed that is beyond me.”
“She believed it because half the town believed it,” Chief Terry said, his eyes briefly flicking to the kitchen door when Aunt Tillie pushed her way through, Peg on her heels. “Tillie will probably remember that. Who started the rumor that Joey Morgan wasn’t really dead?”
“That was Laura Preston,” Aunt Tillie answered without hesitation. “I already told Bay and Landon about it at the campground the other day.”
“She did,” I confirmed. “I thought maybe there was a possibility she saw Joey’s ghost. That’s when I believed only one person thought he somehow survived the fire. Now you’re saying half the town believed it. I don’t get that.”
“The town believed it because there was debate about the body,” Chief Terry explained. “I mean ... the remains were burned beyond recognition. The coroner ruled that it was Joey, but there was never any proof.”
“Wait ... what?” Landon’s eyebrows hopped up his forehead. “How is that possible? Why didn’t you run DNA?”
“Because there was no tissue left on the body. They tried drilling into the teeth, but the fire burned so hot we couldn’t find a usable sample. Gertie was beside herself as it was. No one else in town was missing and Joey didn’t pop up in the immediate aftermath to explain why someone else would be staying in his shed, so it seemed a foregone conclusion.”
“Geez.” Landon handed me a mug of coffee, his eyes conflicted. “What if he wasn’t in there?”
“Who else could it have been? Where has he been all this time? How could someone else die and no one notice?”
“I don’t know.” Landon looked to me for help. “Do you have any ideas?”
“I don’t know. I need to think about it.” I flicked my eyes to Aunt Tillie. “Did you believe Joey died in the fire?”
She shrugged as she grabbed a leftover doughnut from the first round of breakfast and handed it to an ecstatic Peg. “I never really thought about it. Joey was never on my radar, so to speak.”
“Yeah, but ... if people were seeing a dead guy walking around after the fact, it seems to me that would pique your interest,” I pressed.
“I
never thought about it,” Aunt Tillie argued. “The kid was older than you guys and younger than your mothers. I had a hard enough time keeping up with the people you guys were friends with ... or hated. Why would I care about some random woman’s kid?”
“Because he died under mysterious circumstances.” I turned to focus on Chief Terry. “Is there any way we can confirm if that body was really Joey?”
“I can’t think of anything off hand,” Chief Terry replied as he stroked his chin. “Even if we got Gertie to agree to the exhumation, I’m not sure that today’s technology is any better when it comes to extracting DNA.”
“It’s worth a shot,” Landon argued. “If you’re uncomfortable talking to her, I’ll head over. She’s going to have to understand that everything happening at that campground is important. I know she’s still mourning, but ... if her son is alive that might explain a few things.”
“Like what?” Aunt Tillie challenged. “Let’s say Joey is alive. Where has he been all this time? Why has he been hiding? How has he been living?”
“Those are all excellent questions,” Landon agreed. “Maybe he never left. Maybe he’s been at the campground this entire time. Maybe he was a real-life Jason Voorhees … without the face mutation. Or maybe he did leave and found a job someplace else. Maybe he created a new life away from his mother because ... I don’t know why. Maybe they didn’t get along or he simply wanted to be away from her. Maybe he returned recently because something happened and he had nowhere else to go.”
“That’s a lot of maybes,” Chief Terry argued. “We need facts if we’re going to get a judge to agree to exhume a body.”
“Well, I don’t have facts. I have a hunch.”
“So, let’s start building the theory,” I suggested. “I’ll go to the campground and collect the rest of the files. After, I’ll drop Clove and Thistle at Hypnotic and head to the police station. We can start putting facts together one at a time once we have all the information.”
“That’s a good idea,” Landon agreed. He leaned closer and kissed the tip of my nose. “I like working with you. It would be even better if you smelled like bacon, though.”
Wicked Witches of the Midwest Mystery Box Set Page 55