by E. M. Moore
“I think we’re all worried we’ll upset you again.”
“You know, Jackson?” I smiled out at the ocean. Maxie nudged my shoulder and looked up at me panting. “I’m actually fine. I really am, I’m not just saying that. For the first time, I can say I’m fine and mean it. I’ll admit, there’s a part of me that will always miss Derek, but it’s time for me to start thinking about how lucky I was to have him in my life and stop wondering what my life could be if he were still here.”
Jackson smirked. “Now that sounds like the Maddie I used to know.”
I chuckled and looked up at him. “I’ve been gone for a while.”
“You have no idea,” he said, shaking his head. “You wouldn’t even talk to me for a year.”
I would’ve told him I was sorry, but that would be moving backward and I wasn’t going that way any longer. I shrugged and held my cupcake in the air. “To Derek.”
He faced me and bumped his cupcake to mine. “To Derek,” he repeated.
Maxie stood on all four legs. He looked back and forth between us, most likely wondering which one of us would cave in first. Jackson and I ignored him, peeling away the wrappings and ate in silence.
The first year after we lost Derek I came out to this rock ledge thinking I’d be by myself, only bringing one cupcake so I could celebrate his birthday alone. Instead, I found Jackson sitting out here, too. Last year, I brought two cupcakes. Months and months had gone by and I never spoke to Jackson, but I knew he would be out here on Derek’s birthday. This year would’ve happened the same if we hadn’t been forced into each other’s paths a couple weeks ago with the murder.
Jackson shoved the rest of his cupcake in his mouth and looked over. “The guys are waiting for us down at Chubby’s.”
“I know.” I stared out over the water. Last year, Jackson had asked me to go, and I didn’t, but this year was a different story. I wasn’t going to sit out here all by myself and mourn his loss. I wanted to go out and celebrate his life with others. I turned toward him. “I guess we better go then.”
His eyebrows raised. “Yeah?”
I nodded. “Absolutely.”
Maxie stared back and forth between us and then he almost looked as if he were frowning after he realized there was nothing left in our hands. Neither one of us had shared part of our cupcake with him.
I ruffled the hair on his head. “I’ll give you a treat later, bud.”
“Do you want to bring this guy with us?” Jackson asked, scratching him under the chin.
Max jumped off the stone wall and walked toward the street as if he knew what Jackson said. I looked after him smiling. “I guess he wants to go. You don’t think they’ll care?”
“No way. They’ll be happy to see him.” Jackson hopped off the wall and reached back for my hand. I slid off, and we walked after Maxie in silence until Jackson’s ridiculous ring tone blared through the night air. Bad boys, bad boys, what you gonna do? What you gonna do when they come for you?
I shook my head. “You’ve got to be kidding me. So cliché.”
Jackson groaned, then pulled the cell phone from his pocket and checked the screen. “It’s Chief. I have to get it.”
“Of course.” Maybe they’d found Pepper’s murderer already. That would be a nice surprise today. I didn’t like all this crime hanging above our heads all the time. Hopefully they could just open and shut this case.
“Yeah,” Jackson said into the phone. Chief Arnold’s booming voice sounded through the speakers but I couldn’t understand what he was saying. It sounded like the teacher from Charlie Brown. What I did notice was the effect of Chief Arnold’s words on Jackson’s face. He blanched, then his shoulders sunk and his head lowered toward the ground. It wasn’t good news. “Yeah, I’m here,” he mumbled.
At that moment, he reminded me of how the job used to get to Derek. Derek was a good cop, he really was. It just took one moment when the job got away from him. The one moment that changed everything. At Chubby’s right now, there was a bunch of cops waiting for us to come so they could celebrate the loss of their brother in arms while right here in front of me there was a physical manifestation of what this job did to some.
“What is it?”
Jackson shook his head and held up a finger. “I can go if you need me to.” He paused. “You sure?” He paused again. “Yes, I know what day it is. I’m with Maddie right now, but if you need me at the scene—” He was cut off and instead of trying to work his way into something else, he just stood there nodding. “Okay, just keep me updated.” He ended the call and slid his phone back in his pocket.
“What happened? Is everything okay?”
“No. Casey Quinn’s body has just been found. She’s been murdered.”
Chapter 5
We spent a wordless drive to Chubby’s. Jackson was quiet and thoughtful. His thumb passed back and forth over his lower lip as it usually did when he was thinking about detective work. I’d asked him a few times if he really wanted to go. We didn’t need to go to the bar, not if he would be too preoccupied to have fun. Even I was thinking about poor Casey.
Like Pepper, Casey also owned a shop downtown. Her tour operator shop was about four down from Pepper’s. She ran the shop during the day and was a tour operator by night. Her tours were voted the best in Salem, complete with lanterns and ghost stories. She walked them around Historic Downtown and showed them all the supposed haunted houses. They walked by the cemetery when it was dark, which could be downright eerie, and ended every tour at the Salem Witch Trials shrine.
So many of our young entrepreneurs were dying this week. My mind immediately went to Mel. I couldn’t think of any connection between she and Casey though. I’d wait to tell her about it until morning, not wanting to bother her with it right now. Not so soon after Pepper. The fact that she hadn’t called me yet this evening meant she was in her own head. This would only add to it.
We pulled up to Chubby’s at the same time Jackson received another text. He sighed heavily, pulled his cell phone out of his pocket, and read the screen. “Chief,” he said again. He read through the text, moved the car back into drive, and sped off down the street.
I gripped the handle as Jackson skidded around a corner. “W-what’s wrong?”
“Mel found the body.”
I gasped. “No. Oh my goddess.” Fear washed over me. I stared out the car, unseeing, my hands trembling as they tried to hold onto the handle.
“We’re heading that way now, Maddie. I’ll get you there as soon as possible, okay? It’s all right. Just breathe. We’ll get there as soon as we can.”
I didn’t know if he was talking like that for my benefit or his, but I was glad he was doing it all the same. “What was she doing there?”
Jackson shook his head. “No idea. Chief just wrote and said she’d found Casey.”
My heart thumped inside my chest. I didn’t want Mel to go through the same things I had gone through. When we found Mr. Sanders’ body in the elevator, I couldn’t get the picture out of my head. Still couldn’t sometimes. She didn’t deserve that. “Hurry.”
Jackson clenched his teeth together. “I’m going as fast as I can.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I’m just freaking out. Mel acts tough, but she’s got a fragile interior. She really does.”
I was glad we decided not to bring Maxie after we learned about Casey’s death. Jackson was worried he would have to leave the bar early in case the chief called him in. Then again, Maxie would make a good police dog.
“Of all days…”
The car accelerated, and I knew Jackson wanted to get me there as fast as I wanted to get there.
Today of all days. To find two dead bodies on Derek’s birthday…
Mel was huddled in a corner when I first walked into Casey’s little store. She had her hands wrapped around herself with a big, dark blue shawl smothering her shoulders. I ran up to her and threw my arms around her. “Are you okay?”
She nodded into me, but
her actions said differently. Her nails bit into my skin as she pulled me closer. In the background, someone asked, “What are you doing here, Ward?” I held my sister tight as Jackson answered, “That’s Maddie’s sister.”
The other officer didn’t respond. I looked up and saw a picture of the crime scene being passed to Jackson. I closed my eyes, but it was too late. I saw it all. Casey sprawled out on the ground, the lantern she used during her haunted walking tours clutched in her hand. Jackson looked over and then put his arm around the guy who handed him the picture. They walked to the corner of the room.
I shook my head and focused back on Mel. “What are you doing here?”
“I don’t know. I had something to ask Casey, I guess. I just can’t believe this happened, Mads. Casey…”
I rubbed her shoulder. “I know, Mel. I know.”
A second before I felt the cold press of icy air on my back, Mel shivered. We pulled apart and stared into each other’s eyes. She’d told me when I felt the cold at the library after Mr. Sanders died that he was trying to talk to me. I didn’t want to believe her. In fact, I wanted to believe the exact opposite, that it was just a cold gust of air for no apparent reason. With the library, it wouldn’t have been too much of a stretch. That place was old and drafty, leading to a logical explanation. Mel was insistent though. When ghosts tried to make contact, they used the energy from the air to take shape or speak. They used the heat as energy, turning the air into an icebox.
The hairs on my arms stood. My eyes widened and Mel shook her head. “Is it Casey?”
Mel still shook her head. “No, I think the air conditioner just turned on.”
I looked at her doubtfully. “Mel, come on.” A cold chill even more severe than the last one ran up my spine all the way to my neck. It felt as if someone tied a cold, wet handkerchief to my back. I shivered uncontrollably. “Mel?”
Mel’s eyes grew large. She looked around the room, her stare darting from one corner to the other in a scared cat like fashion, afraid of her own shadow.
A hand fell on my shoulder and I jumped and let out a tiny scream. Whirling, I only found Jackson staring down at me, his eyebrows raised in alarm. “You okay?”
“Jesus, Jackson. Give me a heart attack, why don’t you?” I took a deep breath and let it out. “What did you find out?”
“Actually, I’m here to talk to Mel.” His gaze switched to her, and I followed his stare. Mel’s eyes still moved wildly around the space in front of us. There were racks of postcards and brochures for other haunted attractions. There was a bookshelf with the same little trinkets that all the other shops sold. The tours were what made Casey’s shop different, but she sold the postcards and the trinkets because the tourists were here already. Why not try to sell them something else? It was like grocery stores putting bread in the back of the store. Casey was a keen businesswoman. She knew what she was doing.
I tugged on Jackson’s sleeve and pulled him to the side where we could talk in private. “I don’t think Mel’s up to talking right now. She seems a little out of it.” We both looked back at her and I shook my head. Something was going on. I knew it. She wasn’t being honest with me. Was Casey talking to her right now? Maybe she was telling her what happened. She could even be telling Mel her killer’s name and my sister didn’t need an audience for that.
Jackson ran his fingers through his hair. “Did you get it out of her why she was here in the first place? We found out Casey canceled her tour for tonight, but we don’t know why. She never cancels a tour, not even for weather. She refunded everyone’s money with no explanation given.”
“That doesn’t sound like her at all. Mel only said she had to talk to her about something.”
Jackson scratched the growing stubble on his cheeks. “Do you think it’s possible Casey canceled her tour to talk to Mel?”
Mel still held herself like a little child wrapped in her shawl. My gut clenched. “I wasn’t aware they even knew each other that well. I mean, they were about as acquainted as Casey and I were. That is to say, not much. I can’t answer your question, I guess. Mel hasn’t said anything else. I don’t know what she wanted to talk to her about. If Casey canceled her tour for her, she hasn’t said as much.” I looked up into his big brown eyes. “What did you find out? Was she…?” I let my question trail off.
He knew what I was asking. “Yes, Casey was killed. It was as if she was going to be staged, too. Like Pepper. The lantern was in her hand, she was found near the front window. We think your sister may have interrupted the killer.”
My hand flew to my chest as my heart skipped a beat. “Thank God she’s okay.”
“We’re not positive that’s actually what happened. It’s just the hypothesis we’re working with right now,” Jackson said reassuringly. “She wasn’t as well placed as Pepper was, of course.”
“So, you’re thinking it’s the same killer?”
“Poison again,” Jackson said, his mouth turning down into a frown.
“So, we have two businesswomen, two Wiccans, both poisoned, both staged. Any other leads?”
“Unfortunately, no. If your sister did in fact see someone leave the store, she may be giving us the only other lead we have until we get the toxicology reports back.”
“Well, come on.” I grabbed his elbow and moved him toward my sister. Talking to dead people or not, she needed to tell Jackson what she knew. I crouched next to her and took her hand in mine. “Mel, Jackson needs to talk to you. You can answer his questions, can’t you?”
Mel blinked up at him and nodded slowly.
Jackson followed suit. He crouched on the other side of Mel. “I just need to know if you saw anything before you came in the store. Did you see anyone leaving? Anyone on the street?”
Mel shook her head from side to side frantically. “No, I didn’t see anyone. Just me.”
“Your meeting with her, was it prearranged?”
Mel shook her head right through his question. “No, it was nothing, really. I just thought I would stop in and say hi.” She looked at me from the corner of her eye. “That’s it, Jackson. Then she was just there, on the floor. The door was unlocked. I walked in and she was just there with the lantern in her hand. She wasn’t breathing. Her pale lips were blue. That’s why I called 911. I didn’t see anyone. I don’t know anything,” she said, her voice turning hard.
Jackson held his hands in the air. “Okay, okay. I understand now. Let’s get you home.”
Jackson rose to his feet and walked toward the officer. I sat next to Mel. “What’s going on?”
“You mean besides the fact I just saw a dead body,” she deadpanned.
I was glad to know seeing a dead body hadn’t taken away her sarcasm. Praise Goddess for that. “No,” I said firmly. “What I mean is, why are you lying to Jackson?” She opened her mouth, but I cut her off. “I know you’re lying, Mel. I don’t know why yet and you don’t even have to tell me. I hope you will because he’s going to figure it out sooner or later if he hasn’t already. He’s a good detective. The best, actually. You might want to think long and hard about what you’re doing keeping the truth from us.”
Afterward, I stood and walked after Jackson. As I got closer, I noticed they were staring down at a spot on the counter next to the cash register. I peered over an officer’s shoulder and saw that a pentagram had been carved into the wood there.
To me, it could mean either one of two things. One—the likeliest in my opinion—was people thought pentagrams were evil. They weren’t. Two, the real reason a pentagram would be used was for Wiccans. So, you either had the killer, who thought he was badass by putting a pentagram in the counter, or the killer was someone who actually knew about witchcraft.
Jackson’s voice broke into my thoughts. “You ready? We should probably get Mel home.”
I couldn’t think of a better idea than that. These murder scenes gave me the creeps.
He drove the two of us home and I waved bye before shutting the door behind him.
My palm against the door, I waited until I couldn’t hear his boots on the stairs anymore. I turned and found Mel huddled into the corner of the couch. Maxie practically lied on top of her, his head nestled on her knees.
“Alright, missy,” I said, posing with my hands on my hips to let her know I meant business. “What are you keeping from everybody?” She opened her mouth in protest, but I cut her off again. “And don’t even say ‘nothing’. I mean it, Mel. I know what I felt back at Casey’s shop. You told me when I felt cold chills in the library it was Mr. Sanders. I felt cold chills in the store and I know it was Casey Quinn. What did she want?”
She looked at me through slitted eyelids. “One cold chill and you think you know everything.”
“It’s more than one cold chill and I have a whole childhood of practicing witchcraft. I know it meant something else. Plus, I know you, Mel. I know when you’re acting sketchy and you’re acting sketchy. Did you see Casey?”
She nodded slowly. “I did. She was sad.” Her lips trembled as she told me the story. “Really sad, Maddie. I’m glad you’re not in tune enough yet with the spirit world to have witnessed that. It was heartbreaking. Truly heartbreaking.”
I swallowed the thickness in my throat. “Did she tell you who killed her?” I walked forward, sat on the end table and put my hand on Mel’s ankle. “Did she tell you anything Jackson could use to find out who killed her?”
“No,” Mel said. “She didn’t say anything like that. I don’t think she knew she was a ghost at first. She kind of just acted like she was talking to me like we would if we had seen each other on the street. Then she noticed a policeman there.” Mel shook her head. “It was…tough to witness.”
No kidding. To think you’re alive and then it turns out you’re just there. No one can see you, no one can feel you. To come to terms with your own death—with an audience—how terrible. “What did she say?”
“The last thing she said was she just wished she could have lived longer.” She gave me a small smile and put her tiny hand over mine. “Don’t think I forgot what day it is today, Maddie. You’re being very brave.”