by Mara Webb
“If It's one of those visits then we’ll leave you to it for the morning and arrange a more formal gathering for you another day, Sadie,” Link said. He waved as he walked back outside, and nobody acknowledged Miller.
“Are you a ghost too?” I laughed. “Why is no one speaking to you?”
“Like I said, we need a peacekeeper that everybody approves of and the island police department doesn’t meet the right criteria apparently. If I’d said anything negative about the Davick’s then they would...” he said, stopping as Link suddenly dived back in through the door.
“Did you say something about the Davick’s? Did their stupid island sink?” Link asked.
“No, I was just explaining how people listen if they think I’m trash talking other people,” Miller smiled. Link swiped at the air as if brushing aside the comment and then left again. “See what I mean? If they think I’m spreading gossip about a family they have an ancient feud with then they are all ears.”
“Am I supposed to read all of this?” I said, looking at the walls that were lined with documents that had been written, crossed out, re-written, signed and framed.
“It would be useful to learn all of this at some point, but you don’t have to take it all in today. A lot of it is to do with who is allowed to fish on Port Wayvern, how close the Davick’s are allowed to swim to this island, curse words that both parties have agreed not to use... I think there is something about personalized license plates somewhere,” Miller said, roaming the room and scanning each page with his eyes.
“Right, is any of this relevant to who might have killed Greta?” I asked.
“The peacekeeper might be asked to make decisions if fighting breaks out, I suppose it has been said that occasionally Greta chose sides, preferred one group over another. There is a chance she was killed over that,” Miller sighed.
“Is there a record of those decisions?”
“Yeah, back on the main island. It will be in your house somewhere and maybe that will help us with the next steps, I think it was important that you meet some more people that are in your new community though, so this trip wasn’t a total waste of time. You will have to visit Tivercana though because if the Davick’s hear that you came here and didn’t go to their island then it will be chaos,” he smiled.
It felt like when a parent has two children and they can’t be seen to favor one, neither should receive preferential treatment, everything must be equal. If I visited this island, then I must visit that one.
I had questions about my witchyness, things that I felt were important to know, but that I didn’t think Miller would answer. At one point I stumbled over a branch on the way back to the dock and he jumped away from me as my arms came up to grab him for stability. I had fallen flat onto the sand, he apologized but didn’t offer to help me up. He was avoiding physical contact with me, but why?
As we waited for the captain of the boat to return from the town bakery, which was important because Wes had pointed out that Tivercana didn’t have one, Miller and I conversed about other problems on the main island.
“One of the women at the café, Rosie, reported that she has a stalker. Someone looming in the shadows and calling her name out when she’s walking home,” Miller began. “She said it has centered around her shifts at work and, after Greta initially went missing, Rosie was adamant that it was her stalker that had kidnapped Greta.”
“What do you think? Would someone have killed Greta by accident when Rosie was the intended target?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Everyone here knew Greta, there is no way anyone killed her by accident. Her murder was intentional, that’s my opinion anyway.” Miller was dragging one foot in circles in the sand, drawing patterns with the tip of his shoe.
The waves were crashing a little more energetically now as they hit the shore, the moored boat was bobbing up and down with gusto. The rope that was securing the boat seemed to come undone, the knot slipped loose.
“My boat!” the captain said, running back towards us with arms full of bread and buns. I looked back and saw it beginning to drift away. There must be other boats on this island, but I couldn’t see them. At first glance it looked like our only way to get back to the main island was being pulled out to sea. Miller was in full uniform, but I was in shorts. It made sense for me to wade into the water and try to grab the rope and pull the boat back. It wasn’t out too far after all.
I tossed my purse onto the sand and walked into the ocean. It was warm and the ground beneath my feet felt uneven, not the soft sand I had been expecting. The waves knocked me back a step, then again. I pushed forward to grab hold of the rope but felt my ankle roll and a shot of searing pain rush up my right leg.
I wobbled and splashed into the water and as my mouth had been open in a scream when I fell, the ocean swarmed my mouth and throat.
I tried to find my footing again, but the rocks beneath me were too smooth and as the waves rushed shore-bound once more I realized that I was in real trouble. I clenched my fists and realized that the amber ring I had been wearing on my left hand was gone. I had slipped it into my purse before the handshake with Link, an old habit that I had developed after having my watch stolen at a conference.
Effie had given that ring to me with a promise of its protective abilities and I had taken it off, it couldn’t protect me at a distance. My head swirled with wild ideas and then I felt a firm grip around my wrist. Something pulled me up and once I had my head above the water, another arm swooped underneath my legs and carried me back to the shore. It was Miller.
The pain in my ankle felt like a fire had started in the joint and I wanted to protest being carried this way, but was coughing and spluttering too much to verbalize my disapproval. Miller lay me down on the sand and I rolled onto my side to cough more. He handed me my purse and I took it to mean that he had seen me remove the ring and that it was time to put it back on.
The welcome party from earlier were now storming the beach with towels and bottles of cold water. This was my first day on the job and instead of carrying myself with some dignity, I had marched into the ocean and nearly drowned in front of the whole island.
With the ring back on my finger, I felt restored. The coughing was no longer necessary, and I took deep breaths, my mouth no longer tasted of salt water and I could visibly see the swelling on my ankle beginning to subside.
Magic was happening, I was watching it change my body in real time. I looked out to the boat and saw the captain towing it back to the dock, his bread in the arms of a passerby so that it didn’t get soaked.
This was possibly the most embarrassing thing that had happened to me in my entire life.
“Sadie, can you speak?” Miller panted. He was still breathless from hauling me to safety, but I didn’t think it was from the effort of carrying me. Something else was going on. “There is no doctor on this island, we’ll have to get you back on the boat, can you do that? Do you need help?”
I looked back at my ankle and the pain was no longer throbbing. It looked fine now and I felt sure that I could hop at the very least. I reached out for Miller to help me up onto my feet, he sighed and lifted me.
“Why does the thought of touching me bother you so much?” I asked him. I hoped that he would put this conversation down to I nearly died because I could tell that my subtly had gone out the window.
“This isn’t a conversation for your first day as the peacekeeper, Sadie. It has nothing to do with you though, I promise.” I limped along the dock and the captain assisted me onto the boat, all the while my eyes were locked on Miller’s face. What wasn’t he saying?
I thought about the stalker. Was someone still lurking outside the place that I now lived? I felt so tired, but it was barely lunchtime, I had to consider that maybe someone was targeting people at the café? Or was it just the peacekeepers? If I was really a witch, could I do something to defend myself?
As the main island came back into view, I saw Miller’s expression grow dark. It was
as though he had bad news to deliver. Would he be in trouble because I stupidly walked into the rising tide? I looked down at the amber ring on my finger; it was glowing.
10
I woke up in my bed to the sound of clattering pans. I could hear Effie and Kate bickering downstairs about something and somehow it felt normal, even after barely knowing them for twenty-four hours. The doctor had met us at the marina to check me out and it appeared that I had a sprained ankle and required rest, so I was ordered to take a nap.
Looking at the time on the nightstand clock I had only slept for an hour or two, but it had been a welcome period of recovery and I felt as though the whole ‘nearly drowning’ thing hadn’t even happened. I walked down the stairs on my magically healed foot and into the kitchen where the bickering was loudest.
“I told you, Miller thinks that... oh hi Sadie!” Effie cut herself off when she saw me. I wanted to know what she planned to say if she hadn’t noticed me. “Can I interest you in a pineapple and chicken skewer?” She nodded towards a plate on the table in the center and I gladly grabbed at one of the sticks, pulling off the beautifully grilled food with my teeth.
“Have you heard about a stalker?” I asked.
“Rosie still being followed?” Neither Effie nor Kate had spoken. It appeared that Greta had joined us. “You seem surprised to see me,” she smiled.
“No,” Kate replied. “Just didn’t realize you’d be appearing so soon. The poor girl only just arrived.”
“We met last night,” I said. Some strange feeling inside was making me accept what was happening. “It’s fine. This whole thing is a head trip but it’s growing on me. Look, Miller thinks that maybe Rosie’s stalker grabbed Greta by mistake and that this whole mess isn't over yet.”
“It’s far from over,” Effie murmured. “Rosie had been talking about wanting protection and that she thinks that it could be tonight that the killer strikes again. She is quite dramatic though; I think it’s important to know that.”
“Effie, you are supposed to support the victims,” Kate scolded.
“Yeah, but don’t you think there is a tiny possibility that Rosie is embellishing? I haven’t got a feeling of impending doom and...”
“Sadie, I need you to find my car please. As far as I can tell, it hasn’t been moved. You will need to drive, or hike, up to the last place it was spotted and report back,” Greta instructed. She didn’t seem to be interested in the ongoing argument between the two sisters. “I recommend you take a friend of mine with you, maybe...” she paused to think.
“Ryder,” Kate and Effie answered together.
“He runs the store on the main street that sells outdoor gear, hiking boot and tents and whatever,” Effie elaborated. “Greta has had the biggest crush on that guy for, like, three years? It’s been pretty cringe-worthy to watch you fake an interest in hiking just to get his attention.”
“I didn’t fake—listen,” Greta seemed flustered. If her blood was still pumping, then she would have blushed. Effie and Kate were so busy laughing that they hardly noticed Greta’s expression. Eventually she joined them in laughing at herself and I grinned too. Living here, although obviously bananas, looked like it could be fun.
“So I go find Ryder, ask him to take me to your car, and then what?” I asked.
“Search for clues! Look, I don’t remember driving up there, I wouldn’t have crashed and just wandered off into the mountains to die. I had a satellite phone in the glove compartment in case of emergencies, if I was in trouble, I would have called someone, and obviously I was shot which isn’t a typical side effect of crashing into a tree,” Greta ranted.
“Good point,” I conceded. “Where exactly is this outdoor place then?”
“I’ll take you; I should be getting back to work anyway. My lunch break has taken over an hour already,” Kate giggled.
I was wearing different clothes at this point. Greta hadn’t commented on the fact that I was wearing shorts I had found in her closet so I figured I may as well keep it going and took another set of shorts and a t-shirt from her belongings and followed Kate out through the café and onto the beach.
“When do you plan on asking me about Miller?” Kate smirked. “I can sense that you are thinking about him and I could give you some info if you like.”
“I’m not, I don’t... the thing is...” I said, clawing at my grasp of the English language as I thought about the fact that Kate seemed to be reading my mind.
“He is single, has been the whole time he’s lived here, and I think he is allergic to prawns? That might not be true, but I’ve never seen him at the seafood place and everyone else on the island loves eating there,” she said.
“Whole time he’s lived here? You make it sound like he wasn’t born here,” I replied.
“He wasn’t. Moved here maybe six or seven years ago, can’t remember why. Nice enough guy, obviously super-hot and it would be a straight up lie if I pretended, I hadn’t made a move on him a few times, he’s not interested. If he doesn’t want to get with this,” she said, vaguely pointing at her entire body, “then he is clearly not in the market for a girlfriend. I am top-shelf stuff.”
“Yeah, he’s not worthy of you,” I smiled.
“Sadie, you’re all right. You can stay,” she teased. “Here we are. Ryder is another absolute knock out. You could grate carrots on his abs, he has a jaw you could carve glass with and I think his lips look like two rose petals snuggling. Greta claimed him though, so I think he is still off limits to the rest of us, good luck!”
She nudged me through the door and a bell rang to alert the owners that a customer had entered. I turned back over my shoulder and spotted Kate sprinting away towards Pete’s Za.
“Welcome to ‘Opt Out’, what are you looking for today?” Behind the counter emerged a vision of a man with the most flawless skin of anyone I’d ever met. He looked airbrushed. “Are you Sadie Adler, the new peacekeeper?”
“So I’m told,” I said, fighting the urge to drool of the statuesque man before me.
“A pleasure to meet you, I’ve missed Greta terribly since her passing. She really was a treasured customer and a great hiking partner,” he smiled.
“I’ll be sure to pass it on,” I grinned.
“Huh?”
“Oh nothing,” I said quickly. “I’ve been led to believe that Greta’s car is still up on the mountain road, could you take me up there to inspect it?”
“Anything you need, I’m at your service,” he said, stepping out from behind the counter and revealing his muscular legs emerging from his dusty green shorts. Dang. “Heading out!” he yelled to someone in the back. He received a grunt in response, then guided me back out towards the door. “Here, take these,” he said.
He passed me a pair of hiking boots from the nearest shelf, in my size no less, and a pair of socks to wear underneath them. He had correctly assessed that my flipflops were not appropriate footwear for a mountainous walk and as soon as I had laced up the boots, we were good to go.
“Why hasn’t her car been moved for forensic analysis?” I asked as we began to walk towards the tree line.
“We don’t do fancy stuff like that here; we deal with things among ourselves. It has pros and cons, as all systems do,” Ryder sighed. “Problem with moving it is that the islands are all part of some eternal border dispute. Greta’s crash happened right on a boundary line so no one could agree on who’s land she was on, in order to avoid an all-out war breaking out, it was agreed to leave it up there.”
“It seems like people around here are constantly trying to provoke a fight over something, if they all cared about Greta so much then surely, they would want to get to the bottom of this.”
“They do, but it’s all geopolitical. If one family accuses another of killing the peacekeeper then it could all erupt from that. The only person that gets to identify the guilty party is you,” Ryder said, guiding us upwards. The weather was getting cooler beneath the tree canopy and I was grateful for it.
I turned a few times to look at how high up we were, the view grew more beautiful each time. It wasn’t hard to see why Greta found it easy to fake an interest in hiking to come up this far with a hot guy and the cool breeze in the shade.
“Have you tried any magic yet?” Ryder asked. He said it so casually that I almost forgot that it was strange.
“No, have you?” I joked.
“Of course! Greta and I would come up here on hotter days and tame the weather together. She taught me a lot, she spoke about you on occasion too,” he grinned. It was so strange to me that I had a relative living here all this time and I hadn’t known.
When Wes had dropped me off, he mentioned that I was related to many of the people here. That meant Greta wasn’t the only one, right? Did I have living relatives lurking on these islands? It hit me like a sugar rush, I wasn’t totally alone with only a ghost for company.
“We’re almost there,” Ryder said, bringing my mind back to the task at hand.
The path through the trees guided us towards the road. We had walked this way for the shade, but strong sun beams were able to strike the dirt where a beat-up car had crashed. This had to be Greta’s car. It wasn’t on the road, not really. It had veered off the side and only one wheel remained on the track, there was enough space for vehicles to drive around it.
The bumper was in contact with a tree, but as if it had rolled gently towards it. As we got closer I could see damage to the metal work but it wasn’t what you would expect from a collision. If Greta had driven into this tree then the hood would be dented where contact had been made. I got close enough to touch the dents and dips in the bodywork.
I looked inside the car. She’d had the windows down so I could lean in without having to touch the door handle, this seemed important as all the forensic shows I’d ever seen were big on ‘preserving the crime scene’, but then I remembered that no scientists would be inspecting this car.