The Ghost and the Witches' Coven

by Bobbi Holmes

  “Fast thinking on your part. I just held my breath that Davina wouldn’t do something else stupid, like grab a cookie for herself.”

  Bridget looked down at the three bodies and said, “We’d better get these guys tied up. They should be out for a few hours, but I would rather not take any chances.”

  Fifteen

  Danielle let out a curse as she removed the quiche from the oven and burned the edge of her right pinky finger on the rack. Hastily, she set the sizzling pan on the stovetop and then put her injured finger under running cold water. Standing there a moment, letting the water soothe her pain, she looked over at the thin potholder now on the counter and told herself she needed to toss that thing. It was useless.

  After a moment, she turned off the water faucet and glanced up at the wall clock. She stood in the kitchen, wearing a colorful apron over her blouse and jeans. It had been a birthday gift from Lily. Digging one hand in the apron’s pocket, she pulled out her cellphone, checking to see if she had any missed calls from Walt.

  “Where is he?” she muttered to herself, seeing she had no missed calls. She shoved the phone back in the pocket. Walt had promised to be back by now, when he had rushed out earlier, refusing to tell her where he was going. She set the kitchen table for two, grateful Walt didn’t ascribe to the notion “real men don’t eat quiche,” and he actually enjoyed it occasionally for a light dinner. Of course, she typically served her double fudge chocolate cake for dessert on quiche night, which might have made him more amenable to a dish some men considered girly.

  Fifteen minutes later, and still no Walt, Danielle walked out the side door and headed to the garage. Perhaps he had come home but got sidetracked talking to a neighbor. Once she reached the garage and looked inside, she found no Packard. Pulling her cellphone from her apron, she called him. It went to voicemail. Again.

  “Walt, where are you?” Danielle said into the phone. “You promised you’d be home by now. Please call me.”

  After leaving a message, Danielle called Ian’s phone number.

  “Hi, Danielle,” Ian answered a moment later.

  “Hi, Ian. Have you seen Walt?” she asked.

  “Not since this morning. Is something wrong?”

  “There might be when he gets home,” Danielle said with a laugh.

  “What’s going on?”

  “He went to town to pick something up, and he was supposed to be back by now. He’s not answering his phone,” she said.

  “He probably ran into someone and got talking,” Ian suggested. “And you know how he forgets to charge his phone.”

  “Yeah, probably. Thanks. If you see him, let him know he risks being cut off from chocolate cake.”

  Ian laughed. “Will do.”

  Danielle walked back to the house and took a seat at the kitchen table. She glanced over at the stove where the quiche sat, uncut and cooling off. Taking out her cellphone again, she tried calling Chris. The call went to messages. She then tried calling Heather. Again, the call went to messages. She then called Adam Nichols.

  “Hi, Danielle, what’s up?” Adam asked when he answered the call a moment later.

  “Hey, Adam, did you work today?” Danielle asked.

  “This afternoon, why?”

  “I seem to have misplaced a husband. You didn’t happen to see Walt in the last couple of hours, did you?”

  “I didn’t see him. But I noticed the Packard parked by the museum when I was going home.”

  “What time was that?” Danielle asked.

  “After five.”

  “Thanks, Adam.”

  “Is everything okay?” Adam asked.

  “Yeah. It’s just not like Walt. But he probably got talking to someone. And if he’s at the museum, that’s likely what happened.” Danielle said goodbye to Adam and then tried calling Walt again. When the call went to messages, she tried the museum. The call went to voicemail.

  Danielle sat alone at the kitchen table for another ten minutes, growing increasingly annoyed. When the kitchen door finally opened several minutes later, she expected to see Walt, yet it was Chris.

  “Oh, it’s you,” Danielle grumbled.

  “Now you sound like Walt,” Chris teased.

  “I tried calling you a while ago, but you didn’t answer.”

  “Yeah, I know. I was on the phone, and when I saw it was you, figured I’d just stop by instead. Have you seen Heather?” Chris asked.

  “Heather? Is she missing too?”

  “What do you mean?” Chris asked.

  “It’s just that Walt was supposed to be home over an hour ago. He knew when I planned to have dinner. But he’s gone AWOL, and he’s not answering my calls. But I know where his car is, so I suppose he isn’t exactly missing. In fact, I was thinking of going down there and seeing what the heck is going on.” Danielle paused a moment and asked Chris, “Am I turning into a nagging wife?”

  Chris laughed. “Nah. So where is his car?”

  “I talked to Adam; he saw the Packard by the museum. If Walt hadn’t already sent his manuscript to the editor, I would assume he forgot the time and got lost in some research. I tried calling the museum, but they aren’t answering.”

  “Come on, I’ll take you down there. I’m looking for Heather anyway. And when you find Walt, you don’t want to drive two cars home. How can you give him hell if you’re in another car?”

  “So what is this about Heather being missing too?” Danielle asked as she sat in the passenger seat of Chris’s car, on the way to the museum. “I tried calling her earlier when I was looking for Walt. She wasn’t answering,” Danielle explained.

  “She told me she was going downtown to run some errands, and she offered to pick up some papers from Adam. But according to Adam, she never showed. And I haven’t heard from her. I’m wondering if her car broke down again. She just got it out of the shop yesterday. And sometimes she can be a little careless about charging her phone.”

  “Walt too,” Danielle said.

  When Chris pulled down the main street, he drove straight to the museum, and to the Packard. But it was not alone in the parking lot. Next to it was Heather’s car.

  “We found them both!” Chris said. “What are those two up to?”

  “We found their cars, at least,” Danielle said as she got out of Chris’s now parked vehicle and walked to the Packard. Hands on hips, she glanced up to the museum.

  “Let’s go get them,” Chris said with a laugh. They walked to the museum, and when they got to the front door, they found it locked. When peeking inside, they saw most of the lights were off.

  Not convinced they weren’t inside, Danielle pounded on the door. When there was no answer, Danielle pulled out her cellphone.

  “Who are you calling?” Chris asked.

  “Millie Samson,” Danielle explained. A moment later, Millie answered the call.

  “Hi, Millie, this is Danielle Marlow. I was wondering if you had docent duty this afternoon…Did you see Walt, by any chance?…And he never came in?…What about Heather Donovan?…Did you notice Heather’s car?” A few moments later Danielle said goodbye to Millie and hung up. She slipped her phone back in her pocket and looked at Chris.

  “Well?” Chris asked.

  “Millie was on docent duty this afternoon, and she closed up the museum. She said she didn’t see Walt or Heather. But she noticed Walt’s Packard in the parking lot when she was going home. She didn’t notice Heather’s car. Said it could have been there, but she really wasn’t paying attention to that. The Packard sorta stands out.”

  “Where are they?” Chris said, glancing down the street. “You don’t think the two ran off together, do you?”

  Danielle laughed. “If so, I didn’t see that one coming.”

  Chris chuckled. “Let’s walk down the street and see what we can find out.”

  “Maybe they’re at Lucy’s. I think everything else is closed,” Danielle said.

  They started walking away from the parked vehicles when Chr
is paused and said, “By the way, nice apron. You want to leave it in my car?”

  Danielle glanced down at the apron. “I forgot I had it on. But yeah, I think that might be a good idea.” She removed her cellphone from her apron pocket, slipped it in a back pocket of her jeans, and then handed her apron to Chris. After Chris tossed the apron in his car, they started down the street on foot, heading for Lucy’s Diner.

  All the businesses between the museum and Lucy’s Diner were closed. When they reached the restaurant, they went inside and talked to the staff. No one had seen Walt or Heather. When they went outside, Danielle glanced across the street and spied someone she recognized, Police Chief MacDonald.

  “Hi, Chief,” Danielle greeted MacDonald after she and Chris crossed the street and got within earshot.

  The chief, who stood by a car he had been checking out, turned to face Danielle and Chris. “Evening, Chris, Danielle. Have you seen Brian?”

  Danielle glanced to the car the chief stood by. “Isn’t that Brian’s car?”

  “It is. I’ve been looking for him, but I can’t find him anywhere. Just his car. And he isn’t answering his phone,” the chief explained.

  Danielle frowned. “This is just too weird. We’re looking for Heather and Walt, for the same reason.” Danielle then told the chief why they had come downtown.

  “When did you start looking for Brian?” Chris asked the chief after Danielle finished her telling.

  “I stopped by the station a while ago, and when I was down there, Brian’s cousin called. She said Brian had gone out to get her some essential oils for a headache, but he never came back. She tried calling him, but he didn’t answer his cellphone. She started getting worried. So I told her I’d come down here and see if his car broke down or something,” the chief explained.

  Danielle glanced over at Pagan Oils. “I wonder if Brian was going there. I know they sell essential oils.”

  “I went over there already, and the place is closed. I went around back. It’s all locked up,” the chief said.

  “This is weird. All three of them going missing at the same time. Not answering their phones. Their cars all here.” Danielle looked down the street at the museum parking lot.

  “So are we talking alien abduction here, or has the Rapture begun?” Chris asked.

  “This is not funny,” Danielle snapped.

  “Aw, come on, Danielle, I’m sure there is a logical explanation for all this,” Chris said. “We can’t lose our sense of humor.”

  “I’m afraid I have to agree with Danielle,” the chief said. “I don’t feel good about this.”

  Chris frowned. “Come on, Chief, I don’t think there is a band of kidnappers snatching people off the streets of Frederickport, and then what, selling them into white slavery? And you forget, Walt comes with his own line of defense, Brian is a trained cop, and Heather…well, some kidnapper would just be stupid to mess with Heather. She can be mean.”

  “Maybe all of that is true, but unfortunately, I have a gut feeling. And my gut is rarely wrong,” the chief said.

  Chris was tempted to remind the chief that his gut had been wrong about Carol Ann but kept his mouth shut.

  “What are we going to do?” Danielle asked.

  “I would give it a little more time if it was just Brian I couldn’t find. But with all three of them disappearing, I think I should begin with the security camera,” the chief said.

  “What security camera?” Danielle asked.

  The chief pointed to a light pole across the street from Pagan Oils and More. “The one we installed there last year.”

  Sixteen

  Joe Morelli’s girlfriend, Kelly Bartley, offered to stay with the chief’s two boys on Saturday evening while he investigated the missing persons. Joe, who had Saturday off, worked to help with the investigation.

  Within an hour of locating the abandoned cars downtown, they got the footage from the security camera. Chris and Danielle stood with the chief in his office, waiting for Joe to see what was on the recording. The three stood behind the chief’s desk, looking over Joe’s shoulder at the computer monitor, while Joe located the timeframe of interest.

  “There’s the Packard,” Danielle called out, pointing to the monitor. The vehicle drove past the camera’s view and out of sight, presumably parking at the museum.

  “And there’s Heather. She’s going into Pagan Oils,” Chris said. They all continued to watch.

  “There’s Walt and Brian,” Joe noted a few minutes later. They all watched as the pair stood on the sidewalk in front of Pagan Oils, talking. They then turned up the walkway and continued to the store.

  “I figured that’s where Brian was going,” the chief said. “After Kitty told me he went to buy essential oils.”

  “Why is Walt going to the shop?” Danielle asked. “He’s not into oils or witchcraft.” She then let out a knowing, “Ah…I know why he’s there.”

  “Why?” Joe asked.

  “I bet he went back to get me that necklace I wanted,” Danielle said.

  “It doesn’t look like they’re going to get in,” Joe noted. “Seems the door is locked.”

  Danielle frowned. “Why would that be? Heather’s still in the shop.”

  “Oh, look, I think that’s one of the shop owners,” the chief said when he spied the redhead rushing up to the door and then unlocking it.

  “I’ve seen her,” Chris said. “Actually, there were three of them.”

  “Sisters,” the chief said. “They own Pagan Oils. The Parker sisters.”

  “I saw one of them walking down the alley behind Heather’s when I picked her up for work yesterday morning. They look like triplets,” Chris said.

  “Well, at least we know they all went into Pagan Oils. Now let’s see where they go when they leave,” Joe said.

  They continued to watch. The redhead who had let Brian and Walt in the store left and then walked to her van and drove off.

  “Why are they still in there?” Danielle asked a few minutes later.

  Joe sped up the video, yet finally turned it off after Danielle and Chris showed up on the recording, when they walked past the camera on their way to Lucy’s Diner.

  The chief insisted Chris and Danielle go home and allow the police to handle the situation. He didn’t want civilians to get in the way, giving him one more thing to worry about. He didn’t know what they might walk in on.

  They agreed Danielle and Chris would first stop at Brian’s house and let his cousin know what was going on. After they stopped, Danielle talked Kitty into going home with them for the evening. Danielle didn’t want Kitty to be alone in a strange town while the police were out looking for her cousin.

  Back at Marlow House, Ian and Lily joined them with Connor and Sadie. Chris picked up Hunny from his house, bringing her back to Danielle’s, while they all held a vigil.

  Danielle served the cold quiche to those who were hungry, and cut into the chocolate cake, offering everyone a slice, while Chris served beverages. Silently, she prayed for Marie or Eva to show up. She could really use their special help and guidance.

  “What did you find out?” Danielle asked Saturday evening when she opened the front door for Police Chief MacDonald.

  “Where is everyone?” the chief asked.

  “In the living room,” Danielle said anxiously.

  “We haven’t found them yet,” the chief announced when he and Danielle walked into the living room. “Nor have we found anything—other than what we saw on that video—that might show foul play.”

  “Did you get in the store?” Chris asked.

  “Yes. It was empty. Closed up for the night. Nothing to show there had been a struggle. Nothing.”

  “But we didn’t see them leave the building,” Danielle said as she went to sit on the sofa with Lily and Connor.

  “We didn’t see them leave through the front door, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t leave through the back door,” the chief pointed out.

  “Did y
ou talk to the women who own the store? The one who let them in?” Chris asked.

  “We drove to their house, but no one was there. We spoke to their neighbors. One told us they saw the three sisters all drive off together in the van several hours ago.”

  “Are there any cameras in the alleyway behind the shops?” Danielle asked.

  “I’m afraid not,” the chief said. “But I called the owners of the other businesses along that section, asking if anyone saw any of them late this afternoon or heard anything suspicious in the alley. But nothing.”

  “What about their phones?” Chris asked. “Can’t you track them on their cellphones?”

  “Joe is working on that right now. He’s also trying to find the cellphone numbers for the Parker sisters, assuming they have cellphones,” the chief said. “I also have some people doing a thorough search of that area, working on the premise they left from the back door.”

  “At least we know they’re still alive,” Danielle said.

  “How do we know that?” Kitty asked.

  Danielle, who had momentarily forgotten Kitty was with them, looked at the woman. She smiled softly and said, “I would just know if something happened to Walt. If he was dead, I would know. And if Walt is alive, I’m confident the others are too.”

  Bridget drove the van while Davina and Aileana shared the passenger seat, crammed uncomfortably into the small space. In the back, the three abductees remained unconscious and securely tied up. The van raced down the rugged dirt road leading them deep into the forest, sending the sisters bouncing wildly in their seats.

  “Ouch! Slow down!” Aileana cried out when her head bumped the van’s ceiling. She rubbed the injured spot and said, “We don’t need a flat tire.”

  Bridget slowed down. “Sorry. I just want to get there before dark.”

  “According to the internet, sunset is 8:40. Which means about thirty-five minutes until nightfall after that,” Davina said.