by Jane Hinchey
“I heard voices, figured you were all gathered here, and didn’t want to miss out on the big reveal,” Remy said, helping herself to coffee and leaning back against the kitchen cupboard, watching my parents expectantly.
“The big reveal?” Mick asked.
“The copper pyramid and the scroll,” Remy said, as if it were perfectly obvious that was what she was talking about.
Dad laughed. “Yes, we made significant progress.”
“And?” Remy demanded. “Don’t keep me in suspenders!”
I snorted. That was something Dad used to say.
“You always were one of my best students, Remy.” Dad chuckled. “So to ease your burning curiosity, yes, we discovered the copper pyramid.”
My jaw dropped. “You did? Where? We found your dig site and for the life of me I still can’t fathom how a copper pyramid could be hidden down there. And the tracks from your trolley? Did they lead to a secret chamber?”
“Ah!” Mick held up a hand. “I can help with that one. The tracks were fake. Kaylee took the trolley and left the fake tracks to make it look like you had disappeared in the caves. Like Harper suggested, the tracks disappeared into a wall, leading people to believe you were trapped on the other side.”
Remy’s face fell. “So no secret chamber?”
Dad shook his head. “I’m afraid not.”
Mom nudged him under the table. “For goodness sake, Kevin, put her out of her misery. Tell her about the pyramid.”
“Yes! Tell us!” I demanded. Remy perked up again.
“I can do better than that, I can show you,” Dad said, standing up.
Remy frowned. “You want to go to the caves?”
“No need.” Digging in his pocket, he held out his fist and slowly uncurled his fingers. There, in his palm, was a tiny copper pyramid. I burst out laughing. Oh, my God. We’d been expecting a giant whopping pyramid—instead, the real thing was a miniature version of what we’d been looking for.
Remy took it from him and studied it intently.
“Do you see the engravings?” Dad asked her.
Remy nodded. “Geospirals. So you deciphered the language?”
“Enough to know that we weren't looking for your typical pyramid,” Mom said.
“And what about the geospirals Kaylee used? She left a rock with a geospiral carved into it at each of the crime scenes.”
Mom was shaking her head. “Kaylee got the wrong end of the stick with that. Tamir knew that the geospirals were important, but he hadn’t figured out they were a language. Kaylee assumed they were part of her ritual, that everything was happening for a reason and that Tamir had appeared in her life to reveal the geospirals to her. The truth is, they have nothing to do with ancient goddesses and immortality.”
“Remy, you were telling us about Dad’s research, that he thought the geospirals could be linked to a portal allowing people to travel through time and space?” I asked, remembering what she’d told us in the car when we’d first arrived. “Dad, is that true?”
Dad smiled, his expression proud. “We think so. But not necessarily traveling through time, but space, yes. How much did Remy tell you?”
“That the geospirals linked two portals and when activated they formed something like a wormhole where you could travel from one side of the world to another,” I answered. “That you thought the second copper scroll could be here because thousands of years ago Australia was undiscovered, no one had traveled here, so it made the perfect hiding spot.”
Remy snapped her fingers. “I’ve got it. The copper pyramid is the key.”
Dad closed his fist around the tiny pyramid and nodded. “That’s what we think. It’s a key in the shape of a pyramid.”
“A key that will unlock what?” Jenna asked. Her phone was out, and she was making notes.
“The wormhole—for want of a better word—that will allow us to travel. Either between destinations or dimensions.”
“Dimensions?” Remy breathed, eyes sparkling with anticipation.
“We think it’s a possibility,” Mom said. “We’ve got the key. The next problem is finding the lock.”
Remy sagged back against the kitchen counter. “You don’t think the lock is here?”
Both Mom and Dad shrugged. “We don’t know. The Arrowstrand caves are definitely a portal. But is it controlled from here? We have found no indication…yet.”
“Well, all of that is outside of my investigation I’m afraid,” Mick said, draining his coffee and standing. “I need to get back. I just wanted to check in with you all and let you know where we’re at. The Adelaide detectives will be here later today—I’m not sure if they’ll want to interview you straight away or if they’ll be busy with the crime scenes.”
“Not a problem.” Dad stood and shook Mick's hand. “Thank you for everything.”
Dad saw Mick out, then paused at the door. “Didn’t you want to find your mom?” he asked my mother.
“Oh yes. I thought she’d be here. Maybe she’s sleeping in.”
“Gran is either up at the house mothering that baby joey,” I said, “or down by the swimming hole working on her tan.”
Mom and Dad left to find Gran, Remy tagging along, as she wasn’t done grilling them about their discovery of the copper pyramid.
“I’m going to take a shower,” Jenna announced, gathering up the empty coffee cups and putting them in the sink. “Then I’m writing this up for the Whitefall Cove Tribune. I’m thinking I’ve got enough material for a series of stories.”
“I’d say you’ve got enough for a book!” I joked. “I think I’ll go check on Blake while you’re using the bathroom.”
“You’re worried?”
I nodded. “Just a little. We didn’t leave things very well last night.” In fact, he’d seemed pretty angry. I wanted to clear the air with him, put things right.
“Good luck.” Jenna squeezed my hand, and I watched as she gathered up some clean clothes and headed into the small bathroom at the back of the cabin. Forgetting I was still in the track pants and tank I’d slept in, I hurried two doors down to Blake’s cabin and knocked.
The door sprang open, and I looked at Andi in surprise. “Oh! I was expecting Blake,” I said, pressing a hand to my chest, for my heart had leaped at the sight of her.
“He checked out,” Andi said, “and I need to keep busy, so I’m giving the cabin a thorough going over.”
I froze for a split second. He’d checked out? Andi turned her back and went back to work. I followed her in where I could see the stripped bed, linens on the floor. The wardrobe door stood open. Empty.
“When did he check out?” I whispered, shocked that Blake had left without a word to any of us.
“Early this morning. About six.” Andi paused where she was tossing the towels from the bathroom onto the growing pile of linens on the floor. “He didn’t tell you?”
I shook my head. “But we’ve got the Land Rover. What, did he walk?”
“Nigel gave him a lift.”
“To where?” Because Blake had told me when we were first planning the trip to Australia that the jet couldn’t land at Arrowstrand, the airstrip wasn’t big enough. Which meant he wasn’t flying out. Had Nigel agreed to drive him all the way to Adelaide?
“Darana,” Andi said, gathering all the linens and shoving them into a cloth sack, then pulling the drawstring tight. “I think he’d arranged a lift to the city with a truck driver from there,” she added.
“Right.” I didn’t know what to think. Or say. Then I focused on Andi. “Are you okay? This must have been an awful shock for you… Kaylee and Colin.”
Andi paused and looked at me, her eyes glassy with unshed tears. “I had no idea. No idea the two people I love most in the world are such evil, vile creatures.” Crossing to the kitchen, she began a cleaning frenzy that indicated she did not want to talk about it. Swiveling on my heel, I left silently, walking back to Jenna’s cabin, all the while wondering why on earth Blake would have l
eft without saying a word.
“Oh, here she is now.” Jenna was talking to someone on her laptop when I came in.
“Who’s that?” I asked.
“Monica!” Jenna swiveled the laptop around so I could see the screen.
Smiling, I slid onto a chair. “Hey, Mon. It’s so good to see you.”
“Jenna tells me everything is sorted. You found your folks and can come home soon?”
“Yes. Happy ending for all.” I smiled. “But enough about me, what about you? What’s new? How’s Whitefall Cove? Any exciting goss?”
Monica tapped a blood red fingernail against her chin and cast her eyes to the ceiling as if in deep thought. “Hmmmm. Let me see. Anything interesting happening in Whitefall Cove?”
I laughed. “Come on, spit it out. You’re clearly dying to tell me something.”
“Oh, okay!” She grinned, leaning closer to the camera. “Jackson and Liliana have split!”
“What?” Jenna and I said in unison. Jenna scrambled from her seat to scoot next to me on my chair, almost sending me tumbling to the floor. “Spill!” she demanded.
Monica laughed. “I knew that would get your attention. Okay, so here’s what I know. It was Jackson who did the dumping.”
“But…why?” I asked.
Monica sent me an are you brain dead look. “I don’t know the details,” she said, “but I would strongly suspect it’s because he has finally come to his senses and realized he has feelings for someone else.”
I sat stunned for a second. This morning had started off so well—Mom and Dad were safe, Kaylee and Colin had been arrested, then things had kinda spiraled, sending my thought processes into chaos once again. Blake had left without a word. Now Jackson had ended his relationship with Liliana. Both events threw me for a loop. Just when you thought you knew someone, it turned out you didn’t.
“So what’s the plan?” Monica asked.
“You know…” I hesitated, confusion vying with anticipation making me feel unsure. “I have no idea. We don’t know why Jackson ended things with Liliana. If it really was him who ended things. I know how the gossip mill works and it’s not always right. Or kind. Or fair.”
“Yeah, but you’re overlooking one thing,” Jenna said.
“What’s that?”
“Jackson is single.”
And suddenly I had a burning desire to get my butt back to Whitefall Cove and find out exactly what had happened—and what it all meant.
“And what are you going to do about your hot, sexy, lawyer?” Monica drawled.
“Oh, that’s easy. He left.”
“He what?” Jenna screeched in my ear. Slapping a hand over my potentially damaged eardrum as I turned to her. “He took off early this morning.”
“Without saying goodbye?” Monica asked.
I nodded. “Yup.”
“Oh.” Yeah. Oh. We all knew what that meant. I guess I’d never understand the mystery that was Blake Tennant. But now, new possibilities concerning one Detective Jackson Ward were suddenly, tantalizingly, within arm’s reach.
“I tell you what, Harper Jones,” Monica drawled. “Life is never dull with you around.”
Ready to read Harper’s next adventure in Witch Way to Beauty & the Beach? Get your copy here: http://mybook.to/BeautyBeach
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Books in the Witch Way Series:
#1 Witch Way to Murder & Mayhem
#2 Witch Way to Romance & Ruin
#3 Witch Way Down Under
#4 Witch Way to Beauty and the Beach
Still to come… (not yet published)
#5 Witch Way to Death & Destruction
#6 Witch Way to Santa Claws
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About Jane
Aussie Author & International Bestseller Jane Hinchey writes sexy, snarky, badass, paranormal romances and funny, witchy, paranormal cozy mysteries.
Living in the City of Churches (aka Adelaide, South Australia) with her man, two cats, and turtle, she would really prefer to live in a magical town where cooking could be done with a snap of her fingers, and her house would clean itself.
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