Prelude to a Witch

by Amanda M. Lee

  “Sure.” Landon’s reply was easy as he glanced at the photo. “I think I know what you’re going to suggest.”

  “We need to talk to Paisley’s friends.”

  “I take it you want to go with us.”

  “Do you have a problem with that?”

  “Not in the least.” Landon took another look around the room. “We need to get ahead of whatever this is. They might be our best shot.”

  CHIEF TERRY PLACED A CALL TO FIND out where the girls were. Thankfully they were all at Amelia Hart’s house. It only took us five minutes to drive there, and once in the driveway Landon shot me a warning look.

  “I want you to do what you need to do to ascertain if they’re still under the memory spell, but you can’t take control of the interview,” he warned.

  I had to laugh. “This isn’t my first time interrogating people with you.”

  He made a face. “Let’s not call it an interrogation. We are talking about teenagers here.”

  “Got it.”

  Tina Hart, Amelia’s mother, opened the door. Chief Terry had spoken with her on the phone. She seemed baffled by our appearance.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “Something has happened, Chief Terry replied calmly. “We need to talk to the girls.”

  Tina hesitated a moment and then pushed open the door wider. “Come in.” She led us to the living room, where the three girls sat watching the Kardashians. They seemed lost in their own little world, not looking up when we appeared in the doorway.

  “Amelia, you have visitors,” Tina offered. She almost sounded frightened to announce our arrival.

  From her spot between Sophia Johnson and Emma Graham, Amelia slowly tracked her eyes to us. Surprise registered across her face, but she masked it quickly.

  “I surrender.” She held up her hands and smiled. “Whatever it is, I didn’t do it.”

  “Neither did I,” Sophia said, her eyes wide as saucers. “We’re completely innocent.”

  “That’s good to know.” Chief Terry moved to the center of the room and inclined his head toward the remote. “Turn off the television, please.”

  Amelia remained motionless for a second. Then, rather than follow his instruction, she muted the television. “What’s going on, Mom?” She focused her full attention on her worried-looking mother. “Is something bad about to happen?”

  “I don’t know what’s wrong,” Tina replied, wringing her hands. “Chief Davenport has something he needs to discuss with you.”

  “Well, we didn’t do anything.” Amelia’s tone was firm enough that I narrowed my eyes. She had “disappeared” three weeks before. She had turned Hemlock Cove upside down with stories of kidnappers and predators. It turned out she’d masterminded her own disappearance because she wanted money and planned to run off with her friends for a grand adventure — borrowed magic from Hollow Creek fueling her — but with a little witchy intervention I’d managed to make her forget those plans. Had the spell held up? Amelia was a master manipulator.

  “We’re not accusing you of anything,” Chief Terry assured her as he sat on the coffee table and stared at the three girls. “Something has happened to your friend Paisley.”

  “Oh, no!” Tina’s hand flew to her mouth.

  “What happened?” Amelia asked, her expression bland.

  “She’s dead.”

  “What?” Sophia sat up straighter. “Are you serious?”

  “Of course not,” Amelia sneered. “This is some weird joke.”

  “I don’t joke about death,” Chief Terry replied calmly. “Paisley was found behind the Dragonfly this morning. She was in a clearing in the woods. She’d been stabbed.” He laid it out concisely, no embellishment.

  “I can’t believe it.” Tina whined. “We saw her just the other day. She was fine.”

  “Well, that’s how this works,” Landon offered. “One minute someone is fine and the next they’re not.”

  “Oh, we’ll always need hot police officers like you,” Sophia said, offering up a wink that made Landon shift uncomfortably.

  Landon managed to keep from scowling, but if I had to guess, it took a lot of work. “Thank you for that inappropriate comment in the wake of your friend’s death.”

  Sophia had the grace to look abashed. “I didn’t mean ... um ... .”

  “What happened?” Amelia asked. She’d yet to react like the others, who appeared to be shocked. She was calm, something I couldn’t identify in her eyes.

  “She was stabbed,” Chief Terry replied. “That’s all we know right now. But there’s more.”

  “More?” Tina was so pale I thought she might pass out.

  “You should sit down,” I prodded, grabbing her arm and leading her to the oversized chair at the edge of the room.

  Tina was the malleable sort, which probably explained why Amelia was queen of this particular castle. She allowed me to situate her in the chair.

  “What could possibly be worse than Paisley being stabbed?” Amelia demanded.

  “I didn’t say it was worse,” Chief Terry cautioned. “I said there was more. We went to Paisley’s house to inform them of their daughter’s death, but they weren’t there.

  “Both vehicles were in the driveway, but it appeared there had been a struggle in the living room,” he continued. “The coffee table was tipped over. There was a broken glass on the floor. We believe that Paisley’s mother was in the house watching television.”

  “Are they dead too?” Emma asked in a timid voice. “Were they all killed?”

  “There were no bodies in the house. We’re not certain what happened to Paisley’s parents. That brings us to why we’re here. Do you know of anything that was going on in Paisley’s house that might explain what has happened?”

  “No,” Sophia and Emma said in unison.

  Amelia didn’t respond.

  “I need specifics,” Chief Terry stressed. “When was the last time you saw Paisley?”

  “Yesterday afternoon,” Sophia replied. “We were all downtown together for coffee.”

  “What time was that?”

  “Um ... around three o’clock I think.” She looked to Amelia for confirmation.

  Amelia nodded. “That sounds right.” She’d yet to show a shred of emotion and I was becoming increasingly suspicious.

  “What did you talk about?” Chief Terry asked.

  “Normal stuff.” Amelia lifted one shoulder in a haphazard way, as if they were having a conversation about the weather. “I mean ... it wasn’t a big deal.”

  “Sophia has a crush on Taylor Watkins,” Emma volunteered. “We mostly talked about that.”

  Sophia’s cheeks colored. “I don’t have a crush on him. Don’t be ridiculous.”

  Even though it was a byproduct of their age, the trivial back and forth frustrated me. The trio had just been informed that one of their closest friends had been brutally murdered, but they remained wrapped up in themselves.

  “It’s important that you girls think hard,” Chief Terry stressed. “Paisley is dead and we can’t help her. But we can find out who did this. Her parents are still out there somewhere. We need to find them.”

  “Why do you think we would know where her parents are?” Amelia demanded. “It’s not as if we hung out with them.”

  “Amelia! Show some respect,” Tina scolded.

  “It’s okay.” Chief Terry waved off the admonishment. “They’re in shock.”

  “It doesn’t feel real,” Emma admitted. “I mean ... I keep thinking that I should be having one of those montages in my head, like on television, where I hear music and remember all the good times we used to have.”

  The statement struck me funny. Not ha-ha funny but funny weird. Perhaps the girls weren’t reacting normally because of the spell I’d put them under.

  “That’s normal,” Landon offered. “It won’t feel real for a little bit. We need you to think hard. Was there anything weird going on in the Gilmore household? Were Paisley’
s parents fighting? Was she fighting with them?”

  Horrified disbelief washed over Sophia’s face. “You don’t think her parents killed her?”

  “It’s unlikely,” Landon replied, “but we have to consider all the angles. We need your help. Was there anybody new in Paisley’s life? Perhaps a boyfriend.”

  That single word — boyfriend — sent Sophia and Emma into squirming fits. Amelia managed to remain impassive, but it appeared to be by force of will.

  “There was a boy,” I surmised, speaking before I thought better of it. “Did Paisley have a boyfriend?” Thanks to my previous journey into Paisley’s head, I knew she didn’t have a boyfriend as recently as two weeks ago. But these were teenagers. I remembered well how quickly things could change on that front for girls of that age.

  “She didn’t have a boyfriend,” Sophia said. “She just hung around with us.”

  I ignored her and focused on Amelia, the group leader. If we wanted answers, she would have to supply them. “Who was she dating?” I demanded.

  “I ... .” Amelia glanced at her mother, unsure.

  “If you know something, you have to tell them,” her mother stressed.

  Amelia sighed. “I don’t know who it was. She was hiding that information. I know she’d met someone and seemed to think he was ‘the one,’ but she wouldn’t tell us who it was.”

  “Was that odd for her?” Landon asked. “Did she tell you about other boyfriends?”

  Amelia shrugged. “Yes and no. She liked to build up to it before telling us. It was like a game to her.”

  “Was it a boy from the high school?” I asked. Could a teenager have delivered the destruction I saw in that clearing? It didn’t seem possible and yet I couldn’t shake the notion.

  “We don’t know him,” Amelia replied. “We just know she met someone last week and she really liked him. We didn’t pressure her because we knew she would tell us eventually. She liked to drag things out because she liked the attention.”

  Emma nodded solemnly. “Do you think he killed her?”

  Landon slid his eyes to me, his expression unreadable. “We don’t know. But we’re going to find out.”

  “How?” Amelia demanded.

  “We’re going to investigate.”

  “That’s not really an answer.”

  “It’s the only answer I have. We need answers, so we’ll dig until we find them.”

  “What should I do?” Tina asked. “There’s a killer out there. Could he be coming for the rest of the girls?”

  That was a very good question.

  “We don’t know what we’re dealing with,” Chief Terry answered. “I’ll have marked cars patrol the areas around your houses tonight and for the foreseeable future.”

  Tina didn’t look comforted by the answer, but she nodded. “I guess that’s something.”

  “It’s all we have for now,” Landon said. “We will have more … and soon. You have my word on it.”

  5

  Five

  Landon opened the back door of Chief Terry’s official vehicle for me, pausing long enough to brush the hair from my face and stare into my eyes, and then leaving me to my thoughts.

  I waited until we reached the diner in town for lunch to speak.

  “I don’t know if they remember.” My voice was low. “I just ... don’t know.”

  Landon shot me a sympathetic smile. “I figured. If you’d keyed into the fact that she was lying you would’ve pushed the situation.”

  “Most definitely,” I agreed. “I don’t know, though. She’s ... detached.”

  “For all we know, she might’ve always been detached,” Chief Terry noted. He smiled at the waitress as she delivered our drinks. “What’s on special today?”

  “I think you’re special.” The waitress, a woman who had lived in Hemlock Cove for as long as I could remember, winked at him. “But on the menu, we have chicken pot pie.”

  “Comfort food,” Landon said. “I’ll have that. Thank you.”

  Chief Terry nodded in agreement. “Sounds good to me.”

  The waitress turned her attention to me. “And you, honey? You look a little pale today.”

  “It’s been a long day. I’ll have the pot pie.”

  “No problem.” She winked and moved on to another table.

  “Bay, you can’t blame yourself for this,” Landon said. “This isn’t your fault.”

  “Did I say it was my fault?” The challenge came out harsher than I intended. “I’m sorry. That was uncalled for. I just feel ... something.” And that something didn’t have a name.

  “I know how your mind works,” Landon said. “You think those girls had something to do with what happened to Paisley. You believe if you’d done something different, she’d still be alive.”

  “I don’t believe that.”

  “You don’t?”

  I shook my head. “I can’t see those girls stabbing Paisley multiple times. She was one of them. I do think it’s possible that they know more than they’re saying. I also think it’s possible somebody else was helping them and we missed that person during our initial sweep.”

  Realization dawned on Landon’s face. “There’s a sixth partner taking out the others so they can’t squeal?”

  “It’s a possibility. That still doesn’t explain what happened to Paisley’s parents.”

  “Maybe they were involved,” Chief Terry suggested. “Maybe they staged their house to make it look as if there had been an attack and took off.”

  “I ... don’t know. Why would they kill their daughter and flee?”

  “Maybe they didn’t feel they had any other choice.”

  “If they were involved, they could’ve set the scene and then fled as a family. That doesn’t explain why Paisley had to die.”

  “Maybe they didn’t believe her when she came home with a modified memory,” Landon suggested. “Maybe they thought she was lying and figured they couldn’t trust her.”

  That didn’t feel right either. “Say there was a sixth person — though it seems they would’ve admitted what was happening when we had them at Hollow Creek, if only to point fingers away from themselves. Why kill Paisley and not the others? Why not draw them all out to that clearing and kill them at the same time?”

  “That would draw outside attention,” Landon replied. “If you kill four teenagers in ritual fashion and leave them in a clearing in the middle of the Michigan woods, that will be the lead story on every cable news channel ... and for more than just one night.”

  “He’s right,” Chief Terry said. “That’s the stuff nightmares are made of and news programs thrive on. Besides, why add the ritual? That just makes it all the more hinky.”

  That was another good point, but I had an answer for that. “This is a witch town. Making the murder ritualistic points the finger at all the fake witches in town.”

  Chief Terry shook his head. “I don’t know what to say, Bay.”

  I rested my elbow on the table and rubbed my forehead, watching as Landon pulled out his phone and checked his email. His lips curved down almost immediately. “What is it?”

  He attempted a smile. “It’s not good news.”

  “Is it the autopsy on Paisley?” I hoped he wasn’t going to somehow make things worse and say there was a sexual component to her death.

  “We won’t get that until this afternoon at the earliest,” Chief Terry replied.

  “So, what is it?”

  “It’s Steve.”

  Steve Newton was his boss. I’d come to know him through his several visits to Hemlock Cove. I liked him but remained fearful of how he would react if he ever found out the truth regarding my family. “Does he want you to go into the office?”

  “No. He’s sending someone from the office here.”

  Oh, well, that was actually worse. “What did we do to deserve that?”

  “There, there.” Landon patted my hand with a chuckle. “It’s not some grand conspiracy aimed at you. He saw the pho
tos from the crime scene. He believes they suggest we may have a serial killer in the making. He’s sending a profiler.”

  My brain went blank. “Like on Criminal Minds?”

  “If you’re picturing Shemar Moore right now, we’re going to have issues,” Landon warned.

  That elicited a smile. “I just mean ... I’ve seen that show.”

  “It would essentially be like that. Most profilers don’t travel in a team. I’m not familiar with the individual he’s sending – he didn’t provide a name – but he’ll be here this evening.”

  “Coming from Detroit?” Chief Terry asked.

  Landon shook his head. “This area is too small to have its own profiler. The one they’re sending works in the Midwest office in Chicago. I guess he’s taking a flight up to Traverse City and then driving here.”

  I studied his face for signs he was upset. “Are you worried?”

  He already had a smile on his face when he turned to me. “Why would I be worried?”

  “Because of me.”

  “I’m always worried about you.” He rubbed my back. “Luckily, you’re pretty good at taking care of yourself, so some of that fear has dissipated since we hooked up. I’ll always be terrified that something could happen to you, though.”

  It was a good attempt to avoid the question, but there was no way I was letting it go. “That’s not what I mean, and you know it. I want to know if you’re afraid that this guy will find out what we are.”

  Landon hesitated and then shrugged. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t frightened at the prospect of you coming across the wrong person, someone who could hurt you if he found out witches were real. There’s no reason to think this guy will be that person.”

  “Except his entire job description is human behavior. How much do you want to bet Steve arranged for him to stay at The Overlook?”

  Obviously that possibility hadn’t occurred to Landon, because his face drained of color. “Oh, crap.”

  “There’s nothing you can do about it,” Chief Terry said. “You can’t very well call Steve and ask him to find different accommodations for this guy. He’ll be suspicious because he knows that you and I are at the inn all the time. It makes sense to book the profiler there so we’re all close.”