Mom pretended Aunt Tillie was invisible and gave the couples an indulgent smile. “The festivals have taken on a life of their own. I wasn’t sure that it was a good idea to have nonstop festivals throughout the year, but they’ve turned into big crowd pleasers.”
“That’s because everybody loves carnival food,” Landon offered. He was mixing hash browns and eggs with bits of bacon. “Elephant ears are a special kind of magic.”
Tony chuckled. “I ate one of those. I paired it with ice cream – amazing.”
Landon nodded in agreement. “See, Bay, I’m not the only one who thinks elephant ears and ice cream belong together.”
I fought the urge to roll my eyes. “You think elephant ears can be paired with anything. I believe I watched you eat them with chili last year.”
“And I stand by that decision.”
“The whole town is great,” Samantha said. “I can imagine living here. I’m an accountant, so I wouldn’t be able to make a living in a town this small, but if I could I would move here.”
“My wife loves witch stuff.” Tony said. “She’s absolutely over the moon about it. When we read a story about Hemlock Cove in The Detroit Free Press, we had to check it out for ourselves. I’m pretty sure we’ll be back.”
“Oh, definitely.” Samantha bobbed her blond head. “I want to come back for Halloween but understand you’re already booked.”
“We are. I’m sorry.” Mom said. “That’s our busiest time of the year. We book a full year in advance for Halloween.”
“Don’t be sorry.” Samantha waved her hand. “I just wish we would’ve thought ahead. This Halloween is out, but we definitely want to come back next Halloween.”
Tony agreed as he squeezed his wife’s hand. “We plan to have kids in two years, so if we come back next Halloween that might be our last hurrah as a couple. We want to live it up right ... which is why I love that kissing booth.”
Samantha made a face. “I didn’t like the guy running it. He was creepy.”
I lifted my chin and stared at her. “What do you mean?” Todd Lipscomb was officially on my radar. If he didn’t clean up his act, I had every intention of making his life a living hell.
“He was fine,” Tony said hurriedly. “I think it was part of the act. He just might not be as good an actor as everybody else in the town. It would make sense to have some people pretending to be evil.”
Landon flicked his eyes to me, something unsaid passing between us. “How was he acting?” He tried to be nonchalant with the question but couldn’t carry it off.
“Is something wrong?” Tony asked, straightening in his chair. “Is there something wrong with that guy?”
“Not that we know of,” I lied. “I wasn’t aware that anybody in town was acting evil. They usually save that for Halloween to ratchet up the atmosphere.”
“That makes sense.” Tony visibly relaxed. “Maybe he was practicing.”
“Maybe.” I forced a smile. “Can you tell me what he was doing?”
“He was talking to himself – and was really crabby,” Samantha volunteered. “He kept talking as if there was someone else there, saying things about needing more power and evil women trying to steal his life. It was weird.”
“I think we were lacking context,” Tony explained. “I believe he came up with an entire backstory that he was playing out and we missed the first part. I kind of wish we hadn’t, because it sounded like he put a lot of effort into the story, something about evil witches messing with his mind.”
I pressed my lips together and pushed my eggs around my plate with my fork. Tony and Samantha were buying into the mystique of the town. I knew better when it came to Todd.
“We’ll talk to him about doing a better job with his stories,” Mom offered, taking control of the conversation. “We don’t want the tourists to be confused.”
“Todd is a ... unique ... soul,” Marnie said. “He doesn’t always stick to the script.”
“We don’t want to get anybody in trouble,” Samantha said hurriedly. “We just found him talking to himself to be weird. He seemed really angry. Everybody else has been very friendly and welcoming.”
“He won’t be in trouble,” Landon reassured her. “We’ll just explain that he should spread the story out over a longer period so people can follow the narrative.”
“That’s smart.” Tony happily slathered a slice of toast with jam. “Everybody should be on the same page with their stories.”
Landon looked at me. “Absolutely. You read my mind.”
24
Twenty-Four
“I think we know where we’re going to spend our morning,” Landon said when we’d retreated to the library after breakfast.
I nodded, my mind already working furiously.
“He could be involved,” Landon continued. “He tried to put everything on the girls the last go-around, but he could’ve been more involved when we wrote him off as a perverted idiot.”
I leaned against the door jamb. I was thinking something entirely different.
“Bay?” Landon finally noticed I wasn’t engaging in the conversation. “What’s wrong?”
“Do you think I did this to them?” I blurted out.
Landon’s eyebrows furrowed. “Do I think you did what to them?”
“I opened them up. I modified their memories. Maybe they’ve all been overtaken by shades ... and it’s because of what I did.”
“Baby, you didn’t do this.”
“You don’t know that.” The more I thought about it, the more sense it made. “They were in control of themselves before. They all had ulterior motives for what they were doing. Every single one of them, including Todd. We modified his memory with the others because we couldn’t figure out a way to take him in and let the girls go. I think I did this.”
“No.” Landon grabbed my shoulders and then released them, opting to rub his hands up and down my arms in a soothing motion. “You didn’t do this.”
He couldn’t know the truth of it. I couldn’t either. “I think it’s possible.”
“I don’t.”
“How can you know?” I asked. “You’re not familiar with shades.”
“I know you. You wouldn’t have done this.”
“Not on purpose,” I agreed. “But I’m not infallible. What if I hollowed them out with the memory spell? I could’ve created room for other creatures to take up refuge.”
“But ... .” He trailed off, reading the serious expression on my face. “If you did, it was an accident,” he insisted.
“That doesn’t mean I’m not responsible.”
“Bay ... .” He looked as if he didn’t know whether he should dote on me or chastise me.
“We have to visit Todd.” There was no way around that. “If he’s been taken over, then it’s my job to fix this.”
“How are you going to do that?”
It was a good question. “I have no idea.”
“Then we’ll play it by ear.” He rested his forehead against mine. “It’s going to be okay.”
He couldn’t say that with any degree of certainty. He would believe it because he likely figured it was necessary for me. He looked as worried as I felt.
“We should head out now.” I opted for stoicism. If I fell apart, he would, too. “We need to check him out. We should’ve been monitoring him more closely the whole time.”
“We didn’t want to be close to him,” Landon pointed out. “We figured if we spent too much time watching him that people would get suspicious. There was a method to our madness.”
“We still have to make sure.”
He nodded. “Okay.” His lips were warm against mine when he offered me a brief kiss. “Please don’t blame yourself for this. It’s not your fault.”
It felt like my fault. Still, there was no reason to assign blame ... at least not yet. “Let’s head to town. We should probably take separate vehicles in case we have to split up.”
He didn’t look keen on the idea.
“Bay ... .”
“It’s fine,” I said. “I’m not going to melt down.” I mostly meant it. I could, however, promise nothing.
“I’ll follow you.” He grabbed my hand before I could walk away from him. “No matter what, this isn’t your fault.”
I really hoped that was true.
I PARKED AT THE NEWSPAPER OFFICE AND met Landon at the festival. He’d parked his vehicle in front of the police station, exchanged several words with Chief Terry, and then headed directly for me. I was already leaning against the fence watching Todd when he caught up.
“Do you see anything?” he asked after a few seconds of silence.
“No, but that doesn’t necessarily mean anything. I’m hardly an expert at identifying shades that have taken root in people.”
“Okay.” He stared hard at Todd. “I guess we need to talk to him.”
I could think of at least a hundred things I would’ve preferred to do. “That’s the only thing we can do.”
He linked his fingers with mine and fell into step with me. “If he’s gross, I’m going to pop him one. You’ve been warned.”
I wasn’t opposed to Todd getting a fist to the face. As we closed the distance, I watched him. He seemed normal, smiling and waving at guests, but now that I knew he had a thing for teenagers I found everything he did disgusting.
“There’s my favorite couple.” Todd beamed when he saw us. “You haven’t been by in weeks. Usually I can count on you two sneaking into the booth at least every other festival, but I think it’s been three since you’ve stopped by.”
“We’ve been making out at home,” Landon said with a smile. I knew it wasn’t a real one but Todd either didn’t notice or didn’t care.
“Yes, but the booth is specially designed for lovers.” He moved his hands up and down, as if trying to sell us something great. “This is the booth to end all booths. How long do you guys want in there?”
I hesitated and then shook my head. “Actually, we’re not here for the booth today.”
“Oh, no?” Todd waved at a pair of tourists walking behind us. “That’s too bad. I particularly like when Landon loads up on elephant ears and chases you into the booth.”
There was an edge to his words, but his smile remained friendly.
“We’re here to talk to you,” Landon said. “We talked to a few guests last night, individuals staying at the Overlook. They mentioned that you weren’t in the best of spirits when they were here yesterday.”
Todd frowned. “Did they say I was unpleasant? I’m never unpleasant.”
“They mentioned that you were talking to yourself.”
Todd snorted. “I wasn’t talking to myself. I was trying to get my new earpiece to work. It’s Bluetooth and it’s very particular.”
“Why would you need an earpiece?” I asked. “Since when is that part of the deal here?”
“Since Margaret Little, that witch, decided we all needed to be available to her twenty-four hours a day.”
I was caught off guard. “What?”
“Haven’t you heard? She doesn’t think the festivals are organized well enough so she created this phone channel that we all have to check in on once an hour. If she feels that we’re not working fast enough, or if there’s a gap in the festival offerings, she barks at us through the earpiece.” As if to prove it, he pulled out a blue earbud. “She made us buy these. They weren’t cheap.”
I took the earbud and frowned at it. “I hadn’t heard.”
“And you were talking on this yesterday?” Landon challenged. “The guests we talked to said you were acting evil.”
“Have you ever talked to Margaret Little? The woman is nothing but evil. I told her the earbuds were a bad idea. It’s like being haunted but by people who are alive. I don’t want to talk to her on a normal day. When I’m busy with work, I especially don’t want to talk to her. I was probably snapping at her.”
Landon flicked his eyes to me. “Well, that is ... understandable.”
“It is,” I agreed.
“She’s a pain. I might’ve called her a witch, which isn’t professional, but the tourists can hardly complain about that given where we are.” Todd retrieved the earbud. “I’m sorry the guests were upset. I didn’t realize anybody heard me. I was trying to be discreet.”
“Mrs. Little doesn’t do discreet,” I mused.
“She doesn’t. She’s looking at a mutiny. We didn’t agree to make her the boss.”
I looked to the left where a hint of movement had caught my eye. There, Amelia stood watching us, her expression dark. She didn’t even try to hide her disgust. There was anger reflected in her eyes, outright hatred positively rolling off her. Todd seemed oblivious to her.
Landon’s hand moved to my back as he followed my gaze, his fingers stiff as they trailed up and down my spine. “Well, it sounds like it was just a mistake then.” His smile was wan. “We were just checking that there wasn’t something wrong.”
“Nothing is wrong,” he reassured us. “I am sorry that I put off some of the guests. I’ll make sure not to do that again.”
“That would be great.” I tugged on Landon’s belt loop. He needed no prodding. Amelia was our next stop.
“Have a good day.” Landon offered up half a wave as he fell into step with me. “Do you think it’s her?” he asked in a low voice when we were clear of Todd.
“She’s been acting weird. If she’s not working with the shades, or taken over by them, she’s involved some other way. We have to talk to her.”
“Do you think she’ll run? I’m too hungover to chase a teenager.”
“I thought you were a prime piece of beef.”
“I am, but Aunt Tillie’s wine makes me feel young when I’m drinking it and old when I’m recovering ... like ‘hand me my cane’ old. I need a day to get back to my normal self.”
The picture he painted made me laugh. “You’ll be sexy even when you need a cane.”
“Without a doubt,” he agreed. “I’m the sexiest of the sexy.”
Amelia had drifted to the corner of the street, positioning herself in front of the Unicorn Emporium. Her gaze was defiant as she regarded us.
“Amelia.” Landon had his FBI face in place as he stood in front of her. “Where are your cohorts today?”
“Who would that be?” Amelia asked blankly.
“Sophia and Emma,” I provided. “I never see you without them.”
“We’re hardly joined at the hip,” she said dryly.
“You are ... or you were,” I corrected. “Maybe something has changed in the last few weeks to upset the dynamics of your group.”
Amelia’s eyes narrowed. A chill ran down my spine. She was no longer hiding behind feigned innocence. She wanted me to know that there was more to her. I reached forward and clapped my hands on either side of her head.
“What are you doing?” She immediately began struggling. “Stop that!”
Landon lobbed a panicked look over his shoulder. After a few seconds, I released Amelia and took a shaky step back.
“Well?” Landon prodded.
I felt sick to my stomach, and only part of it was remnants of the hangover. “She remembers,” I said hollowly.
“Did you think I didn’t?” Amelia’s eyes flashed with fire. “Seriously? Did you think I didn’t remember what you did to me?”
“Is she one of them?” Landon demanded. “Does she have a shade inside of her?”
Amelia’s expression changed in an instant. “What are you talking about?”
“There’s no shade in her,” I said, letting loose a shaky breath. “She’s all teenager ... and altogether angry.”
“Can you blame me?” Amelia’s tone ratcheted up to shrill. “You messed with my mind. You ... changed who I was.”
“Look, you didn’t just do a bad thing. You’re a bad person. I saw that in your head at Hollow Creek that night. You’re lucky we let you off as easily as we did.”
“What could you have done to m
e that was worse?” she demanded.
“We could’ve killed you.” Even I was surprised at how chilling my voice sounded.
Amelia swallowed hard. “We didn’t do anything.”
“You hurt Marcus,” Landon shot back. “You tried to hurt Bay and her family. You were going to hurt your own families. You’re not some innocent teenager playing harmless games with her friends, so stop acting like you are.”
Amelia’s lower lip jutted out. “I just want to live my life.”
“Actions have consequences,” Landon argued. “You hurt people. You tried to paint yourself as a victim when you were behind everything. You wanted to position Todd Lipscomb as your sacrificial lamb, which would’ve ruined his life.”
“He’s a pervert. I don’t care about protecting perverts.”
“And I don’t care about protecting sociopaths,” Landon seethed. “I would’ve been fine if they ended you at that creek. Bay wasn’t okay with it, though. You owe your life to her.”
“I don’t owe her anything.” Amelia crossed her arms over her chest, defiant. “She ruined my life. She messed with my mind. As soon as I figure out a way to make her pay, I will.”
“Does that mean you have nothing to do with the shade problem now?” I demanded.
“I don’t even know what you’re talking about,” Amelia growled. “Why would I care about curtains?”
My stomach clenched as I studied her closer. “She’s not possessed, and I don’t know that she’s part of this.”
“We saw her,” Landon insisted. “She was watching when you were attacked yesterday. She had to be part of it. There’s no other explanation.”
There was one other explanation. “She was drawn by the magic.” I understood at least part of it now. “You sensed the darkness in the shades. You’ve also been spying on us, maybe going so far as to visit the inn.”
“You took my magic,” Amelia hissed.
I chuckled. “You took magic that didn’t belong to you and used it to harm people. That magic was never yours. It always belonged to us.”
“It was mine,” Amelia insisted. “I was going to use it to get out of this stupid town. You made sure that wouldn’t happen. You ruined my life.”
Prelude to a Witch Page 23