Just Your Average Small Town Cult (Lainswich Witches Book 14)

by Raven Snow

  “Mom?” Rose recognized who it was before Rowen had a chance to. As soon as Rose spoke, she made the connection, though. She recognized Aunt Lydia’s long, gauzy skirt and the knit beanie she sometimes tucked her gray hair into on the morning commute.

  “What’s she doing here?” Rowen glanced to the clock on the wall as Rose stood to go unlock the door. Her aunt was usually up around this hour, sure, but roving around town? Odds & Ends didn’t even open this early.

  Lydia pushed her way in as soon as the door was unlocked. She pointed an accusing finger in Margo’s direction, paused briefly to apologize for shoving her daughter, then went right back to pointing. “What did you do?” she demanded.

  Margo had gone pale. She was a generally pale person when she hadn’t tanned recently. She didn’t spend a whole lot of time outside, and the time she did spend outdoors was spent slathered in sunscreen. She was paler than Rowen had ever seen her now. It was a sickly color, like she might throw up. She began to stand to better confront Lydia, but her legs were jelly beneath her. She got a few inches off the chair before sinking right back down into it.

  Rowen didn’t say anything. Suddenly, she was a kid again. She hadn’t seen Lydia this angry since Peony and Willow had been six and seven and lit whole handfuls of incense sticks on fire all at once with a pilfered lighter. They’d filled the whole upstairs with musky smelling smoke and set their toy box on fire trying to hide the evidence. Lydia had been a furious, motherly whirlwind then. There hadn’t been anything for Rowen to do but stand clear.

  “What did you do?” Lydia demanded again, close enough to look down at her niece now.

  Margo, it seemed, did not have the option of staying quiet. “What do you mean?” she asked, her words slow and careful. She was fishing for more information, not playing dumb. Margo did a lot of questionable things. At the moment, she was trying to figure out which one, specifically, had driven Lydia into a rage.

  “I was awakened in the middle of the night to just the worst kind of sound. I’d never heard it before. I didn’t know it was the worst sound in the world until I went and looked out my bedroom window.” Lydia stopped pointing and settled her hands on her hips. “Do you know what the sound was?”

  Lydia didn’t continue her story. She kept right on staring at Margo. It took a few seconds for Margo to realize her aunt wasn’t going to continue without a response. Margo swallowed, audibly. “What?”

  “A couple of teens were ripping up the garden. Do you know why?”

  Margo bit down on her bottom lip. “Why?” she asked, her voice a quiet thing that sounded like it should have come from someone else entirely.

  “Well, I didn’t know at first! So, I went and shook Reginald awake and hurried downstairs. He was yelling at me not to go alone while he pulled on his pants, but I didn’t care one bit. Those boys were ruining the garden! They weren’t going to get away with it on my watch! So, I went right out the door and caught them in the act. Those boys couldn’t have been much older than sixteen. One of them had a set of car keys in one hand, ready to make a get-away. I snatched the keys. Had to wrestle the kid a bit for them, but your old aunt is a lot stronger than she looks. Do you know what happened next?”

  Margo shook her head. Her gaze moved past Lydia and fell on Rose. Her eyes widened ever so slightly, as if willing her cousin for help. If any of them could calm down Lydia, it would probably be Rose.

  Lydia followed Margo’s gaze. She sidestepped to cut it off. “Well, I was having a word with those boys. Reginald came out too, and I could tell they were ready to run then. They probably would have had a truck not pulled up. Their dad was in it! Of course, I immediately distrusted the man. I mean, how did he find his kids that easily? He must have badmouthed us quite a bit at home if he could correctly deduce his children would be at our house in the middle of the night. I mean, really. Of all places.”

  Margo was looking down at the ground now. It looked like she had figured out where this story was going even if Rowen hadn’t. Rowen looked to Rose, but Rose was still staring transfixed at the exchange between her mother and aunt.

  “I was ready to call the police. I told the boys’ father as much. He politely asked me not to. I pointed out that the boys had ruined my garden and, as I found out a few moments later, spray painted some vulgar words on the side of the house. The boys started arguing that they hadn’t done anything wrong, and the dad didn’t really correct them and, well… I think you know where I’m going with this. Do you know why the boys and their father felt like the vandalism was justified?”

  Margo kept on looking at the floor. “Maybe…” Margo began. She clasped her hands together on top of her knees. “Maybe because of something I said to the mother yesterday?” she ventured.

  Realization hit Rowen like an elbow to the face. “Margo, you didn’t.”

  Lydia nodded. “I didn’t recognize the name Natalie at first. I had to ask quite a few questions before I caught on.”

  “You said you didn’t listen to Natalie!” Rowen blurted. She wanted to stay quiet. Lydia clearly had a handle on this. It was difficult to hold her tongue, though.

  “Someone had to do it!” Margo snapped, finally looking up from the floor. “You know, you should be thanking me, Rowen. You were the one who promised her you would say all that stuff to her sister in the first place! You didn’t want to do what you had promised, and you weren’t willing to force her to leave. What were you going to do, let her haunt us all forever?”

  Rowen opened her mouth to argue, but shut it when Lydia looked her way. The blame was, at least, partly on her. She really shouldn’t have made Natalie promises she wasn’t willing to keep.

  “So, you went out and passed on a hateful message to some poor woman who had lost her sister,” said Lydia. “And then what?”

  “And then Natalie helped me locate some evidence! Really, everyone should be thanking me here. I did all that stuff for the greater good. It’s not like I got anything out of it. Geez. Besides, Natalie’s sister wasn’t even all that torn up when I told her. She probably knew all that stuff already. Sometimes family hates each other. Big deal.”

  “It certainly is a big deal!” Lydia pointed her finger again and Margo bowed her head once more in shame. “It’s an especially big deal right after all that horrible business with the cult and someone robbing the shop. Do you want to turn this whole town against us?”

  The whole town of Lainswich was already against them. Rowen could tell that that was what Margo wanted to say. She didn’t. Instead she assumed a more repentant tone. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think that something like that would happen.”

  “Well, it did,” said Lydia. “And now you’re going to go try and make things right.”

  “How am I supposed to do that?”

  “She might just want to steer clear, Mom. I’m not sure they want to see her face back at their house again.”

  Lydia gave a little huff, like she had planned out a fitting punishment for Margo and hated it being derailed. She was about to say something when the door to the Inquirer opened and Eric walked in. “What the heck is going on?” he asked. “Why were you guys on the morning news?”

  Rowen cringed. She really wished he hadn’t said that. Even Rose took a step back from the others, trying to distance herself from this new area of conversation.

  Lydia turned to face Eric. “What?” she asked. “Who was on the morning news?”

  “Oh.” It looked like Eric was only just now noticing that Lydia was there. He had likely seen the lights on and assumed it was Rowen and maybe one or two of her cousins inside. He hadn’t planned for Lydia. “I was… ah—” Eric floundered for what to say next. His eyes darted to his wife. “I was just watching the news,” he finished, lamely.

  Lydia went to the flat screen mounted on the wall. She cursed as she groped around the side of the thing for an on switch. The remote control was sitting on Willow’s desk in plain sight, but no one pointed it out to her. Lydia got the thing on b
y herself regardless. It was already on Channel 2, unfortunately.

  “Oh, good,” said Rowen, seeing that they were just in time to catch footage of Rowen tackling Margo into a bush.

  “What in the world?” Lydia took a step back, like some distance would help what she was seeing make sense.

  “Margo got arrested last night,” Rowen blurted. She did not want to get on Lydia’s bad side right now. “We went to go meet her this morning and she ran, so I caught her and brought her here.”

  Margo glared at her cousin like she’d just committed the ultimate betrayal. “This is the thanks I get for helping. I see how it is. Well, don’t come crying to me next time you need a hand. And you all complain that I don’t pull my weight. Please.”

  “Do we need to get you a lawyer?” asked Lydia. “Have you spoken with a lawyer? How bad is this?”

  Rowen backed away toward the door. Rose and Eric came with her. There wasn’t a whole lot that could be done here. “We’ll give you your privacy,” she mumbled as they slipped outside.

  “This is a mess,” Rose said as soon as they were outdoors.

  The sun was up now. The morning was cool. Rowen could smell the sub place down the street baking their bread for the day. Her stomach grumbled. She’d been up for a few hours now. It was no wonder she was hungry. “What do you say we grab some coffee and figure out what to do next?” No one argued with that.

  Chapter Ten

  The day felt a little less daunting once Rowen had eaten a muffin and had her second coffee drink. She sat in the corner booth of the nearest coffee shop with Rose and, together, they filled Eric in on everything that had happened. Behind them, Rowen was dimly aware that Channel 2 had talked about Margo and replayed the footage of Rowen’s tackle at least once. She was getting some fleeting looks from the young barista working the register.

  “I really didn’t mean to get anyone in trouble,” said Eric, folding his own muffin wrapper into smaller and smaller squares. “I didn’t even know Lydia was there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her that angry… or angry at all.”

  “She means well,” said Rose.

  “It’s not your fault,” said Rowen. She groaned. Now that they were on the subject of whose fault it was for what, she realized she had some lingering guilt of her own. “I really should have seen this coming.”

  “What do you mean?” asked Rose.

  “The Natalie stuff. I really should have done something about Natalie before now.” Rowen put an elbow on the table and leaned her head into her hand. “When it comes right down to it, it’s basically my fault she was able to con Margo like she did.”

  “At least she’s gone now,” offered Eric. “I don’t have to leave those home renovation shows on for her anymore, so there’s that.” Rowen gave his shin a light kick under the table.

  “You don’t know that she was manipulated,” said Rose. “I mean, what if she’s right? What if that kid and some of his friends really are responsible for all of this?”

  “You said we shouldn’t bring that to the cops,” Rowen reminded her.

  Rose glanced around the coffee shop before lowering her voice. “Then maybe we should talk to the kid.”

  “What?” Rowen couldn’t believe what she was hearing. This coming from Rose of all people? They had interviewed kids before without the permission of the parents, and she had jumped down their throats.

  Rose gave a small shrug, her cheeks coloring with the faintest of pinks as she looked down at her coffee cup. “I dunno. Maybe it’s a stupid idea. It’s probably a stupid idea, but… Well, I figure we’re screwed either way here, right? We might as well look into it from a distance.”

  “You’ll have to make sure Channel 2 isn’t on your trail,” said Eric.

  “We have Margo to distract her,” said Rose. “Plus, there’s the tricentennial tomorrow. Channel 2’s focus will be on that.”

  “Will it?” Rowen wasn’t so sure. “Julia might want a word with the Waite family after what Margo did.”

  Rose opened her mouth as if to suggest something else, but only a sigh came out. She sagged in the booth, her short stature growing shorter the more discouraged she got. “Well, we need to try something.”

  Rowen nodded in agreement. “I’ll see what I can do,” she stated, firmly. “You take care of things here, and I’ll… I’ll see what I can find out about the kid.”

  “God, that sounds shady.” Eric turned to look at his wife. Rowen knew the look well. It was the kind of look he gave her when he wanted to be alone so they could have an argument.

  “Are you sure?” Rose asked, sitting up straight again. “It was my idea. I should do it or at least go with you.”

  “No way. I’ve gotten into trouble before, and I’ll get into trouble again. It’s less of a potential mess if I go.”

  “You can’t go alone.”

  “No,” agreed Eric, still giving Rowen that look of his. “She can’t.”

  Rowen considered her options. “Willow,” she decided out loud. “I’ll take Willow with me.”

  “Nonsense, I’ll go with you,” said Eric.

  “I know for a fact you have work to do. Besides, we can’t both end up in prison. Who would take care of Chester?” Rowen could see that her joke had not been appreciated. She gave her husband a pat on the hand. “Seriously, though. You have work to do. Plus, you look kinda threatening. I’m not sure you coming with us to talk to the kid wouldn’t just make us look more suspicious.”

  Eric wasn’t happy about it, but he relented. There wasn’t a whole lot else he could do. Rowen had made up her mind, for better or worse.

  ***

  Willow was receptive to the idea of a field trip. That was no surprise. Things had been pretty gloomy for the Greensmiths these last few days. Solving a crime was exciting and held the potential to fix some of those gloomy problems. Well, either that or it would make new ones.

  “I didn’t realize this would be the first course of action,” said Willow, sinking low in her seat when kids started pouring out the front doors of Lainswich High. “What if one of those rent-a-cops sees us. We’re not supposed to be here. We don’t have a tag to park here. We don’t have kids that go here. We don’t have kids!”

  “Calm down.” Rowen had never known Willow to get nervous this easily. She frowned at her cousin. “What’s up with you?”

  “I hate this place,” she said, simply.

  Rowen couldn’t blame her there. She wasn’t sure any Greensmith had been crazy about their school experience. Teens were the worst. The bullying had gotten pretty bad. She and all her cousins had been in different years. That had made things even more difficult. “We won’t be here long,” Rowen assured her. “And worst-case scenario we get kicked out of here, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

  Seniors walked out among the cars. Rowen tried to look past them. She tried to keep an eye out for Lucas. Unfortunately, there were a bunch of kids sporting a lot of black and piercings. She couldn’t really tell one from another. She didn’t even know if Lucas had a car. She didn’t think he did. She hadn’t seen a third car in the driveway, and he probably wouldn’t be driving his dad’s. Did his mother pick him up? Rowen looked for him among the car riders, but again she had no luck. Maybe this had been a mistake after all.

  “Is that him?” asked Willow, pointing.

  Rowen turned to look. Sure enough, there he was. He had on a black t-shirt and baggy black pants. His hair was all messy and in his eyes. He was walking to an old junker of a car that didn’t look to be his own. A boy with a red mohawk and a girl with a pixie cut were standing in front of it. Rowen watched as Lucas shoved his hand into his pants pocket and pulled out a wad of cash. He handed it to Mohawk.

  Mohawk counted out the bills. He pulled out a wallet on a chain and shoved the cash into that as soon as he was finished. All three of them got into the car after that. Rowen chewed at the skin on her bottom lip. Were those kids his friends? What they heck was he paying them for?
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  “Follow them,” said Willow, like Rowen actually needed to be told that. She was already starting the engine and pulling out.

  A horn honked as a teen’s car flew by. Rowen swore and began to pull out again. This time, she nearly got hit by the car directly behind her flying out of their parking space. “What is wrong with these kids?”

  “They’re kids. They can’t drive. Don’t you remember high school?”

  “I guess.” Rowen looked out across the parking lot, trying to see if Lucas and those other kids had pulled out. She was going to lose them at this rate. They were waiting in line to pull out on the road. “Fine,” she grumbled before laying on her horn and pulling out. “Keep an eye on him,” she told Willow as she did her best to make it out of the parking lot.

  ***

  The chase calmed down once they were about a mile from the school. The teens still sped, but so did a lot of cars on the road. It wasn’t difficult to tail behind them. The problem soon became worrying when and if they’d notice that they were being followed. They had been driving for a while. They were leaving Lainswich behind entirely.

  “I think they’re headed for Tarricville,” Willow had said when they pulled onto the highway.

  Rowen was inclined to agree. Tarricville appeared to be precisely where they were going. But why? The kid was staying in a hotel in Lainswich right now, last Rowen had heard. He had family in Tarricville, but going with your friends seemed like an odd way to visit them. They could be going to the movies. There was a nice theater in Tarricville; it was a lot nicer than the one they had in Lainswich. Maybe that’s where they were going— though, if that were the case, why had Lucas paid those kids beforehand? That made it look like they weren’t his friends at all.

  It was another thirty minutes before the car finally slowed. They had pulled into a residential area, which had made things especially awkward for Rowen. She had done her best to keep a car or two between them the whole way here. Now they were the only two cars on this particular road.

  The homes in the area were nice, upper middle-class ones. “Do his grandparents live here?” asked Willow.