by Morgana Best
To add to the already brooding atmosphere, a shaft of lightning lit up the room, followed soon after by a tumultuous crack of thunder.
Sam jumped. “Sounds like a big storm is coming this way,” he said with a nervous laugh.
“We get storms here in Lighthouse Bay most nights at this time of year,” Aunt Agnes said. “They pass soon, though.”
I could feel Scorpius’s eyes on me. I just wanted this night to be over. It didn’t help that Sam had moved his chair a little closer to mine. Aunt Agnes shot me a warning look, but I wasn’t able to decipher it. The air was ripe with tension. The storm had brought with it that feeling of crackling electricity that storms sometimes bring. The hair stood up on the back of my neck, and I wiped my palms on my skirt.
“Do storms make you nervous?” Scorpius said, his eyes as unfathomable as ever.
“No, but I haven’t had an easy time lately,” I said truthfully. I held his gaze for as long as I could, and then I had to look away. I don’t know why, but I had the feeling that he would like to rip me to shreds, that he saw me as prey. I knew the thought was fanciful, but there was just something about him.
I could see Lucas was still keeping one eye on me, but I was trying not to look at him. It was clear to me that he saw Scorpius as a threat. Sure, he had already told me explicitly that Scorpius was, but I could see for myself his reaction to him. Did Lucas think I was in direct harm’s way from Scorpius just because I was Linda’s friend? I had so many questions to ask Lucas, but I knew I wouldn’t get the opportunity, not until this was all over.
I didn’t suppose the police were making any headway, given that this was a paranormal matter. Or was it? Sure, Scorpius seemed to think so, but Lucas thought Scorpius was something of a fanatic. Perhaps the murderer was a non-vampire, non-Shifter after all, someone like Harry, Marianne Compton, or—what was that antique dealer’s name? I would have to do some investigating.
The conversation had broken into groups, as conversations usually do, but that left me in the unfortunate position of being in a two-person group with Sam. He was giving me the third degree. “What brought you to Lighthouse Bay?” he asked me.
“My aunts invited me.” I thought giving short answers would put him off, but that didn’t prove to be the case.
“Why did they ask you?” he said.
“Are you sure you’re not a journalist?” I then softened my remark with a smile when I realised that Scorpius was listening to our conversation. I could see that Lucas, too, was listening to our conversation, even though he was speaking to Aunt Maude. Aunt Agnes and Aunt Dorothy were telling Scorpius the history of Lighthouse Bay, specifically, the shipwrecks that had happened near Mugwort Manor in the last century.
“You mustn’t get much time to yourself, managing a big place like this,” Sam said.
I smiled winningly at him, solely for Scorpius’s benefit. “My aunts are here full-time. I simply help them.”
Sam raised his eyebrows. “I thought you were the manager?”
I shrugged. “Yes, but the four of us work here full-time. I mainly oversee things, do the website, and keep an eye on the accounts.”
“And redecorate the cottages.”
I laughed, a genuine laugh this time. “Yes, that’s true.” I caught Lucas’s eye, and then looked away immediately.
“You need some time off,” Sam said.
I frowned, knowing where this was going. “I enjoy my time working here,” I said.
“Come to dinner with me tomorrow night,” Sam said with one of his winks. I could feel Scorpius’s eyes burning into me, and hesitated. “I don’t know if I should be dating boarders,” I said. “I could have dinner with you as a friend.”
Sam seemed to think that my words were uproariously funny. He threw back his head and laughed. I wondered if he was a Shifter, a horse Shifter, because he sounded like a large horse when he laughed, and he looked like one, too. All he had to do was stomp his foot to complete the picture. “It’s a date,” he said, rather too loudly.
I saw Lucas’s shoulders stiffen, but he continued speaking to Aunt Maude.
I rubbed my temples, and wished I could have a good long drink of Witches’ Brew, along with a couple of Nurofen.
After an interval, Sam stood up. “Thank you for the hospitality, ladies. That was a delightful evening.” He winked at me and then winked at my aunts. They glared at him in response. “I’ve had a long day, so I must take my leave. Now, is it safe for me to walk back to my cottage, in light of the recent unpleasant events?” His manner was light-hearted, but I’m sure he was serious. And I could not blame him for that.
“I’m sure you’ll be perfectly safe,” Aunt Maude said, in a tone that made it clear it had only just occurred to her that he mightn’t be.
“I’ll walk with you,” Scorpius said. “Thank you, ladies, for dinner.” I wondered if he was seeing whether Lucas would stay behind, and Lucas must have been thinking the same thing, because he, too, stood up. “I’ll walk with you both,” he said. “Good night, ladies. Thank you for a wonderful dinner and the company.” He did not so much as look at me, but how could he, with Scorpius standing right there.
The aunts and I plastered smiles across our faces. Aunt Agnes escorted them back through the house and let them out the back door. It was raining lightly now, and Hecate ran out. “Come back here, you naughty cat,” Aunt Agnes called after her. “You’ll come back into the house with wet paws.”
“I didn’t see her once all night,” I said.
Aunt Agnes stood looking out the door for a while and then shut it and bolted it. She motioned us all away from the door. “That’s because she doesn’t like the look of that horrible man.”
“Which one?” I asked with one eyebrow raised.
Aunt Dorothy looked confused, but before she could speak, Aunt Agnes did. “Let’s go back to the living room. Everyone, take a goblet and I’ll fetch some Witches’ Brew from the secret stash. We have matters to discuss, and secret matters are always best discussed over Witches’ Brew and in front of a crackling fire.”
Aunt Dorothy, Aunt Maude, and I checked that the curtains were well and truly drawn in case Scorpius doubled back and tried to peep through the windows at us. Soon we were sitting in a row in front of the fire, sipping, or in my case, gulping, Witches’ Brew. Oh, that felt good.
Aunt Dorothy was the first to speak. “Do you like that strange but good-looking young man, Valkyrie?”
I laughed. “Goodness gracious me, no. I think he’s a bit of a sleaze.”
She interrupted me. “But why did you agree to have dinner with him tomorrow night?”
Aunt Agnes rolled her eyes. “Dorothy, sometimes I wonder about you. Valkyrie did that to throw Scorpius Everyman off the track, so he wouldn’t know there was a thing between her and Lucas.”
I was about to protest that there wasn’t a thing between me and Lucas, but considered there were more pressing matters at hand. “Do you think Harry Friar did it?”
Aunt Agnes leant forward. “It’s possible. Yet if he’s the murderer, then he’s a very good actor. I also think we should look into Joyce Batson and Marianne Compton. We should start tomorrow. There is no time to waste.”
“And when you’re having dinner with Sam Innis tomorrow night,” Aunt Dorothy said, “find out when he actually did come to town. We can’t discount him as a suspect, either. Perhaps he came to town a few days ago.”
I expected Aunt Agnes to rebuke Dorothy scornfully, but to my surprise, she did not. “You might have something there, Dorothy. That’s a good idea. Valkyrie, ply him with alcohol and get him to talk. Loose lips sink ships.”
I shrugged. “Okay.” I supposed it gave me a mission, apart from the obvious mission which would be to keep Sam Innis’s hands off me. “How are we going to find out any information about Harry Friar?”
Aunt Agnes stared off into the distance, and then gave a little jump when the fire made a popping sound. “Maude, did you put wet wood on the fire?
Is that wet wood, Maude?”
Maude hurried to assure her that it wasn’t.
“Harry Friar,” Aunt Agnes said thoughtfully. “The gossip should be circulating around town by now. You know what small country towns are like—they know what you’re doing before you even do it. Joseph Maxwell was a local, and Harry said his grandfather’s lawyer is Rod Watson. Valkyrie, tomorrow you and Linda should walk around town and find out the gossip.”
“But what about Joyce Batson and Joseph Maxwell’s wife, Marianne?” Aunt Maude said.
“If we don’t find anything incriminating on Harry Friar, then we can look to other suspects,” Aunt Agnes said. “But for now, we should all get some sleep. Valkyrie’s had a difficult time lately.”
I punctuated her remark with a rather large yawn. “Good night. I’ll go and let Hecate back in.”
The aunts hurried out of the room. “We’re just going to do another protection spell up in our altar room,” Aunt Agnes said over her shoulder.
I nodded. They had never invited me to do a spell with them in that room, and I had been in their altar room only rarely. The room had been forbidden to me as a child, and it was only after I returned to Lighthouse Bay that I discovered why. Not only was the room filled with potions and all other tools of spell work, but it also contained a cage in which they had kept at least one errant Shifter, and possibly vampires as well, over the years. Only the aunts knew, and they weren’t about to tell me. They were keeping me on a need-to-know basis.
I yawned again. My bed was beckoning to me. I still had aches and pains, not to mention all the bruises, from my recent escape. By the time I got to the back door, Hecate was already scratching on it furiously. “You naughty cat! You’re not allowed out after dark,” I said as I flung the door open. The cat flew past me, all her fur standing on end, and standing right there, illuminated dramatically by a blue flash of forked lightning, was Scorpius Everyman. I opened my mouth to scream, but in that sliver of time he clamped his hand over my mouth. I had not even seen him move.
“Sorry to startle you, Miss Jasper,” he said as he released his hand and took a step backwards.
I was trembling. “What do you want?” I said in a shaky voice. I was beyond terrified.
“I know what you are,” he said, his voice dripping with undisguised malice. “I know about your aunts.”
I had no suitable response, so just stood there, shaking. “We didn’t kill anyone,” I said. I was mortally afraid.
He took a step closer to me. The air stood still; it was as if I was suspended in a moment of time. “I know,” he said. “But choose your side wisely, Miss Jasper.”
I clutched the door post for support. “Linda didn’t kill anyone,” I said.
There was a flash of something across his face—anger? It was the first time his face had been anything but impassive. “You have bad taste in friends,” he said. “Consider your future, and whether or not you will have a future.”
“Is that a threat?” I squeaked.
“Yes,” he said simply. “Associates of murderers are judged the same as murderers. Choose your side, Miss Jasper.”
And with that, he was gone. I didn’t even see him move, but of course, I knew that vampires could move swiftly. I myself could move swiftly.
I shut the door and bolted it, and stood there, shaking, a mass of nerves. The man, if he was even a man, exuded pure malice. It was as if he had lost every vestige of humanity somewhere along the line. I hoped Lucas didn’t become like that. I would have to ask Lucas at some point if that was a Cleaner trait, or whether Scorpius was different. I suspected Scorpius was different.
It took me a moment or two to stop trembling, and then I headed for the foyer. I took the stairs two at a time, ran down the creepy corridor in the south wing, and banged on the door to the altar room.
Aunt Agnes pulled the door open. “Valkyrie, whatever is wrong?”
“Scorpius Everyman just paid me a visit.”
All three aunts wasted no time pouring into the corridor. I wondered if there was something in that room that they didn’t want me to see.
“Downstairs to the fire,” Aunt Agnes said in a commanding tone. “Maude, fetch another bottle of Witches’ Brew. Dorothy, you stoke the fire.”
Soon we were sitting in front of the fire, sipping Witches’ Brew, as we had done only minutes before. Hecate was sitting in front of the fire, licking her paws. “And I really thought he was about to kill me,” I concluded, disturbed to note that I was on the verge of tears.
“So he really thinks Linda is involved?” Aunt Agnes asked.
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak for the moment. “Yes, and he was warning us not to be involved with her. Like I said, he knows we’re vampires.”
“I wonder how he found out?” Aunt Dorothy said.
Aunt Maude’s face broke into a wide smile. “Look on the bright side! At least we don’t have to hide the Witches’ Brew anymore.”
I thought Aunt Agnes would reprimand her, but she simply agreed. “Well, that’s something to be grateful for, I suppose,” Agnes said. “We can assume that he thinks Linda is involved in the serial killings down south?”
I shrugged. “I suppose so. He didn’t really say anything; he was just full of threats.”
“That makes our position very difficult,” Aunt Agnes said. “Scorpius Everyman is no doubt keeping evidence from the police, since he is so convinced that Shifters have done this, and he himself suspects only Shifters. That leaves it to us to find out the truth.”
I thought over her words. “We won’t be able to find out the truth if this death was linked to the other deaths down south,” I said. “However, if this murder isn’t related, then we might be able to turn something up. We have to, for Linda’s sake.”
The aunts agreed.
Chapter 12
I was in Linda’s motel room the following morning, and I had just tried to break the news to her gently. Given that fact that she had turned stark white and was clutching at her throat, and her mouth was opening and shutting while she remained wordless, I don’t think I succeeded.
After some moments, Linda finally found her voice. “He really thinks I’m involved with the serial killings?”
I had no option but to say, “Yes. That’s how it seemed to me. But try not to worry—the aunts and I are going to find out who killed Joseph Maxwell. Aunt Agnes suggested that you and I go around town today and seek out any gossip about what Harry Friar inherited from his grandfather.”
Linda was white and trembling. I knew how she felt. “Linda, are you all right?”
She shook her head. “I feel really sick. I know you’re a new vampire, but I’ve been a Shifter for years and I know all about Cleaners. They won’t hesitate to kill, and they’re deadly. They’re a law unto themselves.”
“Well, we’re both still alive, so he can’t be all that bad,” I said in a forced cheerful tone. “His bark might be worse than his bite.”
Linda smiled wanly. “Is that a joke?”
I was puzzled for a moment, and then I smiled, too. “Oh, there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you. Are Cleaners always vampires? Or can they be Shifters, too?”
“They’re always vampires,” Linda said.
“Why is that?”
Linda shrugged and then shook her head. “You know, I have no idea. I’ve never really thought about it before. Anyway, let’s get going. I’ll go crazy if I sit around here worrying about Scorpius Everyman coming for me in the dead of night.”
I shuddered. “Well, let’s do something about it, and solve this murder.”
We first went to a little coffee shop on the edge of town, the one furthest away from the sea. Barry and Sue, the husband and wife team who owned it, were friendly and outgoing, and what’s more, they made very good coffee. Linda sat at a table near the window, while I ordered.
“I thought it would be crowded at this time of day,” I said in an attempt to start a conversation.
&nbs
p; “People might be scared away due to the latest murder,” Sue said.
I nodded. “Did you know I was the one who found Joseph Maxwell’s body?”
Sue leant closer to me. “Really?”
I figured she already knew, but I gave her some more information. “And his cousin, Harry Friar, is staying in one of the cottages at Mugwort Manor.” I lowered my tone to a conspiratorial whisper. “Did you know, he and his cousin didn’t get along. Their grandfather left everything to Joseph, and now that Joseph is dead, Harry will get everything.”
Sue nodded. “He’s an out of towner. He probably did it.”
“Do you mean for the inheritance?” I asked her.
Sue looked around the mostly empty coffee shop before speaking. “Yes, I heard it was a lot of money.”
“I heard his lawyer is Rod Watson.”
Sue nodded again, but then other customers came in and she turned to serve them.
I went back to Linda and relayed the information to her. “So where do we go from here?” Linda asked me. “We have his lawyer’s name, but we can hardly get any information from the lawyer.”
“We won’t need the lawyer,” I said with certainty. “This town will know exactly how much Harry Friar will be getting, now that Joseph Maxwell is dead. We just might have to drink a lot of coffee before we find out.”
“Have you spoken to Lucas?”
I shook my head. “No, sadly. The boarders’ dinner was super awkward last night, what with Lucas and Scorpius both there.”
Linda made a face. “I bet!”
I took a mouthful of coffee and swallowed before speaking. “Oh, and I forgot to tell you. There’s a new boarder, Sam Innis. He’s really good-looking, but I think he’s a bit of a sleaze. Plus he keeps winking at me. I’m having dinner with him tonight.”
Linda looked entirely confused. “Why on earth would you do that?”