by E. M. Moore
“It. Went. Well.” She eyed me. “Well, that sums it all up. Come on, did you guys figure out who killed that poor girl, or what?”
I shook my head. “No, we went to see an ex-boyfriend.”
She blew on her tea, already nodding at the information I gave her. “It’s always the ex-boyfriend. They’re crazy.”
I smirked. “Yeah, I don’t know about this one though. I know he’s a piece of crap. Cheated on his girlfriend back home—who he has a baby with, by the way—and now he’s back with her because Taylor broke up with him. The girlfriend hid in the closet when we came in.”
“That’s…troubling. Do you think they teamed up to take her out?”
I dropped my head to the side. I was trying to take her question seriously, but when she used phrases like ‘take her out’, it was difficult. “Jackson’s not sure yet. He wants to take a better look at the Wicca aspect of the case. The boyfriend said he and Taylor used to go to weekly meetings. You ever heard of anything like that?”
“Salem State, right?” she asked. I nodded, and she put her coffee mug down in front of her. “Well, I know where we’re going tonight.” She stood and pushed the chair back into the table. “You ready?”
“We didn’t even finish our tea.”
“No time for that. We’ve got stuff to do, murders to solve, suspects to harass.”
I got up out of my seat, still not sold on the idea. “I’m pretty sure Jackson would hate it if we said we were harassing suspects.”
“It’s just a figure of speech.” She checked her watch. “Come on, we got to go. Bring a Pop-Tart or something to eat on the way.”
I pulled on the cupboard door of my snack cabinet and picked out two foil pouches. Throwing one to Mel, I followed her down the steps as we made our way to Mel’s car. “Where are we headed?” I asked.
“A place by the college. It’s a spiritualist shop that hosts weekly get-togethers. That’s got to be where they met to talk about Wicca. Who knows what we’ll find there.”
Mel drove us right to the curb of a one-story building. It was a little worse for wear, but none of that fazed her. She turned the car off, threw open her door, and was immediately on her feet and headed toward the front entrance. I popped the rest of the Pop-Tart in my mouth and brushed the crumbs off my shirt.
If we thought we were going to have to persuade people into talking about Taylor, we were wrong. As soon as we went into the backroom the lady at the front desk pointed us toward, she was the talk of the meeting.
“Poor Taylor,” one girl sobbed. “I really liked her.”
“I thought you said she smelled like hickory incense, and the tone in her voice bothered you?” the girl with the blond streaks asked.
The crying girl shrugged. “She was a good person.”
They didn’t even acknowledge us when we walked in. We took seats on the floor in a small circle and let them lead. The hardest part was pretending as if I was still in college.
“Remember when she asked us to lend energy to her positivity stone. Like, who wanted to do that?”
I cringed inwardly. Already I got the feeling that these were just people who liked the idea of being able to manipulate magic but were just messing around. Sometimes messing around wasn’t good. They could inadvertently do something they’d never be able to retract. I hoped nothing like that had happened to Taylor.
“We’re new this semester,” Mel said, butting right in and being her bubbly self. Well, her fake bubbly self.
I stared at her, my eyes popping out of my head. I was just going to sit back and listen, but she’d gone and screwed that up.
Forcing a smile to her face, Mel continued. “I feel awful. We didn’t know her at all. Did you guys, like, really know her?”
The girl who’d been crying nodded. “Yes. She came to this group all the time.”
The other girl who’d call her out last time called her out again. “She came some of the time.”
The crying girl glared at her. “Yes, she came with her boyfriend. What was his name? Richard?”
“Reggie,” the other girl clarified.
It was obvious this girl with the long straight hair with blond streaks was the only one who really knew what she was talking about. People loved drama so much, they created it around them even when it wasn’t warranted.
“Oh, wow,” Mel said. “She had a boyfriend? That’s terrible. He must be distraught.”
“Well, they’d already broken up,” crying girl said. “A month or so ago. I just know they both stopped coming, and then I saw Richard in the hallway one day and asked what happened. He said she dumped him. He was always kind of weird to me, so I didn’t blame her.”
“What were they working on?” Mel asked, gesturing toward everyone’s little spells in front of them. When they didn’t answer, she smiled. “We used to go to meetings like this at our old school too.”
“Mostly spells like good fortune, reputation, being positive and kind.”
My stomach clenched. I hated that someone who was all about positivity had been killed. It was terrible. She would’ve had such a nice impact on the world, yet she was taken away so early.
“Did you guys hear how they found her?” a guy spoke up. When we all looked at him, his eyebrows furrowed, and his voice dropped a few octaves. “Gallows Hill.” He drew out the word for affect. “I heard she was naked, coated in blood, and there was a dead deer at her feet.”
Mel looked at me, stunned. I lifted my shoulders slightly. I really didn’t know. Jackson hadn’t let me see the body, not that I wanted to, anyway. I was pretty sure I didn’t see a deer though.
“With a pentagram,” one girl added.
Mel made a very amused, very unladylike noise. Then, she looked around. “It’s a good thing pentagrams aren’t evil. That would be terrifying if it were.” They all just blinked at her, so she continued. “Man, I didn’t see any of that on the news.”
“Me either,” another girl said.
“Well, they’re keeping it low-key, of course, until they can find out who did it,” the boy said.
“I heard the cops came to talk to Richard today,” the girl with the blonde-streaks said.
“Yeah, and Sue, one of my friends who is friends with someone on his floor said that the detective was super-hot.”
My eyes widened, and Mel coughed. She hid a smile, but the shock had literally taken her breath from her. All she could do was double over and wait for the coughing fit to end.
When she sat up straight, tears glistened in the corners of her eyes. “Sorry about that. Wrong pipe.”
The blonde girl clapped her hands together. “Well, let’s get started, shall we?”
Mel and I sat back as they did a poor job calling upon the gods and goddesses. Mel had another coughing fit during this time. She was a terrible actress, and she was about to get us exiled from this group. Afterward, though, they pulled out a book. It was older looking, ripped binding, and smelled of dust. My heart twinged at the thought of a book being treated so poorly, but there wasn’t anything I could do unless I wanted to give us away.
They opened the book, revealing a grimoire. It was an old one, too. The spells in it were legit, it was just that they weren’t skilled enough to do them. One day, if they stuck with it, they might, but it wasn’t just about the spells and ingredients when you were a Wiccan, you had to have true belief. And true belief didn’t just mean you wanted something to happen, you had to believe in the religious aspect of it too. These guys didn’t. They were just a group that got together that loved the idea of witchcraft, nothing more.
Seeing as we were “new”, we deferred to them and their spells without trying any of our own. We didn’t want to do anything tonight, magic-wise. When they called the meeting to a close, they immediately started talking about “poor Taylor” again, but not saying anything they hadn’t already said.
So far, I could say unilaterally that any “magic” going on in this group wasn’t enough to affect Ta
ylor in any way. She was safe from these guys, but that didn’t mean she hadn’t sought power on her own or without Reggie.
Other than that college students liked to gossip a lot, not a whole lot was gleamed from this foray into undercover detective work. The only thing that made it worthwhile was Mel’s reaction. She giggled like a schoolgirl on our way back to the apartments. “Oh, my Goddess, that was fun. I mean, they were totally clueless, but we were pretending to be college kids, and they didn’t even call us out on it. Here I thought I was getting crow’s feet. Apparently, that’s not true.” She lifted her hand to give me a high five. I couldn’t deny her. I gave her a half-hearted one at best, but she didn’t even notice. She was on cloud nine, or cloud nine-hundred and ninety-nine with how high she was.
“We’re going to have to do that again.”
“I’ll tell Jackson you’re up for any kind of undercover work he wants to send your way.”
She elbowed me in the ribs. “I’d like to go undercover with him. What’d you think about that girl saying Jackson was hot? I about died.”
My face flamed red. Jackson was good looking. Very good looking. I shrugged, not wanting to give anything away.
“Oh, come on,” Mel said. “I’m your sister, you don’t have to keep stuff like that from me. It looked like you ate a sour grape when she said that.
“It’s just that they’re clearly too young for him. That’s all.”
“That’s all?” she prodded. “You weren’t a little jealous?”
“Mel…”
Mel was silent a moment. When we pulled up in front of the house, she sighed. “I was just joking, Maddie, but…I think you should be able to admit to yourself, and anyone else, if you think Jackson is good looking. It won’t offend Derek, or anyone who loved Derek. I swear to you.”
I shifted in the seat, trying not to get the same uncomfortable feeling I did when anyone mentioned Derek’s name. For so long, he’d been off-limits, but I was trying to grow and get better. “I know.”
She turned toward me. “You say that, but I don’t think you truly mean it.” She pulled the keys out of the ignition and squeezed them in her fist. “You knew Derek way better than the rest of us, but he loved Jackson too. I can’t imagine he’d be mad if the two people he loved most in the world got together. It wouldn’t be a stain upon his name or some crap, it would almost be in honor of him.”
My stomach tightened. I still hadn’t gotten over everything with Derek, and I probably never would, but if this were just a few months ago, Mel and I would’ve probably started fighting at this point. Now, I could sit here and talk to her about this as an adult. “I’m not surprised she called Jackson good looking.”
“And…” Mel said, rolling her hand over between us to try to get me to open up even more. “Why aren’t you surprised?”
A picture of Jackson smiling flashed into my head. He had old-fashioned good looks with a strong jaw bone and dreamy eyes. “I’m not surprised because he is good looking.”
A genuine smile pulled Mel’s lips apart. Not a smile that said ‘I told you so’ or ‘Ha. I got you’, but just a genuine one. “Yes, he is. I think if you showed any kind of interest, he’d be right there next to you in a heartbeat.”
My stomach clenched. “Let’s not go there.”
Mel pushed open her car door. “Just think about it. That’s all.”
She rose from the car, and I got out after her. Following her up the steps, a calmness swept over me. I’d talked about Derek and hadn’t gotten upset or agitated. This was surprising considering the topic in which we discussed Jackson.
Relief flooded through me. I was getting better every day. Derek’s death wasn’t a memory to haunt me, but something to be honored and treasured.
Chapter Six
A knock came on the apartment door a little too early. Mel and I had stayed up way too late talking, something we hadn’t done in a very long time. It felt good. It felt human.
Maxie barked, but then whimpered. I threw the covers off me, pulled a robe over my shoulders and tiptoed toward the door. Maxie sat just in front of it, his tail swishing to and fro as he stared at the door. On the other side of that door stood Jackson. No, I couldn’t see through doors, but Jackson was cooing to Maxie from the stairwell.
A smile peeled my lips apart. Maxie heard me coming and moved to all fours, prancing in front of the door as I unlocked the deadbolt and then opened it. As soon as I opened it, a flash of panic hit me. I hadn’t even checked my face in the mirror. What if my hair was a rat’s nest, or I had killer morning breath? Jackson didn’t flinch at the sight of me or anything, so I figured I must have looked somewhat presentable. I pulled the robe tighter and tied it off while he leaned down to pet Max. The cute dog was all too obliged to lay down and roll onto his back, revealing his belly.
“I told you he missed you,” I said, smiling down at the two of them.
Jackson smiled up at me, then stood. “Sorry it’s so early.”
I checked the clock in the kitchen. It really wasn’t all that early. If it wasn’t my day off from the library, I would’ve already been up. “It’s fine,” I said. “Want some coffee?”
He checked his watch.
“You have to be somewhere?” I asked, noticing his reaction.
“Kind of,” he said, shrugging. He came in, closing the door behind him and led the way into the kitchen. “We have to be somewhere, actually.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Oh really?”
“Well, I was hoping you’d come.” He rubbed his forehead, bringing a pang of worry to me. He worked too much. “We finally figured out what Taylor was wearing when she was…killed.”
I took out a coffee mug and a K-cup while I listened.
“When Reggie mentioned it in his room, it didn’t click, but when I got back to my office, I looked at the crime scene photos again and sure enough, I put one more puzzle piece together.” I handed him a steaming mug of coffee and he sat, Maxie right there, his muzzle on Jackson’s thigh. “You’ve seen the flyers all over the place, I’m sure, about SSU putting on The Crucible?”
I nodded. Of course I had. They were hard to miss. I was a little shocked I hadn’t heard of them doing that play before. It seemed a perfect combination for Salem. They were probably only limited it to once every decade or so.
Jackson wrapped his hands around the mug. “We were all surprised to see that Taylor wore this really old looking wool shawl. It didn’t seem like something a college student would wear, and it also wasn’t what she was killed in. Someone put it on her after she was murdered. Usually that means it has some significance, but I just wasn’t sure of what yet.”
A shiver went up my spine. I hated hearing that whoever killed her handled her body afterword, like they used her body for show.
“It made the shock of finding her that much more severe.”
I could only imagine. Actually, I didn’t want to imagine. “So, we’re going back to SSU?”
He nodded gravely. “After putting the two together, I’m think she was put in a costume from the play.”
“And you need to ask questions?”
“It’s what any good detective does.”
“And librarian,” I offered. He smirked at me. “Well, it is. A librarian has to know the right questions to ask, so she can narrow down what the patron actually wants to know, otherwise, we could be pulling up information that doesn’t help.”
“Same,” Jackson said, his gaze narrowing just slightly. “Maybe there is something to librarians being good detectives.”
I smiled big, thrilled that he was finally allowing me that much. “I know we don’t have to deal with blood and gore, or any of that mess…as much,” I tacked on. He had not been to a Board Meeting. Those things were brutal. I stood, pulling my robe tight again. “I’ll just go get ready. There’s more coffee if you need it, and you’re welcome to anything in the kitchen.”
“I’ll be fine,” he said.
“But if you aren’t.�
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“I’ll help myself.”
I smiled, happy that he’d relented before slipping into the bathroom. I went through my normal routine as quickly as I could. There was some urgency to the case. We hadn’t solved who the killer was yet and that meant the person could still be out there, lurking around. Especially if we were dealing with a witch hater. Bringing The Crucible into it now made that idea more plausible. Take an actress from the local play that dealt with witchcraft, kill her, then dress her up on a pyre. It certainly made a statement. What if he wanted to kill more witches?
I slipped from the bathroom, deep in thought and straight into the bedroom. I pulled on my clothes, ran a brush through my hair, and came right back out.
Jackson had moved to the couch. Maxie was between his knees, sitting sentry in front of him like a regal guard dog. Jackson was always too happy to oblige Maxie, and Maxie ate it all up. I crouched down next to him. “Hey, Boy. Mommy and Uncle Jackson have to go do some policework now.”
Jackson groaned. “Policework? I wouldn’t go crazy. You’re there as another set of ears.”
“You could’ve easily taken Dezi with you if you wanted another set of ears,” I threw back at him. “You must want me there instead of him for some reason.”
He scratched his jaw, not looking me in the face. He was entirely too handsome this morning.
Wait. Did I just think that? I groaned inwardly. Mel was messing with my mind.
“I do, but I’m not sharing it with you at the moment. I’m afraid your librarian head will explode.” When I slid a confused glance toward him, he smirked. “You’re practically a know-it-all already, you don’t need another boost to your library prowess.”
Library prowess? I liked that. I should get that saying on a t-shirt or something.
I stood and jutted out my chin. “I’m ready to go now, Detective Ward. If you’re ready, we can be off.”
He cocked his head to the side. “I’ve been ready.”
He passed me and gave me a wink, but I wasn’t going to let him get off that easily. “I went as fast as I could.”