by Tess Lake
I decided I would think on it for a while and then maybe I’d tell Sheriff Hardy. If I called him back right now it would seem like a child who had stolen someone’s toy shouting out “No, but they stole mine first!”
I returned to the Internet, remembering something that Dawn and Rufus had said. There had been deaths out on Truer Island over a hundred years ago. It didn’t take long to find information on it and it came from none other than Harlot Bay’s resident historian superstar librarian Ollie. He’d written an article about the mysterious deaths out on Truer Island. As I read through it I knew that I had to show it to Aunt Cass because Ollie had stumbled upon something quite extraordinary.
More than a century ago in Harlot Bay, a woman had been attacked in the street at night. She’d been going to the local bar to find her husband and along the way had apparently been attacked by a large monster with sharpened claws and gleaming eyes. She’d staggered into the drinking hall with her dress shredded and with deep cuts down her arms. It seemed that first attack had been blamed on local vagrants who were promptly charged, convicted, and then sent away to prison all in the space of a few weeks. It was only when another man was attacked that the townsfolk began to wonder if it was something else. Harlot Bay and the fledgling colony out on Truer Island had been gripped by fear over the course of a year as it became unsafe to walk the streets at night. Men and women had been attacked and some killed.
These attacks, of course, had caused the people to turn on their fellow citizens. Women were accused of witchcraft and men too, and local beggars and widowers were often targeted by angry and fearful townsfolk. There were images interspersed through Ollie’s article of book pages taken from old records. A strange looping symbol appeared through them. It had been carved on doors throughout town and on other buildings. Many had said it had been the symbol of the devil that was plaguing Harlot Bay and Truer Island. The terrific fear over what was stalking them had reached a peak and then came that single bloody night out on Truer Island where half of the residents were murdered in their beds. After that, there was nothing. It was as though whatever was behind the attacks had simply vanished.
I immediately emailed the article to Aunt Cass. So far only one man had been attacked and it was entirely possible it was a hoax, but after all the time I’d lived in Harlot Bay I was suspecting there was a good chance there was a monster stalking the town.
I spent the rest of the afternoon scouring the Internet and not coming up with much. I eventually found myself looking up the other authors and even reading part of TJ McKenna’s Grandma Gough book, which featured the diminutive Grandma Gough, a wisecracking crazy old lady who used her wit and charm to solve murder mysteries.
I was sitting on the sofa, reading Grandma Gough’s first adventure, when Molly and Luce arrived home and I was shocked to see it was the end of the day. After the research and reading everything had gone so quickly.
The two of them staggered inside, Molly flopping down on the sofa and Luce dragging herself over to the refrigerator, where she pulled out a tall bottle of chilled water and drank half of it in one go.
“Water, now,” Molly muttered, waving her arm in the direction of the kitchen.
Luce came over with another bottle of water and gave it to Molly before flopping down beside me on the sofa.
“I don’t want to be rude, but both of you smell like coffee and sweat,” I said, wrinkling my nose.
“Air conditioning broke down, brain is cooked,” Luce said and took another huge gulp of water.
“Only cooling was from café next door and it wasn’t enough,” Molly said. It took a few minutes for both of them drinking cool water to finally recover.
“What are you reading there?” Luce asked me, nodding towards my laptop.
“Grandma Gough in The Case of the Deadly Muffin,” I said.
“Why are you reading that when you could be reading Bitten?” Luce said.
“There are other books in the world, you know,” I said.
Molly and Luce both gave me a pitying look.
“She says there are other books in the world,” Molly said.
“It’s like seeing one of those eyeless fish bobbing around in the depths of the ocean and it has no idea of all the color and light that it’s missing,” Luce said.
“Hey! This is a good book and I’m still going to read Bitten one day,” I said.
We talked a bit about Traveler, which had been packed to the gills even with the non-functioning air-conditioning, and then eventually got on to what the writers were doing.
“Better them than us,” Molly declared, going to the kitchen to get another cold drink of water.
“I think I’ve seen that Mysterious Mysteries show. They’re the ones who always set up a temperature detector and then say that’s when a ghost has come by. You should send them up to your office and see if John Smith is there,” Luce said.
“I don’t think he’s ever affected the weather. I mean, not that much,” I said.
I hadn’t thought about John in some time. It wasn’t as though we’d officially stopped his sessions at my office, but rather I’d stopped going there because of my crazy need to work and have money and eat food. I hadn’t seen him around in a while either. Normally, I would see him in town, often up on buildings planning to throw himself off, but sometimes floating down the street looking around in amazement. I guess it’s the upside to a serious memory problem: the familiar is new and interesting even though you see it every day.
“I don’t know if John has been visiting my office. I haven’t been there in ages actually,” I said.
“You should be glad that the writers are investigating and even the Mysterious Mysteries. Do you know what happened to us when we went under the house?” Molly said, much more animated.
“Did you find something?” I asked.
“No, but I did get set on fire,” Molly said.
“It was only for a minute, and you were hardly on fire,” Luce corrected.
Molly turned to Luce with a shocked look on her face.
“Only for a minute? Perhaps you’d like to be set on fire and you see how long you can put up with it,” she said. Molly and Luce started bickering, but I eventually got them to calm down and tell me what actually happened. It turned out that somewhere in the depths under the house in a random corridor Molly had stepped into the leftover remnants of an old spell. Thankfully, she’d been wearing long pants at the time and only the hem had caught fire. It had burned for a moment before Aunt Cass put it out and then Molly declared she was never going on an expedition under the house again.
“This place is a death trap,” Molly muttered.
Because it was Summer, it was still broad daylight as we made ourselves dinner - reheated pizza from the refrigerator - and talked about random things until night came. Adams eventually arrived, demanding food and refusing to tell me where he’d been and so I fed him and then finally spent the last part of the night messaging back and forth with Jack who was babysitting his parents.
Of all the things I had discovered today that had caused me some shock, from the fact that there possibly could be a monster stalking Harlot Bay, to Molly being set on fire underneath the mansion, and everything else, Jack sent me the piece of news that was simply the worst: there was a big family dinner arranged for Tuesday evening. The moms had already been in contact and his parents had already accepted the invitation. I’d been expecting a dinner but I thought it would be out where there would be witnesses.
“Make sure there is plenty of wine!” Jack had written.
I had a shower and went to bed, promising Jack by message that there would be. As I lay in my cool room and Adams walked in circles at the end of the bed before settling down, I found myself thinking about Rufus and Dawn in the alleyway and the deep scratches on the wall. How crazy was it that I was more concerned about a big family dinner than the idea of some clawed monster stalking Harlot Bay?
Chapter Nine
Me, Molly
and Luce were bustling around getting ready for the day when Mom came barreling through the front door and headed straight for the spare room.
“Girls, clean this out, quick, quick,” she commanded.
“Um, why?” I asked, putting my piece of toast down.
Mom opened the door of the spare room to reveal the chaotic destruction within.
“Kira is coming to stay. Now, help me. I’m making breakfast for the guests and I need this done straight away,” she said, quite frazzled.
The three of us went to help, moving boxes and piles of clothes and other bits of junk.
“Why is she coming to stay with us?” Luce asked.
“Hattie is going away,” Mom said, pulling another random box of junk off the bed. We heard a car door slam out the front of the mansion. Me and my cousins walked out to the lounge to see Kira appear in the front door lugging a huge heavy suitcase. She dropped it to the ground and grinned at us.
“What’s up bitc–” she stopped halfway and coughed when she saw Mom. “I mean… what’s up witches?”
I saw through the open door behind her that Hattie was parked out the front and there at her window stood Aunt Cass. She was saying something to Hattie and then passed her a small package wrapped in brown paper. Hattie took it and then, I swear, wiped a tear away. What was going on?
I was headed for the front door when Mom appeared in front of me.
“I need you to finish clearing that room,” she said.
“I will, give me a moment,” I said, dodging around her. By the time I got to the front door, Hattie had driven away and Aunt Cass was nowhere to be seen.
“I have to go now. Ask these three if you need anything,” Mom said to Kira. She gave her a kiss on the cheek, and then rushed out, heading back to the main part of the mansion to continue serving breakfast to the guests.
“She seems stressed,” Kira said. Adams appeared out of nowhere and came running up to Kira, leaping up into her arms. She caught the little black cat who then snuggled into her and immediately asked her for something to eat because he hadn’t eaten in days.
Kira laughed and started scratching him behind the ears before she sat down on the sofa.
“So, why are you staying with us?” Luce asked.
Kira ran her fingers through Adams’ fur, the little black cat purring loudly. “It’s all very mysterious why my Grandma is going away. I don’t know why, she wouldn’t tell me. She said she’d be back in about ten days to two weeks. So that’s how long you get to enjoy my lovely company,” she said.
“She really didn’t say where she was going?” I asked.
“Nope,” Kira said. Adams jumped off her lap and then started giving himself a bath, wiping a paw over his ear.
“Okay, well, I guess you’ll be coming with me then,” I said, going back to pick up my piece of toast.
As I munched away on it I came up with a plan for the day. Today was quite busy with Red doing a number of sessions but interspersed with breaks at odd times. Sometimes there was less than an hour between them, so although I would have some time to get away I suspected most of the day I’d be waiting around for her to finish a session so I could drive her to the next one.
I resolved to get away to see Aunt Cass at the Chili Challenge to find out exactly what she’d given Hattie in that small parcel. Although I gave myself about a one in a hundred chance of finding out the actual truth, I could also talk to Aunt Cass about the Mysterious Mysteries and the things I’d discovered thanks to Ollie’s article. Although I was sure Dawn and Rufus were charlatans, there was possibly some connection behind the attacks all that time ago and what had happened to Carl Stern.
I was brushing my teeth when I heard the front door open and then a familiar voice. I came out into the lounge to find Red crouched down, scratching Adams on the back of his neck as he rolled around at her feet. Molly and Luce were standing nearby, looking somewhat starstruck. Kira was tapping away on her phone.
“Red, what are you doing here?” I asked.
Red gave me a smile and stood up. “I saw that car of yours yesterday and I’m not sure it’ll even make it to the end of the driveway let alone back into town and home in this heat, so I thought I should pick you up,” she said. “Plus I wanted to see the mansion up close… and it is spectacular.”
“Oh, thanks for coming to pick me up then,” I said trying to find my bearings somewhat. “These are my cousins Molly and Luce, by the way.”
Red gave each of them a big smile. “You are the ones who run Traveler. I’ve heard so many good things about it. It’s right next to that delightful Cozy Cat Café, isn’t it?”
“Yup, that’s us,” Molly said in a somewhat dazed voice.
It was Luce who came to the rescue. “Best coffee in all of North Carolina,” she said. “Bring your friends some time.”
“That sounds delightful,” Red said and then looked at Kira.
“That’s Kira. She’s coming to stay with us for a little while. She’s one of the Writerpalooza volunteers, so we need to take her too,” I said.
Kira looked up from tapping on her phone and smiled at Red. “Hi,” she said and looked straight back at her phone.
Red chuckled to herself. “Nice to meet you. You remind me a lot of my daughter.” She then jingled the car keys in her hand towards Kira. “Do you want to drive the sports car today?” she said.
Kira glanced outside, her face going pale when she saw the expensive sports car.
“I think that car’s too expensive for me to drive,” she said hastily.
“I’ll do it,” I said.
We all left at once, Molly and Luce going to Molly’s car. The three of us piled into the sports car and once again I was struck at the pure luxury of it. The contrast from my car driving home yesterday was stark. There is no way I’d ever be able to afford a car like this, but an idea was beginning to weigh on my mind that I would finally have to get rid of my car and upgrade. But for that, of course, I would need money, and although I was being paid fairly well for these two weeks, after that I was looking at a nice lovely stretch of unemployment again.
Molly and Luce went roaring away, heading down the hill at high speed. I followed at a somewhat slower pace, wary of the potholes.
“I discovered something interesting about the Mysterious Mysteries yesterday,” Red began.
She told me that they’d been taken in for questioning in Florida two years ago on vandalism charges.
“But what were they vandalizing?” I asked.
“They were never charged and I think it all went away, but from the information I could get I suspect they were possibly carving scratches into walls or something like that, and they got caught,” she said.
I told Red I’d watched some of the episodes too and mentioned the Monster of New Orleans in particular. Red nodded and flicked through her phone, turning it to me so I could glance at it and see she’d brought up an image of the scratch marks from that episode.
“I saw those yesterday, and today when I’ve got some time I want to go back to the alleyway to compare them because I’m sure that they’re faking them,” Red said.
“But what about Carl Stern? He was attacked and I’m sure they were real wounds,” I said.
Red shrugged. “I’ve been thinking that’s one of those coincidences where something happens and it looks like it’s connected, but it’s not,” she said.
We soon reached the edge of Harlot Bay and the seemingly permanent Summer traffic jam. We slowed down to a crawl. Even early in the day the streets were full of tourists and vampires stalking the place. We were creeping down the street when Kira called out “Hey there’s Sophira, let me out,” before saying goodbye and jumping out of the car.
“Now that we’re alone, did you get a visit from Sheriff Hardy yesterday?” Red asked me.
“A phone call about chasing Rufus and Dawn down that alleyway,” I said.
“He came to visit me at my hotel room. Apparently they’d made a complaint and
so the Sheriff very politely told me to not chase them down any more alleyways and to leave them alone if possible. I told him that I suspected they were responsible for the scratches in that alleyway and possibly could be connected to the man who was attacked,” Red said.
“Oh, that’s good, saves me some time from telling him then,” I said, watching the stream of tourists cross the road ahead of me, wishing once again that Harlot Bay would put in a decent traffic light system so at least cars could move through the middle of the town slightly faster than walking pace.
“He’s a quite an interesting man that Sheriff isn’t he? I believe he’s married to your aunt?”
I was somewhat taken aback. How did she know that?
“They got married a few months ago up in the forest behind our house,” I confirmed.
“Oh, that’s where we’re going to be having dinner tomorrow night?”
Now I was thoroughly confused.
“Sorry, dinner?”
“Yes, after the Sheriff left, your mother rang me and invited me to dinner tomorrow. I’m going to be bringing along a signed book for your aunt,” Red said and gave me a smile.
“Oh, of course, yeah,” I said. My mind was spinning. How many people were going to be at this dinner now? Jack’s parents, my whole family, boyfriends, and Red as well? The poor woman didn’t know what she was in for, although I suspected with her quick wit she would be able to hold her own. I silently cursed my mother for once again going behind my back to invite people in my life along to family dinners. The meddling was quite infuriating sometimes. We started chatting away again and in our conversation Red revealed that Sheriff Hardy had come past her hotel not long after she’d left me. I realized that she’d told me she was going for a drive down the coast, but it appeared she’d gone straight back to her hotel. Without thinking, I blurted it out. “I thought you went for a drive down the coast yesterday?” I said.
“I went back to my room to pick up something when I met Sheriff Hardy,” Red said, a little too quickly. As someone with a finely honed ability to lie thanks to living with three witchy meddling mothers, I had the very strong impression that Red wasn’t telling me the truth. But why? Was she off doing something that she didn’t want me to know about?