Banshees and Babysitters

by Allen, Amanda A.

  She took a deep breath and said, “Mystic Cove will make you crazy.”

  It was a flat statement though she was really glad Lex was here. And she dumped on him all too quickly.

  “Belinda’s puking, the guy everyone is gossiping about is my ex, my girls are all twisted up because Grant just showed up, and I have to bake extra stuff for the fair. I’d dump having to do that, but I already paid for my spot, and they’re counting on me. I’m about to flip out.” She coughed and then said, “It’s full madness here.”

  “That sounds bad.” Lex sat down next to her. “I thought Mystic Cove would be an easy place to live. This place is like the mouth to hell. I’ve been the sheriff for a few months. So far, there’s been a murder, a hostage situation, three cars set on fire…”

  Scarlett snorted and started to giggle.

  “I blame the Oaken women.”

  “Fair,” Scarlett said.

  “Your poor little banshee-barista-babysitter. How badly have you scarred her? When will she be the next one drawn into a shoot off? Or is she the one setting cars on fire.”

  “Probably,” Scarlett admitted and laughed. She felt so much better and bumped her shoulder against his. “Why are you nice to me?”

  “You’re the only person in Mystic Cove who bothers to remember my name,” he said. “It’s worse now that I’m the sheriff. They ask to see my badge even though every single person in Mystic Cove knows I was hired. And then they threaten to call Wally and tell on me.”

  She snorted and then laughed again.

  “Your girls are going to be ok,” Lex added reaching out to pick a flower, handing it to Scarlett. “They have a great mom. And Belinda will get better soon, and you’ll get to spend more time with Maeve. That’s a win, right?”

  “How long is Belinda going to be sick for?” The whine was back in Scarlett’s voice, but it wasn’t nearly as strong. “Maeve can only help because it’s after school, and she’s gifted at coffee, but terrible at baking. She won’t be here in the morning.”

  “It’ll be all right. You were doing fine without her before.”

  Scarlett sighed and nodded, “I stole Harper from her shop. Aren’t I terrible? I just dumped my store on her and left. I need to get a new apprentice baker, but who even has the time to teach someone?”

  “Life’s a mean wench,” Lex said, adjusting his word choice at the last second. “Is it the flu?”

  “I don’t know.” Scarlett thought back to how Belinda had spent the morning singing. It just seemed so very unlikely that she’d gotten so sick so fast without a sign of it.

  Lex sat down next to her and she turned and said, “You know what’s weird? She seemed fine…then Mr. Muscato came in, and she got sick super fast. Did he do something? He’s a nasty fellow. I suppose it could be food poisoning. I hope not. She eats my food every day. What if I poisoned my customers?”

  Lex glanced over, leaning back and crossing his legs only to sit up suddenly as he said, “Wait. What?”

  “Belinda got sick so fast. She was fine. She’d even been singing. And then she was running for the bathroom. I had to get the girls so I left her.”

  “No,” Lex said, shaking his head as he cut her off, and then he asked, “That’s not what I mean. Belinda’s a banshee right?”

  Scarlett nodded and then froze. The realization of just what being a banshee meant hit her and with it the realization of just what might have made Belinda sick. “Oh, no. Oh, goodness.”

  She jerked free of Lex and ran into the bakery and found Harper and Maeve laughing behind the counter. The glass display where the baked goods were had been restocked, and the counters had been cleaned. Maeve had a washcloth in her hand and Scarlett’s work space was shining. Scarlett bypassed all of that, searching the shop for her barista and coming up empty.

  “Where’s Belinda?”

  “She went home,” Harper said. “I told her to get out, so I didn’t get sick. I bleached everything…anyhow…what’s going on with Mom and the girls?”

  Scarlett pressed a finger between her eyes and asked, “But…was she better?”

  “Belinda?” Harper asked, frowning at Scarlett. “What? She was puking. You don’t just get better like a switch. If I get sick I’m gonna be so ticked.”

  Harper was looking at Scarlett like she was an idiot, but she was already turning back to Lex and asking, “Would she have been better? Maybe it’s good that she stayed sick?”

  He shrugged one of those lazy shrugs and then admitted, “I don’t know.”

  “What are you talking about?” Harper demanded. She touched Scarlett on the shoulder. “What is going on?”

  “She got sick so fast…she’s a banshee. What do you think? Could it have been…”

  “You think she sensed someone’s death? Yours?” Harper’s face paled and demanded, “It wasn’t yours, was it?”

  Scarlett shook her head and slowly said, “Mr. Muscato. It would have to be. We were fine when it was just us. And there wasn’t anyone else in the shop…when he showed up, he was the only guy in here. It would have to be him. Right? We should call her mom and see what she thinks.”

  “Mr. Muscato?” Harper’s expression showed just how little concern she felt for the old man.

  “Do you know where he’s staying?” Lex asked.

  Scarlett shook her head.

  “He’s nasty. And mean. But always with a veneer of smarmy. Like he’s pretending to be charming but can’t hide the jerk inside. I wouldn’t have even listened if he talked about his visit.”

  “Is he normal or like us?” Lex’s expression searched her intently.

  She gave him one of his shrugs. She had no idea. She hadn’t cared beyond him leaving Mystic Cove and hopefully not coming back.

  Lex adjusted his gun belt and straightened his shoulders setting aside the veneer of the naturally lazy Lex for the hunter inside. “I’m going to see if I can find where he’s staying.”

  He left and headed towards Mabel’s diner. As he did, Henna walked into the store. The druid had been the woman who had taught Scarlett to bake, sold her the building, and provided the way for Scarlett to support herself when she’d moved home after her divorce. And since then, Henna showed up at least once a week to bake with Scarlett and catch up on the town’s gossip.

  Scarlett watched Lex walk towards the gossip hub of her home, shaking her head. Both because Lex—who had barely moved to town—had made enough inroads to get in on the gossip and because he was so very right about who would know where the nasty old man was staying.

  “You think that Mr. Muscato is going to die?” Maeve asked. Scarlett’s youngest adopted sister had been through too much and her voice was terrified. Her hair was pulled back in a tight french braid, her freckles were stark against her white skin given that she’d paled.

  “What?” Henna asked. She hung up her coat and bag and crossed the kitchen to put her apron on. It took her a moment to take in the scene, Scarlett’s upset face, Harper’s emotionless one—and see that something was really wrong.

  “I have no idea,” Scarlett said in a gentle voice to Maeve. She crossed to her little sister and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, breathing on her and asking the east wind to curl around the girl. “We are thinking that Belinda might have had a banshee episode when one of the customers was here. Lex is checking it out.”

  “Why are we worried?” Harper asked as she took off her apron and glanced at the time on her phone. “He was awful.”

  “Because we’d feel bad if anything happened,” Scarlett said, trying to give her sister a solid kick in the butt with her sharp glance. “And you’re already talking in past tense. He could be alive.”

  “Harper Oaken,” Henna said, not bothering with subtlety. “You should be ashamed of yourself. Life is precious. Even for evil old coots.”

  “He’s a nasty piece of work,” Harper said without an ounce of apology. “You and Lex would feel guilty and I’d shrug it off,” Harper added. She had little concern i
n her for anyone she didn’t love on a good day. Given that she’d been through far too much in foster care and juvenile detention, she had been knocked around a bit too much to run on the empathetic and soft side.

  “Maeve?” Scarlett asked. “Are you all right?”

  Her lips trembled for a moment and then she said, “Do you think that it’s not safe?”

  Scarlett took a deep breath, found herself floundering yet again. Maeve’s biological sister had died when she got involved with running drugs, and Maeve had witnessed the murder and been forced to run for her life. Scarlett and Harper were being far too cavalier given that Maeve was still recovering. Scarlett’s tone was gentle when she said, “I think you should listen to the knowing. It kept you safe last time.”

  “That’s right,” Henna said, keeping up with the conversation as she started on Scarlett’s to-do list for the fair.

  “What does the knowing say to you?” Maeve’s tremulous voice stabbed at Scarlett’s heart especially terrible because she felt like it would be better to lie for Maeve’s peace of mind.

  Scarlett took a deep breath and admitted, “I’m too wound up inside to hear it.”

  “Then how will I know?”

  “You’ll know because you aren’t alone. And whoever killed Mr. Muscato doesn’t have any reason to hurt you.”

  “But what about those I love? I don’t want to lose anyone else.”

  “You won’t,” Scarlett promised, wrapping Maeve up in a hug.

  “Why are you wound up inside?” Harper demanded when Maeve snuggled in. “What is going on?”

  “Grant is here. He showed up at the school. It’s why the girls wanted to go to the grove.”

  Harper cursed, Henna grunted, and Maeve turned to hug Scarlett. They all knew how messed up inside she’d been since the divorce and how she’d been clawing her way out of the darkness. Harper, especially, had heard Scarlett cry over Grant too many times to feel anything but disgust for him.

  “Is that why the girls are at mom’s? That’s going to cause problems, right? Grant will probably call the police on you.”

  Scarlett closed her eyes and said, “Ella wanted to go. She wants the grove. I’ll just tell Grant.”

  “It’s not like he’ll get it,” Harper countered, disgust on her face, “Not with how he’s already been about druids.”

  Scarlett knew that wasn’t true and even though she didn’t want to defend him, he’d visited too many groves with Scarlett, he’d been a different person once, and she knew that he knew. “He’ll get it. He won’t object. And it isn’t like I sent them to France. They’re a 10-minute drive away.”

  “Don’t defend him,” Harper snapped.

  “I’m not,” Scarlett said. “Believe me, I’d like to say otherwise, but it wouldn’t be true.”

  “Call Betty,” Henna said, referring to Belinda’s mother. “We should get a handle on Mr. Muscato first.”

  Scarlet nodded and pulled out her phone. It took only minutes for Betty to confirm what Scarlett feared.

  “She thinks that Belinda sensed death,” Harper said before Scarlett even hung up. Scarlett nodded in confirmation.

  “Lex is looking for Mr. Muscato,” Scarlett told Belinda’s mother. “We’ll do what we can. Tell Belinda to feel better.”

  “She’s weeping,” Betty said, sounding as worried about her child as Scarlett was about hers. It didn’t seem to matter that one of the children was 19 and the other was eight.

  “It’s not her fault,” Scarlett said feeling even more unwarranted guilt that it happened in her shop.

  “Of course, it isn’t,” Betty said.

  “Tell her we love her,” Scarlett replied.

  “I will,” Betty said. She sniffed and then said, “I need to get back to her. She’ll be better in a day or two.”

  “Ok,” Scarlett replied. Her phone beeped and Scarlett glanced at it, saw Lex’s name, and said, “That’s the sheriff. I’ll let you know what I find out.”

  Scarlett hung up and answered. Before she could even say hello, Lex said, “We found him.”

  “Is he ok?”

  Lex paused and then said, “No.”

  Scarlett’s eyes closed, and she was sure that Belinda wouldn’t forgive herself for not trying to say something. For not realizing what she’d felt when she’d seen him.

  “Scarlett…”

  That was a leading, hesitant tone. So very, very rare from Lex. By the stars…what now?

  “What is it?”

  Lex waited just long enough for Scarlett’s entire body to tense before he said, “It was murder. The main suspect right now is your ex.”

  Chapter 3

  Scarlett sat down blindly and stared out into the street. She’d just hung up on Lex because what did you say to I’m arresting your babies’ daddy for murder?

  “What’s wrong? Is he dead?”

  Scarlett opened her mouth and closed it and opened her mouth again.

  “Um…”

  “What!” Harper snapped and then crossed and grabbed Scarlett’s shoulders.

  “Grant is the suspect.”

  Harper laughed. She snorted and then started giggling endlessly. Scarlett felt her eye twitching and pressed a finger against it. Puffy cloud thoughts, Scarlett, she thought. The sound of a quiet stream. The perfect smell of rain.

  “Oh, the poor girls,” Henna said, speaking the obvious. Or at least the not-mean part of the obvious.

  It was hard to describe how much Scarlett wanted to laugh at Grant right then. She did. But, shoot, he was her girls’ dad. It was her fault that he was. The least she could do is not laugh at the idiot.

  “He didn’t do it,” Scarlett said, certain she was right and irritated that Harper had reached the snorting stage of laughing.

  “He could have,” Harper countered. “Easily.”

  “Harper,” Scarlett sighed, “There is no way he did it.”

  “Why are you defending him?”

  “I’m not,” Scarlett said and knew it was true. There was, inside of her, a dawning delight that the mere idea that Grant could have killed someone didn’t kill her. Her emotions were entirely wrapped up in how this effected her daughters and not anything more. She had moved beyond him. Was she…over Grant?

  She queried her heart and realized that answer was, Yes. And also, No. The no, however, was only because he was the father to her daughters, so she couldn’t just move beyond him like she would have been able to do with nearly any other person. If he were found guilty, if somehow he had killed Mr. Muscato, her worries would be solely wrapped around her daughters. Because, praise the leaf, her heart was no longer woven together with his.

  “I’m not defending him,” Scarlett said again, rising with a new lightness of mind.

  “This is why Gus left,” Harper said flatly.

  “Shut up,” Scarlett snapped.

  “Please don’t fight,” Maeve said. Her voice was soft and tenuous again.

  “You’ll be feisty enough sooner or later to tell this idiot the truth,” Harper countered. “And then you’ll be in the fight too.”

  “Hey,” Scarlett said, feeling her anger rise higher. “Leave Maeve alone.”

  “Scarlett,” Henna said, “It does seem as if…”

  “Why aren’t you listening to the knowing?” Maeve stepped between Harper and Scarlett and holding a hand out towards each of them. It wasn’t as if they’d have gotten physical with each other, but the movement on Maeve’s part forced the two sisters to back up and take a breath.

  Henna and Harper turned to Maeve and Scarlett raised a brow at them and then made a face when Harper turned slowly back to Scarlett.

  “What does that mean?”

  “He didn’t do it,” Scarlett said with conviction. “And the girls need their dad to not be in jail.”

  Harper blinked and then nodded. Her face was still sour, and it irritated Scarlett massively. “I don’t like helping him. But what can I do?”

  Scarlett paused and then said
, “I suppose we’ll have to figure out who killed Mr. Muscato.”

  “But I don’t want to,” Harper whined.

  “So don’t,” Scarlett snapped, losing patience and any sort of internal balance. She rose and turned to Henna. “Can you…”

  “Of course,” Henna replied before Scarlett could finish asking her to take care of the bakery.

  “Call Belinda's mom too, please." Scarlett crossed to the stairwell that led to the apartments upstairs and ran up even as Harper shouted for her to wait.

  Scarlett took a deep breath as she closed her apartment door and asked out loud, “Why does this keep happening to me?”

  She should have rushed out the door, but this was her ex, not her husband, so she took the chance to shower, change her clothes, and dress. She wasn’t going to show up wherever he was being questioned looking like crap. Especially with his younger, prettier wife there. She didn’t want him back, but she didn’t…want…gah. She didn’t want to look like he was wise to have dumped her.

  “You should be better than this,” she told herself while she put a brightening foundation on her face. She knew it made her skin look luminous, and she followed with eye shadow that drew attention to her mossy green eyes. Her bark brown hair might not be flashy, but it was healthy and she brushed it until it shone.

  She called her mom while she finished her makeup and explained what was happening.

  “That, my darling, is karma,” Maye said. She sounded as unsympathetic as Harper. For druids, they were, perhaps, a little cold-hearted. Or maybe it was just what they’d been through lately. Two murder investigations, one hostage situation. Mystic Cove was lucky the Oaken women hadn’t gone stark-raving mad.

  “Mom…” Scarlett said, but she agreed, so she didn’t argue too hard.

  “Do you want me to tell the girls?”

  Scarlett slid down the wall and settled onto the floor. With one question she was back to floundering. Did she want her mom to tell the girls? She didn’t know. She had no idea what to do. It seemed that each event in their lives left her at new levels of having no idea what to do.

  “I…”

  Her mom cleared her throat and then said, “I don't know either.”