mystic caravan mystery 02 - freaky lies

by Amanda M. Lee

  Melissa was excited by the turn of events, a bevy of questions tumbling out of her mouth as she followed me from one end of the circus to the other. We had to make sure every trace of Mary and Grace was eradicated. I could finally take it no longer, and invited Melissa to join us on the road. We could always use another person with abilities, and if she really wanted to learn I was happy to teach her. She said she needed time to think and would inform us of her decision at breakfast, but I already knew which way she was leaning.

  “What are you thinking?”

  Kade’s question caught me off guard and I shifted my head so I could meet his sleepy eyes with a rueful smile. “I was just thinking that it’s Sunday and we have a lot to do.”

  “That’s funny, because I was thinking it’s Sunday and we should spend the day in bed,” Kade said, grinning. “We can’t open today. Brewer asked us not to, and you agreed because you didn’t want to tip our hand and admit to killing two little girls. This Sunday is a lot easier than it would normally be.”

  “It is,” I agreed. “We still have a lot to do … and a long drive ahead of us.”

  “I’m fine with that,” Kade said, rubbing the back of my head as he stretched. “You can ride with me and tell me the cheerleading costume story.”

  I frowned. I thought he’d forgotten about that. Okay, forgotten isn’t the right word. I at least thought he would let it go until we settled in at this week’s home base. “There is no story. There are no photographs either.” If I had to hunt Luke down and sit on him until he agreed to my demands, I’d make sure those photos never saw the light of day.

  “Oh, there are photographs,” Kade said. “Luke promised to show them to me, and he’s a man of his word. Sure, he’s a man who complains loudly and wears ridiculous outfits sometimes, but he’s still a man of his word.”

  Speaking of complaining loudly, Luke did just that when he arrived at the tent and realized we’d dispatched the enemy without his help. He was despondent about not being able to see the scarecrow in action, and he was even more depressed when informed we had to pack early and skedaddle – which would leave him no time to pose on a tractor.

  “We’ll see,” I said. “Luke is my best friend. He won’t show you those photos. I have faith.”

  “I have faith, too,” Kade said. “I have faith I’m going to see those photos and they’re going to be glorious.”

  He has a sick mind sometimes. “I have faith that Luke needs someone to cook for him, and I’m not going to do it if he shows you those photographs. What do you think is more important? I think male bonding is going to fall by the wayside when I take his sausage away.”

  “You’re such a killjoy,” Kade murmured, brushing his lips against my forehead as he pulled the covers tighter around us. “I’ll make a deal with you: If you agree to spend the next hour doing nothing but this I’ll give up on the photographs.”

  That seemed far too easy. “Really?”

  “For the rest of the day,” Kade clarified. “I think you’ve earned a day of rest given everything that has happened.”

  “I’m actually pretty energized,” I admitted. “I thought the fight would be tougher than it was. In the end it turned out to be pretty easy.”

  “That’s because everyone worked together and you didn’t take the weight of the world on your shoulders,” Kade said. “Still, I know you were upset about the death omen thing. You can relax now.”

  If he only knew that the death omen was the least of my worries. Still, there was no reason to ruin a good morning. We had a few hours before the ultimatum deadline.

  “Okay, we can spend another hour in bed,” I conceded. “You have to help cook breakfast once we get up, though.”

  Kade’s smile was devilish as he kissed the tip of my nose. “Deal.”

  “THAT smells great,” Luke enthused an hour and a half later, sitting at the picnic table and smiling as he watched me toil over the grill. “I’m starving.”

  “You didn’t do anything to work up an appetite last night,” I reminded him. “You were performing when everything went down.”

  “That’s your fault,” Luke said, extending a finger. “You could’ve waited for me. Instead you had to take the creepy scarecrow down while I was otherwise engaged. I didn’t even get to see him. I’m so upset, and you know emotional upheaval makes me hungry.”

  As far as I could tell everything short of nuclear destruction makes him hungry. “Fine,” I said, shaking my head as Kade handed me a carton of eggs. “You’ve earned your hunger. Are you happy?”

  “For now,” Luke said, glancing around. The circus was quieter than a normal Sunday morning, everyone taking advantage of our peculiar situation and sleeping in. “Do you think your new friend is going to join us?”

  “Her name is Melissa, and there’s no reason to dislike her simply because she didn’t like your leotard,” I said. “And … yes … I think she’s going to join us. She’s desperate to be around people who understand her.”

  “I’m not sure I’d be so keen to be a part of this group after witnessing that scene yesterday,” Kade said, pouring himself a mug of coffee as he sat across from Luke. “She went from being able to see the future to watching a dwarf in an evening gown behead a child while a pixie used her mind to shred a human scarecrow and another pixie dropped some dust on a second child and shrank her into a doll. That might put me off from being a joiner.”

  “That’s because you’re a downer sometimes,” I said, flicking the back of his ear as I reached around him to grab the sausage. “I think Melissa is one of those people who like to look on the brighter side of life.”

  “I like to look on the brighter side of life,” Kade argued. “Right now, for example, I’m brightening just thinking about those cheerleading photos Luke is going to show me.”

  Luke snickered, earning a dark look from me.

  “I’ll ban you from breakfast if you show him those photos,” I said, waving the spatula for emphasis. “You’ll starve to death.”

  “You would never punish me that way,” Luke said. “I would wear you down with pathetic cries and whimpers.”

  I had no doubt about that. “Well, I still think you should lose those photos,” I said. “I almost died, but lived to tell the tale. I think that is one of those experiences that deserve a favor, and the favor I want is those photos going away forever.”

  “No way,” Luke said, shaking his head. “I’ll paint your toenails or something. That will be my favor.”

  That didn’t sound remotely fair. “I … .”

  The sound of a man clearing his throat at the end of the table caught my attention, causing me to forget what I was about to say. When I realized Max was standing there my heart dropped to my stomach. I was certain I was about to throw up all over Luke’s breakfast.

  “Hey, Max,” Luke said, completely missing my newfound distress. “You missed all the excitement last night. You usually do, though. Do you want to hear all about it over breakfast?”

  Max glanced at me, our gazes momentarily locking. “I would love to hear the story at some time,” he said. “I’m actually here for another reason.”

  My stomach, which only seconds before had been growling in anticipation of breakfast, felt as if it was going to explode from the burning tension roiling it.

  “What’s going on?” Kade asked, confused as he glanced between Max and me. “Is something wrong?”

  “I guess that depends on the way you look at things,” Max said, licking his lips. “I have something I need to tell you, and I don’t believe you’re going to like it.”

  Kade stilled, his shoulders stiffening. “Okay.”

  Max shifted his eyes to Luke. “Perhaps you should find someone else to cook you breakfast this morning,” he suggested. “I don’t think this breakfast is going to be digestible when I’m done.”

  “That sounds ominous,” Luke said. “I … do I really have to go?”

  Luke loves gossip. He didn’t want to miss out o
n what was about to happen.

  “That’s up to Kade,” Max said. “What I have to tell him is … his story.”

  “He can stay,” Kade said, shifting on the bench and leaning back so there was more distance between Max and himself. He didn’t know what was coming, but he sensed it was bad. “Just spit it out, Max. You’re making it worse by prolonging it.”

  “I understand that,” Max said, rubbing the back of his neck. “It’s just … I never envisioned telling you this. Well, that’s not entirely true. I wanted you to know the whole story from the beginning, but your mother didn’t think that was a good idea.”

  “What’s going on?” Kade asked, his voice taking on a hard edge. “I know you’ve been keeping something from me since I got here. At first I thought it was just the magic stuff, but then I realized more was going on. Just … tell me.” He was almost begging Max to do the right thing. I would do anything to save him from the hurt he was about to feel, but it was out of my hands.

  “I did not know your father,” Max said, twisting his fingers together. “We were not friends and I didn’t make a promise to him as he lay dying that I would look out for you and your mother. I know that’s the story you were told, but it isn’t true.”

  “Okay, what’s the truth?” Kade asked, his eyes glued on Max’s face.

  “The truth is … .” Max broke off, flashing me a helpless look as he floundered. He’s the strongest man I know, but I didn’t think he was capable of doing this.

  “The truth is Max is your father,” I volunteered, causing Max to widen his eyes and Luke to suck in a breath. “He wanted to be a part of your life, but your mother didn’t think that was a good idea because he was always on the road. They came to an … understanding.”

  “What?” Kade’s face was a mottled shade of red as he glared at me.

  “I’m your father,” Max gritted out. “I’m sorry for not telling you the truth sooner. I wanted to, but I feared you wouldn’t take it well. Your mother made up such wonderful stories about your father, and I didn’t think I could live up to the manufactured hype.”

  “You’re my father?” Kade’s voice climbed an octave as he pushed himself to a standing position. Max wasn’t a large man, but he wasn’t small either. He looked positively tiny in the face of Kade’s fury.

  “I am your father,” Max confirmed. “I’m so sorry for springing it on you this way, but … I thought you should know the truth.”

  Instead of yelling or screaming … instead of throwing his arms around Max and saying they could work things out … Kade turned his accusatory eyes on me. “You knew!”

  “Not for long,” I said, my cheeks burning. “I figured it out about a week after you arrived, and confronted Max with my suspicions.”

  “Don’t be angry with Poet,” Max said. “She demanded I tell you the truth right away, but I was afraid to do it. This isn’t her fault.”

  “Well, you’ve got half of that right,” Kade said, tossing his unused napkin on the table and taking a step back. “She’s not the one who told the initial lie, but she allowed you to keep telling it for the past two weeks.”

  “I told him he had to tell you the truth,” I protested, my eyes filling with tears. “I threatened to quit if he didn’t.”

  “She did,” Max said, bobbing his head. “She also gave me an ultimatum that I tell you today or she would. I would like to think I would’ve told you the truth without her push, but fear is a funny thing. I don’t know that I would have done it. She insisted, though.”

  “This is what’s been bothering you,” Luke said, his eyes wide. “I couldn’t figure it out. You tell me everything, but I knew you were hiding something.”

  “This wasn’t my secret to tell,” I explained. “I’m sorry.”

  “Are you sorry for not telling him or lying to me?” Kade spat, his venom taking me by surprise.

  “Both.”

  “Well, that’s just great,” Kade hissed, briefly pressing his eyes shut as he rubbed his hand over his hair. “I just … I can’t believe this.”

  “You need time to absorb it,” I said. “I understand you’re angry … .”

  “You don’t understand anything,” Kade seethed, gesturing wildly to shut me up. “I told you how I felt at loose ends after my mother died and that’s why I ended up here. I told you I wanted to feel I was part of a family and you knew all along that I had real family here.”

  “That’s my fault,” Max said. “I told her I needed time to prepare myself. I wanted you to get comfortable here before I sprang this on you.”

  “I’m not talking to you,” Kade barked, causing Max to take an inadvertent step back. “What you’ve done is bad enough, but I wasn’t sleeping in the same bed with you. I wasn’t forging a relationship with you. She lied to me! She said she wouldn’t do it again after the first big lie, and now I find she’s been doing nothing but lying for weeks.”

  “I’m so sorry,” I offered, tears spilling down my cheeks. I knew it would come to this. I felt it in my bones and now it was even worse than I had imagined. “I didn’t want to lie to you, but I thought the truth would be better coming from Max.”

  “That doesn’t make it better,” Kade said.

  “I care about you,” I said, trying a different tactic. “I wanted you to know the truth, but I didn’t know how to tell you. It didn’t seem as if it was my place.”

  “That doesn’t help either,” Kade said, his jaw clenching and unclenching as his chest heaved. “That makes it worse. You don’t lie to someone you care about.”

  “But … .”

  “No!” Kade vehemently shook his head. “I just … no. Stop talking. I need time to think.”

  I took a step in his direction, holding my hands up to signal my surrender. “Just let me talk to you. I want to explain why I did what I did.”

  “I do, too,” Max said, his voice low.

  “Well, I don’t want to hear anything either of you have to say,” Kade said. “I just … can’t. I need to think.”

  Kade turned on his heel and stalked away, not even bothering to cast a backward glance in my direction as he fled. I had no idea where he was going, but my first instinct was to follow. Luke stilled me with a hand on my arm when I made a move to chase after Kade. I hadn’t even noticed him get up from the table.

  “Let him go, Poet,” Luke said, his eyes sympathetic. “You just blew up his world. He’s going to need more than five minutes to wrap his head around it.”

  “But … I need him to know how sorry I am.”

  “That will make you feel better, not him,” Luke said. “I understand why you did what you did, but you had to know it wouldn’t end well. You had to know it would crush him.”

  I did know that. Somehow I convinced myself it would all work out in the end, though. “I don’t know what to do.”

  “All you can do is give him time,” Luke said, his gaze bouncing between Max and me. “That’s all either of you can do.”

  In my head I knew he spoke the truth. My heart was another matter. I was sure my heart was breaking.

  “There’s nothing else we can do, Poet,” Max said. “If it’s any consolation, you were right. I should’ve told him from the beginning.”

  That wasn’t any consolation at all.

  “Give it time,” Luke said, his voice gentle. “He’ll forgive you. Have a little faith.”

  The fact that he echoed Kade’s words from a few hours earlier bolstered me, but just barely. “I guess there’s nothing else to do but wait.”

  “No,” Luke agreed. “That’s all you can do.”

  So that’s what I did. After all, it’s a circus and we have a full day of work ahead of us. The show must go on.

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  About the Author

  I want to thank everyone who takes the time to read my novels. I have a particular brand of humor that isn’t for everyone �
� and I know that.

  If you liked the book, please take a few minutes and leave a review. An independent author does it all on their own, and the reviews are helpful. I understand that my characters aren’t for everyone, though. There’s a lot of snark and sarcasm in my world – and I know some people don’t like that.

  Special thanks go out to Heidi Bitsoli and Phil VanHulle for correcting the (numerous) errors that creep into a work of fiction.

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  For more information:

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  Books by Amanda M. Lee

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  Who, What, Where, When, Die

  If it Bleeds, it Leads

  Buried Leads

  Shot Off The Presses

  The Preditorial Page

  Misquoted & Demoted

  Headlines & Deadlines

  Misprints & Mistakes

  A Wicked Witches of the Midwest Mystery

  Any Witch Way You Can

  Every Witch Way But Wicked

  Witching You Were Here

  Witching on a Star

  Something to Witch About

  Witch Me Luck

  Life’s a Witch

  Charms & Witchdemeanors

  A Wicked Witches of the Midwest Short

  Careful What You Witch For

  Wicked Brew

  On a Witch and a Prayer

  You Only Witch Once

  The Christmas Witch

  Bewitched

  A Solstice Celebration