Careful What You Witch For

by K. J. Emrick

  With a deep breath, and with her sisters to either side of her, Addie approached the three women sitting on the couches. Rosemary was huddled up around herself like before, her feet tucked under her, and her eyes downcast. Dahlia had another drink in her hand, and from the looks of it she hadn’t stopped drinking since the sisters had last been here.

  Then there was Christine, sitting on the edge of her seat, nervously playing with her fingers.

  “Well, well, well,” Dahlia greeted them. “Detective Knight, do you mind telling us why we’ve been kept here all this time? My investigation’s over now that Eugene is dead. I’ve answered every question your officers have asked. I’d like to get home to my other cases now.”

  Addie met Dahlia’s challenging gaze. “That’s all well and good, but let’s finish with this case first.”

  Dahlia shrugged and sipped at her drink again. “It is done as far as I’m concerned. Eugene killed Danny. Somebody killed Eugene but since it wasn’t me and since I’m not getting paid to investigate his murder, I really don’t care who it was.”

  “Neither do I,” Christine added quickly. “I only wanted the man to pay for what he did to my aunt, and now he has. I wanted him to suffer.”

  “Shh,” Dahlia hissed at her. “You know you’re making yourself sound like a suspect, right?”

  “Well, it’s true! I don’t care that he’s dead. Why would anyone care if that man rotted in a shallow grave for the rest of his life?”

  Dahlia nearly spilled her drink as she reached over to grasp Christine’s wrist. “Shut up! Seriously, Christine, zip it. They don’t have any proof of anything. If they had any clue whatsoever we wouldn’t have been sitting here all day. They would have arrested someone by now.”

  “Actually,” Lucian said, walking over to sit on the couch opposite the three women, “we know exactly who did this, and we’re here to make an arrest. Right now, as a matter of fact.”

  The three women wore very different expressions. Rosemary’s head finally came up, her mouth hanging open in surprise. Christine’s eyes widened. Dahlia blinked around her at the officers, and the situation finally became real for her.

  “You’re here to make an arrest?” she asked Lucian incredulously. “Of who? Not me. You don’t mean me?”

  He hooked a hand over the back of the couch, and motioned lazily with a finger to Addie. “It’s her show.”

  Addie waited for Dahlia to look her way. “You are the only one here who has actually denied killing Eugene. Over and over, actually. A smart person would say that makes you less of a suspect than the others. A smarter person might say that actually makes you more of a suspect.”

  “Huh?” Dahlia’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. “What does that even mean?”

  Willow chuckled disdainfully. “The one who protests the loudest has the most to lose. Like Shakespeare said, the lady doth protest too much. That’s a real investigative technique, so I can understand why you wouldn’t know about it. I bet they didn’t teach you that in whatever online course you took to be a PI, did they?”

  “Hey,” Dahlia protested. “I went to night school for my license. I’m a real detective, thank you very much.”

  “If you’re a real detective,” Willow snarked, “then I’m the Queen of England.”

  Dahlia stood up from the couch, anger folding her hands over into fists. “Well, then you better go dust your crown off, your highness, because I’m the real deal.”

  “Oh, really? Well, then why don’t you explain it for us?”

  Willow waited, a challenging smile on her face, and after several long seconds Dahlia crossed her arms and sat down again. “Whatever. You go on and explain, then. The cop said it was your show. Well, start showing.”

  Addie nodded. “Well, to start with, we have to go back to the first murder that happened here at Pendulum Lodge. Back to the murder of Danny Bellinger.”

  Dahlia snorted. “We know who did that murder. It was Eugene. Rosemary saw him do it. Right, Rosemary?”

  The woman touched a hand to her cheek, maybe remembering how Eugene had struck her and left her unconscious on the floor. She nodded, but she didn’t say anything, just looking at Addie and her sisters from under her bangs instead.

  “That’s where we started our investigation,” Addie agreed. “The facts told us that the first thing that happened was Eugene stabbing Danny to death. Now, while that was happening, we know that Dahlia and Christine were in Eugene’s room, looking for evidence that he had killed his wife.”

  Rosemary turned in her seat to stare at Dahlia and Christine, her eyes narrowed. This was obviously the first that she’d heard of that.

  “Is this necessary?” Christine asked. “Do we really need to go through a step by step recap of what happened?”

  “Just bear with me,” Addie said. “So. Eugene kills Danny. Dahlia and Christine are in Eugene’s room.”

  “That’s right,” Dahlia said gruffly. “So you know we didn’t kill Danny. We alibi each other.”

  Willow hummed loudly. “Hmm. You mean you alibi each other for Danny’s murder, Miss Private Investigator. You don’t have an alibi for after. You admitted that the two of you took turns watching Eileen after Danny’s murder until the police arrived.”

  “Whatever,” Dahlia said gruffly. She didn’t try to argue what Willow had said, though.

  Addie ignored the interruption to her explanation. “So, again. Danny gets murdered. Dahlia, you and Christine were in Eugene’s room. You didn’t find anything in Eugene’s room though, did you?”

  “No, we didn’t,” Christine answered. “No papers, no wallet, no thumb drive with incriminating evidence. That doesn’t mean he didn’t do it.”

  “Exactly. What’s that prove?” Dahlia added.

  “We’re just setting the stage,” Addie said. “Danny is murdered. You two are in Eugene’s room, which was how you saw a figure running through the backyard just before Bethany… I mean, before Eileen screamed that her husband was dead. When she screamed, you ran out of Eugene’s room.”

  “Well, sure,” Dahlia said. “We didn’t want to get caught in there.

  Addie nodded. Everything fit, so far. “Now, fast forward to the next event. My sisters and I find Rosemary bleeding on her bedroom floor. You told us, Rosemary, that Eugene hit you and then left you there.”

  Rosemary nodded again, still not finding her voice.

  “Next,” Addie continued, “we find Eugene Forrester dead and buried out in the woods. He wasn’t buried very deep. Whoever did it was very quick about it. That’s because they were also someone from the lodge, and there wasn’t much time to dig a grave and get back here before the police arrived.”

  “We know all this,” Christine said in frustration, ticking off Addie’s points on her fingers. “I already told you, I don’t care who killed Eugene. He deserved it.”

  Willow turned her gaze on Christine. “You know, a woman who hated Eugene as much as you did would have plenty of motive to kill him. You think he killed his wife, who happened to be your aunt. You think he did it to steal her money.”

  “I don’t think that’s what happened,” Christine practically growled, her eyes burning with anger. “I know that’s what happened. He got what he deserved.”

  Addie regarded her. Christine had come so close to confessing to the murder so many times. If she wasn’t careful, she’d end up in prison.

  “So Eugene kills Danny,” Addie reviewed one last time, “and you two run from his room to bring Eileen inside, and then we find Rosemary on the floor, and Eugene is gone. Then we find out Eugene was dead. Do we all agree that’s the timeline of the murders?”

  “Yes,” Christine said hesitantly.

  “Of course,” Dahlia griped. “Get on with it.”

  The sisters turned to Rosemary, and waited for her to shrug helplessly. They were all agreed. That was what happened.

  Only, it couldn’t have happened that way.

  Willow walked back and forth along the couch
es, right in front of each of the women. “Nobody sees the problems with that story? Really?”

  Dahlia stared at her blankly. “What do you mean?”

  Stopping right in front of her, Willow bent over Dahlia, face to face with her, making the woman shrink back into the cushions.

  “Can’t figure that one out, Miss Private Investigator? Well. Listen to the rest of the story. Right Addie?”

  “Right,” Addie said. She took a moment to enjoy the feeling of her sister and her doing this together, like the friends they used to be. Willow was enjoying this. So was Addie. She took a breath, and cast her eyes on the killer. “The motive behind both murders is one of the oldest motives in the books. This whole mystery is about the money.”

  “Whose money?” Christine asked. “Eugene’s?”

  “Of course she means Eugene’s money,” Dahlia snapped at her, twisting in her seat to move further away from Willow. “Who else would she be talking about? Do I have to do all of your thinking for you?”

  The room fell silent. Interesting, Addie thought. These two had come here to Pendulum Lodge, pretending to be lovers. Now it was obvious they weren’t even friends.

  At the far end of the couch, Rosemary seemed to come alive for the first time. “What does Eugene’s money have to do with Danny’s murder?”

  Addie and Kiera stepped over with Willow, shoulder to shoulder. “It has everything to do with it,” she said. “Eugene and Danny were both killed for the same thing. Someone wanted to get Eugene’s money.”

  “So which one of us is that?” Dahlia asked. “Huh? You obviously think it’s one of us, so why don’t you just arrest one of us and be done with it. Who is it?”

  “Maybe it’s you,” Willow said to her. “A smart-mouthed woman who thinks she’s a real detective. You found out how much money Eugene was worth after Christine hired you. Would it be such a stretch that someone like you would want a taste of real money, instead of the few hundred dollars you make off jobs like this one?”

  “I resent that!” Dahlia insisted.

  Willow shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t care.”

  “Or perhaps,” Kiera said, quickly cutting off Dahlia’s acidic reply, “it wasn’t you at all. Perhaps it was someone who had a score to settle with Eugene. A relative of Eugene’s wife, who also ended up dead, murdered in a car wreck for the same reasons as the murders committed here. Someone wanted Eugene’s money, and his wife was in the way. She had to die to get the insurance money. Now Eugene’s murder makes sense. He had the money, and someone wanted it, so now Eugene had to die too. Isn’t that right, Christine?”

  “What?” Christine launched herself from the couch and if it wasn’t for a little magic woven into the air by the three sisters, she might have thrown herself at them in her fury. “How dare you! I loved my aunt! I loved her, and I would never hurt her. I would never kill her! And the money? I’m not going to see any of Uncle Eugene’s money even now that he’s dead. None of that comes to me.”

  “True,” Kiera said, and Addie knew that her sister had used a bit of magic to confirm those words, even though it would be obvious to anyone that Christine meant what she said. The money in Eugene’s will would never reach her.

  Which is why she wasn’t a suspect anymore, despite her hatred of Eugene. Addie knew that.

  And, as much as Willow disliked Dahlia Black and her claims of being a real private investigator, Addie had never thought she was the killer, either. She was gruff, and she was a liar, but she wasn’t a killer.

  “However,” she said out loud, “there is one woman in this room who stood to gain quite a bit if Eugene’s wife died, allowing her the chance to cozy up to him. The same someone who would be able to have all of Eugene’s money to herself, if he died.”

  Everyone in the room turned to look at the woman at the end of the couch.

  Rosemary.

  Chapter 14

  “Me?” Rosemary asked them, her face etched in lines of confusion. “I don’t understand. How could you possibly suspect me?”

  Addie had been prepared for that question. “It was lots of little things, actually, but it all adds up to you.”

  “But… no.” She didn’t seem to have the words to express her surprise. “You saw me. In my room. Remember? You saw me in there. I was injured and Eugene had just run out after killing Danny. He didn’t want me to go to the police.”

  “Right. Danny was killed first, then Eugene.” Addie lifted the index finger on her right hand, and then on her left hand, for each event. “That’s what we thought at first. That’s what all the clues told us.”

  She took her hands, and crossed them so that the first point was now the second, and the last was now the first.

  “Only, in truth, we had it backwards this whole time. Eugene was killed first. Danny was the second victim.”

  Dahlia leaned forward on the couch. “How could you know that?”

  “Because,” Willow told her, “we’re not pretend detectives like you are.”

  “Insult me all you want. I’m a big girl. I can take it. Just answer the question. How did you know Eugene was killed first?”

  “Simple,” Addie told her. “The knife used to kill Danny was part of a set. The kitchen set from right here in Pendulum Lodge. It’s the only knife missing, and its size and shape are unique.”

  Lucian added, “It’s the biggest one in the set. Definitely the same knife.”

  It was the first time he’d spoken since the sisters had started their explanation. True to his word, he was letting them do their work of protecting Shadow Lake.

  Addie thanked him with a glance before continuing. “Since it was the same knife that killed both men, we know Danny was killed second because the killer dropped the knife practically at his feet. Eugene was dead—and buried—first. The knife went to the second victim, Danny, and there it stayed.”

  Rosemary’s expression changed. She went from being the inconsolable girlfriend of one of the victims to being the angry and cornered woman accused of murder in two seconds flat. She unwrapped her arms from around her knees, and sat up straighter, and glared at the sisters.

  “You can’t prove it was me. Even with all your little clues and your facts you can’t prove it was me!”

  “Yes,” Addie insisted. “We can.”

  Then she turned around, facing Dahlia once again. The once brazen private investigator actually flinched. “Do you remember what you said to us?” Addie asked her. “About being in Eugene’s room?”

  “Uh, yes. Sure. We… uh, we said that we saw someone running through the backyard but it was too dark to see who it—”

  “Not that,” Addie told her. “The part about what you found in the room.”

  Dahlia scrunched her face up, trying to think. “We didn’t find anything. No papers, no wallet, no thumb drive. Nothing.”

  Lucian leaned forward on the edge of the couch. “Know what? That’s pretty much what we found on his body when we dug him up. No papers. No wallet. No thumb drive or anything.”

  “So what?” Dahlia asked, still not getting it.

  “So,” he said, “how many men do you know who go on vacation without their wallet?”

  Dahlia blinked, and Christine’s eyes went wide again. It was becoming a permanent expression on the woman’s face. Now they understood.

  There was no wallet.

  Lucian stood up, turning to the officers standing not too far away. “Did you search their rooms again?”

  One of the officers nodded. “Yes, we did. The whole lodge, in fact. Still no wallet.”

  Which was when Rosemary bolted from the couch, trying to push her way past Lucian. She caught him off guard and slipped under his reach and then there was no one in the way between her and the front door.

  Addie thought about it for only a second. There was no way that Rosemary could expect to escape from here. There were too many police officers around for that. Even if she made it out of the lodge and by some miracle slipped away from everyo
ne here, the police knew who she was. They would just track her down later.

  The only reason for her to be running like this would be to hide the one piece of evidence that would seal her fate. Addie knew she couldn’t let Rosemary get away.

  With a whispered word and a flick of her pinky, she wrapped a steel band of air around Rosemary’s left foot, and tripped her.

  She fell flat on her face, and the hardwood floor was not kind to her. The sound of her face bouncing off the polished boards was like a crack of thunder.

  Lucian had already started after her and when she fell he was on her instantly, taking her by both arms and pulling her up, holding her wrists behind her back. A bruise was forming around her bloody nose. The cut in her lip was probably going to need stitches.

  Addie didn’t feel the least bit sorry for her.

  Wrestling to keep her from bolting again, Lucian pushed her down onto the couch. Dahlia and Christine hastily backed away to give them space. The other officers swarmed in and soon enough, Rosemary was in handcuffs.

  When they clicked into place, Lucian reached under that oversized sweater Rosemary was wearing and took a wallet out of her back pocket. A man’s wallet.

  He opened it up, and a smile crossed his face before he handed it to Addie. Inside, Eugene’s driver’s license looked back at them.

  Addie handed it to Willow, who handed it to Kiera. Here was the confirmation they needed. It was Rosemary who had killed both Eugene and Danny. While she’d been acting like the perfect victim, scared of her own shadow, she’d been biding her time until the police left everyone alone so she could sneak off and use the contents of Eugene’s wallet to get exactly what she wanted.

  His money.

  “How did you know?” she asked miserably. “It couldn’t just be because I dropped that knife. I saw Eileen coming out of the lodge. I had to run and I forgot the knife, but that can’t be all there was!”

  Willow smirked at her. “Oh, Addie, please let me take this one.”