The Evil Inside (Krewe of Hunters)

by Heather Graham

  Sam smiled and accepted the piece of paper. He was definitely interested in meeting the boy who had beaten himself in the head because of Malachi’s evil eye.

  He exchanged a pleasant set of goodbyes with the councilman and dialed the number right after he left the office. Mrs. Yates hung up the minute he identified himself. He tried again. This time, she had a few words for him.

  “You leave me alone! Don’t you dare go near my son—you’re slime, pure slime! You think you’re a hotshot, getting killers off? Well, you stay the hell away from my son. I’ll have you arrested if I hear that you’re within a hundred yards of him. You go to hell, Mr. Hall. You’re trying to defend the devil, and you’re a demon yourself for doing it! You’re a crooked, money-grubbing bastard, and you will stay the hell away from my son!”

  Again, the phone went dead.

  Sam wasn’t sure if he was amused or dismayed. He decided to start at it all from a different angle. Surely, there was someone out there who wasn’t entirely biased.

  He hesitated, and then put in a call to Jenna Duffy.

  “What are you doing?” he asked her.

  He thought that she hesitated a minute. “I came out to see the Andres home in Andover,” she said.

  He frowned. “Alone?” He didn’t know why that worried him. It was broad daylight and, according to everyone, Peter Andres’s murderer was in custody.

  Did he believe that himself now? He just didn’t know.

  “I called the Realtor,” Jenna said. “She’s nice. I admitted I was looking into the case—on my uncle’s behalf. She was okay with it after I explained. I’m not sure she believes she’s ever going to sell the house anyway, unless she finds someone with a really morbid curiosity.”

  “Anything helpful? What did you see?”

  “I’ve seen the house and the barn where he was killed. It’s wiped clean,” she added. “And you?”

  “I was thinking of shopping and sightseeing. Actually, there’s one old friend I want to stop in on—at a witchcraft shop on Essex Street. Want to come?”

  “Sightseeing and shopping,” she said drily. “Sure.”

  “I’ll meet you there in thirty minutes. I’ll text you the address.”

  “Sam! Sam Hall! I’d heard you were here!”

  The words were spoken by a dark-haired young woman standing behind the counter of A Little Bit of Magic. Her pretty features were lit up, and she came walking around the sales station and threw her arms around Sam’s neck and gave him a fierce hug. She pulled away quickly and gave Jenna an apologetic look. “I’m sorry. I haven’t seen this boy in a long, long time! Not since the funeral.”

  “I haven’t been back since the funeral, Cecilia,” Sam said. “Do you remember Jenna Duffy? She’s Jamie’s niece. I think you two tortured my parents together years ago.”

  “Oh! Oh, of course! Jenna—I didn’t recognize you at first. How could I have missed that red hair? I didn’t mean that rudely—it’s beautiful hair. Jenna, how are you?” Cecilia asked, overly emphatically.

  “I’m good, thank you, and honestly, Cecilia, I didn’t recognize you at first, either,” Jenna told her. Sam had said they were going to stop in on an old friend. She hadn’t realized that it was a mutual acquaintance. Cecilia Sanderson. She was a year or two older than Jenna, but Salem hadn’t been a big place, and when they were young, she’d lived close to Jamie—and to Sam Hall’s parents’ home. Naturally, the two girls had been thrown together on those occasions when Jenna visited.

  Cecilia grinned. “Well, I have changed a great deal. My real hair color is mousy-brown—for some reason, if you run a Wiccan shop, you’re more alluring with very dark hair. And black clothing, of course.”

  “Cecilia is a Wiccan now,” Sam explained.

  Cecilia elbowed him. “Sam doesn’t believe in anything. We’re a recognized religion.”

  “Hey, I just question what you really believe!” Sam said, not offended.

  Cecilia waved a hand in the air. “This is really still a small town,” she said. “People talk, and judge. Most of the time, our ‘traditionalists’ are pretty tolerant and grateful that people love coming up here just for the Wiccan shops and curios, and so on and so on. People are more tolerant when there’s money to be had.”

  “And,” Sam said, leaning casually on the counter, “you know as well as I do that half the people who come here to open up shop are playing at being Wiccan.”

  “Better Wiccan than fanatical!” Cecilia said. “I believe in cause no harm to others. Some fundamentalists of other religions believe in killing in the name of God, Sam.”

  He smiled. “I’m not judging you, Cecilia. I promise. I know you’re a good person.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah!” she said and laughed. “How do you like the shop?”

  “It’s really beautiful, so well decorated and laid out,” Jenna told her. She was sincere. The windows were decorated for fall, with shimmering silk flowers and leaves, and mannequins wearing fine velvet Wiccan capes and beautiful silver jewelry. Handsome signs done in curving but legible calligraphy pointed out that herbs and jewelry were in the front, curios and books in the center section and clothing to the rear.

  Cecilia smiled. “I always wanted my own shop! Well, it’s almost my own. Do you remember Ivy Summers?” she asked.

  “Could I forget?” Sam asked, and rolled his eyes. “She broke my Nintendo!”

  Jenna laughed. “I remember Ivy, yes.”

  “We actually own the shop together. Ivy is at home, working the computer sales, which are fantastic. We’re really pleased.”

  “That’s great,” Sam told her.

  “Ah, well, not as great as being an attorney who shows up on the front page of the Huffington Post, CNN—you name it! And now, so I hear, you’re defending the Smith boy!” she said, her voice curious and excited. “Give! Is it true? Sam, that whole family was whacked-out crazy, you know.”

  “Cecilia! Would you be judging others?” he asked.

  She shrugged. “No. Yes. Well, you have to judge them. Wiccan, Judeo-Christian, whatever! The whole rest of the town thought they were all crazy.”

  “But there are people who think you’re crazy,” Sam reminded her. “Sorry, I don’t mean you. I mean all Wiccans.” He smiled broadly.

  She waved a hand in the air. “Hey, yeah, well, people are people, and we don’t all get along. But that’s different.”

  “The enemy of my enemy is my friend!”

  “You are exasperating!” Cecilia said. She looked at Jenna. “So…are you two dating now or something?”

  “No…” Jenna said, startled and looking at Sam.

  “Malachi Smith was Jamie’s patient at one time,” Sam explained. “She’s helping me, because her uncle believes in Malachi’s innocence.”

  Cecilia seemed puzzled. “But—it’s all cut-and-dried, isn’t it? Aren’t you going to pursue an insanity plea or whatever?”

  “I can’t really talk about that,” Sam said, shifting gears. “So, you give! Any great grudges dominating the town talk these days? Any shopkeepers stolen the customers of another? What’s the rumor mill like? Any idea how the local pot and meth trade are doing?”

  Cecilia looked at them both incredulously. “Wait, you think that the Smith family was murdered over drugs?”

  “Probably not,” Sam said. “But, hey, I thought I’d throw some stuff out there, since you talk to everyone, figured you’d know about town dynamics. Like, was Abraham Smith fighting with anybody?”

  Cecilia laughed. “Anybody? How about everybody? No one liked him much, but no one bothered with him much. His wife never left the house.” She frowned. “Oh, there was a fellow—a councilman—who had wanted to buy the property. I think someone else wanted to buy it, too. Wiccan gossip at the bars late at night…” she explained. “I’m sorry, don’t know if it’s true or not, but—oh, there was something in the local paper about the councilman vying for the place.”

  “Councilman Yates?” Sam asked.


  “Um, yes, I think so,” Cecilia said. “And someone else…a magician, a medium, someone like that—oh, yes! Samantha Yeager.”

  “Two interested parties—for a house with that reputation?” Jenna asked, trying to refocus Cecilia’s energetic talking.

  “Well, of course! What a tourist attraction—the only reason that they talk about it in the paper like that,” Cecilia said.

  “But they can’t get rid of Peter Andres’s place,” Jenna said. “I was just out there, and I met with the Realtor.”

  Cecilia shrugged, grinning broadly. “The Lexington House has a truly ghastly and grim history—the farm out in Andover had one bad thing happen, even if it was pretty bad. And that’s recent. People like historic ghosts much more than modern ghosts. Unless, of course, it’s a modern celebrity ghost. Everyone wants to stay at that Hard Rock in Florida in the room where Anna Nicole Smith died. But no one knew Peter Andres. Oh, come on, you don’t need to be a psychiatrist to notice the way that people just are!”

  “So, historically, we all know about the Lexington family, and the Braden family after them—so the house was worth a good deal if you want to open a tourist attraction,” Sam said.

  “Oh, yes, of course. I think that the woman I was telling you about—Samantha Yeager—wanted the house for work. She’s kind of a newcomer—okay, she’s from as far away as Plymouth—but she reads tarot cards and does palm readings, sells cards, herbs and all the same stuff that we do. Yeah, yeah, I remember someone saying that she said it looks like the Lizzie Borden place, which is now like a B and B or something.”

  “People would go to her rather than someone else for the ambience of the house?” Jenna asked drily.

  “Of course! I’ll bet you it will be worth a mint now. Hey, the Smith kid will be able to pay you, Sam, if they sell it,” Cecilia said cheerfully.

  “I’m doing the work pro bono,” Sam told her.

  “Well, that’s kind of you, to help such a nutty kid.”

  “I guess that’s universally accepted?” Jenna asked.

  They both stared at her.

  “Universally, as in locally, I mean,” Jenna said.

  Cecilia nodded. “It’s like knowing about kooks anywhere you live, you know. Everybody knew that family—although, usually we didn’t give them all much thought. And, of course, in this area, Lexington House is legendary. Everyone thought it fitting that the Smiths lived there.” She grinned. “And, of course, in Salem, you have all the curiosity seekers who come to see what modern witches look like! It may be ‘Witch City,’ but we’re still the minority. I mean, we should be the alternative people. The Smith family made us all seem part of the same fabric in a way….” Cecilia was thoughtful a minute. “You know, if it weren’t backward…”

  “If what weren’t backward?” Sam asked quickly.

  “Well, I’m trying to remember. My sister just started teaching at the high school, so all she knows is what others say about the past, but if I remember this correctly—and you should definitely check me out, because I’m just giving you hearsay or whatever—but Peter Andres was vocal about Abraham Smith. He said that Smith had his own money, and that he was still collecting some kind of disability. That he was a drain on the taxpayers, was the epitome of the worst of the system—stuff like that. He stood up for Malachi, but he hated Abraham. Malachi, of course, always defended his father.”

  “What did Abraham have to say about that?” Jenna asked.

  Cecilia shrugged. “Nothing—nothing that I know about. But he wasn’t the kind to have a drink and chat at the bars!” she said. She smiled at them. “A lot of the merchants around here are actually good friends, and if we don’t like each other—or don’t always share the same philosophy or vision—we still support one another. We get together to plan Halloween activities, we work with the city and the museums. That’s how we stay afloat through the cold, icy winter when tourism isn’t so plentiful! So, yes, of course, we chat when we stop at the brewery or one of the bars, and we usually do hear what’s going on around town. You know back when that incident happened at the high school, some argued that Andy and Cindy Yates had a crazy kid themselves, and even some smart people said that suggestion could cause people to do very strange things. Kind of like you can brainwash yourself. Then, the other half of the people argued on the superstitious side. There was something strange about Malachi Smith. Maybe the devil actually lived up at Lexington House and had gotten into him. But, anyway, old Abraham took his son out of school without a word, and people stopped talking about it so much.”

  “Until Peter Andres was murdered?” Jenna asked.

  Cecilia hesitated. A group had just walked into the shop. The three women were wearing beautiful velvet capes, and Jenna had the feeling that they’d just been purchased. One of the men was dressed in similar fashion, but his hooded cape was brown wool.

  “A mortar and pestle, Johnny!” one of the women said. “Ooh, in marble, how pretty—I bet I could cook up some spells with that!”

  “Excuse me,” Cecilia said, and walked over to the group.

  Jenna could see that the newcomers seemed both fascinated and amused by the fact that they were in “Witch City.” She could also see that Cecilia was accustomed to the attitude and seemed entirely unperturbed. She suggested to the woman that the mortar and pestle were also quite useful for crushing garlic and herbs.

  “She’s a good kid,” Sam said softly.

  “And a talker…but a lot of help,” she replied. She couldn’t help watching the man in the brown cape. There was really nothing out of the ordinary about him; people were dressed up all around the city. But his outfit reminded her of her vision—the caped, hooded and masked person who had rushed in on Peter Andres, felling him where he stood.

  “What’s the matter?” Sam asked her.

  She shook her head. She wasn’t ready to tell him what she’d seen. He’d mocked her at the Lexington House, and she could only imagine what he would have to say if she told him a dressed-up and horned demon had killed Peter Andres.

  “It’s Halloween. People like to play at being many things,” she said.

  “People always like to play at being many things,” he told her. “I’ll let Cecilia know we’re leaving.”

  Cecilia excused herself to her customers, hugged Sam and waved to Jenna, and the two left her shop. They walked along the pedestrian street by the museums and other shops. All around them, they could hear the delighted squeals of children as they watched jugglers or paused at various stations to take part in drawing, pumpkin carving or face painting.

  Jenna wasn’t sure where they were going, but Sam was thoughtful.

  “Assuming Malachi is innocent, what’s going on is calculated,” he said. “First murder a teacher, assuming that everyone would think that Malachi hated that teacher and would easily be suspected—which he was. And then a neighbor. But why the neighbor?”

  “According to Cecilia, everyone hated the Smith family,” Jenna said. “So, we can assume that the neighbor hated them a lot.”

  “So, it all looks like a series of events, with the killer, Malachi, having lost all hold on reality, and perhaps killing others before lashing out at his restrictive family. The question is…was there a real reason for the neighbor and the teacher, or were they just there, random victims in a plan against the family?”

  “Or was there a plan, and they fit right into it?” Jenna asked.

  “Well, the fact that Malachi and Peter Andres actually got on well together will help our case,” Sam said.

  Jenna heard him speak, but she didn’t reply. She stopped walking.

  Just ahead of them, moving through the crowd, was someone in a long brown cape, a monk’s cape with a hood. She couldn’t see the person’s face and she didn’t know if it was a man or a woman—or if they wore a mask or not.

  She reminded herself that she had just seen a man in Cecilia’s shop in such a cape.

  It was Halloween season, Haunted Happenings. People would be in
costumes daily, participating in all the events, and dressing up because it was fun to dress up!

  The person paused—almost as if they had felt they were being watched.

  He or she turned and looked back.

  Jenna froze.

  The person was wearing the mask.

  The same mask she had seen in her vision of the murder of Peter Andres.

  It was the horned devil.

  5

  The horned devil stared at her a long moment, and then turned.

  She couldn’t have begun to explain how, but the person in the costume knew she had recognized him.

  If it was a him. It was impossible to tell.

  Jenna found herself following the horned devil. Even as she quickened her pace, she wondered what she would say if she caught up with them.

  Excuse me, but in my mind’s eye, I saw you murder Peter Andres, or at least, I saw someone in the costume you’re wearing….

  “Hey, where are you going?” Sam called. She hadn’t realized that she’d been walking so quickly until Sam had caught up with her. By the time she looked up from where Sam’s arm was on her, she saw that she’d lost her target in the crowd. The horned devil had disappeared by diving through a group dressed as plums and apples and the rest of the Fruit of the Loom underwear set.

  Halloween season. The season of the witch, so many thought. And in legend, the night when souls could return to earth….

  And try to linger on.

  But the dead weren’t really returning; the living created evil.

  “Jenna!” Sam said.

  “I—I’m sorry,” she said. “I—I thought I saw an old friend.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, yes, of course.”

  “Someone I might know?”

  Jenna dead-blanked on the name of anyone she might have known in Salem.

  “Just—just a girl I saw now and then. She might have been friends with Cecilia, too. I actually can’t remember her name.” Jenna tried not to blink, fidget, look downward or to the side, or do any of the things that automatically identified you as a liar.