“She couldn’t have been,” Lex said. “These drugs ruin people. She couldn’t have taken care of her sister, kept all those jobs. She was probably a mule.”
“A what?” Maeve asked.
“She carried the drugs on her runs,” Lex replied. “It’s the only thing that makes sense.
Maeve shook her head frantically and then almost shouted, “But she wouldn’t have if she’d known. Whoever, she was working for, she didn’t think they’d do that.”
“How do you know?”
“Her dad died because of drugs. It was really shady when she was little because he was using. We’d promised each other when I was too little to even know what they were that we’d never use them. She wouldn’t have transported.”
“Not even for a lot of money?”
Maeve paused. But when she shook her head, it was emphatic. “There’s no way. That was the money she was using to save for a better place. She might have for food for us, but it wasn’t that bad.”
“Who did your sister run her errands for?”
Maeve paused and then shrugged.
“She didn’t tell you?”
Maeve shook her head. A pale, silent mute denial. But her voice reflected guilt when she said, “I didn’t ask her about her jobs. They…”
“They made you feel bad because she was working so hard,” Maye said. “It’s what we do for those we love.”
Scarlett rose again. She made everyone tea this time. They probably wouldn’t drink it, but she’d feel better making it for them. She hadn’t even taken one bite of her oatmeal. No one had but Maeve who was sliding them in here and there. Scarlett looked at her and then started making her toast. She practically radiated hunger if you looked for it.
Scarlett couldn’t believe that it was possible that someone would be willing to use their abilities, their beautiful abilities to make something so terrible. And for what? Money? Surely a bright and hardworking girl like Bridget had been worth more than whatever amount that poison brought in.
“You better find them first,” Scarlett said. She buttered the toast, put it on a plate next to Maeve and handed everyone tea. Only Maeve had anything that Scarlett fed her, but she kept going, so Scarlett sliced up apples and cheese.
As she did her resolve firmed. This wasn’t going to happen. Not here. Whoever did this was not going to get away with it. They weren’t going to make a little girl who Scarlett cared about scared for her life. Maeve wasn't going to spend her childhood holed up on Oaken property. This was not how it was going to go down. She was one of the Oaken family now, and Oaken’s didn’t just roll over and take whatever criminals decided to throw their way. They were druids. They were powerful. They were calm. But even trees would pull up their roots and go to war when they needed to.
An inkling of something tickled her mind, and she glanced back, noting the way Maeve’s eye’s shifted. She looked up and met Harper’s gaze who nodded once. Maeve was still hiding something. Scarlett thought for a moment and then decided that Maeve could have her secret.
She met Harper’s gaze and said, “Let’s get the Circle.”
Harper’s mouth spread in a slow, wicked smile. Scarlett found herself echoing it.
“I’ll take care of it,” Lex said catching a bit of what was passing between the sisters.
“Too late,” Harper said. “You should have taken Gus hunting while you had the chance. You might have beat us to it.”
“Stop them,” Lex said to Maye as Harper grabbed her bag from the hook and Scarlett put on her jacket. Harper went through the cupboard until she found their mom’s car keys. Maye shrugged as Lex repeated himself.
“Get Henna and Gram,” Scarlett told Harper who flinched and then paused before she asked, “Why?”
“Bridget was spooked after work at the diner. We can handle who she might have seen there. But Henna and Gram are the only ones who can beard old man Day.”
Harper’s face said she could take him. Scarlett was sure Harper could. But they needed information not to trap him.
“I got this,” Lex said once again. He said it almost frantically. He was the police department of one, and Scarlett and Harper didn’t care one bit. “I can arrest you for impeding an investigation.”
“By going for a drive?” Harper asked, raising a brow.
“Getting some elephant ears at the town picnic? Please,” Scarlett’s voice was sweet but it was steel-tipped.
“Maeve is in danger until this is ended,” Maye added. “That’s unacceptable. She’s ours now.”
“I got this,” Lex said again. “I’m the sheriff now.”
Harper laughed and tossed Scarlett the car keys.
Maeve’s eyes were wide, watching them. “It’s dangerous for me to be here.”
“I know you don’t understand, love,” Maye said. “But druids aren’t in danger on their own ground. You’re fine. Scarlett’s little girl is running around outside, and she isn’t worried. Don’t worry about yourself either.”
“I’m not,” Maeve said. “I’m worried for them.”
She nodded towards the doorway where Ella was standing silently. Ella asked, “Did your sister die?”
Maeve nodded. Ella crossed over and said, “I’m sorry. Harper and Mommy will get the bad guys. And we can go say hi to the trees. It’ll make you feel better. It helps me.”
Ella took Maeve’s hand and simply pulled until the girl got up and followed her outside. She glanced over her shoulder again and again, but it was Ella who made Maeve comfortable. You could see the tension relaxing in her shoulders as she let the little girl lead the way to her favorite willow tree.
* * * * *
“Well isn’t it nice of you to deign to recognize our existence?”
Gram was sitting in the living room with her fingers tangled with Mr. Jueavas. Scarlett shuddered dramatically and then wound her hair up in a greasy mom bun. If this way of life kept up, she was going to have to add dry shampoo to her supply of Bandaids, lollipops, and random action figures in her purse. She felt like a grease ball.
“How is the child?” Mr. Throdmore’s concerned voice cut through Harper’s snarky and profanity-laden reply to Gram.
“She’s messed up,” Harper said with another curse. She flipped her christmas red and black hair, and her cat’s eyes were narrowed in fury. “She’ll be carrying all of this forever.”
Scarlett considered and then nodded. There was just no way that Maeve wouldn’t be haunted by her sister sacrificing herself for Maeve. Hopefully, the love of the act would color her life as well.
“You need to get information from the older Mr. Day,” Harper told Gram and Henna. They glanced at the other two gentlemen. “Bridget was a drug mule. Warlock heroin. Someone is making that stuff. Someone has the setup in Mystic Cove.”
The cursing that followed her barely self-controlled speech had Gram smacking at Harper.
“I doubt that Jimmy Day is smart enough to run a drug operation. And if he’d been trying, he’d have been caught before now.”
“Wally is an idiot,” Scarlett said pointedly. “If you donated to the department, he’d let you get away with just about anything.”
“Assuming,” Harper cut in, “He was smart enough to catch that you were up to something shady. As a person who spent a fair amount of time in his police station, you could get away with a lot by trying.”
“You weren’t trying?” Mr. Throdmore sounded a bit shocked.
Harper shrugged, tossing her hair.
“She didn’t care if she got caught,” Scarlett said.
“Even still,” Henna mused, “Day’s a jerk, but Wally isn’t the only person in town. Someone else would have figured things out.”
“It doesn’t have to be an old crime,” Harper said. “This could be new to Mystic Cove. They might have even come here because Wally was sheriff. What better than an idiot for the entire police department?”
“Do you think that Brad Day is involved as well?” Scarlett was tying her sh
oelaces as the thought occurred to her. She wasn't sure she bought it. She didn't like Brad Day--not a bit--but she wouldn't be surprised to find out he had no idea what was going on. "What's your take on him?"
Henna and Gram glanced back and forth, and you could see on their faces that they weren’t sure.
“Someone else has to be involved besides old man Day,” Harper said, crossing her ankle and leaning against the wall. “He’s not a man who holes up and makes drugs. He’d see himself as better than that."
“They’re witches too,” Mr. Jueavas said, scratching his nose and glancing at the others. “You have to have warlocks to make warlock heroin.”
“You guys need to keep out of this,” Lex said as he’d entered the front room. Both Scarlett and Harper turned without agreeing. Why bother arguing when Gram was there to bulldog Lex instead?
“Don’t be stupid, boy,” Gram said with a sneer. “Someone killed a druid. We don’t just stand by when that happens.”
“What can you even do? Scold the killer to death? You’re nature loving druids.”
Scarlett winced for Lex, but he had no idea what he’d just done. Gram wasn’t going to just harass him now; she’d harass him forever.
“We could grow a tree in their chest and decompose them in the earth,” Gram said precisely. “Always a favorite.”
“Or persuade the wind to keep air from around him,” Henna said. “Letting him suffocate to death with perfectly functioning lungs.”
“Or set him on fire,” Harper replied, tapping her lips. “A personal favorite as you know.”
Lex turned to Scarlett where she was standing with the others. “And you?”
“Oh, I won’t kill whoever it is. It would get back to my girls. But I won’t need to kill them to stop them. And I won’t just stand by and let Maeve be trapped here and in danger.”
“I will find the killer, Scarlett.” Lex rubbed his hand over his shaved head.
“Ok,” she said patting him on the shoulder. “We’ll just help a little bit. It won’t be so bad.”
“Your grandmother just threatened to kill a person with a tree. Can she even do that?”
“Gram alone? Probably not. But if she got enough of the Circle to help, sure. You asked her what she could do, Lex. You know she’s a nasty old thing. You should have expected a nasty answer.”
“Never doubt Gram,” Harper said sagely and then opened the door and said, “Speaking of. Let’s get out of here before she starts bugging us too.”
“Wait,” Gram snapped.
Scarlett sidestepped Lex and darted for the door, covering her ears, so she couldn’t hear whatever Gram ordered.
Sure, it was a classic move from childhood that had never ended well for Scarlett, but sometimes you just had to avoid and evade.
Chapter 10
Scarlett parted from Harper at the diner. Mabel had fed them waffles and strawberries. Guilt about eating that favorite food without the girls had Scarlett leaving the bacon off the order. She shouldn’t be eating it anyway, she told herself. She was supposed to be a vegetarian. Except for clam chowder, bacon, and marshmallows. Life wasn’t worth living without epic s’mores and BLTs.
Mabel—owned the diner and was an inveterate gossip—actually had useful information for once, and she was bursting with anger.
“I have called that police station four times. Four! And I have asked and asked to speak with that out-of-towner police sheriff. And what do I get? Nothing! A callback? Not for old Mabel. What can she know?”
Scarlett didn’t bother to explain that Lex had spent every minute since finding Bridget’s body with tracing and recovering Maeve, snatching a few minutes of sleep, and then interviewing the poor child. Scarlett doubted that he’d be thrilled that Mabel was going to tell Scarlett what should be given to the police, but she doubted he’d understand that when you blew off someone like Mabel, you’d be lucky if she didn’t walk through the police station with a sign sharing all the information.
“What are you trying to tell the sheriff?”
Mabel sniffed righteously, put her hands on her hips, and then dropped across from Scarlett in the booth. With a quick glance around, Mabel said, “There was a man who came and asked about the girls. Used the last name of Iverson instead of Smith, but you know. He had a picture. It was an old one, but it was my girls.”
“What?” Scarlett froze as she considered, but she didn’t know what to think. Why would some random man look for those girls? They were good kids.
“It was him,” Mabel said, nodding her head firmly. Her mouth was pursed and her eyes were narrowed. She was furious and certain. Scarlett didn’t think it was quite as certain, but she leaned forward and widened her eyes, and waited breathlessly in the mode of every person who wanted all of the details from a gossip like Mable. “He did it. I’m sure of it. He looked dead inside. You find that man, and you find out what he had to do with hurting Bridget.”
Killing her, Scarlett thought, but she said nothing.
“She was a good kid. She worked hard. Real sweet. Always focused. Quiet, but that’s a blessing with a kid barely out of her teens. Orange juice?”
Mabel didn’t wait for an answer and refilled Scarlett’s glass, waved someone to a booth across the diner.
“What did he ask?” Scarlett asked in that deliberately breathless tone.
“He just asked about Bridget and Maeve. Called them by a different last name, like I said. He was all worn down and official looking. But definitely dead inside. Didn’t have an ounce of brightness to him. Said that Bridget was wanted for questioning about kidnapping her sister. That can’t even be possible. Ridiculous.”
Scarlett’s brows rose and she choked. Kidnapping? Kidnapping a little sister? Taking excellent care of her? That was bureaucratic baloney if she’d ever heard it. Bridget might be a runaway with her sister. But she was not a kidnapper.
“I know,” Mabel said as if she were following Scarlett’s thoughts. “As if those girls didn’t belong together. As if it would be possible to kidnap that child by a sister. Runaways. That maybe, I could believe. But I asked Bridget and Maeve, and they both said their mom died. They’re just orphans.”
Scarlett shook her head, sick with what those girls had been through. Sick and disgusted that the girls had made it all the way to Mystic Cove—where they so clearly belonged and then hadn’t found the help that was right there.
“I might believe runaways. Especially if they had a deadbeat dad. But Bridget was doing right by Maeve. Mark my words. Bridget took good care of that little girl. And that girl was the light of Bridget’s life. Every time she talked about that sweet Maeve, it was how bright she was. How hard working she was. Those are good kids. You can’t tell me any different.”
Mabel slapped the coffee pot down on the table to emphasize what she was saying.
“What did he look like?”
“Middle-aged. Run down. Boring. You could walk past him and not even know he was there.”
“What color was his hair?” Scarlett asked trying to hide her frustration. What kind of useless answer was that?
Mabel paused and actually had to think before she started muttering under her breath. She finally turned to the cook and hollered. “What color was that guy’s hair who was asking about Bridget?”
“Brown, Mabel.” The cook didn’t even look up, though Scarlett looked over. He was a big man. Near giant. All muscle and height and hair. He looked over while Scarlett was glancing his way, and she saw the kindness in his eyes. They were lit by a fire of anger and grief that rolled off of him. He had liked Bridget too.
“How tall?”
Mabel tapped her lip and then called again, “Abe. Would you say he was about my height?”
Mabel was about 5 feet tall. Abe shook his head and then answered, “Bout mine, Mabel.”
Given that Abe was 6 feet at the minimum, Scarlett sighed and then asked, “Abe, did you catch where he was staying?”
“He’s over at the motel on the
west edge of town. Herman’s? Pretty sure he said it was Herman’s.”
“What did Bridget do when she found out he’d been asking about her?”
“She wasn’t here when he showed up. She has a cleaning job and a couple other little things right before work on Saturday. Then she comes here, works till close, had another cleaning job right after that. But the moment she found out that guy had been asking about her, she took off. Ran right out the back door and went hurtling down the back lanes. Didn’t see her again.”
Abe shook his head and muttered under his breath. Scarlett would have bet he was saying he should have done more. Should have noticed. Should have gone after Bridget. Scarlett had her own regrets and she hadn’t known Bridget at all. Only seen her the one time.
“Did she ask about anything before she took off? Say anything?”
“I may not be a druid with your knowing,” Mabel said with hands on her hips. “But I wasn’t going to be telling some stranger about a couple of good girls, was I? I told him I hadn’t ever seen those kids, and I suspected he was probably in chasing a will o’ the wisp. Bridget knew I hadn’t said anything.”
“Did he believe you when you said you didn’t know them?”
Mabel shrugged and Abe shook his head. He was a large man all beard, long hair, and hair nets, but he was emphatic.
“You think he had a clue you guys were lying?”
“I think he had good information about where those girls were,” Abe said, “And he was determined to find them.”
Scarlett took a deep breath and then said, “I wonder what it was. Sounds to me like Bridget worked all the time and Maeve holed up in their place.”
“She was a good kid. A real good kid,” Mabel said, and a tear rolled down her face. “Whoever did this to her better keep out of my kitchen, or they’ll be finding a little something extra in their pie.”
“No need for getting your hands dirty,” Abe said mildly. “I’d take care of it. No need to go the easy route of poison either.”
Scarlett smiled at Abe, suddenly interested in his backstory. She hadn’t known him well before she moved away. But she rose and said, “I believe you that Bridget was a good kid. I’ve heard more than one person threaten to murder for her today. A strange testament to being lovable isn’t it?”
Runes and Roller Skates Page 9