Son of a Witch: A Witch Squad Cozy Mystery #2

by M. Z. Andrews

  He pulled his truck back onto Lemon Street and we drove to the Aspen Falls Park where we parked and sat and listened to music, switching the stations back and forth between country channels and the rock stations I preferred. Conversation flowed like water and before I knew it minutes turned into hours and as the easy chatter finally began to wind down; I could feel a physical tension building between us. I suddenly wondered if Hugh was contemplating kissing me. My heart began to pound in my ears and I felt a shiver run down the length of my spine. I visibly shuddered.

  “Are you cold?” Hugh asked. He immediately rolled up his window as I wrapped my arms around myself.

  “Mmm,” I shivered. “A little.” I’d been getting the shivers a lot lately. I had gotten them the morning that Morgan Hartford had been murdered and I’d gotten them the night that Jax had gone missing. I was pretty sure I’d even gotten them the night of the big bonfire by the Black Witch’s house. Shivers generally meant something big was imminent, but I didn’t want to tell Hugh that. I had a feeling that I knew what was imminent.

  He reached into the back of his truck and pulled out a navy blue and grey Houston Texans zip up hoodie. “Here, put this on,” he suggested as my jaw began to quiver slightly.

  I leaned forward as he scooted over to wrap the sweater around my shoulders. I let him leave his arms around me for an extended moment. I looked up into his hazel eyes and smiled lightly. “Thanks.”

  He smiled back and smoothed away a stray hair, stashing it sweetly behind my ear. “You’re welcome. You’ve got the most beautiful green eyes that I’ve ever seen,” he said quietly.

  Despite my chills, I felt heat creep into my cheeks. Then his forehead leaned towards mine. His lips were so close that I could feel the heat of his breath on my lips. And then the sound of my phone ringing in my lap broke the electric tension between us. He sat up straighter and we both looked down at my phone. The hypnotic moment was broken.

  “I’m sorry,” I said quietly. I looked at the number ringing through. It didn’t pull up a name in my contacts and I didn’t recognize the number. “I don’t know who it is,” I stuttered nervously. “I don’t have to get it.”

  He shook his head and smiled at me. “It’s ok, go ahead, get it.”

  I nodded and swiped the little green phone symbol. “Hello?”

  “Mercy? Mercy Habernackle?” I heard a deep male’s voice through the other end of the phone.

  Goosebumps pebbled my arms as I responded. “Yes, who is this?”

  “It’s Reign. Reign Alexander. I’m your brother.”

  { Chapter Three}

  My jaw dropped, I looked up at Hugh instantly.

  “Who is it?” he whispered.

  I held a finger to my lips to shush him.

  “Mercy? Are you there?” Reign asked.

  “Yeah, I’m here. I hear you’re coming to visit me this week?” I began cautiously. I didn’t know what else to say. I’d never had a brother come find me before. I guess it wasn’t something you could plan for.

  “I’ve run into a little problem, actually.” His deep voice through the phone seemed to make the shivers on my arms worse.

  “What kind of problem? Car problems?” I asked, not sure what I would be able to do if his car had broken down in Ohio or something.

  “No. Not exactly…”

  “Where are you?” I asked.

  “I’m at Jimmy’s Bed & Brew,” he sighed audibly through the phone.

  “Where’s that?” I asked.

  “Downtown,” he said.

  “Downtown where?”

  “Downtown Aspen Falls.”

  My chin jutted forward as my brain began to piece everything together. “You’re in Aspen Falls? You’re in town?”

  “Yeah. I got a room above this tavern. There was a sign on the way into town.”

  My mind began to race. Should I offer to go over there? Should I invite him to come to my dorm? Should someone be around when we meet for the first time or should it be a private event? I didn’t know how to respond. “Ok. And you’ve got a problem?”

  “Yeah, a big problem. Is there any way you could possibly come over here?”

  “To Jimmy’s?”

  “Yeah.”

  “When?”

  “Umm, right now if possible?” I detected a note of concern in his voice.

  I looked over at Hugh, who was trying to keep up with what was going on. “Hold on,” I said and then muzzled the phone with my hand.

  “My brother is in town already. Something happened I think. He needs me to come there.”

  “Where’s he staying?”

  “Hang on,” I said to Hugh and then put the phone to my ear again. “Where is Jimmy’s Bed and Brew?” I asked Reign.

  “I don’t know the address. I just followed the signs. It’s downtown Aspen Falls. Look for the flashing lights. Look, I really gotta go, but the sooner you can get down here, the better.”

  “Ok,” I said and hung up the phone.

  “Where is he?” Hugh asked.

  “He didn’t know the address. It’s a tavern called Jimmy’s Bed and Brew and it’s somewhere downtown. He said to follow the lights.”

  “What lights?” Hugh asked, looking around. It was pitch black out in the park. The street lamps illuminated the sidewalk around the park, but the parking lot was completely black, shadowed from the moon by a row of tall maple trees.

  “I have no idea. Come on, let’s go drive around and look for it. Do you mind?”

  Hugh shook his head like he didn’t mind, but his face was no longer that of a moony-eyed cowboy, now the flirty little twinkle in his eye had gone and was replaced with a somber protective look. “Not at all. Let’s go.”

  He pulled his truck out of the parking lot and we headed back towards Lemon Street and there, just up the street from where we’d had supper a couple of hours before was a barrage of flashing police lights. “What in the world?” I asked as we pulled into an empty parking spot a block away from the huge scene out front of the bar.

  Hugh and I jumped out of his truck at the same time. Nearly forgetting I was wearing heels I almost twisted my ankle landing on the concrete sidewalk. In seconds Hugh was at my side. He held onto my elbow and pulled me up. When I was steady on my feet, I felt his fingers intertwine with mine and together the two of us made our way to Jimmy’s. Yellow police tape had cordoned off sections of the block and a tall policeman was guarding the entrance. We tried to push past him, but he halted us.

  “No one passed the police tape,” he said.

  “But my brother is in there,” I argued.

  “I’m sorry, but no one in or out until Detective Whitman gets here and says otherwise.”

  “I’m here Brewer,” said a voice from the alleyway around the corner. A tall dark-haired man with a mustache and an 80’s style khaki sports coat followed behind the voice. Detective Mark Whitman reminded me of Magnum PI without the Hawaiian shirts. I only knew who Magnum PI was because my mom had a huge crush on Tom Selleck while I was growing up.

  “Detective Whitman!” I exclaimed.

  “Mercy? What are you doing down here at this time of night? You turning into an ambulance chaser or something?” he asked.

  Hugh looked at me in confusion. I shrugged and looked up at Detective Whitman.

  “Ambulance chaser? What are you talking about? There’s no ambulance here.”

  “It’s on its way. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, then why are you here?”

  “My brother is in there. He just called me and said I needed to get down here right away.”

  “Your brother? Who’s your brother?” he asked, confused.

  “Reign Alexander,” I said. The sound of my brother’s name coming out of my mouth seemed foreign to me. Reign Alexander. It was like I wasn’t speaking English.

  “What is he doing inside?”

  “I have no idea. He just called and asked me to come down. I – I was on a date,” I explained. Hugh squeezed my h
and for support.

  “Why is there an ambulance on its way, Detective?” Hugh asked.

  The number of locals who had heard about an incident at the bar or who had seen the lights and were curious was mounting. People were scattered about outside the caution tape. Detective Whitman eyed them all before motioning for us to follow him past Officer Brewer and into Jimmy’s. “Let’s talk about it inside; I was probably going to have to call someone at The Institute to consult anyway.”

  The smell of stale beer and cheap cologne inside the tavern made my stomach turn almost instantly. The bar was crawling with police officials and only a handful of patrons. That’s when it occurred to me that of the handful of patrons, I couldn’t pick my brother out in a lineup, and silently I hoped that I wouldn’t have to. I had no idea what was going on but watched as a police officer approached Detective Whitman the minute we stepped in the door.

  “Detective, she’s up here, follow me,” he said.

  “Who’s up there?” I asked. “What’s going on around here?”

  “There’s no easy way to say this. A woman died here tonight. We suspect foul play,” he said bluntly. “She’s this way, follow me.”

  Hugh squeezed my hand again then reached out to stop Detective Whitman from progressing forward. “Detective, I don’t think Mercy needs to see a dead body.”

  The detective looked at me questionably.

  I squeezed Hugh’s hand back. “It’s ok, Hugh, I’ve seen a dead body before, I can handle it.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah, let’s go.”

  We followed Detective Whitman to the top of the stairs where the Officer led us to room #203. Inside, there was a woman sprawled out on the bed. Her middle section had been covered with a bed sheet, but she was clearly naked underneath the sheet. An officer was interviewing a man in a pair of boxer shorts who was standing next to the bed. The man was tall with broad shoulders and had washboard abs and olive colored skin. He had a serious case of 5 o’clock shadow. Nervously, he ran a hand through his thick black wavy hair and then planted it on his hip.

  The officer that had led us up the stairs pointed at the nearly naked man. “Detective, this is the man that found her like this.”

  Detective Whitman nodded and then stepped forward to shake the man’s hand. “I’m Detective Whitman. You are?”

  “Detective.” He gave Detective Whitman a polite nod as he shook his hand. “I’m Reign Alexander.”

  My eyes nearly shot out of my head. That was my brother? Holy schmoly! Now I know what happened to all the good genes in the family! They were handed out before I was born!

  “Look, I didn’t do this,” he said immediately. “I’ve told all these guys a hundred times. I woke up and she was dead. I called 911 immediately. I didn’t do anything to her.”

  “Right, well, considering you were the last person to see Miss…” Detective Whitman looked down at the clipboard he was holding. “Bradshaw, alive, I’m sure you can understand why you’d be questioned.”

  The man nodded.

  Detective Whitman looked back at me and Hugh. “Well, Mercy, I suppose you’d like to talk to your brother?”

  Reign’s eye’s nearly popped when he heard my name. “Mercy?”

  Detective Whitman looked at me and Reign curiously. “You didn’t recognize your sister?”

  “It’s a long story. We’ve actually never met before,” I said lightly. There were too many people in the room and it disheartened me that I had to meet my brother here, under these circumstances.

  Reign shifted about uncomfortably. I could tell he didn’t like the circumstances we were meeting under either.

  “How is it possible that you have never met your own brother before?” Detective Whitman asked me suspiciously.

  Hugh stepped forward. “I can give you the lowdown Detective, if you can let Mercy and her brother have a minute alone?”

  Reign’s gaze shifted down to the floor while mine shifted to the detective. He rubbed the back of his neck and then nodded. “Yeah, I guess that would be fine, but just a minute and not in here, this is a crime scene.”

  “Can I have my clothes now?” Reign asked the detective quietly.

  Detective Whitman nodded. “Yeah, go ahead.”

  Reign looked at me intensely. “Do you mind waiting a minute?”

  “No, go get dressed,” I said. Meeting my brother for the first time was awkward enough, throw in a dead body and him in his underwear and we had a downright bizarre meeting.

  Reign grabbed a pile of clothes off the floor and strutted past me to the second floor shared bathroom.

  “I’ll explain things to the detective, is that alright?” Hugh asked me quietly.

  “Yeah, I’d appreciate that,” I nodded.

  “Are you going to be alright? This is quite a bit to take in?”

  I nodded, but I didn’t know if I meant it. The fact that my brother had been found in the same room as a dead woman had shaken me. My mother was going to flip out. I really didn’t know what I was going to tell her. “Yeah, I’ll be ok. I’m glad you’re here with me, though.”

  “Me too,” said Hugh as he squeezed my hand one more time. The bathroom door down the hall opened with a creak and Reign stepped out. He had donned a pair of army boots, black jeans, and a v-neck t-shirt.

  Tentatively I stepped into the hallway, giving Reign a tight-lipped smile.

  With his clothes on he looked a lot more confident and he seemed to stand up straighter. “So, you’re my sister. That feels weird saying it. Sister,” he began with a crooked smile.

  “Yeah, and you’re my brother. Definitely feels weird. I’ve always been an only child.”

  “Me too,” he said.

  I didn’t know whether or not I was supposed to hug him or shake his hand or just stand there and be awkward, so I opted for the latter. I had never been much of a hugger and shaking my brother’s hand seemed like an odd thing to do. I had so many things I wanted to know and wanted to ask him, but this wasn’t the time nor the place.

  “So, what’s going on with all of this?” I finally managed to croak out.

  “Yeah, this. I have no idea. I got into town, checked in at the bar, had a few drinks with some of the people downstairs and next thing I know, I’m waking up next to a dead chick.” He rubbed his head as if he were in a daze.

  “You didn’t know her?” I asked, stunned.

  He shrugged nonchalantly. “Eh, I mean, I’d met her downstairs. Ok, maybe I flirted with her, but I certainly don’t remember bringing her back to my room.”

  “Did you sleep with her?”

  “Well obviously we slept together, but I don’t know if we slept together, if that’s what you mean.”

  “How did she die?”

  “I have no idea, honestly. I woke up with a splitting headache and there was a woman in the bed next to me. I knew it was the woman from the bar, and I’ll admit, I knew she had a boyfriend. I guessed we had done something he wouldn’t exactly approve of, and I didn’t want her in my room anymore. I figured he’d come looking for her and I didn’t want my room to be the place he found her.”

  “Where’s the boyfriend?” I asked him.

  He shrugged and looked around. “No clue. Like I said, I have no idea how this happened.”

  “How do you not know what happened tonight?” He wasn’t making any sense.

  “I guess I had too much to drink,” he admitted. The way he wouldn’t make eye contact with me made me feel like he was either lying or embarrassed. I really hoped for the latter.

  “Apparently.” I could hardly look at him either. The whole situation was just too bizarre and I was extremely disappointed in finding out that this supposed brother was such a mess.

  “Look, I’m really sorry that this is the way we have to meet. I would have never wanted to meet you under these conditions, but I swear, I didn’t do this.”

  “Ok. Well, it’s the detective you need to convince, not me,” I said and held up m
y hands in front of me.

  “No, I need to convince you. I don’t want you thinking your brother is a murderer. I’m not. I didn’t do this Mercy.” His dark onyx eyes pleaded with me silently.

  “Ok,” I said. I didn’t feel like having this argument with my brother here in front of all these police officers. “So. You had some drinks. Flirted with some guy’s girlfriend and woke up in bed with her and then what?”

  “I shook her, trying to get her to wake up, but she didn’t move. So I turned on the light next to the bed and when I saw her, I could tell something wasn’t right. She looked sort of pale and she didn’t look like she was breathing. I checked for a pulse and when I didn’t find one, I called the police.”

  I let out a heavy sigh. “Wow. I can’t believe this is happening,” I said stunned. Of all nights for this to happen. I’d just helped to solve the Hartford girl’s murder and now this?

  “I’m really sorry Mercy. You look dressed up. I suppose I ruined your evening?”

  I shrugged. “Just my first date with a guy, no big deal.”

  “Oh man, I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to get involved in any of this.”

  “Do you know who the woman is?” I asked him.

  “I know her name is Harper,” he began. “She said she’s from Aspen Falls. She was coming home to see her parents. Apparently, she hadn’t seen them in years.”

  “What else do you know about her?” I heard come from the doorway. I turned around to see Hugh and Detective Whitman walking towards us.

  Reign shook his head as he tried to recall everything he knew about Harper Bradshaw. “Nothing really. She was here with a boyfriend. Dude’s name was Vaughn something. She was a pretty big flirt. If I got her back to my room, it didn’t take much convincing. I mean, she was all over me for awhile there. Her boyfriend was getting pretty hot. He’s the guy you need to be questioning, not me.”

  “We’ve got him downstairs already. My men are on it.” Detective Whitman assured us.