Suddenly we heard a commotion coming from downstairs. “Where is she? Where’s Harper?”
{ Chapter Four}
I peered over the wooden railing to see a distinguished looking white-haired man in his late sixties hollering at an officer in the middle of the bar. “Sir, you’re going to have to calm down,” said the officer.
A woman with a helmet of meticulously groomed golden hair in a navy and white pantsuit was standing next to him. Her thin hands shook slightly while she stood closely by his side. “Henry, don’t yell at the officer,” she chided him.
“Louise, something has happened to our daughter and I demand to know what it is!” he hollered pointedly at the officer.
Detective Whitman took that as his cue to head downstairs. He turned back to look at Reign with a steely-eyed glare. “Don’t go anywhere.”
Reign rolled his eyes and paced back into the doorway of his room to lean against the door frame.
“I’m going to go see what her parents have to say. Come with me?” I asked Hugh in a whisper.
Reign and Hugh exchanged suspicious glances as Hugh and I followed the detective down to the first floor.
“I’m Sergeant Henry Bradshaw, this is my wife, Louise. Harper is our daughter. Why won’t anyone tell us what’s going on with her?” the man asked the officer incredulously. “Someone called us and told us that we needed to get down here right away, something happened to Harper.”
“Sergeant Bradshaw, I’m Detective Whitman, we met at a VA benefit last fall.” Detective Whitman extended his hand to Harper’s father.
Sergeant Bradshaw peered at him carefully. “Yes, Detective Whitman, I remember you. Good job on that Hartford case, by the way. There was a write up in the paper this morning,” he said shaking Detective Whitman’s hand. “Can you please tell me what’s going on with my daughter?”
Detective Whitman looked uncomfortable. He would have to be the one to break the bad news to Harper’s father. My heart tugged for this mother and father who had obviously not been told what to expect when they got down here.
“Yes, how about we step over here to talk?”
He turned around and motioned towards his wife. “Louise, Detective Whitman wants to speak to us.” Then he turned back to Detective Whitman. “Thank you.”
The three of them walked past me towards the back of the bar where a forensics team was already combing through the things behind the bar.
“This is quite the hub-bub,” said Mrs. Bradshaw to Detective Whitman loud enough for me and Hugh to overhear. “What has Harper gotten herself into now? I didn’t even know she was in town, and she’s already causing a scene.”
Detective Whitman cleared his throat and shifted his weight. “Mrs. Bradshaw, Sergeant Bradshaw. There’s really no easy way to say this…” he trailed off. “Harper’s dead.”
Sergeant Bradshaw’s face went ashen. “No,” he choked out as he grabbed his wife’s hand.
Louise Bradshaw sucked in a breath as a perfectly manicured hand covered her open mouth. “Our Harper? Surely you’ve got the wrong Harper. That’s what this is. A case of mistaken identity. Like I said, our Harper isn’t even in town. She lives in Connecticut. She hasn’t been home in years.”
Sergeant Bradshaw’s eyes filled with tears. “Where is she? I need to see the girl.”
“I’ll take you to her. She’s upstairs. You can follow me,” said the detective.
Sergeant Bradshaw nodded and patted his wife’s hand lovingly. “My wife shouldn’t see this. She’s got bad nerves,” he said. “Louise, you stay here. I’ll go find out if it’s really Harper.”
Detective Whitman looked over at me. “Mercy, would you mind keeping Mrs. Bradshaw company until the Sergeant and I come back.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat hard. I’d watched Sorceress Stone, the headmistress of the Paranormal Institute for Witches deal with the grieving family in the Hartford murder. She was so smooth. Her very presence seemed to calm them, or perhaps she had only bewitched them. Some witches had that affect on others. I nodded.
“I’ll come with you,” Hugh whispered before squeezing my hand for support.
The detective and Harper’s father went upstairs, leaving me and Hugh to comfort Mrs. Bradshaw. The poor woman’s hands shook like a leaf. I didn’t know what to do or what to say, so I just did what came naturally to me. I reached out and touched her hand gently. She looked up at me. Her blue-grey eyes were glassy. I was sure she feared the worst and hoped for the best. That it wouldn’t be her daughter. That it would be someone else’s Harper.
“I’m so sorry, Mrs. Bradshaw,” I said as gently as I could.
She shook her head as a tear broke loose and slid down her cheek. “It’s not our Harper, I’m sure. Our Harper hasn’t been home in years.” Her strong words didn’t match the fear evident in her eyes.
I just nodded silently. Unsure of what else I could say. I didn’t know Harper and I didn’t know Mrs. Bradshaw. “Do you remember the last time you saw her?” I asked, just trying to fill the empty space between us.
She sat her purse on the counter. It was emblazoned with the letters LV on the golden buckle. Silently she opened it and pulled out a tissue then dabbed at the corners of her eyes. “It’s been years. I couldn’t even tell you the last time we saw Harper. She’s a wild one, you know. Both our girls are actually. She does her own thing. I don’t know why she’d be in Aspen Falls, especially without calling first. It’s just not like her. There’s simply no way this girl can be our Harper.”
“You’ve got two daughters?” I asked.
She wiped her nose with her tissue as she nodded. “Elena. She’s younger than Harper. She lives in town, but sometimes I wish she’d have gone with Harper. The two of them have always gotten into so much mischief. Aspen Falls just can’t handle that type of behavior. It’s a small town you know. People talk. The rumor mill has spun for years about the Bradshaw girls.”
“Maybe Harper told Elena that she was coming home. She may have assumed that Elena would have told the two of you?” I asked uneasily. I really hated getting in the middle of the apparent family drama, but it looked like there was going to be a murder investigation and I figured it would be important to know who knew Harper was in town. I couldn’t very well let my brother take the rap for the girl’s death if he swore that he had nothing to do with it. My mother would never let me hear the end of it if Reign was arrested for murder on his first night in town and I did nothing to stop it.
Louise Bradshaw shook her head. “I don’t think so dear. Elena was over to the house last night. She needed to borrow money and spoke to Henry. I’m sure if she’d told Henry that Harper was in town he would have told me.”
Heavy steps on the wooden stairs caused us all to look up. Detective Whitman was leading Sergeant Bradshaw back downstairs. The elder man gripped the stair railing as he solemnly made his way back downstairs. His face conveyed shock and horror all at once. Louise went to him at the bottom of the stairs.
“Henry, tell me it wasn’t Harper up there,” she insisted.
Sergeant Bradshaw opened his arms for his wife and engulfed her in them. “It was Harper, Louise. Our Harper is gone.” His words were barely audible, just a slight whisper as if he were scared to say them aloud and make them real.
Louise’s eyes erupted with tears and the two of them began their grieving together. Detective Whitman came around the corner at the bottom of the stairs. “Mercy, can I see you for a moment?” he asked me and then pulled me out of the earshot of the grieving couple.
“Have you perhaps, had any feelings or have you sensed anything thus far?” he asked me point blankly.
I shook my head as I looked around. “Not yet. But I really haven’t been looking or paying attention, to be honest. This is quite the extraordinary night. I met my brother for the first time tonight and then to have all this happen concurrently, it’s a lot to take in.”
“Yeah, I’m sure it is. Well, if you do, get some kind of
a read on the situation, I trust you now. You know you can come to me, after everything with the Hartford case, I know that we need to trust each other. Promise?”
I gave the detective a half smile. That was a good thing to hear. Trust wasn’t something I had before coming to Aspen Falls. “Yeah, ok. I promise. As long as you keep me in the loop with everything with my brother. You think this was a murder, don’t you, Detective?”
“I’ve got no choice but to treat this as a murder. Young women in their twenties don’t just up and die for no reason like that. We’ll have an autopsy done and go from there. For now, I’m going to have to do my interviews. Unfortunately, Mercy, your brother was the last person to see Harper Bradshaw alive. He’s my main suspect. No one knows him – you don’t even know him, from what Hugh told me. And it’s his first night in town and now a girl is dead. It’s pretty suspicious, you’ve got to admit that.”
Heat filled my face. “It’s Harper’s first night in town too. And her boyfriend’s. Right? This looks like a jealous rage murder situation to me. I think you need to focus this investigation on her boyfriend.” While I hoped that this was something that Reign could do, I had to agree that I didn’t know him. I didn’t know if he was a good guy or a bad guy. He wasn’t raised by my mother or anyone in my family. He could very well be evil. I had no way of knowing. What I did know was that I was going to have to explain all of this to my mother and she wasn’t going to like it, not one little bit.
“Yes, and her boyfriend’s. I’m on my way to go question him now.”
“Maybe I should come with you while you question him, I might be able to help.”
Detective Whitman raised a hand. “Oh no. I appreciate you helping where you can, but I think that would be overstepping. In addition, your brother is involved and that would be a conflict of interest. Regardless of the fact that the two of you don’t know each other. Just keep me informed if you learn anything new from a paranormal standpoint.” Detective Whitman walked around me, towards the back room where I was sure they were keeping the boyfriend and the bartender.
I followed him and put a hand on his arm to stop him. “Wait a minute, Detective. So I’m just supposed to tell you everything I know, but you don’t have to tell me anything you know? I don’t think that sounds like a very fair arrangement. Why should I help you then? I thought you wanted me to trust you and vice versa?”
“Look Mercy, I will trust whatever you tell me that your senses are telling you. You’ve got to trust me. My senses are telling me that your brother isn’t a great guy. He looks like trouble. I’d be careful and don’t just blindly trust everything he says,” said the detective before leaving me behind.
I felt Hugh’s hand on my shoulder. “He’s right, Mercy. You don’t know anything about Reign. He could be nothing but bad news. He had a dead woman in his bed. He stole some guy’s girlfriend. He was so drunk he doesn’t remember what happened. Things aren’t looking good for your brother. I’m really sorry, but I don’t want you to believe whatever he tells you without question.”
“I need to talk to my brother,” I said quietly. The room felt like it was spinning and all I knew was that I wanted to get off the ride. But until I’d talked to Reign, it probably wasn’t going to happen.
Hugh and I started towards the stairs. The Bradshaw’s had moved to a table and chairs where they sobbed with each other. Upstairs Reign was patiently waiting. He’d thrown on a black leather jacket. The combination of the black jacket, army boots, and his thick black disheveled mane really contributed to the rebel without a cause vibe he was throwing off. Maybe Detective Whitman was right. Maybe I needed to be cautious around Reign.
“Can I talk to you?” I asked him.
“Yeah, of course, let’s go to the end of the hallway, there’s a couch we can sit on down there,” he suggested and then shot Hugh a dirty look. “Who’s this cowboy?”
“Oh, Reign, this is Hugh, Hugh, this is Reign,” I introduced awkwardly.
Hugh extended a hand to my brother. Reign ignored it and looked at Hugh pointedly. “I’d like to speak to my sister alone, if you don’t mind.”
Hugh took offense and puffed up his chest. “I do mind as a matter of fact.”
I squeezed Hugh’s arm. “I’ll be alright,” I told him quietly. “Wait for me downstairs?”
He gave Reign a warning glance before nodding at me. “Ok, holler if ya need me.”
“Ok, thanks,” I said and walked to the other end of the hallway with Reign close behind.
A set of tan sofas and a pair of end tables were arranged on top of an area rug at the end of the hallway. “Have a seat,” Reign said, motioning towards one of the couches. Once I had taken a seat, he settled himself on the one opposite me. He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.
“I’m really sorry that this is how we have to meet,” he said nervously.
“I am too,” I agreed.
“I know I said this already, but I want you to know that I would never, never hurt anyone. Especially a woman. I know I didn’t kill that girl,” he asserted. “It was probably a pretty dumb thing to do to sleep with her, especially since she was obviously here with a boyfriend, but she was coming on to me, and I had had a lot to drink. It’s just been a long couple of weeks and I had a long drive. I just needed to cut loose and relax. I had no idea this would happen.”
“Ok,” I said quietly. My senses weren’t telling me anything. They weren’t giving me a read and telling me how I should feel about my own brother. The whole thing felt surreal. “Let’s not talk about that. You’re my brother. How about we talk about that?”
A little smile perked up Reign’s face. “Yeah, I have a sister. That’s some pretty big stuff. Our mom is pretty awesome,” he began.
I nodded and tried to smile, but I felt my heart tug instead. “Yeah, Linda’s great. I miss her; I really wish she were here right now. I don’t know how to get you out of this, Reign.” I admitted and suddenly found tears rolling down my cheeks. Where had those come from? I didn’t even realize that I had tears to cry.
“Oh, shoot,” he began and left his sofa to sit next to me. He put a strong arm around my shoulder. “Mercy, I’m so sorry this is happening. I’m sure it was enough to learn you had a brother. Don’t cry.”
Before I knew what was happening, Hugh was pulling Reign off of me. “Don’t touch her,” he hollered at my brother.
“Get your hands off of me, cowboy!”
“Hugh! It’s ok, he was comforting me,” I protested.
Hugh’s nostrils were flared and his fists were balled and at the ready by his side. “Mercy, I think it’s time I took you home.”
“Yeah, you probably need to get some sleep,” Reign agreed, looking equally as upset and ready to throw down as Hugh. “Tomorrow will look better and we’ll have a lot of this figured out. Not much we can do tonight.”
“Well, what will you do tonight?” I asked Reign nervously.
“He’ll be coming with me,” said Detective Whitman from the stairs. “I’m taking Reign downtown.”
{ Chapter Five}
It was dark and chilly when we pulled into the wizard’s parking lot in the wee hours of the morning. I was thankful that Hugh had given me his sweater to wear or else I’d be freezing in the tiny little dress I had on. The ride home had been quiet. I could tell Hugh was stewing on the fact that he didn’t necessarily care for my brother and I was stewing on the fact that I was going to have to tell my mom what had happened. It was too soon to sort out my own feelings for Reign, but I was more worried about what this whole mess would do to my mother.
Hugh walked me back to Winston Hall and when I tried to tell him that was far enough, he said he wanted to walk me all the way to my dorm room door. Despite our date getting hijacked by a murder investigation and my brother showing up, it was still a date after all.
“I’m sorry things got so messed up,” I said to him at the door as I shifted nervously on my bare feet. I’d long since taken the high he
els off and I carried them slung over my shoulder with one hand.
He smiled at me as I unlocked my door. “It’s not your fault. I just want you to know that despite everything, I really had a good time getting to know you tonight.”
“Yeah, I had a good time getting to know you too, I’m really glad that you were there with me when everything went down. I’m not sure I could have done all of that alone.”
One of Hugh’s arms lifted to lean on the door frame and he took off his hat. Without a word, he leaned in to kiss me goodnight, but before he could, the door behind me flew open. Jax appeared in the doorway wild-eyed. “Mercy? What are you doing out so late?” she asked me. “I’ve been worried about you!”
Hugh made a low guttural sound and rolled backwards against the wall. It was the second kiss that had been interrupted that evening.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Jax. Our date got sidetracked, I’ll tell you all about it in the morning.”
Jax looked Hugh up and down, as if it had been his fault for keeping me out so late. “Goodnight, Houston,” she said pointedly.
Hugh put his hat back on his head and tipped his head at the two of us. “G’night ladies. Sweet dreams. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Mercy.”
***
I overslept the next morning and when I finally did wake up, Jax had already left for breakfast. I hastily threw on a pair of jeans and my high-top Converse sneakers and my favorite Pretty Reckless t-shirt. I looked in the mirror to see makeup from the night before smudged all over my face. It took only seconds to steal one of Jax’s make-up removing wipes and clean up the mess, exposing a tiny splay of freckles across the bridge of my nose. I finger combed my long red hair and swept it all onto my left shoulder, hastily braided it and secured it with a ponytail holder. I blindly searched the room for my glasses, then threw on a sweatshirt and was just about to leave when I heard a noise at the window.
A black cat had just landed gracefully on the windowsill. I sighed, I had hoped to be able to make it out of the room before Sneaks came looking for me.
Son of a Witch: A Witch Squad Cozy Mystery #2 Page 5