A Witch Before Dying

by Amanda M. Lee

  My mind drifted to Scarlet Darksbane and her odd expression. “What makes you think it’s a man?”

  “You’re right. It could be a woman. Whoever strung up Adele Twigg, though, needed upper body strength. That means we might be dealing with more than one culprit.”

  That hadn’t occurred to me. “A team?”

  “Possibly,” Landon cautioned. “We don’t have any evidence yet. Just … be careful.”

  “I promise. You be careful, too.”

  “I’m always careful,” Landon said. “You’re the one I’m worried about.”

  “I’m always careful, too. No matter what you think.”

  Landon studied me for a long moment. “Don’t make me cuff you to me. I will if I think you’re in danger of running off to find a murderer.”

  “You always threaten that. You never do it.”

  “Hey, we’re starting a new life. That means we’re starting new traditions. I’m more than happy to make cuffing you to me one of those traditions.”

  Something about his expression told me he was serious. “I’ll be careful.”

  “Good. Now, do you have anything to eat around here? I’m starving.”

  Only Landon could think about food at a time like this. “I have candy in my drawer.”

  “And that’s why you’re my favorite witch.”

  I DID MY BEST to tune out the murder investigation outside. I scanned the town square on occasion – the activity continued to increase as Hemlock Cove denizens woke to find terror on their streets – but mostly I managed to focus on my work. What I came up with was disheartening.

  “What are you doing here?”

  Viola Hendricks, my new ghost buddy, popped into existence next to my desk, causing me to cry out. I wasn’t expecting her and she didn’t seem to understand that ghosts appearing and disappearing willy-nilly was frightening.

  “We need to come up with a way for you to announce your arrival without scaring the bejeesus out of me,” I complained, wiping a hand over my forehead. “Maybe we can find a bell and you can ring it before just dropping in like this.”

  “I can’t ring a bell. I’m a ghost.”

  She had a point. “Then maybe we can teach you to do something else so I don’t lose a year of my life whenever you decide you want to hang out,” I suggested.

  “I could sing before appearing,” Viola offered. “I’ve been listening to a lot of rap and I really enjoy the music.”

  That sounded more terrifying. “We’ll play it by ear.” I flicked my eyes back to the computer screen before continuing. “Have you noticed what’s going on outside?”

  “Yeah. What’s that about?” Viola threw her ghostly form into the chair across from my desk. She was getting better at miming human actions. When she first returned from the dead – a bloody death I happened to witness – she had trouble acting normal. Viola had been something of a kook in life, so “normal” was a relative term. She seemed to seamlessly fit in now. It was something of a relief.

  “Mrs. Little hired a renaissance troupe group to perform at the new festival,” I replied. “It’s an after-Thanksgiving-but-before-Christmas festival. I have no idea what she’s going to call it.”

  “If she can find a way to put her name in it, she will,” Viola pointed out. She’d been one of Mrs. Little’s cohorts while alive. Now, in death, she held nothing but disdain for the woman. “She will probably want to turn it in to her own little shop of horrors. Get it … because her last name is Little and she’s a total horror.”

  Viola’s sense of humor was an acquired taste. I much preferred her to the former ghost who used to haunt The Whistler’s hallways – Edith was a racist bully who refused to believe she did anything wrong and instead embraced the idea that everyone else was to blame for her unhappiness. But I also found my patience wearing thin where Viola was concerned relatively quickly on most days. “I get it.” I forced a smile. “You’re very clever.”

  “I could’ve been a comedian if I wanted to be,” Viola confirmed, her eyes drifting to the window. “There are a lot of cops out there. What happened?”

  “Oh, right.” I remembered I was in the middle of telling a story when Viola sidetracked me. “The woman in charge of the renaissance group was killed last night. Whoever did it strung her up in the middle of town and exsanguinated her.”

  “Is that some … perverted … thing?” Viola wrinkled her nose.

  “I guess it depends on how you rate your perversions. It means someone drained her blood.”

  “Oh, gross!”

  “Definitely gross,” I agreed, rubbing the back of my neck. Lack of sleep was starting to catch up with me and I was ready for a nap. Landon and Chief Terry were toiling toward dawn outside, so I was determined to remain awake. “Whoever did it used the blood to draw symbols on the pavement.”

  “What kind of symbols?”

  “Pagan symbols.”

  “Like witch symbols?”

  The last thing I wanted was to confirm that, but there was no reason to lie. It wasn’t as if Viola could start a panic in the middle of town. Aunt Tillie and I were the only ones who could interact with her. “I guess you could call them witch symbols,” I hedged. “They’re pagan symbols, though, and they make absolutely no sense.”

  “Maybe that’s what the murderer wanted,” Viola suggested.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Maybe the murderer wanted to confuse people.”

  “I’ve considered that,” I supplied. “The symbols make absolutely no sense as they are now. They don’t lead in to one another. Most pagan symbols are peaceful, turned into something ugly only when co-opted by those who don’t understand what they mean.”

  “Isn’t that how the Salem witch trials started? People didn’t understand something innocent and they turned it into a weapon of sorts, right?”

  Sometimes I think I woefully underestimate Viola. She’s smarter than I give her credit for. “Exactly.”

  “They turned it into a witch hunt,” Viola continued. “Hey, wait. They turned it into a witch hunt. I wonder if that’s where they came up with the term.”

  And sometimes she’s dumber than I give her credit for. I have to remember that, too. “I think that’s a definite possibility,” I said dryly. “I recognized most of the symbols, but these squiggles are giving me fits. I can’t identify them.”

  “Let me see.” Viola drifted behind my desk and stared at the photos I’d uploaded to my desktop. “It looks like a different alphabet.”

  Hmm. That was interesting. “Like Greek?”

  “I’ve seen Greek letters on the sides of fraternity houses,” Viola countered. “This looks like something else.”

  “Maybe like ancient Sumerian or something,” I muttered, my mind busy. “I wonder if I can draw some of the letters and then scan them into the computer and run a search that way.”

  “I have no idea about that.” Viola reclaimed her chair. “I don’t know anything about computers except they have unlimited porn.”

  I arched an eyebrow. “You spend a lot of time looking at porn on computers, do you?”

  “Not any longer. I can’t make my fingers work the keyboard.” Viola wiggled her ghostly fingers for emphasis. “I kind of miss it. I was a big fan of the alien stuff.”

  “Alien stuff?”

  “Yeah. You know … probes and stuff.”

  That was way more information than I needed. “Anyway … I’m going to try to track down these symbols. I should be in town most of the day. I rode with Landon and now I’m kind of stuck.”

  “He’s your long-haired FBI agent lover, right?”

  Viola had a delightful way with words. “I guess you could say that.”

  “He’s extremely hot,” Viola enthused. “He reminds me of those hair bands from the eighties.”

  I pursed my lips to keep from laughing. Landon wouldn’t find that funny in the slightest. “His hair isn’t that long.”

  “Yeah, but he’s got that look,�
�� Viola said knowingly. “I can totally see him swinging his hips, his butt covered in black leather as he … sings about giving love a bad name.” Viola looked lost in some rather lascivious thoughts.

  “Okay, well … I will take that under advisement.” Landon wouldn’t find the idea of Viola fantasizing about him as he crooned power ballads very entertaining. “I don’t suppose you heard anything last night while you were hanging around, did you?” I wanted to change the subject, and returning to conversation about the murder seemed the best option.

  Viola took me by surprise when she immediately nodded. “People were arguing outside, behind the library. It was pretty loud.”

  “What time?”

  “Um … .” Viola mimed tapping her bottom lip. “It was late. I was watching infomercials. They have a new pajama that essentially allows you to wear a blanket with feet. Did you know that? It’s called the Snuggie.”

  “I’ve seen the commercials. Get back to the fight. Did you look outside?”

  Viola shook her head. “I didn’t know it was a big deal.”

  “Did you hear what they said?”

  “I wasn’t really interested,” Viola replied. “I only know two people were arguing.”

  I thought about what Landon said regarding the body. “Are you sure it was two people? Could it have been three?”

  “I’m pretty sure it was two.”

  That didn’t mean that three people weren’t involved. That simply meant that two people were talking. “Was it two women?”

  “I honestly have no idea.” Viola had clearly lost interest in the conversation. She focused on the window. “I’m going to see what they’re doing.”

  “Wait!” It was too late. Viola, who I was convinced had some form of Attention Deficit Disorder, was already gone. “Well … crap.”

  It wasn’t as if she had information anyway, I told myself as I shifted to the couch. Exhaustion was about to overwhelm me and I needed to close my eyes. I told myself it would be for only a few minutes, but I slipped under relatively quickly. I needed a quick power nap to recharge myself. Landon said I was part of the team and I had work to do. I would get to that work as soon as I could hold open my eyes.

  I WOKE TWO HOURS LATER to find Landon on the couch with me, his winter coat draped over us as a blanket, his body wrapped around mine. I had no idea when he joined me, but his breathing was regular in my ear and he slept hard. I was comfortable to let him rest a bit longer until I noticed movement in the doorframe between my office and the hallway.

  Chief Terry, his face lined with weariness, smiled when he caught my gaze. “There are times I want to smack the boy upside the head for being … well … him. There are other times, like now, that I find him kind of endearing. I can’t explain it.”

  I smiled at Chief Terry’s fond expression. I wasn’t sure if it was aimed at me, Landon, or both of us, but I was happy to see it. “Did you sleep at all?”

  “I got two hours in my office. That’s what we agreed to.”

  Two hours. Hmm. “I think that’s when I fell asleep,” I admitted ruefully, rubbing my cheek. “I didn’t mean to do it. I was researching the symbols, but … .”

  “You don’t owe me an explanation,” Chief Terry said. “You were wakened in the middle of the night. You need your sleep. Frankly, after seeing what you saw, I’m glad you can sleep.”

  “Did you sleep okay?”

  Chief Terry’s lips curved. “You don’t have to worry about me. I slept fine. Your boyfriend obviously slept fine, too.”

  I risked a glance over my shoulder and found Landon stirring. “Did you sleep okay?”

  “Like a rock,” Landon replied, stretching. “I was too tired to even drool on you.”

  I giggled as Chief Terry scowled.

  “See, that’s why I prefer him sleeping to awake,” Chief Terry said. “I hate to push you, but we need to notify the renaissance people.”

  I knit my eyebrows. “You haven’t made notification yet?”

  “We wanted to wait for a preliminary report from the medical examiner.”

  “And?”

  “And she’s dead,” Chief Terry supplied. “We’re not sure about cause of death. All the medical examiner can say at this point is that she was alive very close to when the killer started taking her blood, but he’s not sure if that’s how she died. We have to wait for that, but we can’t wait to notify the family.”

  “That’s the toughest part of your job, huh?” My heart went out to him.

  Chief Terry shrugged. “It goes with the territory. Get up, Romeo.”

  Landon made a growling sound in the back of his throat. “Just a minute. I’m warm and comfortable. That means Bay is warm and comfortable, too. Do you want her to stop being warm and comfortable?”

  “I want you to get up.” Chief Terry refused to be distracted. “We have a full day.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Landon pressed a kiss to my cheek. “I was planning to buy you breakfast, but we have things to do. How about we meet for lunch and compare notes then?”

  I nodded. “That sounds like a good idea.”

  “Good.”

  “Oh, speaking of ghosts, I talked to Viola,” I said.

  “When were we speaking about ghosts?” Chief Terry asked.

  “We weren’t, but there’s never a good segue way for that.”

  Chief Terry snickered. “Good point.”

  “Anyway, she was watching television last night and said she heard people arguing outside,” I supplied. “She didn’t see who it was, but she was convinced it was only two people and they were close to the library. She also doesn’t know if it was a man and a woman, two women, or two men, so … it’s not a lot of help. You might want to look around outside the building for potential clues.”

  “Good tip.” Chief Terry smiled. “What are you going to do with your morning?”

  “I’m taking these photographs to Clove and Thistle,” I replied. “I can’t figure out what they are.”

  “Do you think it’s wise to involve them?”

  “I don’t think it’s ever wise to involve them,” I replied. “But they have a better selection of books than I do.”

  “Oh.” Realization dawned on Chief Terry. “I guess that makes sense. Be careful when you’re with them. You girls seem to lose your heads when you decide you’re going to investigate.”

  “I’m pretty sure I should be offended by that.”

  “I’m pretty sure you recognize the truth when you hear it,” Chief Terry corrected. “Come on, lazybones. It’s time to get to work.”

  Landon groaned as he rolled out from behind me. “He’s kind of a tyrant.”

  I shrugged. “You guys work well together and you know it.”

  “I’m not admitting anything until I have some coffee.” He gave me a quick kiss. “We’ll meet you at the diner for lunch. Stay out of trouble.”

  “I always do.”

  Chief Terry scowled. “You never do. Why do you think we always tell you to stay out of trouble?”

  “Because you’re compulsive busybodies.”

  Chief Terry made a disgusted sound in the back of his throat. “Your sense of humor is only funny half the time. You know that, right?”

  I smiled. “Which half?”

  “Be good,” Landon ordered, shuffling his feet against the floor as he snagged his coat. “Stay safe.”

  “You, too.”

  Seven

  I grabbed three breakfast sandwiches and to-go cups of coffee from the bakery before winding my way to Hypnotic. It was early, but Thistle and Clove were already working. I had a few ideas to bounce off them and I figured bribing them was probably my best option.

  “Something smells good.” Clove, her brown eyes gleaming, smiled when I entered. The expression slipped quickly, though, upon scanning my face. “Are you sick?”

  “Oh, that’s that cousinly love I’ve come to expect,” I teased, resting the drink carrier on the counter. “Is that your way of saying th
at I look like crap?”

  Clove shook her head, her dark hair brushing across her shoulders. She was solemn. “No. You’re really pale, though.”

  “I didn’t get enough sleep.” I rummaged in the bakery bag until I found my sandwich and then grabbed my coffee before planting myself on the couch in the middle of the store. “I’m sure you’ve noticed what’s going on in the town square.”

  “Oh, we’ve noticed,” Thistle said dryly. “It’s hard to miss.”

  “We heard there was a murder.” Clove talked around the lip of her coffee cup. “Thelma Hanson stopped in and said it was one of the renaissance people.”

  “It’s the head woman,” I corrected, wiping the corners of my mouth with a napkin. “Adele Twigg. That was her name. Landon got the call in the middle of the night.”

  “Who found her?” Thistle asked.

  That was a very good question. “I don’t know. I didn’t think to ask. It was probably one of the people coming to town to open the bakeries. I’m meeting Landon and Chief Terry for lunch. I’ll ask them to be sure.”

  “What happened to her?” Clove asked, her voice small. “Was it … bad?”

  “It was about as bad as it gets,” I replied. “I don’t think I’ve seen anything that bad since the body in the corn maze.” My mind drifted back to the corn maze. It was more than a year ago. That’s where Landon and I met. He was undercover, and I hated him on sight. Okay, I kind of wanted to kiss him before hating him, but it was an awkward situation all around.

  “It was worse than the corn maze?” Thistle was understandably dubious as she took the chair at the edge of the sitting area. “What happened? The body was long gone by the time we got in.”

  “Thelma said they took the body away quickly because they didn’t want anyone to see it,” Clove added.

  “I don’t doubt that.” I described the location of the body for them, refraining from going into grisly details. When I got to the part about the symbols, Thistle was eager for further explanation. “None of the symbols seemed to mean anything in the configuration I found them. Here.” I handed over my phone. “I took photographs.”