“What about him?” Thistle was getting increasingly irritated.
“I think you should invite him out to dinner.” What? That’s a great idea. My mom and the aunts would spend the entire night fawning over him. It would be a stress-free evening for me. And, that’s really all that matters.
“I’ll invite him the same night you invite Landon,” Thistle seethed.
Well, that’s never happening.
“Did I hear my name?”
I froze. I recognized the voice. Crap.
I turned around to see Landon standing behind me. What the hell was he doing here?
“She said landing,” I lied.
“You’re going to invite landing somewhere?” Landon seemed a little too pleased with himself.
“Why are you eavesdropping? That’s rude.”
“He’s hot. Don’t scare him off,” Sophie warned.
“He’s suspicious,” Shane chimed in. His dislike of Landon was still apparent.
“You’re in public,” Landon argued. “You can’t eavesdrop in public.”
All evidence to the contrary.
“What are you doing here?”
“Probably the same thing you are. I’m just checking it out,” Landon explained vapidly.
I glanced around the maze, but I didn’t see any of his hooligan friends. “Where are your buddies?”
“Off doing business.”
“What kind of business?” Thistle and Clove leaned in closer when I asked the question. They were curious, too. If he was involved in meth trade, no matter their teasing, he was simply unacceptable. Sure, our family was apparently made up of potheads, but there was a big difference between growing it and selling it. What? There is.
“A little of this, a little of that.” Landon was being evasive.
“What’s this?” Thistle asked.
“What’s that?” Clove asked.
They were both appropriating aggressive stances.
Landon took an involuntary step back. “Nothing important,” he lied. “Geez, you guys are like a little tribe or something.”
“We’re family,” Thistle corrected him. “And we don’t like people who mess with family.”
“Even if they are hot,” Clove added.
Landon smiled at Clove. I think he could tell she was the only one of us that wasn’t overtly suspicious of him at this point.
“I just wanted to say hi,” he said lamely.
“Hi,” Thistle challenged him.
Landon regarded her for a second and, I swear, he shrank a little bit in her growing presence. He turned to me warily. “How is your ankle?”
“Fine. It’s still a little sore, but I’m not having any trouble getting around on it anymore.”
“Better than her zit,” Sophie snarked.
I shot her an evil look without realizing what I was doing. Landon looked at the empty space next to me. Curiosity was written all over his face.
“You didn’t answer the question,” Thistle barreled on. “Why are you here?”
Landon seemed reluctant to face her, but he visibly steeled himself as he did. “I was just checking it out. That’s not a crime, is it?”
“Not yet,” Thistle agreed.
“Well, anyway, have a good day,” Landon moved off hurriedly. Thistle really is terrifying when she wants to be.
“I don’t like him,” she said when he was out of earshot.
“He’s not so bad,” I protested.
“What if he’s a meth dealer?”
“Then he’s bad,” I acquiesced.
“He’s hot, though,” Clove offered.
“So hot,” we all murmured in unison as we watched him make his way back across the parking lot.
Twenty-Five
We waited at the maze for a good half an hour before we made our way inside. I saw Landon – who was keeping his distance from Thistle more than anything else, I think – studying us as we finally entered. I don’t know if he considered us a threat – or just weird – but he was clearly paying a little too much attention to our shenanigans.
“He’s suspicious,” I said, once we were safely inside of the maze.
“Who is?” Clove asked.
“Landon,” I replied.
“He’s suspicious of us?” Thistle was incredulous.
“Think about it, he caught me sneaking into a corn maze – which was also a crime scene – in my pajamas after dark,” I started.
“And he was also there,” Thistle pointed out.
“The pajamas could just mean you’re crazy,” Clove added.
“He saw me talk to Sophie today,” I said.
“You could have had an eye twitch,” Thistle offered.
“Or some sort of seizure,” Clove said helpfully.
“Every time he sees me, it’s like I’m up to something,” I sighed.
“You are always up to something,” Thistle argued. “That doesn’t mean he has the right to be suspicious.”
“Besides that, he’s the one being secretive,” Clove pointed out. She may think he’s hot, but she was still loyal to me.
“Men aren’t secretive, they’re mysterious,” Thistle muttered blandly.
“Dude, seriously, who peed in your Cheerios?”
Thistle looked surprised at my question. “I’m still mad at Aunt Tillie.”
“You tell me to let stuff go. You need to let stuff go. If we go after that woman, she will eat us for lunch.” And still have room for dessert.
“Well, then I hope I give her indigestion – or the runs,” Thistle countered with a surprise hostility.
“Ooh, gross,” Sophie squealed.
I’d almost forgotten she was here. I shifted so I could see her and Shane following behind us. He seemed nervous.
“Are you alright?” I asked him.
“I’m fine,” he said. “It’s just weird being here knowing that this is where my body was found.”
“I know,” I said sympathetically. “I wouldn’t make you come here unless I had to, you know that, right?”
He nodded mutely, his dark eyes clouding over.
“We’re running out of time, Shane,” I prodded. “We don’t have a lot of options here.”
“I know,” he said. ‘It’s just . . . it’s just so weird to know that I was strung up on a cross here.”
“It’s morbid,” Clove clucked knowingly.
“Yeah, well, your death is going to be a waste if you don’t suck it up,” Thistle grumbled. “Besides, you guys came back here on your own. This isn’t the first time you have came back.”
“Thistle,” Clove hissed.
“What? It’s the truth. We aren’t here because we love cider and sneezing. We’re here because we don’t have a shot in hell of identifying who did this without the two of them. They need to just suck it up.”
Just because it was the truth, that doesn’t mean she should have just blurted it out like that. “It’s called tact,” I laughed.
“Please, this family doesn’t have a tact gene,” she argued. “We’ve got a busybody gene, a cooking gene, a petulant gene. The tact gene just didn’t skip our entire generation; it skipped our entire gene pool.”
Sometimes, Thistle just has a way with words.
Once we got to the center of the maze, we all took a deep breath and looked around. The owners had clearly come in and revamped the original theme of the maze. Now there were hay bales with smiley-faced pumpkins, colorful corn stalks and even happy little witch faces. There were no scarecrows – or crosses -- in sight.
“Is this the same place?” Shane asked.
“They cleaned it up,” I said.
“So . . . what should I do?” He seemed nervous.
“Just walk around. Get a feel for the area. Try to listen to your head and your heart.”
“You sound like a fortune cookie,” Thistle laughed.
I shot a “shut it” look in her direction, but I didn’t verbally chastise her. I didn’t want to derail Shane. He was doing as
I told him to, closing his eyes, and wandering around the clearing.
I could do nothing but watch and Thistle and Clove could do even less. They were stuck watching me watch.
Even Sophie must have sensed the importance of what we were doing, because she sashayed over and positioned herself behind Thistle and Clove. She clearly didn’t want to be in the way.
After a few minutes, Shane turned to me in frustration. “They’re there. I can feel them,” he said. “I just can’t see them.”
“What if he can’t see them because he never really saw them clearly,” Thistle said suddenly, an idea had occurred to her.
“What do you mean?”
“The chloroform. He thought he was drugged. Maybe he was going in and out of consciousness, so he never really saw what they looked like.”
“I never really thought of that,” I admitted.
“That could be why Thistle’s visions are all cloudy, too. She keeps seeing things from the point-of-view of those who lived it – both then and now. If the first victims were drugged, then maybe they never saw their attackers either,” Clove said excitedly. “That would explain a lot of things.”
“The articles never said anything about chloroform in the victims’ systems,” I said.
“Yeah, but did they even think to check for it back then? Is it easy to check for, period?” Thistle seemed to be warming up to her theory.
“So, what do we do?”
“I think we have to get a little help,” Thistle said ruefully.
“From who?”
“You know who.”
“No, no and no.”
“We don’t have a choice,” Thistle argued. “If they can think of something that we can’t – then don’t we have to at least try?”
“You said yourself that we’re running out of time,” Clove said.
God, I hate it when they’re right.
When we left the maze, Landon was still positioned outside. He met my gaze as I exited, but he didn’t make a move to intercept us. He was, however, watching us curiously. He continued to follow our progression as we all filed into Thistle’s car and took off in the direction of the inn. I’d have to deal with him and his issues later.
When we got to The Overlook, Thistle parked in the side lot so we could sneak in unnoticed by the guests. We all headed straight for the kitchen. We knew they would be preparing dinner.
When we entered, they all seemed surprised to see us. “This can’t be good,” Marnie said. “All three of them, together, and they seem to have something on their mind.”
Aunt Tillie was sitting in her recliner by the counter watching. She smiled widely when she caught sight of us. “I think they’re here to see me,” she said haughtily.
“Think again, old lady,” Thistle barked out. “Although, we will be dealing with you later. We don’t have time for that now.”
“Oh, really? And why not?”
“Thistle had another vision,” Clove said.
“What did she see?” Aunt Tillie was leaning forward in earnest concentration. She seemed to have forgotten her joy about cursing us from just a few seconds before.
“That we’re running out of time,” Thistle said shortly. “We need help. We need your help.” She was trying not to choke on the words.
“What do you need?”
Thistle and I exchanged suspicious glances. Aunt Tillie was never this anxious to help. She usually made us beg.
“Are you deaf, girls? What do you need?”
“Why are you willing to help so easily?” I challenged her.
“Is now really the time for that?” My mom chided me. Probably not, but I didn’t think I could trust Aunt Tillie as far as I could throw her. She may be little, but she’s heftier than she looks.
“I may enjoy torturing you girls, but I don’t want anything really bad to happen to you,” Aunt Tillie admitted grudgingly. “If one of you were to die, that wouldn’t be good for any of us.”
“So, you’re saying you actually like us?” Clove was trying to be endearing.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Aunt Tillie said shortly. “My life would just be a whole lot more boring if I didn’t have you three to torture.”
We proceeded to fill everyone in on the remainder of Thistle’s vision – and our actions of the afternoon. Aunt Tillie looked thoughtful when we finished.
“What about a seeing spell?” She said finally.
“A seeing spell? Like to see what’s really underneath the façade that people put up? Like a lying spell?” Thistle looked confused.
“We only called it a lying spell when you guys were little,” Aunt Tillie corrected her.
“Why?”
“You little shits had such trouble telling the truth,” she answered. “We were trying to scare you.”
“So what does the spell really do?” I asked impatiently.
“It clarifies things.”
“Can you be more specific?”
“Shane and Sophie may not have seen their killers clearly, but the spirits did.”
“The spirits?” Not more of this crap.
“Yes, the spirits,” she spat back. “We need to cast a spell that lets us see what really happened clearly.”
“Well, then let’s do it,” I said resolutely.
I caught my mom and Marnie exchanging furtive looks.
“What?”
“It has to be done at the scene of the crime,” my mom said finally.
The corn maze. Again. We should just build a house out there.
“Tell us what to do, and we’ll do it.” Thistle seemed as resigned as I was.
“We can’t teach it to you quickly enough,” Marnie said morosely. “We’ll have to go with you.”
“No way! We can’t drag you out in the corn maze in the middle of daylight so you can do some ritual.” We’d never live that down – even if we did solve a murder in the process.
“That’s why we have to go after dark,” Aunt Tillie said sagely.
“What if someone catches us?” I complained.
“Then we’ll pretend we’re lost,” Aunt Tillie brushed me off. “I do it all the time.”
“We’re not all eighty-five,” I argued. “If we try using that ruse we’ll get locked up in an asylum.”
“Just let me handle the police if it comes to that,” Aunt Tillie said blithely. “Good grief, you three act like you’ve never broken the law before.” Not with our mothers in attendance, that was for sure.
“Tonight is the full moon,” Marnie bit her lower lip.
“You have to wear your clothes,” I practically exploded.
“That’s not what I meant,” she said, giving me a curious look. “Your obsession with nudity is troubling, though.” She had no idea. “What I mean is, didn’t Thistle’s first vision say that it would all happen on the night of the full moon?”
I felt a sinking sensation in my stomach as I realized that Marnie was right.
I turned to Thistle and Clove helplessly. “What do we do?”
Thistle shrugged. “We’re in unchartered territory here. I don’t think we have a choice. We have to go into the maze tonight. All of us. We can’t do it alone.”
I shook my head as I turned back to them. “Be ready to leave at ten,” I finally said.
Aunt Tillie let loose of her most condescending grins. “It’s going to be a fun night tonight, girls. You better suit up.”
“Suit up? Like Batman?” Clove looked horrified.
“If that will make you feel better. I was talking about wearing black, though,” Aunt Tillie corrected her.
“Oh, yeah, we know that.”
“This isn’t our first rodeo,” Thistle scoffed.
“Yeah, but now you’re working with professionals,” Aunt Tillie said. She started to move towards the den with a clear purpose. “I think I’ll take a nap in preparation for tonight,” she said heavily.
“Oh, good, the head of our team needs a nap,” I muttered under my breath.
“Does anyone think this is going to blow up in our faces?” I finally asked.
“Oh, yeah,” Thistle said. “No doubt.”
“I feel like I need my own nap just thinking about it,” Clove sighed.
“What we need is to just sneak away when they’re not looking and try to do this ourselves,” I offered lamely. I knew it wouldn’t really happen, though.
“Girls,” I heard my mom practically sing. “Are you hungry?”
“What are you having?” Thistle asked. I wanted to kick her.
“Lasagna.”
Crap. They make really good lasagna.
Twenty-Six
Clove, Thistle and I ate dinner at the inn – the lasagna was awesome, as always – and then we ran back to the guesthouse to get ready for the night’s excursion. I slipped into my simple black track pants, black tennis shoes, a black T-shirt and a black hoodie.
When I went out into the living room, I found that Thistle and Clove were dressed in almost the same thing – although Clove’s tank top had a few rhinestones on it. Thistle tossed the knit hat I had worn the first night we snuck into the corn maze at me and I offered little complaint this time when I put it on my head, making sure that all my hair was tucked up underneath it.
I paused in front of the mirror long enough to make sure that my zit was truly fading away. Yes, I know, now is not the time to be shallow. It’s human nature. I can’t help it.
“You can barely see it anymore,” Thistle said. I noticed that she was busy camouflaging her face again.
Clove and I both followed suit and then we headed back up to the inn. Shane and Sophie had said they would get out to the corn maze themselves – they’d been practicing “winking” in and out of places -- and they would wait for us there. We slipped in through the back door. I still wasn’t sure that taking the four older women with us was such a good idea. That initial reluctance was only reinforced when I saw what they were all wearing.
“You can’t go like that!”
“What?” My mom asked innocently, smoothing down her crushed velvet tracksuit in an attempt to eradicate any wrinkles. Priorities.
“Those are pajamas.” I looked over to see that Marnie and Twila were wearing the exact same outfits – just in different colors. Marnie was in navy, my mom in gray and Twila was in a deep mauve.
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