by J A Campbell
“Glad you came,” Melissa whispered once they were well away from the grandparents. Harmony finally felt she could breathe, tucked between the two women and amongst people that she knew were friends.
A preacher in full vestments came up to offer the services. Harmony barely listened. Her mom hadn’t been a church-goer; she’d been out trying to get insurance for the uninsurable or rescuing animals when everyone was attending services in their finery. Around her, she could see others shaking their heads or rolling their eyes as the man went on about concepts her mom had done her best to live.
He called her by her full name Elizabeth Ann Hendricks, not “Bet,” the name they’d called her even in the newspaper articles. At least he did mention the good work she’d done and the concert she’d helped organize which was happening that night. Then he started talking about the terrible tragedy of her death. Harmony’s head felt light, like a balloon with too much air and her stomach felt heavy. What had
happened to her?
“Stay with us tonight,” Melissa whispered gripping her forearm in an almost painful white-knuckled grasp. “You shouldn’t go to the house alone—and there are things we need to talk about.”
Harmony nodded. She couldn’t get a flight back until tomorrow morning, anyway. She figured she could crash at the house, but it’d feel empty without her mom. Sure she’d slept there alone plenty of times from about age twelve on, but she always knew her mom was coming back. Now the thought of going into the house by herself felt so lonely.
Of course, there were recorded hymns, too, when some of Austin’s finest performers were in attendance and probably would have sung or played live, if only they’d been permitted to do so. Fortunately, no one offered to promenade in front of the casket.
Harmony didn’t dare wish anything, though her heart felt like it was about to break. She’d drenched a handful of tissues with tears.
“She’s not even there. The coroner still has her.” Harmony didn’t turn when she heard the whisper as they were walking out the vestibule. Again, she felt the two women pressing on either side of her protectively like bookends.
“The way she died….” More whispers.
“And the estate….”
“Poor Harmony…with those people as her sole remaining kin…”
Grandmother Dearest was right there, looking at the three of them with narrowed accusing eyes.
“What happened to my mom?” Harmony demanded of her, knowing she was the only one in that church who’d tell her straight and not protect her.
“Your mother was brutally killed,” Dr. Sophia Hendricks answered in a cold, almost clinical voice like she was checking an item off an accounting slip. “Her life ended—and I have no doubt it has something to do with you!”
Harmony’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. Her mind tore between screaming and rationally asking why. Her knees wobbled and Lori grabbed her.
“You have no idea why she was killed, Dr. Hendricks.” Melissa stepped forward toe-to-toe with the older woman. “You have no right to stand here and blame a sixteen-year-old girl who was across the country in boarding school for anything—and for that matter, you have no evidence to support any of your claims regarding Harmony. Everyone in this church would tell you Bet called Harmony her daughter.”
A chorus of voices answered in the affirmative. Harmony could sense the crowd turning ugly. Even Dr. Hendricks’s eyes widened seeing the scrofulous group of people tightening in a knot around them.
Her husband stepped forward, his voice calm, appeasing. He spoke of his wife being in shock and not thinking rationally. Of course, Harmony had nothing to do with this—and if his daughter claimed her as her child, it was not his to question. Perhaps under other circumstances, his wife might have chastened him, but Harmony could see it was his real feelings when he looked at her. Maybe the two of them stood a chance being friends at least. She could see decency and compassion in his warm brown eyes and knew that was where her mom got those qualities. Oh Grandmother Dearest had contributed to her mom’s tenacity, but instead of being spiteful and ugly, her mom had fought for worthy causes—which was no doubt why they’d gone their separate ways in the first place.
He caught Grandmother Dearest by the arm and scurried her out of there. She gave one last look back, her eyes accusing, as the door closed on them.
Harmony wished….No, she couldn’t do that. People surrounded her and kept hugging her or just touching her shoulder, offering a babble of kind words.
Mrs. Atwood appeared in her tear-befogged vision. Until she spoke, Harmony thought she was just a reminder of her first disastrous wish.
“Harmony,” she opened her arms for a hug. Harmony collapsed against her, sobbing.
“Your mom did so much for the wildlife trust….” Mrs. Atwood’s voice broke and she swallowed hard. “I hope you’re enjoying your new school…We were so sorry to see you go.”
Huh? Harmony stared at her. “Did I ever pay you for the frogs?”
“Honey, don’t worry about it,” Mrs. Atwood said. “I looked for them at the pond like you suggested and they were all there. We were able to dissect them the next Tuesday after class resumed. It felt like a shame after you’d freed them, but the class needed the experience….”
But, but…they weren’t alive.
Mrs. Atwood had the receipt for the preserved frogs in her hand at the principal’s office. That’s why she’d called her in…she thought there was a huge joke being pulled on her.
Mrs. Atwood didn’t remember?
The press of people shifted her away from her old Biology teacher. Melissa managed to grab her and pull her away.
“Come on,” she said. “Let’s get out of here. I need food. How about I take you to Kerbey Lane?”
Harmony nodded and nearly teared up that Melissa had remembered it was one of her favorite places. She didn’t object when Lori offered to drive her rental car back to the agency so the two of them could talk—they’d take her to the airport in the morning, so she wouldn’t have to deal with the traffic and the return when she was waiting for a flight. After the funeral, she was too frazzled to cope with more Austin traffic.
They pulled out. A black Mercedes sedan followed. Harmony supposed it could be a funeral home car. She couldn’t make out the man driving.
“She was really murdered,” Harmony said once they were tucked into the privacy of Melissa’s car and following Lori to the nearest car rental return spot.
“Yes,” Melissa said. “We don’t know everything yet, so I can’t tell you more. Too much is unknown and I don’t want to tell you anything wrong right now so you’ll have to bear with me a little bit. I promise I’ll be straight with you and not hold anything back—Bet would have wanted it that way. As soon as I get the coroner’s report, I’ll call you. I promise.”
“Why? Who would want to kill her? She did so much good.”
“I don’t know,” Melissa said. “Ivin’s a suspect. He and Bet broke up pretty hard after he came back from California without you. I’m not even sure why she sent him instead of going herself. He was dark and scary and he had a hold on her.”
“I couldn’t go back with him,” Harmony said. “I couldn’t trust him particularly when Granddaddy told me he had a record for molestation.”
“Well none of the rest of us could, either.”
“Skeevy man.” They both said it in unison.
“I hate to tell you this now along with everything else,” Melissa said. “There’s a fight brewing over the estate. Your mom stipulated you as the sole heir in her will.”
“Mom’s parents.” Harmony didn’t really need to ask, but she said it, anyway.
“They claim you are not her daughter,” Melissa said. “Well, obviously your grandmother does, but your grandfather probably would have budged on that if he thought he’d have any kind of peace with that shrew. We have a birth certificate which states you are. We also have medical records that your Mom was pregnant and expecting near y
our birth date. Typical Bet, she opted for a midwife instead of the hospital, so we don’t have what your grandmother would call official testimony other than her own daughter’s word and that of the midwife on your birth certificate. Sadly, the midwife is nowhere to be found.”
Harmony nodded, feeling the knot in her throat try to choke her. “Grandmother Dearest told me I didn’t have to come to the funeral and that I wasn’t her child, anyway.”
“Did your mom ever tell you differently?”
Harmony shook her head and realized Melissa needed to watch the road. She knew better now. She was a full necromancer and part of some magical House. But that wasn’t what Melissa was asking. Melissa was asking what her mom had said. She couldn’t tell her more until she knew herself.
“No.”
“She always talked about naming you,” Melissa laughed. “We figured you’d grow up hating her.”
Harmony mopped more tears out of her eyes. “There are days I want to change my name—and yeah, there were things that upset me.”
“You and everyone else and their mother,” Melissa said. “Mine disowned me when I came out. Like Bet, my family’s here.”
“She never told me who my father was.”
Melissa laughed. “Probably didn’t know.”
“Did she ever tell you why she broke up with her parents?” Harmony dared ask. “She always just said they weren’t a topic of discussion.”
“One of those things she’d tell you when you were older?”
Harmony shrugged. She’d told her so much that should have been “above her age level” that it didn’t seem possible she would hold anything back, but she had. Everyone believed they had time and hers got taken away from her. They pulled into the rental agency so the conversation was over for the moment. She couldn’t say she wasn’t grateful. Money was one subject she’d never really thought much about. Her mom just provided whatever she needed.
“The judge doesn’t seem to think there’s a problem,” Melissa said. “I’ve done a lot of research since we got the word your Mom was killed to try and find out the truth. As I said. Bet’s money doesn’t come from her parents, either. Plus testimony from her friends. All they’ve got is some assertion from your grandmother. She’s making that claim a lot stronger than her husband is, too. I think if I could get him alone, he’d crack.”
Harmony got out to make sure everything was okay with the rental car.
“Harmony!”
Before Harmony could react Courtney, as usual in her red-and-white cheerleader outfit, rushed forward from the counter and swept her up in a hug. “Haven’t seen you in ages. Missed you, girlfriend.”
Harmony parted from her and stared into the girl’s bright blue eyes. She didn’t seem to be faking it.
“Last time I saw you was at Johnny’s funeral—what a gorgeous service,” Courtney continued blithely. “That was such a terrible loss. He had a beautiful voice and he loved you so much, girlfriend. They said you were going to a different school now.”
“Uh yeah,” Harmony said. “A boarding school….”
“Hey, you were always the smartest one in class.” Courtney bubbled. “We really miss seeing you.”
Did someone slip me something at Mom’s funeral? Harmony just kept nodding. The girl who led the attempts to stone her for being a witch was suddenly her friend? Maybe I fell through the looking glass? Where’s the White Rabbit? The Mad Hatter?
“Hey,” Courtney said, handing over a piece of paper. “Here’s my number. Call me sometime and let me know how things are going with you, okay?”
Harmony slid the paper in her pocket after looking to see it was at least a genuine-looking phone number. Yeah, like she’d really call Courtney in the first place.
The counter help called Courtney’s name and she bounced over to talk to them. When Harmony overheard she’d had a wreck, she wondered if she’d injured her head. But that didn’t explain Mrs. Atwood forgetting about the frogs being dead at her mom’s funeral service. She tried to ignore the Twilight Zone theme cueing up over the country music playing in the rental agency.
“We’re set,” Lori said. “Car’s fine. We can go.”
As they were driving away, Harmony noted a black Mercedes sedan following, a length or so behind. Was it the one that’d pulled out after them at the funeral home?
She put it out of her mind as Melissa continued to update her. The grandparents had wanted access to the house, which she denied. Friends had taken Bet’s cats and would provide good homes, same with the plants. They’d save sorting the belongings until the estate was cleared.
Again, there was that black car. This time, she made a note of the plate number. The driver wore black clothing and dark shades which reflected the light back at her.
“Hey, Melissa, is that guy following us?”
Melissa looked in the rearview mirror and made an unconcerned sound. They pulled into the Kerbey Lane, which was quiet for mid-afternoon, and found a booth for the three of them in a corner.
“You have two options as a minor,” Melissa continued. She’d dealt with the big estate details and promised a folder of information via FedEx, which Harmony suspected would be inches thick. “You can be a ward, or we can work for emancipated minor status. We have enough people testifying as to your capabilities that it’s possible. As long as nobody brings up your running away.”
The door opened and the man she’d seen in the black sedan walked in and straight to their table. He moved like a cat, no wasted motion. His dark blond hair was perfect. Harmony could almost imagine him playing James Bond in a movie, or modeling swimwear. He didn’t remove his shades and cast a shadow over their table, all clad in black.
“Harmony Hendricks,” he said with no “I presume” at the end. While he had no discernible accent, his voice was cultured, deep, and rich. She made his age at somewhere between mid-twenties and thirties. The waitress nearly dropped a tray looking at his backside, and Harmony noted every woman, from the baby across from them with the big pink bow in her hair to the blue-haired senior at the counter, was staring.
Even Lori and Melissa eyed him appreciatively. He presented credentials and an official-looking ID to Melissa, who looked at both, frown creasing her mouth. “I’m Marcus Macrow here from the Justiciarate Magus. They’re very concerned that you left school without seeking permission.”
Harmony’s head dropped just as the waitress was bringing out her gingerbread with ice cream. Her mom’s motto, “eat dessert first,” seemed highly appropriate today and kind of a toast to her.
“Harmony.” Melissa sounded surprised, but she eyed the black-clad truant officer suspiciously, too.
“Grandmother Dearest told me I shouldn’t come and I accepted what she said—that I wasn’t welcome because I wasn’t Mom’s daughter,” Harmony said. Melissa nodded in acknowledgement and so did Lori, their expressions grim.
“I believe she was trying to discourage Harmony from coming so she could strengthen her claims against the estate,” Melissa said. “If you didn’t come, she would definitely have had a better chance at claiming Bet’s belongings.”
“Then I got to thinking about Mom and I realized I had to say goodbye. It was too late to ask the headmaster when I decided—so I just went…. Yeah, I was wrong, but it’s pretty shocking to learn that your mom’s been killed, too, and I can’t say I was thinking straight when I told the headmaster I wasn’t going to go. I mean, he even asked me why and I couldn’t really explain what it was at that moment. I realized I was wrong—I wanted to say goodbye and see my friends and family. I would do the same thing again.”
The stranger’s implacable expression never shifted, but he nodded as he pulled out his cell phone and hit a number. Harmony studied him while his concentration was on the phone. His hair was near the same shade as her own color, but his eyes—once he’d folded up his expensive shades—were a beautiful green. His posture was similar to Granddaddy’s, erect and straight, but he had a fluid grace in his movements
that the older man maybe never possessed. Even handling a phone, he moved like a ninja. Power flickered around him. She’d sensed similar things, first around Marina and then among the JM School faculty, but whatever they possessed—the House-bred mage had more without lifting a finger to summon it. She sensed he was keenly aware of everything around him, including the bus staff cleaning the table next to him.
“I’ve found Miss Hendricks,” he said into the phone. “Yes, she’s in Austin and safe. I’ll put her on the phone.”
“Miss Hendricks,” he said. “It’s the headmaster.”
Harmony expected a scolding, but the headmaster was kind. He advised her that she could go ahead and return on the flight she’d scheduled, but he wanted to make sure that she was staying with reliable people. She passed the phone over to Melissa, who listened and advised of her status as the family attorney.
“Yes, Headmaster,” Melissa said. “I’ll be sure to have her ready tomorrow morning in time to get to the airport.”
“Harmony,” she said, after she got off the phone. “You can stay with us tonight, but you’re leaving on your regularly-scheduled flight tomorrow. Mr. Macrow will pick you up first thing in the morning and take you to the airport.”
Mr. Macrow? Harmony stiffened and hoped it didn’t show too much as the impact of the truant officer’s name finally hit her. If what the school said was true, he was family—or something like it. A flush spread across her face, recalling her initial thoughts that he was a stone cold hottie.
He nodded affirmation, surprisingly didn’t need Melissa’s address, and left. By the time it was over, the ice cream had melted all over her gingerbread and Harmony pushed the dessert away.
The rest of her time in Austin passed without anything odd happening. She went to her old home and picked up a few items of her mom’s as keepsakes: her guitar, a tie-dye t-shirt she’d made for her mom that’d been a particular favorite, and a handful of stones she’d kept by her bed for rest, and then left the remainder to be sorted in the courts. Her mom had sent trunks full of most of her cherished belongings to the JM school for her already. There was little left but household goods, which she wouldn’t need for a year or so—until she was ready to go off to college and even then she’d be in a dorm for the first year probably.