Missy slipped out the door as I reluctantly pulled it open.
The two men stood side by side, oblivious to the weather as snow swirled around them.
The taller of the two gave me a nod and lowered his hand for Missy to sniff. “We heard Starla was here, and we were hoping to have a word with her.”
Missy apparently approved of our visitor, because she allowed her head to be scratched.
The slightly shorter one said, “We don’t mean her any harm.”
I didn’t know what to do as I looked at their faces. Will and Liam Chadwick were the last people I’d expected to find on my doorstep. “I’m not sure—”
“Let them in, Darcy,” Evan said from behind me. “It’s okay.”
I wasn’t the least bit sure about that but held open the door, my curiosity piqued. “Come back to the family room,” I said, letting Evan lead the way. Missy looked up at me, blinked, then trotted after the men. Letting out a sigh, I followed.
The family room was separated from the kitchen by a wide but short hallway that had the laundry room on one side and a powder room on the other. Light spilled across the dark hardwood floors as we made our way into what I considered the heart of the home.
With its overstuffed sofa, love seat, and chairs, thick area rug, bookcases stacked every-which-way with books, and the walls filled with artwork, this room had captured Aunt Ve’s personality perfectly. It was a mix of warmth and comfort and crazy.
“Would you like some tea or coffee?” I offered.
Will Chadwick, the taller of the two, shook his head. “No, thanks.”
I glanced at Liam. He shook his head as well.
They were handsome—very. But instead of their good looks being intimidating, there was a quirkiness about the two as well that made them approachable. Both had incredibly blue eyes—light as a noontime sky on a cloudless day. Liam’s were framed in a pair of thick-rimmed glasses. His dark hair was combed into a messy pompadour, and he wore a wool pea coat, knit sweater, and tight jeans with loafers. Will’s wavy dark blond hair hung to his shoulders. He wore a tweed coat, black jeans, a white T-shirt, and had a thin cashmere scarf wrapped around his neck.
Artsy. That’s what they were—appropriately.
The fireplace filled the space with warmth, and I switched on another lamp to give us more light as they sat on the couch. I sat next to Evan on the love seat.
Will leaned forward, his hands clasped together. “The police came to speak with us today about an incident that happened with Starla. We just want to try and figure out what’s going on. Can we talk to her?”
The police. Meaning Glinda. I wondered exactly what she’d said and if the family had any idea she was working undercover.
“She’s sleeping right now,” Evan said. “It’s been a long day.”
“What happened?” Will asked. “Exactly?”
I explained both incidents to them, and was struck by how well they listened without interrupting, without being defensive. It seemed as though they, like us, truly wanted to figure out this situation.
Will said, “This is a tough time of year for everyone involved.”
Evan leaned forward. “Clearly tougher for Starla.”
Annoyance flared in Liam’s eyes before he hid it. “Our family is aware of Starla’s plight, but it’s unacceptable for her to drag Kyle’s name through the mud once again.”
I felt Evan stiffen so I reached out and put my hand on his arm. I said, “If the mud fits . . .”
“Kyle is not here in the village tormenting Starla,” Liam argued.
Clearly, their silence a few moments ago while I was explaining had been the calm before the storm. Because they were certainly defensive now.
“You can’t know that for sure,” I said, my voice tight with growing anger.
“Unless you know where Kyle is,” Evan added. “In which case you’re harboring a fugitive.”
Both sat silent as statues, their silence speaking volumes.
Oh, they knew where Kyle was.
“It’s not Kyle who Starla is seeing,” Will finally said, his serious tone emphasizing the statement. “It’s . . . impossible. Listen, our family wants to nip this in the bud. It’s not fair to any of us. If Starla needs psychological help, see that she gets it instead of raking Kyle over the coals when he’s not here to defend himself.”
Sheesh. And he was the brother who was still nice to Starla and Evan? What were the others like?
“And whose choice is that?” Evan snapped, half rising off the couch.
I pulled him down just as the back door opened and Nick’s voice floated in from the mudroom. “I ran into the delivery guy in the driveway. Good timing. I’m starving. By the way, I got the fingerprint report on Starla’s camera: It had been wiped clean.” There was a pause. “Darcy?”
Springing off the couch, Missy went off to greet him.
I wasn’t as eager. He wasn’t going to like what he saw in here. “In the family room.”
Footfalls echoed down the wooden hallway, and I held my breath as he appeared under the arch that led into the family room, Missy in his arms.
Nick froze as he took in the occupants of the room. “What’s going on here?”
I opened my mouth to answer just as a bloodcurdling scream split the air.
Jumping off the couch, I ran for the stairs. “Starla!”
Chapter Six
I barely noticed Harper coming in the back door as I raced up the staircase. I threw open the door to the guest bedroom and found Starla sitting up in bed, her eyes slammed shut, her arms flailing.
“I’ll kill you! Don’t touch me! I swear I’ll kill you!” she screamed.
I ran for the bed as everyone else rushed into the room behind me. “Starla!” I grabbed her arms so she wouldn’t hit me. “Starla! It’s me, Darcy. Open your eyes!”
Harper dropped down next to the bed. “What happened?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “Call Cherise, okay?”
She nodded and shoved aside the four males crowding the doorway.
Starla slowly opened her eyes, but her pupils remained unfocused. Letting out a heart-wrenching sob, she crumpled against me. I wrapped my arms around her. Evan came and sat next to her as I rubbed her back and smoothed her hair.
“Make him go away,” she mumbled into my chest.
Nick immediately checked the closet and under the bed—where I heard a loud hiss followed by a high-pitched bark. Tilda and Twink must have been hiding under there.
Nick stood up and shook his head. The room was clear.
I glanced around. Everything seemed in its place. There was nothing overturned, no sign of a struggle. No sign at all that someone had broken in.
“Kyle was here?” I asked for confirmation.
“You must have been dreaming,” Will said.
I hated to think that he might be right.
She straightened and wiped her eyes. Her whole body trembled. I draped a quilt over her shoulders as she tried to focus on the faces in the room. “No, he was here, whispering my name. He . . .”
“What?” Nick asked, checking the windows. They were locked tight.
Her voice shook. “He told me he was sorry, that he loved me.”
The Chadwick brothers exchanged a glance I couldn’t quite decipher.
Harper edged her way back into the room.
“He . . . touched me. I freaked out and started screaming. He grabbed my wrist.” She held it up, and I gasped at the redness blooming on her skin.
Nick took a closer look and whistled low.
Liam said, “Could have been self-inflicted.”
Harper jabbed him in the chest with her finger. “Don’t make me kick your ass.”
His eyes widened behind his glasses, and she cocked her head, daring him to say something else. He pressed his lips together.
“He was here,” Starla cried. “I tell you, he was here.”
“Tilda is freaked out under the bed,” Nick pointed ou
t. “Her fur’s on end.”
That was very telling—Tilda wouldn’t have left Starla’s side unless she’d been spooked.
“It’s impossible,” Will asserted. “Impossible!”
Starla leveled a stare on him. “He was here.”
Evan rubbed her arm. “We believe you, Starla.”
Liam, I noticed, took a step back into the hallway, and a moment later he came back in, slipping his cell phone in his pocket as he did so. I guessed he’d just texted someone. Most likely his parents. Or perhaps Kyle himself, to see if Starla’s story was true. Nick could easily check his phone records.
“Did you see him come in?” Nick asked Starla. “Did he use the door? The window?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I heard him saying my name—it’s what woke me up.”
“Even if he’d somehow gotten inside without us noticing,” Will said, “we would have seen him leaving.”
I hated that he was right. “Did he go out the door, Starla? Or the window?”
Tears spilled down her face. “I don’t know. I closed my eyes, heard him say good-bye, and then you were in the room.”
“This is crazy,” Liam said. “She’s crazy. You need to get professional help, Starla.” He sidestepped away from Harper as she swung her leg to kick him.
“If you touch me,” he warned her, “I will press assault charges.”
“It will be worth it,” Harper seethed.
“Enough,” Nick said sternly.
Starla lifted her chin and drew in a deep breath. “If I’m crazy, how did I get these?” She opened her trembling palm, revealing two golden bands. Wedding bands.
Evan gasped.
Will’s eyes widened. “Where’d you get those?”
“Kyle gave them to me,” Starla said. “Just now. He pushed them into my hand.”
Starla closed her eyes, then opened them again. “I don’t know how he had both of them. Mine was in a jewelry box in my bedroom. I took it off after the divorce was finalized. He must have broken into my place to take it. His . . . He always had his.”
Nick shot me a look, then quickly glanced away. Something about what Starla had said struck him as odd.
Liam’s voice cracked a little as he said, “I don’t know how you did this, but it’s not right, Starla. There’s something seriously wrong with you. This . . . this is wrong.”
Such strong emotion that I truly believed he believed what he was saying. Why couldn’t he accept that his brother had been here? Those rings all but proved it.
Fresh tears filled Starla’s eyes. “Get out!” she shouted to the brothers.
Harper was already herding them to the door. “It’s time for you two to go.”
Nick nodded. “I agree.”
Both left without another word, and Harper followed them out, probably to slam the door behind them. Missy followed the trio.
A few seconds later, we looked up as we heard footsteps outside the doorway. Will Chadwick stuck his head in the room.
We all stared at him. Finally, Nick said, “Yes?”
Will cleared his throat. “What was he wearing, Starla?”
“Wearing?” she asked, her pale brows furrowed. She shrugged. “A white T-shirt and flannel pajama pants. Blue ones.” She glanced at me. “Why is he out in this weather in a T-shirt? He’ll freeze.”
My heart squeezed. Even after everything, she still cared about him. Cared that he might get cold.
Will gave a quick nod and backed out of the doorway. His footsteps echoed on the wooden stairs.
I glanced at Nick. “They obviously know where Kyle is.”
“It seems that way,” Nick conceded.
So much for Glinda getting any information from the family.
He swiped a hand down his face. “How did Kyle get in and out without any of us seeing him?”
There was only one way. “It has to be some sort of invisibility spell.”
Evan hugged his sister a little tighter. “We need to ask the Elder. Some spells have a recantation spell that will counteract it,” he explained to Nick. “If we know which one Kyle is casting, then Starla might be able to get Kyle to appear to all of us.”
I’d learned all about recantation spells this past summer. It was exactly what we needed. “I’ll have Archie relay a message to the Elder that I’d like to see her,” I said. It was the fastest way to get a meeting with her.
Starla started crying again. “Why is he doing this? Why?” She sucked in deep gulps of air.
My heart broke for her as she dissolved into sobs once again. I hesitated to leave, but Evan waved me off. Nick followed me out.
We’d just left the room as Cherise Goodwin appeared at the top of the stairs. Short and plump with beautiful shoulder-length white hair, she reminded me of Cinderella’s godmother, only hipper with her teased hair and love of chunky jewelry. Kindness emanated from her eyes as she reached a hand out to me. “The sleeping spell didn’t work?”
“It’s a long story. She’s not doing well. Evan’s in with her, and he can explain everything. I need to see Archie to get a message to the Elder.”
“Don’t worry, Darcy. I’ll take care of Starla.” She gave my hand a squeeze, then rushed into the guest room, her gray woolen cape flying out behind her dramatically.
“How long do you think it will take for the Elder to get back to you?” Nick asked as we headed downstairs.
I peeked out the back door. Archie’s cage was empty. “I’m not sure. Sometimes it’s minutes. Sometimes it’s days.”
“And you still don’t know who she is?”
“Not a clue.” I glanced around. “Where’d Harper go?”
Nick’s gaze fell on the hooks by the door. “Her coat is gone.”
I held in a groan. If I knew my sister well—and I did—she was following the Chadwick brothers. “Missy’s leash is missing, too. She probably took her for a walk.” As a ruse . . .
“She’s following them, isn’t she?” Nick asked, his brown eyes full of incredulity.
Apparently, he knew Harper well, too. I scrunched up my nose. “That would be my guess.”
I braced myself for a lecture from him, but instead he pulled me against his chest and kissed me.
I let myself get lost in his touch, wanting to forget—for only a moment—the chaos of this day. I wasn’t one who let my emotions run wild or free. But I’d fallen hard for this man and couldn’t help but feel the splinter of discontent that had pierced our lives. Our hearts.
Glinda had wedged herself in there but good. I needed to find a pair of tweezers to pluck her right back out again, because there was no way I was going to let her keep dividing us.
“Let me know what she learns, okay?” he finally said.
I smiled against his neck. It seemed he was ready to do a little tweezing as well. “While we were upstairs, I saw Liam duck out to the hallway to send a text message to someone. . . .”
“I saw that, too. I’ll see about getting his phone records.”
Snow fell gently, backlit by the porch light. I hoped those records led him straight to Kyle. “Do you want to come with me to see Archie?”
Slowly, he shook his head. “I’ll stay and call in the incident to the station. Just in case Kyle somehow slipped past us. Then I’ll see if Starla remembers anything else before Cherise knocks her out again.”
I grabbed his hand, holding it tightly. I loved the roughness of his fingers as they curved around my own. “She’s not crazy. This isn’t in her mind. I think those wedding bands prove that.”
He said quietly, “I don’t know what to think.”
“Do you trust me?” I asked him.
“It’s not about trust. It’s about evidence. How can you—”
And just like that the splinter doubled in size.
No, no, no. I willed it to shrink back down.
I pressed my fingers to his lips to cut him off. “It’s not always about tangible evidence. Sometimes it’s gut instinct. Sometimes it’
s a honed judgment. Sometimes it’s only a feeling. One you have to trust. Especially here in this village. With our kind of magic. Do you trust me?”
Tension tightened the muscles of his body as his eyelids drifted closed. He’d come from a mortal world, where seeing was believing. Even though he knew of the Craft he still didn’t fully understand it.
Even though I’d also come from a mortal world, I could feel the magic within me. It was easier for me to embrace what that meant along with all the quirks of the Craft. I understood. All he had to do was trust me.
Slowly, his eyes opened and focused on me with such intensity that I wanted to look away. He was searching my face for something—some sort of answer to an internal question.
I refused to blink or even breathe. I tried to tell him with my eyes all he needed to know. All he already knew and was either too blind or too stubborn to have seen before.
Cupping my face, he lowered his head and kissed me again. Slowly. Deeply. The kiss was an allegiance. A promise. He pulled back just a little, his lips still touching mine. “I trust you.”
I bit my bottom lip, trying to keep from smiling too broadly. Those words meant a lot to him. Melina had broken his confidence, and I knew how difficult it was for him to open up his trust to another woman.
Almost as hard as it had been for me to open my heart to him.
I wanted to do a little happy dance right there in the mudroom as that splinter shrank right down to a tiny speck. But with the creak of footsteps overhead, the seriousness of the day practically smacked me upside the head.
I said, “I need to find Archie.”
He said, “I need to get back upstairs.”
Yet, neither of us moved.
I love you. My heart clutched just thinking the words, and couldn’t imagine saying them aloud. But if ever there were a time, this was it. Our hearts pounding against each other. That look in his eyes . . . The realization that we were almost splinter-free.
“I . . . I—” I gurgled, the words stuck in my throat.
He smiled, encouraging me.
Just do it, Darcy. Say it! “I—”
A sudden knocking on the back door made me jump, and I banged my head against his chin.
The Goodbye Witch Page 5