by K. J. Emrick
Addie reached over and took his hand in hers. “Then you must have come just to see me.”
“You know it.”
She smiled, and held his hand tighter.
Lucian Knight was a tall and good-looking man, with a body that would make all those Calvin Klein models jealous. Blonde hair swept to the side, blue eyes, cute grin. All of which was nice, but Addie had never really cared about the way a man looked. She much preferred to know what was in their heart. Lucian had a heart that was just as beautiful as his smile.
She was glad that they’d found each other.
Even before he sat down, even before she had smelled his bittersweet cologne, Addie had known he was here. A tingle of recognition had crawled along the nape of her neck as soon as he entered the room. That was the kind of effect he had on her magic. Some people did that, when you were magic sensitive, but this was something more. The way he made her feel, she had no doubt that he was going to play a big part in her future. Something was going to happen between them. Something, well… magical.
He was wearing blue slacks and a white button-up under a lightweight jacket. She rarely saw him dressed down. Then again, she’d changed into slacks herself for the meeting tonight, and a nice blue blouse. This election was important to the town.
“The way we do things in Shadow Lake,” she explained to Lucian, “is we have a board of selectmen who make the decisions. The First Selectman is the head of the board, and she does the same things that a mayor does in other places.”
He nodded along. “Okay. I guess that makes sense. So then where does the town manager come in?”
“He’s the chief administrative officer of the town.”
Lucian stared back at her with a blank expression.
“He’s like our accountant.”
“Oh. Okay. See, in Birch Hollow we just have a mayor. He’s everybody’s boss. Including the police department’s. It makes things simpler.”
“You’re the detective. I’ll take your word for it.”
“Sure, but I’m off duty now. Just trying to spend some time with a special someone and watch this very simple political event.”
“Well, this is Shadow Lake,” she said with a hint of sarcasm. “We like to keep things simple.”
“Uh-huh.” Lucian cleared his throat dramatically. “I think we both know ‘simple’ is not a word anyone would use to describe Shadow Lake.”
“Heh. No, you’re right. Well, if you think this is exciting you’ll have to come back in January. That’s when we have the election for First Selectman. Maria Stiles is a shoe-in.”
“Oh? Is she that good at her job?”
“She’s okay, but it’s not that.” Addie looked around the room. Everyone was sitting in their places now, even the large and bulky Mac McDougal, the other selectman who had been missing earlier. “It’s just that no one dares run against her. She’s a tiger when it comes to her job.”
Addie looked around the room again. She checked her watch. She tapped her foot.
“Something wrong?” Lucian asked her.
“Hmm? Oh, no. I mean, not really. It’s just that it’s already quarter after six. This should have started fifteen minutes ago.”
“Well, life in a small town, right? It might not be so simple, but no one is ever in a hurry.”
“Hmm. Maybe.”
The room grew quiet as someone came out on the stage. The current town manager, Seth Hunter, waved to the applause from everyone in the audience. He was sweating in his gray suit. Addie could see the dark discoloration around his neck, under that red power tie. He was a larger man, with a round belly, but even for him it shouldn’t be warm enough to make him sweat.
He took a cornered handkerchief from his front pocket and dabbed at his high forehead.
Addie had spoken with Seth any number of times. He was a decent enough man, not overly bright, but with a good head for numbers. He was born and raised in Shadow Lake, too, which was what had given him the edge in the last election.
He was going to have his work cut out for him this time, if he was going to keep his position. His opponent had moved into town just five years ago but she already had the place wired. She had a reputation for knowing just who to talk to whenever anyone needed something done.
Eleanor Griggs was short and sweet, always ready with a smile for everyone. Blonde curls fell in waves over her shoulders. Her hazel eyes looked slightly large behind her round glasses. She liked to listen to people, and talk with them, and she had a knack for remembering everyone’s name.
When she came out to her podium Addie heard a change in the tone of the applause. Not louder or softer, just… different.
From her seat in the front row, First Selectman Maria Stiles stood up. “Well, I’m glad we can finally begin. It’s about time. I promised my husband I’d be home in time to watch the Late Show.”
The audience laughed. So did Lucian. Addie did not. She was too busy studying Seth Hunter up there on the stage. He wasn’t laughing either. He didn’t look good. In fact, he was starting to sway back and forth behind his podium.
Addie stretched her senses out to him with a little bit of her Life Essence. This was a minor spell that anyone with any degree of aptitude for magic could do. Every living thing had their own energy within them, whether it was called the soul or the animus or the breath of life. People, animals, plants, even the Earth itself had a Life Essence. Witches knew how to tap into that energy and use it to power their spells, among other things. People of great spiritual faith knew how to tap into that energy as well, to effect those around them.
So did movie actors, although not quite in the same way.
Right now, Addie was using her Essence to reach out and touch Seth. What she felt worried her.
“All right,” Maria Stiles said to both candidates up on the stage. She lifted a stack of blue six-by-six index cards in her hands, getting ready to ask the first question. “Let’s begin tonight’s debate. First, I’d like to thank everyone who submitted
anonymous questions to the town clerk over the last week and a half. The only way our town will grow and prosper is if we all work together to make Shadow Lake a better place.”
Addie could feel Seth’s heartbeat. It was racing. He was having trouble getting his breath.
“The first question,” Maria continued, “is for our incumbent town manager, Seth Hunter.”
Seth swayed to his left.
“The question is this.”
Seth brought his hand up to loosen his tie.
“Are you now, or have you ever—” Maria stopped, and didn’t finish the question. She stared down at it with her mouth open and her eyes wide.
Addie only sort of noticed all of that. Now she could feel Seth’s distress. She could feel the pain sneaking up in him. She could sense the throbbing of his head. This was more than just nerves, or the temperature in the room.
Something was wrong.
“Lucian, we need to get up on the stage.” She was already half rising out of her seat. There was no time to waste.
“What?” he asked her, looking around in confusion. “Why?”
“Just trust me. We need to get to Seth.”
She pulled her Essence back to her, and not a moment too soon.
Seth swooned, listing to one side, turning in an almost complete circle on his heel before gravity took over, and he fell to the stage with a crash.
Panic rose all around them with people standing up in a rush and some people moving for the stage and others moving for the exits. People were shouting for someone to call 911. Addie heard Maria’s voice cutting over everyone else’s, asking everyone to calm down, give the man some room.
Herman Bledsoe was on the stage first, his long strides carrying him to the front of everyone else. His constable’s uniform clung loosely around his body as he motioned for everyone to keep back, keep back please, I’m in charge here, keep back.
Addie wasn’t far behind him, and Lucian was right at her side,
and when people saw them coming they moved out of their way. Some people recognized Lucian as a police detective, but mostly it was her who parted the way. People in Shadow Lake recognized the Kilorian sisters, and they knew that whenever there was trouble, those three were the ones who were called upon to look into it.
No one knew the real reasons why. They didn’t know about the magic and witchcraft. They just knew that even the board of selectmen deferred to Kiera, Addie, and even Willow.
It was Maria Stiles who was kneeling at Seth’s side, feeling for a pulse, and Addie could see her already shaking her head. She reached out with her Essence again, and she did not like what she felt. Not at all.
Seth Hunter was dead.
Curse her Irish eyes. Another murder in the sleepy town of Shadow Lake. Lucian had been right. Simple wasn’t a word that ever described Shadow Lake.
“I’ll start CPR,” he told her, rolling up his sleeves.
“Don’t bother,” she told him. “It’s already too late.”
He gave her a look. “You don’t mind if I try, do you? I know you’ve got… ways of knowing these things,” he said as he lowered his voice. “But sometimes us mortals like to believe it’s worth trying anyway.”
Was he mad at her? Addie blinked at him as he turned away, and decided it must be the fact that he was so very dedicated to his job. That’s all it was. He took the idea of ‘serve and protect’ seriously.
He went to Maria, and after a few questions about whether she knew CPR he started with two breaths into Seth’s mouth, while Maria did compressions on his chest.
“What’s he doing?” Herman asked Addie indignantly. “I told everyone to stay back.”
“He’s a police officer,” Addie reminded him. “He’s doing his job. Now, can you be a dear and keep everyone here until the police arrive. We’re going to need a list of everyone who was in attendance.”
“Excuse me? I’m the town constable. I’m not your secretary.”
Addie glared at him, and even without enhancing the look with her magic it was enough to make Herman blanch paler than usual. “You will do this, Herman, because this is part of your job whether you realize it or not. A man is dead,” and Addie remembered to drop her own voice to barely a whisper so no one around them could hear. “We all need to do our part to find out why.”
“B-b-but,” he stammered. He crossed his arms and tried to stand up straighter. “I’m the constable. I should be leading the investigation.”
This time Addie did thread a little Essence through her voice, because Herman was starting to annoy her, and he was keeping her from what she needed to do. “Go get everyone’s name. Bring me the list later. Tell everyone to stay here until the police say it’s okay to leave. Got that?”
He nodded now like a puppet on a string, and turned away into the crowd. She could hear him mumbling as he went. “But I’m the constable. Me. I’m the constable.”
She didn’t have time for his bruised ego. Maria and Lucian were still doing CPR but there was a look of resigned defeat about them. They were just going through the motions. It was obvious that it would be no use.
Which was what she’d told Lucian in the first place.
With a deep sigh, she moved closer, keeping her back to everyone in the audience so that no one would see her lift a hand toward the body on the stage floor. Every death had its own feel to it, its own unique impression on her senses. An accidental death had a metallic tang to it, for instance, and often a cosmic-sized sense of humor that was more ironic than funny. A drowning death made Addie feel like she was swallowing chlorine. What she had just seen happen to Seth Hunter had all the hallmarks of a heart attack. Heart attacks left Addie with the impression of hundreds and hundreds of rubber bands breaking, all at the same time.
She did not feel that from Seth.
What she felt from Seth’s body was an icky, oily, cloying sort of feeling. It nearly made her gag, it was that strong.
She knew what that meant.
Lucian sat back on his heels, panting for breath. He’d come to the same conclusions that she’d already given him. It was no use.
When he got to his feet, he came over to her, casting his eyes to the crowd and making sure to stand very close to Addie before he said a word. “He’s gone. There’s no bringing him back. I don’t suppose your magic…?”
“No, Lucian. It doesn’t work that way.”
“Of course it doesn’t.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Anyway. I’ll make a call to the office up in Birch Hollow. They’ll have some officers down here within a half hour. Once we’ve brought… I’m sorry I can’t remember his name.”
“Seth,” she supplied for him. “Seth Hunter.”
“Right. I’ll make sure they put a rush on finding out how Seth died.”
Addie nodded, but she didn’t need to wait for science to tell her what her magic already had. “I know how he died. It was poison, Lucian. He was murdered.”
Lucian frowned as he took out his cellphone. “Of course he was. This is Shadow lake.”
Chapter 2
If there hadn’t been so many people around her in the town hall, Addie could have found out more.
In her purse, under the chair where she’d been sitting, she had her little kit of spices and materials that would allow her to cast certain spells. With just a little magic she could have called up Seth’s ghost and asked him directly what he remembered about the moments before his death.
She sighed, and sat back down in that same chair. Calling up ghosts was out of the question in a room full of people. The Kilorian sisters did their best to keep their secrets hidden from the world. They didn’t go around advertising that they were witches. People who did that got ostracized very quickly. And stoned. And sometimes, burned at the stake.
Well, maybe not anymore. That may have been a different time when those things happened, but even in today’s modern society people with the God-given talents of witches were still given the cold shoulder by people who considered themselves enlightened.
There were other reasons not to reveal what they were. There were creatures out there that were attracted to the scent of a witch. Still others—creature and human alike—who would tear their way through this town if they knew about the Well of Essence under Shadow Lake.
So for now, she would sit where she was and wait for the police to do their thing.
She snorted and crossed her arms in a little pout. “So much for getting back to Stonecrest for Kiera and her son.”
Alan. In the excitement she had nearly forgotten about him. She could only imagine what must be happening back home. The son that Kiera thought she would never see again had just dropped himself onto their front door. Witches knew spells for a lot of things. Addie couldn’t think of a single spell that would help her sister through this.
Even before he sat down, she felt Lucian approaching. He’d been directing the officers of his department, giving them jobs to do like checking for security cameras, and looking around backstage for any clues, and helping the coroner load Seth’s body to be removed.
Now that the body was gone, the only thing backstage was a half full garbage can and the empty coatrack. To top it off, there were no surveillance cameras in the town hall. This was Shadow Lake, and crime had been almost nonexistent. Until recently. There had been several murders in town recently. Funny how that had all started after the arrival of an evil witch named Belladonna Nightshade. Troubles on top of troubles, that’s what they had. At least there were some good things happening too, like Kiera’s son finding his way back to her.
Now that she had a moment to sit down and think, she had to wonder… how did Alan find his way to Stonecrest…?
“You okay?” Lucian asked her.
“Hmm?”
“You look like you’re lost in your thoughts, Addie, just sitting there.”
She blinked, and sat up straighter, unfolding her arms. “Oh. Yes, I guess I was. I’m sorry, I know I should be focusing on Set
h’s murder but there’s other things on my mind, too.”
He nodded. “Sounds just like a woman to me.”
“Hey!” she exclaimed. “Be nice, or this woman will find a reason to be busy the next time you call and ask me out on a date.”
“Now that’s a threat I’ll take seriously! All right, I take it back. My point is, you don’t have to throw yourself into this investigation. My guys and I can take care of it.” He shrugged, and then reached out to take her hand. “We’re the police. It’s kind of what we do.”
“Uh, this is kind of what we do, too,” she reminded him pointedly. “Me and my sisters. Shadow Lake is within your jurisdiction, but never forget that this is our town. We take care of the people who live here.”
He gave her a very long look. She could see it in his eyes that there was something he wanted to say, but he kept it to himself, clenching his jaw tight.
Then he stood up, and walked away.
She’d been right after all. He was mad at her. Part of her wanted to go to him and ask him what she’d done but again, there were still a number of people left in the town hall. She did not want to go racing after a man like a puppy dog with all of them watching. She was stronger than that.
Herman the constable was still here, and she figured that he wouldn’t leave until everyone else did, if only to keep up the pretense that he had some reason for being here. The two selectman who had seen Seth die, Maria and Mac McDougal, were still here, and they’d called on the other selectmen to be here as well while they debated what this would mean for the town. Even the other candidate for the town manager’s spot, Eleanor Griggs, was still here. Addie had even seen Cavallo Raithmore hanging around.
Well. The officers were wrapping things up, and she couldn’t just sit here. It was already—she checked her watch again, and scowled at fate and its cruel tricks. It was late, that’s what it was. She should be home already, not sitting here while she got the silent treatment from the man in her life.
Addie took a breath, and stopped her pity party right there. A man was dead. Someone she knew quite well had been murdered. Her own issues were secondary to that, because she was one of the protectors of Shadow Lake. Nothing else came before that.