Witch I May, Witch I Might

by K. J. Emrick

  “Because she was found dead in Shadow Lake. In the trunk of someone’s car. Someone who had just returned from Birch Hollow.”

  “Okay… let me get this straight. The murder happened in Birch Hollow. The murderer then put the victim in the trunk of their car, and drove all the way here like that?” Addie wondered if she would ever not be shocked by the horrible things people could be capable of. “Well, that sounds like an open and shut case. Don’t they have a suspect already? I mean, the owner of the car would be my first thought.”

  “Hey, mine too!” He bobbed his head like a puppet on a string. “See how much we think alike? We’d make a good team.”

  Addie tried to contain herself. He was acting so strangely, and she just wanted him to get to the point. “Herman, do the police have a suspect, or not?”

  “Oh, definitely. They’ve already arrested someone.”

  “Okay, great. Then I still don’t know why you came to us with this. Who did the police arrest?”

  “Your sister,” he said, pausing dramatically, smiling like he’d just sprung some trap. “They arrested Willow. It was her car. She did it.”

  Chapter 2

  Addie tried to make sense of what she had just heard. It wasn’t possible. Herman must be lying, or mistaken, or… or… she didn’t know what could have made him say that, but he was wrong. It wasn’t possible.

  At the same time that Herman’s words were worming their way through her brain, her cellphone rang in her back pocket.

  She almost didn’t answer it. Her thoughts were still twisted up in knots. Willow? They arrested Willow? For… murder?

  There were a dozen and more questions that she wanted to ask. There was so much that she needed him to explain right now because there was no way that she was going to let him drop that bomb on their doorstep and then take off again.

  But the phone kept ringing, demanding her attention, and finally she had no choice but to take it out and check the caller ID.

  Lucian Knight.

  It was her boyfriend. He was a detective with the Birch Hollow PD, which meant… if Willow really had been arrested, there was a good chance that it was Lucian who made the arrest!

  She quickly thumbed the screen to accept the call and put the phone up to her ear. “Hello? Lucian, where are you?”

  “I’m here in town,” he answered. “I take it you heard what’s going on?”

  “Yes, just now.” She still couldn’t believe it. Pacing down the hallway, she twirled her finger into her hair anxiously. “Lucian, this is insane. What’s going on?”

  “It’ll be easier if you come and see for yourself,” he promised her. “We’re down at the all-night gas station at the north end of town. You know which one I mean?”

  “Of course I do,” she snapped. “It’s not like there’s more than one gas station in Shadow Lake. I’ll be right there.”

  “Listen, Addie, I know you’re upset, and I think this really sucks, but I can’t delay things for much longer. We need to bring Willow to our station or they’ll accuse me of not being fair and impartial.”

  “Do you really think I care about that!”

  He hesitated at hearing the anger in her voice. “You’ll care,” he said after another moment, “when they pull me off this case entirely and I’m not allowed to even talk to you until it’s all over.”

  Addie put her hand over her face, taking a moment to breathe. “Yes, you’re right. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you. I’m just worried for my sister.”

  “Honestly?” He didn’t sound happy about what he said next. “I think you should be worried. When you get here, I’ll show you why.”

  “Thanks, Lucian. I love you.”

  “Love you too. I hope you still feel that way after you get here.”

  He hung up first, but that was just as well because Addie had nothing left to say.

  When she turned around again, Herman was standing there in the hallway with her.

  “Bad news, huh?” he said, picking at a fingernail as he watched her out of the corner of one eye.

  “Herman! What are you doing in here? I told you not to come inside!”

  “Oh, did you?” His too-round eyes found hers, and the look in them was oddly compelling… in a very disturbing kind of way. “Are you sure about that?”

  “Yes, I’m sure. I’m very sure that I stood at that door and told you not to come inside.” Her patience for him was at an end. She tried to be respectful of him, and his position with the town, and the fact that they were both residents of Shadow Lake, but he had pushed it too far now. This behavior was so unlike him, but she didn’t have time to play into whatever midlife crisis he was working his way through. Not with Willow in whatever legal trouble she was in.

  Murder? Her sister arrested for murder?

  Herman shrugged, apparently reading her thoughts. “I don’t think it’s that bad. Exciting though, ain’t it?”

  “Not that bad…? How can you say that? She was arrested for murder!” And since when did he use words like ain’t?

  “Hey, we’ve all been through tough times before. If life was easy, then it wouldn’t be any fun.”

  A dead woman in the trunk of her sister’s car in no way meant ‘fun’ in her book. “Herman, you need to go. Now. Go back to the gas station and we’ll meet you there. Make sure Lucian doesn’t take Willow away before I get the chance to talk to her.”

  He actually looked amused. “Oh, really? Now, why would I do something like that?”

  “Because it’s your job!” she shouted at him. Curse her Irish eyes, but she was done talking about this. “You want to be the constable of Shadow Lake? Then this is what it means. You protect the people who live here, and you do what the Kilorian sisters ask you to do. Now, go. Go!”

  He stood where he was for just a few heartbeats longer. Then he winked and turned to walk out of the house like it was his idea, and not hers.

  She could have thrown a spell at him that made his man parts itch for the next three weeks, if she had the time to teach him some manners. What had gotten into him today? Whatever. It didn’t matter. What was happening to Willow was the only thing that mattered to her right now.

  Running all the way back to the dining hall she almost bumped into Kiera coming to find her. “Sister Addie? What is it? We heard you yelling.”

  “It was Herman,” she started to explain, but then realized his intrusion into their home and the much too familiar way in which he had chosen to speak to her wasn’t the real issue. “No, I mean, Herman was here to tell us Willow has been arrested.”

  Kiera’s eyes went wide, and then narrowed. No doubt, Addie thought, she would be remembering an incident when Willow was sixteen and the police had brought her home after an incident involving a public water fountain and a shocking lack of clothing.

  “What’s going on?” Alan asked, stepping out into the hallway behind his mother. Domovyk was right at his feet. The cat had certainly taken to him.

  “Apparently,” Kiera said in a level tone, “our youngest sister has been arrested. Well. When can we expect her to be dropped at our doorstep this time? Or will we be required to give her some bail?”

  Addie hadn’t even thought about that. The reality of what Willow was facing was only now starting to sink in. “It’s worse than that. So much worse. Herman told me… she’s been arrested for murder?”

  “WHAT!” That was from a smaller voice deeper in the house somewhere, and it was followed by the sound of Doyle’s cat claws scrabbling for purchase on hardwood floors as he raced from wherever he was to the front hall and slid to a very ungraceful stop up against the wall. “What’d you just say? She was arrested for what?”

  “I know, I know,” Addie assured all of them. “Look, I didn’t want to believe it either, but Lucian just called, and he confirmed it. He’s going to keep Willow there, but he didn’t know for how long, so I really think we need to go.”

  She stopped herself and took a breath. This couldn’t be ha
ppening. The Kilorian sisters stopped the crimes in Shadow Lake. They protected the people who lived and worked and visited here. They did not, and she felt the need to repeat that, did NOT kill anyone.

  Being able to use magic meant that you could put the whammy on someone without ever hurting them. Even then a witch had to resist the urge to use her powers as the easy way out. Sure, Willow was impulsive and impetuous, but there was no way she could have done what Herman said she did.

  None. No way.

  So then why was she so nervous?

  “I’ll get my coat,” Kiera said, doing a fine job of hiding her emotions.

  “Are you sure?” Addie asked her. “What if you go into town with Alan and his father sees you two there?”

  Alan’s father was still in town even though he was keeping a low profile. He was still trying to be a part of Alan’s life, but neither Alan nor Kiera had decided if they were comfortable with that happening yet. Mister Philly Smith, fallen angel, was not one to take being told ‘no’ lightly, so he was still trying to push the issue.

  “Sister Addie,” Kiera said, “I will not stay locked in Stonecrest indefinitely. Especially not to avoid a man I once loved.”

  “He’s not a man,” Addie said drily.

  “Even so. He is Alan’s father, and we will have to decide how to fit him into Alan’s life eventually.” Then her lips pursed. “Although it would be nice if we would could deal with that later, rather than sooner.”

  Making that her final word on the subject, Kiera went back for her jacket. Alan went with her, to get his own, Domovyk following closely. It was November and the world outside was getting steadily colder. Besides frosty air, the last few days had brought an inch or two of fresh snow.

  As cold as it was it would be colder still, once they found out why Willow had a dead person in her trunk.

  Doyle twitched his fur from nose to tail. “I suppose you’ll be wanting the cats to stay here, right?”

  “Talking cats and public places don’t exactly mix, Doyle.” She saw the expression on his face, all disappointment and drooping whispers, and she decided to soften her approach. “Besides, Old Man, someone needs to stay here who can protect Stonecrest in case anyone else shows up while we’re gone.”

  As she’d expected, he perked up to hear he was going to be useful, even if it was for mostly made up reasons. He nodded to her and rolled his shoulders confidently as he walked away down the hall, humming The Soldier’s Song, Ireland’s national anthem. He was as ready to defend their home as any fluffy tomcat could be.

  The drive didn’t take long at all. Stonecrest was just outside the main part of town, close enough that it could be seen from Main Street. The quickest way from their home to Shadow Lake’s one and only gas station was to go to the Town Hall and take a right, and then keep going on Old Lutherfud Road. That was the long stretch of highway that connected them to Birch Hollow up north and to Bellewood to the south. They were pretty isolated here. Addie liked it that way.

  At least, she used to. Crime was a plague common to cities. The only real cure was to live in the country instead. Although for some time now, that particular disease had spread to Shadow Lake as well.

  Past a row of houses with their lawns blanketed in snow, four black and gold patrol cars sat parked in front of the gas station with their blue lights rotating. Addie could see people scurrying around in the eerie glow created by a mix of headlights, emergency lights, and the brightly lit gas station and convenience store. In the dusk, it looked downright ominous.

  The Stop ‘N Easy had just two gas pumps, recently updated to accept debit cards. Their business was mainly from tourists stopping in town or driving on to Birch Hollow or even further on to Cherub Falls. They weren’t doing a lot of business tonight. Not when they had become an active crime scene.

  Addie leaned forward over the steering wheel of her Jeep Cherokee as they got closer. “Look. That’s Gary’s sports car. That must be what Willow was driving.”

  Gary was Willow’s boyfriend. He was a Typic, which was an impolite way of saying he was a normal person, a non-magic user, a typical human being. A Typic. He drove a flashy red two-door, perfectly suited to his flashy personality.

  “Was he with Willow?” Kiera wondered aloud from next to her in the front seat.

  “I don’t know.” Addie added that one to the list of questions she needed to ask Lucian.

  From the back seat, Alan pointed through the windshield. “I don’t think they’re going to let us get too close. Look.”

  There was yellow barrier tape up around the parking lot, and one of the uniformed officers from the Birch Hollow PD was directing all traffic to keep going, while another was keeping the pedestrians away.

  “They will let us in,” Kiera assured him. “The Kilorian sisters have a kind of authority in Shadow Lake that not even the police dare to stand in the way of.”

  Gary’s sports car was parked in a spot close to the store. Its trunk was open. A tow truck had been backed into place, the flatbed lowered down at an angle, ready to haul the car away for further inspection. Everything seemed to be happening very quickly. Addie pulled past the officer directing traffic, and then right up to the edge of the road, next to the line of barrier tape. Nobody tried to stop them.

  She took a moment to look for Willow. It didn’t take her very long… and there she was, in the back of that one patrol car. Standing right next to it, having a heated phone conversation with someone, was Lucian Knight.

  His heavy coat was open to the weather, a dark blue sweater underneath keeping him plenty warm enough. He was a local, born and raised in this very area, and the cold was something he’d gotten used to early in his life. Tall, blonde, and handsome, he was the sort of man who would have excelled as a fashion model if he hadn’t decided on a life of crime fighting. Addie was especially glad that he had. She might never have met him if he’d gone to work for American Eagle or Calvin Klein. Besides. It was his heart that she was attracted to. Not the cute way his hair swept across his forehead, or the way she could read his thoughts in the lines of his face.

  Right now, what she saw told her he was not happy. Not one bit.

  “Why don’t you two wait here?” Addie suggested. “Let me talk to Lucian alone. Plus, staying in the car might hide you from any angel eyes that might be watching.”

  Kiera pursed her lips. “If Alan’s father is looking for him at this moment, the doors of your Jeep aren’t going to keep him from finding us. Please don’t worry about us, Sister Addie. Go inquire about the facts. Make sure Willow is okay and bring her home if that is possible. If you need us, we’ll be here.”

  Getting out of the car, Addie went right over to Lucian like she had a right to be at the crime scene. Which, in this town, she did. The only one who gave her a second glance was Herman, standing off to the side in his constable uniform and having a chat with a couple of officers who seemed to be just hanging around and doing nothing. Herman couldn’t keep his eyes off Addie. Considering their conversation just a short time ago at Stonecrest, she found his current interest in her more than a little disturbing.

  She could see her sister through the back window of the car, head hung low enough for her long dark red hair to hide her face. She didn’t see Addie approaching. Lucian did, and his reaction was all she could have hoped for it to be.

  He knew she was there before he saw her. He always did. There was some sort of connection between them that Addie was sure that neither magic nor the usual kind of love could explain. She felt him, like a ghostly tingling at the nape of her neck, whenever he was near. It was the same for him. This happened sometimes, when two people were connected by a bond that transcended friendship, or kismet, or even love.

  Something was going to happen to the two of them. Or maybe, happen because of them. She didn’t know. Fate was funny that way. All she knew was that the connection she felt added a certain mystery to their whirlwind romance that she very much liked. Whatever was going on between them
was special.

  Saying goodbye to the person on the other end of his call, he swiped the phone with an angry jab of his thumb and slipped it away into the inside pocket of his coat. Then he took her by the hand and led her away from the car, away from Willow, grumbling under his breath as he did. “That was the Chief,” he explained. “And of course, he’s not even here but he’s put in his two cents worth.”

  “That’s his job,” she said, but she had the feeling that wasn’t what Lucian meant. “What did he say?”

  He made a rude sound at the back of his throat. “He’s acting like an armchair quarterback, trying to give us directions without knowing the whole story.”

  “What is the whole story?” she asked him. “I’m still trying to figure that out myself. Lucian, this is crazy.”

  “The story, at least the part that matters, is that Willow couldn’t have done this.”

  “Fantastic. Then you can let her go, and we can go home to sort this out.”

  But Lucian was already shaking his head. “No. I’m afraid it isn’t that simple, because the rest of the story is that it sure looks like Willow did this.”

  Addie cast a glance over to the patrol car where Willow sat despondent, still looking down at her own shoes. One of the uniformed officers was standing there now to make sure she didn’t go anywhere, and she wasn’t even acknowledging his presence. That was very much not like her. She was always energetic and vibrant and loudly opinionated. Their different personalities had led to so many arguments between them, stupid sister stuff that always seemed so trivial after a few hours or days had passed. What she wouldn’t give right now for Willow to look up at her and scream that she was innocent and threaten to turn everyone into a newt if they didn’t let her go…