Secrets and Specters

by Raven Snow

  Uh oh. “Are you trying to set me up with your son?”

  “No,” Al said quickly. “Though I could, if you like.”

  Lady wasn’t so sure about that. “I don’t think he’s interested.”

  Al sighed, reaching for the electric kettle that already seemed to have hot water in it. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that boy interested in anyone, unfortunately. He’s married to his work.” She poured water over the tea and brought the pot itself to the table. “Well, that’s not entirely true. There was a girl in high school that he dated for a little while. Sweet girl. Didn’t last.” She frowned and headed back to the kitchen for mugs. “Why was it he said they broke up? Something about her finding him too serious, I think.”

  “Can’t imagine why she’d think that.”

  Al returned with mugs and a plate of finger sandwiches. A frown was still on her face. “Being serious is a desirable quality in a boy!” she said, her tone scolding. She returned to the kitchen one last time to bring over a couple more plates. One had cookies on it, the other a lump of some kind of beige pâté Lady didn’t like the look of. “I didn’t marry a serious man, and look where my relationship with my boy’s father is now.”

  “Where is your relationship?”

  “Exactly.” Al picked up the plate of pâté and placed it near her feet. She clicked her tongue. “Lion. Lion, come here. I have a treat for you.”

  Thank goodness she hadn’t tried the pâté. Lion was a fan. He trotted up and started in on it immediately.

  “Where were we?” Al straightened up and turned back to Lady. “So, Millie has you dealing with Ash, does she?”

  “Ash?”

  Al raised an eyebrow and stared at Lady like she expected her to figure out what was wrong with what she had just said on her own. “My son,” she said plainly. “Ash.”

  “Oh! Right.” Of course Conners had a first name. “I didn’t think… I always just call him Conners, so…” She trailed off when Al winced.

  “I suppose it was too much to hope you two might be… getting along.” Al sighed loudly and dramatically. “Conners,” she said the name like it tasted bad in her mouth. “I hate that. I don’t know why he can’t just use the family name.”

  Comfrey was Conners’ real last name. Lady knew he went by Conners to distance himself from his mother. Comfrey was a well-known name in the town. Given the way Dark Lake tried to willfully ignore the existence of its witches, it wouldn’t do to have a police chief named Comfrey. It made denial a little easier if Conners helped them out. The fact that he was willing to was probably something his mother had taken offense to. Lady knew she probably would have if she were in her shoes.

  “Sorry,” Lady said, lamely. She hadn’t done anything wrong, but she didn’t know what else to say.

  Al shook her head. “Ah, well. What can you do? Kids are always going to find some way to break their parents’ hearts.” She took Lady’s mug and poured her some tea. “It’s a pomegranate oolong,” she explained, pushing the tea across to Lady.

  Lady leaned over the steam and breathed in the scent. “Thanks… Do you have any, like… sugar or milk or something?”

  Al sighed and made no move to get either. “You don’t put in sugar or milk. It’s good tea. Just drink it.”

  Lady wasn’t much for hot leaf water. She lifted the cup anyway. Worried that it was too hot to drink, she held onto it for a bit. “But… yeah, I stayed with your son last night like Ms. Poole asked me to.” She considered whether or not she should actually say the next part. It was probably a good idea to mention it, she decided. “I also kind of… gave your son a black eye.”

  “What?” Al sat up a little straighter, brow creased. “Why?”

  “It’s a long story.” To stall telling it, Lady took a sip of her tea. It didn’t burn her mouth. It was also delicious. The taste wasn’t bitter at all. It wasn’t exactly sweet, but it was pleasant all the same. “Oh… wow, this is pretty good actually.”

  “Why did you give my son a black eye?” Al pressed.

  “Oh, right… well…” Lady told Al the whole story. Al wasn’t so worried about the black eye once she heard about the shadow man and how it had attacked her.

  “Goodness.” Al’s fingers rested at her lips, thoughtful. “That’s… That’s a lot to take in.” She shook her head. “He’s staying with me from now on. That’s all there is to it.”

  “I’m not sure he’d be okay with that.”

  “Then I’ll stay with him.”

  “I mean, that’s between the two of you, I guess.” Lady didn’t think he would go for that either, but it really wasn’t any of her business.

  Al groaned. “You’re right, he’ll be difficult about it.” She swore quietly, picking up her own mug. “That boy…” she grumbled.

  “So, I was thinking…” Lady began carefully, trying to get things back on track. “I was thinking it might have something to do with the nightmares he’s been having.”

  “Nightmares?” Al perked up. “What nightmares?”

  Lady swallowed. Conners definitely wouldn’t thank her for riling his mother up like this. Lady expected that he was going to get an earful as soon as she left. Al would pick up the phone and call her son at work, insisting she help him in some way. “About… you know.” Lady hoped Al would get what she was alluding to without saying it out loud. Ms. Poole had acted like it was a chore to talk to her about Conners’ injury. Maybe skirting around the topic without mentioning it directly would be easier. Unfortunately, Al didn’t seem to be following. “About his accident,” she said finally.

  “His accident?” Al shook her head like she didn’t understand. She was about to say something else when her expression darkened suddenly. “Oh, you mean that monster that shot my son.”

  “Yeah,” Lady said slowly, carefully. “I think it’s a nightmare about that.”

  Al took a deep breath. She took a slow sip of her tea and didn’t say anything. It was like she was trying to order her thoughts. “I don’t like thinking about any of that.”

  “Sorry for bringing it up.”

  “No, no,” Al said quickly. “I’m glad you did. You think it’s relevant, and you may well be right.” She nudged the plate of finger sandwiches toward Lady. “I know the conversation is a bit grim, but feel free to eat, Dear.”

  Lady was about to politely decline. She’d only just eaten two different breakfasts. It felt rude to decline though. She took one of the little sandwiches. It tasted like chicken salad. “This is good.”

  Al only nodded in response to the compliment. She was still thinking. “Obviously, strong emotions can create… entities. It’s not unheard of. I’d say it’s one of the more common ways you see ‘supernatural’ creatures created. Odd that this is only manifesting now, though.”

  “Yeah,” Lady agreed. “You’re the third person to mention that. Any idea why? If it’s even connected, I mean. Maybe I’m barking up the wrong tree to begin with.”

  “No, if this shadow person is manifesting every time he has a nightmare, it seems to me that there’s a good chance the two are connected. It’s certainly worth looking into.” She took another sip of her tea as her expression turned thoughtful again. “No… No, I’m drawing a blank. I wish I could help you, but— Actually, it could be that something has happened. Perhaps there’s been some change in the case.”

  “Conners— I mean, Ash didn’t mention anything about that.”

  “Well, he is a very secretive boy,” Al reminded her. Not that Lady thought of Conners as particularly secretive. Private, maybe. It was probably the result of an overbearing mother. “Maybe he can’t tell you because of work. Or maybe he doesn’t even know himself… Granted, that would mean that the shadow man isn’t manifesting from his emotions.” Al drummed her fingers on the table. “Oh, that would be quite the pickle.”

  It would be. Lady wasn’t sure how best to look into something that had happened years ago. “What do you remember about what happened?” That was
probably a stupid question to ask. She didn’t want to make Al relive what had most likely been one of the worst experiences in her entire life. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” she added quickly.

  “Don’t be ridiculous.” Al picked up a cookie. “As Ash’s mother it’s my job to help in whatever way I can. You’re trying to help, so you need to know these things if you feel they’re relevant.”

  “What do I remember?” Al repeated those words thoughtfully. The cookie hovered near her mouth, but she ultimately put it back down on the table. Clearly, this wasn’t a very appetizing subject. No great surprise there. “Goodness. To be perfectly honest with you, it’s all a bit of a blur.”

  “That’s what your son said.”

  “Did he?” Al nodded. “No surprise there. Of course, he wasn’t unconscious the entire time. I imagine it was a blur to the both of us for entirely different reasons.” She picked her cookie back up and took a bite. She opened her mouth to say something, closed it, and finished the rest of her cookie before continuing. “I think…” She looked down at the table and took a deep breath. She sat up straight again, squaring her shoulders. “I was here at home when I got the call. I’ll never forget it. I was watching this silly reality show about renovating houses. Used to watch them all the time but not anymore. Can’t stomach it. They make me anxious. So does quiche. I’d made one and had it for dinner that night. Odd how that works, isn’t it? Something bad happens, and it colors everything around it. My son got shot while I was making a quiche. He was being rushed to the hospital while I was sitting there on the sofa watching television.”

  “You didn’t know?” Lady only realized that what she had just asked might be taken as an insensitive question once it had left her mouth. “Sorry. I just mean… Being a witch and all, I figured you might have some kind of… I don’t know…”

  “What? A psychic connection?” Al frowned. “If only. I did have a charm on him when he was a boy. He had this stuffed bear I made him that I sewed some of my hair into. I knew every move he made back then.” She gave a wistful sigh. “Of course, he put a stop to that as soon as he started puberty. I tried working a more discrete spell for the same purpose, but he wanted his privacy. I know I can be a little overprotective, but I do respect my son. He can’t have me looking over his shoulder all the time. Honestly, I’m sure I couldn’t have changed anything even if I was looking over his shoulder. By all accounts, he did everything right that night.”

  “He told me that there were things he would have done different.”

  Al’s frown deepened, but she didn’t look surprised. “He would say something like that. He’s hard on himself. No, everyone agreed that he did everything right.”

  Lady wondered if that was something Al had convinced herself was true. She was biased when it came to Conners. Besides, it wasn’t like she had been there when it all went down. Lady didn’t challenge what she said. It wasn’t her place to do something like that. “So, you said you were here when you, what? Got a call?”

  “Right.” A somewhat distant look came over Al. “That’s when things become something of a blur. I swear, my heart dropped right out of my chest. The hospital called me first. I got a call shortly afterward from the station. I think they wanted to do me the courtesy of calling me themselves. Not that I answered. I was already on my way to the hospital. I did call Millie that night. She was a sweetheart during the whole thing. Very supportive.”

  “That’s good.” Knowing Ms. Poole, she would have believed it going either way.

  “They had to amputate the leg, of course.” Al paused then and looked at Lady, like she was rethinking how obvious that was.

  “I know about all that. He showed me.”

  “Right, well, I did what I could for him.”

  “I didn’t know you could do anything like that. It was… It was really amazing, honestly.”

  That earned her a smile from Al. “Thank you. I admit, it may be some of my better work.”

  “I heard you did something like that for Otsuya too.”

  “I did. A good thing I did too. It was good practice.”

  “Will I ever be able to do anything like that?” It was a lame question. Lady knew it was a lame question, but she still couldn’t resist asking it. It was something that had been on her mind since Conners had shown him the magic she had weaved. She had never seen Ms. Poole do anything as impressive. Not that she couldn’t. Lady just hadn’t seen it, and she wasn’t the sort to show off.

  Al’s smile broadened a little, simultaneously turning a bit sympathetic. “I can’t rightly say. I don’t know what your specialty is. My element is life and that fell within the realm of healing. Have you and Millie figured out where your talents lie yet?”

  Lady shook her head. She hadn’t figured out much. Millie was supposed to be training her, but mostly she had her meditating and mopping floors. “I’m not even sure I have… talents.”

  Al reached out across the table and took Lady’s hand in her own. She gave it a squeeze. “Oh, don’t you say that. You have talent. Millie wouldn’t have taken you on as her apprentice if you didn’t.” She withdrew her hand as a wistful look came over her. “I always wished Ash had more of a knack for these things. There’s a spark there, mind you. I think it could kindle it if he put his mind to it, but I can’t force him. It would have made my life a lot easier if he followed in my footsteps. I loved being a nurse. No one ever shot at me, I’ll tell you that much.”

  Lady started to say that Conners seemed happy in his job, but she wasn’t entirely sure of that. Did he seem happy? What did a happy Conners look like? The few times she had visited him at work, he was always exasperated over his incompetent staff. “What about the scene of the crime and stuff?” she asked instead. “What happened with all that?”

  “The crime scene? You mean with Shannon or the… criminal?”

  “Either. Both?” Lady took another sip of her tea.

  “Let’s see… Shannon was a mess. You’d think she had a son murdered too the way she was going on. Millie had the good sense to have her go to the other end of the waiting room. I expect I would have decked her sooner or later.”

  “She didn’t do anything wrong though, did she?” Lady asked, carefully.

  Al tapped the side of her own tea cup, her lips pursed and an eyebrow raised. It was obvious she didn’t appreciate Lady sympathizing with Shannon. “I’ve never liked that family.”

  “Because of her mom, right? You thought Shannon’s mother was an irresponsible witch.”

  “I think the whole family is more trouble than they’re worth.”

  Lady didn’t think that was much of a reason, but she let it go.

  “She and her husband did offer to pay the medical bills. Some of them anyway.” Al said this grudgingly, like she was obligated to say something nice about the family after Lady had pointed out how unfair she was being. “I probably should have taken them up on that.”

  “You didn’t?”

  “I was angry. It felt like they were trying to mitigate their own guilt. I was miserable and terrified and perhaps I lashed out a bit. Ash wasn’t out of the woods and, well, I told them where they could shove their money. I’m sure they made the same offer to Ash himself when he was actually awake and alert. I’m sure he turned them down as well. For different reasons, though I know how he is. Of course, that didn’t keep Shannon from going and applying for a job.”

  “And what about the guy who shot him?” Lady felt like Al could go on about Shannon and her family all day. She had a look in her eye that suggested she was about to launch into some sort of rant.

  “Hmm? Oh.” Al paused to take a sip of her own tea. “I don’t like thinking about that man.”

  “But you know about him, right?”

  “A little. After they told me he was dead, I didn’t much care. He couldn’t hurt my Ash again. He got what was coming to him.”

  Lady leaned back in her seat. “I thought your element was lif
e.” She couldn’t help it. Al was being a little harsh.

  “It is. Life is a gift and, frankly, some people don’t deserve it. Lawrence Mann was one of those people.”

  “Lawrence Mann,” Lady repeated, committing it to memory. “That was the burglar, right? The A/C repairman?”

  “Yes. Makes me thankful I’m handy around the house. I can make my own repairs, thank you very much. Did you know they have tutorials for anything online these days? Seriously, you can find a video on just about anything.”

  “Yeah. Yeah, they do.”

  “I’m sorry.” Al gave Lady a smile that was strained. “I wish there was more I could tell you about him, but I really didn’t look into it.” She held up a finger as if something had just occurred to her. “You know, Shannon might be able to tell you more about him. I’m sure she would want to help. I’m not sure how much use she would be but, but… even so.” Al picked up another cookie. “If you really need to know more about the fellow, you could always check the company he worked for. I don’t believe he was a private contractor. He worked for a little shop in town. It’s behind the grocery store, actually. You just go around the block. Maybe someone there remembers him. I don’t know if they would be willing to talk to you, but it’s worth a shot. I could go with you, if you like. We could make a day of it.”

  Lady wasn’t so sure about that. “I don’t want to put you out. You seem like you’re busy.”

  “Oh, please,” scoffed Al. “I haven’t been properly busy since I retired.” She gave Lady a knowing look. “I suppose my being there and asking questions might be awkward. If there’s anything I can do to help, though… Don’t hesitate to let me know, all right? I know that Ms. Poole is the one who put you up to it, but I really do appreciate you doing this. I’m sure my son appreciates it too.”

  “It’s not just Ms. Poole,” Lady said quickly. “Your son is a good guy. I don’t want to see him suffer.”

  The smile on Al’s face broadened. “Are you sure there isn’t a spark between the two of you?”