She curled up on the couch with Bakalo in her lap, trying to work out what could have happened to Sylvia and Edwin. It seemed obvious to her that either Star or Sera made for the perfect patsy and unless she found the actual killer, the BLPD would be forced to go after one of them. Jealousy and anger were powerful emotions, but it was only days ago that they thought Edwin Poe had killed Sylvia. Not every hypothesis proved true. And now there was the disappearance of Willa. Where had she gone and why if she’d stolen Sylvia’s book, had she left it outside Edwin’s room… unless she dropped it by accident when fleeing the scene of his murder.
Finally, tired of being alone and realizing that sitting there wasn’t getting her any answers at all, Mallory closed up the cottage and headed back through the secret tunnel that led to Caravan Manor’s parlor. Good smells were emanating from the kitchen as Mallory pushed the bookshelf door open.
“Oh, hey,” Lizzy said to her, bustling by. “Thank God the investigation seems to be over. Maybe we can get back to normal now.”
Mallory agreed and felt a little embarrassed when her stomach growled loudly. “I haven’t eaten since breakfast,” she explained. “I guess I’m hungry. I hope we still have some of Nataliya’s leftovers.”
Lizzy swung her long blond hair away from her face. “You know her–she never stops cooking. I’m on my way out. See you tomorrow, Mal.”
Mallory waved and headed for the kitchen only to find Kaden stirring the pot—an actual pot. “Hey there,” he said with a smile. “I thought I’d surprise you, but I was getting a little worried that you ran away from home.”
“Yeah, sorry. My cell service has been spotty at best. What are you doing back so soon?”
“It didn’t take as long as we thought it would. I made you a late lunch or an early dinner depending on how you look at it. Want some?”
“Yes. What is it?”
“Homemade split pea soup.”
“Did you pick up wine, too?”
“Yeah. I wasn’t sure if you had plans tonight or not.” The wine was local, a slightly sweet Sauvignon Blanc from Jack and Ginger Young’s Vineyard that would balance the salty meat in the soup out nicely.
“I see. Well, I do have plans later but a half a glass with the soup sounds lovely.”
“So how did it go?” Kaden asked as he poured the wine.
Mallory told him about her meeting with Mick Spirit as Kaden ladled the fragrant chunky soup into bowls and ripped up fresh crusty bread.
Mallory bit a hunk off the dipped bread and smiled. “Perfection.”
“Thanks.” He tasted the soup and added pepper to his. “What about the witch hunter?”
“Still lurking. Although we now have some ground rules in place. Still, I need to find the real killer otherwise I might have a witch hunter living with me forever. What about you? Anything new in the murder investigation?” Mallory asked.
“Cody says we have to question Star St. James again.”
“Seriously? He thinks Sera did it.”
“It makes sense, unfortunately,” Kaden explained. “Sylvia was killed–then her lover. Spouses make good suspects in a case like this. Since Edwin wasn’t married, that leaves Star.”
“I understand.” Mallory sipped wine and ate more of her bread. “What about Edwin? Are you sure there was no one special in his life?”
“What do you mean?”
“He was really intent on leaving Sylvia. Maybe he wasn’t only tired of her and ready to move on. Maybe he’d met someone else. Plus, Sera told Cody that she’d seen Edwin with a blonde in California.”
“Maybe,” he agreed. “But Star St. James is blonde and she’s on our radar right now.”
“Well, we know Star was here during the storm, right? Can’t we place her?”
“So far we haven’t been able to. She claims to have gone to her room alone for a moment to grab a sweater but swears she came right back and the next night, she wasn’t with the funeral directors the entire time like she led Cody to believe.” He got up and put his arms around her. “No one wants to think it was her. But if it was–”
“I’m sorry but I can’t believe that,” Mallory disagreed.
“Well, then it was Sera.”
“I don’t —”
“I know. You don’t believe that either. You’re being unreasonable. You don’t seem to think it could be anyone, but somebody did do it, Mal. Facts are facts. You’re just too naïve to see them.”
“That’s not fair. I know somebody did it. We just haven’t figured out who yet. Anyway, I’m feeling exhausted all of a sudden.”
“Aww…Mal. Don’t be mad. It’s only two—”
“Good evening, Kaden. I’ll call you tomorrow.”
Mallory started walking, hoping he wouldn’t try to join her. She kept her head down until she reached the secret passage. She needed some time to herself.
“Ye spoke the truth, Malhala,” Balthasar assured her–not as alone as she’d thought. “People are not always what they seem. Now what plans have we for finding the killer?”
“I don’t have any plans right now except to take a hot shower, and maybe watch an hour of Netflix.”
“What is Netflix?”
Mallory exited the secret passage into the second-floor hall, the witch hunter floating beside her. All was quiet but she lowered her voice anyway.
“Netflix is my personal heaven, but this is private time, the kind where you disappear and do whatever it is ghosts do.”
“Have I mentioned that I know what happened to yer father?”
“What? My father—what do you know? Tell me.”
“Aye! I’ll do better than to tell ye. I’ll show ye the missing piece. All ye have to do is…”
“Let me guess? Find the murderers, now and from hundreds of years ago, and clear everyone’s good name?” Mallory wondered if he thought a bribe would make a significant difference at this point. Of course, he was a witch hunter; his scruples were questionable at best.
“Yes,” he admitted. “Ye don’t seem to be motivated much to the task.”
They reached the stairwell that led to the third-floor suite.
“Go away!”
“I will when ye promise to live up to yer end of the bargain.”
“I told you–I’ll handle it.”
“Fine. Good day to ye then.” And he was gone.
Mallory sat down on the step outside the door. She could hear voices from inside.
She hadn’t wanted to fight and yet it felt like that was all she’d done.
“Mal?” Her mother called, opening the door at Mallory’s back, golden light spilling out into the dark narrow stairway. “I thought someone was out here. Abby was barking up a storm. Are you okay?”
“Uh-huh.” Mallory wiped her eyes and tried to stop sniffling.
“Are you coming inside?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I just put the kettle on.”
Over tea and fresh cinnamon rolls, Mallory told her mother everything, from her annoyance with Kaden to her ghostly friend’s attempt at bribery.
When Mallory had stopped crying, she waited to hear what her mother had to say. Jilli was silent for a long time, thinking it over while she chewed and swallowed. Her trademark blue Vianu eyes didn’t give anything away.
This was how Mallory remembered her as a child when they’d had serious talks. Sitting around the table until they all felt better.
“Do you think he can really show you?” she finally asked after a swallow of tea.
“Do I–what?”
“What happened to your father. Do you really think the ghost can show you what happened to him?”
It was a difficult question to answer, and one Mallory wasn’t expecting. “I don’t really know.” Mallory got up from the chair and calmly put her cup in the sink. “I hope so.”
“I hope so too, Mal,” Jilli said as she stood up and hugged her. “I think that’s what has been making me so sick. I think I could really use the closur
e.”
THIRTY
M allory’s phone rang just as she sat on her bed.
“Hi Mallory, this is Sera.”
“Hi.”
“I, umm, didn’t know if you still wanted to look at the book I have? I understand if you don’t.”
“No.” Mal blew out a breath.
“I get it, no problem. Bye.”
“Wait, Sera! You didn’t let me finish. I do want to see it. I started to say, no, I wanted to apologize for the way I acted last night. It’s been a stressful weekend but that doesn’t excuse my behavior. I’m really sorry.”
“Mallory, you don’t owe me an apology. It’s the other way around. I’m the one who lied. I’m sorry. Unfortunately, I’ve had a rough go of it, so I go into auto-protect mode. Anyway, I’m free the rest of the night, so just stop by.”
“Does now work? I can be there in fifteen minutes or so.” Mal said.
“Sure.”
After ending the call, Mallory grabbed the box of binders, cut all the way through the secret passage, peeking out of the closet on the main floor. Coast was clear, so she speed-walked to the double doors and ran out to her jeep. Thank goodness she wasn’t stopped by anyone because she really wanted some caffeine.
Damn. She was late. As she parked, she noticed a man standing across the street.
“Hey Mal! That was fast.” Sera said, as she pulled open the front door.
“You think?” Mal muttered and held up her goods. “I stopped at Cookies & Corsets for cappuccinos and chocolate chip cupcakes. Hope you’re ready for some calories.”
“Always. Please excuse the mess. I’m afraid I can’t take you on a tour because there are dangerous areas.” Sera led Mal to the library she was familiar with after the little jaunt last night.
“Sera, you can’t live here until at least one room and a bathroom’s been fixed up. Do you even know if it’s safe?” Mal asked.
“I know, right. The problem is money. I can’t stay anywhere else especially since it could be a while before I can even book a contractor.”
“We’ll figure something out. Oh, did you get your timeline turned into Captain Lumos? He wasn’t kidding, he’ll come for you.”
“I had it there around eleven this morning.” Sera walked to the Chippendale desk and unlocked the bottom drawer. She set the small brown leather book on top of the desk.
“Oh, I left a box in my car. Let me grab it.”
Mal jogged out to her car, unlocking the door with her remote. She bent to retrieve the box sitting on her back seat. As she straightened, Mal saw the man was still standing across the street staring at the Witch House. Creepy. He turned toward her and Mallory realized it was Cotton Hubbard. She waved, walked back inside and sat on the surprisingly comfortable cerulean velvet couch.
“This box has binders filled with ledgers from witch hunters of the area, since Balthasar was so well known, there might be a fair amount of information about him. I haven’t had time to look through them yet, so I’ll give those to you while I check my two loose pages against your book. Do you have any paper? We both may want to take notes or outline what we find.”
“Did you find what you wanted in my book last night?” Sera asked.
Mallory froze and could feel the heat of embarrassment travel through her body. She slowly raised her gaze to meet Sera’s and flinched.
“I’m so sorry, Sera! How did you know?”
She chuckled, “You may not have noticed all the dust in here last night, but when I returned this morning, it looked like a small army had been running back and forth in here. Plus, I have a nice motion-activated camera mounted up in the shelves that sends a feed to my phone. My phone died about two minutes into your nocturnal visit. So?”
“After finding out you lied to us, I didn’t trust you. We simply came to see if my pages matched your book, sort of a test. Then, I was going to see if they still matched today or if you changed the book out. I swear we didn’t take anything. You probably don’t believe me now.”
“Actually, I do believe you, Mallory.”
“Thank you for being so gracious, I promise to never enter your space again without your permission. However, I would like to offer you an opportunity to invade someone else’s space tonight,” Mal said.
“So, criminal activity is a thing with you, is it?” Sera asked.
“In the interest of full disclosure, there are a few of us.”
“Count me in. Now, back to the job at hand. I really hope I find information on Pops.”
Mallory snorted coffee up her nose. “Pops?”
Sera smiled, “I decided that was a lot easier than saying Balthasar Popescu. Besides he is my grand-pop times fifteen or so.”
“What did she just call me?” Balthasar roared.
Mallory jumped, dropping crumbs on her jeans. “Don’t do that,” she whispered.
“What?”
“Nothing. But can I ask you a personal question, Sera?”
“Sure.”
“Do you feel a temperature change in here?” Mal was trying to take it slow.
“Oh yes, I think the ghost is back.”
“Do you see ghosts?”
“No, but I’m sensitive to the vibrations around me. Even if the temperature didn’t go down, I think I would still know if one was around. I hope to see them someday. I really have a lot to learn,” she answered.
“Pops is here. I’m not sure he likes the new name, though, which I think is hilarious!” Mallory chuckled.
“Pops! I have so many questions!”
“What do I do?” Balthasar asked nervously.
“I’ll translate for a short while, but if I’m going to keep up my end of the bargain, I can’t be your personal translator.”
Sera worried her lip. “Pops, I read in your diary that you had a strongbox you hid that was filled with money. I don’t mean to sound greedy or anything, but as you can see, this house needs work. I only have a small amount of savings. Will you tell us where it’s at?”
Balthasar looked at Mallory. “Ye mean it’s still here?”
“We won’t know until we look.” Mal said pointedly.
“I’ll be back,” he said.
“I think he’s looking. Since he’s gone, Pops wanted me to tell you he was sorry for the troubles you’ve had because of his reputation, but I wouldn’t say anything to him.”
Sera nodded.
Mal started reading Balthasar’s diary and took a few notes focused on the entries toward the end of the book. She had noticed last night that several pages had been torn out. Now she could see it had been five so there were three more missing pages. She stared out the French doors pondering what could be on those other pages. Hopefully, they would find them tonight. As Mal turned back to the diary, she caught a glimmer out of the corner of her eye. She leaned to the side to get a better look. A large red book was surrounded by a shimmery golden glow.
“Hey, Sera, do you see a book glowing down there on the right?”
“No, nothing’s glowing.”
Mal took a step in that direction and heard the faintest of violins. The music increased ever so much as she approached the glowing book. It seemed her finder skills were still working. Things had been so different lately, she was starting to wonder. She pulled the book off the shelf and the music stopped. County Magistrates of the 17th and 18th Century, this could be exactly what she needed in order to figure out who was responsible for the death of Balthasar and his wife. Speak of the devil...
“He’s back, Sera.”
“My strongbox tis not there, but a larger one is, and it has a round dial. It’s in the secret passage where I hid my box over three hundred years ago. I left it for my boys. I guess they got on without it. Tell her it’s hers now,” Balthasar said. “For some reason, I can’t look inside it.”
“He says it’s a different one, but it’s all yours. He tried to look inside, but he couldn’t pass through.”
“Thanks, Pops! And Mallory, for translating
. There’s hope at least. How do I find it?”
Armed with flashlights and candles as back-up, Balthasar told them to pull the book, Herbs of the New World and their Uses to open the hidden door. Apparently, he figured no one would ever guess that he would have read that one. They stepped through and immediately walked through cobwebs.
“Did I mention I have an irrational fear of spiders?” Mal asked them both while running her hands over her head and through her hair frantically.
Balthasar just laughed. Glad to know he had a perverse sense of humor. He seemed to be more relaxed and almost pleasant today. It had to be Sera’s influence. Maybe it was his new nickname, being saddled with a name like Balthasar could make a person grumpy. They picked their way through the passage littered with furniture and antique décor, made a turn and stopped. Mal and Sera looked at each other, then Balthasar. They were looking at a chest of drawers against the wall.
“You need to open the third drawer, leave it, open the top drawer, close it, then close the other drawer.”
Sera started following his directions after Mallory explained, but the top drawer was stuck. Mal held a flashlight under her chin while they both yanked on the drawer several times. Finally, it opened, releasing a plume of dust. Mal fanned her face, then noticed what looked like a paper edge that had been dislodged by their pulling. Using a fingernail, she was able to pull it loose. She shook the dust from the paper while Sera closed the drawers. A wall opened, to their surprise. Inside was a safe about four feet tall by three feet wide and two feet deep.
Ouija, Death & Wicked Witchery Page 15