High Priestess

by Wendy Hewlett

  When they got to the cottage, Raven locked up, set the alarm, and headed straight for her bed, crawling up the mattress and face planted into the pillows with a groan. And pictures of what she and Riley had done in the bed she was lying on raced through her mind. Red hot desire shot through her body, arrowing straight to her core. Every muscle in her body tensed. Damn Ena and her genes.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered as a sob ripped through her chest. She couldn’t regret the tiny life growing in her belly, but she regretted losing Riley with every cell of her being, regretted hurting her and betraying her trust. Could she have done something different, said something different instead of sending Riley away? Something to change her mind?

  “I’m so sorry.” Her shoulders heaved and she muffled her wrenching sobs in the pillow.

  * * *

  They got an early start in the morning and Raven let Mick believe her red, puffy eyes were a result of her morning sickness. She was good at keeping her thoughts blocked from Mick and at listening to others’ thoughts now that she remembered all of Ena’s lessons. She was also learning, thanks to advice filtered through Kiran from his mother, Rauri, how to control her psychic ability so that she wasn’t picking up everyone’s thoughts, just the ones she wanted. She was quick to pass on that advice to Mick.

  They arrived at the jail in Penatanguishene and went through a number of security checks, including leaving their weapons. It was as if Raven was missing a piece of herself when she didn’t have her Sig.

  Paigo waited for them in an interview room with his hands in cuffs attached to a chain around his waist despite his right hand being heavily bandaged. That told Raven the guards thought he was a threat.

  “Has he been cooperative?” she asked the guard escorting them.

  The guard, a big burly man with rusty hair cut in a military buzz cut, let out a short laugh. “He’s not exactly cooperative, but no major concerns. He’s a puny little thing, but he’s got some muscle in there.”

  Raven walked into the room ahead of Mick and a sleezy smile appeared on Paigo’s face. They sat at the table across from him and Raven’s skin crawled. No one creeped her out more than Gregor Paigo, but she needed to push all of that down and focus on what she was doing.

  “Let’s talk about your profile on the Dating Pool.”

  That dropped the smirk from his face, Raven thought with a tug of satisfaction.

  He tilted his head to the side, squinted his eyes, and his lips pursed, lifting at one edge. “Dating Pool? What’s that?”

  She could have tried to read his thoughts to see if he was genuinely confused or not, but there was no way in hell she wanted to see inside Paigo’s brain.

  “The dating website?”

  Paigo snorted. “Dating website? I don’t even own a computer, why would I be on a dating website?”

  “You could have used your phone,” Mick said.

  He snorted again and locked eyes with Raven. “You’ve seen my phone, Rave. You were the one who frisked me. I’m still enjoying the memory of that.”

  His creepy grin was back and Raven’s stomach roiled. But, he was right. He had an old flip-phone which didn’t have the capability to go online.

  “I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out yet, Rave. I thought you were smarter than that.” His eyes traveled from her eyes down her body and back up again.

  “Okay, let’s talk about your dark magick room in your son’s apartment.” Raven expected the grin to fall from his face again, but it didn’t. He continued to stare at her as if he was imagining … yeah, she couldn’t finish that thought.

  Paigo leaned forward, getting as close to Raven as he could with the table between them.

  “Think about it, Rave. Don’t make me have to spell it all out for you. That would be really disappointing.”

  “Is it your room or Tate’s?”

  “Finally,” he said. He raised his hands as far as they could go with the chain attached to them, the sound of metal on metal rattling through the air, and then dropped them to his lap again. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”

  Raven’s head spun. Was he saying it was Tate’s room, that Tate was using his identity on the Dating Pool, that Tate was the one abducting those girls?

  “You were at the old cabin. You were going there for the girl.”

  He cackled an eerie, sickening laugh. “There’s no rules to say a man can’t admire his son’s work, now is there?”

  It was like she was sitting inside a fridge, she felt that cold. Her body was trembling, her stomach churning, and she prayed to the Goddess she didn’t boot all over the table. It was the image of puking on Paigo that settled her a bit. She needed to interview Sabrina O’Connor again.

  “So Darren Tate abducted and killed those girls and you, what, stopped in to diddle with them?” She brought the image of puking all over Paigo back to her mind to block out the one she just voiced.

  Paigo leaned forward again and sucked in a long, loud breath through his nose. “Ahh, that’s nice. You still smell the same, Rave.”

  Raven lifted her right leg under the table and placed her boot between his legs, pressing down like she would on a gas pedal. Paigo froze, his face turning red and his disgusting grin no where to be found. The veins in his neck and at his temple bulged and pulsed.

  “Enough of your bullshit, Paigo. Talk to me or we get up and walk out of this room right now.”

  His voice came out strained and high-pitched. “Darren. It was all Darren. He targeted those girls with the intention of working his way to your girlfriend. Those other girls were just a smoke screen.”

  “How is Adara involved in all this?”

  Spittle flew out of his mouth with a grunt of pain. “Darren. He lured her in promising to give her Ena’s coven.”

  Raven lifted her foot and Paigo’s chair shot back, his hands cupping his groin as he doubled over.

  “That’s police brutality. You can’t do that,” he sputtered.

  “Do what?” Raven asked. “Did you see any police brutality, Constable?”

  Mick shook her head, looked up at the camera in the corner of the room. A tiny smile grew on her face. With the angle of the camera, there was no way you could have seen what Raven had done. “No, Detective. I don’t know what he’s talking about.”

  They didn’t talk as they went through a reverse process to exit the jail. As soon as they got outside, Raven darted towards a garbage can and heaved. And heaved, until she was sure her stomach ended up in the garbage can. Mick handed her a bottle of water. God knows where she got it from. She rinsed her mouth and took a tentative sip, afraid to put anything into her stomach.

  Raven got in the car, exhaled a rush of air and sank back into the passenger seat.

  “You okay,” Mick asked. She put her seatbelt on, but didn’t start the car.

  “I should have put it together. The pigsty at the cabin and the state of Tate’s apartment. I should have known.” She knew Mick was referring to her physical and mental health, but she ignored it. She needed to keep her mind on the case, not on her past.

  “Do you think Adara was under Tate’s control?”

  “Let’s go find out.” Raven pulled her seatbelt on as Mick started the car.

  CHAPTER 19

  THEY BRIEFED LACROIX when they got back to the detachment and he placed a call to the officer tailing Tate. He stayed the night at a friend’s place as he couldn’t get into his apartment with the forensics unit there and he hadn’t emerged yet.

  Adara was brought up from the holding cell and put in an interview room. Raven stood in the box watching her. One moment she could be sweet, innocent Adara and the next she could turn into an angry, hateful bitch. Raven didn’t understand the transformation. She’d see how long it took for her to turn, she thought as she stared at the meek woman through the glass. But, she wanted to get to the sweet version of her before the angry one came out. She needed to speak to the Adara she knew.

  “Ready?” Mick asked as she
popped her head into the box.

  Raven nodded. “Yeah, let’s do this.”

  “How do you want to play it?”

  “I’m going with compassion. I need to keep her from getting angry and defensive as long as possible.” Adara was aware her plan to destroy the evidence against her went afoul. Raven opened the door to the interview room, focusing on the empathy she felt for Adara and pushing down the anger.

  “Hey,” she said softly as she took a seat across from Adara. “How are you holding up? Are you okay?”

  Adara’s head dropped slightly to the side, but her sad eyes stayed locked on Raven’s. “Oh, Raven. You must think I’m a horrible person.”

  “I’ve known you my whole life, Adara. You’ve been so good to me.” She had to swallow and push back the thoughts of Adara keeping her and Ena from healing their relationship, thoughts of Adara forcing her to sleep with Jax. “I’m trying to understand all this. Can you help me understand?”

  Adara sighed and looked up at the corner of the ceiling. “I don’t know what to say, sweetheart. Grayson said they have enough evidence against me to convict me of murder.”

  “Tell me your version. I can’t imagine you plotting to kill your best friend. I don’t understand any of it, Adara.”

  Adara dropped her head, staring at her wringing hands on the table. There was a long moment of silence before she began talking in a voice that was barely audible. “I met Darren at Mystique.” Mystique was a Wiccan store near Huntsville, affectionately known in the Wiccan community as the Mystique Boutique. Ena sold a lot of her potions through the store, owned and operated by a member of the Solstice Coven. “He seemed like such a nice, young man. He helped me to my car with my bags and we stood there talking for a while.”

  “When was this?” Raven asked.

  “Oh, nearly a year ago, I suppose. It was early last summer. He told me he was interested in the Wiccan religion and asked me if I’d mentor him, but it was important that no one knew. He was worried about his job. He thought it might have a negative influence on his position if word got around.” She took a deep breath and looked up at Raven. “Would I be able to have a glass of water?”

  “Of course.” Raven nodded at Mick and Mick left the room.

  Adara watched her leave and then looked back at Raven. “It started innocently, I suppose. He’d say things like how I dedicated so much of my life to the coven and how loyal I’d been. Then he started saying that I really deserve to be more than a third-degree Priestess. Over time, I suppose I started to buy into it. I gave just as much to the coven as Ena. Why didn’t I deserve to be the HPS? She’d had her time. She had everything and I had nothing, yet I’d given just as much of myself to the coven as she had. And at some point the talk turned to how I could become the HPS and Darren introduced me to black magick. At first, I was appalled, but he asked me if I wanted to be HPS like I deserved to be and, Goddess help me, I did. I wanted it more than anything.” She bowed her head and wept.

  Raven sat there with her fists clenched in her lap and her blood racing through her veins like hot lava. Adara hadn’t been under any dark spell. She’d known exactly what she’d done. Mick came back in with a glass of water and set it in front of Adara. Then she left again and came back in with a box of tissues and sat them next to the glass before returning to her seat. Raven took slow, deep breaths trying desperately to calm herself down.

  Adara took a couple of tissues and held them to her eyes. “I was heartbroken when Ena died.” She hiccupped as she regained control of her tears. “She’d been my best friend since we were kids.”

  “But, you killed her,” Raven said in as soft a voice as she could manage.

  “Yes. And I’m so sorry. I don’t know what got into me, Rave.”

  “And you tried to kill me.”

  Adara’s eyes shot up to meet Raven’s. “No, sweetheart. I just wanted you to stop what you were doing. You were getting too close to figuring out what actually happened and I just wanted to warn you off. I love you, Rave. You’re like a daughter to me. I’ve always loved you.”

  “Like you loved Ena?” Raven expelled a harsh breath. “Adara, you don’t hurt the people you love.”

  “I’m sorry. I just wanted to come out of the shadows and into the light. I don’t know how it all got so out of control.” She bowed her head and wept again.

  Raven didn’t have an ounce of sympathy for her. Her teeth were clenched as she tried to get her next question out without sounding like she felt. “You want to tell me why you put a spell on me so that I’d sleep with Jaxon?”

  Adara’s head shot up, as if she was surprised Raven knew about that. She must realize they had her Book of Shadows.

  “Your relationship with Riley wasn’t healthy, Rave. I needed you to see that. You weren’t even coming by for breakfast anymore. It’s not healthy to spend all of your time with one person, excluding all others, even your moth…even me.”

  Raven’s eyes narrowed to slits. Her pulse throbbed in her neck, at her temples. Adara purposely tried to break up her relationship with Riley because she wasn’t coming around for breakfast enough? Was she freaking kidding?

  “You did everything in your power over the past twelve years to keep Ena and I from reconciling. You took everything in my life that meant anything to me - my mom, Riley. You may as well have raped me. You took my choice away, forcing me to sleep with someone I had no interest in.” Her voice broke and a sob ripped out of her constricted lungs. “I hope you rot in jail. You are dead to me, you selfish bitch.” She lunged across the table and Mick grabbed her around the middle, pulling her back.

  The next thing Raven knew, LaCroix’s arms were around her, leading her out of the interview room while Adara screamed behind her.

  “Rave, please. I love you. I just tried to do what was best for you.”

  “Bullshit. You wanted me close so you could use my powers.” Her chest heaved, the sobs coming fast and furious.

  “Enough,” LaCroix growled in her ear. “She’s not worth it, Rave.”

  She completely humiliated herself in front of LaCroix. She’d sworn to herself she would never be a victim again after what Paigo did to her, but she felt like a victim. It would crush Jax to know the real reason she slept with him.

  In the hall, she struggled to control her tears. “What she did with that spell, forcing me to sleep with Jax …” Saying those last five words in front of LaCroix was one of the hardest things she’d ever done, but what she had to say was too important. “It can never go beyond us, do you understand? Jaxon can never know what really happened.” How could LaCroix ever respect her again knowing what she let happen, knowing she basically allowed Adara to rape her?

  Grayson put a strong hand on Raven’s shoulder and squeezed. “If that’s what you want, Rave, I’ll respect your wishes. But, you realize we won’t be able to charge her for that particular crime.”

  Raven couldn’t meet his eyes. She kept her head bowed as tears continued to stream down her face. She was surprised they didn’t evaporate with the heat her face was giving off. She trembled all over and wanted nothing more than to run and keep running. “Mick? He can never know.”

  “Agreed,” Mick said softly.

  “Take a break,” LaCroix said. “Then we’ll meet in my office.” He walked away and Raven was sure he was doing it out of respect, giving her a chance to pull herself together. She didn’t know if she could pull it off.

  By the time Raven made it to his office, Mick had managed to get Adara to write out a long statement. While Adara was writing, Raven placed a call to Sabrina O’Connor. The description Sabrina gave matched Tate, not Paigo.

  “Do we have enough to arrest Tate?” Raven asked. Her head was so filled with what Adara had done and Tate and Paigo’s involvement in it that it was all jumbled and confusing. She was tired, so tired. She’d tossed and turned all night, thinking about Riley while telling herself to stop thinking about Riley. Her lack of sleep was catching up to her.


  “Yeah, we do,” LaCroix answered. “Do you want in on the arrest?”

  “Are you kidding?” She wouldn’t miss it for the world.

  LaCroix placed another call to the officer tailing Tate. He’d emerged from the friends house and gone to his own apartment. LaCroix, Mick, and Raven suited up in Kevlar vests and were about to head out when Raven got a call from Cheryl Danby, the forensic tech. She explained the prints they lifted from the spare room at Tate’s apartment, which belonged to Gregor Paigo, didn’t match the prints they lifted in the black magick room. And then she added that the prints they lifted from the black magick room matched the prints from the cabin Sabrina was found in. Those prints belonged to Police Constable Darren Tate. They ran DNA tests from samples collected from Gregor Paigo upon his arrest and they were not a match to the DNA evidence collected from the victims. However, Paigo’s DNA showed the suspect was a close relative of Paigo’s.

  * * *

  Raven let Mick drive again and they followed LaCroix’s SUV.

  “This is so messed up,” Mick said. “I went out on that call with Tate when we found Emily McMurtrie’s body and he was so cold. He took one look at her then sat in the car and waited for you to arrive. I figured he was squeamish around the body and didn’t want me to know. I was so stupid.”

  “He had me fooled, too, so don’t blame yourself. I let him go last night.” Mick hadn’t said a word about Raven sleeping with Jax and she was grateful. She didn’t want to discuss it with Mick, or anyone else.

  “It just really pisses me off. I can’t imagine how you feel with all of this. I mean he conspired to kill your mother and was raping and killing girls because they looked like your girlfriend.” Mick snapped her mouth closed. “Shit. I’m sorry.”