“Surely, you’re not here to begin work already?” I asked with a laugh. “Most people wouldn’t even consider this morning.”
“I’ve been looking for my phone for hours,” Grey said. “I finally remembered that I left it on my toolbox. What are you doing up?”
“I suppose since you’re not from town, you must not have heard about the murder,” I said.
“I did hear about that, but not too much. The girl who checked me in at the inn mentioned it in passing. I’m staying at Mother Hattie’s Inn, but there’s no Mother Hattie.”
“That’s a long story,” I said. “Is anyone else staying there? I know Cassidy, the girl running it, was worried that people wouldn’t stay there anymore. It probably helps that she opened up more rooms than just the two in the basement. Please tell me you’re not staying in the basement.”
“Unfortunately, I am,” Grey said with a chuckle. “It’s not so bad. I’ve stayed in worse. The inn is full, so the basement room was the only one available, but hey, it’s much cheaper that way.”
“I stayed in one of those basement rooms when I first got to town. I wasn’t a big fan.”
“You didn’t move into the house right away?”
“I had to do a little work. It only took a day to get it livable. Staying in the basement room at Hattie’s was a big motivator.”
“Well, now you’ve got this big beautiful house all to yourself. I’d love to see the inside sometime. These old places usually have beautiful woodwork you can’t find in newer houses.”
Butterflies began to thunder in my stomach again. I hadn’t felt flustered around Grey the way I had the morning before until I got the idea he was trying to get an invite inside my house in the middle of the night. But I had Thorn. No matter how devastatingly attractive Grey might be, I wouldn’t betray him.
“Maybe some time, but my brother is staying with me right now.” I suddenly felt uneasy. I had no idea who Grey really was, and I wasn’t exactly being smart at that particular moment. “My boyfriend, Thorn, is the town sheriff in Coventry. Perhaps you could have dinner with us one evening.”
“Of course,” he said and retreated a step. “I didn’t mean tonight. I may be a lowly contractor, but I’m not ill-mannered enough to invite myself into a lady’s house in the middle of the night. I didn’t mean to disturb you. My intention was to grab my phone and leave.”
“I didn’t mean to imply you were rude. I’m sorry, Grey,” I said.
“It’s all right, Brighton. Hey, since we’re both up so late, I’ll start work a little later tomorrow.”
“You mean today? It’s already here.”
“Yes, I’ll start later today. You should get some sleep,” he said.
“That’s a good idea. I am getting tired,” I said and yawned on cue. “See you later then?”
“Later then.”
I went back inside and watched through the front window as Grey pulled away. As soon as he was gone, I checked all the windows and doors to make sure they were locked before refreshing all of the protection wards with additional magic. It was above and beyond what I normally did before bed, but I’d felt unsettled outside like there was an evil presence nearby. My gut told me something was wrong, but I couldn’t pinpoint what it was. I figured there must have been a malevolent spirit nearby.
The next day was fairly uneventful. Thorn texted me a couple of times during the day to say hello, but there weren’t any pressing matters. He planned to come over for dinner again but had offered to buy pizza, so I didn’t have to cook.
I hung around the house in case Brody needed me, but other than coming downstairs to grab a sandwich around lunchtime, he’d stayed in his room researching the history of witchcraft. So I busied myself studying serial killers.
It wasn’t a very productive search because there were over thirty, and possibly up to fifty, active serial killers in the country. Publicly available information about them was sparse because they were all part of an active investigations. Plus, I read on a website devoted to serial killers that the information law enforcement put out about active serial killers was often misleading or flat-out wrong. They did this for reasons varying from drawing out the killer to separating real tips from attention seekers.
Midafternoon, I heard Grey’s van leaving. He’d started working later that day, but not by much. I could only guess that he was done building for the day. Grey had said that he wanted to work extra-long hours to get the garage done faster, but perhaps he had his reasons for only working a normal day.
Either way, when I went outside to check on the progress of the garage, I found his cellphone lying on top of his toolbox again. He’d forgotten it, and I wondered if there were any serial killers out there who constantly left their cell phones behind. Everything I’d read said they were usually exacting and meticulous. That little nugget of information left me feeling better about having a strange man around my house after a murder.
He did have a strange effect on me, but my intuition didn’t seem to scream that he was a killer. Either way, I figured it couldn’t hurt to take his phone back to him.
I took my car over to the inn and parked out front. The small parking lot to the side of the building was full which probably meant that Cassidy had a full house. It was good to see. She’d been so worried that the business would fail with Hattie gone. Hattie’s family was paying Cassidy to manage the place, but if it went out of business, she’d have been out of a job.
I went inside and found Cassidy at the front desk. She was humming a tune and folding towels. Towels I assumed she’d used plenty of soap to wash.
“Brighton, hello,” she said cheerfully, but there was an edge to her voice.
Her face was pale, and she had a bit of a tremor that I hadn’t noticed at first. Her hands quaked just a little as she finished folding the towel and put it on the pile.
“Cassidy, it’s good to see you,” I said.
“It’s good to see you too,” she responded. “What brings you in today? Problem at Hangman’s House?”
“No, nothing like that. I have a contractor building a garage on my property, and he left his cell phone on his toolbox again. He said he was staying here.”
“Oh, Grey. Wow, he’s a tall drink of water for sure,” she said and blushed. I was glad to see I wasn’t the only one he affected that way. “He’s not here anymore. Checked out this morning and said he was planning to stick around town for longer than he thought. So he rented a place.”
“Huh. That’s odd. He’d said he had other jobs to get to as soon as possible,” I said. “Oh, well. Who am I to question how to run a business? Did you happen to get his new address?”
“I don’t know if I can legally give you the address, but I can tell you that he rented the yellow trailer out in Sunnydale Estates,” she said with a conspiratorial smile.
“Thank you,” I said. “I’ll probably just take it back home with me. He’ll come looking for it eventually.”
“Well, if he comes back here to ask about it, then I’ll tell him you’ve got it.”
“That would be great. Things seem to be going well here for you. I’ve never seen that many cars in the parking lot. And I heard you opened the upstairs rooms. The Driggs family must be so happy they let you take over.”
“They are,” she said and began to sniffle.
“What’s wrong? That’s a good thing.”
“I’m so scared they are going to fire me,” she said. “I don’t want to lose my job. They gave me a good raise when I took over. I was finally getting somewhere in life.”
“Why would they fire you? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Because people are going to think I’m a murderer, Brighton,” she said and let out a wail before bursting into tears.
“What? You mean Brittany? Why would people think you killed her?”
“We were enemies in high school,” Cassidy said. “She was so awful, and I hated her. And everybody knows how much I hated her back then.”
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“But that was high school,” I said. “I guess that wasn’t that long ago for her, though.”
“It’s been a few years, but still. People might think that I killed her because it was so bad. Both of us almost got kicked out of school that year.”
“Do you want to tell me about it?” I asked.
“Okay.” Cassidy thought for a moment and then took a deep breath. “So Brittany was a freshman the year I was a junior. We were only in school together for two years, but she made my life hell for that two years. At the beginning of my junior year, I’d been dating my boyfriend since the summer after eighth grade. His name was James Beecher, and he dumped me for Brittany right after school started. You would have thought that she would have been happy with that, but she wasn’t. She teased me all of the time and got her friends to join in. James told her secrets about me, and she spread them all around school. Toward the end of my senior year, she tried to get me to throw a punch at her, but I wouldn’t do it. I was too close to graduation. It made her furious that no matter what she said to me, I wouldn’t hit her. So she finally hit me. I had to defend myself, but Brittany got everyone to say I hit her first. The only reason I didn’t get expelled was because a teacher happened to see her hit me first. Still, the principal wanted to believe perfect Brittany and her perfect friends. The school board stepped in when the principal wouldn’t make a decision and almost kicked us both out. In the end, nothing happened to either of us. I didn’t get in trouble at all, and Brittany got a lunch detention. I think her father came in and raised hell and made a huge donation to the school district.”
“That’s horrible,” I said.
“She wasn’t the worst part, though. The worst part was that I thought James loved me, and he’d dropped me for her so fast. Not only that, but all that time she was tormenting me, he just stood back and watched. And he told her my secrets. Oh, gosh, Brighton. You don’t believe I did it, do you? I can’t believe this is happening.”
“No, Cassidy. I don’t believe you murdered Brittany. I do think the easiest way to prove you had nothing to do with it is just to share your alibi if the FBI asks.”
“The FBI? Oh, god.”
“Yeah, they think it’s a serial killer, so I doubt they think it was you. You were here working, right? That would make your alibi pretty rock solid.”
“That’s the thing. I wasn’t here. I don’t stay here most nights. It would take up a room that I could otherwise rent out. With the money I’m making for managing this place, I finally moved out of my parents’ house. I got my own apartment. Where I live alone. There’s no one who can vouch for me.”
“Hey, guys.” The sound of Grey’s voice startled us both. He stepped out of the dining room and into the front room. “I really wasn’t trying to eavesdrop. I just wanted to let you guys finish your conversation, but it went on for a while, and I didn’t want to keep skulking in the other room.”
“You heard it all?” Cassidy turned white.
“It’s okay,” Grey said soothingly. “Brighton is right. No one is going to think you did it. I’m sorry I listened in. This is so awkward. I just came back to look for my phone.”
“Oh, right. Here,” I said and handed it to him. “You left it on your toolbox again.”
“Thank you so much,” Grey said. “Anyway, I’m going to get out of you ladies’ hair now. Sorry again for being a huge creeper.”
“It’s okay,” Cassidy said softly. “I’m just glad you don’t think I’m a killer.”
“I don’t know how anyone could think someone as sweet as you was a killer,” Grey said.
That brought the color back to Cassidy’s face, and she let out a short giggle. I had to actively try not to roll my eyes, but it was kind of him to make her feel better.
When I left the inn, I decided to head over to Amelda’s place and see if I could talk to Annika. Amelda was at the library working, but if Annika was still on lockdown, the house would be protected by so many wards that I wouldn’t even be able to get to the front door. I’d tried texting Annika too, but the messages just bounced back as undeliverable.
So I was shocked and delighted to see Annika sitting on the front porch of Amelda’s house when I pulled up. She stood up and waved frantically at me as I got out of the car.
“Brighton. I am so glad to see you,” she called across the yard to me. “I had a feeling you were coming, so I’ve been sitting out here.”
“Your grandmother’s magic isn’t going to zap me when I walk up to the house?”
“Hurry up, girl. I can counter her magic long enough for you to get up here.”
“How will I get back out?” I asked, but I’d already started walking up the sidewalk.
“Anyone can get out. It’s getting in that’s the problem.”
“Well, I made it,” I said as I climbed up the steps to the front porch.
“It’s so good to see you,” Annika said as she pulled me into a hug. “I know my grandmother means well, but I was about to turn her into a goat if I didn’t get to do something other than sit in my room and rest soon.”
“I’ve missed you too, Annika. I’ve come by so many times to see you, but Amelda always says I have to wait. My text messages bounce back as undeliverable too.”
“You know what? I love my family, but I am so done with this. Wait here,” she said.
“Annika?” I asked but she didn’t say anything.
Annika disappeared into the house, and I waited on the porch like she asked. I kept scanning the area thinking that Amelda or one of the other Skeenbauer witches was going to show up and vaporize me for being there.
A few minutes later, Annika came back out of the house with two suitcases and a duffle bag stuffed to near bursting. She skipped down the steps and started across the sidewalk to my car.
“Let’s go,” she called back over her shoulder.
“Annika, what are you doing?”
“I am busting out. It’s a jailbreak, and you’re my getaway driver,” Annika said as she opened the back seat of my car and tossed her stuff in. “Come on.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, but I was already up out of my chair and headed for the car.
“Yeah, I’m sure,” she said.
Annika opened the passenger door and practically dove in. I hurried over to the driver’s side, threw the door open, and slid into my seat.
“Home then?” I asked her.
“Hit it, girl.”
It wasn’t a long drive to Annika’s house. Just a few blocks really. I pulled into her driveway and helped her take her bags up to the house. There was only one person out walking. It was one of Annika’s many aunts, but apparently, she didn’t know about the jailbreak because she just waved at us and smiled.
Annika waved back before she opened the door and we disappeared inside. “How mad is your grandmother going to be?” I asked.
“She can be mad all she wants. I’m fine now, and I couldn’t take being locked away for another day.”
“I can imagine, but I am glad that you’re okay. It was hard to see you so sick and then not be able to see you again,” I said. “But Remy did keep me up to date on your condition. Your grandmother did too. At least she didn’t let me worry.”
“Enough about me,” Annika said. “Everyone has been focused on me, and I know I sound like a brat complaining about that, but I really, really, really want to talk about something else. Any gossip?”
“You don’t know?” I asked. “Wow, they really have kept you sequestered.”
“Don’t know what?” Annika asked as she plopped onto her sofa. “What happened? Did you find another dead body or something?” She chuckled.
Annika really didn’t know. “Actually, I did. I found another dead body.”
“What? Oh, my gawd. What happened?”
“The dead body part isn’t even the worst of it, but I found her in the parking lot at Mann’s Gas & Grocery between the gas pumps. She was sliced up pretty badly. The FBI has taken over the
case and taken it out of Thorn’s hands. That’s not even the kicker.”
“What is it? Stop keeping me in suspense.”
“She was my younger brother’s fiancée. They got in a fight and she was coming home after the fight. Brody is staying in my house because Thorn thought it was best if he stayed close by. The fact that he’s the victim’s partner makes him a suspect.”
“He didn’t though, obviously,” Annika said. “So tell me who you think it was, Brighton. You haven’t had your number one sidekick with you, but I know you’re all over this.”
“I was really thinking about trying not to get involved, but I can’t help it. I’ve got two suspects at my house, and I’ve run into two more. It’s like I can’t avoid it,” I said.
“You have two at your house? Brody and who else?”
“There’s a man named Grey Bane at my house building a garage. It’s a long story, but the gist of it is that his grandfather had a contract to build a garage with Maude thirty years ago. The payment got stuck at the bank for some reason, but because she was put in the institution, it never got sorted out. Well, the payment was released when the bank was doing computer updates, and Grey decided to honor the contract. So he’s building a garage at my house.”
“A contract from out of town shows up at your house the same day as a murder happens, and you’re just okay with that?”
“Yeah, I mean… if for no other reason than it’s too obvious, Annika. If he was some prolific serial killer that had murdered a bunch of girls, why would he stick around in Coventry after killing one just to build me a garage?”
“You’re right,” Annika said with a sigh. “He’d have to be the world’s stupidest serial killer. What’s he like?”
“You know that movie with the superheroes and there’s that one that’s from another planet and has a giant hammer?”
“Get out,” Annika said and slapped me on the arm. “He looks like that guy?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“I need to come meet this guy. What does your sheriff boyfriend have to say about you having the mega stud building you a garage?”
Wicked Witches of Coventry- The Collection Page 28