Witchy Warning

by Kate Allenton

  Carson’s brows dipped like he was about to get angry again.

  “I think we should be going now.” I took Carson’s hand and pulled him from the study. “I’m sorry this happened.”

  Glenda held out her hand in Carson’s direction as if to stop him from leaving, but he turned and headed for the door. We got out on the lawn, where the sun had just lowered below the horizon. I rested my palm on his arm to stop him from taking another step.

  “You need to go back in there and tell your mom and dad that you love them.”

  “They know that.”

  I rested my hands on his cheeks. “I lost my mom while we were arguing. Don’t make the same mistake I did and leave with things in the air. Go and reassure her that you love her. I’ll be waiting in the car.” I took the keys from his hands and headed toward the SUV, clicking the fob.

  I waited inside the SUV while Carson made amends with his mother. Minutes later he returned with an even more worried look on his face as he climbed into the car.

  “I’m sure if you give it enough time, things will blow over,” I offered, making an attempt to soothe whatever frazzled edges he might have just endured.

  “Maybe.” His face stayed stony while he turned the key in the ignition. “It’s getting late. I need to take you home.”

  “Sure,” I said and glanced at the passing trees. He pulled up in front of the inn. This time a porch light was on, and I slid out when he made no move to follow me inside. “I left lights on this time.”

  “You sure you don’t want me to stay?” he asked.

  I could tell his offer held no real merit. His thoughts were miles away. Carson didn’t strike me as a guy that liked to talk about his feelings. “We can start fresh tomorrow.”

  Carson frowned. “I think it’s best I finish this investigation on my own.”

  My heart clenched, the tension in my shoulders tightened. “You’re shutting me out after everything we learned?”

  Carson’s silence spoke volumes.

  “You’re blaming this on me?” I asked, and my eyes narrowed.

  “The head was sent to your shop.”

  “Nice,” I growled and slammed the door, tossing open the gate with a little magic from my hand.

  “Georgia,” Carson said, coming up behind me.

  “What?” I growled. “Don’t even think about apologizing to me.”

  “I wasn’t.” He raised his chin. “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t going to do something stupid and keep digging and pushing people’s buttons.”

  My eyes narrowed to slits as energy sizzled beneath the skin of my palms. “I get that you’ve had a crap day, but don’t take it out on me, Carson. You might say something you’ll regret.”

  “Go inside the house, Georgia, and lock your door so I can report back to Tess and King that I’ve kept you out of trouble.”

  My mouth parted, and the energy beneath my palm sizzled into baseball-sized shapes. “They asked you to babysit me?”

  “Who could blame them? You need a sitter,” Carson said, closing the distance between us. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to understand their reasoning. You alienate everyone around you if they aren’t related. You’re not happy that Mildred bested you by withholding the name of the killer in her will just to get you to stay in town. Hell, I don’t even think you want to be here to get to know your sisters.” He glanced away, then swung his gaze back to me, angry simmering in the depths of his eyes. “You want to know what really pisses me off?”

  I waved my hand. “Don’t stop now, Detective. You’re on a roll. So tell me… I’m dying to know. What really pissed you off?”

  “If you gave this town half a chance, like you did the damn cat, the townspeople might actually get to see what I’ve seen all along.”

  I didn’t goad him. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what the hell he saw.

  “Beneath that rough, closed-off exterior is a woman with feelings who wants to do the right thing. Who’s looking for where she fits in. What is so damn wrong with letting people in?”

  “People like you?” I yelled, dispersing the energy ball at his feet.

  He didn’t even flinch. If anything his gaze held me in spot. “What’s wrong with me?” he asked as he cupped my cheek. His eyes softened for a split second in time and I forgot to breathe. He lowered his lips seized my mouth in a passionate kiss.

  My eyes closed as I kissed him back, breathing in everything that was Carson. Too soon, the heat from his lips was gone, and I opened my eyes to find him storming out of the yard.

  He was leaving, and I was letting him. The last thing I needed was a babysitter, even if the man could kiss me silly and make me forget my problems.

  He stared at me over the hood. “I like you, Georgia, but for every brick I tear down in your wall, you put up two more in its place.”

  “You’ve known me less than a week, Carson. That’s not long enough to know anything about me or my damn wall.”

  He raised a single brow. “I know enough.”

  I was without words, so I just stared at him, unmoving from my spot, as he pulled away. Some truths were better left unsaid.

  18

  I didn’t go inside like he’d ordered me. Instead, I stalked down the path between the sculptures adorning the front yard.

  He was right, about all of it. I was angry that I didn’t have a choice if I wanted to stay in this godforsaken town. I was angry that Mildred had hoarded the answers I needed. Hell, I was angry at Tess for leaving when I’d finally felt like I was starting to fit in. I was angry at the world. I slammed an energy ball into the fence, breaking the hook that kept it closed. I only wished the jerk that had thrown the brick through the glass window on the door would show up again. Fighting a sleeping witch was easy, but he’d find out that fighting an angry witch was much more difficult.

  He likes you, Damian said as he appeared. And judging by your destruction, you like him too.

  “You have no idea what you’re talking about.” I walked down Main Street, not that I expected much to be going on, as the moon was high in the night sky, but it beat being left alone inside the inn.

  If you didn’t like him, you wouldn’t be this angry.

  “Don’t you have someone else you can go haunt?” I asked, throwing an energy ball at one of the streetlights, making the glass shatter and the light to go out.

  And miss this fun? I’m not going anywhere, not yet anyway. Not until you have no use of me.

  “You’re sticking around for my benefit?” I gawked at the audacity.

  Of course. You saved the coven and helped my family fight my mother. Don’t worry though. Soon enough you’ll be glad I didn’t leave you high and dry.

  “Why would you think that?” I asked.

  Because I’m a better fighter than you. Just don’t resist letting me take over and protecting you when the time comes.

  Before I could ask him anything else, the sound of a trashcan lid dropping in the alley between the hair salon and antique store stopped me in my tracks.

  I stood motionless, listening for any additional sounds.

  I heard the whispers from down the alley and headed in that direction. I’d been itching to fight someone. Maybe this was exactly the kind of distraction I needed.

  I tiptoed down the narrow alley when I heard the familiar squeak of the back door at the antique shop.

  “Son of a…” I whispered beneath my breath and pulled out my phone, hesitant with my fingers on the keyboard. Did I really want to call Carson and have him come back and save the day? Hell no.

  Anger stirred in my veins. The poor schmucks who were robbing the antique store were in for a long night. I stepped out of the shadows and stood in the open doorway. Two figures were poking through the boxes that I hadn’t unpacked.

  Even in the dark, I could tell who these punks were. The pink spiked hair one was sporting and the baseball bat the other had told me enough. I flicked on the light behind them, making them both spin i
n surprise.

  “Busted,” I announced, taking a picture of the criminals in progress with my phone. “Matthew Tanner, I knew you were involved in the thefts after spotting my friend’s cane in your room, but Phillip…the all-American ballplayer whose mother thinks is a good kid? Well, you are a surprise.”

  Phillip raised his bat and took a step in my direction. I tossed an energy ball at his feet, stopping him before I had to put a real hurt on these punks. “You don’t want to do that.”

  “Listen, just let us leave. We’ll pay for the damage to the door.”

  “No can do,” I answered, hopping up to sit on the empty desk. “You guys are worth half a million each, and you’re going around breaking into cars and stealing old ladies canes? What could you possibly be thinking, or is this some way to get back at your mom for not telling you about your daddy? Explain, and make it good, or I’m pressing charges.”

  “It’s not what you think,” Matthew said.

  “Shut up.” Phillip hit Matthew’s arm to silence him.

  “Choice is yours,” I said, pulling out the phone and dialing 9-1 before Matthew began talking.

  “We were looking for his body.”

  “You’re lying.” I knew they were telling the truth but only because of the lingering truth spray, even if something so ridiculous was hard to believe.

  “You found our dad’s head. We just thought the body would be here too.”

  “And what? You wanted to give him a proper burial?”

  They exchanged a look with each other before Phillip spoke. “No, we’re hoping it helps figure out who killed him. His death broke both our mothers’ hearts. We wanted to return the favor and rough up the killer before the cops arrest him.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Yeah, seriously. The dude who did that deserves some payback.”

  “Even if you did find the bones, how were you going to figure out who killed him? Did they start teaching forensic science at the high school?”

  Anger lit Matthew’s face, but he pressed his lips together, not saying a word.

  “Just tell her already before she calls the cops,” Phillip growled.

  Matthew clasped his fingers and laid them on the top of his head and sighed. “Fine.” He met my gaze. “I have this gift. It’s why we’ve been taking things. If I can touch something of the killer’s, I’ll be able to tell who he is.”

  My eyes narrowed, even though I knew they were telling me the truth. “How did you two meet?”

  “He broke into my backyard to see if my mother was the killer,” Phillip answered.

  I shook my head. “You guys have been stealing other people’s things for two weeks. That would mean that you two already knew he was dead before we told your mothers. Explain that.”

  “I was supposed to go camping with him,” Matthew announced. “I overheard him telling my mom that he wanted to be part of my life, so I approached him without my mom knowing and told him I wanted the same thing. He told me his daughters didn’t like to go camping and asked if I wanted to go with him.”

  “He told you about his daughters?” I asked.

  “Everyone knows he has daughters but I wasn’t ready to tell my mother yet about our plans, so I told him I’d meet him there and he gave me directions and the map. When I got to the campsite, he was already dead.”

  “You saw your dad’s entire body?”

  He nodded. “There was blood everywhere. My dad was unrecognizable but I knew it was him.”

  “Did you see the killer?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “It was dark, and when I heard someone coming back, I took off. I didn’t want to be next.”

  “So explain to me how your ability works. Can you touch a person’s hand, or does it need to be one of their items?”

  “Anything from the person, including their things. I just get this vibe about them.”

  “What vibe did you get about the cane in Phillip’s room?” I asked, testing out their theory.

  “She’s a mean ole witch that can’t drive worth shi—”

  I held up my hand, cutting off his words. “She’s not a witch.”

  “Dude, yeah, she is. Did you even look at her cane?” Matthew asked with sheer smugness.

  “What about her cane?”

  “It’s from the Witch Wars.” Matthew answered.

  “How exactly do you know about the Witch Wars?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest.

  “Everyone in town knows about the Witch Wars. It’s a town secret and all, and we aren’t supposed to talk about it, but all of the residents know about it,” Phillip said as if I were stupid.

  “Okay, I’ll make you a deal,” I said, unfolding my arms. “You guys have to return everything you’ve stolen—”

  “If they know it was us, they’ll press charges,” Phillip growled.

  I held up my hand. “They don’t have to know who returned it. You guys are stealthy. Give the items back the same way you took them.”

  “And what do we get?”

  “My help in finding your dad’s killer. I know just how to lure him out. When I do, you can pinpoint the person and Carson can arrest him.”

  “What about us beating him up?” Matthew asked.

  “That’s against the law, but if they were to feel the bite of my energy balls a couple times, no harm, no foul.”

  “Why would you help us?” Phillip asked.

  “Because, once upon a time, I was a messed-up kid just like you, looking for my mom’s killer. I haven’t found my justice, but you can bet I’m going to help you find yours.”

  19

  Over the next two days, I worked at the antique shop by myself with my sisters and Theo still out of town. There hadn’t been any dinners scheduled, and even Franklin from the basement had made himself scarce.

  It wasn’t until I saw my Auntie B that I figured out how to finally determine who killed Rockford. A smile split my lips as I chased her down the street and stopped her. After a quick cup of coffee and me explaining what I would need, she agreed to help.

  After several phone calls, I finally got everything in place. Carson was parked across the street, staring into the store while he ate a sub sandwich. I don’t know why he wouldn’t come inside, but I could guess.

  I stepped out of the shop and glanced both ways up and down the street before I jogged over the SUV. I stared into the driver’s side window, and when it didn’t lower, I rapped on it with my knuckles.

  “Your babysitting detail is over. I’m sure you have more important things to do,” I said, resting my arms on his windowsill.

  “I’m sorry about the other day,” he said, meeting my gaze. A look of remorse crossed his face.

  “Arguments are natural, Carson. Nobody is perfect, and if they claim to be, then they’re liars.”

  “Have you had any more Rockford issues?” he asked.

  “None to report,” I said, glancing over my shoulder to find the ghost pacing inside the shop back and forth. “He’s still hanging out, but he’s behaving.”

  “Good.”

  “How’s the investigation going? Arrest anyone yet?”

  “Not yet, we’re still working on it.”

  “Keep up the good work.” I winked and turned to walk away, only to pause and spin back around. “You know, Carson, I like you, and whenever you get the courage to ask me out, I promise not to fry you with an energy ball. I won’t bite, well…no promises on the biting.” I winked and left him sitting in the car as I jogged back to the other side of the street. I held the door open for both Phillip and Matthew to enter the store.

  Carson’s car door opened before he closed it again, making me grin. He still wasn’t willing to give in and see what we were up to. All I needed was one more day to put everything in motion. One more day and all of Rockford’s illegitimate boys might find some closure. I flipped the lock and turned the sign to read closed before heading toward the back room.

  The last funeral and wake I’d attended had be
en my mother’s, though I wasn’t technically attending this one. Rockford’s ball room was filled with business men and people from town. Servers with hors d’oeuvres trays and drinks milled around the room while I talked to my Auntie B and watched. The atmosphere wasn’t as solemn as I’d expected it would be. Businessmen were conducting business while remembering antidotes about Rockford.

  Locals had come to pay their respects, as I’d expect most would, considering how much charity Rockford and Carson’s dad had done for this town.

  Rockford’s wife, Elaine, was wearing a brave face, her twin sister steadfast at her side. Carson’s parents had showed as well. A room was full of the town’s movers and shakers.

  The waitress strolled by and gave a slight nod of the head. Most would have missed the small gesture if they didn’t know to look for it. I knew to look for it. All the pieces had been collected, and it was time to start assembling the puzzle.

  Carson spotted me across the room. The stern look on his face softened. He excused himself and headed in my direction when Auntie B took me by the arm and led me into the kitchen.

  “Now’s not the time, Georgia. Stay focused.”

  “You’re right,” I said, following Auntie B out of the kitchen staff doors to where her catering van was parked.

  The waitress had latex gloves on and put the remaining glass into a plastic bag with Elaine’s name on it. She set it in the container with all of the others tagged and bagged before closing the lid.

  “Is that everyone?” Auntie B asked the worker.

  “We got everyone on your list, including several of the guests that just seemed suspicious and nervous,” she answered before slipping the gloves off her hands.

  “Perfect. Georgia, let me know if you need anything else. I’m going to go back and make sure everything is running smoothly.” Auntie B grabbed the container of glasses and handed it to me before ushering the woman back inside.

  I carried the container down the driveway to my parked car and put it in the trunk. Just as I was about to shut it, Carson’s face came in to view, scaring me.