“Dad?” I called out and hurried toward him.
“No, Kinsley,” he said and put a hand out in front of him. “Stay back, sweetie.”
“What is it, Dad?” I asked, but I did what he’d requested.
Meri wriggled out of the bag, and as soon as his paws hit the pavement, he shot off in the direction of the Santa house. It was then that I saw her and knew exactly what happened.
She drifted out of the Santa house behind my Dad. For a brief moment, I could have believed she was all there. That what I was witnessing was just a trick of the light reflecting off all the fake, glittery snow around us.
But it wasn’t. She was a ghost. I recognized her too. Not because I knew her, but because I’d seen her the day before at the police station. It was the young woman who’d been waiting to speak to Jeremy as I was leaving.
She was dead, and her ghost was giving me that same mournful look I’d seen flash across her face when I’d seen her before.
Chapter Four
Jeremy was the first on the scene, and he flashed me a look that told me to stay back. I did, but it took all of my strength not to approach him and at least try to ask him some questions.
The young woman’s ghost had been hanging around, but I never got the chance to approach her. She was tethered to her body, but when she ran out of energy to manifest, she disappeared. There was no way of knowing if she would appear again, but I knew it would be possible to raise her with a séance. How long she had before she crossed the veil was an unknown.
But that didn’t matter. I’d vowed to stay away from things like summoning the dead until my baby was born, but something about the mournful way the woman looked at me was pulling at my heart strings. She had something to say. There was unfinished business. Someone had to help her lest she become an angry, confused spirit.
That would have been a tragedy because I could see in her eyes that she wanted redemption. Don’t ask me how. It must have been that intuition that my father had just been speaking about.
“Kinsley,” Thorn’s voice gave me a start.
I whirled around and he was standing there looking at me with a familiar softness in his eyes. One that I couldn’t remember seeing for some time. It took all I had in me not to fling my arms around him and squeeze as hard as I could, but I knew that I couldn’t fix everything by wishing it away. So, I stood there.
His mouth, his full lips that might never kiss me again, disappeared into a tight line as he contemplated me before speaking. “How are you? Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I said a little too bitterly. “I’m okay, I mean. Sorry, I’m a little on edge. What’s going on?”
“With the scene or with us?” he asked.
“Well, I was asking about the dead woman, but I’d rather hear about us… you.”
“How do you know that there’s a dead woman? Jeremy said you stayed back from the scene,” Thorn said.
I leaned in and whispered to him. “I saw her ghost,” but as I said it, I caught a whiff of his soap and aftershave. Something hormonal shifted inside of me, and I wanted to climb him like a jungle gym. Since I couldn’t do that, I took a step back. When I did, Thorn looked at me like I had three heads. Great, I thought. I’d offended him.
“Please stay out of this,” Thorn said and rubbed his jaw.
“Are you even in a position to ask me that anymore?” I sort of hissed.
“Well, I’m the sheriff of this town,” he said and scowled at me.
“Not what I meant,” I snapped back.
“Well, then what did you mean?” he asked.
We were both acting like we hadn’t been about to get married the day before. It was like the beginning of the relationship where we couldn’t decide if we liked or loathed each other. It didn’t occur to me at the time that it was probably a good sign. That even when things were at their worst, Thorn and I just went back to the beginning. It never really seemed to be over.
But I wasn’t thinking about that then. I was too busy being annoyed that he wasn’t down on his knees begging for my forgiveness.
“I meant are you in any position to try to tell me what to do, Thorn? Are we even still together?” I wanted to say more, but I bit my tongue and waited.
“I think that’s more up to you than it is me,” Thorn said, but his breath hitched a little when he said it. His shoulders slumped a little too. He was taking it hard, and I abruptly felt a rush of empathy. I felt his pain as if it were my own.
“How can you say that?” I asked. “You walked out on me.”
“Because you wanted him there. You wanted him at our wedding. That’s what I don’t get. Why? Why did you want him there?” Thorn asked through gritted teeth.
“Who?” I could not for the life of me figure out what he was talking about. Did he mean Azriel? Did Thorn think I invited him to our wedding?
“You know who. That bloodsucker. The man who loves your darkness. It makes me sick just thinking about it. The two of you. What were you planning, Kinsley? Marry me so you could have a respectable family and keep him on the side?” Thorn’s cheeks burned red with fury.
“Don’t you dare,” I hissed for real that time. “Don’t you dare accuse me of something like that. You know me better than that.”
“Do I?” Tears threatened to spill over, but Thorn kept them at bay. He would not lose control, but I could feel the devastation radiating off him. He was hurting so much, but what could I do? How could I fix this? “I thought I knew you, Kinsley, but tell me why he was there. If you didn’t invite him, then how?”
“He just showed up,” I said. I thought about leveling the accusation Azriel had shared with me about Thorn capturing him and using his gang to hold him hostage to keep him away from me, but it was becoming obvious that at least that part of Azriel’s story was a lie.
I should have seen it as a lie from the beginning. Just like Thorn knew me, I knew him too. He would not have imprisoned Azriel to keep him away from me. Would he? Either way, I couldn’t bring it up. When I tried to say something about it, the whole thing sounded ridiculous.
“He just showed up?” Thorn wanted confirmation.
“Of course,” I said. “I didn’t want him there. I didn’t invite him, and I hope you didn’t take me wanting to keep a dog from going to the pound to mean that I did. I wasn’t going to let you take revenge against Azriel out on Tangerine.”
“You’re right,” he relented. “I’m sorry I said that. I should have never. You know that I couldn’t hurt an innocent animal, right?”
“I know that,” I said. “But you were furious and not yourself. I took Tangerine because it was the right thing to do, not because I wanted Azriel there. The dog isn’t some sort of connection to him. I’m not holding on to him.”
“Are you sure?” Thorn asked.
“The fact that you don’t believe me worries me,” I said. “Do you think that I’ve suddenly become this person that’s going to lie to you?”
“I wouldn’t say suddenly,” Thorn’s edge returned. “We’ve both left things out in the past. Neither one of us has been perfect to the other, so you can’t blame me for wondering.”
“I can blame you for wondering, Thorn. We moved past all this. We were supposed to, anyway.”
“I thought so too until the man who got you pregnant while you were supposed to be with me showed up at our wedding,” he spat.
I should have let that go. It was the first time he’d said anything negative about my brief marriage to Azriel, and I should have just let him have that moment of anger. It could have just been forgiven, because it was sort of true, but oh, no. A new rush of hormones took over. The rage ones to be exact. So, when Thorn went low, I went lower. Crawling on my belly through the mud low.
“You walked out on our wedding, Thorn,” I said. “You did this.”
“I was trying to protect you and the baby. I don’t care if you love him more, I still want to protect you. He’s no good for you, and he’s definitely no g
ood for a child. I had to make sure he was locked away for good. If you won’t protect yourself, then I will. Even if it’s the last act of love I get to show you.”
“I. Don’t. Love. Him.” I gritted out through my clenched jaw.
“Okay,” Thorn relented. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I walked out the way I did, but I had to protect you. Please calm down, sweetie. It’s not…”
“I know it’s not good for the baby,” I said. “Please stop acting like I don’t know what’s good for me or my baby. You’re way too overprotective, Thorn. It’s not cute, or endearing, or romantic. It’s unhealthy.”
“Some of the things you do are unhealthy too,” he said. “We’re supposed to be a team, so when one of us falls, the other is supposed to pick up the slack. That’s all I’m trying to do, Kinsley. Loving you doesn’t always mean giving you exactly what you want.”
He was right, but I didn’t let that stop me. “Is that why you manufactured the story about Azriel trying to have me killed?” My fists were clenched in fury, and I felt my heartbeat pounding in my ears.
I regretted it as soon as I asked it. My stupid mouth spouting off before my brain had time to think.
“What?”
“Let me see, Thorn. I went to see Azriel in jail when you disappeared on me. He told me a lot of things. Some I don’t believe, but some I’m not so sure about. I want to see it, Thorn. I want to see the proof that Azriel tried to have me killed,” I said, because why stop before I ruined everything?
“You know that I can’t do that,” Thorn said. He sounded heartbroken. I’d broken him, and was beginning to hate myself for it. “It’s not just that I shouldn’t show you evidence in an ongoing case, but I turned it all over to the FBI. I’m sorry that it’s come to this, Kinsley. I do love you, but you’re trying to push me away. You don’t need to do that. If you don’t want me, then I don’t need to be pushed. I’m perfectly capable of walking away on my own.”
And he did. He walked away, and I tried to call after him, but it came out as a strangled sob.
When Thorn heard it, he turned back. He practically ran to me and pulled me into his arms. “I can’t do this right now, Kinsley. I’m supposed to be working,” he whispered into my hair. “I’m so sorry. For all of it. Please don’t cry.”
But it was all I could do. I wanted to plead my case and tell him that I couldn’t go on without him. I wanted to say the perfect words that would make him stay. We needed another chance. All I could do was sob, and for a minute, he let me.
Then, Thorn held me at arm’s length. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I cannot do this now. I have to get back to the scene. I will come find you later. I promise. This isn’t goodbye.”
He kissed me on the forehead, and then turned to leave again. That time, though, I didn’t feel like I was going to fall down through the earth. He still loved me, and I loved him. If it wasn’t goodbye, then we had a chance. It was enough to keep me going.
With the knowledge that my personal life might not be going up in flames, my attention turned back to the scene before me. Because was I going to go home and keep my nose out of the woman’s death?
LOL. No.
My father was standing over by Jeremy and Thorn, so I couldn’t go up and ask him for details. He looked concerned for me because he’d seen the whole thing go down between me and Thorn. I flashed him a quick smile, and he breathed a visible sigh of relief.
But I had business to attend to, and just because I couldn’t walk right up to my father and ask him about the dead woman didn’t mean I could do nothing. There were decorations all over the place and some of them were definitely big enough for me to hide behind. I just had to stealthily make my way over to a position where I could hear their conversation without being seen.
The house itself would have provided the best cover, but the whole thing was taped off. If I crossed it and disturbed the scene, Jeremy would arrest me. I knew it, and Thorn would have to help him while my Dad watched. I didn’t want to do that.
But, there was a giant metal cutout of a Christmas tree with a huge pile of presents close to where they were standing. Another that looked like a massive fireplace with six stockings of different colors sat on the other side of them as well. One of those would provide the perfect cover.
I waited until the three of them were all talking and not paying any more attention to me. Once they were deep in their conversation, I crept to the edge of the square and then quickly evaluated the two decorations I’d chosen as possible hiding places.
The fireplace cutout was smaller than the tree, but neither Jeremy nor Thorn was turned in that direction. I decided it was my best option and darted behind it.
They were talking about how she died. She’d been suffocated with a plastic bag. At least, that’s what they said appeared happened. Just then, a small piece of plastic bag, what’s usually left when you rip them off the holder, blew across from the Santa house and stuck to my shoe. I shuddered.
“She worked at the store,” Jeremy said. “She was delivering donated cookies to put out for the kids. Looks like she was suffocated with the bag that held the cookies.”
“Wonder why she was the one they sent with the cookies,” Thorn asked.
“She’d volunteered to play an elf,” Dad said. “Pepper was really excited about being involved.”
Pepper. So, the victim’s name was Pepper. I racked my brain trying to think of who I knew that worked at the store. It took me a second to come up with it, but there was an employee at the grocery store named Pepper Howard. I didn’t know her personally, but my brain put the pieces together. It hadn’t clicked into place when I saw her at the sheriff’s station, but it was definitely her. I’d seen her stocking produce at the grocery store a few times, and she occasionally worked as a cashier.
“What are you doing?” Reggie’s voice made me jump so hard that I almost knocked the fireplace cutout over. She reached out and grabbed it before it could topple, though. “Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Keep it down,” I whispered. “Did they see us?” I reached up and pulled her down so she was crouching with me behind the cutout.
“Who?” she whispered back. “Who are we spying on?”
“Thorn and Jeremy,” I said. “And my Dad too, I guess. I’m trying to get information on the murder.”
“Oh, okay,” Reggie said and smiled. “I’ve missed these shenanigans with you. No, I don’t think they saw us. If they did, they must think we left.” She was peering out around the side of the cutout.
“What are you doing here?” I asked Reggie. “Is everything okay at the shop?”
“Everything’s fine, but all the customers left to see what was going on out at the square. Ursula is manning the empty shop, but she’s on the phone with some guy she met on a dating site. I got bored, but I saw you out here. Figured I’d come see what you’re up to. I’m not disappointed,” Reggie said.
“Oh, good. Okay, well, let’s see what they say,” I said.
We started to listen in again when Dorian’s voice boomed behind us. “What are you guys doing?”
Reggie and I both jumped and actually knocked the fireplace cutout over. Jeremy, Thorn, and my dad whirled around to stare at us.
I offered them a friendly “no, we’re not spying on you” wave. Jeremy scowled. Thorn’s eyes narrowed. Dad mouthed “get out of here” at me.
“Why don’t we go back to the shop?” I said. “We’ll fill you in, Dorian.”
“Good because I need the scoop. Another murder?”
“Yep. Another murder.”
The three of us made our way back across the street, but I noticed my bag was still light. I looked back and Meri was hiding behind the Christmas tree cutout. We hadn’t knocked it over, and he was listening in for me. My little partner in crime. I’d have to thank him with some extra bacon and fresh fish later.
Chapter Five
As we went back into the shop, Ursula pulled the phone away from her ear and covered
it with her hand. “Mind if I take this back to your office, Boss?” she asked.
I wasn’t sure if she meant me or Reggie, but I answered. “Sure, go ahead. We’ll be out here if anyone needs anything.”
“Not too long, though. We’re not paying you to chat on the phone,” Reggie called after Ursula, but it was obvious she was joking.
“Oh, but you get paid to hang around in the square?” Ursula snarked back.
Before anyone could say anything else, she vanished into the back of the shop. Reggie took her place behind the counter, not that there were any customers in the store, and I stood on the other side.
Yule Be Magical (Familiar Kitten Mysteries Book 8) Page 4
