by Elle Adams
“Not when the Reaper is the only citizen of the town with the ability to banish a powerful spirit like her,” he said. “It’s understandable that he’d want to get a second option.”
Heat crept up my neck. “So you’d rather I banished her ghost without letting you complete your questioning? You might have told me, so I didn’t have to waste my time.”
A grimace tugged at his mouth. “I’m referring to what I thought his reasoning might be, not mine.”
“Good to know.” I turned to Carey. “Want to head back home? I’ll join you in a minute.”
“Where are you going first?” She looked between us, a worried frown on her face.
“To the police,” I said. “Someone ought to tell them about the destructive spell on the house. Who knows, maybe then they’ll open the case again.”
Drew gave me a funny look as though wondering what I had to gain from that. In truth, I had no idea, only that I had zero desire to see anyone else in that house end up hurt. If someone in the house was involved in her death, then the police would be able to do a better job of probing them than me.
I looked to Carey, but her head was bowed, her cheeks flushed. Something was bothering her. “What is it?”
Carey shuffled her feet, looking up at Drew. “Tell her. It’s only fair.”
Drew looked at me. “I’m the chief of police here in Hawkwood Hollow. That’s why I was at the house.”
My mouth fell open. “What? You aren’t wearing a badge.”
“I’m off-duty,” he said in apologetic tones. “Like I was when we first met. There never seemed an appropriate time to tell you.”
I forgot all about Mr Renner. “You’re… you’re the chief of police?”
“I am.” He drew in a breath, looking a little embarrassed. “I’m in charge of Mrs Renner’s case, but keeping the investigation open was my own idea. Nobody else has come forward with information and the others think I’m wasting my time, but it’s my choice.”
No wonder he’d pretty much taken charge when the police had shown up yesterday and nobody had raised a fuss. I’d been too fixated on the aftermath and on talking to Mart to really notice.
Mart. Now I had no allies left other than him, and I hadn’t seen him since I’d sent him to spy on Mr Renner and the Reaper last night. Mr Renner might not have been able to see him… but the Reaper could.
“So you thought it would be amusing not to tell me who you really were?” I said to Drew.
“Don’t blame Carey,” Drew said. “She didn’t want to get into trouble.”
“I don’t blame her, I blame you.”
He winced. “I’m sorry, but we met under the worst circumstances, and if I’d been on duty, I’d have had to kick you out of the house there and then.”
“You pretty much did that anyway.” Irritation spiked inside me. “Is that why you wanted me on your side as soon as you found out I could find out information you couldn’t get yourself?”
“No, of course not,” he said. “I needed to learn more about Mrs Renner’s death, yes, and I hoped if I went with you, she’d show her face.”
“Not if she kept telling you to get out.” I shook my head. “No wonder she objected to you being in the house, if you’re the chief of police and she didn’t actually hire you to investigate her murder.”
Whatever the case, I could say goodbye to ever being allowed back into that house again. Or the town in general, at this rate.
Drew turned to Carey. “Can you run along home? I need to talk to Maura, but we won’t be long,” he said.
“No.” I didn’t meet his eyes. “We won’t. I’ll see you soon.”
Or not.
Carey gave me an apologetic look, then headed back down the road towards the inn, while I turned to face Drew. “Are you kicking me out of town?”
He looked startled. “If I had the authority to kick people out of town for entering abandoned property and accusing unpleasant residents of a crime, half our population would be gone.”
I had no idea if he was being serious or not. “I’m not a resident, as you already pointed out. And as you may have gathered, I’m not exactly on good terms with the other Reapers.”
He didn’t say anything, but I didn’t dare meet his eyes in case I saw… I didn’t know what I expected to see. Pity, maybe. “I know you aren’t.”
“You already knew?” I’d suspected, really, since Mr Renner had mentioned the subject. It was in line with how my luck was going today. “I suppose it’s your job to research all your suspects.”
It seemed Mr Renner wasn’t the only person who’d poked into my history, and while I hadn’t wanted him to know about Mart, that was the least of what he might have found out.
When he didn’t speak, I raised my head. “So you know my twin brother died,” I said. “You know I got kicked out of my coven and then gave up being a Reaper. And I suppose you think it’s all my fault, too.”
“No,” he said. “I didn’t—”
“You don’t have to pity me.” I looked away. “I had quite enough of that when I was at home—which is why I left and haven’t settled anywhere since.”
I might as well lay out all my secrets on the table. Now that I knew for sure that I wasn’t sticking around here, there was no point in hiding the truth. If he didn’t already know it all.
“Maura…” He moved, his hand outstretched as though he’d intended to take my arm and then thought better of it.
“Tell Carey and her mother I’m sorry,” I said.
Then I turned my back and walked away. I waited to make sure he wasn’t going to follow me before calling for my brother’s ghost.
“Mart,” I said. “We’re leaving.”
No response came. Even the ghost of my brother had abandoned me. I was committed to my path now, so I kept walking, unable to believe things had gone so badly wrong, so fast.
Drew had lied to me about who he was, and I couldn’t say I knew why. His excuses were feeble at best, and it left me feeling more confused and wrong-footed than I had the right to. Sure, we might not have met under the best of circumstances, but he might at least have enlightened me on the truth at any point in the last few days. But he’d continued to play me for a fool and lead me along.
I’d about had it with people hiding the truth. Reapers included.
I was halfway up the hill leading out of town when the fog cleared enough for me to see the fields spreading out around the town. Yet even now, Mart still hadn’t come back. I’d assumed he’d left me behind, but maybe… maybe he was in trouble. Because I’d sent him to spy on old Harold and Mr Renner at the Reaper’s cottage.
What if the old man had done something to Mart? As the Reaper, he was one of few people who could harm a ghost… or banish him. Mart might be annoying, but he was my only remaining friend. I had to make sure he was okay.
There was nobody I wanted to visit less than the guy who’d been at least partly responsible for my current dilemma, but if he’d done something to my brother’s ghost, he’d have to answer to me, and it wouldn’t be pretty.
At least it gave me something to concentrate on that wasn’t my major screwup or my humiliation at being fooled by the police chief into thinking he was an amateur private detective.
I was probably going to regret this, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I marched back downhill and through the town without stopping to look at anyone, living or dead. I only slowed when I reached the graveyard beside the hill where the Reaper’s house stood.
I didn’t bother to use a spell to hide myself this time as I reached the house and halted outside. My brother looked at me from behind the window of the Reaper’s house, his eyes wide with fear. I should have known.
13
Mart’s eyes widened and his mouth moved as he spotted me through the window. Whatever he was saying, I couldn’t hear, but I’d bet it was as complimentary as my own opinion on the Reaper’s nerve at locking my brother’s ghost in his house.
I m
arched up to the door and rapped my knuckles on the wooden surface. “Hey! Open up.”
“Go away!” the Reaper yelled back.
“Not likely.” I pulled out my wand. “Let my brother go, or I’ll blast the door off its hinges.”
He wrenched the door open and glared at me. “Thought you were leaving town.”
His Reaper senses were on point, it seemed, despite his long retirement. “Not without my brother, I’m not.”
He popped a cigarette into his mouth and took a drag. “You know it’s against the law to bind a ghost to yourself using your Reaper abilities, don’t you?”
I folded my arms. “Only as illegal as locking a ghost in your house and using your scythe as an ornament. Let him go.”
His scowl didn’t budge. “You shouldn’t have come to Hawkwood Hollow. We don’t need any more Reapers here.”
“I’m not one,” I said. “And I’m not leaving without my brother. You’re the one who told Mr Renner my history, so you know I can’t possibly be here on behalf of the Reaper Council.”
He grunted. “I don’t know everything about you. You’re a menace and need to be kicked out as soon as possible.”
“You flatter me.” I peered over his shoulder, seeing Mart hovering in the living room doorway. “What did you do to him?”
“I still have some of my Reaper talents left,” he said. “What did you do, bind him to you at the moment of his death?”
“That’s none of your business.” My voice was brittle, my temper fraying at the edges.
“It is if you want him back,” he growled. “It’s not right, trapping souls in this realm.”
“He isn’t trapped anywhere except your house,” I pointed out. “He can leave at any time.”
But he was right, in a way. In order for Mart to move onto the afterlife, I had to let him go. And I hadn’t been able to do it in the end. He was a Reaper, like me, and I’d thought we’d live forever.
Instead, he’d died while we’d both been on a stakeout mission chasing a Reaper gone bad, and our target had got the upper hand. Before I’d been able to stop him, he’d used his scythe to sever Mart’s soul. I’d done the only thing I could think of, and I’d used my own Reaper powers to bind his soul to mine, keeping him here in this realm. In the process, I’d turned my back on the Reapers’ laws and I’d known I could expect no mercy from the Council. All I could do was run.
And I hadn’t stopped running since.
His expression softened imperceptibly, as though he’d guessed the direction of my thoughts. Maybe he had, but he was the last person I wanted pity from. On the other hand, if that’s what it took to get Mart back and avoid a potential confrontation with the Reaper Council, so be it.
“Fine,” said the Reaper. “If it means that much to you, take him with you.”
He stepped aside with a gesture towards the cluttered room on his right-hand side. At once, Mart shot out of the room and crashed into me so hard that it felt like a bucket of ice-water had upended over my head. I shuddered and coughed, backing onto the doorstep. “Ow.”
“Never again.” Mart flew past me, retreating as far from the Reaper’s cottage as possible. “Never.”
“I’m sorry, Mart.” I looked back at the Reaper. “Thanks for freeing him, but that doesn’t make us even.”
He grunted. “You don’t need to tell me you’re here for another reason, and you aren’t going to leave until you get your way.”
“I’m not here to bring the council after you, though you deserve it,” I said. “I’m here to help a friend and solve a murder. Which is why I’d like you to tell me what you and Mr Renner were chatting about when he visited your cottage.”
His mouth flattened. “That’s none of your concern.”
“It is if you were talking about Mrs Renner’s murder,” I said. “Her grandson isn’t acting like an innocent man, and a years ago, someone put a spell on his grandmother’s house which led to its collapse. I’m not saying he’s the definite culprit, but I could use some direction.”
“There were two victims, correct?” he said.
“There were, but I couldn’t find the second one’s ghost.” Though I hadn’t looked very hard. I’d been too fixated on Mr Renner and that blasted house. “Besides, can you blame me for getting suspicious? You’re the one person who could get rid of Mrs Renner’s ghost, and instead I found you meeting with her living grandson at the place where the second victim came from, during the police investigation.”
“Fine,” he said. “Henry Renner wanted to ask me to rid the house of his grandmother’s ghost. He expected me to do it for free.”
“So you turned him down.” I studied him. “Why? I thought you were of the opinion that ghosts didn’t belong here in the world of the living.”
“You expect too much, girl.” He turned away, puffing out smoke. “What’s one more ghost in a place like this?”
“Is that why you stopped doing your job?” I asked. “What did Mr Renner say to that, then?”
“He said he didn’t need my help,” he said. “But if you want to rid yourself of that ghost, I’d suggest you do so before she becomes too strong.”
“That was the plan.” Assuming Mr Renner let me back into the house after I’d all but accused him of bumping off his own grandmother. If the Reaper wouldn’t help, though, who else could? “Is Dolores Malone’s ghost around?”
“I expect she is.” He backed into the hallway, puffing out a cloud of smoke.
That settled that, then. I turned my back on the Reaper and headed back downhill, towards where Mart waited for me at a safe distance from the Reaper’s cottage. If old Dolores’s ghost was willing to talk, then I might be able to get the answers I needed after all.
Unfortunately, getting into the retirement home would be tricky even if Mr Renner hadn’t told tales on me. I was fresh out of excuses, but there was one person who had the authority to get both of us into there and in front of the person likely to give us answers. If he forgave me, that is.
As I caught up with Mart, he turned to me with his mouth pressed in a scowl. “Much better. I thought I was going to be trapped in that old git’s house forever.”
“I’m sorry,” I said to him. “I—”
“Spare me the apologies,” he interrupted. “Look, I know you didn’t mean for me to end up stuck with that miserable old man, but really, it wasn’t that bad in the end. I think he’s lonely.”
“He could have sent you to the afterlife, though,” I said. “I should have guessed he’d sense you spying on him.”
“I can’t promise I wasn’t a little put out by that,” he said. “But you’ve had a lot on your mind. The evil old ghost. The teenage blogger who’s adopted you as a big sister. The detective you’d like to go on a date with.”
“Who said anything about going on a date with anyone?” I said. “Did you know he was an actual police detective, too? Has everyone here been conspiring in this ridiculous joke?”
“Yeah, we’ve all been laughing at you,” he said. “No, it was obvious from the moment he showed up in that house.”
“I guess I should have known,” I allowed. “I’ve been spending too much time around ghosts. My skills at handling real people are a little rusty.”
“I’ll pretend that wasn’t as insulting as it sounded,” he said. “Anyway, I think he should have told you, but he was so fixated on figuring out how to ask you out that he forgot the obvious.”
“Mart, please stop commenting on my dating life,” I said. “I need to speak to Dolores’s ghost.”
“Her?” he said. “It might interest you to know that she’s been seen in the retirement home. Also, I see your boyfriend over there.”
I followed his line of sight and spotted Drew walking across the bridge.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” I said. “But I reckon I’m going to need the police on my side for this part.”
“Ooh, breaking the law again?” He floated behind me. “Do tell.”
&nb
sp; “Not breaking the law, just doing a little sleuthing,” I said. “It’s a lot easier when you have the law on your side.”
“Especially if ‘the law’ is as hot as he is,” he said.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” I quickened my pace, and Mart fell back as I caught up with Drew.
The detective came to a halt at the foot of the hill, and disbelief widened his eyes.
“Maura?” he said. “Thank goodness—I thought you’d left town and I was too late.”
“For what?” I asked.
“For me to apologise for deceiving you, of course,” he said. “Truth be told, I thought you’d judge me for using your talent to gain information for my own investigation.”
I blinked at him. “Seriously? I thought you didn’t even believe I could see ghosts.”
“I doubted you at first, but Carey’s trust of you convinced me to change my mind,” he said. “They’re a good family. Her and her mum.”
“At least we agree on one thing,” I murmured. “Look, I realise this is probably the worst time to ask for a favour—”
“What kind of favour?” he asked. “If it’s within my power, I’d be glad to help you out.”
“I haven’t even told you what I need help with yet,” I said. “Are the others still at Mrs Renner’s house? The construction crew, Mr Renner—everyone except Carey and me?”
“As far as I’m aware, they are,” he said. “I briefly checked in, but there’s been no progress on the repairs, nor on removing the spell.”
“At least they’re acknowledging the spell is a problem,” I said. “I know I shouldn’t have accused Mr Renner like that. I just couldn’t think of anyone else who might have been responsible.”
Except Dolores, but she’d already paid for her curiosity with her life.
“You came to the logical conclusion, given the evidence,” he said. “I was on my way to speak with the Reaper about his clandestine meetings with Mr Renner.”
