“She inhaled smoke,” the paramedic replied blankly.
“I know that, Dr. Obvious,” Aunt Tillie snapped. “Why does she look worse than Bay?”
“She always looks worse than me,” I repeated.
Aunt Tillie ignored me. “They went in together and left together. Shouldn’t they be in the same condition?”
The blonde shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you. Some people are more susceptible to smoke. Your niece should be okay. We’ll give her oxygen for another thirty minutes.”
Aunt Tillie’s expression was hard to read.
“She’ll be fine,” I reassured her. “We’ll both be fine.”
“It sounds to me like you were lucky,” Aunt Tillie noted after a beat.
“Yeah.”
“That luck is about to run out.”
I groaned as I followed her gaze, my heart pinching when I caught sight of Landon Michaels. He was striding across the street, his long black hair fluttering in the breeze he created because he walked so fast. His blue eyes were full of fire as they searched the area. When he caught sight of me, a flash of relief appeared ... but it was followed quickly by anger.
“Oh, man,” I complained, squeezing my eyes shut. “He’s going to start yelling.”
“Good.” Aunt Tillie was blasé. “You’ve got it coming after running into a burning building. Have I taught you nothing?”
I protested. “You said you understood why we went into the building and that it made sense because we had to know if Adam was alive.”
“I say a lot of things that are utter nonsense. I’ve changed my tune on this one. I’m looking forward to ‘The Man’ putting his foot down. That’s always entertaining.”
She was the only one who did.
Landon was on me within seconds. “Are you okay?” Concern swamped his eyes as he brushed my hair from my face.
I nodded. “I’m fine. Don’t worry.”
Landon didn’t look convinced. “I was at a meeting with my boss in Gaylord when the news crossed my phone. I thought it was weird and planned to head out here eventually until an update said that a blonde and a woman with blue hair rushed into a burning building.”
Uh-oh. “How did you know it was us?”
He didn’t immediately respond, and I could tell he was reining in his temper.
“Lorna was screaming for her husband,” I offered by way of explanation. “We felt we didn’t have a choice because the fire looked to be contained to the second-floor roof.”
Landon folded his arms across his chest and simply waited.
“Fine.” I threw up my hands in defeat. “We shouldn’t have gone in. Is that what you want to hear?”
“Yes.” He leaned over and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “You frightened me, Bay.” He lowered his voice. “I don’t want to hear that you and your wacky cousin ran into a burning building ever again. You’ve done a lot of stupid things, but this takes the cake.”
“We just had to be sure.”
He blew out a sigh. “You’re in trouble,” he said finally. “I’m going to punish you severely later.”
Aunt Tillie snorted. “I don’t think she finds your kisses nearly as gross as I do. It won’t be punishment to her.”
Landon rolled his eyes. “And where were you when these idiots were running into a burning building? Why didn’t you stop them?”
“I had no idea it was happening. I can’t watch them twenty-four hours a day. They’re adults now. They should no longer be idiots.”
“Well, apparently your wise teachings failed.” Landon’s brow furrowed when he caught sight of the scooter. It had streamers and one of those cages for a water bottle. It only lacked a bell. “What is that?”
“That’s my new ride.” Aunt Tillie was calm. “I was giving it a test run when this happened.”
“And what was ‘this’?” Landon asked as he turned his eyes to an approaching Chief Terry. “Was it a gas leak?”
“That was my initial assumption,” Chief Terry replied, grim. “The medical examiner managed to get the body out, and he has another opinion. By the way, the building is going to go any second. Don’t be alarmed when it happens.”
I moved my hand to the oxygen mask to remove it — I was feeling much better — but Landon slapped it back into place.
“You’re not taking that off until the nice paramedic says it’s okay,” he ordered.
The blonde smiled coquettishly at Landon. He had a way about him that most women found impossible to resist. I should know. I was one of those women. Inexplicably, he’d fallen for me and we’d settled into a life together. I couldn’t even work up a good head of jealousy because I knew he was interested only in me. It was a strange phenomenon.
“She should be good in another ten minutes or so,” the paramedic noted. “She’s better off than her friend here.”
I thought about the whispers, the way the voices had tried to bolster me, and wondered if they had something to do with the outcome. Rather than dwell on it, I filed the notion away to ponder later. We had other things to worry about now.
“What did the medical examiner say?” I asked Chief Terry. “Was it an accident?”
He shook his head. “Adam was most likely dead before the fire started, although they’ll have to confirm that in the lab. Right now, it appears he was stabbed twice in the back.”
I was flabbergasted. “What?” I moved to sit up, but Landon applied pressure to my shoulder and forced me to remain prone.
“Not until I’m sure you’re okay,” he countered. “Stay there.”
Ugh. He was going to baby me, I just knew it. “I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. Only an idiot would run into a burning building. I’m thinking about forcing you to get a psychological exam.”
Aunt Tillie brightened considerably. “That’s a great idea. Most families have an eccentric uncle or grandparent. It would be fun to have an eccentric niece. We need confirmation from a professional before I can get a T-shirt made and start using her as a threat against my enemies. Everyone is afraid of those who are genuinely crazy.”
Landon took a moment to look over her outfit — which included a pair of psychedelic leggings and an oversized shirt — and shook his head. “Some families have more than one eccentric relative.”
“How awesome for them,” she drawled.
I was already bored with this conversation. “What’s going to happen with Adam?” I asked. “I mean ... do you have any suspects?”
“You know what I know,” Chief Terry replied, his hand automatically going up to stroke my hair. “You need to rest and not worry about this.”
That wasn’t likely. “What about Lorna?”
“She said it was a normal day and she was going out to check the mail when it happened,” Chief Terry replied. “I have no reason not to believe her ... at least right now. We need to wait for the full autopsy.”
“When will that be?” Landon asked.
“We’ll have the final results tomorrow,” Chief Terry answered. “Don’t worry. I have no intention of dragging you away from Bay today. I expect you to take care of her.”
“Oh, I’m going to take care of her.”
“I don’t need anyone to take care of me,” I groused, feeling a full wave of poutiness coming on. “I’m perfectly fine.”
“I’m going to lock her in the guesthouse for the rest of her life ... or at least until she capitulates that she’ll never again run into a burning building.”
“I already said it was a mistake,” I complained. “What more do you want from me?”
“A little common sense might be nice,” Chief Terry replied without hesitation. “You scared ten years off my life, Bay. It’s not funny.”
“I never pretended it was funny.” I shifted my eyes to the street, where a teenaged boy and girl were rushing in the direction of the commotion. I recognized them right away. “Dani and Nick,” I murmured, my heart giving a heave when they caught sight of their mother.
Chief Terry followed my gaze, a muscle working in his jaw. “This is going to be hard for them.”
“Are they Adam Harris’s kids?” Landon asked.
I nodded. “They’re teenagers. I think they’re only about eleven months apart. They’re really close.”
He linked his fingers with mine and gave them a squeeze. “It’s sad that they’ve lost a father,” he noted. “You could’ve compounded things by sacrificing yourself. You need to be more careful, Bay. We just bought a piece of property to settle on down the line. That’s our future. I don’t want to lose it before I get a chance to enjoy it.”
I wanted to crawl into bed and cover my head. “I said I was sorry.”
“You’re going to be sorry later,” he muttered.
“You get her,” Aunt Tillie encouraged, her eyes never leaving Dani and Nick as their mother explained what had happened.
I could tell the moment Lorna delivered the crushing blow, because Nick’s face went slack and Dani started sobbing, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably.
“Aw, hell,” Chief Terry muttered. “I suppose I should get over there and see if I can help.” He paused long enough to give Landon a serious look. “These three are your responsibility. I expect you to handle them.”
“Why not just task me with the impossible?” Landon asked dryly. “How am I supposed to handle them?”
“You’re an FBI agent,” Chief Terry reminded him. “Figure it out.” With those words, he left us to our potential domestic squabble so he could handle a true tragedy.
Slowly, Landon’s gaze bounced between us. “The first one who gives me any trouble is being locked in a cage overnight.”
“That’s something a dirty pervert would say,” Aunt Tillie complained. “I always knew you were a dirty pervert.”
He sighed. It was obviously going to be a long afternoon.
Four
Once Landon was satisfied that my oxygen levels were fine, we dropped Thistle at home with her boyfriend Marcus. He’d been so busy with work that he hadn’t heard about the fire, and he was furious Thistle hadn’t called him. We left them to their dispute and headed home.
We were barely through the door when Landon began barking orders. “Strip.”
I stilled, surprised. “That’s really romantic, Landon. I don’t know that I’m in the mood, though.”
He smiled, although he fought to maintain a stoic countenance. “You need to get in the bath,” he said. “As much as I love you, I can’t kiss you until you wash your face and get that smell off you.”
“That doesn’t sound like unconditional love.”
He shook his head. “Strip. I’ll put your clothes in the washing machine and then join you.”
“Oh, so this is a bath for both of us.”
“Absolutely.”
That was an activity I could get behind. I left him with my filthy clothes and filled the tub with steaming water, dropping in some bubble bath. I groaned in relief when I slipped into the water. I was floating by the time he joined me and barely noticed when he slid me forward so he could climb in behind. His hands immediately went to my neck and started rubbing.
“I don’t want to belabor the point, but ... .”
“You will,” I muttered.
He ignored my grouchiness. “Running into a burning building ranks right up there as one of the dumbest things you’ve ever done.”
That was hard to argue. “You wouldn’t say that if we’d found Adam alive.”
“You didn’t.”
“I know.”
“And I still would’ve been angry,” he added. “I know you’re a hero and want to save lives, but forfeiting your own during the process is unacceptable. I don’t want to keep harping on this, but ... .”
“You will.”
He lightly pinched my flank, causing me to yelp. “We’re building a life together. That won’t be possible if you’re not here. I need you to promise me you won’t do that again.”
I let loose a sigh. “Fine. I promise.”
“Then I’ll let it go.” He pressed a kiss to my cheek and tugged me back against him. “I don’t suppose you saw anything out of the ordinary before the fire today?”
Oddly enough, I was happy to focus on the logistics of the case rather than my inherent stupidity, so I eagerly embraced the conversational shift and shook my head. “I wasn’t really paying attention. We were in the shop looking at a pregnancy book — talk about traumatizing by the way — when we noticed Aunt Tillie on her scooter. We were watching her when it happened.”
“Did you know what it was?”
“Kind of. I mean ... I knew something exploded, if that makes any sense. We took cover, and when we were sure it was over Thistle and I ran out. We were looking for Aunt Tillie, not trouble, if that makes you feel any better.”
“Aunt Tillie is trouble.”
“Fair enough. She’s still my aunt. I had to find her.”
“And I can’t argue with your instincts on that, but she wasn’t in a burning building.”
“No.” I thought about the moments before I managed to break the window. “Something else happened.” I related the tale to him as best I could, keeping my voice low and even because I didn’t want him to melt down. When I finished, he was perplexed.
“What do you think it was?”
I’d been giving that a lot of thought. “I think it was the dead.”
He shifted. “Like ... ghosts?”
“Maybe. Or maybe it was voices from the other side. I shouldn’t have been able to throw that hammer the way I did. I was feeling weak.”
“Maybe your body responded out of desperation and you simply didn’t realize how much force you were putting into the effort.”
“That doesn’t explain the voices.”
“I guess not.” He tightened his arms around me. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
“You’re being fairly reasonable about this,” I noted. “I expected you to scream, stomp and yell.”
“That rarely goes over well.”
“That doesn’t stop you from doing it.”
“I figure your mother will go after you — and Chief Terry once he’s had a bit of breathing room and gets over his terror — so there’s no need for me to be the bad guy when they’re willing to take up the mantle.”
“Smart.”
“I thought so.”
We lapsed into silence for a moment. I was the first to break it.
“Whoever killed Adam set the fire to cover it up, right?”
“That would be my guess. It seems like too much of a coincidence to be anything else.”
“So, we have a murderer in town who just happens to be a firebug on the side. That can’t be good.”
“Nope. I’m worried, too.”
At least we could agree about that.
I OPTED FOR COMFORTABLE JEANS and a T-shirt for dinner. Now that I was several hours removed from the situation, I felt like a bit of a dolt. Running into the building was definitely stupid. I had no doubt I would get an earful from the rest of my relatives ... and I wasn’t looking forward to it.
“We could skip dinner tonight,” I offered helpfully once we reached the back door. “I’ll buy and everything.”
Landon’s expression reflected amusement. “I believe your mother said it was Mexican night. I can’t miss out on tacos.”
He was messing with me and we both knew it. “You just want to watch her yell.”
“Maybe a little.” He put his hand to the small of my back and prodded me toward the door. “The faster you get it over with, the faster they’ll go back to obsessing about this witch gathering and Clove’s wedding. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them this manic about a group of guests before.”
I had, in years past. “This is a big deal.” I stepped into the family living quarters when he opened the door for me, pulling up short when I heard snorting. It didn’t take long for Peg, Aunt Tillie’s new pig, to come running for attention. The spot
ted swine was ridiculously cute, if impractical. Today she was wearing a pink tutu that made her look like a farm animal fairy.
“Look at you!” Landon was delighted as he forgot all about me and raced toward Peg. “Who dressed you up?”
“It wasn’t me,” Aunt Tillie said darkly from the couch. She was in her usual spot watching Jeopardy. “There’s no way I would’ve purchased that monstrosity.”
Given how Aunt Tillie dressed, the fact that she could cast aspersions on anybody’s clothing choices was mildly amusing. Still, she looked relatively morose, so I asked the obvious question. “Did Twila buy this for her?”
“Actually, it was your mother.”
I was beyond surprised. “My mother bought Peg a tutu?” That was hard to wrap my head around. “Why?”
“You’ll have to ask her. I’ve been warned if I remove the tutu that my still will go up in flames. She sounded serious.”
I smirked. “You can’t be surprised.”
“I didn’t say I was surprised,” Aunt Tillie growled. “I just can’t stand it. They’re witches, not celebrities. They mount brooms the same way we do: one leg at a time.”
“Who’s a pretty girl?” Landon enthused. He’d moved to the floor and was rolling around with Peg, who greeted him with excited kisses and snorts. I was starting to realize that Landon desperately needed a pet. He’d mentioned a dog recently, and I was considering asking my mother if she would allow us to adopt one and keep it in the guesthouse. It probably wasn’t a good day to broach the subject.
Aunt Tillie rolled her eyes at Landon’s antics. “For the record, I don’t think this gathering is a good idea. You know how I feel about those women.”
Landon reluctantly dragged his attention from Peg and focused on Aunt Tillie. “What’s wrong with the women who are coming? I thought you were familiar with all of them.”
“That doesn’t mean I like them,” Aunt Tillie sneered.
“Aunt Tillie is proud of being a witch — and she wants all of us to be badass witches — but she’s not particularly fond of other witches,” I explained. “She’s jealous when others have magic at their disposal.”
Wicked Witches of the Midwest Mystery Box Set Page 62
