The Ghost and the Witches' Coven

by Bobbi Holmes

  “It’s amazing how good food tastes when you’re starving,” Walt said.

  “I almost forgot, that’s one reason why I used to enjoy camping trips,” Brian said.

  Heather looked to him and asked, “What do you mean?”

  “This morning, when I woke up, it reminded me how I’m too damn old for camping. Missed my bed,” Brian said.

  “That has nothing to do with age,” Heather said. “I missed my bed too.”

  “But our breakfast reminded me of something I enjoyed about those camping trips I used to take. Freshly caught fish cooked over an open fire. Always tastes better, I think. Although, I remember fishing used to be a little different. Involved poles, hooks, and bait.” Brian flashed Walt a smile.

  “One has to improvise when you don’t have a fishing pole,” Walt said.

  Brian looked down at the small fire Walt had built for cooking the fish. “I guess we need to do something about that before we leave. Walt?”

  Walt let out a faux sigh and said, “You guys are going to make me do all the work, aren’t you? Last time I invite you two on a camping trip with me.”

  The next minute water splashed from the nearby river, dousing the fire. Brian watched in fascination as Walt did his magic, first forming a hole for the doused fire, moving the fire into the hole, and then covering it with dirt. Heather watched Brian, getting as much enjoyment from observing him as he was getting watching Walt.

  “How’s that?” Walt asked when he finished covering the fire.

  Brian shook his head in awe. “And I can’t even tell anyone about this when we get back. They would think I’m nuts.”

  “You can tell the chief,” Heather reminded him.

  Twenty-Three

  After leaving their sacrifices at the altar in the forest, the Parker sisters had spent the night at a motel instead of driving all the way home. The decision was a spur-of-the-moment one. Drugging their victims with tainted cookies and then dragging them out to the forest had been exhausting.

  But when they woke up in the morning without a change of clothes, they headed back to Frederickport, before returning to the forest that night. They pulled into their driveway a little after nine in the morning. The first order of business after parking their van, showers and a change of clothes, and then breakfast. Although tired, accompanied by sore muscles from lugging around the bodies, the Parker sisters felt both excited and optimistic about their future.

  Wrapped in exhilarated optimism and a clean robe, Davina fairly skipped to the kitchen to start breakfast while her sisters finished their showers. She had just filled the coffeepot with water when the doorbell rang. Considering the modesty of her floor-length, green flannel robe, she didn’t consider not opening the door. When she opened it a few minutes later, she found two police officers standing on the doorstep. One was a woman, the other a man. The man introduced himself and his fellow officer. His name was Joe something, but she didn’t catch the woman’s name or Joe’s last name. But she had seen both of them around town. He asked if she was one of the Parker sisters, owners of Pagan Oils and More. She said yes, gave her first name, but didn’t ask him in. She remained standing behind the door, inside, looking out.

  “We need to speak to you and your sisters,” the one named Joe said. “May we come in?”

  “What is this about?” she asked.

  “We’re investigating a missing persons report, and we understand you may be one of the last ones to see them,” Joe said.

  She frowned, still clutching the edge of the front door. “Who’s missing?”

  “Walt Marlow, Brian Henderson, and Heather Donovan.”

  “I don’t know who they are,” Davina said. “I can’t help you.”

  Joe then said, “And your store was broken into last night.”

  “It what?”

  “May we come in?” Joe repeated. “We really need to speak to you and your sisters.”

  Hesitantly, Davina swung the door open wider. “My sisters are upstairs taking showers. They should be down in a few minutes.” Clutching the front of her robe, she motioned toward the living room. Once in the living room, Davina took a seat on the sofa and motioned to the nearby chairs for the officers. Instead of sitting down, Joe walked over to the sofa and laid three photographs on the coffee table before Davina; one was of Heather, one of Walt, and the third of Brian.

  Davina looked down at the photos. “What am I looking at?”

  “Do you remember seeing them yesterday?”

  She shrugged. “No.”

  “What’s going on here?” a woman’s voice asked.

  Joe and his fellow officer turned to the voice and saw Bridget and Aileana Parker standing in the open doorway. Unlike their sister, they were dressed for the day, each wearing a dark kaftan, their long red hair flowing free down past their shoulders.

  “They said something about the store being broken into last night,” Davina told her sister, ignoring the photographs still on the coffee table before her.

  Once again Joe made introductions and then said, “Before we discuss the break-in, we need to ask a few questions about our missing persons.”

  “Is our store okay?” Bridget asked.

  “Yes, everything is fine. But first, I need to find out what you know about the disappearance of one of our officers, along with Heather Donovan and Walt Marlow,” Joe said.

  “Why would we know anything?” Bridget asked.

  Davina pushed the photos, still on the coffee table, away from her and told her sisters, “They showed me these pictures, but I told them I don’t recognize them. I don’t know who these people are. I haven’t seen them.”

  “That’s interesting,” Joe said, looking at Davina. “We have you on the surveillance camera letting Walt Marlow and Brian Henderson into your store shortly before closing last night. The footage also shows Heather Donovan going into the store a few minutes earlier.” He turned to Bridget and Aileana and added, “The footage has you two entering the store before that, and not leaving. In fact, the footage doesn’t show any of you leaving,” Joe paused a moment and then turned to Davina and said, “Except you.”

  “What surveillance camera?” Bridget asked.

  “The one across the street from your store,” the woman officer said.

  Davina frowned and then looked back down at the photos Joe had placed on the coffee table. Hastily she pushed them back into view and looked at them.

  “I guess these could be the two men who I let into the store. I didn’t recognize them by the pictures,” Davina lied.

  “I’m afraid my sister’s facial-recognition skills are poor,” Bridget said. “I remember once an old boyfriend of hers stopped by the house, and she didn’t even recognize him at first. Thought he was trying to sell something.” Bridget smiled at the police officers and then strolled to the coffee table and looked down at the photos.

  “Do you remember them?” Joe asked.

  “Of course,” Bridget said smoothly. “The woman, she came in first. She bought some essential oils. Then the men came in. They all seemed to know each other. We were getting ready to close up and had a couple of heavy boxes we needed help carrying out to our van, and the two gentlemen were kind enough to offer to carry them for us. I honestly don’t remember their names. When we drove off, they were still standing at the back of the store, talking.”

  Joe glanced from Bridget to Davina. Davina nodded and said, “Yes. That’s what happened.”

  “What did the men buy?” the woman officer asked.

  Bridget stared at her a moment and then said, “They didn’t buy anything. They got to talking to the woman. I told you they all seemed to know each other. And when we mentioned we were about to close up and something was said about having to carry the boxes out, they offered to help. I just assumed they came into the store to talk to their friend.”

  “Did you notice anyone else behind the shops when you were leaving?” Joe asked.

  Bridget appeared to be considering th
e question for a moment, and then shook her head. “No. I didn’t see anyone. Now, what is this about our store being broken into?”

  “Late last night, when I was driving down the business district, I noticed a light in your shop. It looked like someone walking around with a flashlight. We caught them coming out the back door,” Joe explained. “The only thing they took from the store was a necklace.”

  Bridget’s eyes widened. “A necklace?”

  “Yes.” Joe reached into his pocket. He pulled out a plastic baggie containing the hawk necklace. He showed it to Bridget.

  Bridget smiled at Joe and said, “We don’t want to press charges against the women.”

  “I didn’t say the burglars were women,” Joe said.

  Bridget looked up into Joe’s face, her eyes wide in faux innocence. “Didn’t you? I guess I just assumed it was women. That necklace doesn’t seem like something a man would take. Who were they?”

  “While I made the initial arrest, Police Chief MacDonald interrogated them. I think it would be best if you spoke to him directly. But nothing seemed to be disturbed in the store, and the only thing they had with them when I found them leaving out the back door was this necklace. And you were right, they were women. Three of them.”

  “How did they get in?” Aileana asked.

  “Apparently one of them is rather skilled at picking locks. You might consider having a locksmith change your locks—something a little more challenging for criminals. But as I said, nothing was disturbed. No broken windows, no vandalism. And according to them, all they wanted was this necklace.”

  “Thank you, officer. I don’t think I need to talk to the police chief. And I have no desire to press charges. Sounds more like a prank to me.”

  “Prank?” Joe asked with a frown.

  “Yes. You know, when someone does something for the thrill? The necklace itself isn’t of great value. And you said they had nothing else with them. If they wanted to take something of value, they would have filled up a sack with essential oils. Some of those bottles go for over a hundred dollars.” Bridget smiled at Joe and then turned the smile at the woman at his side.

  Chris let the chief into the parlor on Sunday morning. Danielle sat on the sofa, staring off blankly as Max snuggled by her side. The moment MacDonald walked into the room, she looked up hopefully, her red-rimmed eyes revealing the countless tears she had cried.

  “I’m sorry, nothing yet,” the chief said quickly, not wanting to give her false hope. He took a seat across from her while Chris sat on the sofa next to her.

  “But we finally talked to the Parker sisters,” the chief began before recounting Joe’s conversation with the sisters.

  When he finished, Danielle said, “I can’t believe Walt and Brian left without buying something. Maybe Walt, if he felt they were just closing up and he could come back later, but Brian was there to get something for Kitty’s headache. I don’t see him leaving without it, since he was already in the store.”

  “I agree,” the chief said. “What Joe found odd; they didn’t seem interested in knowing more about our missing people. I would expect them to ask some questions, but they weren’t curious. Unfortunately, we have nothing substantial on them. We have been through their store twice, once after we looked at the surveillance video, and again after the break-in. Found nothing to indicate foul play. And their explanation about leaving through the back door is plausible.”

  “But you said the one sister denied knowing anything when looking at the photographs,” Danielle reminded him.

  “True. But it is possible she didn’t connect the faces in the pictures with the customers in her store. Some people aren’t observant and have poor facial-recognition skills.”

  “Did you find anything at Heather’s last night?” Chris asked. He and Danielle had wanted to go through the house with the police, but the chief said they couldn’t. Instead, Danielle had handed over Heather’s spare house key and waited to hear if they found anything. With all the extra commotion of the break-in at Pagan Oils, no one ever got back to them with the search results.

  “We found nothing,” the chief began. “But there was one thing I wanted to double-check on. Heather’s security cameras.”

  “What security cameras?” Chris asked.

  “The cameras Heather had installed in her house,” the chief said.

  “Heather doesn’t have any security cameras,” Chris said.

  “My team found three of them,” the chief argued.

  “If you found security cameras hooked up in Heather’s house, she didn’t put them there,” Chris insisted.

  “I agree with Chris,” Danielle said.

  “The cameras didn’t raise any red flags,” the chief began. “Not unusual for someone who has a pet to have cameras monitoring them.”

  “Heather takes Bella to work with her,” Danielle said.

  “I understand, but like I said, home security cameras in themselves are not unusual these days. But what we found unusual, there wasn’t an app for the cameras on Heather’s phone. That’s why I wanted to ask you about it. Typically, people monitor security cameras on their cellphones with an app,” the chief explained.

  “Find who put those cameras in Heather’s house, and I bet you find who knows where they are,” Danielle said.

  “And one of the Parker sisters was behind Heather’s house the day before they went missing,” Chris added.

  Twenty-Four

  “I know you’ve already looked through Pagan Oils, twice, but can you get a search warrant for the Parker house?” Danielle asked.

  “On what grounds?” the chief asked. “They don’t deny Heather, Walt and Brian came in the store; and we have no reason to believe they didn’t leave out the back door. According to the neighbors, they saw the Parkers pulling up to their house not long after they locked up the store. The neighbor said one of them went into the house while the other two stayed in the van. She came back a few minutes later, carrying a sack, and then got back in the van, and they all drove off. The neighbor said she wondered where they were going, because they seemed in high spirits. And according to her, it was only three of them.”

  “How do they know they weren’t in the back?” Danielle said.

  “It’s an old Corvair van, with windows in the back,” the chief said. “If someone was sitting in the back seat, they would likely see them.”

  “Unless they were tied up on the floor,” Danielle said.

  “You’re grasping at straws,” the chief said. “If someone tied them up, then that would mean Walt was unconscious. I can’t come up with a plausible scenario where those women incapacitated all three of them minutes after entering the store. We are talking about a seasoned officer and someone with Walt’s abilities. And like you say, there is no reason to believe they aren’t alive considering none of their spirits have shown themselves to you or Chris.”

  “What about the women who broke into their store?” Danielle asked.

  The chief frowned. “What about them?”

  “A coincidence they broke into the store a few hours after they go missing. If nothing else, maybe they were casing the place and saw something,” Danielle suggested.

  “I thought of that already,” the chief said. “But according to them, they weren’t downtown during that timeframe, and we didn’t see them on the security camera.”

  “We didn’t see anyone on the security camera,” Danielle grumbled.

  “So what’s the deal with the women you arrested?” Chris asked.

  “Looks like I’ll probably be letting them go without filing charges. I doubt the DA will be interested in prosecuting, since Pagan Oils refuses to press charges.”

  “Why don’t they want to press charges?” Danielle asked.

  “I’m not sure. But I suspect the Parkers know who broke into their store, although Joe said he never mentioned the names of the burglars. Yet they guessed they were women, and they didn’t seem surprised at the only item taken. Which was strange i
n itself.”

  “What do you mean?” Chris asked.

  “They entered through the back door, picked the lock. All they took was a leather necklace with a hawk whalebone carving. The odd thing, the woman who took it wore one just like it. At first Joe thought she had taken both of the necklaces. But, after looking closer, he could see her leather strap was different and well worn. Her hawk also looked much older, and she claimed hers was a family heirloom. Plus, before they broke in the shop, she’d had the clasp on her necklace repaired locally, and we were able to verify it with the shop.”

  “Are you saying the Baird sisters broke into Pagan Oils?” Danielle asked.

  “You know them?” the chief asked.

  “I met them briefly. They rent a house from Adam,” Danielle said. “And they claim to be witches, like the Parker sisters.”

  “None of the Baird sisters claimed to be witches when I interrogated them. Of course, I didn’t ask. But they said one thing I found interesting. They claimed the Parkers had been stalking them, and that’s why they broke into the store. They wanted a closer look at the necklace that matched theirs. After they looked at it in the bright light, they seemed perfectly happy turning it over to me.”

  “What did they mean the Parkers stalked them?” Chris asked.

  “They refused to elaborate. And it doesn’t look as if the Bairds have ever filed a complaint,” the chief said.

  “They have to know something,” Danielle said. “Something they know about the Parkers that they’re not telling you.”

  “You really think the Parkers have something to do with the disappearance?” the chief asked.

  “They might know something that could help. Walt and the others walked into that store and disappeared. And one of the Parkers was by Heather’s house the day before. Maybe the Bairds know something about the Parkers that could help us,” Danielle said.

  “Thankfully, they’re still alive,” Chris reminded her. “Which is the one positive in all this.”