Just Your Average Small Town Cult (Lainswich Witches Book 14)

by Raven Snow

  “I played golf with him a few times,” said McMillan. “I never would have guessed that he had a problem. Just goes to show, I guess. You can never really know another person, can you?”

  “Do you know anything about all this cult talk?” asked Rowen.

  Beech chuckled at that. After a moment, he looked from Rowen to Lucy.

  “I’m curious about all this cult business myself,” said Lucy. “It sounds fascinating.”

  “Well, I don’t know anything about a cult,” said Beech.

  “I’m sure they exist,” said McMillan. “I mean, obviously, those sorts of things exist… But in Lainswich?” He shook his head as if the mere idea was just too unlikely.

  “It’s just to misdirect the police,” said Beech. “That has to be what it is. I mean, can you imagine a cult? In Lainswich of all places? It’s laughable.”

  “I could imagine it,” Rowen said with a shrug. “I’ve definitely seen stranger things around here.” Heck, depending on who you asked, Rowen and her family were some of those “stranger things.”

  “I’m inclined to agree,” said Lucy. “This little town is full of surprises.”

  “What do you two think it was?” asked Margo. “If not a cult, I mean. Did Mr. Waite have any enemies?”

  “Enemies?” Beech repeated. “Goodness, no. At least, I can’t think of any. He was a nice man. I can’t think of anyone who even particularly disliked him.”

  “Janice said that they were going through a rough patch,” said Rowen, going ahead and putting that out there.

  Beech frowned. “Now that definitely isn’t any of my business.”

  “It sounds like Janice freely admitted that herself,” said Lucy. “We’re all adults here. Let’s not kid ourselves. There’s plenty to gossip about. These girls have solved their fair share of crimes in the past. Seems to me like it’s a good idea to tell them all we know so they can solve this thing.”

  “No offense,” said McMillan. “But isn’t that what the police are for?”

  “We work alongside the police,” said Margo. “You must be familiar with us. Everyone in Lainswich is. Honestly, we’re just trying to help.”

  “I believe you,” said Beech. “But the truth is that we don’t know a whole lot. We have our theories but nothing to substantiate them.”

  “Like what?” urged Rowen.

  “Well, he did have this one friend who lived in Tarricville,” began McMillan. He looked to Beech as if waiting for permission to continue. When Beech nodded, he kept talking. “He did have this one good friend. Marvin…” He trailed off as if searching for the rest of the name.

  “Marvin Lords,” Beech finished for him.

  McMillan nodded. “That’s right, Marvin Lords. He came golfing with us a few times. Suddenly, he stopped. We asked after him, and Edward got angry. He didn’t want to so much as hear his name anymore.”

  Beech nodded. “Rumor had it that Marvin and Janice were having an affair behind his back. Don’t tell anyone we told you that. Certainly don’t mention it to Janice. That poor woman has been through enough already. Even if she did have an affair, what’s the point in mentioning it now?”

  “And you think that Marvin might have murdered his friend? You think he would have set up the whole thing to look like a cult did it?” asked Rowen. “Why not go to the police with that?”

  “I did give them Marvin’s name when they questioned me,” said Beech. “I’m sure they’ve looked into it by now.”

  “Still, setting the whole thing up to make it appear as though a cult had committed the crime?” It was Margo who had spoken up again. “That seems more than a little odd, doesn’t it? It’s so specific and difficult for so many people to believe.”

  McMillan and Beech both shrugged. “I’m not sure what to tell you,” said Beech. “That’s really all I know. I’ll miss Edward terribly. I already do. He was a darn good dentist and a good person despite his demons. I don’t know who did this, but I hope the police catch them. I really do.”

  “Do you remember anything else about this Marvin guy?” Rowen asked.

  Both men hesitated. “He’s another dentist. Has a practice in Tarricville,” Beech said, finally. “Aside from that, I couldn’t really say.”

  Rowen nodded. “Well, thanks for the help.”

  ***

  Rowen, Margo, and Lucy joined the dentists for a few more holes. It was boring stuff, but she didn’t feel comfortable stranding Margo and Lucy there. Instead, she followed, joining in on the small talk when she could. Most of the conversation was directed at Lucy, and the subject was about how she should really swing by and see them more often.

  Finally, it was Lucy who excused them all. Bless her. “I can’t stand dentists,” she said, once they were out of earshot.

  Back in the parking lot, they said their goodbyes. Rowen thanked Lucy profusely and Margo made plans to meet up with her a week or two from today. “What now?” asked Margo, once they were both back in Rowen’s car, alone.

  Rowen checked the time. “Now, I guess I go check on everyone.” She hadn’t gotten any calls from her aunts today, which was worrisome. Her aunts had been so gloomy when last she had seen them. She really didn’t like the idea of that.

  “Drop me off at home, if you don’t mind,” said Margo.

  “Why? Everyone is probably at the store.”

  “I got all sweaty on the golf course. I want to take a shower.”

  “I really don’t think anyone is going to care.”

  “Just drop me off at home, will you?” Margo snapped.

  “Geez. Fine.” It wasn’t like it was a long detour. Rowen did as she was asked, even if she did think slightly less of Margo for demanding it.

  Chapter Nine

  Odds & Ends was just about the most miserable place in Lainswich right now. The glass had been cleaned up, and everything had been moved back onto its shelves. It was plain to see, however, that the shelves were a lot sparser than they had been days prior. In the daylight, Rowen could also see that whoever had broken in had gone to the trouble of vandalizing the place on top of the theft. The pictures Peony had painted that hung in the shop had been slashed or scribbled over in pen. There was a lot of liberal marker use. Vulgar words were everywhere, lots of name calling too.

  Rowen found her aunts and uncle in the back. They were sitting at the table Tiffany usually read fortunes at. Papers covered its surface instead of cards now. The entire family looked to be poring over them as Aunt Lydia spoke on the phone.

  “I don’t understand why someone can’t be out here sooner… No… That’s not right. I told the last person I talked to that… I was just transferred from there, please don’t--” Lydia swore and looked back to her siblings. “They’re transferring my call again.”

  “Give the phone to me,” said Norman, like he could get a different outcome where Lydia had failed.

  Lydia started to refuse, but then she saw Rowen. She relented and went to give her niece a hug. “Can you believe all this? It’s horrible. Who could do such a thing?”

  Rowen could think of a lot of people who would do such a thing. “Kids,” she said finally. “It was probably kids.” At least, Rowen hoped it had been kids. This kind of vandalism and theft was easier to explain away if it was just a bunch of kids doing it.

  ***

  In the end, there really wasn’t a whole lot to do. Business at Odds & Ends was going as well as it could under the circumstances. She called Ben about Marvin, but he insisted he had already passed the name on to the Tarricville police. He stressed that it was under their jurisdiction and that she not interfere. Rowen considered calling Rose next, but there wasn’t really anything she could legally say or write about for the Inquirer after all those police documents she had signed.

  ***

  In the end, Rowen headed home. There, she curled up on the sofa with Chester and turned on the television. Channel 2 was doing another special on cults. Some gray-haired expert sat in a chair across from Julia Mar
tinez, droning on about secret societies from the middle ages. Rowen was quick to change the channel. She settled on some old horror movie wherein a bunch of witches were terrorizing a small town.

  “Look at that, Chester,” she said, scratching her old dog between his ears. “They have the right idea, don’t they? Maybe the Greensmiths should take this whole town over. What do you think? Would they still terrorize us then?”

  Chester didn’t have any answers, but he did roll over so that Rowen could scratch his belly. She did just that, falling into a light sleep not long afterward. She was awakened when Eric got home.

  “You should have called me!” he yelled from the entryway. “I didn’t know you headed home!”

  Chester leapt down from the sofa and went straight for Eric. “Sorry,” Rowen said with a yawn, sitting up.

  “I called you, but you didn’t answer.”

  “I must have left my phone in my purse. Can you grab it for me?”

  “I got pizza. I wasn’t sure we had anything here.”

  “Mmm. That sounds good. Thanks, Honey.”

  “Don’t mention it.” Eric entered the den with a cell phone and a pizza box. He handed both to Rowen. “Long day?”

  “The longest.”

  “Long day planned for tomorrow?”

  “Most likely.”

  Eric flopped down onto the sofa beside his wife. “Better chill while you can then. Hurry up and relax.”

  Rowen leaned against her husband and pulled one of his arms around her. She didn’t doubt that she was in store for a busy day tomorrow, but she wasn’t sure what that would entail. It was just an instinct she had. She’d find out soon enough, she supposed.

  “So, what are we watching?”

  “Murderous witches are taking over an entire town.”

  “Oh, neat.”

  “I know, right?”

  ***

  Rowen was awakened by her cell phone ringing. The room was still dark when she opened her eyes. She groaned. Getting up before the sun was really getting old. Humans weren’t meant to live this way, she was sure of it. Rowen rolled onto her side and groped for the phone. She could hear Eric snoring beside her. She had only the faintest of memories of him leading her upstairs to bed. Evidently, she had fallen asleep not long after pizza.

  Rowen checked the name on the phone screen. It was Rose. Well, she couldn’t just ignore that. “Hello?” she answered, her heart already beating a little faster in her chest. Did any good news ever wake you up between the hours of three and six in the morning?

  “Hey, Rowen. Sorry to wake you up, but I wasn’t sure who else to call.” Rose’s voice was weary, like she hadn’t wanted to call but felt obligated to. “We’ve got a bit of a problem.”

  Rowen groaned as she swung her legs off the side of the bed and stood. As quietly as she was able, she made her way into the hall so as not to wake Eric. “What happened?” she asked, not sure she actually wanted to hear it.

  “Ben had to head down to the police station a little while ago. He got a call. Apparently, Margo has been arrested.”

  “What?” Rowen tried to make sense of those words in her head. Her thoughts gave her at least a dozen possible scenarios for why. “Margo? For what?”

  “Trespassing, sounds like.” Rose sighed. “I’m really not sure about the details yet. It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. It sounds like she was found snooping inside some house. Ben said it was the Waite’s house, but surely not. I mean, that’s not like Margo at all. She doesn’t take risks that stupid, certainly not on her own. You don’t know anything about this, do you?”

  “What?” Again, Rowen tried to make sense of the words that had just been spoken to her. She rearranged them in her head a few times. The Waite house? Edward Waite? Why in the world would she sneak in there? Rowen realized all at once and groaned.

  “What?” asked Rose.

  “She went in because Natalie told her to.”

  “Natalie?” Rose repeated. “Who… Wait, you don’t mean that ghost that follows you around do you?”

  “I do. Natalie was acting like she knew something going on inside that house. She probably talked Margo into sneaking in.” Rowen swore under her breath. She was wide awake now. There was no point in even trying to go back to sleep. She might as well throw her clothes on and head to the station. It was only a matter of time before Margo got her phone call. She would likely use it to call Jasper. She wouldn’t want anyone from her family judging her right now—as much as she deserved it. Rowen was determined to reach her before that happened.

  “Why would Natalie want her caught?”

  “Because she’s mad at me. Look, I’m gonna let you go for now. We can talk about this later. I’m heading down there now.”

  “All right,” said Rose. “I’ll meet you at the station.”

  Rowen started to object, but there was no point. Rose had already hung up. Rowen returned to the room and threw on some clothes. She managed to do it more quietly this time. Eric didn’t stir, though Chester did regard her sleepily from the end of the bed the whole time. She made a point to leave a note for Eric on the kitchen island downstairs before heading out the door. It explained where she was and why she had to go. There was no point in making them both wake up insanely early in the morning.

  ***

  The faintest pink was tinging the sky as Rowen pulled into the police station parking lot. She spotted Rose getting out of her own car as she turned off her engine. “You really didn’t have to come,” said Rowen as she got out of the car.

  Rose rolled her eyes. “I called you because I didn’t want to go alone. I didn’t call you so you could just come down here instead of me.”

  “Fair enough.” Rowen led the way toward the front door. “Won’t Ben be annoyed that you’re here, though? I mean, he’s kinda got to be impartial with this stuff, doesn’t he?”

  “I’d like to see him try and stop me from trying to help my cousin.” Rose didn’t look like she was going to back down any time soon. She led the way into the police station. Completely ignoring the receptionist on her way in, she marched right to her husband’s office. The receptionist didn’t even try to stop them. She looked up and, upon seeing who it was, just looked back down at the magazine sitting on her desk. With a yawn, she turned a page.

  Ben’s office was messy as always. Maybe it was an organized sort of chaos, but Rowen didn’t see how. There were stacks of manila folders on every single surface in the room. Ben himself was barely visible behind the stacks as he sat at his desk. Rowen did hear him groan when the door opened. “I told you to get some sleep.”

  “How can I sleep after what I heard?” Rose demanded.

  “That’s a fair point,” said Rowen. “I mean, it’s not like I could get back to sleep either. Margo being arrested is kind of a big deal.”

  “And you involved Rowen.” Ben stood from behind his desk. He frowned at the sight of the two women in front of him. “Great.” He pushed a stack of folders aside before sinking back down into his chair. “Look, I’m not sure why either of you came down here. There isn’t anything to be done until bail is set. When that happens, I’m sure Margo will call one of you.”

  “Yeah right,” Rowen scoffed. “She’d be too ashamed.”

  Ben raised an eyebrow. “How does she expect to pay bail then?”

  “Jasper,” Rowen said plainly.

  “Ah.” Ben nodded as if that was indeed a likely scenario he hadn’t considered. “Well, that’s none of my business.”

  “It’s Greensmith family business,” Rose pointed out. “That makes it your business.”

  “Yes, Honey, but I’m also the Chief of Police. I can’t play favorites or pull strings here. If Margo wants to call Jasper to bail her out, that’s her business.”

  “But—” Rose began.

  Ben shot his wife a look that said he wasn’t going to argue this with her. “It seems to me that you would be better off talking to Jasper about all this,” he pointed out
.

  Rose gave a little huff. “Fine. I guess that’s fair.” She glanced back, making sure the door was shut behind them. “Can you at least tell us what happened?”

  Ben didn’t look like he wanted to. He was staring fixedly at his laptop, like if he ignored them long enough, they would go away. “Fine,” he relented, closing his laptop. “But only because the rest of the station is going to assume I already filled you in.”

  “Like they’d care,” said Rowen. Telling them what Margo had been caught doing seemed like such a minor breech of the rules, it wasn’t even worth mentioning. Then again, that could easily be why Rowen tended to get herself into trouble with some regularity. She was willing to overlook most minor to major lawbreaking if it was for the greater good.

  “She was caught breaking into the Waite house.” He gave his wife a knowing look. “But I’m sure you already heard that part.”

  “I don’t know what you expected me to do,” Rose said under her breath, giving a little huff.

  “I know, I know.” Ben got back to the meat of the story. “Well, no one was in the home. Janice Waite and her son went to stay at a hotel. Someone called in an anonymous tip that it looked like someone was in the house.”

  “An anonymous tip?” Rowen repeated.

  “Yeah, that’s what I said.” Ben didn’t elaborate. “One of my men drove by the house, investigated, and found Margo. He called for backup; they picked her up. Seems she was snooping around. Doesn’t look like she stole anything, but the general consensus is that she was looking for a lead for your Inquirer. My men didn’t do anything wrong here. I know you’re both angry and frustrated, but Margo was in the wrong.”

  Rose glanced at Rowen before nodding. “We know.”

  “Do you know why the heck she was there?” asked Ben. Even he sounded like he was kind of surprised by this. The Greensmith girls had been known to do stupid things before, but Margo wasn’t the sort to get into this particular brand of trouble. She didn’t tend to stick her neck out when she could help it.

  “Natalie,” said Rowen.

  “Natalie?” Ben raised an eyebrow. “That ghost?” Even he remembered who Natalie was. Rowen had definitely kept that evil, chaotic little spirit around too long. “I thought you sent her away ages ago.”