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

by Raven Snow

  “I don’t think so.” Rowen had done her usual digging on the family. She hadn’t memorized addresses, but she had glanced at them. This particular road didn’t sound familiar.

  Finally, the car stopped in a cul-de-sac, popping two wheels up onto the curb and turning off the engine. That made things especially awkward. Rowen hadn’t realized the road would end quite like this. She had to turn around.

  “Don’t turn around!” Willow squealed when Rowen started to cut the wheel. “They’ll know we were following them and get our license plate!”

  Would they? They might. Rowen panicked and pulled into the nearest driveway like she owned it. “This was a bad decision. We messed up.”

  “We?”

  Rowen cut the car engine. There was already a car in the driveway. Already, she could see someone peeking out through the blinds. Getting out and waltzing up to the front door felt like a distinctly bad idea. Rowen started to glance up at her rearview mirror, but a knock on her window made her jump instead. She looked over to see Lucas frowning at her through the glass. So much for being stealthy. Margo was right. She was terrible at it.

  Rowen turned the key in the ignition. She rolled backward out of the driveway and parked on the curb like the others had. She popped the car door open and stepped out. “Hey. Lucas, right?”

  “Why were you following me?” asked Lucas, his expression a scowl.

  Rowen opened her mouth and stumbled through the beginnings of a few excuses before finally coming out with part of the truth. “It seemed suspicious that you were coming all the way out here. I wanted to see what you were up to.”

  “I’m not up to anything,” Lucas said defensively.

  “Hey, you know those people?” asked Mohawk, sticking his bright red head out of the driver’s side window.

  “Sort of,” Lucas called back.

  “Cool.” Mohawk started the car engine and started to turn around in the cul-de-sac.

  Lucas’ eyes went wide. “Hey!” He ran after the car as it pulled away.

  “You can catch a ride home with them!” yelled Mohawk. Pixie Cut cackled with laughter.

  They weren’t friends after all then, Rowen noted. She walked to the middle of the cul-de-sac to where Lucas stood, still staring after those who had just abandoned him. “We can give you a ride home. It’s no trouble,” she assured him. “I know you don’t have any reason to trust us, especially after last night, but—”

  Lucas turned on Rowen, his eyes narrowed. “I don’t care about that,” he snapped. “Just leave before I call the cops. I’ve got stuff to do. I can find my own way home after that.”

  “Can you?” Rowen wasn’t so sure about that. A cab ride from here to Lainswich would be expensive even for her. She hadn’t seen a bus stop on the way here either. “I guess your mom could pick you up.”

  “No,” Lucas said quickly, like that had been a threat on Rowen’s part. “There’s something I have to do here. She doesn’t need to know about it.”

  “What’s that?” asked Rowen. “Maybe we could help,” she added when Lucas just kept frowning at her.

  “You just want a good story for your paper,” said Lucas.

  Rowen raised her hands, palms out. “I just want to figure out what happened to your dad. This won’t go in the paper. I’m not sure how I can convince you of that, but it’s the truth.”

  Lucas stared at her for several more seconds. He glanced over his shoulder next, like he was making sure the teens that had driven him here had really gone. He swore. “Don’t tell my mom about this. Promise.”

  “Promise,” Rowen said immediately, thankful Lucas didn’t realize that she was the one in the wrong here. She shouldn’t be following a kid like this. “What are you doing here?”

  Again, Lucas looked over his shoulder. “Same thing as you, I guess. I’m trying to figure out who murdered my dad.”

  “And what does that have to do with this neighborhood?”

  “Let’s talk in the car.” Lucas was a little too willing to just get into a car with strangers, but Rowen didn’t argue. She went back to the driver’s side. Lucas got in the back.

  “Hey,” said Willow, raising a hand in greeting and putting on an uncertain smile. “I’m Willow.”

  “Lucas,” said Lucas.

  “So, what were you looking into?” Rowen prompted. “What brought you here?”

  Lucas nodded and gazed out the window. He bounced his feet on the floorboard and drummed his fingers on his knees. This didn’t seem like a kid capable of murdering his own father. He was twitchy, nervous when it came down to it. “There’s this guy that lives around here. Dad used to go golfing with him a lot. He came over to the house a bunch, too. He was probably Dad’s best friend, but no one ever mentioned him to the cops.”

  “What’s his name?” asked Rowen.

  “Marvin Lords.”

  Ah. So Lucas was suspicious of that name, too. “You think he might have murdered your father?”

  Lucas shrugged. “I dunno, but I think it’s weird no one mentioned him to the cops.”

  “Did you ask your mom about it?”

  “No, but…” Lucas took a deep breath, like he didn’t want to say what came next. “Mom was spending a lot of time with Marvin before Dad got murdered.”

  “I see.”

  “Do you think she was having an affair?” asked Willow.

  Lucas shot her a dirty look. His heart wasn’t in it, though. He sighed. “I dunno. Maybe. Mom and Dad had been having a lot of trouble for a while. I know they were talking about divorce.”

  “So, what? You think Marvin murdered your father to be with your mom?” asked Rowen, trying to make sure she had this right.

  Again, Lucas shrugged. “I don’t know. I just know that it’s weird no one has mentioned him.”

  “So why don’t you mention him to the police?” asked Rowen.

  Another shrug.

  “He’s afraid,” said Willow. “He’s afraid that if this Marcus guy killed his father, then his mother will be implicated too.”

  “My mom didn’t murder him,” Lucas said, firmly.

  “All right,” said Rowen, even though she wasn’t sure Lucas actually believed that himself. “So Marcus is worth looking into. What exactly were you planning to do here?”

  “Look into it.”

  “And how were you going to do that?”

  “The same way your sister or whatever did, I guess,” said Lucas, raising an eyebrow at Rowen like he was issuing her a challenge. To his credit, he did have the moral high ground here. “What was she looking for anyway?”

  “Evidence,” Rowen said after being silent for just a little too long.

  “Did she find anything?”

  Rowen was even more reluctant to answer that. Willow ended up doing it for her. “She found a journal of yours that had some questionable symbols in it.”

  “Willow,” Rowen hissed.

  Lucas’ eyes were wide. “You think I had something to do with my dad’s murder? You’re not the only ones looking into this stuff, you know. Those were symbols I saw and recorded.”

  “Where did you see them?” asked Rowen.

  “That’s none of your business,” Lucas shot back.

  “I know for a fact this guy’s name has already been mentioned to the Tarricville police. They’ll investigate.”

  “Like they’ll make it past the front door. I gotta look into this for myself.”

  Rowen took a deep breath. This wasn’t getting them anywhere. “All right. Which house belongs to this Marvin guy? Can you point it out for us?”

  “It’s down the street a ways. I didn’t want to be parked near it. I need to sneak up there so I won’t be seen.”

  “Tell me the address.” Rowen didn’t like this, but she didn’t think Lucas was going to back down. Besides, it sounded like he might be on to something. Rowen just hoped she didn’t get arrested. It would really be something having two Greensmiths arrested back to back in two different cities for
, roughly, the same reasons. “I’ll go check it out.”

  “No way,” said Lucas. “It was my dad. I’m going.”

  “I’m not going to let you go break into a house by yourself.”

  “Then come with me.” Lucas didn’t sound like he liked the idea. It sounded more like he was making a compromise.

  “I can still call your mom,” said Rowen.

  “Fine, then I’ll tell her you followed me after school.”

  He had her there. Rowen groaned. “Fine. We need somewhere better to park than this, though.”

  “Leave it to me,” said Willow. “I’ll watch the car. I’ve been arrested for trespassing one time too many, thanks.”

  ***

  Rowen and Lucas got out of the car and let Willow drive away. She was to find a place to wait nearby, probably at the gas station they had passed before turning into the subdivision. There were some woods behind the houses, and Rowen insisted that they walk through those. Walking right down the street felt wrong. Better they weren’t completely out in the open.

  Lucas led the way. He seemed to have a general idea of where he was going, even in the woods. “I came here a few times with my dad,” he explained as they walked. “They have a swimming pool. We’d use it in the summer.”

  Rowen smelled the pool before she saw it. It was behind a fence; one Rowen was barely tall enough to look over when she stood on her tiptoes. “People could be in there,” she pointed out. The longer she had to think about what they were about to do, the worse of an idea it seemed.

  “I didn’t see their car out front,” said Lucas, frowning at Rowen. “Marvin is at work until, like, five or six. His wife works at a homeless shelter. She’ll be back even later… You know, you don’t have to come with if you’re chickening out. I can do this by myself.”

  “And how would you even get in?”

  Lucas took something from his pocket and held it up so she could see. “It was my dad’s. It should let us in, assuming they haven’t changed the locks.”

  “And if they have an alarm system?” asked Rowen. “What then?”

  “I—” Lucas didn’t have an answer. His hands tightened around the fence. The realization that there might be an alarm clearly upset him.

  Rowen sighed. “I can probably disarm it, if there is one.” She was fairly good with that sort of thing. “Come on. Let’s hurry.” She led the way around to the front. There was no way she was going to attempt climbing over that fence. She just hoped none of the neighbors happened to see and get suspicious.

  Lucas used his key. Rowen swept past him and inside. Sure enough, there was an alarm. It beeped rhythmically, indicating that it was about to send for help if it wasn’t disarmed soon. Rowen went to it. She covered the number pad with one hand, closed her eyes and cleared her mind.

  “Hurry up,” said Lucas.

  “Shh,” Rowen hissed. She kept right on concentrating. Suddenly it came to her. She could see the combination plainly in her mind’s eye. She punched it in. The alarm stopped beeping.

  “Did you do it right?” asked Lucas.

  Rowen nodded. “Yeah. All right. Start looking. Try not to disturb anything. Don’t even touch things if you can help it.”

  Lucas was already pulling on a glove. He’d prepared for this, it seemed. He tossed Rowen the right-hand glove. “We’re gonna have to touch some stuff,” he reasoned.

  “What exactly are you hoping to find here?” Rowen asked.

  Lucas shrugged. “Something incriminating… I’ll know it when I see it.”

  This kid had seen too many movies. Chances were they were breaking into the home of some innocent guy. Worst case scenario, he had an affair with Edward Waite’s wife. That wasn’t exactly a jail-able offense… though, it could be grounds for wanting Edward dead. Rowen took a deep breath and got to searching.

  The house was very nice. The Lords family appeared to be well-traveled. They had a lot of pictures of foreign landmarks set up against exotic souvenirs. There were ornate daggers and stone carvings. It all looked very old and expensive. The pictures told Rowen that the Lords were somewhat older than she had expected. Marvin Lord had hair that was completely white. His thick beard made him look a bit like a fit Santa Claus. Was this really the sort of guy that Janice would have an affair with? Marvin was by no means an unattractive guy, but he looked a little old for her. Perhaps Janice was into older men.

  Rowen tried to close her eyes and feel out the house. That was easier said than done. There didn’t seem to be a whole lot to go on here. It felt like your average house. There were good feelings and bad ones. There wasn’t anything too overwhelmingly negative that had seeped into the foundations. Rowen climbed the stairs. She found what seemed to be a home office. With her gloved hand, she opened a filing cabinet. It was full of files, but there didn’t seem to be anything useful among them. Rowen sighed. It would help if she knew what she was even looking for.

  In the bedroom, said a familiar voice.

  Rowen spun, her heart forgetting how to do its job for a few seconds. Was someone else in the house, she wondered. It seemed that way. “What?” she said, softly.

  In the bedroom, the voice repeated.

  Rowen realized who it was then. “Natalie.” She glared at the empty air. “You were supposed to move on. Wasn’t that the deal?”

  It was, Natalie agreed. But, turns out saying all that stuff to my sister wasn’t as satisfying as I had hoped it would be.

  “Tough. I’m not doing anything else for you. And, if you go after my family and try to get them to do you favors again, I’ll force you to move on.”

  Geez. Don’t be so hostile. I didn’t even ask for anything. I’m here out of the goodness of my heart, really.

  “You don’t have a heart. You’re dead.”

  Well, I’m here out of just goodness then. I want to see this through. I can help.

  Rowen considered that for a moment. “You feel guilty,” she realized. “You feel bad about what happened with Margo.”

  The air thrummed with negative feelings, mostly annoyance. Natalie didn’t want the blame for that. I like Margo, she said after several seconds of silence. I didn’t mean to get her into any sort of trouble. I want to see this thing through. Really. Now, go look in the bedroom. I’m trying to help.

  Rowen sighed. “Fine,” she relented. “But remember my warning. I’m not putting up with anything else from you.”

  The bedroom wasn’t far. Like the office, it was upstairs. Rowen walked down a hall lined with big, expensive-looking oil paintings. The bedroom itself had a big canopy bed and gorgeous wooden furniture.

  I wish I’d lived in a home like this, Natalie said, wistful.

  “What am I looking for?” asked Rowen, unwilling to let Natalie get off topic. “You said go to the bedroom. I’m here. So, what is it that I’m looking for?”

  You don’t have to be rude, Natalie grumbled. On the dresser and the vanity. There are some pictures.

  Rowen went to the vanity first. Like all the furniture in the room, it looked expensive and handmade. There was a lot of high-end makeup organized neatly on top of it. There were indeed a couple of pictures. They looked like old pictures. A young woman sat on a sofa in one of them. There was a baby on her knee. She smiled in black and white, one slim arm wrapped around the child. Rowen looked at the other picture on the vanity. In this one, the same woman from the first picture stood with a young man. Between them was a small boy in a fancy little suit. Rowen still didn’t see the significance. “So?”

  That’s the Lords, right? said Natalie. And their son? Look at the picture on the dresser.

  Rowen went to the dresser next. It was there that she saw what Natalie was getting at. She froze. Everything froze. Dark hair, pronounced cheekbones, a frame that was tall and lanky. It was Rory. Rowen’s body forced her to start breathing again. “What in the world?”

  See? I helped.

  Rowen might have been more thankful if Natalie didn’t sound so very pleased
with herself. She might also be more thankful if she wasn’t completely horrified. Of course Rory had something to do with all of this. He was dating Tiffany. Everyone who dated Tiffany was defective in some horrible and violent way. Why hadn’t she thought to look into the man’s background before now?

  There had to be something else here. Rowen felt sure of that now. This was too large of a coincidence. “Did you find anything else?” asked Rowen, taking out her phone to snap a photo of the photo.

  I’ll keep looking.

  “Thanks.” Rowen couldn’t believe she had just thanked Natalie. Maybe she really had meant what she said. Maybe she did just want to set things right. Rowen took a quick look around the room and headed back downstairs when she didn’t find anything else. She needed to check and see what Lucas was up to. It probably wasn’t a good idea to leave him on his own for too long… It probably wasn’t a good idea to let him come in here at all.

  “Lucas?” Rowen called once she was back on the ground floor. She didn’t want to raise her voice too much. She doubted the neighbors would hear, but it just felt wrong somehow. She was trying to maintain a certain level of stealth. “Lucas?” she called again.

  He’s downstairs. The door is down the hall, said Natalie.

  “Ah.” Rowen hadn’t been aware that there was a downstairs. Rowen found the door to the basement in the kitchen. The stairs were bare, unfinished wood—probably the oldest part of the house. The basement felt like an entirely different home, like it wasn’t attached to all that fancy, expensive stuff upstairs. It wasn’t even all that well lit. Rowen had to grope her way around the wall as she headed down, using her phone to light the way. “Lucas?”

  This time, she actually got an answer. “Down here.”

  Rowen followed the voice. The light from her phone bounced off of a pool table and a fridge. Maybe there had once been plans to turn this space into a game room. “Is there a light switch?” She was already feeling around for one.

  “Yeah. I tried it, but the light blew.”

  Rowen’s fingers found the switch. She tried it herself, but Lucas was right. Still dark. Rowen let go of the wall and took a few steps forward. She spotted Lucas. His phone was significantly brighter than hers. He must have been using one of those flashlight apps or something. Rowen went to him. “Be careful down here,” she warned.