Enchanter: The Flawed Series Book Four

by Becca J. Campbell

  Graham’s jaw tensed. “I have something to tell you.”

  “What is it?”

  “Come back here. I want to show you what I found in between customers.”

  Jade rounded the desk as he pulled up a page on the computer.

  “I found him,” Graham said. “Remember my dream? I found the guy.”

  “The one who fell off the bridge?” She’d intended to look first thing when she got back, but apparently he’d beaten her to it.

  He nodded. “It took some searching. I kept trying keywords and phrases like ‘murder on overpass’ and ‘victim pushed’ and stuff like that, but I finally found it tagged under suicide.”

  Jade read the headline. “‘Young African American Male Jumps from Bridge.’ Wait—jumps? It was a suicide?”

  Graham pointed to a line further down. “‘Witnesses saw the man, later identified as Rasmussen Freeman, jump….’”

  She frowned. “But we were looking for proof that Violet killed him, right? Isn’t that what you saw?”

  “In my dream, I didn’t see the part where he fell. But I think she was controlling him.”

  Jade nodded slowly. “So maybe she made him jump.”

  “And down here,” Graham pointed to another part, “look—it says they didn’t find a car. He was out on the highway outside of town at the top of an overpass—it’s not very likely he walked all that way from his home or wherever. And just to jump. Someone was with him. And I’ll bet it was Violet.”

  “So she’s somehow controlling people.”

  Graham sighed. “There are still pieces we’re missing, but I’ve seen enough to think it might be possible.”

  “How well do you know her?” Jade asked.

  “Well, like I said, we used to be close. But we haven’t had that sort of bond in forever.”

  “You know where she lives?”

  “Yeah. I was at her condo the other day. I promised Dad I’d check up on her while he and Violet’s mom are away.”

  “Perfect,” Jade said.

  He frowned. “Why?”

  “I’m going to talk to her, and I’d like your help.”

  Graham hesitated then gave a nod. “Okay. I get off work at four.”

  ~

  Violet had Logan call in sick on Friday so he could spend the morning cleaning up her BMW. After his little episode, it had needed a thorough vacuuming, and the window needed taping up with plastic. While he worked, she got in her workout. Afterward, she sent him to the kitchen to prepare food.

  They were halfway through lunch when her cell phone buzzed. She ignored it and savored the bite of perfectly cooked salmon. Logan had turned out to be a phenomenal cook, and the savory flavors of the meal stimulated her appetite.

  When the phone buzzed again, she frowned and pulled it out. Holly had sent her a string of text messages asking her if she’d heard the news about Ras’s suicide.

  Tossing the phone aside, Violet finished her entire plate.

  “What do you want to do after dinner?” Logan asked.

  She thought about that. Other than the good food and the royalty treatment she got from him, things with Logan were getting a bit stagnant. She thought of when he’d nearly tried to escape and had wounded himself in the process. A flash of pride had surged through her at seeing him punished in this way. She wanted more of it.

  Simply having him was no longer enough. Now, she wanted him to really feel what he’d done to her. He needed to be punished for leaving her on the side of the highway.

  After dinner, Logan was loading the dishwasher when the doorbell rang. Violet frowned and went to look out the peephole. Holly stood on her doorstep, hand on her hip, glancing around.

  Violet sighed. She didn’t want to deal with this right now.

  Holly knocked again. “I know you’re in there, Violet, and I’m not going until you open up and talk to me. The police were asking me questions, and I didn’t tell them anything about you and Ras, but I need some answers.”

  “Just a minute,” Violet called. “My hands are messy—let me clean up.” Hurrying back into the kitchen, she glanced at Logan. He was still occupied. She pulled out the drawers, searching, but not finding what she needed. In the utility room she found zip ties and duct tape. Violet had learned the hard way that transferring her power from one person to another could get messy, and Holly might want to have a long chat.

  “Logan, I need you to come with me for a minute.”

  He gave a questioning glance but put down the dish he was holding and followed her to the utility room.

  She made him sit on the floor, where she bound his wrists and ankles. “This shouldn’t be for long—just for a bit while I take care of something.” Before he could answer, she tore off a strip of duct tape and plastered it across his mouth. A surge of satisfaction rose in her at seeing him restrained.

  After closing the laundry room door, she grabbed one of the tall-backed chairs from her dining room and braced it under the doorknob. Hopefully Logan would be impaired enough not to escape out the window before she could deal with Holly. Good thing she didn’t have his super strength to worry about.

  Violet opened the front door and greeted her friend.

  Holly’s brow was scrunched into an ugly frown when she entered. Violet closed the door behind her, subtly flicking the lock—just in case.

  “You know about Ras?” Holly asked.

  “I heard what happened,” Violet said. “Saw it on the news.”

  “It’s terrible!” Holly said, putting a hand over her mouth. “I still can’t believe he’d do something like that. It’s not…it’s just not who he was—you know? He was so strong and confident and optimistic.”

  Violet shrugged casually. “You never know what people are capable of. Everyone has secrets.”

  Holly shook her head. “I refuse to believe he killed himself. Something else must’ve happened. Maybe someone pushed him. You know, they never found his car—and he was way out on I-25. He wouldn’t have just wandered out there.”

  “Who knows what that boy was thinking.”

  Holly narrowed her eyes. “If anyone knew, it would be you.”

  “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “It means, you stole him from me, so you must know something about him. Whenever I called him, he couldn’t stop talking about you. He was over at your place half the time.”

  Violet hadn’t realized Ras had answered his phone while under her spell. She realized that she needed to make sure Logan didn’t have a cell phone on him. “So?” she said.

  “So—he wasn’t in his right mind. Ever since that day we helped you move in, something was wrong with him. I can’t explain what, I just know he wasn’t himself.”

  Violet shrugged.

  Holly’s gaze scanned the apartment then landed on the two sets of glasses left on the dining table. “Wait—you have company? Who ate dinner with you?”

  A soft thud came from the utility room before Violet could answer.

  “Is someone in there?”

  “My boyfriend,” Violet said.

  “Your boyfriend? What boyfriend? I thought you were seeing Ras.”

  “Not anymore—obviously.”

  “Who is it?”

  “Someone from the school. He works in the history department.”

  “Wait. Not that Logan guy—the one we saw at the campground last year?”

  “Actually, yes.”

  “But last year you said things didn’t go well with him. You were all in a hurry to leave the campground.”

  Violet clenched her jaw tight. A tense breath slipped between her lips, but she forced her voice to stay light. “I decided to forgive him. He was so distraught when he thought he’d lost me for good.”

  “Really? So you’re together?”

  Violet was tired of the questions and of Holly. It was time to take control of the situation. She pulled the colored strands from Logan and tossed them toward Holly, but they didn’t stick.

  “
And when did you break it off with Ras? Or were you still dating when he—” Holly’s throat swelled, and she couldn’t finish the question.

  Then Violet remembered she couldn’t control Holly without that first touch. She took a step forward, but Holly was still several paces out of reach. Just then a thudding sound came from the laundry room.

  “What’s that?” Holly asked

  “It’s just the washer,” Violet said. “It gets off balance sometimes.”

  The noise increased to a loud banging.

  Holly’s eyes went wide. “No way that’s a washer. It sounds like someone’s trying to break through a wall.”

  “Neighbors are crazy.” Violet gave an indifferent shrug.

  Holly’s brows pulled down. She stepped past Violet as if to investigate.

  Before Violet could grab her arm, she was out of reach. But the more she thought about it, the less enchanting Holly seemed like her best option. The minute Violet released her, Holly would just get suspicious all over again. No, she needed a more permanent solution.

  While she considered, other thoughts played in her mind. Since her accident, Holly had shown her little attention. She’d only showed up at the hospital once, and she’d been texting the entire time. Probably talking to Ras. And, what was more, the only times Violet had heard from her friend in the last month, she had been calling to complain. Once upon a time, they had been equals, but Violet had grown into something more. She could no longer accept halfhearted adoration. Now, she deserved the full devotion of any would-be friend.

  The dragon of power inside her rumbled at this. It remembered the thrill that had come from Ras’s death. This was the ultimate surrender to her dominance.

  Holly approached the utility room.

  A glance toward the dishwasher offered Violet a plethora of food-coated knives to choose from. Ras’s pool of thick blood still teased at her mind, but she hated cleaning up messes. There had to be an easier way. She trailed after her Holly, snatching the woman’s abandoned handbag and hiding it behind her back as she followed. Violet’s hand closed around the thick, metal chain that served as the handle.

  “It’s coming from this way,” Holly said, pointing toward the laundry room. “But it can’t be your neighbors. That’s not even a shared wall. Isn’t the only thing through here your garage? And why’s there a chair blocking the door?” Holly spun to face Violet, her eyes wide with realization. “Are you keeping somebody back there?”

  Violet pressed her lips together as she considered her best response.

  “Oh my God—you are! It’s the professor, isn’t it?”

  Violet arched a disdainful eyebrow. “You act like there’s something wrong with a little blindfold-and-handcuffs every now and then.”

  “You’re telling me this is about sex? In the laundry room? I don’t believe it.”

  Violet released a condescending chuckle. “Honey, don’t judge. You don’t have the maturity to understand adult entertainment.”

  Holly shook her head. “Then why is he in the laundry room?”

  Violet considered this.

  “You have a swanky loft with a king-sized bed. Why in the world would you be doing it next to the dirty laundry?”

  “Good vibrations?” Violet offered.

  “What, up against the dryer? No way. You’d never go for that.” She shook her head again, and her eyes narrowed. “This is something else.” Holly turned to the door, reaching for the chair that blocked the knob. “I don’t know what he did, but I think the guy deserves his freedom at least. Geez, Violet, sometimes you’re such a—”

  Violet slung the purse chain over Holly’s head and pulled it taut across her neck, choking off her words abruptly.

  “Really, Holly? What am I?” Violet’s voice was as creamy as melted chocolate, and dripping with the same sweetness as she tugged the metal tighter.

  Holly coughed, and her hands grasped futilely at the chain around her neck.

  Unable to see her friend’s face, Violet imagined what expression might peer beneath the girl’s straining features. Confusion and perhaps wounded pride. Undoubtedly surprise. “You know, I never could’ve guessed things would’ve panned out this way either, but sometimes you just have to take life as it comes.”

  Holly wriggled, her body twisting frantically from side to side. Violet ratcheted her grip on the chain, feeling her biceps burn pleasantly hot. Her workouts were paying off, she thought with satisfaction.

  “I know we’ve been through a lot together,” she continued. “High school—blech. And through college, we got even tighter. You know what your undoing was? It was picking Ras. I mean how could you consider a guy like that? Sure, I enjoyed him for a while, but he was too cocky and independent for his own good. He was only fun while being restrained.” She chuckled as a memory played in her mind. “Like a little puppy wanting so badly to play with his mistress.”

  Holly’s movements slowed, her fight losing all of its steam.

  “But take away that influence, and Ras was a Class A jerk.”

  Holly’s body twitched. Her hands released the chain around her neck. Her arms fell limp at her sides.

  “You should’ve put me first, not him,” Violet said, and the regret in her voice was all for Holly. For the poor decision her once-friend had made. “I will be appreciated. Always.”

  Violet suddenly registered the fact that Holly had gone completely still. “Well, then. I guess we’re done here.” She released her hold on the chain. Holly’s body sagged to the floor with a muffled thud.

  Crack! Something hard had slammed against the door to the laundry room. The wooden chair shook but held.

  Only then did Violet’s attention turn to the sounds of Logan’s escalating escape attempt. With the Holly distraction, she’d forgotten he was still free of her control.

  Another crack vibrated the door, and the chair shot away, falling and splintering into several broken pieces. The door burst open.

  Logan’s hulking form stood in the opening. His side of the door was busted in with slivers of wood sticking out like angry teeth. He was still cuffed, and one side of his shirt was torn at the shoulder. His face was all angry lines around the duct tape that still covered his lips. There was a hunger in his eyes, and though it gave her pride, it wasn’t the response she wanted from him. He was a breath away from attacking her.

  Violet uncoiled the loose threads and sent them at him. Their tips sank into his head, and his expression instantly changed. His eyelids widened, and his shoulders relaxed. A haze of confusion hovered over him.

  Violet smiled. “Hey, mister antsy. Someone just couldn’t handle being away from me for another moment, could he?” She stepped over Holly’s prone form and closed the gap between them. Her finger trailed down Logan’s cheek to the edge of the duct tape but didn’t pull it off just yet. Beneath the sticky film, his cheek lifted in a goofy grin.

  “I know what you want,” she said. “And there’ll be plenty of time for that. But first I need your help with a little task.” She glanced at the body lying behind her. She carefully peeled the tape off his lips.

  “How does that sound?”

  He was still beaming at her. “It sounds great.”

  Holly’s blue eyes stared up at Violet, empty. Her head lay cocked backward at an odd angle. The imprint of the chain wrapped her throat had darkened to an ugly purple.

  Violet stood with a hand folded on one hip and considered what to do with the body. Logan hovered next to her, waiting for her bidding. Anything that involved removing Holly from the condo seemed complicated and risky. But keeping her here wasn’t an option either.

  “What do you want me to do?” Logan asked.

  Violet had no answer. Then, dipping back into her repertoire of watching crime dramas, an idea came. It was the simplest thing she could think of, but it would require one thing she didn’t have: a huge load of lye.

  She looked at Logan. “Your strength would’ve been handy right now,” she muttered.
/>   He arched a brow. “What do you need?”

  “I think we can lift her together. The stairs will be tricky, though. Can you grab her under the arms? We’re going to move her to the bathroom.”

  Logan did as requested, lifting Holly’s upper half and dragging her toward the half bath.

  “No, not there.” Violet pointed to the second floor. “Upstairs. The master bathroom. We need to get her into the tub.”

  He didn’t question her, just swung around and went the other direction. Holly’s head had fallen forward and lay against her chest. Her long blonde hair trailed over his arm as he pulled her. When he reached the stairway, Holly’s heels caught on the lip of the bottom step. Violet came forward, grabbing her once best friend by the ankles and lifting her legs so they could get her up the stairs. Violet couldn’t believe how heavy Holly was despite her thin frame.

  At the top, Logan paused to catch his breath, but he didn’t complain. They lugged Holly into the bathroom and dumped her into the tub. Violet pulled off Holly’s shoes. With a little tugging, she managed to fold the girl’s legs beneath her, which made her head slide down beneath the porcelain edge. Violet straightened and surveyed Logan.

  “Right. Now I have a little errand to run. But first—do you have a cell phone on you?” She didn’t want to leave him with a way to call for help.

  He tugged it out of his pocket, and when he dropped it into her palm, she snorted. “A flip phone? Wow, what are you, living in 2002?” She pocketed the phone and crossed the bedroom to her closet. After rifling through a dusty box on the top shelf, she found a long, black witch wig she’d used one Halloween and a baseball cap one of her ex-boyfriends had left at her place. With her free hand, she grabbed Logan’s flannel shirt from over the chair.

  Props in hand, Violet descended the stairs with Logan nipping at her heels. She told him to stay put. She retrieved another set of handcuffs and the duct tape, then went to work making sure he couldn’t get away while she ran her errand. The metal banister should hold him, especially without his super strength.