Dark Secrets: A Paranormal Romance Anthology

by Colleen Gleason

  I’d thought about going just a few weeks ago, but I couldn’t now. Not with the FPD investigation, a possible killer in my back yard, and the sheriff doing everything he could to throw me under the bus. “You already told them I wasn’t coming. And anyway, your aunt doesn’t want me there. I think she’s afraid I might convince her baby girl to run away with me with my allure of a plebeian life and mundane job. You know, like I did to you.”

  “Just come with me. I’d feel better, and Peter will be there.”

  Charlie was the closest thing to family I had, but her real family hated me. At least most of them did. Her cousin Peter and I got along really well, and I knew deep down Charlie wanted us to fall madly in love and get married, truly making us family. She knew it would never happen, but she still held out hope.

  “I’m not going. I already sent a present, and Peter promised to come visit us soon. Anyway, I need to take care of things here.” Charlie looked as if she was going to argue, so I quickly added, “Is Zoe going with you?”

  She pressed her lips into a tight line and shook her head. “She came with me to the solstice celebration, so I figured that she filled her family quota for the year. Besides, she has her shop.”

  The only person Charlie’s family hated more than me was Zoe. Not because she was a pleb, mind you; they weren’t bigots as her aunt told me once. No, it was more the fear that Charlie would end up with a woman, thus ending their precious bloodline. Sometimes I thought her father and aunts were only interested in Charlie because they wanted her to have babies, like some broodmare.

  “Be thankful you have Zoe. I’m not sure you can find anyone else who’d put up with your family,” I said in all seriousness and started back toward the bedroom. “If we are going to make it before noon, I need to get my butt in gear. I’m going to get a shower, and if you expect me to be at all functional, I need coffee and your hangover potion when I get out.”

  “I misspoke earlier. My boss is bitchy AND demanding.”

  “Aren’t you glad you have your own place now and only have to put up with her at the office?”

  “Hmm.” She stroked her chin as if she were considering this. “There are advantages,” she said with a smile. “But then again, it also means I can’t slip mood stabilizers in your coffee anymore, and it’s showing.”

  “You wouldn’t dare!”

  “You’re right. I couldn’t let you go without it. I still get you at the office.”

  “You evil witch!”

  I tossed my pillow at her head, but she ducked and it flew past her. “I’ll get right on that coffee. You need it.”

  I sighed, throwing my hands up in defeat, and decided it was best not to know what—if anything—she was putting in my coffee. I might have to start making it myself.

  It took us two hours to get moving and to the office. When we arrived, Charlie and I both had mounds of paperwork to work on, leaving Dan to handle what few calls there were. As I worked through the schedule for the next week, I realized Charlie was right. The winter was usually our busiest time. More people die during the months of December through March than any other time of the year, so when I saw that January had been slower than December, I was puzzled. I fished out the call log, and I flipped through it. Then I checked the online obituaries, just for good measure. People in our county were still dying, but their families were taking their business elsewhere. How could I have missed this? I walked down the hall to Charlie’s office with my laptop in hand.

  When she noticed I’d entered the room, Charlie looked up from a stack of bills she was preparing. “Hey, Liv. I was hoping to get to your wards today, but I don’t think there’s enough daylight left to reset them. Why don’t you stay in my apartment until I can get back?”

  “I’ll be fine out at the house. But I do want to go over the books with you before you leave. You said last night we’ve been slow. But this isn’t just slow.” I put the laptop down on her desk and pointed to the screen. “People are still dying, but we’re not getting any calls. What’s going on?”

  Charlie sighed and rubbed her head. “I wasn’t trying to keep anything from you. Sally told me the sheriff has been telling people you’re a suspect in those unsolved deaths. I was hoping everything would blow over in a few weeks, but I think it’s starting to affect business.”

  “What?” I took a step back, my head spinning. “Why didn’t you say something earlier? I could have made a statement to the paper. I would have read Sheriff Black the riot act for leaking information.”

  “That’s the reason I didn’t tell you. The last thing you need is to blow up at him. It’s just idle gossip right now. If we just keep going, business as usual, this will all settle down. ”

  “But how long are we supposed to go on with the whole county thinking I’m a psychopath that kills teenagers?” I’m not sure taking five steps and turning around counts as pacing, but that’s what I did, talking more to myself now than Charlie. “Talk might blow over, but scandals like this linger for years. I’ve looked at the books. If we don’t get some regular business soon, Armstrong’s is going to be in the red in less than a month.”

  “Olivia, it’s not that bad. It’s just been a slow month. There are a lot of things going on. Serenity Chapel in Fredrickstown came out with that simplified package in December, and you know how awful the economy has been around here. I told you before the holidays we should look at doing a special.”

  I stopped in my tracks and grasped the back of the chair. I hated packages. Packages gave the industry a terrible reputation. Places like Serenity lured people in with the promise of low prices and simplified arrangements, only for them to find out that there are hundreds, sometimes thousands of dollars in additional costs that weren’t factored into the package deal.

  “Funerals aren’t like value meals. You can’t just throw together items and expect them to work for everyone. People need the flexibility to pick what’s right for their family. If people would just meet with me, I know I could beat Serenity’s pricing and still give them the funeral they want for their loved one.”

  Before my diatribe picked up steam for real, there was a knock on the office door and Dan poked his head in. “Sheriff Black is asking for you, Olivia.”

  I turned to Charlie and pointed my finger. “We need to talk about this, but it can wait until you get back.”

  I left without letting her respond and walked down the hall to my office, still irritated. Sheriff Black was sitting at the small work table in my office with his feet propped up on the other chair. His hat was pulled down over his eyes, and I would have guessed that jackass was actually sleeping if it weren’t for the fact he tensed when I entered the room.

  “Sheriff.”

  “Ms. Harmon.” He tipped up the hat and looked at me. “I’d like to talk to you about that charm you found on the crash victim. Brad tells me you got a threatening note that seemed to indicate you tampered with the evidence.”

  I walked over to my desk and sat, putting a physical barrier and some distance between us. “As I told Officer Richardson at the time, I have no idea what that letter was referring to. I turned all the evidence over to the FPD and shared my findings with the Order representative and your office as is required by law. Furthermore, if I did tamper with the evidence, then it would be their issue, not yours.”

  “I know you think I’m a fool, sweetheart, but I’m fully aware that the car accident and the body found in the lake are connected. If you found some evidence relating to those cases, then I want to know about it.”

  “First off, Sheriff, there’s no solid evidence that Scott Malone was involved with the body we found in the lake. Second, there’s a fallacy in your argument. If they are related, then that would make those cases the FPD’s problem too, so you don’t have to worry about interrogating me. If I find any evidence to connect the cases, I’ll be sure to give Special Agent King the good news.”

  The sheriff sat up. His face turned a deep red as he targeted me with his
finger. “Don’t think you’re getting off that easy, girl. I’m not fooled with this”—he waved his hands—“charade you have going on here. You’re dangerous. A time bomb waiting to go off, and it’s my job to stop you.”

  I wasn’t about to rise to the bait, so I stood up from my desk calmly and opened the door. “Well, Sheriff, it was a pleasure as always. I’m terribly busy. I believe you know the way out.” Without waiting, I headed toward the prep room.

  He strolled out behind me, putting his hat back on. “I’ll be back. I’m not finished with you, Ms. Harmon.”

  Ignoring him, I walked to the back and went downstairs. I crumpled against the prep room’s cold steel door and let out a shuddering breath. It took several minutes before my heart stopped trying to escape my chest, and I collapsed onto the chair in the corner. I didn’t understand how things had gotten so bad.

  Just a few weeks ago, I had been a respected member of this community. Sure, there had been that business in the fall when the body was found in that boat tied to my dock, but that barely garnered a whisper in town. All my issues seemed to trace back to Scott Malone. I wished he’d taken a different road that night. Crashed in a different county. But I knew, deep down, he hadn’t just been passing through. More than ever, I was certain our small town was harboring a viper.

  My phone in my pocket buzzed. The message waiting for me made me feel like a child hiding from a bully, but it was welcome all the same.

  Charlie: He’s gone.

  I turned off the phone and slipped it back into my slacks. Determined to focus on something else, I picked up a clipboard and did the daily inspection of the storage cooler. The least I could do was pretend that I wasn’t hiding. But the sight of the empty gurneys just drove home the fact that I was in trouble. I could always make the bills by pulling from the trust Terry had left, but I didn’t like the idea. I should be able to make it on my own. The whole reason I was here was so I could be a part of the community, and now I wasn’t even sure I could get a cup of coffee at the diner.

  I tossed the clipboard down on the prep table and slammed the door behind me. The phone was in my hand before I reached the stairs.

  “Rick? Have you found anything useful yet?”

  “Hello to you too, Olivia.” His tone mocked me.

  “I’m not in the mood. I need something to prove that I’m not involved in all this, and right now you’re the only one who’s working on my side.”

  “Is everything okay?” I could hear the change in his voice. Now I had his attention.

  “It seems I’m being tried in the court of public opinion. I’m not faring well. So, back to my question: have you found out anything else?”

  “The cases are definitely related. Outside of the fact that all the bodies were young witches just getting ready to head off to academy, they all showed signs of long imprisonment and torture similar to the ones you pulled from the lake.”

  “What about that suspect? The boy that disappeared?”

  “Drew Bushard. From the sounds of it, I think he may have actually been the first victim. Talk around town made it sound like he disappeared right after the first body was found, but after interviewing his mom, I found out he’d been missing for months before the bodies started showing up. She just never reported him missing because he’d threatened to run away. Turns out he took the Hecate test against his family's wishes and scored high enough to secure a spot in an academy. When word got around, it made him an outcast at school. He had a lot of trouble with bullies, especially with the man that lived next door. His mom said he wanted to go to an academy in St. Louis, but she didn’t want him to. She said, and I’m quoting, she wasn’t going to have a witch in her family.”

  I sighed. Having dealt with that kind of rejection from my own mom, I knew exactly how that kid felt. “So her teenage son went missing, and she never reported it?” I couldn’t keep the venom out of my voice.

  “The family tried to keep his test a secret. Seems the town in general doesn’t care for witches. There’s not a single one living within miles of it, and they apparently like it that way.”

  I desperately wanted to believe that this kid just ran off, just ran away from a family and town that didn’t accept him, but a niggling feeling in the back of my mind told me different. “Of the bodies they pulled out of the river there, was one of them an unidentified male?”

  “How’d you guess? The local authorities dismissed this case on the idea Drew Bushard killed these kids and ran off. But the more I look into it, the more I think Drew was one of the victims.”

  “Can you get your hands on the autopsies? I’m not sure I’d be able to ID Drew’s remains, but I might be able to link those killings to the ones here.” I walked over to the file cabinet and pulled out the first case, the girl the FPD had identified as Lilly Palmer. Studying her photos, I said, “If the M.O. was the same, then I can connect them.”

  “I’ll see what I can do. I’m running into real resistance from the locals. They don’t seem to like the fact that I’m poking around a case they consider closed or the fact that I’m with the Order, but the station secretary seems to be receptive. I might be able to persuade her to pass on the information.”

  I didn’t doubt that he’d be able to sweet talk his way into that file. “Just email over the information when you get it, and I’ll take a look.”

  “Not a problem, but this will delay me another day. Since I’m here, I’m going to talk to the Bushards’ neighbor. Glenn—the guy who bullied him—has moved, but his mother, Samantha Black, still lives next door.”

  “I think I can make it another day without your protection. They haven’t come after me with the cuffs yet,” I said, teasing him. “Right now the only thing that’s suffering is my business. Take your time and get any information you can. If there’s information that can help the FPD track down this psycho, I want you to find it.”

  I checked the clock and noticed the time. Charlie would be leaving soon. “I’ve got to go. Keep me posted.” I headed upstairs and made my way to her office.

  Charlie was picking up a stack of invoices and checks from her desk when I entered. “So I heard your boss is a hard ass and has been giving you a rough time.”

  She looked up and shrugged. “She has a lot of things on her plate right now.”

  “I’m sorry I snapped at you earlier,” I offered. The last thing I wanted was for her to leave angry. “I know it’s not your fault. If it’s anyone’s, it’s mine. I don’t know what I ever did to that jackass Mike, but he sure has it bad for me.”

  “I don’t think it’s just you. He’s not really a teddy bear toward me, either. He has a chip on his shoulder. I wish I knew more about him, but it’s funny, I’ve never been able to read him.” She laughed it off. “I think it would make both our lives easier if I could, though.”

  The thought was nice, but I wasn’t sure it would help in this situation. The fact that the sheriff was one of those people that didn’t give off a psychic pulse for Charlie to pick up didn’t surprise me. I could sometimes catch fleeting emotions from him, but they were never clear, usually jumbled. It just proved that the man was the poster child for plebs. He didn’t have an ounce of magic in him.

  “Maybe you should tell him you can’t read him,” I suggested. “He might leave you alone. I think he’s such an ass because he’s paranoid.”

  Charlie chewed on her bottom lip and had a faraway look. “What did it feel like when you tried to read Brad? Was it like your shield? Like a barrier between you?”

  “It was nothing like my shield.” I paused and thought about it. The feeling wasn’t like any shield I’d ever come across. “There wasn’t something blocking me, it was more like there was nothing for me to see. I know that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but I don’t know how else to describe it.”

  “Hmm” was her only comment as she went back to sorting the envelopes. “I’ll be back Friday. Dan will be here, so if you’re not going to stay at my apartment, why do
n’t you stay at the house until I get back.”

  “You have that look. What are you thinking?”

  “I’m not sure yet. I want to talk with Peter. If I’m wrong, he’ll know right away.”

  Peter worked at the Arcane Removal and Cleanup Division of the FPD as a researcher. They specialized in identifying harmful magical objects and disenchanting or containing them. “Talk to me, Charlie. Don’t leave me hanging.”

  “Like I said, I’m not sure, but we could be dealing with more than one shield charm. Which makes me think there might be a powerful charm crafter in the area.”

  “Do you think Mike might have a shield too? I wouldn’t have thought he’d use any magic, even to protect himself, but now I’m not sure.”

  “I don’t know, but something’s off about him.” She tapped her finger on the neat stack of envelopes, lost in thought. “I always thought he was just a hard read, and it’s not like I went out of my way to divine his path. Even so, I would have picked up something with casual contact, but I don’t think I’ve ever touched the man. Not even a handshake.”

  “But why would he want a shield against divination?” I said, still not following her logic.

  “Like I said, let me talk it over with Peter. I might be barking up the wrong tree here, but give Sheriff Black a wide berth. Just stay home.”

  After I agreed to her request, Charlie dropped the envelopes in the mail basket and went upstairs to retrieve her suitcase.

  I went over the schedule with Dan, not that there was much to go over. Not a single viewing or consultation, so he was actually just babysitting the phones.

  “If there’s a death at a residence, give me a call and I’ll come help. I don’t think we should be using the transport company right now.”

  “I’ve got this,” he said, holding a hand up. “It should be a breeze. I promise to call if I need you.”

  And at that, I headed home. I guess I should have been relieved to have the time off. I couldn’t remember when I’d had this much time that was all mine. But to be honest, it felt odd. Almost like a punishment.