Getting out of the car, I walked to the door of the gym and saw myself in the reflection of the door. I hadn't fixed my hair since Daniel messed it up. Sadie was too busy having a nervous breakdown to tell me. Maybe perfection wasn't as easy as I thought.
Quickly running my fingers through my knotted mop of hair. Using the door as my mirror, I saw that it still looked pretty bad, but hey, it was neat and it would have to do. My hair wasn't that important at the moment.
Pulling the door open, I marched through the gym looking for Sutton. I knew she was in there somewhere. It was the only place in town that she knew her mom wouldn’t be. I couldn’t blame her for not wanting to be around that horrible woman.
Looking past the meatheads lifting weights while they looked at themselves in the mirror, I saw Sutton on one of the many treadmills along the back wall of the gym. She had her headphone in her ears and her hair was bopping to the beat of whatever song she was listening to.
Walking in her direction, I tried waving at her, but she didn’t notice. Getting closer to her, I tried waving at her again, but she still didn’t notice. The girl was in the zone.
Seeing the red top button, I pressed it. I felt like I was pulling the fire alarm at school and I was about to get in major trouble. Noticing that she was slowing down, she pulled her headphones off and looked up at me. "What's your problem?" she asked, wiping her forehead with a small towel she had hanging from the treadmill.
“I tried to get your attention, but failed, so I had to resort to this,” I told her, pointing to the stop button.
Taking a huge swig of water from her water bottle, she hopped down from the treadmill. “You have my attention. Now what do you want?” she asked, her usual over the top sweetness completely gone.
I guess our last run in left her with a sour taste in her mouth.
“I want to ask you a few questions.”
“About?” she asked, running in place.
“Your sister’s murder,” I said, watching her closely to see if she showed any signs of guilt.
I couldn’t tell because just like her mother it was like her face was made of plastic. They would have made a killing as poker players because their poker faces were on point.
“I know nothing about it. I don’t live here anymore, remember?”
“I know that. I just have some questions. It’s just procedure,” I assured her, trying to get her to talk. I knew lying to her was wrong, but that’s what lawyers do.
“Okay, fine. You want to go outside and chat?” she asked, before taking another huge gulp of water.
She smiled at me and then headed for the door.
“Sounds perfect,” I replied, following her.
I went over in my head what questions I was going to ask her. I knew I couldn’t hit her with questions about magic without her thinking I was totally bonkers, but I could ask her everything but.
Finding a small and very uncomfortable bench, we sat down. Pulling a random file out of my briefcase/purse, I pretended to be looking over the questions I was supposed to ask her when in reality I was looking at a file that was created when Mrs. Abernathy thought Ms. Etta stole her hummingbird cake recipe to put in her bakery. Yeah, that’s right she wanted to sue her over a hummingbird cake.
The case was closed and everything was squashed when Ms. Etta agreed to give Mrs. Abernathy free desserts for life. Anyone with a brain would have agreed to that because Ms. Etta made the best sweets this side of the Mississippi. Everyone knew that.
“First question, when is the last time you recall speaking with you sister?” I asked, fanning myself.
“A year and a half ago,” she said, rolling her eyes.
Judging from that it didn’t go too well. “What did you talk about?”
She looked at me like I was a busybody, which I was, but so what. "We talked about her like always. Her fiancé, her job, her hair, her skin, and her perfect American dream life. You knew Alison talking to her was almost unbearable," she said, rubbing her arms.
She was wrong. Talking to Alison wasn’t almost unbearable, it was totally unbearable.
"So, I take it you two had one of those famous Talbot spats?" I asked, remembering all of the fights they had in school. Heck, they even fought in the church.
“Yep,” she said, nodding her head.
Writing down her answer to that, I moved on to the next question. “Were you jealous of your sister, Sutton?”
She folded her arms and started shaking her leg. “What do you think? No, I was not jealous of my sister,” she said, attempting to cover the nervousness in her voice.
"From the outside looking in it sure looked that way. You were always pining after Mason and trying to dress just like your sister. If he got a haircut, you got the same exact one. I remember all of those things, Sutton," I said, calling her out.
“Maybe I was, but just because I was jealous of her doesn’t mean I murdered her. Sure, I wanted to dress like her and do everything she did because I thought if I was just like her than my mom would love me the way she loved Alison. And she didn’t deserve Mason because she didn’t want him. She wanted to be with a boy from Cold Creek,” she said, breaking down.
I knew about Aaron, but Sutton didn’t know that. I wanted to see if she could give me any more information on him.
“What boy?” I asked, playing dumb.
“His name is Aaron Golden. She met him on a trip to Cold Creek with mom. She went completely gaga over him, but she had to keep it a secret from mom. I thought about telling mom just so she would be disappointed in Alison instead of me for once, but I couldn’t go through with it.”
Julie Talbot hated Cold Creek. She always called it the boondocks. My mind drifted back to the graveyard and Mrs. Talbot's heated discussion with Aaron. It didn't seem like she didn't know about him. To me, it looked like that had spoken before.
All signs were pointing to Aaron Golden.
Chapter 21
"Thank you for asking me to join you," Abigail said, checking her makeup in the sun visor window.
I didn’t ask her to accompany me to Cold Creek she volunteered and I knew it wasn’t to help me. She wanted an excuse to be around Cade Blackwater. They had been texting nonstop since our first visit to Cold Creek. I had never seen her happier and happy Abigail was good. I liked happy Abigail.
“Um, you’re welcome?” I said, sounding like I was asking a question.
While she flirted with her new boyfriend, I was going to be questioning my top suspect and hopefully ending the whole mystery of who framed Mason. Aaron Golden was Alison's murderer; he just had to be. Everything I had learned about him added up to that he has done it. He was the one who committed that crime and it was only fair that he did the time.
Pulling in the Blackwater's driveway, I saw Cade standing on the porch with a bouquet of enchanted roses. How could I tell they were enchanted? Because they were sparkling like Edward Cullen in the sun. Regular Rose didn't do that I knew because I had seen them before.
“Isn’t he just the cutest?” she asked, clapping her hands together.
“Yep, sure is,” I said, putting the car in park and getting out. Stretching, I watched as Abigail ran to Cade and wrapped her arms around his neck. Their new relationship was moving fast, but I guess when you know you know. That is what they say right?
“I’ll be back to get her in a few hours,” I said, looking down at my watch.
“Stay gone as long as you want. I have our first date perfectly planned out,” Cade said, kissing Abby’s cheek and waving at me.
“Now Abby, you be a good girl and I’ll be back to pick you up in a little bit,” I yelled, talking in my best baby voice.
They ignored me because they were too busy staring longingly into each other’s eyes. Sighing, I got back in the car and drove to the food truck deli thingy because it was lunch time and Cold had told me before that was his usual spot.
Taking the right turn that would lead me to downtown, I saw the vehicle that serv
ed food. That concept was still so strange to me, but I guess it was a murderer thing.
Scanning the crowd, I saw Aaron sitting at the same table he was the first time I met him and as I got closer, I saw that he was eating the same thing.
“Hi, Aaron,” I said, sitting down.
He looked up and I saw a huge scratch down the right side of his face.
“Oh, no. What happened to your face? And don’t say that you walked into a door,” I asked, trying to lighten the mood with a joke.
It didn’t’ work.
“It’s none of your business what happened to face. Why are you here?”
“I’m here because I know you murdered Alison Talbot and set Mason Blanchard up to take the fall. Oh, and I know about all the extra help you had,” I told him, tapping my fingers on the table.
He just stared at me. His expression making goosebumps appear all over my arm. “I didn’t do it,” he said, gritting his teeth.
“That’s not how it looks from where I’m sitting,” I told him, trying to seem like wasn’t afraid of him, but I was. I mean could you blame me? He dabbled in black magic and pushed a girl to her death. A girl he loved.
“Then maybe you need to look somewhere else, Witch,” he said, slamming his hand down on the table.
I was like oh, no he didn’t, but oh, yes he did.
He knew I was a witch and I had not the slightest idea how. “I have no clue what you’re talking about, Aaron,” I said, trying to keep my cool and not let him see me sweat.
“Don’t play dumb with me. You’re Malady Norwood as in the infamous Norwood coven. I know what you are,” he said, pointing at me.
Talking about pulling no punches. After that, I knew I could ask him the questions I really wanted to ask. "Well, now we have that out of the way. I need to ask you a couple of questions."
“Why would I answer anything you ask me?” he asked.
"It's the only way to clear yourself. If you didn't do it, then you have nothing to hide, Aaron."
I was going to have to trick him into talking and hope that when he found out what I was doing, he didn't kill me. I wasn't ready to go.
He knew I was right. “Make it quick. I have to get to work,” he said, taking a bit of his sandwich.
“How do you know Julie Talbot?” I asked.
"She's my ex-girlfriend's mother. Next," he said, trying to change the subject quickly.
He wasn't going to get away with that sort of answer. "I'm going to ask you again and this time I want a real answer. How do you know Julie Talbot?"
"Like I told you she's my ex-girlfriend's mother," he said, repeating the same answer.
Okay, maybe I was wrong. He got away with that answer. "Fine, next question, did you murder Alison and put a spell on Mason?"
“No,” was all he said.
He had to know something; he just had to. It was as if he had huge neon lights that pointed to his head saying ‘I'm guilty!' and ‘Arrest me!'
Every lead led right back to him. His name was always brought up and surely all the evidence I had on him wasn't circumstantial. "Do you know who did?" I asked, hoping he was going to give me a little crumb of information. I wanted him to throw out the bait so that I could bite.
“Look, all I can tell you is you’re looking in the wrong town. Try looking closer to home,” he said, gathering his trash and disposing of it.
“What does that mean?” I asked, wracking my brain trying to figure it out.
He stopped and turned to face me. “Aren’t lawyers supposed to be smart?” he asked, pointing at his brain.
“I am smart, but you keep talking like Yoda and it’s hard to make sense of it,” I told him, getting up.
He started to walk away, but before he left, there was one more thing I needed to ask him. Running after him, I caught up with him and tapped him on the shoulder.
“What do you want now?” he boomed, causing me to jump.
“I just wanted to know if the same person you’re telling me to look for did that to your face.”
He ran his hand down the long red mark before answering. “You’re smarter than I gave you credit for,” he said, before walking away and disappearing into the library.
Was that a yes? I wasn't sure, but I was going to take it as a yes. After our conversation, I was having doubts that Aaron was the culprit, but then again he could have been messing with my mind and trying to direct my focus somewhere other than at him.
I was even more confused than I was before. My head was spinning; I needed a nap.
Chapter 22
I was in the middle of having the best dream about me cracking the case and Aunt Misty shipping Daniel back to Atlanta when I was awoken by a pounding on the door. Pulling my fuzzy purple bathrobe of the chair in my room, I quickly put it on and tied it tightly.
Making it down the stairs, I thought I was the only one who heard it, but not a second later my whole family came running to the door like a herd of buffalo. Well, except for Aunt Misty she came rolling out.
We all looked like death served cold, almost as if we had just stepped off the set of The Walking Dead expect for Sadie. She was perfectly perfect as always. Even after being awoken from her sleep she was as fresh as a daisy.
“What time is it?” Agnes asked, yawning, but making sure she got the voice before Abigail did. But one look at Abby and I could tell she was too tired to care that she couldn’t talk.
I had no clue what time it was and I didn’t want to know. I just wanted to go back to sleep and go back to my fantasy world where I cracked the case.
“I’ll tell you what time it is, way too late for anyone to be knocking at our door unannounced,” Aunt Misty said, wiping the sleep from her eyes.
“Do you think this is like the Salem Witch Trails? Do you think the townsfolk are here to hang up from the oak tree in the yard?” Agnes asked with a straight face.
Abagail pushed past all of us to get to the door. Pulling it open, she jumped back when she saw who was responsible for it. Her brand spanking new boyfriend, his twin brother, and a mystery woman who shared the same features as the twins. I guessed that she was their sister, Daisy.
“Hi, Darling. I didn’t mean to scare you,” Cade said, kissing the top of her head, “Oh, I take it Agnes has the voice tonight.”
For a moment I wasn’t sure how he about their curse, but then I remembered his creepy curse.
“I don’t mean to be rude, young man, but is there a reason you almost knocked our door down at this hour? Because if it’s to see my niece than that has to wait until tomorrow,” Aunt Misty said, trying to be as intimidating an old lady in a wheelchair could be and that wasn’t a lot.
"Seeing Abby is just a bonus, Ma'am. The reason was here is my little sister, Daisy, she's a clairvoyant and she needs to speak to Malady. It's very important," he said, looking me in the eye.
"Trust me; we wouldn't have drug ourselves out of bed unless it was dire. We love our sleep," Cole said, smiling at Agnes.
My aunt looked at me before pushing the door all the way open with the flick of her wrist. "Well, in that case, come in," she said, rolling to the living room.
We all followed behind her waiting to hear the news. After everyone had got seated, Daisy kneeled in from of me. "I saw Alison's murdering admitting to killing her and framing Mason. I also saw how he love spell started and who conjured it up," she said, closing her eyes as if she as trying to recall every detail from her premonition.
“I thought it was the same person. So, instead of looking for one person this whole time I should have been searching for two?” I asked, in disbelief.
“I’m afraid so, but the two people are connected,” she said, rubbing her temples as if her head was aching.
“What’s wrong with her?” Agnes asked, watching Daisy closely.
Cole swung his arm around her shoulders and scooted so close to Agnes I thought she was going to fall off of the couch. "Sometimes when she has big visions it gives her migraines."
<
br /> “Why are you sitting so close to me?” she asked, trying to shrug his arm off of her shoulders. Each time she got his arm off of shoulders he put it back, so she just gave in.
“Because I like you, Agnes,” he said, going to kiss her cheek.
"Well, I don't like you. We don't have to date just because your twin brother is dating my twin sister. I think it would be weird if we dated," she said, getting up and snuggling up to Sadie's side.
The twin drama would have to wait until Mason was out of jail. "Do you know their names?" I asked Daisy, running my hands through her hair to relieve her headache.
Cursed at First Sight (Cursed Coven Cozies Book 1) Page 12
