Blame It on the Moon

by Shara Lanel

  “What does that have to do with me? And why here?”

  “This is closer to my home, to Leslie’s home. Not too far to travel, but not close enough to get caught in the act. Do you see?”

  Of course, she didn’t see. He was making no sense at all, and lately he’d gone strange across the board, so she’d spent the long drive to Roanoke rehearsing what she’d say. “So you’re never going to take me to meet your parents?”

  “No, I am not, I’m afraid.”

  “Then I’m afraid I’m not going to play your little games anymore. I’m tired of being tied up. I’m not art. I’m a woman who wants a real relationship, not some sicko perverted one…” Her words trailed off seconds after Richard stabbed the needle into her neck as the contents of the syringe emptied into her bloodstream.

  * * * * *

  The Wax ’n Roller Salon was crowded at two in the afternoon, and Haden knew he stood out like a sore thumb. The men of Wolf’s Crossing used the barbershop or the el cheapo place out at the mall. They didn’t come in here unless they were gay. He caught Kit’s mischievous smile and wondered if she was reading his thoughts. Well, she could have no doubt about his sexuality. He’d bend her back and give her a deep kiss right now if it would protect his reputation.

  Apparently such drastic measures were unnecessary since the lady at the desk ogled him. He didn’t recognize her, so that meant she probably didn’t know his story. That was good. “May I help you?” she asked.

  “Is Wanda still here?”

  “Benson or Leg?”

  “Leg.”

  “Yup, she’s here.” She gestured to the back of the salon near the sinks. “Do you want an appointment with her? She’s booked until four.”

  Time to use his charm. He leaned against the counter and glanced briefly at the receptionist’s cleavage. When he looked up again, she was blushing and smelled just the tiniest bit aroused. “Any chance we could borrow her for just a moment? We won’t take long. I’m an old friend.”

  She winked. “Sure. I’ll get her.”

  Kitty rolled her eyes as she watched the lady scoot across the long room, wiggling her butt the whole time. “What did you do to her?”

  “Admired her. Ladies like to feel admired.”

  “True, but ladies also don’t want their man looking at someone else’s you know what.”

  He grinned. “Jealous?”

  Her eyes narrowed. “Lucky for you, I can read your mind.”

  Wanda walked to the front, her hips swaying, probably to help her balance on her outrageous stilettos. Hairdressers were on their feet for hours ‑‑ how could she wear those things? Kit quashed another flare of jealousy. These women meant nothing to Haden. He was picturing Wanda as she must have looked a few years ago, a few pounds lighter with just as bad a sense of style.

  “Aidan, honey, long time no see.” She took his hands as if they were close friends, ignoring Kitty completely.

  “Wanda, how are you doing?”

  “Fine, honey, and you are looking fine yourself, now, aren’t you? Where’ve you been? I heard folks were looking for you.” A blatant understatement. Kitty started picking up Wanda’s thoughts, which ranged from Haden in handcuffs with Daniel in his sheriff’s uniform to Daniel shirtless to Haden naked with handcuffs attached to a headboard. Good Lord!

  Haden brushed off her questions and got right to the point. “I was wondering if you could help me remember people Leslie was hanging out with…before her death.”

  “She was hanging out with you mostly.” But Wanda was searching her memory, and Kitty was picking up the snippets: phone conversations when Leslie was talking to someone other than Haden and dropped hints where Leslie alluded to a younger man who liked to play kinky games. “Once a car came for her, one I hadn’t seen before. Think it was a Lexus. I didn’t see the driver.”

  “Did she ever mention a name?” Kitty asked.

  “She talked about Daniel sometimes and Joe and Bob, but I thought they were your friends. She didn’t talk about dating any of them.”

  “What color Lexus?”

  Wanda thought back. “Dark. I dunno. Green, maybe.” Her memory showed tinted windows, but she hadn’t seen the license plate from her vantage point. “Sorry I can’t help more. Seems a shame for a specimen like you to get locked up.”

  “Yeah, thanks,” Haden said with a wry voice.

  “By the way, are those fellas out there for you?” She gestured to the plate-glass window behind them.

  “Holy shit, why are all those cop cars out there?” Kitty breathed.

  Haden shook his head. “I didn’t know this town even had that many cruisers. This can’t be good.”

  Kitty gripped his hand. One of the officers was checking out her car at the curb, then looking at the salon. The sun glinted off the rim of his sunglasses making him look sinister, or maybe that was Kitty’s apprehension getting the better of her. Pretty soon most of the customers and stylists inside were standing, peering out the window, to see what was going on.

  “Should we go outside and make it easy for them?” Haden asked.

  “Maybe they’re not after you.”

  “What do you think the chances are?”

  Kitty didn’t want to answer that question. “But you’re out on bail, and you certainly haven’t jumped it since you’re right here.”

  A final cruiser pulled up, and Daniel got out.

  “Come on,” Haden said. “These ladies have had enough excitement.”

  Actually, they’d probably enjoy some more. Most of them had a greedy glint in their eyes at the thought of juicy morsels of gossip. Kitty guessed that Haden would rather not provide that for them.

  They stepped out the front door. As soon as Daniel was within a foot of Haden, Kitty started picking up the images in his head, images that no one should have to see…ever. Kitty cried out. She couldn’t help it.

  Haden jerked his head in her direction. “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s horrible.”

  Then Daniel pulled out the cuffs, jerked Haden around, and started reading him his rights.

  “What’s going on?”

  “There’s been another murder,” Kitty whispered.

  Now Daniel was looking at her suspiciously. “Just how did you know that?”

  “Lucky guess,” Haden said quickly. “Is she right, then? Another murder? Who? Where?”

  “I’ve advised you of your rights. I recommend you don’t talk until your lawyer is with you. I’m serious, man.”

  Then Kitty saw the face as Daniel remembered watching the ME turn over the body. She cried out again, but bit her lip hard to keep from saying the name. She didn’t want to get Haden into any more trouble, and she knew this time he was in really deep.

  Blame It on the Moon

  Chapter Thirteen

  Haden was still in shock. His bond had been revoked. He was remanded until trial, and trial wasn’t until June fifteenth, more than a month away, more than a full moon away.

  He’d smelled Kitty’s fear out on the sidewalk and had known she’d seen the victim’s face. Daniel had formally stated that he was being arrested for the murder of Angelica Meyerton, and that’s when he’d actually thrown up on the sidewalk and the sheriff’s shoes. He wasn’t at all sorry about the shoes.

  He could only imagine what Kitty had seen, what Daniel had seen, based on his memory of Leslie. Angelica’s throat had been ripped out in exactly the same way, and she’d been deposited in the woods behind Wolf’s Crossing Central School. No one should have to see something like that, and he felt especially bad for the kid who’d found her while sneaking a cigarette.

  At least this time he knew without a shadow of a doubt that he was innocent. He hadn’t blacked out, and he’d been with Kitty most of the time for the past two days. His lawyer did not have the autopsy results yet, so no time of death. He hoped that would allow him to provide a definite alibi, but the lawyer had warned him that Kitty’s word might be doubted since she was the girl
friend. More than that, he thought the judge would be very unlikely to let him out a second time unless the prosecutor dropped the charges.

  None of that mattered, though, because his lawyer was talking about evidence to be presented at trial. There was only a week until the full moon.

  Finally, Daniel escorted Kitty down the hall toward his locked cell.

  “I see we have the place to ourselves,” she commented the minute the sheriff left them alone.

  Haden pointed at the cameras mounted in the corners.

  “Yeah, but they don’t have sound.”

  “Daniel told you that?”

  “His brain did.” She grinned.

  “So are we plotting my breakout?”

  “If we need to, but we’ve got a week, right? I looked it up on the calendar. I’ve already told Daniel everything we’ve learned about Richard, including his trip to Roanoke. We just need to trace Angelica’s movements. Emilio says she wasn’t at work the same day Richard was in Roanoke. If we can prove she was with him, then…”

  “Then they might still hold me over for trial for Leslie.” Haden sighed. “And if they keep me in here during the full moon, I’ll become a freak show or a science experiment.”

  Kitty reached her hand through the bars. “Maybe you should tell Daniel what you are. He could keep anyone else from finding out, then you’d be safe in here.”

  Haden gripped her hand. “What if that proves to him that I did it? Friend or not, a monster is a monster, right?”

  “You are not a monster, and after this is over, I think we should hunt for others like you. I know they’re out there.”

  “Kitty, I love your constant optimism, but you don’t know that.”

  “It just makes logical sense.” She stroked her thumb over his palm. “But that’s for a later time. Right now we’ve got to crack this case. Daniel is looking for other women who fit Leslie and Angelica’s description, to see if there are any other crimes that match.”

  “Which could mean more murders pinned on me.”

  “But it might show that you’re not the connection, especially if they took place while you were in Ireland. Maybe instead we can show a connection to Richard.”

  “Okay.”

  “We’ve got Emilio and Chris’s testimony that they saw Richard and Angelica together at the pub when you weren’t there, but that’s slim because they’re your employees. Daniel’s also looking into Angelica’s friends now, and he’s hoping to find others who knew she was dating Richard.”

  “And to think Daniel only got Cs in high school.”

  “Daniel is good at his job. You can count on him, but that doesn’t mean we’re going to leave it all to him. Now the thing that still bothers me about Leslie’s murder ‑‑ and I think it bothers you ‑‑ why didn’t you hear anything?”

  “I thought that maybe I was too close to the change, that maybe I even changed.”

  “I think you only came close after you saw and smelled the blood. We rechecked the time of death, and it had to be during the night, so I think you were drugged.”

  He replayed the memory. The movies, the lovemaking, then a completely undisturbed sleep. “If I was drugged, then the whole thing was planned to make me look guilty. Why?”

  “I’m hoping Daniel will find out that Richard had access to sedatives, but I think I need to spend some time close to him as well. We need to know his motive plus his whereabouts.”

  “It’s too dangerous. You already told me how much hate is in him. If he murdered Angelica…no, it’s just too dangerous.” The wolf in him demanded he protect her, but he was behind bars. “Do you hear me? Stay away from him.”

  “I don’t mind you ordering me around during sex, but this is too important. I’m willing to take the risk.”

  “But I’m not.”

  “Don’t worry about me.”

  “Goddamnit, there’s no way I could live with myself if something happened to you.”

  “Well, good, because there’s no way I’m going to let anything happen to me.”

  * * * * *

  Tracking down Richard might take some doing if he wanted to stay hidden, so Kitty decided to spend a little time with Haden’s mom first. If she and the mayor had had a relationship…well, she didn’t know how that would tie into the murders, but the connection seemed important.

  But Haden’s dad flat out refused to let Kitty into the house to talk to her.

  “That boy broke her heart again. I wash my hands of him.”

  So Kitty parked down the road and watched. Finally Mr. Blackthorne drove off, giving her the opportunity to talk to Ellie.

  Her tearstained face made Kitty’s determination falter, but this was for the good of all of them. “Come in.”

  She sat down on a comfy couch with a broken spring poking at her butt. The coffee table had watermarks from countless glasses and mugs, and the carpet was worn almost bare between the front door and the kitchen. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I’m trying to prove Aidan’s innocence.”

  “But they said this lady was the assistant manager at his pub. He knew her just like Leslie, and they said she looked like her too.”

  “This is going to seem completely out there, but I have to ask. Did you have a relationship with the mayor?”

  “What?”

  The trick to Kitty’s question was that whether Mrs. Blackthorne chose to tell her the truth or not, she’d prompt the memories. One memory came to the fore in vivid detail. A much younger Ellie on a mat on the floor of a studio. A man on top of her, his pants down. Legwarmers and headband nearby and the song “Gloria” in the background. Ellie’s fingers raking along his back, her wedding band prominent on the left hand.

  “How dare you ask me something like that! What made you even imagine that?”

  “He seems really fond of you.”

  This time she pictured a test tube, a dropper, and a box that read e.p.t. That memory morphed into a hospital where she looked down at a baby. Haden? No, because then Mr. Langtree came into the room and took the baby from her.

  Following a hunch, Kitty said, “Tell me about Richard.”

  Haden’s mom gasped. “How do you know about that?”

  “Is Richard your son?”

  “Who told you?”

  She hated doing this. The woman was crying again, tears streaming down her cheeks, but she had to keep pressing for the truth. “Did you let Mr. Langtree take him, adopt him? Did you have an affair with the mayor?”

  “Yes!”

  “So Richard and Aidan are half brothers?”

  She shook her head. “Not by blood. Aidan was adopted. My husband is sterile.”

  Kitty touched the woman’s arm gently and felt her recoil. “Does Richard know any of this?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What about Mrs. Langtree? Why did she take him in?”

  “Ricky said she refused to sleep with him anymore. She refused to get pregnant, and he wanted a son so bad to carry on his name. I think he threatened to get an annulment if she didn’t agree to the adoption.”

  “Why not divorce and remarry each other?”

  She sighed. “It wasn’t really love. My husband was on the West Coast for a while for work, and I was lonely. Please don’t tell my son. He doesn’t need to know.”

  “I think he’d want to know.” She’d make no promises, because if this turned out to be important in proving his innocence, then promises be damned.

  Next she decided to visit Richard’s family home. She hoped the mayor would be at his office in town, because he already distrusted her, but perhaps she could talk to Mrs. Langtree for a few minutes or find Richard himself. According to Daniel, he hadn’t turned back up in Richmond.

  * * * * *

  “Okay, this is interesting.” The sheriff handed a medical file through the bars to Haden.

  “What am I looking at?” It seemed to be Richard Langtree’s file from a psychiatric office.

  “Look at the notation on meds. He’s
taking Clozapine, an antipsychotic, four hundred and fifty milligrams.”

  “He’s psychotic?”

  “Maybe, but…” Daniel flipped through a thick reference book. “It says here that the drug is a sedative and the file says that he’s been taking it since 2000. Maybe Kitty’s right about her idea that you were drugged. He would have had access to just the right tool.”

  Haden scanned the medical file, but he was thinking about something else. “I’m sorry I skipped out on you. I know that had to put you in a bad position.”

  “You had your reasons, but it’s good to hear you say that. Just don’t do it again. I might have to start doubting your innocence or something.”

  “Dude, you’ve got me locked up. I’d say you already doubt it.”

  He shook his head. “It’s my job and the prosecutor’s say-so, not my personal opinion. It never made a lick of sense, them saying you killed Leslie. Even when you two weren’t as close, you still loved each other.” He looked down as his cell phone beeped. Haden could hear the voice on the other end plain as day telling him that Kitty was here to see the prisoner. He flipped a page in the file as he waited for the sheriff to escort his girlfriend down the hall.

  Richard shows increasing signs of obsession since the discovery of his adoption. He talks about a brother that he follows around. Most disturbing is his belief that this man can change into a wolf. He says he witnessed this, so this must mean he’s a werewolf, too.

  Haden nearly choked, and his vision tunneled.

  He says he witnessed this…

  Richard had seen him change!

  He talks about a brother…

  Haden forced himself to read the rest of the paragraph written in a barely legible script.

  Richard is convinced that he has super hearing and smell. His obsession with his brother’s girlfriend also grows. I am considering commitment if he doesn’t show improvement soon.

  “Hey, what’s wrong?”