by Morgana Best
I looked over her shoulder, and we both gasped. There at the top of the page was the date of the last entry, the last day that Linda had seen Paul alive, the day Paul had the argument with Lucas. At the top of the page were the initials L.O., and under that, the word Cleaner, underlined five times.
Linda and I exchanged glances. “Lucas O’Callaghan. So he knew,” I said.
“Yes, but what worries me is how he knew,” Linda said. “Look at this!”
The words, Poker Game, were written at the bottom of the page. Linda flipped the page over to reveal a list of names. The bottom name, Joanna Rush, was circled, with a date next to it. Next to that was the word, Turned.
“What does that all mean?”
Linda’s face was paler than usual. “If this means what I think it means, then I think I know how Paul died.”
I sat in the chair next to her. “What does it mean?”
“Paul went out every Friday night, and sometimes at weekends as well. He always said he was playing poker with his mates. I suspected that wasn’t true, but our marriage was over by then, so I really didn’t care what he did. In fact, I enjoyed having the quiet time to myself. I expect you don’t know anything about Shifters?”
I shook my head. “I know even less about them than I know about vampires, and I don’t know anything much about vampires, even though I am one.”
Linda nodded. Her face was white and drawn. “Werewolves can be in a pack, I suppose you call it, just like witches join a coven. Oh, I know all witches don’t join covens—that was the first example I could think of off the top of my head.”
I nodded in encouragement, and she pushed on. “It’s just that the word ‘pack’ can give the wrong idea. Many werewolves like to attend social events with other werewolves. That is, in their human form. However, I’ve always liked to keep to myself. I suppose you could call me a lone wolf.” She broke off with a brief laugh. “Anyway, I’m explaining this badly, but I always figured that Paul’s poker nights were just a social gathering with other werewolves, and there were probably women involved.” She stabbed her finger at the last name on the page. “See this name? It says turned next to it.”
I thought for a moment, and then it dawned on me. “Oh! As in turned into a werewolf?”
Linda’s hand flew to her throat. “Yes, and I told you that is illegal, like completely illegal! Punishable by death.”
“Can the word mean something else?”
“Absolutely not.” Linda’s tone was firm.
“But it doesn’t mean Paul turned her, does it? It could have been someone else who was there.”
“That’s obviously what he and Lucas were having the argument about.”
The room swam. I took a deep breath. “Perhaps Paul reported it to Lucas. Perhaps that’s why they were arguing.”
Linda shook her head. “No, don’t you see, Pepper? Paul had no way of knowing that Lucas was a Cleaner. Cleaners are careful about their privacy—until they come for you!” Her voice rose an octave. “No, Lucas came here because Paul was involved with the turning. That’s obvious now. I told you, anyone who is involved with a turning is executed. Everyone knows that.”
“Are you saying Lucas murdered Paul?”
Linda gripped the diary tightly. “It sure seems that way, and Lucas was called away on ‘business’—he’s gone to deal with the rest of the pack.”
Chapter 17
I sat there, shaken. I just couldn’t bring myself to face it. “Are you sure?” I asked after a long interval.
Linda nodded.
“But none of us are in danger, are we?”
“I might be, given that I was married to Paul,” she said.
“Lucas hasn’t questioned you.”
Linda clutched herself with both hands. “That mightn’t be a good thing.”
“I know you said you didn’t want my aunts to know you’re a werewolf, but shouldn’t I tell them that Lucas is a Cleaner? I mean, goodness knows how long Lucas is going to hang around here, and what if he moves into town to be near the winery? Surely we all need to know.”
Linda appeared to be thinking it over. “I really don’t want them to know,” she said, “but I suppose they should know.” She sighed deeply and put her head in her hands.
“Perhaps I should tell them immediately,” I said. “If Cleaners are as bad as you say,”—I looked at her and she nodded—“then surely they should be warned.”
“Sure,” she said, “but it would be good if you didn’t mention that I’m a Shifter wolf.”
I thought about it before speaking. “I’m not sure how I can avoid it. Of course, the aunts will want to know how I found out that Lucas is a Cleaner.”
“You couldn’t just pretend he kissed you and happened to mention it?” Linda asked hopefully. “Your aunts already seem to think he has a thing for you.”
The thought of kissing Lucas made me tremble from head to foot. Still, I had to push those happy thoughts away and focus on the matter at hand. It seemed that Lucas could be dangerous, and by all accounts, he was one of the most dangerous people… vampires… out there. “I really can’t see how I can keep you out of it,” I said. “Unless you can come up with an idea?”
There was a long silence, and Linda finally spoke. “No, I suppose you’re going to have to tell them. They will probably kick me out of Mugwort Manor, and the cottage, too.”
I hurried to reassure her. “They won’t be able to kick you out of the cottage. This is a business, after all. And if they make you leave the manor, which I’m sure they won’t, then you’re welcome to come and stay with me. There is a second bedroom.”
“That’s so kind of you, Pepper. Anyway, I’m sure they’re going to be really angry when they discover they’ve had a werewolf living under their roof.”
I had nothing to say to that. She was most probably right. “What do you think they’ll do about Lucas?”
Linda looked up at me. “Do? There’s nothing they can do. He’s a Cleaner.”
I stood up. “Oh well, there’s no time like the present.”
“Do you mind telling them by yourself, Pepper?”
“Of course not. I thought that I was going to, anyway.”
“Good luck.”
“I’m going to need it,” I muttered as I walked out the door. I knew the aunts would not only be shocked, but would also be angry with me for withholding this information.
Aunt Dorothy was in the vegetable garden, talking to herself. She straightened up when she saw me approaching. “Zucchini!” she said, thrusting a huge vegetable at me.
“Well, that’s a good one,” I said. “Aunt Dorothy, there’s something important I want to tell you, you and the other aunts. Could you come inside?”
“What is it?” Dorothy brushed her hands on her apron.
I handed the zucchini back to her. “I’ll tell you when we’re all together.”
When we got inside the house, Aunt Agnes and Aunt Maude were nowhere to be found. I fervently hoped they hadn’t locked another Shifter in the cage in their altar room.
Something struck me. What if they had Lucas chained in there? My stomach churned at the thought. I wouldn’t put anything past them.
While Dorothy was looking for the others, I wondered what I should tell them. Should I ply them with Witches’ Brew first? Or chocolate? That seemed like a good idea. I went to the cupboard and pulled out a packet of Tim Tams.
“Valkyrie!”
I spun around at the sound of Aunt Agnes’s voice, nearly dropping the Tim Tams.
“There’s a man here to see you.”
A man? I silently ran through the possibilities, but came up blank.
“He’s in the office,” she continued.
I followed her down the dark corridor to the office. A man, about my age and wearing a suit, was sitting in the chair opposite the desk. He rose when he saw me. I couldn’t help but notice that his eyes travelled up and down me, which irked me.
“Alex Burns,” he s
aid, extending his hand. “We’ve been emailing each other.”
I shook his hand. It was a limp handshake at best. His hand was soft and clammy.
“Oh yes,” I said, “You’re the reservations software rep. I didn’t know you were coming to Lighthouse Bay.” I punctuated my words with a huge sneeze. His aftershave was overpowering. It smelled like fly spray, a particularly chemical one.
“I do apologise for coming here without prior notice,” he said. “I called you more than once this morning, but it went straight to message bank.”
I pulled out my phone and looked at it. “I don’t have any missed calls.”
He fidgeted, and I realised he was lying. He was the type of salesperson that gave other salespersons a bad name. He pulled out a blue and white checked handkerchief and mopped his sweaty brow, even though it was quite cool in the office.
“What can I do for you, Mr Burns?” I asked.
“I’m in town today, so I thought we could talk about the software.”
“Sure, I suppose,” I said.
“What is this all about?” Aunt Agnes asked me.
“I’m looking into an automated system for the reservations,” I said.
“But don’t you have bookings on the website now?”
“Yes, but they’re all manual. I have to process them manually. Other accommodations such as motels, hotels, Bed and Breakfasts and so on all have automated systems for reservations.”
Alex nodded vigorously. “That’s right. Everything’s automated these days, and our service is the very best. We provide you with a template. It’s the easiest one available and the most effective one, too.” He winked at me, and then went on and on, extolling the virtues of his system.
It was obviously too much for Aunt Agnes. “I’ll leave it up to you,” she said to me. “It was nice to meet you, Mr Burns.”
“Alex, please.”
Agnes left the room with Dorothy, leaving me with Aunt Maude. “Do you want to show us how the software works now?” I asked him.
He made a show of looking at his watch. “I have appointments all day, but since I wasn’t able to get you on the phone, I thought I’d call in and make an appointment for some other time.”
“Sure,” I said. “What time would suit you?”
“Really, the only time I have is dinner tonight. I don’t know if you’d have time for a business dinner?”
He was the predatory type, and good looking enough that I supposed he thought his charm would seduce the ladies into buying his software. I was about to refuse, when Aunt Maude spoke up. “What a good idea. Why don’t the two of you work something out about this software over dinner? Valkyrie likes the Korean restaurant.”
“Valkyrie?”
“My aunts’ pet name for me.” I shot Maude a warning look.
“Okay, I’ll make a booking for there.”
“But…” I began, but Maude interrupted me.
“You have to eat sometime, so you might as well multitask and find out about this software.” She fixed me with a look, so I figured she had an ulterior motive. I knew she wasn’t matchmaking, given how the aunts felt about men.
“All right, then. I’ll meet you there, Alex.” I decided to borrow the Mazda; at least I could have a getaway vehicle.
Alex stood up and shook my hand once more. This time, he held my hand too long, and I had to snatch it away.
I accompanied Aunt Maude to the door to show him out. When he was out of earshot, I rounded on her. “Why did you want me to go to dinner with that man?”
She looked quite pleased with herself. “I overheard Lila Sanders making a reservation for two for tonight at the Korean restaurant. This is the perfect way for you to keep an eye on her, and she might be having dinner with her accomplice. I know you suspect her, so I was trying to help.”
“Thanks for that,” I said, “but I think this Burns guy might be sleazy.”
Maude shook her head. “Nonsense, dear. He clearly said it was a business dinner. Anyway, Dorothy said you had something to tell us. Let’s find the others.”
The aunts were all assembled in the dining room, the sun’s rays forming pretty patterns on the table through the ghastly lace curtains. Aunt Agnes was polishing the crystals on a beautifully iridescent, deep red lustreware vase, and Aunt Dorothy was bent over her wool bag, pulling out skeins of wool and tut-tutting to herself.
“I have a few things to tell you,” I said. “Why don’t we all sit down?”
“As bad as all that?” Aunt Agnes fixed me with a sharp look.
“I’m afraid so.”
When we were all sitting down, I was suddenly tongue-tied. “I really don’t know where to begin,” I said anxiously.
“At the beginning, dear,” Aunt Dorothy said.
Agnes frowned deeply. “That wasn’t helpful, Dorothy.”
“Of course it was helpful, Agnes,” Maude snapped. “Valkyrie’s obviously nervous, and Dorothy was trying to soothe her nerves.”
“Her nerves will be soothed when she tells us what’s on her mind,” Agnes said.
I decided to launch straight into it. Anything was preferable to their bickering. “Linda’s a werewolf, and Paul was, too.”
After I dropped that bombshell, I looked around the table expecting to see shocked expressions. However, they didn’t seem surprised in the least. “You knew!” I said in an accusatory tone.
“Of course we knew, dear,” Aunt Agnes said. “I didn’t want a werewolf staying here, but your Aunt Maude insisted.”
“She’s very nice,” Aunt Maude said, “and the cat likes her.”
“How did you know she was a werewolf?” I asked them.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Aunt Agnes said, clearly deflecting the question. “Well, to us anyway. The point is, how did you know?”
“I happened to see her in her wolf form,” I said. “Then we had quite a chat about it.”
“That’s nice, dear,” Maude said. “You two are becoming quite good friends, aren’t you!”
Aunt Agnes looked at her as if she had gone quite mad, and then turned her attention back to me. “Why didn’t you tell us?”
“Linda asked me not to. She thought you wouldn’t want her staying here, even staying in the cottage, if you knew she was a werewolf. She said werewolves and vampires don’t get on.”
“They do sometimes,” Aunt Dorothy said. “Take your Aunt Maude, for example. Why, once she...”
“Dorothy!” Maude snapped. Her face flushed bright red. “Anyway, they’re called Shifter wolves these days, not werewolves.”
“So you’re the naming police, are you now, Maude?” Agnes retorted.
I hurried to intervene. “Sorry, I didn’t know what to call them. I’m new to all this.”
“I just meant in books, dear,” Maude said, a dreamy look in her eyes. “I like reading romances and mysteries about Shifter wolves.”
Aunt Agnes rolled her eyes. “Now Valkyrie,” she began in a lecturing tone, “you must come to us with all and any snippets of information. You shouldn’t keep anything from us. We live in trying times, and you never know what’s around the next corner.”
“Speaking of which,” I said, “there’s more.”
The aunts looked interested for the first time. I pressed on. “Linda told me that Lucas O’Callaghan and Paul had a terrible argument that day.”
“What day, dear?” Dorothy said, a blank look on her face.
“The day he died. Well, the last day Linda saw him, the day before she found him dead in the cottage. Linda overheard Paul and Lucas having a terrible argument, and when Lucas left, she asked Paul what the argument was about. He wouldn’t tell her, and that’s why she stormed off and went to a motel for the night. Linda also told me that Lucas is a Cleaner.”
This time I expected gasps of horror, but their faces did not change. “Do you know what a Cleaner is?” I asked them.
“Of course,” they all said in unison.
“I don’t mean someone who clea
ns floors and bathrooms,” I said, wondering if that’s what they were thinking.
“We know what a Cleaner is,” Aunt Agnes said. “I suppose Linda has explained it to you?”
I nodded. “She said Cleaners go around making sure that governments don’t find out that werewolves and vampires actually exist. She said Cleaners are very dangerous—judge, jury, and executioner all rolled into one. She said they often don’t ask any questions, and sometimes they get rid of witnesses as well.”
“Linda has explained it well, don’t you think, Agnes?” Aunt Dorothy said.
“Yes, quite so.” Aunt Agnes gave a nod of approval.
I was exasperated. “Well then, aren’t any of you frightened that Lucas is a Cleaner?”
“Why would we worry about that?” Aunt Agnes said. “Cleaners are very necessary. They do a good job. The question is, why would Lucas argue with Paul?”
I tapped the table. “I’m getting to that. We just uncovered the reason in some notes Paul left behind. Linda said Paul used to go out most weekends. He always told her it was poker night, but Linda suspected he was meeting with pack members. We found a note saying that one of them, a new member, was turned.”
Aunt Agnes gasped. “That’s punishable by death.”
“Completely illegal,” Aunt Maude said in horror.
“People are executed for that,” Dorothy added grimly.
“And Linda thinks that’s where Lucas is now, um, attending to the other members of the pack. In fact, she thinks he murdered Paul.”
Agnes tut-tutted. “A most unpleasant business. Now can you see why we told you to be careful around Lucas O’Callaghan?”
I ignored the question. “Why didn’t you tell me about the Cleaners?”
Aunt Maude reached for my hand, and patted it. “We didn’t want to worry you, dear.”
I took a long breath, and exhaled slowly. “Quite seriously, I’d rather know. I have to learn these things if I’m to survive in this world. I mean, only a month ago I didn’t believe that vampires or werewolves—sorry, Shifter wolves—existed. Knowledge is power, after all.”
The aunts did not respond, so I added, “Now would be a good time to tell me anything else you’re keeping from me.”
