“Oh, I hadn’t thought about that.”
It was true. I hadn’t, but that was mostly because it was still hard for me to imagine having a baby at all, let alone planning for everything that would come along with having a child that was also a witch.
Could any of what he was saying really be possible? Meri was snarky and sarcastic, but I doubted he would lie to me about something he knew meant so much.
“I’m glad it’s sinking in,” Meri said.
“I’m going to take myself off the reservation system,” I said.
Late morning my doorbell rang, and I found Gunner standing on my front porch. “Come in,” I said.
“I wanted to come by sooner, but I knew you had a rough night. I hope you and Annika were able to get some rest.”
“She went in to work,” I said. “But I appreciate the sentiment.”
I wasn’t going to tell him that we’d gotten plenty of sleep because the cleanup was super easy. It dawned on me then that eventually he’d know about witches. There was no way that he’d be able to be in a long-term relationship with Annika without finding out. I could picture the moment his mind was completely blown. Gunner would most likely take it much harder than Thorn, but he’d get through it.
“How was she?” Gunner asked. “I’m going to go see her after this, but I felt like meeting with you as soon as possible. Oh, how are you?”
“She’s good. I’m good. We’re doing surprisingly well considering what happened,” I said. “Why did you need to come see me? I mean, aside from checking on us.”
“Finn is dead,” Gunner said.
“Oh.”
“He died early this morning,”
“How?” I mean, I knew he’d been stabbed, but my healing should have been enough to keep him alive. At least I thought it had, and I felt terrible if it was my incompetence at magic that had meant he didn’t make it.
“We’re not exactly sure right now. The local PD said they were going to post someone at the door to guard him since he was possibly a suspect in a crime, but that didn’t happen. He was restrained, but he was not left under guard. It’s possible that he just succumbed to his wounds, but there were signs of a possible struggle too,” Gunner said.
I didn’t think he’d just succumbed to his wounds, so that meant someone might have finished him off. “What about Joanna?”
“She’s being discharged from the hospital and we will be taking her back into custody,” he said.
“Do you think she killed him?”
“I don’t know. First we have to figure out why he died. I’m going to review the security footage to see if she was in his room at any time, but until we know how he died, that’s all it will tell me.”
“I think it’s highly suspicious,” I said.
“You think she murdered him?” he asked.
I didn’t want to accuse her of anything even though the whole thing was super suspicious. It would have been extremely irresponsible of me to have Gunner start looking for evidence against her if she was just defending herself.
“How many times was he stabbed?” I asked.
“Thirteen,” Gunner said solemnly.
“That seems like a lot for self-defense,” I mused.
“It does, and that’s one of the main reasons I’m taking her into custody,” Gunner said, and then he kind of stared at me for a moment. “So, you’re going to go with the green again?”
It took me a second to figure out what he was talking about, but I instinctively reached up and touched my hair. “Oh, yeah, something fun and festive.”
We still weren’t sure exactly what the colors meant, but I had some idea. I thought the green had something to do with money, but that would have been strange because I’d just decided to shut my new business down.
“You don’t think it will affect your business?” he asked.
His tone was friendly and not at all condescending. If you’d have asked me when I first met Gunner, I’d have never expected him to be so open and understanding. I’d stereotyped him big time, and I’d been wrong.
“I’ve decided not to go forward with the bed and breakfast,” I admitted.
He rubbed his beard thoughtfully. “I wondered if that would happen. Your opening night was pretty traumatic. Maybe someday down the line, but you do have at least one big life event coming up.”
“Yes, I guess I need to start planning the wedding in earnest now,” I said.
“And maybe children?”
“We’re hoping so,” I responded. “Both of us hope to start a family.”
“That would be really nice,” Gunner said. “I hope to have a family someday too. If I’m not too old already. It’s one of my biggest regrets and one of the main reasons I wanted the job in Coventry. Something told me if I was going to find a wife and mother to my children, it would be here. I haven’t been here that long, but I can already tell this is a wonderful place to raise a family. Good folks here.”
So, Coventry had chosen him. The magic in the town had called out to Gunner, and he’d listened.
When Remy woke up, I told him about my decision. “I’m sorry. I know you put so much work into those bungalows.”
“It wasn’t that much work, Brighton. The whole thing took me a day. If you want to start planning our wedding and then focus on being a mother, I support that.”
“You do?”
“Of course, I do. I did all this for you to make you happy, but if there is something else that is going to make you happier, then I’m totally on board with that.”
“I’m sorry, again. I should have thought this through more before I jumped in.”
“Brighton, I encouraged you to jump in. It was the only way you were going to know if it was what you really wanted or not.”
“I didn’t think it through because I still wasn’t considering motherhood a possibility. Meri told me that we were going to have a baby, but I guess I didn’t fully believe him.”
“You believe him now?” Remy asked.
“Yes. He’s convinced me.”
“Good. I’m really sorry your grand opening didn’t go the way you wanted.”
“I’m sorry you spent all of that money on bungalows that we’re never going to use.”
“What bungalows?” Remy asked with a smile.
I rushed to one of the back windows and looked out. The bungalows were gone, and I had an eye line straight back to the trees again.
“How did you…”
“Bungalows are gone, and the money is back in my account. I’ve undone it.”
“That’s seriously impressive.”
“I am going to need something to eat,” Remy said with a chuckle.
Chapter Eight
“What are we doing first?” Annika asked when she came by my house after closing the store.
“About dinner?” I asked.
“Well, yeah, that too, but you know what I mean. We’re going to solve the murder, right?”’
“I guess Gunner told you that Finn died.”
“Yep. He came to see me right after he stopped by here.”
“I really want to know who instigated the increase in Joanna’s life insurance and whether Finn had the same thing,” I said.
“Great, I’m always up for a little pre-dinner breaking and entering. After we do that, we can stop by that chicken place.”
“The one with the good nuggets?” I asked.
“Yeah, that place. Man, I wish they’d get something like that here. We’ve got none of those fancy chain restaurants in Coventry,” Annika mused.
“We have the diner and their fried chicken is good,” I said.
“Yeah, but sometimes you want those nuggets and nothing else will do,” Annika said. “Oh, and that one dipping sauce. I love that one. I’ve even taken extra packets and tried it with other chicken, and it just doesn’t work.”
“I’ve noticed that too. When you have leftover sauce packets, they just aren’t good with any other kind of chicken except
the kind from the specific restaurant where you got those packets. It’s so weird.”
“It’s like fried chicken and sauce magic,” Annika responded. “But either way, is that a yes to the nuggets after the breaking and entering?”
“Sure,” I said. “Remy should be here soon. I assume he’s included in our plans?”
“Sure is.”
Remy arrived around ten minutes later, and he was ready to help us break into the insurance agent’s office. He was on board with the chicken place too.
We decided to take his car, like we always did. Meri and Annika sat in the back. Meri was happy about the chicken place too because they had non-breaded nuggets that he thought were amazing. He even liked the little containers of red Hawaiian sauce, but he’d never admit to it.
It was late enough in the year that it was already dark when we left Coventry. The thick gray clouds covering the moon and stars made it even darker.
“Is it going to snow?” I asked a couple of miles into our journey.
“There was a slight chance on the weather forecast,” Remy said. “It was really small though. The weather guy though there was no way it would get cold enough.”
“It snows in October here sometimes, so it’s not that shocking,” Annika added. “It’s been a few years since it happened so early in the year, though.”
“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Remy said. “We’re a trio of powerful witches with one of the best familiars in the world. We can handle a little snow.”
Just then, the gray clouds, that looked practically black in the night sky, opened up. Big fat flakes came down hard and fast. There were going to be a lot of traffic accidents that night. I doubted people were ready for such an intense storm so early in the season. Heck, a day before it had been pleasant enough for us to have the party outside.
But, that’s what they say about Illinois. If you don’t like the weather, just wait ten minutes.
“Don’t worry,” Remy said. I’m sure he sensed my tension. “I’ve got this.”
What he did not have was this. Suddenly, in the middle of the road, a figure appeared. At first I couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman, but as the car careened toward them, it became obvious.
Not only that it was a man, but who it was as well. The ghost of Finn stood there glaring at us with a fury that sent a chill down my spine.
Remy must not have realized that it was just a ghost because he yanked the wheel to the side and sent us sliding down the middle of the lane and then off towards the guardrail.
“We’re going to crash!” Annika shrieked from the backseat.
“No, we’re not,” Remy responded calmly.
He’d collected himself very quickly. Or at least it seemed that way, but as I looked around the car, I realized time had slowed. Remy grabbed my hand, and somehow, I knew what to do.
We used our magic to guide the car safely onto the shoulder. There were a couple of other vehicles around, so we couldn’t just put the car back on the road and keep going. But we were able to avoid colliding with the guardrails and any other cars while just making it look like a fortunate happenstance.
Once the car stopped and time resumed its normal speed, we all jumped out of the car and looked back to see if Finn was still there. He sneered at us, and then vanished as another car’s headlights appeared.
“You folks okay?” the driver of the car shouted out of his window as he slowed down and then pulled in behind us.
“Yeah, we’re okay,” Remy answered. “We slid off but we managed not to hit anything.”
“Can you get out?” the driver asked.
“Yeah, we should be able too. It just frightened us, so we’re catching our breath.”
“Okay, I’ll move along then,” the driver said. “You guys should too, sooner rather than later. Someone else could slide off here and take you all out.”
“We will,” Remy said.
“You sure you don’t need me to call anyone for you?”
“We’re sure,” Remy responded. “Thank you so much.”
The driver of the car gave us a wave, rolled up his window, and pulled slowly back out onto the highway. When he was gone, the highway was dark and nearly silent. People had already figured out that driving was dangerous, and I doubted we’d see too many more cars.
“What do we do?” Annika asked. “I guess the roads are going to get bad. Look at this stuff coming down.”
She was right, the fat flakes falling from the sky had only gotten heavier. There was already a solid layer of snow on the ground, and as far as I knew, the salt trucks hadn’t been out yet.
“We should keep going,” I said. “It’s obvious Finn’s spirit doesn’t want us going to the insurance office, so we should.”
“You sure?” Remy asked.
“Yes, we should keep going. We need to know what he’s trying to hide. We can drive in the snow. The ghost caught us off guard, but we all grew up around here.”
“You’re right,” Remy said. “I just reacted when I saw a person in the middle of the road, but I can handle this.”
It took us a long time to reach the city. The heavy snow would probably be classified as a blizzard given the white-out conditions that would start as soon as the wind kicked up, and that wind kicked the second we pulled the car back out onto the highway.
“You sure you don’t think this is the goddess trying to turn us back?” Annika asked nervously.
“I think it’s just a snowstorm,” Meri answered. “Here, let me help you.”
He wiggled his nose, and the wind began to blow in such a manner that it cleared most of the snow from in front of us. The pavement was still as slick as it could be, but at least Remy could see a little better.
We rolled into the insurance agency parking lot almost an hour later. A drive that should have taken under a half hour had taken a little over twice as long.
It didn’t matter, though, we’d made it. Finn’s spirit appeared a few more times along the way. He’d show up both in the middle of the road and along the side, but we were already onto him at that point. He wasn’t strong enough to affect us physically, and his parlor trick failed to surprise Remy again.
I will admit that having him stand inside the door of the insurance agency glaring at us was a bit unnerving. Even more so when he reached out for me as I walked by, but he couldn’t make contact. I waved my had through the air and vaporized his apparition.
The name on the insurance card was Wade Clark. We walked through the office looking at every desk. Each one had a little black plaque with the name of the desk’s resident sitting front and center.
“It must be difficult to work out in the open like this,” I mused. “I would have a hard time concentrating, especially if I had to make a ton of phone calls.”
Around the bullpen area were private offices. Each of them had a window and the name of the office’s occupant was on the glass. None of the offices belonged to Wade Clark. We actually found his desk in the back across from a large office. The boss’s office. I wondered if he’d just gotten lucky enough to have his desk near the office of the highest-ranking person, or if he was being watched.
“I think it’s supposed to keep them on their toes,” Remy said. “I bet if it gets too quiet in here, the boss comes out of that office and starts staring them down.”
“That sounds horrible,” I said.
“Insurance sales is a high-pressure gig,” Remy offered. “But some of these guys, even the ones without an office, make darn good money for dealing with the stress. The ones who the industry doesn’t chew up and spit out end up in the offices.”
“That sounds… exciting,” I said. “Or depressing. I’m not sure.”
Remy chuckled. “Okay, what are we looking for specifically?”
“There was a card for this insurance agent in Joanna’s purse. I want to see why,” I said. “My theory is that if Finn planned to kill Joanna and make it look like an accident, then perhaps he sent her here to increase h
er life insurance so he could cash in on her death.”
“That’s very dramatic,” Remy said. “You’ve seen that in a movie, right?”
“Doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen in real life,” I said.
“You’re right,” Remy said and held up his hands in mock surrender. “Well, let’s go through his computer then. I bet he has notes on all his clients. Do you want to do the honors, or should I?”
“I’ll do it,” I said and sat down in Wade’s chair.
After a few minutes of typing, I found my way through the insurance company’s client record system. A little magic was all it took to get through the passwords, and then I found Joanna’s file.
“It says here that she called him,” I said. “Well, that was most unhelpful.”
“Yeah, because it could have been her idea to call or it could have been Finn’s,” Annika added. “Why don’t you look and see if Finn has a file?”
“He does,” I said. “But he already had a larger policy. He’s had it for over a decade too with no changes.”
“So, what we know is that she called and requested the increase,” Remy said. “What we don’t know is why. She could have done it because Finn wanted her to increase the policy, or she could have done it on her own.”
“Or she could have done it to make it look like Finn was going to murder her,” Annika said. “We don’t know for sure if he attacked her. She could have made that up. She could have cut herself.”
“That’s dark,” I said, “but it’s also completely possible.”
“We need to find out if he ever gave a statement of any kind before he died. Maybe he told Gunner or possibly one of the nurses at the hospital.”
“Do any of the other notes say anything helpful?” Annika said.
I scanned them and only found one thing that might have been a clue. “There’s a note from almost four years ago that Finn wanted to change the beneficiary on his policy to his mother because he intended to file for divorce,” I said. “Then a few weeks later, there’s another note saying he’d changed his mind.”
Broom and Gloom Page 5
