by Emma Watts
“This is going to ruin business,” he said muttering under his breath.
“Do you know what happened?”
“Only snippets. His son Rick phoned me to say that Daniel didn’t come up after a dive. I hope he’s okay. He better not have had a drink on the boat.”
“What do you mean?”
“I got word last week that he’s been taking beer out and offering it to people to get them to go fishing with him. He’s been using it as an incentive. You know, hire out my boat and have me pay for all the beer. I warned him once already about this but the man refused to listen.”
“It’s his boat, though?”
“Not exactly. He works for me. When he’s not chartering for others, or scuba diving he’s one of my fishermen.” His brow pinched together as he said it. We all watched in horror as the medics brought up a body bag on a stretcher. That meant only one thing, he hadn’t made it. In the distance I could see several of the people who were on his boat crying, and one young man with cropped ginger hair was trying to console them. Liam raised a hand to his forehead. “This is not good. Not good at all.”
Chapter 5
By the time the police arrived on the scene, it had become a real circus down at the harbor. Curious onlookers talked among themselves. Many fueled the rumor wheel about Daniel. I was eavesdropping on the conversations. One woman said he was a known womanizer and probably one of the women had killed him. Another said that was preposterous because murders didn’t happen in Haven. Mysterious deaths, yes, but not murders. I shook my head in disbelief. Murders happened in every town in the world. They probably weren’t paying attention. Liam excused himself while he went to speak with the police who were now on the scene. There was a female and a male detective, and several officers. One of the officers was taking down statements while another cordoned off the area and was getting everyone to back up.
“Okay, folks, back to your lives. Nothing to see here.”
“Nothing to see? That’s debatable.”
I stood there taking it all in and observing what Liam was showing the detectives. He’d taken them on board and was pointing to some equipment. My eyes scanned the crowd. Among the many gathered I noticed Tobias lurking in the background. He looked oddly out of place, like he just came from a long run. Sweat trickled off his face and his eyes were shifting around suspiciously. When he locked on to mine, he started backing up, elbowing his way through the mass of people until he disappeared behind a building. Now certainly if anyone else had heard what had taken place the day before, they might have put two and two together and assumed that Tobias had knocked him off. Maybe I was naïve but at this stage I wasn’t even thinking murder. I assumed it was just an unfortunate event. Scuba diving could be dangerous. The number of deaths reported each year was staggering but most of it was put down to inexperience. Yet Daniel didn’t strike me as a man who was prone to make mistakes. His attention to detail over the scuba tanks yesterday was proof of that.
Curious to hear what Liam was saying, I slipped through the crowd until I was just on the perimeter of the police tape. A heavyset officer eyed me while at the same time trying to keep everyone else back.
“Ma’am, you can’t go in there,” he said to someone wearing a camera around her neck. The media rep waited a moment and then ducked under the tape when he wasn’t looking. Several members of the media had arrived and were doing everything in their power to get closer, to take photos and generally cause havoc. I considered ducking under the tape myself but the idea of being hauled away by the police kept me back.
As I was watching them intently, the male detective glanced over and his eyes fell upon me. He squinted then said something into the ear of the female detective before hopping off the boat and making his way up the wooden dock. His eyes never left me for a second. He couldn’t have been a year over forty. He was wearing a grey suit and black tie, a nice look, respectable but nothing that would make him stand out in a crowd. The closer he got I noticed he had green eyes and his dark hair was stylish.
Within a few feet from me, he stopped. “You…”
“Diana’s daughter? Was that what you were going to say?”
“Who?”
I let out a laugh. “For a second, I thought you were going to say I looked like my mother.”
“No, I’m not familiar with your mother. Does she live around here?”
“No.”
“Actually I was about to say you look similar to a woman I saw in my father’s photo.” He smiled and stepped forward. “Sorry, this must be very confusing. I’m Scott Hunter. Lead detective. My father is the chief of police and…” He shook his head and I’m not sure what he saw in me but he must have known that the encounter was becoming awkward so he quickly shifted the conversation. “And you are?”
“Kelly Winters. New to the area.”
“Right. Jamie Winters’s sister?”
“Oh you know about me? I’m wondering how many others he’s told.”
“No. I know of Jamie. Well, his antics. He’s a bit of a celebrity in the town. He’s forever playing pranks on people. You’d think at…”
“His age he would have grown out of it?” I finished what he was about to say as if reading his mind. Scott laughed.
“Exactly.”
“Yeah, that’s not Jamie. He’s always been like that. I’m pretty sure when he’s seventy years of age he will still be getting into mischief.”
He nodded studying my face. I swallowed hard sensing that he was checking me out. His eyes dropped and then went back up to my face again. I noticed he kept snapping a blue elastic band around his wrist. He’d pull it back and let it go, causing it to snap against his skin. He must have done it often as it had created a red mark around his wrist.
“Well I should get back to work. Nice to meet you, Kelly.”
Right then I saw my opportunity. “I was at the academy.”
“What?” he said twisting back around to look at me.
“Police academy. I was there for a while. Nearly graduated. Went through it all. Learned everything that should have allowed me to become a cop but it never happened.”
Scott looked back towards the boat as the female detective called out to him.
“I’ll be right there.”
His focus shifted back to me. “Interesting. What happened?”
And there it was, the same question that was asked by everyone I ever told. Why did I open my mouth? Now I was going to have to come up with the excuse. “An oversized man fell on me.”
I just blurted it out. The truth. I’d never told anyone that, not even my closest friend Madison, or my brother, especially not my brother. He would have created a parody video and tried to make it go viral.
A smirk danced on his face and I knew any second now he was going to burst out laughing and I would go a deep shade of red but instead he pointed at me. “Let me guess. The trust game?”
For the first time I didn’t feel like a buffoon. “Yeah.”
“Happened to another recruit in our class. I mean they got hurt but it didn’t put them out. They were able to bounce back from it. But you must have—”
“Scott!” a voice yelled again. The female detective had fiery red hair and didn’t look too impressed that he was chatting with me.
“Hey look, I’ve got to go but maybe I’ll see you around?”
“Yeah. I’m going to be working at Afterlife Bookstore.”
“Oh Ivy finally found someone. Well, miracles do happen. You are going to have your work cut out for you with her. That must mean you are…”
I never caught what he said as the fiery redhead yelled again and he took off, but not before telling me that we would finish the conversation at a later date. I smiled. To say I was curious about him would have been an understatement.
“I had a feeling this would happen,” a voice said from behind me.
“What?” I turned to find Ivy inching her way through to the front. She shook her head as she looked on.
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“What a tragedy. Things are only going to get worse. Dark forces are at work.”
I frowned, concerned about Ivy’s mental state. She kept going on about dark forces.
“Ivy, I came by earlier but you weren’t there.”
She nodded but didn’t look at me. She narrowed her eyes and her gaze drifted across the crowd. “Had to run a few errands. Hmmm… Spotted any suspicious-looking characters?”
“Besides you?” I said, chuckling. When I noticed she didn’t find it amusing, I turned my attention to the small group of divers standing off to one side. They were huddled together and holding towels around them. A couple of officers were standing near them. “I think it was just an accident.”
“There are no accidents in this town, Kelly. Everything that happens is well coordinated. Like a chess game. One person moves a piece, the other moves theirs until they have checkmate.”
“Well if you like gossip, there are a few folks down here throwing the word murder around but I wouldn’t read much into it.”
Ivy mumbled to herself. Something about looking up some information in a book.
“Ivy? You still with me?”
Then as if the lights came back on, she turned and smiled. “Yes dear. Look, I was hoping we could chat about what I need you to do at the store. Would you like to go get a bite to eat at Logan’s Café?”
“I was actually hoping to find out what was going on here.”
“Oh you won’t learn anything. The police are tight-lipped around this town. They keep things to themselves. Trying to penetrate their inner circle requires a little more tact but I’m sure we can figure it out.”
She looped her arm into mine and pulled me away. We slipped through the crowd and left them gawking at the sight of a dead man being placed into an ambulance. We weren’t the only ones making our way up from the harbor, police were telling people to mind their business and head north as they were expanding the barrier to prevent the media from getting any more photos.
Inside Logan’s it was packed. A light music played creating a calming ambience. The clatter of cups against saucers and chatter filled the air. It seemed as if anyone and everyone had decided they would grab themselves a coffee and sit around discussing the death. Every table was full, but that didn’t seem to bother those who stood by the window or in the aisle . Some even hung around outside.
“Dear me, get out of the way,” Ivy said keeping a firm grip on me as she elbowed her way through to the front of the café. Logan was handling the masses like a pro. He had even set up on the counter a small train with a track that he would put coffees on, and it would carry them, allowing people to grab their drinks. Each one had a name tag on the front of it scribbled in chalk.
“Back so soon,” he said over his shoulder as he masterfully filled up two cups while steam swirled around his face.
“Logan. Two cups of your finest dark roast, my dear.”
“Coming right up.”
“Oh, and two apple pastries,” Ivy said. As she walked over to a table where there were two youngsters, she stared at them and without anyone saying a word they got up and walked out leaving the table free. I couldn’t believe it. Here were are all these people waiting for a table and she walks up to one that’s already occupied and they just up and leave?
“You’ll have to teach me that trick. What’s it called, the evil eye?”
Ivy laughed. “It’s not a trick, my dear. But you’ll learn soon. Now enough about me. I want to know what’s been going on in your life. What things have you noticed lately?”
I sighed. “The cost of bras has gone up.”
“No. No, silly. Strange things. In the past few years. You must have noticed things. Heard things.”
“Heard things?” My mind reflected on the greeting I’d received when I arrived at Jamie’s place. “You know, Ivy, most people would shy away from telling others they are hearing voices.”
“I’m not most people.”
I stared back at her, a little reluctant to open up. Fortunately I didn’t have to. Logan appeared at our side with the coffees.
“You brought them over?”
“Only for you ladies.”
He winked at me and gave me a little pat on the shoulder and walked away.
“Watch that one. I’m telling you, Kelly. There is a reason he’s just come out of a relationship and it’s not because he didn’t buy her the right gift at Christmas.”
I eyed Logan and smiled. He seemed harmless enough.
“Anyway, when you are ready to tell me, you let me know. In the meantime back to the case at hand. Daniel Moon. Now this is going to be quite a tricky one to track but I have every bit of confidence in you.”
“What?” I said not making sense of what she was on about.
“The case. The murder. Oh please tell me you don’t suffer from amnesia?”
“No, I understand you are referring to Daniel but what do I have to do with this?”
“Only a hundred years of history, my dear.”
I leaned back in my chair and studied her face intently. “Okay, Ivy, I’m not sure what you were drinking or smoking this morning but how about we just focus on what needs to be done down at the store?”
“We are discussing it.”
I squinted then burst out laughing. “Okay, I know what’s going on here.” I turned my head. “Jamie! Where are you? I know this is one of your pranks. I should have known it from the start.”
“Kelly, what are you doing?” Ivy said looking around the crowded store.
“Well this is a prank, right?”
Ivy placed her hand on top of mine. “My dear, if I was to tell you that the person that fell on you at the academy did it on purpose, would you believe me?”
My face went from a smile to a deadpan expression. “What did you say?”
She nodded. “Yes. A lot of work to be done here.”
“Hold on a minute. You mentioned the academy. I never told anyone. Well, that’s a lie. I recently shared it with Detective Hunter but, regardless, I never told you. How do you know that?”
“Like I said. I knew your family.”
“But I never told anyone.”
Ivy stared back at me. “I was hoping to not have to do this here in public but you leave me with no choice.” She lifted a hand and without breaking her gaze she mumbled a few words that didn’t seem to make sense and clicked her fingers. Immediately it went quiet in the café. Not a sound could be heard. But if that wasn’t shocking enough, every single person was frozen. One woman had a cup to her lips, another was in the middle of trying to catch a knife that had fallen off the table. The knife was suspended in the air. I looked over to Logan who wasn’t moving either. I screeched my chair back and shook my head, then pinched myself. Wake up. Wake up!
“Oh you are awake, my dear. And don’t worry, these people are fine but you need to know a few things and I thought the best way to cut through the nonsense is to just show you and then have you unfreeze them.”
“Me? Who are you, Ivy?”
“I told you.”
“A good friend of my family. Yes. I know that,” I said with a strong voice. “But who are you? What are you?”
“A witch of course. The same as you. Well, a little more experienced but we’re cut from the same cloth, so to speak. Now, we really should unfreeze these people because…” She looked out the window. I cast a glance outside and noticed that the world continued on. A few cars passed by, several pedestrians across the road were looking at stores. “There are people heading this way and they might get a little freaked out if they see this. So how about you unfreeze them?”
“I can’t unfreeze them. I’m still grappling with the fact that any of this is real. Where is Jamie?”
“Jamie is busy, but he will be along soon enough to help you out with this case.”
“With this case. What are you on about this case?”
“My dear, for over a hundred years, your family has been at the heart
of this town solving mysteries and looking into strange occurrences. Why on earth do you think you are here?”
It was becoming all a little too much. I felt dizzy, overwhelmed as my breathing increased.
“Take a breath, Kelly. I know this is a lot to take in but…”
“You think?” I stammered. “Stop this right now. Whatever it is. Stop it right now!”
“If you want to stop this, just mutter these words, tackoma, reckalo, striphont. Then click your fingers and they will become unstuck.” She looked back out the window. “And if I were you I would do it soon as the two detectives are heading this way.”
My eyes widened.
“Ivy, whatever it is you are playing at. Stop it now.”
“I’m afraid I can’t. This is down to you now.”
“Ivy!”
She began whistling to herself and picked up her cup. Outside I could see the detectives closing in on the store. My heart was hammering in my chest at the thought of them seeing all of this. Was this even real?
“What are the words?”
She repeated them.
“And that’s all I need to say?”
She smiled and nodded.
“Tackoma, reckalo, striphont.” I clicked my fingers and nothing happened. I clicked again. Still nothing.
Outside the window they were within thirty yards. “It’s not working.”
“Um. Strange. Okay. Maybe there is something blocking it.”
She said the words and clicked her fingers and just like that everything went back to normal and no one noticed. The woman continued drinking her coffee, the knife hit the ground and clattered and then the door opened up and Scott and the other detective walked inside. He glanced at me and smiled before heading towards the counter to place an order. I sat back down and stared across at Ivy, viewing her through new eyes. I didn’t know whether to be impressed or terrified. I think in that moment I was feeling a little of both. Part of me wanted to stay, another to run, but I figured a woman who was capable of something that extraordinary could probably stop me before I had taken a few steps.
“You want to fill me in on what just happened?”
