Murder Any Witch Way: A Brimstone Bay Mystery (Brimstone Bay Mysteries Book 1)

by N. M. Howell

  Mrs. Brody was busy fussing with her plants when we came in, and Jessica and Mr. and Mrs. Littleton were chatting around her kitchen table.

  “Mrs. Brody, how much do you know about ghosts?” Rory asked.

  “Oh, more than I care to know, dear.”

  “Hey,” Jessica said to her. “That’s not nice.”

  We all ignored her.

  “How long does it take for one to appear after their bodies are killed?” I asked.

  She paused and thought for a moment. “Oh, instantly, I would imagine.”

  Rory and I exchanged looks.

  “Why on earth would you need to know that?” she asked us.

  “We’re trying to find a way to trigger the memories of the murder victims,” I said. “We need to find their killer before someone else is murdered, and I have a feeling we’re running out of time.”

  “You girls aren’t going to the crime sites, are you?” She looked sternly at us and crossed her arms.

  “We don’t have a choice,” I said. “If we’re going to prevent anyone else from succumbing to the same fate as Jessica and Mr. and Mrs. Littleton, we need to do something drastic to jog their memories.”

  “I’m coming with you,” she then said to us.

  “Nuh-huh,” I said. “No way. You’re already implicated enough in this. If the mayor catches you lurking about the crime scene, we’ll have a really hard time convincing him of your innocence.”

  “Well, that’s just too bad.”

  Rory sighed. “I wouldn’t fight it, River. When she makes up her mind, that’s the end of the story.”

  I shook my head in disbelief. “Fine, but if we get caught and you end up in jail, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  “Don’t be silly,” she said. “Besides, I’m the only one who knows the resident ghosts.”

  Huh, I guess she had a point.

  “We need a cover story,” Rory said as we prepared to leave. “In case we are caught in the house. What are we going to say?”

  “I think it’s best to just tell the truth,” I said. “That I thought we could find out more information at the scene of the crime, and you all wanted to come to protect me.”

  Rory shrugged. “It’s as good a story as any. A non-story, rather.”

  “Do we really have to go back to that place?” Jessica asked.

  I nodded. “Yeah, I’m so sorry. It’s the only way to try and trigger your memory. We can try the same with the coffins, but as they’re out in public, it might be harder to go without people seeing us.”

  “Okay fine,” she said. “Want us to meet you there?”

  “That would be best. We’ll be there in 15 minutes.”

  Mrs. Brody led us through her apartment to Rory’s car parked in the front driveway, but we all crashed into her awkwardly as she froze at the front door.

  “What’s going on?” I asked her.

  She stayed silent, and I pushed passed her to see what the problem was.

  “Oh crap,” I said. The girls pushed through to see for themselves.

  The grass has been torn up, large circles formed in the front lawn. At first, it looked like some sort of crop circles, but it quickly dawned on me what it was.

  “It’s the symbol,” Rory said, her voice wavering with fear. The curse mark had been carved into the grass.

  “It really was you we saw in the fire, River,” Jane said, stepping forward to grab my hand.

  I swallowed hard, trying to will myself to speak, but my body seemed frozen in place.

  “Prophecies can be changed,” Mrs. Brody said. “And we will change this one.”

  I nodded. “Okay, yeah. Let’s do that, please.”

  We all looked around the lawn quickly to make sure no one was here. It was more of an instinctual response to the situation than a necessity, as our magic could sense that there was no one else on the property at the moment. I had no idea why Mrs. Brody’s protective spells didn’t prevent this from happening. I really didn’t want to know what sort of trick would have gotten through.

  “Quick, to the car,” Mrs. Brody said, leading the way to Rory’s car. Her voice was wavering, and I could tell she was just as concerned about the trespass as I was.

  We all got in the car quickly, and Rory locked the doors.

  “Okay, which way should we go?” Rory asked, pulling out of the driveway.

  “Avoid the main street,” I said. “Maybe park where we did earlier today.”

  It only took us a few minutes to arrive, and we all sat in the dark car for a few moments, scoping out our surroundings.

  “Shit,” I said. “Is that Mayor Scott?” I squinted to try and see better, but I was pretty sure that’s who I saw walking around near the haunted house a few blocks ahead.

  “Yeah, that’s definitely him,” Bailey said. “What are we going to do?”

  “I’ll take care of him,” Mrs. Brody said. “You girls wait ten minutes before going into the house, okay? Be careful. Oh, and say hello to Buella for me.”

  She then got out of the car and marched down the center of the road towards Mayor Scott.

  “What do you think she’s up to?” I asked.

  Rory shrugged. “No one ever knows but her.”

  “And who’s Buella?” Jane asked.

  I shrugged.

  We watched as the two chatted for a bit outside, then he led her away down the street with his arm wrapped around her. Ah, she pulled the frail old lady card. Nice.

  We waited a few minutes until we knew the coast was clear, and then quietly got out of the car, careful to make as little noise as possible. We then walked the other way down the block and approached the house through the back lane.

  It was a clear night, and the stars provided enough light for us to see. But if the way was clear enough for us to see, then it meant other people could see us as well. We crouched down low and walked along the back fence, so hopefully, no one would be able to see us walk up to the back of the house.

  I pointed to the cellar door, remembering how Ryan and his friends had said that’s how they had gotten into the house on its opening day. Luckily, the latched door was still unlocked, and we quietly made our way in through the small, dark cellar into the main house.

  We paused and waited for a few minutes after entering, listening carefully to hear if there was anyone else around.

  Jessica came into the room just then. “Don’t worry, there’s no one else here. Well, living at least.”

  We all relaxed a bit, then walked up into the main house. The windows being boarded up really helped with the whole privacy thing, and we didn’t have to worry so much about being seen from the outside.

  “Here, I’ll show you where the body was found,” I whispered, and led the girls through the various rooms of the ground floor.

  We arrived at the end of the long corridor where I found Jessica’s body, and I motioned to the doorway. “She was hanging here.”

  “Poor girl,” Jane said quietly to herself.

  Mr. and Mrs. Littleton appeared on the other side of the doorway, and Jessica joined them, standing directly under where her body was found.

  “Okay,” I said. “Now that you’re here, do you remember anything else?”

  She shook her head. Crap. Well, I knew it couldn’t be that easy.

  “Let’s just wait a while, and hopefully, something will come to you,” I said. “Close your eyes and relax, and try to think back to your very first memory as a ghost.”

  Jessica shut her eyes tight, and we all watched in silence while she tried to remember.

  “I remember wandering around the house confused,” she began. “I wasn’t sure how I got here.”

  “That’s good,” I said. “Keep thinking. Was there anyone else in the house before we found you?”

  She nodded. “Well, yeah, all the witches, and that weird pale guy, but they were all part of the haunted house and came later. I was alone for a while before that.”

  “That’s great Jessi
ca, you’re doing a good job,” Jane said encouragingly.

  She squeezed her eyes tighter, and we waited patiently.

  “Was there anybody else here before that? Do you remember maybe even the smell or the sound of a person?” I asked.

  A few moments passed and then she said, “Yes. I remember lots of cursing. It was a man’s voice.”

  I smiled, she was remembering. “That’s awesome. Now focus on that voice. Did he say anything else?”

  She shook her head. “No, just swearing. I think he had trouble hanging up my body.”

  Jessica was a tiny girl, so that gave us at least some insight into her potential killer.

  A creaking noise suddenly came from the next room, and we all froze in fear. I could feel my heart in my throat, and I cursed myself for not bringing some sort of weapon with us.

  Rory reached for my hand and squeezed it with a death grip, but I was too focused on not peeing my pants that I hardly noticed.

  Another creaking noise came from the room, sounding suspiciously like footsteps.

  I swallowed hard and stepped in front of Rory, not that I could have protected her without a weapon.

  The footsteps grew louder, and I was paralyzed with fear. I did the only thing I could think of and braced myself to lunge forward to tackle whoever it was that was coming. I was absolutely not going to die that day, if I had anything to say about it.

  A shadowy figure came walking around the corner, and I pounced, collapsing on him as he fell backward in a sloppy attempt at a tackle.

  The figure screamed and pushed me off of it. I paused, and braced for an attack, but none came. A soft whimpering noise came from the shadowed figure.

  I got my phone out of my pocket and held the light up against the person’s face.

  Ryan Bramley stared back at me.

  “Ryan,” I said, shocked. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  The tension in the room eased slightly, and I heard Bailey let out a nervous giggle from behind me.

  Ryan started up at me, his face as white as a ghost, his hands trembling.

  I sat back and stared at him, waiting for an answer.

  He stared up at me, terrified.

  After a few long moments, he finally said, “I saw you guys come in. I wanted to make sure you were alright.”

  “That’s so sweet of you, Ryan,” Bailey said from behind me. She walked up to us and reached her hand out to help him up. He refused it and pushed himself up off the floor.

  I accepted her hand graciously, and she pulled me up to my feet to face Ryan.

  “We could have killed you,” I said.

  “Yeah, with what weapon?” He tried to laugh, but it came out as an uncomfortable sounding wheeze.

  The window creaked, and Ryan jumped.

  “Don’t worry, it’s just the wind,” I said.

  “I should go,” he said quickly. “This place isn’t safe. You should all go, right now.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right. You go on ahead; we’ll catch up in a second.”

  Ryan then turned and ran out of the room, and we heard the slamming of the cellar door a moment later.

  I turned to look at the girls, who looked back at me with expressions as shocked as mine was.

  “Brave of him to come in here,” Bailey said.

  I rolled my eyes. “Brave of him to stay.”

  I shook out my arms to release the pent up tension I was holding, and let out a loud sigh. “Okay, let’s get back to this.”

  Bailey suddenly froze, her eyes wide, staring into the room Ryan just ran off through.

  “What?” I asked.

  I noticed everyone else had frozen, too. What the hell?

  I turned to see where they were looking and heard a soft click as I felt cold metal press against my temple.

  My heart leaped into my throat again, and I felt my skin go ice cold. I turned my head as best I could with a barrel of a gun pressed to the side of my head, and found myself looking straight into the icy blue eyes of Jordan O’Riley.

  19

  “What are you doing here?” Jordan growled, holding the gun steady against my head.

  “You,” I said breathlessly. “I knew it.”

  He dropped his gun hand away from me, pointing it to the floor instead. “What do you mean, you knew it?”

  I shook my head. “This whole time. Why?”

  He narrowed his eyes at me but didn’t answer.

  “I said, what are you all doing here?” he walked to the edge of the room, and we all stepped back away from him, our backs up against the far wall. He eyed us as we moved, but then proceeded to switch the light on.

  “Please, don’t hurt us,” Rory said, falling to her knees. “Please, we didn’t do anything, I swear.”

  “We won’t tell anybody,” Jane said.

  I shushed them, then doing my best to act brave, I stepped forward towards the killer.

  “I don’t…” I began, but he cut me off before I could finish my sentence.

  “Tell me why the hell you are all here,” he growled again, looking back and forth between the four of us.

  “We thought we could gain some insight about the killer,” Bailey began reciting our cover non-story.

  “And looks like we got what we came for,” I said darkly, glaring at him.

  He sighed. “Come with me.”

  “Please, we’ll say nothing,” Jane pleaded. “Just let us go.”

  “Come,” Jordan growled and turned to leave.

  I glanced back at the girls. “Don’t think we have a choice in this.”

  I tried my best to remain calm, thinking of a way to get out of this situation. We didn’t have weapons, but perhaps we could outsmart him.

  I eyed Bailey behind me, and mouthed “Can you hex him?”

  She shook her head. Her face had gone so pale she looked like she was about to faint.

  I was surprised when he led us towards the front door and not down into the basement or someplace hidden.

  He opened the door, then stepped to the side to let us walk out.

  I stepped cautiously, confused as to what was going on. I then saw Mayor Scott standing outside accompanied by Mrs. Brody, and then I was really confused.

  “Come with me,” the mayor barked, then stormed off towards his office less than a block away.

  We all followed in silence, my heart beating very loudly in my chest. Jordan followed closely behind us, his gun still out.

  As we all gathered in Mayor Scott’s office, he slammed the door behind us and locked it. Jordan took a seat at the far side of the room.

  “It’s him,” I shouted, pointing at Jordan. “He’s the murderer. He came back to the scene of the crime, we saw him.” I was shaking uncontrollably by this point and had to sit down to prevent myself from passing out. Mrs. Brody came to stand near me and put her hand on my shoulder. She kept her silence, though, and just watched the room from behind me.

  Sheriff Reese then came walking into the office from the back room. “No, no he’s not,” he said coolly.

  Mayor Scott sat in his chair, rubbing his temples. “Please, explain what you girls were all doing in the haunted house. I knew something was up when Mrs. Brody lured me back to my office.” His eyes narrowed on her, and she stared daggers at him right back.

  I took a few deep, calming breaths before I could speak. “I needed to go back into the house to see if I could get more information about the murder.” I paused then, unsure as to what I should say in front of the sheriff. I looked at Mayor Scott and continued, “I had reason to believe there was untapped information to be found in the house.”

  He nodded, understanding what I was suggesting. “And did you find anything?”

  I pointed at Jordan and nodded.

  “Jordan is not the killer,” Sheriff Reese repeated. “We’re old buddies from the force. He’s an undercover cop from Boston. We asked him to come up and help with the case.”

  I stared incredulously at J
ordan. “You’re a what?”

  He shrugged. “Well it’s not exactly like I could have told you that.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t believe this. Why were you in the house then?”

  “I heard a scream and came running. I flagged the mayor down on my way, so he knew I was going in there.”

  “Are you hurt?” the sheriff asked, looking us all up and down in turn. When he didn’t notice any visible damage, he continued, “Why did you scream?”

  “We didn’t,” I said. “Ryan did.”

  “Ryan Bramley?” Jordan asked.

  I nodded. “Yeah, he was there just before you. Why?”

  Jordan immediately stood up and ran out the back door.

  I raised my eyebrow at Sheriff Reese who quickly said, “You should all leave. It’s not safe here. Go home, I’ll fill you all in tomorrow morning.”

  “Fat chance of that happening,” I said. “What’s going on, Sheriff?”

  Not a few moments later, Jordan was dragging a handcuffed Ryan Bramley into the sheriff’s office. Ryan was kicking and struggling, but Jordan was the stronger of the two.

  “What the hell is going on, man?” He shouted, trying to squirm free of Jordan’s grip. “Why the hell do you have handcuffs? What’s going on?”

  He quieted when he noticed we were all standing around the room watching him.

  “It’s them,” he pointed a finger at Mrs. Brody. “They did it, I saw them. They’re witches. They killed the kid and that old couple.”

  “Don’t you point your scrawny little finger at me, you maggot,” Mrs. Brody snapped at him. “You’ve always been a little weasel.”

  Jordan rolled his eyes. “Enough with the damn witches.”

  Ryan began to panic. “It wasn’t me, I swear. I saw the old witch hang the girl up, I was just too scared to come forward because I thought she would curse me.” He began struggling against the handcuffs again.

  “Let him go,” Bailey cried. “He’s obviously incapable of this sort of thing.”

  “Shut up, witch,” Ryan spat at her.

  She stepped back in shock, her eyes brimming with tears. “Ryan?”

  Realization slowly dawned on me. I stepped forwards towards the squirming boy before me. “You were going back to make sure you didn’t drop anything.”