by Zoe Arden
"Maybe Bill is helping her, trying to make it look like someone's out to get her, you know?" Trixie's eyes suddenly lit up. "Wait a minute, what if he's not helping her? What if he knew she was meeting Mack secretly? He was always jealous of the two of them. What if he killed Mack in a jealous rage, then decided to kill her, too?"
I opened my mouth to protest but couldn't think of a good argument against her theory. I wasn't sure I bought it, but it was interesting.
"What do you think, Eli?" Trixie asked. "You were friends with Mack. Was he still pining away for Natalie?"
"I wasn't friends with him," my dad snapped and sighed. "I was his babysitter.”
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CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE
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I tried not to laugh. "You were Mack's babysitter?" I asked my dad.
He nodded. "What's so funny? It doesn't make me old. I was just older than him, that's all."
I waited for him to go on.
"Mack and Natalie went to high school together, but I was about twelve years older than them. I was already in high school when he was still a kid." My dad paused, a faraway look in his eyes. "A lot of the other kids used to make fun of him because he was kind of..."
"Odd?" I asked.
He nodded. "Yeah. It wasn't his fault. There aren't many paranormals who are such a hodgepodge of species. He was different. For some people, he was a little too different. He just didn't fit in."
"That's so sad," Trixie said.
"It was. I felt bad for him, so I always tried to do something to make him happy whenever I sat for him. One time, I brought him a cat, thinking he'd like a pet even if it wasn't going to be his familiar. He about lost his mind. Turned out he was terrified of cats. Dogs weren't much better."
"So, it wasn't just Snowball," I said.
"It's got something to do with the water sprite in him. Water sprites don't care for cats and dogs because they're always chasing after them, thinking they're a toy or food or something," my dad told me.
"How old was he when you started sitting for him?"
"Oh, let me think... about six, I think. Even in kindergarten, the kids laughed at him." He shook his head. "I used to talk to him and try to make him feel better, but I was never really sure how successful I was."
"You must've made some sort of impression on him at that age," I said.
He sighed. "When your mother was killed and I took you off the island, I went to say goodbye to him before I left. He was a little older then, maybe twelve. Anyway, he offered to help. Said he wanted to come with me and help me raise you."
My dad chuckled. "I told him no, of course, but he didn't understand why. Later, I sometimes wondered that myself. His parents weren't around. His dad had deserted him, and his mom didn't seem to want him. He was being raised by an aunt. I learned she passed away a couple years after we left."
He shook his head again as if clearing it of all the memories. "Anyway, he had a hard time growing up. I know things changed a lot for him some time in high school, but I'm not really sure how or why."
"What do you mean, 'changed?' " I asked.
He shrugged. "I'm not really sure. After we moved back to the island, I went to his bar to see him. I just wanted to say hi. He was different. He was successful in his business and people didn't bully him anymore."
"That sounds like a good thing," Trixie said.
"It was," he replied. "But there was something... I don't know. Like he knew what I was thinking before I thought it." He shrugged. "Anyway, I only stayed a few minutes."
"Did he say anything about being in debt?" I asked.
"In debt?" my dad said. "Mack? No. He was always great with money. Math was his favorite subject in school—something else which only made him seem weirder to the kids."
"But the bartender at his bar, his cousin Von, told me that Mack was in debt. He said he owed money all over town."
"Von?" my dad said incredulously. "Von was his cousin, all right, but he was also the meanest of all the kids who used to pick on Mack. They hated each other. If Mack was in debt, he'd never have told Von about it."
My mouth dropped open.
Another liar.
"Why did you lie to me about knowing Mack?" I asked him. "Why didn't you just tell me all this before?"
He sighed. "Because of the rumors going around about Natalie."
I crinkled my brow. "What do you mean? What do rumors about Natalie have to do with you?"
"Nothing. But those rumors all got started because it came out that Mack went to her for help."
"So?"
"So..." My dad shrugged and looked sheepishly at me. "He asked me for help, too."
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, I could see his shoulders relax. The tension he'd been carrying around eased.
"Wait, what?" I said, surprised. "Mack came to you and asked you for help?"
He nodded.
"When?"
"A few days before he was killed."
"Before he came to me?"
My dad nodded. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything, but remember you didn't say anything either. Not right away, at least."
"Maybe that explains why Mack came to me, then. He knew he could trust you, and I'm your daughter. He figured he could trust me, too."
"Only I turned him away," my dad said, his voice wavering. I looked over at him and saw tears forming in his eyes. I suddenly wondered if guilt wasn't the bigger reason behind his keeping quiet about this for so long. He didn't want anyone to know that he had turned down an old friend when they asked him for help, afraid that he'd be judged for it.
No, not judged. My dad wasn't one to hide from his mistakes. He was embarrassed, I realized. Embarrassed to admit the truth. He must've felt terrible about it.
"Any more secrets you've been keeping?" I asked him. "You were with Sadie the day Mack was killed, right?"
"I was," he said. "I swear it." I was relieved to find that I believed him. "No more secrets. I promise."
I nodded. "Okay," I said and gave him a hug.
If only it could be this easy dragging everyone's secrets out of them. I texted Lucy before going back out on the floor. She and I had another visit to pay to Von.
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CHAPTER
TWENTY-TWO
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Lucy couldn't go to Mack's Bar with me the next day, so I decided to go myself. I'd thought about telling my dad or aunts where I was going and getting one of them to come with me, but ultimately decided against it. I'd figured things would go smoother if I was alone, and I was right.
"All right, so you caught me," Von said, shrugging as if I'd just asked him what his favorite color was. "I lied about Mack being in debt. So what?"
"Why would you lie about it?" I asked him, still not understanding.
"I thought you'd blab it all over town."
"You mean, you wanted me to start a rumor about him? Why?"
"He was a bum, that's why."
"How can you say that when he left you this place?"
Von sighed. "He didn't leave me this place."
My heart skipped a beat.
Great, more lies. My radar for detecting these things was really malfunctioning lately.
"Who'd he leave it to then?" I asked.
He shrugged. "No idea. His lawyer won't say until he gets in touch with them. All I know is it's not me."
"Then what are you doing bartending here?"
"I thought maybe if things fell through with the person it's supposed to go to, I might be able to take it over. Plus, I need a job. Whoever gets it is gonna need a bartender. Why shouldn't it be me?"
"You mean, you just showed up here and started working?"
He shrugged. "Mack wasn't here to stop me."
I narrowed my eyes at h
im. "Where were you when Mack was killed?"
He smirked at me. "Nice try. Those COMHA agents already questioned me. I've got an airtight alibi. I wasn't even on Heavenly Haven when it happened."
That sounded like something I could easily check with Colt, assuming he'd tell me. He kept more things from me than I sometimes realized. He hadn't let on that he was harboring any suspicions about my father.
I'd called him late last night and left him a voicemail shouting at him about that whole fiasco. I told him I'd talked to my dad, confessed I'd been eavesdropping on their conversation, the whole thing. He'd texted me back this morning and told me he was sorry. Sadie confirmed my dad's whereabouts when Mack was killed, as did a host of other hospital staff including Dr. Dunne. They'd all seen him when he'd gone to the hospital to pick her up for lunch.
"What are you gonna do if the person who inherits this place doesn't want you to come with it?" I asked.
He shrugged. "I'll figure that out when the time comes."
My phone rang before I could ask anything else, though I wasn't sure I had any questions left to ask. Once confronted with the truth, Von had confessed relatively easily. I think he was proud that he'd tricked me to begin with and wanted me to know just how easily I'd been fooled.
I looked at the number but didn't recognize it. "Hello?" I said, stepping away from Von.
"Ava?" a man's voice asked.
"Yes."
"It's Bill Vargas. I need your help."
I drew in a deep breath. I wasn't in the mood to talk to Bill just now. "Look, if you're trying to get me to spy on Natalie for you again, you should know she's on to you. Lottie told her everything."
"It's not that," he said. "Forget about that. You know where we live, right?"
"Yeah..." Suddenly the hairs on my neck were standing on end.
"Can you come down here?"
"To your house?" I almost squealed. I didn't think I'd ever been inside Natalie's house before. For some reason, the thought made me uneasy.
"Yes. I found something, and I need you to look at it."
"What is it?" I asked.
"I don't want to get into that on the phone. Can you be here in twenty minutes?"
I looked at Von and figured I was through here. He'd confessed to basically leading me down a dead end for his own benefit. I was glad I hadn't put in more time trying to track down Mack's debtors, talk about a wild goose chase. I had enough wild goose chases to look into as it was already.
"Yeah, okay. Twenty minutes," I said.
I shot Von an angry look then hurried out of the bar. I got to Natalie's exactly twenty minutes later. I lifted my hand to knock and Bill opened the door before my knuckles even touched the wood.
"Good, you're here," he said and yanked on my arm, pulling me inside his house.
"What the—"
"Sorry," he said, letting go of me and wringing his hands together. I'd never seen him so nervous before.
"What's going on?" I asked him. "Is Natalie okay?"
"Hmmm? Oh, yeah, she's fine. She's out shopping." He was pacing the floor, wearing it down.
"What about Mary and Bill Jr.?"
"What about them?" he asked, sounding frustrated, as if I'd interrupted his thoughts.
"Are they okay?"
"Yes, of course, why wouldn't they be?"
I threw my hands up in the air. "I don't know, you tell me. You're the one who called me down here, and now that I'm here, you're acting like a... like a... I don't know what. You're acting crazy is all I know. Why don't you calm down and tell me what's going on?"
Bill stopped pacing and seemed to steady the shaking in his hands. I said a quick, silent thank you to whatever spirits were aiding me in this new adventure. Watching him walk back and forth like that had been making me dizzy.
"I'm sorry," he said. "You're right. Of course, you're right."
I waited for him to go on, but he just stood there.
"So..." I ventured, trying to draw something more out of him. "You said on the phone that you wanted to show me something. What is it?"
He stiffened and after a moment reached into his pocket. He pulled out an envelope. It had Natalie's name scrawled across the top in small, rigid letters.
"I found this in her underwear drawer," he said and started to hand it to me, then paused and took a deep breath.
"Maybe we should have a drink first," he said and turned immediately around without waiting for an answer from me. I sighed and followed him. He hadn't left me much choice.
He poured us each a scotch and handed me the glass. I couldn't remember the last time I'd drunk scotch. I was a wine girl. Most of the time, I didn't drink at all.
I sniffed the drink then stuck my tongue into the amber liquid. It burned. I set the drink aside. Bill didn't even notice.
"Bill," I finally said when he went to pour himself another, "are you going to show me that letter or not?"
"How do you know it's a letter?" he asked accusingly.
"Because it's in an envelope; what else could it be? Plus, I was there when Natalie got it."
His eyes widened. "You were there..." he muttered. He looked like he was ready to point his finger at me and throw me into a lineup.
"Oh, for witch's sake," I said, "stop looking at me like that. Natalie and I were having coffee at the Cove when she got this letter. I recognize the handwriting. I have no idea what it says, though. She wouldn't let me see it."
He paused, thinking, then handed me the envelope. I opened it and pulled out the letter.
Dear Natalie,
I loved you once, and I know you loved me. I know that time is gone for us, but I have no one else to turn to. You met me once, meet me again. Give me a chance to explain. I promise you I won't let anyone hurt you, not while I'm alive.
There's something I never told you all those years ago, but I'm ready to tell you now. I found something in high school, and it changed my life. If it falls into the wrong hands, though, it could prove deadly. I don't know who to trust anymore.
Please meet me at midnight at my apartment.
It's not too late, I still need your help.
- Mack
Below his signature was an address.
"Well?" Bill asked when I had finished reading it.
"Well what?" I asked him.
"What does it mean?" he said. "What's this thing he found that 'changed his life?' "
"I have no idea."
"Do you think that's what they're after? Whoever it is that's trying to kill Natalie?" He seemed so worried about his wife that I dismissed Trixie's earlier idea of him being responsible for her attacks.
"Probably," I admitted. "Natalie said Mack tried to give her a box. Whatever he's talking about here must've been in it. But when she mentioned it before, she made it sound like the box was small. Too small to be a weapon." I drummed my fingers on a table. "In the letter, Mack says it could be deadly in the wrong hands. What's small but deadly?"
Bill shrugged. "A snake?"
"A snake?" I asked skeptically. "I don't think people are getting killed over a snake."
I remembered Dean Lampton's visit to the bakery. The one where he'd ordered me to stop investigating Mack's murder. Was it possible that he knew what it was that Mack was hiding? Maybe he wanted it for COMHA. What could a bartender have that COMHA could use?
I was about to voice my question to Bill when Natalie walked in. She had Mary by one hand and Billy by the other. She saw me holding the letter and her eyes went black.
"Go to your rooms," she instructed her kids.
"But, Mom!" Billy shrieked.
"Go to your rooms!"
Her children silenced immediately and went to their rooms.
She rounded on me and Bill, holding her hand out as she approached me. I handed her the letter.
"How dare you?" she said, her voice low and menacing.
"I didn't," I said.
Her eyes moved from me to Bill. "You found this?" she asked him, sidesteppi
ng me.
Bill looked like he was in full panic mode.
"You went snooping in my drawers!"
"It was totally by accident," he said, but I didn't think that mattered just now.
"So, you saw my name on it, opened it, read it and... and... and what? Called Ava to come and read it with you?"
"Kind of," he said in a high-pitched voice.
"Why?"
"I was worried about you," he said.
Her face softened ever so slightly. Without turning back to look at me, she said, "Ava, get out."
I did as she requested without hesitation. I had no idea what Bill was in store for, and I didn't want to be around to find out.
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CHAPTER
TWENTY-THREE
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I stood outside Mack's apartment around midnight, wondering if I was making a huge mistake coming here. The idea had occurred to me after reading his letter to Natalie.
"Meow," Snowball said at my feet as if to remind me that I wasn't alone.
"Okay, Snowy," I told her. "You stand guard. If you see anyone coming, let out a warning."
"What should Snowy say?" she asked.
I wrinkled my nose. "Just meow really loudly three times in a row," I told her.
"Meow meow meow!" Snowball bellowed for demonstration. She was so loud I nearly had to plug my ears.
"Quiet!" someone yelled, but no windows opened.
I looked quickly around to see if anyone else had noticed, but the coast looked clear.
"Snowy is very loud," Snowball said proudly, purring against my ankle.
"Yes, very loud. That was a good demonstration. Now only do that if someone comes." I paused. "If someone's coming into Mack's apartment, that is, not just walking down the sidewalk or something."
