We ran out the back door, going as fast as we could, around the house and up the street. We were a ways back, not a chance of being as fast as our attacker, but we saw him cross the road and disappear into the woods. I started to follow, but Beth jerked me back just in time to keep from getting hit by a car. It hadn’t been going that fast, but the tires squealed against the tarmac nonetheless as it ground to a halt in front of us.
I would’ve gone around it and kept running after him, but Emma popped out of the passenger seat of the car, which I now recognized as Deva’s. “What’s going on?” Emma demanded, looking ready to set the whole world alight if she needed to.
Dejected, I glared toward the spot where the man disappeared. “Trouble.”
11
Emma
“Well, now what?” Deva shook her head and settled deeper into the sofa. The thing was ridiculously comfortable, to the point that I wondered if my friends had somehow used their magic to make it that way. The paisley fabric screamed Carol’s tastes and I wasn’t surprised that half of it was covered in a blanket, and I’d bet money this was where Deva sat regularly. Unfortunately, that was the space that Beth was currently occupying, so Deva was sitting next to her, while Carol and I sat on… bean bags? I wasn’t sure where they had appeared from, but one of them was covered in cat hair. Not that I really minded, but it was clear that I was stealing a cat’s bed and I didn’t want any more cats to be angry with me.
“I think we all agree Roger was murdered,” Beth said in a wooden voice, her gaze fixed on a potted plant that sat on the coffee table between us. “But what I don’t understand is why they’d come after me. And why, after Roger’s death has been ruled natural, the man would come in, attack us with a knife and try to kill us in a decidedly unnatural way?”
“Could it be something to do with the company itself?” I asked. I knew Rick would fight me tooth and nail to maintain control of the company if he wanted it in the divorce. It wasn’t like I was the one who’d built it from the ground up or anything, no, I was just the wife. Right.
Beth shrugged. “We did a lot of bankruptcies, divorces, prenups, property disputes, that kind of thing. Usually fairly amicable stuff though some of the divorces and property disputes got nasty. No one ever blamed us for it though. It wasn’t like Roger was a defense attorney, getting felons off their charges. Who would we have pissed off?”
“Daniel made it sound like no one liked Cliff, but he didn’t really have anything to say about Roger. Could it be a client that was Cliff’s but took it out on Roger instead?” I asked.
Beth shot me what was almost a glare. She hadn’t been happy when we told her about everything, and that was one of the biggest understatements of the year. She huffed and said, “Maybe. Cliff was a lot… riskier with his clientele than Roger was. It was one of the things that drove them apart. Roger wanted to stick with more small-town stuff whereas Cliff wanted to make a name for himself, attract top-dollar clients. I don’t think that whoever Cliff pissed off would hurt me though. That seems unnecessary when the two men they would have interacted with are both dead or missing.”
“What about an inheritance?” Deva asked, glancing at Beth warily. Neither of us were in our friend’s good graces right now.
Beth shrugged. “It’s not that much. And it’ll just go to my girls when I die, so unless this person is ready to kill us all, it’s not worth all this. The main part of the business is probably the building if I’m being honest. I just hope that if something did happen to me as well, the ghosts wouldn’t be complete jerks and would let my girls sell it before they started up their nightly raves again.”
My blood ran cold at the thought that someone might try to kill Beth’s kids, too. That couldn’t happen. I didn’t care what we had to do, but our kids were staying well out of it.
Deva rustled through the papers that Beth’s lawyer had sent over. The man must have had nothing better to do tonight because though we didn’t expect them till the morning, a special courier had dropped them off an hour ago. “Maybe it has nothing to do with his partner. Just your ex.” She shrugged and kept reading. “I’m not seeing anything significant here.”
“Could it be an old client?” I asked. “I mean I know you said that Roger didn’t take any cases where things got particularly nasty, but that doesn’t mean that people just let stuff go. Some hold grudges. Maybe it was a client that the two of them worked with together or something?”
Deva made a noise low in her throat. “Could be, considering the partner went missing exactly five years from the day Roger was murdered. That can’t be insignificant.”
“Why would it be?” I asked. Yes, it was odd, but it couldn’t mean that much could it? Then again, I was new to all this stuff. Looking at the expressions my friends were wearing made me feel like a naive child. There was a reason, a magical one, which means one I wouldn’t have thought of before karma came into my life and shook everything up.
Carol sighed. “Unfortunately, an anniversary gives a witch a significant event to siphon energy and power from. It’s a conduit of sorts. Think of it like a straw in a drink. Sure, you can drink it normally, but if you’re sucking on the liquid with a straw then it makes it easier to get it into your mouth and consume it.”
That’s it. I’m making a damn handbook. Every time I think I’ve got a handle on something it up and gets more complicated. The only problem was that I knew I’d never remember to write everything down. One of these days though, I was going to understand all this supernatural stuff and then everyone would be in trouble. Karma would know exactly what she was doing, which would make a nice change.
“I guess we need to go talk to the witches,” Carol said. “That’s got to be our next move.”
Each of them looked as upset as the other. Carol seemed to suddenly need to knit, while Deva looked like she was trying to set the peacock that was painted on the wall on fire with just her gaze and Beth… she still had that same angry but distracted expression on her face.
“What?” I asked, again feeling like the ignorant outsider. I hadn’t even known there were witches or anything supernatural in town when I was growing up and now? Now, I knew they were there, but I had no idea who was what. I mean was the postman a shifter? Was the cashier at the grocery store a witch? Anyone could be anything, it was truly mind-blowing. The only creatures I’d met that might stand out were vampires and sirens, mainly because of their skin tones and the fact that they seemed to have a unique way of moving through the world.
“It just bothers us to think it could be one of our own,” Deva whispered. “Using magic to murder isn’t natural. It means the witch has gone dark.”
They all shook their heads. If I had walked in at that moment, I would have asked who died. That was how serious and sad they all looked. They didn’t even know who it was that might have turned to the dark side, but they were acting like it was one of their friends that had betrayed them and everything that witches stood for by committing murder using magic.
I knew the murderer wasn’t in the room with us, but clearly, the three of them had complicated feelings when it came to the other witches in the community. They hardly ever talked about them and I hadn’t been introduced to anyone, so it was like they didn’t want anything to do with them. Yet, their reaction to one of them using dark magic was the opposite, like they were best friends with all of them.
I had to assume it was more of a community loss since I didn’t want to ask yet another question when they all looked like someone had just kicked them when they were down. The last thing I wanted to do was add to the stress and disappointment they were feeling by picking apart their feelings on what was happening.
What were we going to find now?
12
Daniel
I let the axe fly, swinging downward with a slight whistle through the air as I carefully steered it in the right direction, and split the wood cleanly. The log cracked apart, splinters flying, as the ax split it. I pulled the piece
s up one at a time and did it again until they were the right size.
The scent of fresh pine filled the air along with the loamy scent of the earth that moved under my feet every time I swung the axe. As I tossed the fresh firewood on the pile, the sound of a car approaching made my ears perk up like I was a damn wolf or something. Bears didn’t make cute little faces when they were listening or confused by something. There was no head tilting or wagging tails, and yes, I’d seen full-grown male shifters wagging their tails before when they wanted to get their point across. Bears were… grumpier. More solitary. More self-reliant and reserved. More everything really.
But I was a little biased.
Every shifter, even out of their fur, had better hearing than any human and was naturally stronger. It was part of what helped us stay hidden from prying eyes. So, when I was splitting wood for the fire, for example, I was able to do so at my own pace when I was alone but the moment, I sensed someone nearby I would drop the intensity with which I swung the ax to make it more believable that I was just a regular human. If I was feeling particularly indulgent, I may even swing so lightly that it took a couple of tries to break the wood apart, but that was only when I was pandering to someone.
A few minutes later, the sheriff’s car pulled through the trees and parked in front of my place. “Howdy,” I said as Sheriff Danvers got out of his cruiser. “What brings you this way?”
“Thought I’d stop in and say hello,” Samuel said. He took his hat off and tossed it onto the passenger seat. I always hated that hat and having to wear it to be in proper uniform. The strange divots on the dome, the scratchy beige fabric, I hated all of it, but then I wasn’t a huge fan of clothes in general, something I didn’t have to worry about while in my bear skin.
When he looked back up at me, he put his thumbs around his belt and rested his hands there in a way that I’d only ever seen cops do. I knew part of it was ease of access to things they may need, but I couldn’t help thinking part of it was because we all wanted to be the sheriff growing up, and probably watched more than one old spaghetti western. After an awkward pause, Samuel added, “I was in the area.”
Sure. The area of my cabin that was out in the middle of the woods. He was in that area? Right.
I wouldn’t push it though. Samuel clearly had something to talk to me about and he’d get to it in his own time. One thing I’d learned over the years was not to push. Sometimes the more you pushed the more people clammed up. Let them talk at their own pace and they might just spill their guts to you.
“Well come in, have some coffee.” I stomped up the porch, knocking the mud and wood chips from my boots as I went, and held open the front door. I had a lady come in and clean often enough that it didn’t bother me to have someone drop in. I wasn’t otherwise much of a housekeeper on my own. I’d rather be out in the woods. Bear or human, I didn’t mind, I just liked being in nature.
Part of the reason I lived all the way out here.
“Sit, sit.” I motioned to the kitchen table while I grabbed a couple of mugs and poured out the coffee I always kept at the ready. “Black?”
“Of course,” Samuel said, completely deadpan. “Milk is for sissies.”
We shared a laugh as I sat across from him and sipped my coffee. Good thing I liked it black, too, or I might’ve been offended. Though we had both been on the force at the same time, we’d never really worked together outside of me being his boss while I was sheriff. It wasn’t like he was a good friend stopping by to check on me.
“Been a rough week,” Samuel said, running his hand over his thinning brown hair. “Real shame about Roger.”
I nodded and grunted. “Very true. Ruled natural causes though, right?”
Samuel met my gaze, his dark eyes hard to read. “Well, as to that…”
“What?” I set my mug down and leaned forward. “Spit it out. You look like the cat that ate the canary.”
Samuel sighed and set his mug down, too. “The thing is, Daniel, while Emma isn’t a suspect anymore, I did have to do some digging on her while she was. I called around, spoke to the county PD back in Springfield where she was living, or is, since she hasn’t technically moved to yet. Her ex-husband is missing as well. And so is the guy’s new girlfriend.”
I sat back in my seat and regarded the sheriff. He obviously thought Emma was up to some bad stuff. And in his shoes, I probably would have as well, only I knew Emma, and I knew there was no chance she’d do something like that.
“I’m just saying, Daniel, don’t get distracted by a pretty face. I suspect this is all supernatural, and something you should handle, especially if Emma is an innocent party in it. I know you’ll want to keep her safe. She doesn’t seem like the type, but I can’t deny that there’s been some stranger than normal stuff happening since she turned up.”
I wasn’t sure how much he believed his own words that she could be innocent, but overall, he was right. Things had been a little extra odd since Emma came home, but I knew it wasn’t her fault, the same way I knew I had to keep her safe.
My bear had begun pacing inside me, and I knew I’d have to check in on Emma sooner rather than later, just to make sure she was okay...if I wanted to get any sleep ever again. The idea of her being in danger just made everything I was already feeling more intense. But at the same time, I couldn’t help but think about our last time together. In an ideal world, I’d avoid her until I felt less like a dumbass. But this wasn’t an ideal world.
The sheriff tipped the plain white mug of coffee I’d given him up and drained it in two gulps, letting me know that he had done what he set out to do. With his obligations over with, I knew he wouldn’t be hanging around to chat and catch up. That wasn’t the kind of men we were. “Well, thanks for the coffee,” Samuel said. “I didn’t mean to barge in on you. I just didn’t know how to get the bad news out.”
We both stood and he pulled his belt and pants back up to where he thought they should be, as I said, “It’s all right.” I clapped him on the back and sighed, troubled about the news. “I’m glad you told me.”
The two of us walked out and I went back to my woodpile as though I was going to carry on with what I was doing now that he was leaving. I wasn’t sure I could though. I watched him pull down my driveway as I thought about what I should do next. I wanted to call her local PD and find out what I could about her ex myself. She’d mentioned him, said their relationship had been rough at best. It seemed like an invasion of privacy though so I wasn’t sure that would be the best step forward, not if I wanted to date her, which I did. I had no idea whether things between the two of us could work, but I knew if I didn’t ask, if I didn’t at least try, then I’d regret it.
I couldn’t imagine her doing anything to hurt the man she’d clearly loved at one point in time, and especially not the new girlfriend. Emma might be angry and maybe even bitter, I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t think she’d hurt someone like that no matter how angry or hurt she was. Crimes of passion were… well, anyone could commit one, but still. Emma didn’t seem the type to snap. If she was, then she would have snapped when she found out about the supernatural, right?
I couldn’t pinpoint how I felt but confusion summed it up. I’d have to put in more thought about how to proceed. Carefully, that was for sure. I didn’t want Emma or myself to be set up for failure if we decided to try to do this. That meant figuring out what was going on without rocking the boat too much or making Emma doubt my intentions. It might be a bit like walking a tightrope, but it was a line that I’d gladly walk for her.
13
Emma
I’d never been around witches other than my friends, and even then, I hadn’t been around all that much. Not recently, anyway, not since I knew they were witches, and not when they were being all magical. I’d never seen Deva make her food, only experienced it, and Beth’s talking animals weren’t a spell she had to cast or whatever, it was more like a forcefield around her, though I supposed she had got us into that nightclub when
I was looking for Henry. I still wasn’t clear on what she did there though. Carol was the only one I’d seen actively using magic when she was knitting, and she was the one who picked me up first thing the next morning. I hopped in the back seat as Deva, Carol, and Beth smiled and said their good mornings as I settled in next to Beth.
“Are you guys really okay with going?” I asked. They hadn’t exactly seemed pleased when we realized that a witch might be behind this whole thing with Beth’s ex and his business partner.
“Of course. Visiting the local coven is always fun.” Carol backed out of my driveway and headed down the road.
“But you guys aren’t in the coven, are you?” I asked.
They shook their heads almost in unison.
“Why aren’t you, if you don’t mind me asking?” I wasn’t sure how they’d respond to the question. It’s not like I expected my friends to be keeping secrets from me anymore, but they had kept the entire supernatural world a secret from me for years, so you know, it’s not like there wasn’t a precedence.
The car filled with an awkward silence. Finally, it was Beth next to me who huffed and said, “The coven is demanding. They require a lot of time and energy, which isn’t something I could provide with raising Tiffany. Since I wasn’t about to give up on raising her, I fell out of favor with the coven, and they never let me join as an adult.” Guilt and frustration suffused her voice, and I couldn’t help but reach out and take her hand in my own, squeezing it in support.
“I wouldn’t have been able to give up on raising Henry if I was in the same situation.”
“We didn’t like how they treated Beth, so we chose to stick with our best friend and not a bunch of women we barely knew,” Deva said, turning to grin at me from the front passenger seat.
Karma's Shift (Magical Midlife in Mystic Hollow Book 2) Page 7
