The Witching Hour

by Anina Collins

  “It’s okay,” I said as my cheeks grew hot from a blush of humiliation and sweat began to drip down the sides of my face. “When you’ve lost someone, it feels good to laugh at even the stupidest things. I know that.”

  “Thanks. Amy wouldn’t want anyone to be all somber. She was a laugher. Did you two ever meet her, I mean before?”

  Alex shook his head, but I smiled at my memory of interviewing her for that article as I wiped near my hairline. “I did. She was very nice and very sweet to help me with something I was writing for The Eagle.”

  “She would give anyone the shirt off her back if they needed it. Amy didn’t have a nasty bone in her body. She made the world a better place,” Crystal said, choking up on the last words about her friend.

  “We’ve heard from a few other members of the witches’ circle meetings you go to on Tuesdays at the Third Eye Center that she had problems with Tamara Ridgeway there. Can you tell us anything about that?”

  Crystal’s eyebrows drew in and she frowned deeper. “Tamara told you all about it, I’m sure. She tells everyone who is willing to listen about it. It wasn’t that big a deal, at least not to Amy. Amy believed a lot of what witches like myself do. We practice a religion based on a respect for nature, and she did too. It’s just that she considered herself a Druid.”

  As Alex jotted a note in his tablet, I asked Crystal a question I hoped wouldn’t offend her but had been on my mind since this case had begun. “I mean no offense, but what is the difference between witchcraft and Druidism? When I spoke to Amy, it was for an article on paganism, but we never got into her own personal beliefs since I was going for a more general treatment of the topic. It sounds like what witches believe and what Druids believe is very similar, so why would Tamara have an issue with Amy claiming to be a Druid instead of a witch?”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alex stop writing and glance over at me. I knew getting into discussions about religion generally wasn’t advisable in an investigation, just as it was rarely a good idea to bring the topic up in conversation in most places, but my curiosity urged me to ask and Tamara’s irritation over Amy’s choice to identify herself as a Druid seemed to be an important area of inquiry.

  Crystal said nothing for a few moments, and I worried that I had unintentionally offended her, but she smiled and nodded before answering my question. “I don’t mind explaining the difference, Miss McGuire. Who knows? It might help find who killed Amy. I have to admit I don’t understand everything Druids believe in, but from what Amy had always told me, there are several main differences between us, even though in general we believe in many of the same things. Both use magick, but she said Druids didn’t use circles, like we witches do to perform magick. We use it to keep forces out, but for Druids, that isn’t something they’re concerned with.”

  “Keep forces out? What do you mean?” I asked, transfixed by her description.

  “There is negative and positive energy, Miss McGuire. For witches, circles help us contain the positive energy around us and keep out the negative energy.”

  It seemed Alex was curious about what Crystal had to say too because he asked, “And Druids don’t worry about negative energy?”

  “Well, the way Amy described it to me, it’s not about worrying so much as being willing to let the negative and positive join together. Does that make sense?”

  “Yin and yang. Light and dark forming one whole. I understand,” he said as he wrote something in his notepad.

  His statement surprised me, though. I had never thought of Alex as a yin and yang kind of person. He’d always been more of a right and wrong kind of man to me, so the idea that he had knowledge of this type of thing seemed a little out of his wheelhouse.

  “Exactly. Amy also told me that another big difference was witches tend to look to one deity, the Goddess, while Druids have many gods and goddesses. I’m not sure that’s much of a difference though, at least to me, since I invoke various deities in my spell work.”

  As Alex noted this distinction or non-distinction in his notes, I thought about the knife someone had used to kill Amy and wondered if Druids used them like witches did. “Tamara Ridgeway told us that knives are called athames to witches. Do Druids use tools like that too?”

  Crystal nodded. “Amy told me that’s one big difference between Druids and witches. Tools like an athame are symbolic to Druids and can be used by any other Druid. A witch’s athame is personal and infused with her own personal energy, so it wouldn’t be used by anyone else.”

  I looked over at Alex and wondered if he was thinking the same thing I was. If a witch had killed Amy, or thought he or she was killing her with their athame, then it would have been a very personal attack based on what Crystal had just said.

  “Tell me, Miss Sendona, do Druids believe in tarot readings?” Alex asked.

  I gave him a side-eye glance as Crystal explained they didn’t see the Tarot in the same way as witches did. “I don’t know if they rely on them as much as the witches I know do. I can tell you Amy didn’t, though. That I do know. But she read for extra money. She was a talented tarot reader.”

  “Can you tell me why you weren’t at the Tarot Readers Convention in Caston today?” Alex asked, surprising me by his closed-mindedness. It wasn’t like just because a person was a witch that she had to set up shop and read cards for people.

  But she just laughed again, thankfully not offended by his question. “I don’t read for money, Officer Montero. There’s nothing wrong with doing it, and I’m not saying my fellow witches are wrong to, but I don’t. To me, being a witch or specifically, a Wiccan, isn’t so much about that kind of thing as it is just a way I live my life. I seek to live in harmony with the rest of the world, doing harm to none as I go about my life.”

  “Can you think of any reason why anyone would want to kill Amy Perkins, Miss Sendona?”

  Alex’s question ended any lightness we all may have felt at her kind answer, and Crystal frowned deeply as she shook her head. “No, I can’t. Tamara disliked that Amy wouldn’t call herself a witch, mainly because she thought Amy considered herself above us, but even that slight wouldn’t be enough to make her kill her. I can’t believe that. A disagreement, even on a person’s beliefs, is one thing. Killing them is another thing entirely.”

  Every bit of Crystal Sendona’s body language said she truly believed what she was saying and was genuinely sad about the loss of her friend. Unlike the other women we’d spoken to that day who had seemed surprised or unhappy in varying degrees about Amy Perkins’ murder, Crystal appeared to be truly someone who would miss her.

  Even more so, I believed what she said. Looking over at Alex’s notes, I saw he did too. Whenever we interviewed someone he had real suspicions about, he tended to scribble question marks all over the page. He hadn’t drawn one on Crystal Sendona’s yet.

  “We’ve heard about an ex-boyfriend of Amy’s that supposedly Tamara and she had an argument over. Do you know anything about that?”

  “Who said that?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.

  “One of your fellow witches who attends the Tuesday night meetings, Melody Chamberlain,” he answered. “Do you know anything about this argument and what the boyfriend’s name was?”

  A look of resignation came over Crystal’s face. “I’m not sure Melody is the best person to give you any information. She’s quite close to Tamara, so she’s biased, to say the least. She mentioned the fight they had about the guy, but I didn’t think much of it. Amy said that Tamara felt the guy was going to bring the center nothing but trouble.”

  “Why would he?” I asked, increasingly curious about this mystery man nobody seemed to want to mention by name.

  Crystal leaned forward, as if to whisper a secret, and said quietly, “Amy dated a lot of people. She didn’t see love like other people did. To her, it was an emotion that could be shared with anyone, regardless of race, beliefs, or even sex.”

  Her last word hung in the air for a moment, and Alex a
nd I turned to look at each other. His expression looked like pure confusion. I didn’t know if he picked up on what Crystal was trying to say, but I thought I had.

  “So she and Tamara…?”

  I didn’t finish the rest of my statement, but Crystal filled in the blanks for me. “Had dated off and on for a while. They were done months ago, but Tamara has had a hard time letting go. It was never even very serious, according to Amy.”

  Next to me, Alex wrote in his notes TAMARA—AMY ? TOGETHER?

  There was that all too familiar question mark. I didn’t know if he didn’t believe Crystal or didn’t believe that the two women had ever been together in general.

  “So this was a matter of Tamara being jealous that Amy had moved on and was dating a man?” I asked, still dying to find out if Crystal knew who this boyfriend had been.

  “Yes, I think so. She was still hung up on Amy until the day she died, I think. And for Tamara, Amy dating men bothered her.”

  Alex chimed in after drawing another question mark in his notes. “Why would her dating a man bring trouble to the center? Is there a problem with men attending the Third Eye Center?”

  Crystal looked at me and then Alex before shaking her head like in disbelief. “Men aren’t a problem at the center. I’m straight and date men, and in fact, I’ve brought a few of my boyfriends there. It wasn’t that she was dating a man but what he was.”

  Now even I had to admit I was confused. “What he was? What do you mean? That he wasn’t someone who practiced witchcraft?”

  Still looking like she couldn’t believe the questions we were asking her, Crystal shook her head again. “No. Because he was a police officer.”

  My mouth dropped open, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Alex show a rare moment of shock. A police officer? Amy had been dating a cop? That’s who the mystery boyfriend was?

  “Do you know who this police officer was?” Alex asked in a hushed voice, still clearly surprised by Crystal’s bombshell news. “Was he local?”

  “Amy kept her romantic life very private, even from me. She liked to live her life on her own terms as much as possible, and especially concerning who she dated. Tamara only found out because she saw Amy with the guy in Frederick one night and she recognized him from one time when she had to call the police about someone trying to break into the center late one night.”

  I literally sat on the edge of the sofa hoping to hear this officer’s name. “So she never told you his name? Maybe she described him?”

  Looking over toward Alex, I saw him holding his pen so tightly his knuckles were turning white. “A name would be very helpful, Miss Sendona. Do you know when this attempted break-in occurred?”

  “I’m sorry. She never told me his name. She did say he had dark hair she liked a lot. Let me think about when the break-in might have been.”

  For a moment, it felt like Alex and I were hanging by a thread waiting for her to give a date. Even without a name, we would be able to figure out who it had been based on when the break-in had happened. All Alex would have to do would be to check the duty rosters for that time.

  Crystal tilted her head back and forth like she was trying to debate on when it could have happened. Finally, she said, “I want to say it happened right after the holidays. Definitely not before Christmas.”

  My brain began spinning as I thought about who on the Sunset Ridge Police Department Amy could have been dating. A dark haired man. Images of every officer paraded through my mind. Alex had dark hair, as did Craig, Derek, Stephen, and if I was being gracious, the tiny bit of hair that Roger, the eldest officer on the force, had would be considered dark.

  But I couldn’t imagine Amy with Roger. Then again, I’d never imagined her with Tamara, not only because I hadn’t predicted she dated women too but also because the owner of the Third Eye Mind and Body Center was such a less than appealing woman inside and out.

  But then there were the part-time officers, some of whom I barely saw once or twice a month. Did any of them have dark hair?

  Alex pushed his knee against mine, tearing me out of my deliberations as to who the mystery policeman Amy had been dating was. I looked at him and understood it was time to go.

  We stood from the dangerous sofa to leave, but I had one more question to ask. “Did Tamara Ridgeway call you to let you know what had happened to Amy?”

  Crystal nodded. “She called earlier, but I’d already heard the news from her father.”

  “Thank you for all your help, Miss Sendona, and we’re very sorry for your loss,” Alex said quietly as we walked outside.

  Dying to know who he thought Amy had been with, I was barely able to wait until we were alone again to ask him his opinion. When Crystal closed the door behind us, I said, “Talk about stunning! I totally forgot about nearly melting into a puddle of sweat once she began talking about all that Druid and witch stuff, and then when she said Amy had been dating a cop, I actually had a chill run down the back of my neck.”

  Alex didn’t seem as excited by this new development as I was. He said nothing until we got back into the car, but I knew as he turned on the air conditioning full blast that Crystal’s news had shaken him.

  He pulled away from the curb and began driving back toward the station, still not speaking. Desperate to hear if he thought he knew who Amy’s boyfriend was, I finally said, “You’re killing me here, Alex. You have nothing to say after all of that?”

  Stopping at the end of Rose Street, he turned his head toward me and quietly said, “I’m going to find out who Amy was dating on the force, and if it’s who I think it is, the entire police force may have a problem.”

  Instantly, a single name ran through my mind. If I had to place a bet on any one officer being Amy’s boyfriend a few months ago, who would it be? Who was the poster child for dating virtually every single woman in town?

  Derek.

  Chapter Ten

  Alex made a beeline into the police station with me right behind him, but when he bolted down the hall to his office, I didn’t follow him and instead headed directly for Derek’s office. He had his way of finding out who the cop was who’d been dating our victim, and I had mine.

  I found Derek’s office door closed, so I threw it open with all I had and it slammed off the wall, making a loud booming noise. The police chief looked up at me wide-eyed, surprised by the noise and likely pretty stunned to see me standing there glaring at him.

  “Damnit, Poppy. I think you nearly scared me right out of my skin.” He stared at the wall behind the door and added, “That’s nothing to say of what you’ve done to my office. What’s with barging in here without even knocking and putting a damn hole in my wall?”

  I saw the hole in the bland beige wall but at the moment, I didn’t care. I had bigger things to worry about.

  “Yeah, whatever. I need to know something, Derek. It’s very important.”

  He screwed his face into a grimace that resembled the expression people made when they tasted something disgusting someone made and didn’t know how to tell them the truth. Before my eyes, Derek morphed into the dictionary definition of dread.

  “Whatever it is, Poppy, can it wait at least until I get through these reports? It’s been a hell of a day already, what with the mayor calling me every hour asking if we have a witch problem in town. The last thing we need is some witchcraft hysteria in Sunset Ridge, but between him and the damn council talking about it nonstop, that’s where we’re headed,” he grumbled as he returned to huddling over whatever the stack of papers were in front of him.

  I took three giant steps toward his desk and slammed my hand on the end of it, once again startling him.

  He looked up, his mouth hanging open. “For God’s sake, Poppy! What is wrong with you today?”

  Adrenaline rushed through me as I stood there looking down at Derek. “Alex and I were just interviewing one of Amy Perkins’ friends and she said she was dating a cop at the beginning of this year and keeping it hush hush.”


  Derek’s eyes narrowed to confused slits, and he scrunched up his face. “Who was dating a cop? The friend? Who is she, and why do I care?”

  “No! Not the friend. The victim, Amy Perkins!” I exclaimed, already frustrated by this conversation.

  My explanation did nothing to rid Derek’s face of that confused expression. He added a head shake as he struggled to understand what I was getting at. “Amy Perkins, the woman from last night? She was dating a cop? One of mine?”

  “Yes, one of yours. In fact, I was thinking it might be you she was dating, Derek.”

  He sat back in his chair and leveled his gaze on me. “What? Why would you think it was me?”

  I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at that question. Anyone with a brain would automatically think of Derek in this case or any other involving a pretty single woman secretly dating a cop in town.

  “Well, you have dated nearly every single woman in town, and Amy Perkins was a beautiful woman and a definite free spirit. I could see you being attracted to her in a big way. Plus, the fact that she was keeping things on the down low says to me that her boyfriend wanted to keep his personal life private.”

  He held his hand up to stop me. “Whoa. Before you go any further, that’s the best reason right there why it wouldn’t be me. I haven’t had a private moment in this town since before high school.”

  I jumped on his claim immediately, knowing that wasn’t exactly true, and pointed my finger at him. “Ah ha! You can’t say that, though. Nobody knew you were dating Solange because you were keeping it secret from nearly everyone.”

  Derek opened his mouth to argue with me, but then he closed it and hung his head for a moment. When he looked up at me, he appeared tired of our conversation. “Fine, that’s true. But I never dated Amy Perkins, Poppy.”

  My theory shot to pieces, I stood there in his bland office disappointed I’d been wrong. “Then who was it? Crystal Sendona said it was a Sunset Ridge cop with dark hair who right after the holidays responded to a call out at the Third Eye Mind and Body Center.”