High Priestess

by Wendy Hewlett

  “It’s not like that,” Riley responded, but she still wouldn’t look at Raven. “We’re just friends.”

  “Then why do you both look so damn guilty?”

  Riley slowly raised her head, meeting Raven’s stare. “Because our friendship blossomed from talking about you.” She shrunk back at Raven’s glare. “Don’t take it the wrong way. It’s because we both care about you, Rave. We’re both worried about you.”

  So, what? They’d been getting together behind her back and discussing all of her issues and –. Raven whirled around and gave Mick an icy death stare. “You didn’t tell her –?” Oh, Jesus. Mick’s eyes widened as that bright pink tinge returned to her cheeks.

  “I wouldn’t discuss that with anyone. Do you trust me so little?”

  Raven sucked in a deep, audible breath through flared nostrils. “Trust you? You reached into my memories without my permission and stole something that didn’t belong to you.”

  Mick’s hands came up, palms out as she took a step back. “I can’t help what pops into my head.”

  Raven pressed her fingers to her temples and told herself to breathe. She can’t help what pops into her head? She knew what it was like to live like that. Walking around taking in everyone’s crap, knowing what they were thinking about you. Was that why she suppressed her own gift?

  Rave? Maybe it is time for you to let it out. Maybe that’s why it popped into her head. You’ve been carrying it around with you for so long, bearing that burden all alone. It breaks my heart, darling angel. It breaks my heart.

  Oh, damn. Raven swallowed, trying to rid herself of that urge to let go that was crawling up her throat again, flooding her burning eyes. “Shut up.” She pressed the heels of her palms to her eyes. “Just shut the hell up.”

  Riley took a cautious step back, her eyes wide before they narrowed to slits. “It’s not her fault, Rave. You don’t have to yell at her like that.”

  Mick reached out a hand and gently grasped Riley’s forearm. “It’s okay. It’s not me she’s yelling at.”

  Dropping her hands from her face, Raven’s eyes softened on Riley. “I don’t want that bastard anywhere near you. Because I know what he’d do to you. Because he raped me repeatedly from the time I was twelve until I was fourteen.” She put a hand on the windowsill to steady herself and dropped her eyes to the floor. “I know what he’d do to you.”

  Repeatedly? Oh, dear Goddess, Rave. I thought it was only once. No wonder you hate me so much. No wonder you thought I didn’t see you.

  “I need to sit down.” Ignoring Ena’s words, Raven strolled stiffly to the armchair and collapsed into it, covering her face with her hands.

  Why did everyone say talking about it made you feel better? She didn’t feel better at all. Her stomach pitched and swirled, her eyes burned, and she wanted to scream or, even better, punch someone.

  “You wonder why we’re worried about you, Rave,” Riley said. She sat on the arm of the chair and rubbed her hand up and down Raven’s back. “You’re working two cases – one involving your mother and the other involving your abuser. Rave? You can’t keep this up.”

  Her breaths fired out in short gasps. She just needed to relax her tensed muscles and get her breathing slowed down and she’d be fine. Why had she told Riley? Stupid.

  Riley slid off the arm of the chair and went to her knees in front of Raven. “Rave? It’s okay to let it out, to cry. You’re safe here. You know you are. Just let it out, babe.”

  No. Raven shook her head. She wasn’t about to cry. She wasn’t about to let Gregor Paigo make her weak and pathetic again. She wasn’t going to give him that. She scrubbed her hands over her face then pushed to her feet. Riley leaned back on her heels as Raven stepped around her and went back to the window, bracing her hands on the sill. Looking up at Ena’s house again, she thought it would never be hers. She could never live in that house with all of its horrible memories.

  She shook her head again, trying to clear those memories from her thoughts. She needed to focus on the job. Riley was wrong there. She didn’t need to pull back from the investigations. She needed them to keep her stable.

  “I need you to delete your profile from the Dating Pool. Don’t post anything on social media saying where you are or what you’re doing.” She turned from the window to face Riley. “If there is somewhere else you could stay for the time being, do it.”

  She turned her attention to Mick, who perched on the edge of the couch. “We figure out another way to get his DNA and go from there. I’ll arrange for surveillance on Riley and the two other potentials.”

  Mick nodded silently and Raven wondered just how much of her thought process had ‘popped’ into her head. Turning back to Riley, she asked, “Is there somewhere you can stay?”

  The left side of Riley’s mouth turned up as she squeezed her eyes shut. “No, not that I can think of. Anyway, once my door’s fixed, I’ll be fine. I won’t open the door unless it’s someone I know.”

  Considering how easily she got through the door, Raven wasn’t secure in Riley being safe here. Why she hadn’t thought to use her key instead of kicking down the door, she had no idea. She supposed she panicked, too desperate to get through the door to think about using her key. “Would you consider staying at my place until we have him in custody?” At least she had a security system and Gregor wouldn’t know she was there.

  Riley blew a breath out from between her lips, making a raspberry sound. When her eyes met Raven, her brows were drawn in. “If I agree to stay, you have to understand that it doesn’t mean we’re getting back together.”

  “Understood.” And she did understand, even if it tore her heart a little more.

  While she waited for Riley to pack, she checked her email and found her e-geek had sent her the names of the other two potential victims – Sabrina O’Connor from Penatang and Rachel Weiss from Orillia. She placed a call to DS LaCroix to arrange surveillance on Riley and the other two women and was ordered back to the detachment.

  She got Riley settled at her place first. She didn’t let her bring her car because she wanted it left in her parking spot. It made it look like she was home and Raven would do the surveillance on the building herself, if necessary.

  * * *

  LaCroix was in his office when Raven arrived and took a seat across from him.

  “Why aren’t you at home resting, Bowen?”

  “You know I can’t sit these ones out, DS. I’m a little sore, but there’s nothing broken or seriously injured. I’m okay for full duties.”

  He leaned back in his chair, tented his fingers in front of his chest and studied her for a moment, as if he could determine her mental and physical states that way. Maybe he could. Raven sat stone faced, meeting his gaze.

  “I’m going to recommend you see a therapist.”

  Raven shot to her feet. “What? I don’t need a goddamned therapist.”

  LaCroix’s eyebrows rose, but otherwise he didn’t move. With an audible exhale, Raven slumped back into her seat.

  “I don’t need a therapist, Grayson.”

  LaCroix leaned forward. “You’re investigating your mother’s murder, Bowen. I don’t care how sound you are mentally or how removed you are from your mom emotionally, that’s enough to shake you. If for no other reason, see the therapist to ease my concern.”

  Damn, he really knew how to play her. One visit and she could convince the therapist she was fine. “Okay.”

  He leaned back in his chair again and smiled. “I’ll set it up and let you know where and when.”

  Shit. “Thanks, DS.” She went to her desk and ran a search on the two names that Eric Theissen, the e-geek, had sent her.

  Rachel Weiss was a twenty-eight year old living in Orillia. Raven searched for her on Facebook and learned she was a hotel manager at the Stone Gate Inn, a high end hotel in Orillia. She lived within walking distance of her workplace, which, to Raven, meant she’d be an easy target especially if she worked shifts. She scanned throug
h her posts and noted that they were all ‘public’ since she could view them without being Rachel’s ‘friend’.

  She moved on to Sabrina O’Connor from Penatanguishene and got a hit from their local OPP Detachment. Sabrina O’Connor had been reported missing that morning.

  “Shit.” She shot up and charged back into LaCroix’s office. “Sixteen year old Sabrina O’Connor didn’t make it home from work last night in Penatang. She was reported missing by her parents this morning. I need a warrant, DS. I need to get into that bastard’s cabin.”

  LaCroix pressed his lips together then nodded. “Let’s see if we can get it based on him being the common denominator on the Dating Pool site.”

  Raven nodded and rushed back to her desk to get the paperwork going. As soon as she finished, she had a uniformed officer deliver the request directly to the courthouse. Then she picked up the phone and called the constable who filed the missing persons report in Penatanguishene. Constable Craig Allen told her Sabrina’s parents reported her missing that morning. She was supposed to walk the two blocks home after she finished work at Subway at ten o’clock last night. She called her parents to say she was on her way at five past ten, but she never made it home. They’d called her cell phone repeatedly and contacted all of her friends. The father, Declan O’Connor, went out looking for her at ten-thirty and found no trace of her. Constable Allen followed her route home in the daylight that morning and found no sign of a struggle, no sign of what might have happened to Sabrina.

  Raven gave him a bit of the background on her investigation and informed him they were trying to get a warrant to search a suspect’s residence. She told him she’d keep him updated. And now, all she could do was wait. Instead of waiting around and driving herself crazy, she switched over to Ena’s case.

  She rounded up Mick, gave her an update, and headed out to see if they could catch Ena’s physician, Dr. Simone Wagnar, in her office.

  Raven approached Dr. Wagnar’s secretary and presented her badge. “I need to speak with Dr. Wagnar. Is she in the office?”

  The secretary’s smile disappeared, replaced by a frown. “Ah, it’s going to be a while, I’m afraid. There are a lot of patients waiting. Dr. Wagnar is a bit behind.”

  “She’s going to be even more behind, because you’re going to fit me in as soon as she’s free.”

  “What is this about, Raven?”

  “Ena didn’t have cancer. Dr. Wagnar is going to want to see me.” Raven pushed her badge back into her pocket, keeping her eyes locked on the receptionist’s.

  The receptionist got to her feet, keeping her hand on the back of her chair until she steadied herself and then she walked over to catch Dr. Wagner before she went into the next exam room.

  “Dr. Wagnar? Raven is requesting to see you about Ena.”

  Simone Wagner was tall and curvy, an imposing presence in any situation, including wearing a white lab coat over a figure-hugging electric blue dress and torturous black heels. Her long, dark hair hung loose, shimmering down her back. Large, smoky grey eyes found Raven and she smiled. “Raven? How are you, sweetheart? What on earth happened to your face?”

  Raven took a step back as Wagnar approached. The woman had damn near asphyxiated her with a bone breaking hug at Ena’s funeral. “I’m fine. I need to ask you a few questions, Simone.”

  “Questions?” Wagnar asked, her smile fading.

  Raven glanced over her shoulder at the people in the waiting room. More than half of them were staring up at her. “Is there somewhere private we can talk?”

  Wagnar led them through to her office. Once the door was closed, Raven asked, “When was the last time you saw Ena?”

  Wagnar lowered herself into her desk chair, crossed her long, shapely legs at the ankle, and sighed. “It breaks my heart she passed before you two mended your differences. She loved you so much, Rave and you never got the chance to see that, to experience how much she cared for you.”

  So much that she didn’t even mention my name to my father, her husband? Yeah, she loved me alright, Raven thought. “When was the last time you saw her, Simone?”

  Simone closed her eyes. “About a month before she passed. We were at a fundraiser for the hospital.”

  “Did she look well? Did she complain she wasn’t feeling well?”

  A deep line formed between Simone’s perfectly shaped brows. “She seemed fine, looked fine. I literally don’t remember Ena ever complaining about not feeling well.” She picked up a pen from her desk and twirled it between her fingers.

  “She made an appointment to come in and see you recently.” She was grabbing at straws now. Simone hadn’t seen her since before she began to get sick.

  Simone pursed her lips and closed her eyes again. “Sadly, yes. She tried to get in to see me the week before she passed, but I was away at a conference. She had an appointment for last Thursday, two days after she passed.”

  Convenient. Raven couldn’t help narrowing her eyes at Simone. “You’re still a member of the coven, aren’t you?”

  Simone smiled. “Yes, of course.” Her held tilted as she examined Raven. “When are you going to join us again, Rave? You know it’s where you belong. It’s your home, your family.”

  Yeah, right. “What do you know about Kiran Hayes?”

  “Your father? Well, now. Aside from being absolutely delicious, he’s our HP. He was, and has always been, Ena’s partner. The ying to her yang, so to speak.” She waved a hand in dismissal. “Oh, I know he disappeared for a few years, but he was always in Ena’s heart. Always.” She smiled, just a slight raising of the corners of her mouth. “I don’t know what he’s going to do without her.”

  Was she the only one who hadn’t known her own father? Why would Ena do that to her? To both her and Kiran? Would he remain the High Priest without Ena being High Priestess of their coven? She had no idea how that worked. Ena had been the HPS since her own mother passed away, before Raven was born. How the opening would be filled was beyond her. Adara said that the coven wanted to put it to a vote. “How does the coven choose a new High Priestess?”

  “I’m not exactly sure. It’s not something we planned on having to do in the near future. The coven was Ena. Do you understand? I don’t know that it can survive her loss. I’m sure we will try, but she was such a presence that it just won’t be the same. Unless maybe …” She studied Raven again and her red painted lips curled up. “Unless you were to step into your mother’s shoes. Your personality is certainly big enough to resurrect what Ena has built over the years.”

  “I don’t plan on returning to the coven.” Raven shoved her hands into her pockets and leaned back against the wall. She supposed it was a compliment Simone thought she could step into the HPS role. But, it wasn’t something she would consider doing. She rebelled against Ena’s coven and witchcraft because of the shame that bullies and idiots at school made her feel. She had the bloody hell beat out of her because she was ‘different’ and she didn’t plan on becoming something that would cause people to whisper behind her back, give her accusing stares, ostracize her from the small community.

  Simone gave her a sultry smile. “Well, that is a shame.”

  Heat spread up Raven’s neck and flared through her cheeks. Did Simone know she was ashamed of Ena’s religion? Thinking that made her feel small. Everyone, including her mother, had a right to their own religious beliefs. Why was she so judgemental after all these years?

  “Tell me why you’re asking all these questions about Ena?”

  Simone’s question brought Raven out of her thoughts and she wondered if she did it on purpose. “The emergency room handled Ena as if she had fourth stage cancer. They made her as comfortable as possible and let her die. But, she didn’t have cancer. She was poisoned with arsenic over the last month of her life.”

  Simone’s right hand covered her heart, her eyes wide and unfocused. “Oh, dear Goddess. Where did the diagnosis of cancer come from then? The report I received from the hospital listed her cause
of death as fourth stage stomach cancer.”

  “They don’t know and they didn’t perform any tests to confirm that diagnosis.” Raven watched Simone closely, but her shock and dismay seemed genuine. “Does that seem plausible to you?”

  “No. No, it doesn’t make any sense.” She looked up at Raven with her grey eyes glistening with moisture. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Is it possible someone hexed the doctor and nurses?”

  The hand splayed over Simone’s heart fisted until the knuckles turned white and her face paled to nearly the same colour. “You think a member of the coven killed Ena?”

  “I’m asking you if that’s possible.”

  Simone closed her eyes again, forcing a single tear to slide down her cheek. “Yes, I suppose it is. But, it goes against everything we believe in. Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill – An it harm none, do what ye will.”

  * * *

  “She really wants you back in the coven,” Mick said as she settled into the passenger seat.

  “Not going to happen.” Raven made no effort to start the car. She sat there staring out the windshield at nothing. How the hell did she prove someone hexed the emergency room staff? Who would believe her? She’d just make a fool out of herself. What she could prove was someone putting arsenic in whatever Ena drank out of that Chalice. Adara would know. But there was someone else she could ask. Kiran Hayes. So, which one did she want to see less? She lowered her forehead to the steering wheel.

  “I vote for Kiran.”

  Raven turned to glare at Mick who smiled at her and shrugged.

  “I thought you said you only picked up little bits?”

  Mick shrugged again, the innocent smile still spread across her face. “You need to speak to him at some point.”

  “Why?”

  The smile was replaced by a blank look. “Um, he’s your father.”

  “So? I’ve gone twenty-seven years without one.” Was she supposed to just welcome this stranger into her life because he looked like her? What if he was a creep? What if he was like Gregor? God knew her mother had horrible taste in lovers. And speaking of her mother, why had she gone silent again?