High Priestess

by Wendy Hewlett

  “Like a murder board?”

  “Yeah. One for Ena’s case and one for Gregor Paigo’s.”

  “I thought we were done with Paigo.”

  “I wish,” Raven murmured. She’d do Ena’s board first, mainly because she wasn’t quite ready to put her own face up on Paigo’s board as one of his victims, but she knew she had to do it if she was going to try to find out if he molested any other children before or after her.

  She dropped her evidence kit off at her desk and made her way into LaCroix’s office. “I’ve got some more evidence in Ena Bowen’s case. She left evidence with her lawyer that the water in her water pitcher contained arsenic.”

  “Any ideas how it was getting there?” he asked.

  Raven sighed and dropped into one of the chairs facing LaCroix’s desk. “Ena suspected Adara, but she also said anyone in the coven had reason to kill her if they wanted the High Priestess role.”

  Frown lines appeared between LaCroix’s eye brows. He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his jaw.

  He didn’t have to say anything for her to know what he was thinking. “I can handle this case, Grayson. Don’t pull me off because you think I’m too close to Adara.”

  “Can you be objective where she’s concerned?”

  “Yes.” There was no hesitation in her answer. If there had been, she had no doubts he would have pulled her.

  LaCroix looked up at Mick, who stood in the doorway. “Can I rely on you to kick Raven’s ass if she isn’t being one hundred percent objective when it comes to Adara Kirby, Kiran Hayes, or anyone else in the coven?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He went back to rubbing his jaw with his eyes on Raven’s and let out a long sigh. “This goes against my better judgement, but I’m going to leave you on it for now. Constable Warren is to inform me if there are any issues developing. Understood?” His eyes went from Raven to Mick and back again.

  They both answered in the affirmative.

  * * *

  Raven pulled a massive white board on rollers out of a storage room and dragged it into the bull pen next to her desk. She printed Ena’s drivers license photo and taped it to the top of the white board, centred in the middle. Next to it, she wrote the particulars – Ena’s name, date and time of death, and cause of death. Then she took a step back and stared at the board. She needed to know who the members of the coven were. She’d been out of it for too long.

  “Mick?” Raven turned to find Mick reading the papers from the lawyer she’d brought with her. It made her smile. Not everyone would take the initiative to learn all of the details like Mick did. In fact, in Raven’s experience, it was quite rare. “I need to identify the members of the coven. Do you think your mom would do that for us without notifying the coven members?” She couldn’t ask Adara for the simple fact that she was on top of the suspect list.

  Mick winced. “They’re a pretty tight and loyal group.”

  “Yeah, but one amongst them murdered their leader.”

  “True that.” Mick sighed and sank back into her chair as if she was deflating. “I think I can remember everyone’s first name, but I don’t know all of the last names.”

  It suddenly dawned on Raven she had another source she could tap for a list of the coven members since he’d been ruled out as a suspect. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed Ena’s home number. Kiran answered on the second ring.

  “Hello, love.”

  The endearment caught Raven off guard. “Uh, yeah, hi. Um, I was wondering if you could give me the names of all of the coven members.”

  “Ah…”

  The silence seemed to stretch out for eons. Raven was about to ask if he was still there when he spoke again.

  “You do realize we’re a secretive bunch? Many of the members don’t want it known they’re members, aye?”

  “I realize that and I’ll protect those who are innocent, but one among you is a murderer.”

  “Aye. You’re right, of course.” Kiran huffed into the phone. “Can I email you the list?”

  “Yeah, sure.” Raven gave him her email address. “Oh, and about dinner tomorrow.”

  “You can still make it, can’t you?”

  “Yeah, but my boss has my partner glued to me until we arrest Ena’s killer. Is it okay if I bring Mick with me?”

  There was a long silence again. Raven pulled the phone from her ear to check that the call hadn’t ended, but it was still active. She put it back to her ear again. “Are you still there?”

  “Aye.” That little word that he used so often sounded different almost every time he used it. Sometimes it was a question, other times it took the place of yes. Sometimes it was said lovingly. This one sounded angry, like he was barely holding on to his rage. “Has your life been threatened, Raven? Are you in danger?”

  “No.” Geez. “No, it’s just a precaution.”

  “I’m not so sure I like the idea of my daughter being a cop. I just found you, love. I don’t want to lose you.”

  “Don’t worry. I’m not going anywhere. That’s why Mick is shadowing me. We’re not taking any chances. Okay?”

  He exhaled a loud breath. “Alright, love. Bring Mick to dinner. And … be safe, Raven.”

  “I will. I am.” She ended the call and shoved the phone back into her pocket. It was weird having someone care about her that much and he’d only just met her. What would it have been like growing up with him around?

  She looked up at the board which still only had Ena’s picture and the barest facts next to it. She stepped up to the board and on the far left wrote ‘Suspects’ and beneath that she wrote ‘Coven Members’. She wouldn’t put any names up there to protect their anonymity. In the middle, below Ena’s photo, she wrote ‘Facts’ and on the far right, she wrote ‘Motive’.

  According to the documents from the lab included in the papers Raven received from Ena’s lawyer, a sample of water from the water pitcher was taken before Adara arrived at Ena’s the morning prior to her death. They took another sample from the water jug after Adara left. The first sample was clean. The second sample contained arsenic.

  Under the ‘Facts’ column, Raven wrote ‘Arsenic in Brita water pitcher ==> Adara Kirby?’ Under ‘Motive’, she wrote ‘High Priestess position?’

  “It’s really not looking good for Adara,” Mick said.

  “I just can’t wrap my head around Adara killing her best friend so she could become High Priestess. She was content playing second fiddle for thirty years and all of a sudden she’s willing to kill for it? It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Insanity rarely does.”

  Raven turned to Mick. “You think she’s insane?”

  “I don’t know.” Mick shrugged. “How would you explain it?”

  “There has to be another explanation. A scorned lover from Ena’s past?”

  “How would he have poisoned her water every day?”

  Raven scratched the back of her head then crossed her arms over her chest. Mick had a point. If it wasn’t Adara, who would have been able to access that water jug?

  “If it looks like dog shit, and it tastes like dog shit –”

  “It’s probably dog shit,” Raven finished. “I know, but …”

  “I get it,” Mick started when Raven didn’t finish her thought. “She raised you and you feel for her, but from where I’m standing, it had to be Adara.”

  What they had was circumstantial at best. And a lot of hocus pocus, which wouldn’t exactly be easy to prove. Raven approached the white board and under Facts, she wrote, ‘Hair sample taken from Ena Bowen at 1035 hours on Monday, March 28 tested positive for arsenic. Water sample taken from Ena’s water pitcher at 0900 hours on Tuesday, March 29 tested negative for arsenic. Sample taken forty-five minutes later, after Adara Kirby’s visit, tested positive for arsenic. People who had access to the water pitcher during said time period – Adara Kirby, Ena Bowen, and Kiara Pfeiffer.

  Mick’s eyebrows shot up. “What possible motive could Ena�
��s lawyer have to kill her?” As far as Raven knew, Kiara wasn’t a member of the coven. But, she knew something about Ena that Raven hadn’t even known. She turned to Mick. “Money. Ena was worth billions.” The hole in that theory was Kiara only had access to Ena’s water pitcher on that one day, not the entire month prior to her death. Nor would she have had the power to hex the hospital staff when Ena went into emergency. Which were exactly the points Mick voiced once she was able to pick her jaw up off the floor at the news of Ena’s worth.

  Raven stared at the board and told herself she was an idiot to ignore the overwhelming evidence piling up against Adara. If she hadn’t known Adara as well as she did, there would be no doubt in her mind she was guilty. But, the motive just didn’t add up for her. It had to be something more than becoming the coven’s HPS. It had to be the money. She picked up a red dry erase marker and put a big dollar sign in the motive column then tossed the marker on her desk. Without turning to face Mick, she said, “Do me a favour. Get started on a board for Paigo on the other side of this one. I’m going to go and listen to the 911 call that brought the paramedics to Ena’s house on the morning of her death.”

  CHAPTER 14

  RAVEN RETURNED TO the bull pen seeped in frustration. It felt as if this day had lasted for eons and she didn’t think she was any further ahead than she’d been yesterday as far as the investigation into Ena’s death was concerned. Sure, they had more evidence, but the direction the evidence was pointing in just didn’t feel right to her. She slumped into her chair, threw her feet up on her desk and leaned her head back.

  “No luck on the 911 tape?” Mick’s voice floated from across the bull pen.

  Raven opened her eyes without moving another muscle and watched Mick swaying towards her with two steaming mugs in her hand. She had a pen sticking out of her wavy blonde hair where it was tied in the back. From Raven’s angle, it looked like someone stabbed it into her head.

  “No. No voices. It sounds like the phone dropped to the floor and then nothing. I listened to the stupid thing five times.”

  “So, Ena made the call herself?”

  “It would appear so.” Raven had listened for footsteps or a door closing, anything to indicate someone other than Ena made the call, but it just wasn’t there. “The call was made from her home phone, so they had her address and responded. I talked to one of the paramedics who responded and he couldn’t tell me where he got the diagnosis of stomach cancer.”

  Mick set a mug in front of Raven and took the chair next to her desk, blowing in her own mug before taking a tentative sip. “So, what’s next then?”

  Raven was about to call it a night when she looked up at the board Mick had been working on. Gregor Paigo’s face stared down at her and it made her stomach roil. Pictures of his four recent victims ran down the left side of the board. The similarities they shared with Riley were like a slap in the face. Did Paigo target fair skinned red heads because he knew about Raven’s relationship with Riley or was she reading too much into it? She might never know. Thank God he was locked up and Riley was safe.

  Dropping her feet to the floor, Raven reached for her keyboard. She opened her web browser then pulled up her Facebook page. She found a picture in her photos from grade seven, taken days after she’d cut her long hair, days after the first time Gregor Paigo came to her in the night. She printed the picture then walked to the board and stuck it up on the right side. Beneath it, she began writing dates and times.

  “Jesus,” Mick squealed. “You remember every date? Every time?”

  Raven ignored her question and continued to write.

  Mick’s hand reached out and rested on Raven’s forearm. “Are you sure you want to open this can of worms, Rave?”

  No, she wasn’t sure at all. Raven pulled her arm away and stared at the board. “Who interviewed Paigo? Did he confess?” If she’d been on her game and not so distracted, she would have read through the interview report.

  “Um…” Mick said. Her wide eyes met Raven’s and she swallowed. When Raven glared at her, Mick winced. “He refused to talk to anyone but you.”

  That took the wind out of Raven’s sails. She dropped back into her chair as all of the air shot out of her lungs. “Fuck me.” Of course he did, the sick bastard. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me that?”

  Mick glanced over at LaCroix’s office. “He’s not about to let you interview Paigo, Rave.”

  Raven pushed to her feet, ignoring the throbbing in her right thigh as she marched over to LaCroix’s door. He was tapping away at his keyboard with two fingers.

  “Is Paigo still in lockup?”

  LaCroix looked up at Raven and then over her shoulder at Mick. His mouth thinned to a fine line. “Forget it, Bowen. You’re not interviewing him. We’ve got enough evidence against him to put him away.”

  “I can get him to talk.” Even as she said it, the thought of interviewing Paigo made her stomach pitch. “If you’re so damn worried, come in with me.”

  He studied Raven for a moment before he sighed. “Why the hell would you want to put yourself through that?”

  It was an easy question to answer. “Charlene Brock, Sandra Kelway, Emily McMurtrie, and Sabrina O’Connor.”

  An hour later, Raven sat at a scarred table facing Gregor Paigo. She’d spent most of that hour going over the reports submitted by the forensics team who scoured Paigo’s house and truck. He’d kept souvenirs from each of the victims and he’d been stupid enough to have taken pictures with his cell phone of the victims in the same bedroom Raven found Sabrina O’Connor. LaCroix was right about having enough evidence to put him away. They didn’t need his confession, but Raven couldn’t back down from the challenge. There were a couple of questions she wanted answers to.

  She had to keep thinking about his victims to keep herself from bolting out the door. Her hands were fisted under the table so Paigo couldn’t see them shaking.

  “You wanted me, you’ve got me. Talk.”

  It gave Raven great pleasure to see Paigo’s hands trembling in handcuffs attached to a D ring on the table even though she knew it was probably due to alcohol withdrawal. His right hand was wrapped in thick bandages that already looked filthy. The last fifteen years had taken a toll on him. He was no longer the good looking, fit man he used to be. He’d lost a lot of weight, looked weathered and beaten, and reeked of stale tobacco.

  He smiled at Raven, a grotesque curling of his lips. “Have you missed me, Rave?”

  LaCroix shot out of his seat, slapped his hands down on the table, and yelled, “You sick bastard.”

  Paigo leaned back in his chair, the smile replaced by a grimace. Raven couldn’t help the laugh that escaped her throat at seeing Paigo shrink away in fear. LaCroix was an imposing figure, tall and broad shouldered. And he was angry enough to throttle Paigo. Raven placed her hand on LaCroix’s bulging bicep until he eased back a bit.

  “If that’s all you’ve got to say, we’re out of here,” Raven said, surprised at how calm she sounded. “You’ve left us enough evidence that we don’t need to talk to you, Gregor. You’re going to be spending the rest of your miserable life behind bars.”

  “Then why are you here?” Paigo asked as LaCroix eased back down into his chair.

  “You tell me,” Raven said. “You asked for me.”

  Gregor leaned toward Raven, rattling his handcuffs against the table. “I want a deal.”

  Raven and LaCroix looked at each other and laughed.

  “You won’t be laughing when I tell you Ena didn’t die of cancer,” Paigo growled.

  The laughter stopped abruptly and Raven turned hard eyes on Paigo. “Tell me something I don’t know.” Raven saw the surprise register in Paigo’s eyes before they narrowed. He stared at her as if he was trying to determine how much she knew.

  “Give me a deal and I’ll talk.”

  Raven pushed her chair back, the legs scraping against the tile floor. “Not a chance in hell,” she said as she rose. She nodded to LaCroix and
they both left the interview room.

  Mick came out of the observation room, which they referred to as the box, and joined them in the hallway.

  LaCroix placed his hands on his hips. “He knows who killed your mother, Rave.”

  Swiping her hand through her hair, Raven paced the hall. “It’s more than that. He’s involved in it, Grayson. He’s fucking involved in it.” She turned to Mick. “Did you pick anything up?”

  “No, but I got the same vibe you did. He’s in it.”

  * * *

  The drive back to Raven’s was quiet. Mick stared out her window and Raven couldn’t figure out why she was so melancholy tonight. Was it really seeing Ena on that video, or was something else disturbing her? She wasn’t up to broaching the subject with her. She had her own woes this evening.

  Driving up her road, she caught sight of two vehicles in her driveway and muttered an oath. Her headlights lit up Riley and Jaxon, deep in conversation on the porch. Would this day ever end? Raven turned the car off and just sat there, not wanting to get out.

  “Everything okay?” Mick asked.

  “No, not really.” She blew out a long, slow breath then pushed her door open. The sooner she got this over with, the sooner she could go to bed and forget this day ever happened.

  Jaxon and Riley both stood as Raven approached. Riley rubbed her palms down her jeans, which wasn’t a good sign. She was nervous. Had Jaxon told her about the baby?

  “What’s up?” Raven asked as she climbed the steps. She barely got to the top step when Riley lunged forward and landed in her arms. Raven felt like she’d just won the lottery. She closed her eyes to savour the feel of her, not knowing how long it would last. She pressed her nose into Riley’s hair and breathed in the essence of spring – wild flowers and fresh rain. When she opened her eyes, Jaxon stared down at his feet with his hands fisted at his sides.

  “I got my job back,” Riley whispered in Raven’s ear, sending shivers down her spine. “No lost pay.” She stepped back then brushed a soft kiss to Raven’s cheek. “I brought some beer. Thought maybe we could celebrate.” Her smile could have lit up the whole town. Getting her job back was like getting her life back and Raven couldn’t deny her a little celebration.