“Something is definitely wrong,” Remy said. “It’s too quiet.”
Part of me wanted to go back, but I remembered what Remy had just said about not hiding from bad stuff. I certainly wasn’t going to let him face whatever it was alone. My worry was that it was Langoria lying in wait for me, but I figured she wouldn’t do anything with Remy, her nephew, there. He wouldn’t let anything happen to me.
My fears were proven unfounded when we walked into the cemetery. No one was lying in wait. No one alive at least. But there was something wrong.
At first, I thought someone had dug up one of the graves and the dark mound in the middle of the gravestones was the pile of dirt.
It wasn’t.
The realization of who it was didn’t hit me until I stood right over the body. Langoria Skeenbauer was dead. She was dead, and I’d found the body after having a public argument with her. She was dead in the woods across the street from my house. It was not going to look good.
“Oh,” Remy said, and I saw his face got sheet white.
“Remy, I’m so sorry,” I said.
I didn’t think they’d been close, but by the look on his face, I could tell he was shaken. It could have been because his aunt meant more to him than I knew, or it might have just been because it was a dead body. We’d have to discuss it later. I didn’t want to even give the impression that I’d hesitated to call the police.
“I need to call Thorn,” I said. “Do you need to sit down?”
“Why do you need to call him?”
There was an intensity to his voice. I wouldn’t say he sounded bitter, but the tone was close. At the very least, he seemed alarmed by the prospect.
“He’s the sheriff,” I said.
“Oh, right.” Remy shook his head as if he were trying to knock something loose. “I’m sorry. I’m just…” he trailed off.
“It’s all right,” I said and watched him plop down on the ground and cross his legs.
I dialed Thorn and waited. For a moment, I thought he wasn’t going to answer, and I’d have to call the county dispatcher. He picked up just before his phone would have gone to voicemail.
“You’re joking, right?” Thorn said when I told him what we’d found. “If this is a prank, it’s not funny, Brighton.”
“It’s not a prank, Thorn,” I said. “Remy and I came into the graveyard across from my house to work, and we found her.”
“I see,” he said curtly. “I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
He hung up before I could say anything else. Thorn had seemed more upset than I expected, and I wondered if that was because I’d found another dead body or because I was with Remy.
There was also the chance that it was because I’d gotten into it with Langoria that morning. The way the rumor mill worked in Coventry, it had probably made it back to him.
I sat down on the ground next to Remy to wait. Neither one of us said anything, but at one point, he leaned into me so that our shoulders pressed together.
A while later, I heard a car pull up on the road. “Brighton?” Someone called from the other side of the fence. I recognized the voice as Thorn’s.
“I’m going to go get him,” I said to Remy, who stopped leaning against me.
Thorn was waiting by his cruiser with his arms crossed over his chest. “If you tell me this is a joke now, I’ll let it go,” he said.
“It’s really not a joke,” I said. “I’m not sure what made you think I would play a joke like this.”
“Maybe to get back at me for not believing you about the note you found in your house after the break-in,” he said. “Maybe to get my attention. Well, Brighton, you’ve got it.”
“You really think I’d want your attention so badly that I’d prank call in someone’s death?” I said, and it was my turn to cross my arms. “Maybe it’s a good thing you decided to ignore me.”
“It probably was,” he said. “I mean, you’re in there with him again.”
“You are so…”
“Never mind, Brighton. This isn’t the time for us to be having a middle-school level spat. If there really is a dead body, then I need to do my job. Is she in there?” he said and pointed at the trees.
“Yes.”
As soon as I answered, he brushed past me. “Go home, Brighton. I’ll come talk to you later.”
“Fine,” I said. “I just need to talk to Remy.”
“Go home, Brighton,” Thorn said again. “If it’s a crime scene, then I need you to stay out of it. I’ll send Mr. Skeenbauer out.”
“Fine.”
I went home and left the front door unlocked. Remy didn’t come out of the cemetery behind me, so I assumed Thorn was getting his statement.
A couple of hours later, I began to worry. I paced the living room and looked out the window every few minutes. Eventually, Thorn’s cruiser was joined by the coroner and the truck from the county volunteer firefighters. Not the big red truck for putting out fires, but the regular pickup truck they used for non-fire emergencies.
After a while, everyone but Thorn left. I shot off a text to Remy asking him if he was all right as I watched Thorn back up his cruiser and then pull into my driveway. He didn’t answer right away, and it made my stomach ache.
I went out to the porch to greet Thorn. “Can I come in?” he asked as he took off his hat. “Or do we have to talk out here because you have company?”
“You can come in,” I said. “No one but me and the cat here.”
He looked a little shocked. “I thought your friend would come back here when I was done talking to him.”
“That’s what I thought too,” I said with a shrug.
“Maybe he took his aunt’s death hard,” Thorn offered. “I imagine he needed to go talk to his family too.”
“That’s probably true,” I said.
“I still would have thought he’d come talk to you before taking off,” he offered.
“You’re trying to make me feel better even though you don’t approve of me spending time with him.”
“It’s not that I don’t approve of you hanging out with Remy, Brighton. You can be friends with whoever you want, but I think we both know that Remy sees it as more than just friendship. What I haven’t figured out yet is if you feel the same way about him.”
“So you’ve been avoiding me because you think I like Remy? That’s very noble of you.” The last part came out with a great deal more sarcasm than I’d expected.
“I would think you’d respect that,” Thorn said. “I get the feeling you don’t.”
“It’s not like I’m going to tell you that you should have at least tried to win me over. I’m not a carnival prize or anything. But…” I hesitated.
Again, his expression softened. It was like that a lot with Thorn. He started out looking stern and standoffish, but then his expression would morph into something that looked almost like affection.
“I’m not good at this stuff,” he said. “I didn’t want to force my way into your life if you didn’t want me there. I figured you found Remy more interesting.”
“I couldn’t find him more interesting than you because I don’t know you well enough. You got so close and then just drew back.”
“Perhaps it’s better that way,” he said stiffly.
“You want some coffee? I can give you my statement about finding Langoria and then you can tell me why you are so reluctant to let me get to know you despite the fact that I can tell you want to get to know me.”
He thought about it for a few seconds. “All right.”
After I’d told him about having dinner with Remy and then walking across the street to the graveyard only to discover the body, I was ready to move on to discussing Thorn. He had another idea.
“You want to tell me about your confrontation with Langoria this morning?” he said in a far more official tone than I anticipated.
“Are we back to you thinking I’m a suspect?”
“No, but I need to know. I want to hear it
from you and not the town gossip.”
“I waited outside the courthouse for her and confronted her about the note. She told me to leave town and then told me I wouldn’t have much choice.”
“What did that mean?”
“It means that she was going to put a property tax lien on my house today and then ask a judge to allow her to foreclose and force the sale.”
“Did she do it?”
“I don’t know. I was going to check tomorrow.”
“That would have been motive, Brighton. If she never got around to filing the paperwork, you will look like a suspect.”
“I didn’t kill her,” I said. “Oh, and I was there at the cemetery this afternoon taking pictures. She wasn’t there then. I can show you.”
I showed Thorn the first few pictures I’d taken at the graveyard, and that seemed to satisfy him. When we’d finished our first cup of coffee, Thorn picked up both of our cups and stood up.
“Is it too late, or should we have another cup?”
“I’d like it if you’d stay for another,” I said.
He poured two more cups and returned to the table. When Thorn sat down, he pushed my cup gently across the table to me.
For a moment, we both just sat there sipping our coffee. When I couldn’t take it anymore, I brought up the reason I’d wanted him to stay again.
“So are you going to tell me why you are keeping your distance from me?”
“I told you,” he began, “it seemed as though you and Remy are close. I don’t want to interfere.”
“You’re not giving me the whole story,” I said.
“It’s not something I think you should be concerned with, Brighton,” Thorn said.
“You stayed, so I think you do want to talk about it,” I said and reached across the table to put my hand on his. “You can talk to me.”
He studied my face for a few moments before letting out a puff of breath and cracking his knuckles. “I haven’t really talked to anyone about this, but for some reason, I do feel like I can talk to you.”
I nodded my head and gave his hand a squeeze before putting my hand back in my lap. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s not as bad as you think. It will feel better when you put it out there.”
“I was married,” Thorn began, “but she left me. We divorced a couple of years ago. Sadie said that Coventry was boring, and it had made me boring too. I knew she’d seemed a little down, but I was still shocked when she packed her bags and left one day. For a while, I had hope she’d come back. She called daily at first, and sometimes she’d admit that the city life wasn’t what she’d expected. Then after a few months, she called less and less. Eventually she stopped answering her phone and text messages. It was less than a month after that I was served with divorce papers. I tried to call her one more time to ask if she was sure, but when she didn’t answer, I knew she was. I signed the papers and didn’t see her again.”
“And you believed what she said?” I asked cautiously.
“I mean, I don’t know. I worry that it’s true, but I also tell myself that some people do think small-town life is boring. Maybe it’s not that she was right but that she just wasn’t right for me, Brighton.”
“And I’m from the city,” I said.
“You are, and you haven’t been here very long. The hair threw me off. I like it, but it’s more a city thing than a country thing to color your hair purple. I’m almost surprised there hasn’t been a town meeting about it,” Thorn said with a chuckle.
“I’m divorced too,” I said with a shrug. “Donnie left me for another woman. They’re married now with a baby who will be here any day. We could never have kids. He blamed me for that, and I started to believe it too when his new wife got pregnant on the honeymoon.”
“You can’t have kids?” he asked, and I couldn’t read his tone. I assumed it was probably a deal-breaker. It seemed to be for a lot of men, but there was no proof I couldn’t.
“I don’t know. I’ve been to three doctors and none of them found anything wrong with me. Maybe it’s not that I’m not right, but maybe I wasn’t right for him.”
Chapter Three
When Thorn left, there was a heaviness in the air. Somehow, I felt closer to him and even further away. I wondered if it was wise for me to keep pushing him to open up, but I didn’t know how to stop. My heart and mind were not aligned when it came to Thorn.
I checked my phone to see if Remy had texted me. He had, but his message didn’t make me feel any better either.
Sorry. I just need some time.
When I was about to give up and go to bed, my doorbell rang. I expected to find Remy or Thorn on my doorstep, but it was Annika. Her eyes were red, and her cheeks were puffy from crying.
“Come in,” I said and pulled her over the threshold for a hug.
I didn’t know she’d been so close to Langoria, but my heart hurt for her. It didn’t matter if her aunt had wanted to run me out of town. If Annika was hurting, then I was hurting.
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “I didn’t know the two of you were close, but I’m sorry for your loss.”
“I know, right,” she said and started to sob again, “I mean, he didn’t even call first. He just didn’t show up. It was so embarrassing, and I just sat there for two hours like a total dweeb.”
“What?” I asked and stepped back. “Jacob stood you up? That’s why you’re crying?”
“Yeah, the jerk,” she said and sniffled. “Why else would I be crying?”
She didn’t know. Annika had been out being stood up by the guy she was seeing, and she hadn’t heard about her aunt’s death yet. I had to be the one to tell her.
“I take it you haven’t been home and no one from your family has tried to contact you?”
“No, why? What happened?”
So I told her about Langoria and how Remy and I had found her when we went to work in the cemetery. I told her about Remy leaving after Thorn took his statement and not coming back too. She scrunched up her nose and then walked into the living room to plop down in one of the wingback chairs that faced the fireplace.
“Langoria’s dead, huh?”
“Yeah, and that’s not all,” I said.
“What else is there?”
“Well, she broke into my house this morning and stole the protection amulet Meri helped me make. She left a note behind saying that Tuttlesmiths weren’t welcome in Coventry. I went to the square this morning and confronted her on her way to work. That’s when she told me that she was putting a lien on Hangman’s House for back taxes and moving to immediately foreclose.”
“Did you kill her?” Annika asked with a chuckle.
“No,” I said seriously.
“I wouldn’t blame you if you did, Brighton. That old witch was the worst of our family and no one seemed to see it. My grandmother acted like the sun rose and set on Langoria’s skinny behind, but I never bought it. I’m not surprised someone offed her.”
“I didn’t do it,” I said again.
“Yeah, but people around here are going to think you did. Especially since you confronted her in public, and you being new and weird isn’t going to help.”
“I’m weird?”
“Yeah, you’re from the city and you have purple hair.”
“I can’t help the hair,” I said.
“You and I know that. Heck, most of the witches in Coventry probably know it too, but that doesn’t stop them from thinking you’re weird. Plus, my Granny really needs to lighten up about you. I doubt that’s going to happen until we figure out who really killed Langoria.”
“So you believe me?”
“Of course, I believe you. I was just kidding when I asked if you’d killed her. Hey, I’ll do what I can to keep my family off your back.”
“I’m sorry that you lost your aunt,” I said. “And I’m sorry that jerk stood you up.”
“We weren’t close,” Annika said. “She seemed to avoid Remy like the plague, and Remy is my favorite Skeenbauer.
And about Jacob, I feel better. You have effectively distracted me from my hurt and humiliation. So let’s just let that be water under the bridge. Besides, he’ll probably call in a couple of days begging me to take him back. He always does. ”
“I wonder why Remy took Langoria’s death so hard,” I said because I didn’t feel like it was the right time to discuss Annika and Jacob’s dating life further.
“Maybe it wasn’t that Langoria died. Perhaps it was just the shock of finding a dead body?” Annika offered. “But it is strange that he didn’t come here to make sure you were okay. That’s really out of character for him especially since he likes you so much. Oops. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to say anything about that.”
“I kind of already had an idea,” I said. “I mean, I suspected as much.”
“Well, you haven’t blown him off yet. Does that mean the feeling is mutual? ‘Cause, I like you a lot but if you hurt Remy, I’m going to turn you into a toad. If he’s not the guy for you, that’s fine, but please don’t string him along,” she said.
“I don’t know how I feel. I mean, I know I like being around him. Every time I think I’m ready to pursue something more exclusive with Remy, provided that’s what he really wants, something holds me back. I don’t want to end up hurting him because he’s a really good guy, so I just keep it as casual as possible.”
“You know that Remy would commit to you in a heartbeat if you even hinted that’s what you wanted. He’s a good guy, and he’s loyal. Does the thing that’s holding you back happen to be a person named Thorn Wilson?”
“I don’t want to say anything because I don’t want you to get mad.”
“Why would I get mad?” she asked. “It’s okay. I totally understand the appeal. He’s good-looking for sure.”
“So is Remy,” I countered. “In a different way, sure. But he’s handsome and he’s been a lot less weird and standoffish with me than Thorn. At least up until recently.”
Wicked Witches of Coventry- The Collection Page 12
