Boot Scootin' Boogeyman

by Lily Harper Hart

  “What are you assuming?”

  “I think — think! — that Cooper went to see Astra.”

  Whatever she was expecting, it wasn’t that. Hannah’s heart sank. “Cooper is with Astra?”

  “He’s not with her,” Tyler said hurriedly. “He stopped in to see her. At least ... that’s what I think.”

  “Why would he do that?” Hannah’s tone was clipped. “I didn’t realize they just dropped in to visit one another on a regular basis.”

  “Oh, geez.” Tyler rolled his eyes to the sky, as if pleading with a higher power to swoop down and rescue him. “This is not how I saw my day going. First a dead goat and now this.”

  “I’m sorry about your goat.” Hannah was sincere. “I need to know why you think Cooper is with Astra, though.”

  “I don’t think he’s with her. Stop phrasing it that way.”

  “I’m sorry. How should I phrase it?”

  Tyler felt as if he was at the end of his rope. “I think he went to ask her about the goat. Some witch rituals — the darker ones — require the blood of animals. I think he’s worried that Astra is playing around on Casper Creek property again.”

  Realization dawned on Hannah and she felt like an idiot. “Oh.”

  “Yeah, oh.” Tyler’s smile was back. “Was that a little bit of the green-eyed monster I saw just now?”

  Hannah wished it were that easy to explain. “No. More like the insecurity monster.”

  “You have nothing to feel insecure about. Cooper likes you. I mean ... he really likes you.”

  The admission was enough to calm Hannah. Unfortunately, she still felt like an idiot. “I just ... it’s hard.” She opted to tell the truth. “I really like him, too. Astra, though ... she makes me crazy.”

  “Astra wants to make you crazy,” Tyler pointed out. “Her sole mission is to make you crazy. You realize she wants Cooper back, right? Even if you weren’t in the picture, that would never happen. Astra refuses to believe that, though. She thinks you’re the obstacle to her happiness.

  “The thing is, she’ll come after you every chance she gets,” he continued. “She believes if she can get you out of the way, she can take back Cooper. That will never happen. He’s furious with himself for being taken in by her. He’s a little raw when it comes to relationships, too, for the record.

  “You mentioned that your ex-fiancé was cheating on you and said you feel like a moron because you didn’t see it. That’s how Cooper feels about Astra. He feels like a moron for not seeing what she really was.”

  “He shouldn’t feel that way,” Hannah argued. “How was he supposed to know?”

  “How were you supposed to know what your fiancé was doing?”

  “Because he did it more than once,” Hannah replied, not missing a beat. “I caught him and he said he had a sex addiction and I believed him. I’m an actual idiot. Cooper was simply misled.”

  Tyler stared at her for a long time, debating how he should respond. Finally, he heaved out a sigh. “You believed him when he said he had a sex addiction?”

  Hannah’s gaze darkened. “Yes, and I don’t want to hear another word about it.”

  “Fair enough.” He held up his hands in mock surrender. “I won’t ever mention it again.”

  She held his gaze. “I didn’t believe him. I convinced myself he was telling the truth because I was afraid. He was the only thing I knew. It was the only life I knew. I went straight from college to him and I was an absolute idiot for doing it. By that time I was in too deep, though. I couldn’t see a way to dig myself out.”

  “Obviously you did.”

  “Yeah, but it took way too long and I lost everything in the process. If I hadn’t gotten the letter from Abigail’s attorney the same day I lost my job, I don’t know what I would’ve done.”

  “I know.” Tyler beamed at her. “You would’ve not only survived, but thrived. It’s who you are. Still, I think things happen for a reason. You were destined to come here. Also, I think you and Cooper were destined to find each other. You don’t have to worry about Astra. The only way she’ll win is if you let her win.”

  Hannah sighed. He had a point, although she was loath to admit it. “Don’t tell him I freaked out, okay?”

  Tyler mimed zipping his lips. “Mum’s the word.” He smirked and then shifted his eyes to Jackie as the woman crossed in their direction. “Hello, stranger,” he called out. “I haven’t seen you in days. Are you here to offer your condolences on my fallen goat?”

  Jackie’s forehead wrinkled. “Your goat died?”

  “I guess you’re not here for me,” he said dryly.

  “Which must mean you’re here for me,” Hannah said on a sigh. “Is this about Becky? She’s been a bit of a pill all day. I might’ve snapped at her a little earlier. I really am trying to maintain my temper with her. She makes it impossible, though.”

  “This isn’t about Becky,” Jackie replied, her expression unreadable. “Although, if you’re having a problem with her, I can try and handle the situation. Sometimes talking to her is like chatting at a brick wall, but she needs to learn her place.”

  “I don’t think I would phrase it exactly like that,” Hannah countered, uncomfortable. “Do you need something?”

  “Yeah, and you’re not going to like it.” Jackie glanced over her shoulder, to where a group of women were standing in the middle of the street. They looked excited, and ready for action ... which was exactly what Hannah wanted to see on new faces in Casper Creek.

  “What is it? Do they want to ride a mechanical bull or something? They look like they’re geared up for a bachelorette party.”

  “They are.” Jackie made a popping sound with her lips and then pushed forward. “Here’s the thing, occasionally — it was rare, but for enough money she would do it — Abigail would allow small overnight parties in the brothel. We’re talking bachelorette parties, bachelor parties, and even a few sleepovers for paranormal enthusiasts.

  “The rooms in the brothel are all set up for a reason, even though it’s not run as a hotel,” she continued. “Before she died, those people booked a bachelorette party with Abigail ... and it’s tonight.”

  Hannah felt frozen in place, as if she couldn’t find the appropriate words. “W-what?” she said finally.

  “Oh, don’t make me repeat that.” Jackie made a face. “Those women are here for a bachelorette party. I thought they had to be kidding when they arrived, but I checked Abigail’s old book and they’re most definitely in there.”

  Hannah felt as if she was trapped on a hidden camera show. “Well ... crap. What do we do?”

  Jackie’s face was dour. “You’re the boss. Shouldn’t you be making that decision?”

  For the second time in less than an hour, Hannah fervently wished for Cooper. He would have an idea on how to handle this. Since he wasn’t there, she made up her mind on the spot. “Okay, well, I’m assuming they already paid.”

  “They gave a down payment four months ago,” Jackie replied. “That’s only a quarter of the total bill. We need to charge the rest of the bill, but the thing is, food and drinks were included in the package.”

  “Well ... crap.” Hannah rubbed her forehead. “Did they specify what kind of food?”

  “Um ... no.”

  “That’s something at least.” Hannah blew out a sigh and rolled her neck, her mind working a mile a minute. “We can pick up food in town if we have to. Danielle is still around, but she might not take too kindly to being forced to cook for twelve at the last second.”

  “You’re the boss,” Jackie reminded her. “Danielle will do what she’s told. You have the power to order her to make dinner.”

  “Yeah?” Hannah wasn’t convinced that was true. She’d spent some time with Danielle since her arrival and the woman always made her nervous. “Well ... maybe we’ll try that.” She slid her eyes to Tyler and found encouragement waiting for her there. “What generally happens at these parties?”

  “They usu
ally have a bonfire at the pit, eat, drink, and pretend they see ghosts. That’s the whole kit and caboodle.”

  “Okay. I think we can make that happen ... including the ghost. Abigail is running around after all, and she did leave this mess in our laps. I’ll track down Danielle and have her start on the menu. As for drinks ... I’ll ask Nick if he wants to stay late and pour for them.”

  “Actually, you don’t have to do that,” Tyler countered. “I mean ... ask him to stay a few hours, but there are laws about when we have to stop serving alcohol up here. It’s not like the rest of the county. We can’t serve alcohol after eight o’clock, and I guarantee Abigail laid that out for them.”

  That was another small break, Hannah reasoned. “Well, then that means they probably brought their own liquor. We just need to supply them with ice after the fact. We’ll get them settled — although we should probably check out those rooms to make sure they’re clean before we let them up — and go from there.”

  “I’ll distract them with the animals while you check the rooms,” Tyler offered. “The goats are always a big crowd pleaser.”

  Hannah shot him a thankful look. “Great. That will be a lifesaver.”

  “It’s going to be okay,” Tyler reassured her. “You know exactly what you’re doing. You’ve got this.”

  Another glance at the women had Hannah re-thinking her decision to let them stay. They were young, loud, and laughing so hard she was convinced they were already drunk. “This is going to be a long night, isn’t it?”

  Jackie nodded without hesitation. “It is, but we’ve done it before.”

  “Then we’ll figure it out.” Hannah plastered a welcoming smile on her face as she started in their direction. “It’s a group of women who want to party. How difficult can it be to help them?”

  Behind her back, Tyler and Jackie exchanged weighted looks.

  “Famous last words,” Tyler muttered.

  “She’ll be fine,” Jackie countered. “I mean ... she’ll mostly be fine.”

  “So ... you’re worried, too, huh?”

  “You have no idea.”

  9

  Nine

  If the members of the bridal party noticed anything was wrong, they didn’t show it. They “oohed” and “aahed” over the animals, paying particular attention to the goats. Then Becky gave them a tour around town — for once she didn’t kick up a single iota of trouble — while Danielle put together a menu that made Hannah’s mouth salivate and Jackie prepared the rooms. By the time the women circled back, everything was ready ... and they’d become a horde of squealing and cooing women who Hannah realized were going to keep her up the bulk of the night.

  “What’s going on?” Cooper asked as he appeared next to her on the walkway in front of the saloon. He seemed confused when he realized the town was still bustling with activity.

  Hannah slid her eyes to him and did her best to tamp down the momentary surge of hormones that threatened to take her over. “Hey. Where have you been all day?”

  “Did you miss me?” He grinned at her.

  She nodded without hesitation. “Yeah. It was a stressful day.”

  He stilled, shifting the bag full of food he carried to his other hand so he could brush a strand of Hannah’s hair away from her face. “What’s wrong?”

  “A few things happened. I want to hear about you first, though. Where were you?” It wasn’t a tease, Hannah told herself. Er, well, not exactly. She simply wanted to see if he would tell her the truth. It was important to her that he did.

  “Inside.” Cooper inclined his head toward the saloon, his eyes briefly returning to the bridal party. “Although ... I need to know what they’re doing here. As head of security, they should be down the mountain by now. The chairlift has been shut down for the night. I know because I saw it happening when I drove by.”

  “Apparently they’re a bridal party Abigail booked before her death that we didn’t know about. We figured things out on the fly and they seem to be happy. They’re staying in the brothel and they brought their own alcohol. Danielle made them food and they’re basically going to amuse themselves with ghost stories all night.”

  Cooper’s forehead wrinkled as he hesitated. “I don’t know that I think them running around town all night when we’ve got a blood-sucking fiend on the loose is a good idea. Tyler showed me the teeth marks on that goat and ... well ... I definitely think there’s something out there. That means, until we figure it out, I think someone should always be with Jinx when he does his business.”

  Hannah smiled. The fact that he was worried about her dog warmed her to her very core. “I’ve already decided that. Tyler says he’ll be extra careful during the day when Jinx is over there and he’s my responsibility at night.”

  “Our responsibility,” Cooper automatically corrected.

  Hannah hiked an eyebrow. “You’re going to be here all night?”

  His cheeks flooded with warmth when he realized what he’d insinuated. “Well ... I’m going to be here part of the night. I’ll help you walk him before I tuck both of you in this evening. That’s the right thing to do.”

  “It’s the chivalrous thing to do.”

  His eyes twinkled with amusement. “That, too.”

  He led her inside and placed the takeout bags on the table. It was Chinese, a personal favorite, and she smiled when she scented the familiar aroma of her preferred dish. “How did you know I would want the bourbon chicken?”

  He slid her a sidelong look and laughed. “Because that’s what you always want. Okay, occasionally you want the beef with vegetables, but that’s only ten percent of the time. The other ninety percent you want this.”

  “We’ve only had Chinese like five times since we’ve met.”

  “I extrapolated.”

  “Ah.” Hannah was all smiles as she sat. Then she remembered her conversation with Tyler. “You were going to tell me about your day,” she hedged. Part of her was worried he would lie to her. If he did, and she knew about it, she was fearful she would never be able to truly trust him and the possibility set her teeth on edge.

  “Well, first I went out to where you guys found the goat and discovered a boot print,” he replied, opening a small container and placing the Crab Rangoon at the center of things so they could share the appetizer. “The print seems to suggest a man to me ... unless we’re talking about a giant of a woman.”

  “I have large feet,” Hannah pointed out. “I wear a size ten shoe. I’m jealous of the women who have dainty and cute feet.”

  He shifted his eyes under the table, to where Hannah’s feet rested on the ground. She wore tennis shoes even though they ruined the authentic nature of her costume. When you were on your feet all day, though, sometimes comfort was more important than fashion. “I think your feet are cute.”

  “I think you’re just saying that because you believe you have to.”

  “No. I believe it.”

  She snorted and shook her head. “What else happened?”

  “Well, the location of the dead goat got me to thinking. It’s not that far from the river, and Astra keeps showing up at the river.”

  The fist that had been wrapped around Hannah’s chest for the past few hours loosened. “Astra?”

  He nodded. “I went to see her. I don’t trust her and I know she’s still trying to get on this land to wreak havoc. We may have shut down the tunnels she was using — for now — but she will find a way back. I thought maybe she had already done so.”

  “And?”

  “And ... she claims it’s not her, and she did have a reasonable argument to the contrary. She pointed out that if she needed an animal for a ritual that it would be dumb to take one of Tyler’s — thus tipping us off that she has access to the property — when she could simply wander out into the wild and find one herself.”

  Hannah broke the corners off one of the Rangoon pieces, thoughtful. “So ... you believe her?”

  “I believe that she doesn’t have a motive
for killing the goat,” he corrected. “It doesn’t make sense for her to put herself at risk that way. Of course, that doesn’t mean one of her new acolytes wouldn’t try to test our defenses. She has two of them.”

  Hannah lifted her chin, intrigued. “Acolytes?”

  “Recruits,” he corrected. “Ever since I’ve known her she’s been desperate to create her own coven. Even when she was learning under Abigail she dreamed of being powerful enough to cause people to want to follow her.”

  To Hannah, that was a foreign concept. “I’ve always wanted people to do the opposite. Look away. Nothing to see here.” She breezily waved her hand. “I can’t imagine wanting to be the center of someone’s world.”

  “No?” Cooper studied her face for a long beat. “You might want to rethink that. When you find the right person, I think it only makes sense to be the center of that person’s world.”

  Hannah’s cheeks burned with a mix of pleasure and embarrassment when she realized what he was saying. “Oh, well ... .”

  He chuckled at her discomfort. “You’ll get used to it.” He took a moment to squeeze her hand before releasing it and turning his attention back to his food. “The thing is, I don’t know if I really ever believed it was Astra. It would’ve made things more convenient if it was her. The boot prints, though ... they obviously belonged to a man.”

  “It’s possible Astra planted them there,” Hannah offered. “I mean, she’s smart enough to do that.”

  “She is. You’ll get no argument from me on that front. I just can’t see her exposing herself in that manner if she thought she might lose something in the process. She’s a strategic thinker, and that would be a boneheaded move.”

  “Hmm.” Hannah shoveled in a mouthful of rice and thoughtfully chewed before swallowing. “You said she had new followers. Maybe one of them did it — somehow managed to cross the wards — and killed the goat because she thought it’s what Astra would’ve wanted.”

  “I considered that. One of the new ones — Stormy — has a bit of attitude.” He said her name as if it made his skin crawl. “There’s something about her I don’t trust. I can see her coming out here just to cause problems, get a rise out of us.”