Boot Scootin' Boogeyman

by Lily Harper Hart

  Cooper pretended he didn’t hear the question. “We might’ve heard if we were in the front bedroom, but you insist on sleeping in the back bedroom. You’re going to have to take over Abigail’s old room eventually. You know that, right? It’s simply more convenient. There’s a master suite, complete with a bathroom attached.”

  Hannah made a huffy noise. “I think it’s rude. She’s still here.”

  “And she can’t use her bedroom. Maybe you guys could sit down one day and sort through the stuff. Abigail can tell you what’s important and you can keep it but then take over the room. It’s your apartment now.”

  “Your apartment to sleep in alone,” Becky stressed.

  Tyler made a noise that was halfway between a laugh and a groan. “Oh, geez. This is like a bad sitcom or something.”

  “I don’t know a lot of sitcoms that feature bloody bodies at the center of them,” Arnie pointed out. “What are we supposed to do about this? The town doesn’t open for hours but ... we can’t exactly have tourists running around when there’s a body in the middle of Main Street. That’s going to totally ruin the high noon showdown.”

  “We’re not going to be able to open today.” Cooper was grim as he dug in his pocket and retrieved his phone. It was only half charged because he’d forgotten it in the melee with Hannah the previous evening. “Casper Creek is officially a crime scene now. Boone is going to have to shut it down for the day.”

  It wasn’t the news that Hannah wanted to hear, but she didn’t see where they had a choice. “I’ll start making calls to the workers, make sure the lift doesn’t even get started today. We don’t want any accidents.” She started moving toward the saloon and then slowed her pace, her eyes landing on Cooper. “This isn’t exactly how I saw our day going.”

  The smile he sent her was small but heartfelt. “Me either. It will be okay, though. Start calling the workers. I’ll get Boone out here. We’ll go from there.”

  BOONE DESCENDED WITH AN ARMY of deputies and a contingent from the coroner’s office. He went straight to the body, cursed a blue streak so fierce that Hannah felt herself blushing, and then started barking out orders. She excused herself long enough to return to her apartment and shower. Jinx reluctantly accompanied her, and when he got to the apartment and found Cooper’s coat on the ground he promptly picked it up, carried it to the corner, and buried it under a mountain of toys.

  “You’re going to have to get over it,” Hannah noted as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail. There was no reason to get fancy today. She figured she would be stuck in town for the duration. “Cooper is going to be hanging around.”

  The dog sat on the floor next to her, his gaze dark.

  “You’re still my favorite,” she reassured him, dropping to her knees. “You know I love you. I promise not to leave you at Tyler’s overnight again. That wasn’t fair and you were probably confused.”

  Jinx’s tail thumped against the floor. It was only once, but it was a start.

  “How about I keep you with me all day today, huh?” She was trying to appease him, force him to forgive her. “That way we can spend every single moment together.”

  His tail thumped again.

  She grabbed the leash from the counter and affixed it to his collar, earning another mean stare. “I’m sorry. You have to be on a leash while the police are here. They’re not going to be happy if you mess up their crime scene. I don’t make the rules.”

  Jinx lifted his nose into the air as she led him out of the apartment. He was definitely in a mood.

  Once on Main Street, she took a moment to watch the activity. It made her sad to see the town shut down the way it was but there was literally nothing she could do about it. She would have to go with the flow and suck it up.

  Boone saw her standing at the sidelines and made his way over to her. “You didn’t hear anything?”

  Hannah shook her head. “No. I was down the entire night. I didn’t hear a single thing ... and I feel guilty.”

  “You can’t let this shake you.” Boone had a paternalistic streak when it came to Hannah. She was older than his daughter by a long shot, but they boasted distinct similarities. Hannah’s sadness tugged on his heartstrings. “You didn’t do this. It’s not your fault.”

  “That doesn’t mean I couldn’t have stopped it.”

  “Yeah, well ... .” Boone’s gaze dropped to Jinx. “He didn’t hear anything either?”

  “No. He was with Tyler last night.”

  “I thought he slept with you every night.”

  “Oh, well ... .” Hannah averted her gaze and tried to find something interesting to stare at on the horizon. “Last night was a special occasion.”

  “Special occasion? What do you mean?”

  Hannah felt trapped in the conversation. “I had a different overnight guest last evening,” she mumbled.

  It took Boone a moment to grasp what she was saying. “Oh!” He licked his lips and shifted from one foot to the other, uncomfortable. “So ... you and Cooper spent the night together. I guess I should’ve realized that when he said he needed to run home and shower. It didn’t occur to me that he was wearing the same clothes as yesterday.”

  Hannah was determined to rein in her embarrassment. She was a grown woman, after all. She’d done nothing wrong. “Neither one of us heard anything. I just ... don’t understand. If he was stabbed in the chest, you would think he would’ve cried out.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s not the only place he was stabbed.” Boone turned serious. “His throat was slashed, too. He would’ve bled out pretty quickly. The thing is, there’s not enough blood on the ground. I just don’t understand.”

  Hannah was taken aback. “That looks like a lot of blood to me.”

  “You would think, but the coroner says there should be four times what there is. He was obviously killed here. We’ve searched the entire town for a secondary attack site. There’s nothing. That means the blood was taken for a different reason.”

  Hannah didn’t have to ask what that reason was. “Well ... great.” She rolled her neck and clutched Jinx’s leash tighter. “I’m going to head over to the seamstress shop to talk to Jackie. You don’t need me for anything else, do you?”

  “No. I’m good for now.” He reached out to touch her shoulder before she could move too far away. “You can’t blame yourself for this. It’s not your fault. Just ... let it go.”

  “I’ll try.”

  Jackie wasn’t alone in the shop when Hannah let herself in. She sat at an antique sewing machine, a project in her lap, and talked to Danielle and Becky as she worked. She looked as troubled by the turn of events as Hannah felt.

  “Any news from the street?” Jackie asked as Hannah sank into the only open chair. “Do we know how he died?”

  “Badly,” Hannah replied, glum. “He was stabbed in the chest but Boone says he was also slashed across his throat. I didn’t initially see the wound because of all the blood.”

  “Yeah, that was a surprise this morning,” Jackie noted. “I was already here when I got the call that we didn’t have to work today. I figured I would get ahead on a few projects.” Her eyes were keen as she looked Hannah up and down. “What else is bothering you?”

  “What makes you think something is bothering me?”

  “You’ve got one of those faces that can’t lie. It’s the same reason I know you and Cooper did the dirty last night. You’re glowing even though there’s a dead body in the middle of town and you can’t stop yourself from frowning.”

  Hannah worked her jaw. “That was quite the mouthful, huh?” she said finally.

  Jackie’s chuckle was low and warm. “Are you going to tell me I’m wrong?”

  “No. There is something bothering me.” Hannah unclipped Jinx’s leash so he could get comfortable on the floor. He was still suffering from a bit of malaise, but she was hopeful he would forget his annoyance relatively quickly. “Boone says there’s not enough blood out there. He says there should be four times
what there is.”

  Jackie cocked an eyebrow. “And?”

  “And what happened to the blood? Why is some of it missing? Does this have something to do with the goat?”

  “What goat?” Danielle queried, confused.

  “Tyler had a goat get out of the paddock the other day,” Jackie replied. “He found it dead along the path between the town and the river. I didn’t realize the goat was drained of blood, though.”

  “Yeah. That’s what Tyler says at least,” Hannah supplied. “He says that it was completely drained. Of course, he also says there were what looked to be bite marks on the back of the goat’s neck. I assumed that meant an animal did it.”

  “There are different kinds of animals,” Jackie noted, thoughtful. “It’s also possible the blood was taken as some form of ritual. There are any number of blood rituals that need gobs of blood to carry out.”

  Hannah rubbed her palms over the arms of the chair. The coven witches were veritable fountains of information. She always learned something new whenever she spent time with them. “What kind of rituals?”

  “There are a vast number of them. When you’re dealing with dark magic, blood is almost always required. Most of the time we’re talking about a prick of the finger, or maybe a small vial. When you get to the really big spells, though, then you have to go through a lot of blood.”

  “Can you give me an example?”

  “Sure. There’s one spell to stave off death that requires a sliver of your soul and eight pints of blood to be sacrificed.”

  Hannah did the math in her head. “That would most certainly result in the death of someone if the blood was taken from a lone individual.”

  “That’s part of the spell. It takes a great sacrifice to give yourself eternal life. Only those darkest and most depraved would ever attempt such a spell.”

  Hannah’s mind immediately went to Astra. “Do you think there are witches in the area who might try it?”

  Jackie didn’t bother to hide her amusement. “Is that your roundabout way of asking if I think Astra is capable of casting that spell?”

  “I don’t want to point fingers or anything but ... she’s close, and she’s aware things have been going on. Of course, when I asked her about crossing the boundaries, she denied it. She didn’t seem all that concerned about the goat. She was intrigued, though.”

  “Was she surprised about the goat?” Danielle asked.

  “Yeah. Either that or she was acting. I think she was legitimately surprised, though. She was distracted that day and wasn’t putting on her usual show. She has a new witch in her coven, a woman named Stormy. She’s mouthy and all kinds of trouble.”

  “Then maybe she’s the witch behind this,” Jackie suggested.

  “We don’t even know we’re dealing with a witch,” Hannah argued. “There’s another side to all of this. There’s the missing women. I think this is all linked, although I’m not sure how.”

  Becky stirred for the first time since Hannah had entered the store. She’d been listless and disinterested in the conversation up until this point. “Are you talking about the missing women on television? How could they be part of this?”

  “Because Rick was seen with Heather Clarke the night before last. Arnie saw them together. Then Heather disappeared and Rick didn’t show up for work. Earlier in the day, Rick admitted to me and the new guy — Nick, who is altogether delightful and I think you should make an effort to get to know, Becky — that he dated the third woman who went missing, the one who jumped off the bank building the other night. So, he had ties to two of the women.”

  “He’s dead, though,” Danielle pointed out. “He obviously can’t be behind this if he’s dead.”

  “Yeah. I know.” Hannah rubbed the back of her neck. “I still think this all ties together. There has to be a way to figure out what’s going on. Maybe the women were taken because whoever is doing this has a really big blood ritual they want to do. Maybe they need multiple people.”

  “And you think whoever it is needs to hold these women and kill them at the same time?” Jackie queried.

  Hannah held out her hands and shrugged. “Maybe. I mean ... it’s not out of the realm of possibility, right?”

  “I guess not.” Jackie was thoughtful. “What about the woman who jumped, though? Where was she held the week she was missing? Why did she jump instead of run for help?”

  “I don’t know. The coroner found a strange substance in June Dutton’s blood. Maybe it was a drug of some kind. Maybe she was hypnotized and forced to kill herself or something.”

  “Okay, but why kill her in that manner if you need blood? Doesn’t that break apart your entire theory?”

  “Actually, it does.” Hannah was loath to admit it, but there was a gaping hole in her logic. “None of it makes sense. I just can’t wrap my head around it.”

  “We could try to do a mystical seance,” Danielle suggested. “I mean ... there’s no way of knowing if it will work, but we could try. There’s no harm in making the attempt.”

  “What’s a mystical seance?” Hannah was legitimately curious. “How is that different from a regular seance?”

  “In a regular seance you want to talk to a ghost, or draw a soul from the other side. A mystical seance is when you want a specific location to give up its secrets. In this case, we would try to make Main Street show us what happened to Rick.”

  “Is that a possibility?” Hannah was eager at the thought. “I mean ... could we really do that?”

  “We need some items before we can attempt it,” Jackie replied, thoughtful. “The biggest is sage dust. It takes a month to make. Astra might have it at her shop, though.” Slowly, she slid her eyes to Becky. “Instead of hanging around and pouting all day, why don’t you head over to the shop and see if you can find some, huh? That will at least give you something to do.”

  Becky folded her arms over her chest. “I’m not pouting. I’m just ... not feeling well.”

  “Because you’re pouting.” Jackie was firm. “It’s worth a shot. Head over there and see if you can find some.” She flicked her eyes back to Hannah. “That’s basically all we can do right now. I don’t know a magical way of discovering the truth of what’s happening to those women. We have to focus on the one thing we have control over, and that’s Rick. He has to be our main priority.”

  Hannah couldn’t argue with that. “Okay, well, keep me posted.” She got to her feet. “I think I’m going to head back to my apartment and see if I can find any information on blood rituals in Abigail’s books. With the town shut down, I don’t have much to do. I might as well make myself useful.”

  “I think that’s a great idea.” Jackie enthused. “Stop in again in a few hours. I’ll know more then.”

  15

  Fifteen

  Hannah caught sight of Becky on Main Street when she was leaving Jackie’s shop. The young woman stood next to the police tape and watched as they removed the body, something forlorn about her expression.

  Even though Hannah was at the end of her rope with the young woman, she still felt sorry for her. She understood why Becky was struggling. It was hard to reconcile the world you thought you deserved with the one you ended up with. On a whim, Hannah crossed to her.

  “Hey.”

  Becky made a face when she realized who was addressing her. “What do you want?”

  Hannah bit down on her frustration and forced herself to remain calm in the face of the young woman’s rudeness. “I know that things haven’t gone how you expected them to go,” she started.

  “How I expected them to go?” Becky’s eyebrows flew up her forehead. “Are you kidding me? This isn’t about what I expected. This is about how things really were going until you showed up.”

  Hannah feigned patience. “And how is that?”

  “Cooper and I weren’t together before you showed up. I’m not an idiot and I don’t think that or anything, but the groundwork was laid. All he had to do was look up and see what was d
irectly in front of him.”

  Hannah licked her lips as she debated how to respond. Finally, she shook her head and sighed. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Becky. Cooper and I are together. I don’t see that changing. Even if we weren’t together, though, I don’t think you’re his type.”

  “Oh, really?” Becky turned haughty. “Why is that? Do you think you’re the only one who is his type?”

  “Not even remotely.” Hannah was calm despite the annoyance racing through her. “This has nothing to do with me somehow being special. It’s just ... chemistry is a weird thing. There are plenty of people who should have it on paper who don’t in real life. It’s not a big deal.”

  “That’s easy for you to say.” Becky was bitter and there was no shaking her of the anger plaguing her ... at least at this time. “You got what you wanted. You got what I wanted. You’ve managed to steal him. You should be happy.”

  Hannah pressed the tip of her tongue against the back of her teeth and reminded herself that Becky was young. She didn’t realize how ridiculous she sounded. After a calming breath, she forced a smile. “You can’t steal a person from another person. Do you want to know how I know that?” She didn’t wait for Becky to respond, instead barreling forward. “I know because I was engaged to a man who slept with any woman who would show him five seconds of interest. He always blamed it on them, or a sickness, but the truth is he didn’t love me. We didn’t belong together.”

  “And you’re saying that you belong with Cooper? Is that it?”

  “I’m saying that Cooper and I fit, and whatever you want to believe, sometimes things are simply meant to be.”

  “Like you and Cooper.”

  “Maybe.” Hannah didn’t want to push too hard on the subject. She understood Becky wasn’t prepared to listen. “Here’s the thing, though, you need to adjust your attitude. I know you’re upset but that doesn’t mean I deserve your vitriol every time I turn around.”