4. Four
FOUR
O nce the evidence collection team arrived, we had to leave the area so they could work. By the time we got back to the road, the truck was being impounded so it could be transported to Traverse City and searched there. Evan had disappeared seconds before Steve and Spencer arrived.
“What’s the plan going forward?” Landon asked his boss as we stood next to Chief Terry’s vehicle.
“Do what you normally do,” Steve replied. “I’ll be a little more hands-on this time. I would like to be close to see how you operate.” His eyes moved to me. “I don’t want to take control, though.
“This will be a learning experience for all of us,” he continued. “We should step lightly and feel things out.”
“Okay.” Landon nodded. “It’s late. If you haven’t eaten dinner, we’re going back to the inn. I’m sure Winnie kept leftovers warm for us.”
My stomach growled in anticipation.
Landon gave me a sidelong smile. “I know somebody is hungry. You’re welcome to join us. Both of you.” He inclined his head toward Spencer.
Steve hesitated for a moment, then nodded. “We’ll meet you there.”
Landon waited until we were in Chief Terry’s vehicle to speak again. “If you’re angry about me inviting them, tell me now,” he prodded. “Let’s get it out of the way.”
“I’m not angry,” I assured him. That was true. “It’s fine.”
“What are you thinking?” he asked as Chief Terry did a U-turn and headed in the direction of the inn.
“We have some sort of monster.” It was better to get all my feelings out before we sat down to break bread with Landon’s boss. “If we were dealing with humans, it would have to be more than one. Plus, humans wouldn’t have known to run from Evan.”
“We don’t have proof,” Chief Terry cautioned. “We have a theory.”
“It’s a pretty good theory. It’s not as if we’re working with a large time window.”
“That’s the part that really bothers me,” Landon said. “You guys could’ve turned around and come home at any point. Other people could’ve been on the road. Human killers wouldn’t have left that truck the way they did. There’s just no way.”
“It has to be a paranormal,” I agreed. “Now we have to figure out what we’re dealing with.”
“And you’re okay working with Steve?” Landon asked, contorting to look between the front seats and catch my gaze in the back seat. “You’ve been leery about it since he brought it up, and yet here we are.”
“I’m fine with it,” I assured him. “You don’t have to worry about me. If I’m uncomfortable, you’ll know it.”
“You talk big,” Landon vigorously shook his head, “but you have a tendency to button things up in an effort to protect me. I don’t want you doing that. The second you feel uncomfortable, you’re out.”
He didn’t realize it, but the way he phrased it was troublesome. The second I was uncomfortable I was out. What about him? Would Steve use Landon and his work ethic to try to draw me back in? Would he use my secret to leverage Landon into cases he didn’t want to work?
“It will be fine,” I assured him, despite my misgivings. “Let’s go home and eat. I think Mom cooked that chicken dish you like.”
AUNT TILLIE WAS IN THE LOBBY WHEN WE arrived. I smiled as Landon and Chief Terry led Steve and Spencer into the kitchen, then lowered my voice so she would know I was deadly serious.
“You need to keep your pal Crusty away from the dining room for the next hour or so,” I warned her.
Rather than give me grief, she narrowed her eyes and said nothing.
“I’m serious,” I insisted. “Just … put him in the attic or something.”
She remained rooted to her spot and silent.
“Nod to tell me you understand what I’m saying,” I ordered. To my surprise, she moved her chin ever so slightly.
“Great.” I looked over her outfit. “I see you changed out of the camouflage. That was smart. They haven’t asked what we were doing out there yet, but I know it’s coming.”
As I was leaving the lobby, Peg the pig, Aunt Tillie’s pet, skidded around me, seemingly excited to see my great-aunt.
Snort. Snort.
Rather than race up to Aunt Tillie and demand a treat, which was her way, Peg turned around and followed me right back out of the room.
“She’s in a bad mood,” I said to Peg as we walked down the hallway. “She had to help Mrs. Little tonight. That goes against everything she believes.”
I could almost imagine that Peg understood me given the solemn expression on her face.
“Don’t worry about it,” I assured her. “She’ll get over it.”
Everybody was already seated at the dining room table when I walked in. Thistle and Clove were nowhere to be found. Marnie, Twila, and Mom were present, and they were smiling.
“Good.” Mom nodded when she saw me. “I was worried you were going to skip dinner. You need the fuel if you’re going to solve this.”
She was a lot more gung-ho than I expected. A quick look at Chief Terry told me he was the reason. He’d likely begged her to be on her best behavior. Winnie Winchester was going to be in super mom mode.
“I’m hungry,” I assured her. “I was just talking to Peg.”
The pig scurried toward the kitchen, seemingly eager to get away from the newcomers. Winchester, Landon’s Christmas present, was under the dining room table sniffing for scraps even though the food had just been delivered to the table.
“Sit down,” Mom instructed.
I took my normal place between Landon and Chief Terry. Mom had situated Spencer and Steve across from us, in the spots she and Marnie usually occupied. Everybody was digging into the chicken, potatoes, and home-baked bread.
“What did you find out there?” Marnie asked as she sat at the far end of the table. It was unusual for me to see her there, which made me more unsettled.
“Nothing good,” I muttered, trying not to let my bad mood ruin a perfectly nice meal.
“Three bodies,” Chief Terry replied. He was obviously determined to treat this like any other meal. We shared information with Mom, Marnie, and Twila regularly. He wasn’t going to stop simply because we had guests.
“Locals?” Mom asked.
“I didn’t recognize them,” Chief Terry replied. “It’s possible they have relatives in the area, or they were up here hunting.” He made a face. “Of course, it’s not hunting season.”
“They could’ve come up from the south,” Landon offered. “Maybe they rented a cabin and were off-roading or something. It’s not the time of year for that either—still a bit early—but if money was a consideration, they would’ve gotten a deal.”
“That’s a good avenue to chase tomorrow,” Chief Terry agreed. He flashed me a wan smile. “What are your thoughts?”
My thoughts were that this felt like a very stilted and odd meal. Having outsiders at the table was weird. We were supposed to act like ourselves, but nothing felt normal about this conversation.
“I think we’re dealing with some sort of paranormal.
” Easing into it was a waste of time. “I’m not sure if whoever it was decided to track us, but the timing seems suspicious.
They managed to hit a pretty tiny window from when we left the inn to when we were coming back.
It was less than an hour for the entire trip. ”
Steve sat straighter, his fork gripped in his hand and his eyes searching as he regarded me. “I didn’t think to ask about that. What were you doing out there?” It wasn’t suspicion fueling him as much as curiosity, but I cringed all the same.
“Oh, well…” I pursed my lips, debating, then sighed. They would start questioning my motivations if I held back now. “We had something we needed to do at Mrs. Little’s house.”
“Margaret Little?” Spencer asked. “I thought she was your aunt’s mortal enemy.”
“Arch nemesis,” I corrected. “We weren’t there to do anything evil. We’re trying to help her.”
“Help her how?” Steve asked. His voice was free of implication, but there was a wariness in his eyes that couldn’t be ignored.
“She’s been having issues since what happened with Brad Childs,” I replied, cutting into my chicken. It was soft and smelled amazing. “The changeling fed off of her, and she was very close to death.”
“Patrice has been having issues too,” Spencer volunteered. “She pretends she doesn’t remember, but she’ll talk about things that happened when she was taken over, so we know she was privy to that information. She doesn’t want us to know that she remembers for some reason.”
“That’s probably easier for her,” Chief Terry replied. “She likely believes you’ll blame her or maybe question her too vigorously if she tells the truth. It’s not uncommon for people who have gone through a paranormal trauma.”
“You seem to know a lot about paranormal trauma,” Steve said appraisingly. “I’m guessing you’ve seen a lot during your time in Hemlock Cove.”
Chief Terry’s eyes flicked to me. “I’ve seen my fair share of things,” he said finally. “I spent a lot of time with Bay and her cousins when they were little.”
“That must have been interesting.”
“Only because they were often with Tillie, and she’s never met a problem that she didn’t want to make worse, whether with magic or her snowplow.”
I smirked.
“As for why they were out there tonight, Margaret has been showing some alarming displays of … paranoia,” he continued, smoothly changing the subject. “She is struggling, and nobody wants her put into a hospital.”
“I would think, after all the trouble she’s caused you, that getting her out of your hair would be the preferable outcome,” Steve argued. “She’s called our office no less than ten times to report you for satanic sex rituals.”
Spencer snort laughed. “Yeah, she says you guys get naked on the bluff and worship demons.”
I gripped my knife and fork tighter but didn’t reply. After a few seconds, Spencer’s smile started to slip.
“Wait, that’s not true, is it?” He looked appalled at the thought.
“There’s no demon worship,” Mom replied. “We might like to drink wine and dance on the bluff under the full moon. Clothing is optional.”
Spencer’s mouth, which was full of chicken, fell open. “Get out.”
“It’s perfectly normal,” Mom argued.