Chapter Fifteen #2
They’d been talking about tracing Wynter’s steps, and the Vanderbilt family. In the square, there was a statue in honor of the man who helped create Salem.
What they knew now, though, kind of tainted it. Knowing that that their ancestors were big into killing women who they preyed upon as witches…
Yeah, not pleasant.
“As a heads up, the detectives are heading this way,” Tori admitted. “They found something and want to update us.”
Julian was glad, because they’d been asking everyone in the stores around this one if Wynter had been in there yesterday.
The only person who saw her was a coffee vendor not far away. He said she got a coffee.
Unfortunately, he didn’t recall the time. Hopefully, the people inside saw something.
Because if not, they were really not getting much in the way of tracing her steps.
What it felt like was she was invisible.
But how?
What they knew was this person had to come in contact with Wynter, and if they came up bust, maybe Honor and Bishop wouldn’t.
Fingers were crossed they found out that the doctor was a killer.
Or Pryce and Connor found a face that was out of place.
Tori’s gut was good at pinpointing things, and without their dead, he was relying on her investigative skills.
This wasn’t his thing.
Not.
At.
All.
“Let’s head in,” Julian suggested. “You’re running this, my wife. I’ll follow your lead.”
Well, she could do that.
Hand-in-hand, they entered the store, and behind the counter, they found a woman working. When she looked up, the smile started, and Tori wasn’t in the mood for it.
There was too much on the line.
Living here told her exactly what would happen when you walked into one of these tourist traps. So, she was ready for it.
“Hi! Welcome. I’m Amethyst, and…”
She shut that down fast. If you gave the salespeople an inch here, you’d be decked out in all kinds of gaudy witch gear that was mass produced.
“Stop. Real name, please. We’re not tourists, so you can spare us the spiel.”
The woman blinked.
And Julian nearly laughed.
Well, this was what happened when he gave his wife carte blanche when interviewing.
He kinda liked it.
Sue him.
“Uh, okay. It’s Rebecca. I’m getting that a lot this week. Maybe I should just use my name during my greeting. No one seems to be buying it.”
Yeah, she was aware.
Honestly, Tori didn’t care. She was not in the mood for bullshit.
“We’re the Littlemoons,” she said.
Only, before she could say anything else, the woman smiled.
“Oh, you were on the news today. You own that black house not far from here. I saw media stuff on it. I don’t know what for because I was in a hurry to get here, but I saw it.”
Yeah, they were aware.
They had ninety-nine problems, and this week it was an evil psychic, the media, and a dead co-worker.
“We’re working on a case, and you might remember one of our employees came in here yesterday to ask about this place and some medallions.”
She nodded.
“Yeah, that’s a coincidence.”
Uh, what did that mean?
That stopped them in their tracks because it literally wasn’t a coincidence. She’d been stating a fact.
“What are you saying?” Julian asked.
She went there.
“We had a few PIs come in here, but then after she left, the one yesterday afternoon, we got an order for more medallions to be delivered.”
What?
Was?
This?
“You did?” Julian asked.
She nodded.
“Yeah, we did. My co-worker, Lucifer, dropped it off at someone’s house. It was for delivery, like I said. It’s crazy how someone is ordering these in mass quantities.”
Oh, shit.
That was bad.
If more were being ordered, this person was planning on a substantial amount of bodies to be dropped.
Tori went there.
Yes, they’d likely already gotten the man’s real name, but she didn’t have time to backtrack—especially now.
“Does Lucifer have a real name or does his parents hate his guts?” she asked.
Julian lifted a brow.
Someone was spicy today.
Pregnancy was kicking in, and Julian hoped no one pissed his wife off today.
Next, she’d be punchy with twins on board.
“Yeah, Jasper Crowley. He’s not here today because it’s his day off, but he dropped the medallions off for delivery before heading home for the night.”
Julian was curious.
“Can you give us the address?” he asked, wanting to get this under control. One more body, and the homicide captain was going to do drastic things.
Like call Elizabeth Blackhawk to send in the FBI. That would make this even more of a media spectacle.
When the woman behind the counter hesitated, Julian made the offer sweeter.
Taking some cash from his wallet, he slid it across the counter.
“A tip for your help.”
Well, that seemed to work.
Immediately, she pocketed it, and the general mood changed from roadblock to assistance.
“Let me get you that address.”
As she went off to do that, Tori looked around. The place looked like every other witch shop in Salem, and there was no shock there.
It was spooky, dark, and had trinkets everywhere.
“I think I’m going to name the kids Salem-inspired names,” she said.
Julian lifted a brow.
“Like?”
She told him.
“Ridiculous and Nonsense.”
At first, it caught him off guard, but then that made him laugh because now he knew his wife was only kidding. At first, he’d been braced for truly insane names.
“I mean, it’s home.”
That it was.
“When we leave here, we’re getting you some snacks. You’re hangry,” Julian whispered.
That she was.
When the woman came out, she handed him the address, and he tucked it into his pocket for later. It appeared they’d be seeing who lived at that address.
“What time did the woman come in yesterday?” Tori asked, continuing her questioning.
Amethyst considered it.
“I’m going to say around two-ish, give or take a few minutes before. We had people in and out, so I’m not one hundred percent sure. I know it was before two fifteen because I went on break then.”
They took that information and headed out. They knew the interview with the doctor was around one, and this was around two.
That fit the timeline.
When they got across the square, they saw Bishop and Honor waiting for them.
“We have news,” Tori admitted.
But then she stopped.
“Why do you look like you want to punch someone, and why do you look like you’re about to let her?” she asked Bishop and Honor.
Their sister-in-law pointed at the coffees on the table, because they were going to need them. At this point, they needed booze in them, but there were too many pregnant women in the group.
God.
She hoped that wasn’t contagious.
“Have a coffee. Sit. We have to talk, and be ready for it too,” Honor stated.
Uh-oh.
Julian knew this couldn’t be good because it was rare Honor plied them with drinks and hospitality unless she was trying to sugarcoat shit.
Or lessen the blow.
“What?” he asked.
Honor went there.
“We went to go get into Wynter’s phone, and we found some things out.”
Tori lifted a brow.
“Like?”
She told them.
“Wynter was seeing a therapist, the same one everyone else was,” she began, setting the picture for them. “It was for post-partum, like Bishop suspected.”
They didn’t say a word but instead sipped their coffee as they listened.
That’s when she dropped the bomb.
“Not only that, but she was sleeping with the therapist on Fridays, and Ridge doesn’t know about it.”
KABOOM.
That bomb landed.
Both Tori’s and Julian’s mouths dropped open at the news and stayed open because they hadn’t been expecting that. It was surprising she was seeing a therapist, but people had private lives outside of work.
That she was having an affair behind her husband’s back…
“Oh, shit,” Julian finally said.
Yeah, that was what they thought. Their silence was telling—as in it told them that they hadn’t had an inkling that it was going on either.
They hadn’t just missed it.
EVERYONE had.
Pulling out her phone so they could see the photos, Honor let them flip through.
After seeing the one that started this all, his response was pretty much the same as theirs.
Julian sighed.
“She was meeting him somewhere?” she asked. “A therapist was meeting his patient outside the office?”
They both nodded.
“Jesus Christ,” he added, and that said it all.
Yep.
They understood the implications, and how bad this was going to be for all parties involved.
They were keeping it to a minimum, for Ridge’s sake now, but still…
It felt weird being up in their business.
Honor continued to get this over with. She was keeping an eye on her partner.
Just.
In.
Case.
Someone was having a rough day, too.
“So, we interviewed him, and to make sure this wasn’t a killing by the doctor’s hand, we took Hart with us. The dude didn’t kill her. Well, not by his own hand. Could he be this person? I mean, he’s connected to everyone—and couldn’t a powerful psychic hoodwink a walking lie detector?”
Tori considered that.
“I mean, I don’t know. Hart reads auras. Can one fake that? That’s something we’ll have to ask Avalon Carter. She said she’s the strongest one out there. If she could, he could.”
That didn’t help them.
Unfortunately.
Julian was to the point.
“Poor Ridge.”
Yeah, tell them about it.
They shared everything else, ensuring there were no holes so things weren’t missed.
“We confirmed she was visiting for post-partum, and he prescribed Zoloft for her. He also prescribed birth control, so she didn’t get pregnant. He liked going in bare,” Honor stated.
Because if they had to know, so did the Littlemoons.
Sharing was caring.
Hearing that, Julian was even more annoyed.
He hated cheating, and this muddied the waters at his agency. One of the things he prided himself in was that they were a family.
Cheating wasn’t family behavior.
This was problematic.
For.
Him.
Bishop went there.
“We traced the timeline back, and it started right after Lucian and Ridge started hooking up in the static. Before Julian goes on his ‘I hate cheating bender’, I was there when both men came to us and asked if we were okay with it. It’s not cheating if permission is asked.
So, for the sake of my blood pressure, and the pregnancy that I’m NOT trying to lose today, let’s not go there to my face, okay? ”
OOF.
That said it all.