Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
I almost spilled my coffee all over my dress – I was moving at a dead run as I hit the front door of our shop. I stopped short when I saw Luna was with customers, though she darted a quick glance at me and shook her head once.
“Fine,” I muttered, moving past a table of crystals and pushing the privacy screen aside to go into my shop. Flicking on the lamp in the corner, I patted my skeleton on the head before sitting down at the table and staring at my pack of tarot cards.
There was something I was missing here.
“Did you kill him?” Rafe asked companionably and I jumped in my seat.
“Rafe, you were with us last night. You know I didn’t kill him,” I hissed as the pirate sat in the chair across from me.
He cocked his head at me in confusion. “I know you didn’t kill that one. I meant him,” he said, pointing with his thumb to where my skeleton sat in the corner.
“Ohhh. No, that one’s fake. Made of rubber,” I explained, and Rafe immediately jumped up to go examine the skeleton. My screen moved as the front door chimed and Luna poked her head in.
“What happened? Did Rafe do something he wasn’t supposed to?
” Luna said, glaring over at the ghost. Today she wore what she considered color, a soft mint colored skirt that ran in a column to the floor and a white crochet crop-top that revealed a sliver of a tanned tummy.
She looked cool, funky, and way more expensive than any outfit that I managed to pull off.
See? That’s why I stuck to maxi dresses.
Pull it over your head and call it a day.
“No, Rafe’s been minding his manners,” I admitted, and Rafe shot me a grin.
“Yes, she-witch. Stay away from me.”
Luna glared at him again, then crossed her arms over her chest.
“Talk. You all but ran in the door.”
“There was a body – someone was murdered and laid out on the pentagram that we drew in the sand.” The words rushed out, and I watched as Luna’s eyes went huge in her delicate face.
“I’m sorry. Did you just say that a dead body was laid out on our pentagram?”
I nodded vigorously, sucking coffee through my straw with a loud slurping noise.
“I did. And he had seeds drilled into his head, along with saplings.”
“No,” Luna said, backing up a bit.
“You know what that means?”
“It’s an offering. The seeds are meant to grow from the brain, instilling the wisdom of the human into the universal consciousness of the world,” Luna explained.
“How could you possibly know that?” I exclaimed.
Luna held out both hands in front of her.
“You can’t know white magick without learning about dark magick.”
“I told you she’s crazy,” Rafe whispered behind my ear and I flinched, turning to swat him away like an annoying gnat.
“And she also told you that I have power too. So watch it, Rafe,” I said, menace lacing my words.
“This is not good,” Luna said, beginning to pace my shop.
“Captain Understatement over here,” I muttered, picking up my cards and beginning to slide them through my hands to soothe my nerves.
The moon card fell out and my hand stilled over it.
The picture was of a full moon, overlooking a beach.
It took me instantly back to last night, and I shivered as I ignored the message in the card and slid it back into the pile.
The moon card signified illusion and deception, showing that everything is not as it seems. Plus, the picture pretty much outlined where we’d been the night before.
“Death into life,” Luna muttered as she paced, “Earth element.”
Our eyes met.
“Horace.”
The bell signaled a new customer on Luna’s side of the shop, and I already knew.
“Say hi to Chief Thomas for me,” I whispered, and Luna shot me a look before slipping from behind my screen.
“Chief Thomas, I just heard,” Luna exclaimed and I heard a low murmur of voices before Luna poked her head around my screen again. “You’re wanted.”
I shot a glance at Rafe, making a shushing motion, then crossed to Luna’s side of the store. Lavender incense cast a soothing scent and a few candles flickered on a high shelf in front of a whitewashed wall. All was serene here.
“Chief Thomas,” I said, greeting the new sheriff with a smile. He filled out his uniform well, and still radiated a boyish honesty that I found appealing.
“Althea, good to see you again. How have you been since…” his eyes darted between Luna and me, “the incident?”
“Fine. In shock for a few days, if we’re going to be totally honest.”
“And sad about losing the best sandwiches in town,” Luna grumbled, causing a smile to flit across Chief Thomas’s face.
“Yes, I know it’s quite a loss to the town. Though Beau seems to be fixing the restaurant up nicely,” Chief Thomas said. I could sense that he was stalling.
“I just heard about the murder, down at the coffee shop. From Prudie. Awful woman,” I said with disdain, crossing my arms and leaning back against the counter. Not feeling even the least bit guilty, I took a scan through Chief Thomas’s thoughts.
Shit.
Now I knew what had been bothering me. My freakin’ flip-flops! I’d forgotten them on the beach last night when we’d hightailed it out of there.
“Yes, well, she certainly knows how to get the news out quickly,” Chief said.
“That has to be frustrating. What with you trying to catch the killer and all,” Luna said soothingly, turning up the charm. I side-eyed her, but she refused to look at me, smiling sweetly at Chief Thomas.
“It certainly doesn’t help. Gossip in this town spreads like wildfire,” Chief Thomas grumbled.
“What can you tell us about the murder? Should we be worried for our safety?” I asked, deciding to take control of the situation and head the Chief down another path.
“Any time there is a murderer at large, you should be concerned for your safety,” Chief Thomas said earnestly. I wanted to reach out and squeeze his cheeks. He really was too cute. I didn’t want to tell him that bad people were always out and about.
“Absolutely, we’ll be extra careful,” Luna said, her voice syrupy sweet. “I really appreciate your coming by to warn us.”
Luna can manipulate with the best of them too.
“Oh, good. That’s good. Have you heard all the details then?” he asked, rocking back on his heels.
“Just some pretty gruesome ones from Prudie. Seeds drilled into the head?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him in disbelief.
“Yes, well, that and laid out on a pentagram. Now…I don’t want to go making assumptions here,” Chief Thomas began.
Luna and I looked at each other and simultaneously put our hands on our hips.
Chief Thomas immediately raised his hands.
“I’m not saying you did it. I am coming to ask if you could shed any light on what this could mean. I’m, uh – well, I don’t know much about devil worship and the like.”
Devil worship. Really?
“So you think Luna and I are devil worshipers?” My voice went up an octave.
“No, no, no. Now, I didn’t say that,” Chief Thomas sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Listen, you’re the only ones I know in town who openly have a connection to this occult-type stuff. I just figured you might be able to help. That’s all, I swear.”
I picked his brain and found a rush of panic and sincere affection for us, so I gave Luna a look and we both backed down a little.
“Chief, there’s a world of difference between good rituals and dark rituals. Thea and I are not practitioners of the dark arts. However, that doesn’t mean that I’m not educated on them,” Luna said. Chief Thomas’s eyebrows shot up.
“You are?”
“I am. As I was just explaining to Althea, you can’t know the good without knowing the bad. Otherwise how would you know what lines to never cross?”
“That’s a good point. Makes sense when you explain it like that. So, can you offer me any information?”
“Do you have a photo?”
Both Chief Thomas and I looked at Luna, our eyes wide.
“Really? Ew,” I muttered, rubbing my hands up and down my arms. I caught a flash of movement over my shoulder. Great, now Rafe had joined the group. I bet he wanted to see the picture too.
Wordlessly, Chief Thomas reached into the folder he was carrying and slid a photo out, placing it on the counter. We all turned to gaze down at the picture.
It wasn’t pretty.
There was our pentagram, clear as day, though the circle wasn’t visible, as Luna had cast it with her wand.
A body was laid out, head facing downward from the point of the pentagram; dark sticky blotches stained the sand beneath his head.
The man looked to be of Asian descent, a skinny man with tattoos snaking over his arms. Little seedlings poked out from his dark matted hair, making it look as if he wore some sort of leafy crown.
Seeing it in real life, even second-hand through a photo, made it seem even worse to me, and sadness washed through me as I thought about his friends and family. Instinctively, I reached out and brushed my thumb over his head in the picture, murmuring a quick Gaelic phrase.
“What did you say?” Chief Thomas had a suspicious look on his face.
“An Irish blessing. Sort of like a last rite. It’s sad. Sad to see this. I don’t know how you do this job,” I admitted to him, turning away from the picture.
“That’s two dead bodies you’ve seen recently,” he pointed out.
“And hopefully the last,” I said, meeting his eyes straight on.
Chief Thomas searched my eyes for a moment, then nodded.
“Luna? What does this say to you?”
“Well, the body is laid out facing downwards on the pentagram – which instantly signals dark ritual to me. I’ve only heard of the seeds in a body once or twice before.
It’s supposed to be like an offering to the earth, but this is usually done when an elder has died of natural causes.
Or in this case, with the way the body is facing, I would guess it is an offering to an evil god; you can assume which one, though I won’t say his name.
The seeds growing from the brain though…
that is kind of like a life-from-death cyclical offering to mother earth. ”
“The trees say new life to me. Growing from the earth – or from brain matter, in this instance,” Chief Thomas said.
“Yes, new growth. New beginnings. Summoning of…things, you know…blood drained into the soil, gifts to the gods of below,” Luna shrugged, raising her hands helplessly in front of her.
“Would these rituals be consistent with a Pagan religion?” he asked Luna.
“Not typically. Pagans are very peaceful. I follow some Pagan beliefs and rituals myself. Usually it’s all about harnessing the energy for good, following the seasonal cycles, that kind of thing. It’s typically a very pure sort of religion, one that’s been around for centuries.”
“I notice you’ve said ‘typically’ twice now,” Chief Thomas observed.
Even I had missed that. Which was a reminder to me to stay on my toes with Chief Thomas. His boyish good looks belied a sharp mind.
Luna shrugged lightly.
“Isn’t it true that all religions have groups which break off and often become fanatical in their beliefs?”
Chief Thomas left that question hanging in the air for a moment before nodding his understanding. Picking up the picture, he slid it back into the envelope and turned to leave the store. We watched him in silence, Rafe hovering over his head, until he was almost to the door.
“Thanks, ladies. Oh – and one more question?”
“Yes?” Luna smiled.
“What size shoes do you wear?”
I froze, ice moving up my spine as I fumbled with the idea of lying to him. Deciding against it, I kept my face smooth and tilted my head at him in question.
“Nine and a half. Why do you ask?”
“Seven for me,” Luna said quickly. Naturally Luna has dainty feet.
“No reason. Have a nice day, ladies. Watch your backs, please.”
And with that Chief Thomas left the building, taking with him all hope that we’d get out of this scot-free.