Chapter 26
Chapter Twenty-Six
A few of the other dive boat crews, already back from their morning dives, looked at me curiously as I followed Chief Thomas down the dock, his deputy behind me. I know how it looked – like they were arresting me. I groaned as I thought about how quickly this gossip would fly around town.
Cash and Dylan fell in line behind us, and I kept my back straight, trying not to think about what Dylan would be telling Cash’s family about me.
Maybe I’d been silly to think that Cash and I would be a good fit.
Perhaps he and I were just two different breeds.
I couldn’t imagine his mother being happy about her son dating a girl with tattoos who got hauled in for questioning by the cops.
I tried to shake off my negative thoughts as we drew near to where my bike was locked up.
“Chief Thomas, that’s my bike. Should I follow you to the station?”
“Why don’t you just ride with us? We’ll give you a ride back to your bike,” Chief Thomas said lightly, and I stopped to square off with him.
“Listen, this is starting to sound eerily like I am being arrested. I’m psychic, remember? Don’t try to pull shit over on me,” I seethed and then clamped my lips together, looking briefly at the cloudless sky as I counted to five and mentally kicked myself.
I had no idea if Cash had told his family what I did for a living, but the cat was out of the bag on that one now, too. Chalk this up to one of the crappiest mornings ever.
“A psychic, huh?” I heard Dylan say to Cash as Chief Thomas held open the back door of his sheriff’s car for me, confirming my suspicions that Cash hadn’t told his brother what I did for a living.
For some reason, this irked me even more and I found myself wanting to kick the back of the seat as Chief Thomas and his deputy got in front.
“Was this really necessary? You know I would have come down to the station,” I pointed out as we drove through town.
“We’ll take you back to your bike,” Chief Thomas said calmly.
“That’s not the point. That was the first time I was meeting one of Cash’s family members. How do you think this is going to look?”
Chief Thomas shot me a brief look of sympathy over his shoulder as we pulled into the parking lot of the station.
“I’m sorry. Sometimes a murder investigation takes precedence over everyday life,” Chief Thomas said, reminding me that sometimes it’s not all about me.
I bit back my response as I followed Chief Thomas into the small station, my head hanging down.
Tequila Key doesn’t have a lot of crime, and the police station reflected that.
A small stucco building, it housed a two-person jail cell, a few offices, a front desk and waiting area, and an interrogation area, all painted in a cheerful, blinding turquoise.
I have no idea why so many seaside businesses insist on painting the interior of their spaces the same color as the ocean, but there you have it.
I stiffened when I realized I was being led into the interrogation area.
“Now, why does it suddenly feel like I need to call my lawyer?” I asked lightly, standing on one side of a grey metal table while Chief Thomas took a seat across from me.
“Althea, you are not under arrest. This is an informal questioning. We could do this in my office as well; it’s just that there are more chairs here,” Chief Thomas sighed.
“But it’s just me and you,” I pointed out, still refusing to sit.
“Not for long it won’t be,” Chief Thomas grumbled and I looked up as I heard voices outside the door.
“Let him in,” Chief Thomas called, and in a moment, Cash’s strong frame filled the door.
Cash looked directly at me.
“Do you need a lawyer?”
My heart clenched a bit. He didn’t even ask if I’d done anything wrong, he was just immediately ready to ride to my rescue. Oh yeah, I could see myself falling for this one, I thought.
“No, because I haven’t done anything wrong,” I said.
Cash moved around the side of the table and, taking my hand, pulled me over next to him to sit in one of the two uncomfortable plastic chairs.
“Where’s Dylan?”
“Getting coffee.”
I nodded, biting my lip, unsure of how to proceed, so I allowed the silence to fill the room as Chief Thomas sighed and leaned back in his chair.
“Althea, you know that withholding information on a crime is illegal, right? It’s technically blocking a police investigation.”
Cash shot me a glance, but I just nodded, waiting to see what Chief Thomas had to say.
“We’ve had a report that you were on the beach the other night, along with Ms. Lavelle. Her car was seen leaving the beach.”
Ice shot through my veins as I flashed back to our run from the beach and my forgotten flip-flops.
“Who told you that?” I asked, going on the defensive.
“It was an anonymous tip,” Chief Thomas said. A muscle jumped in his cheek and I knew he was lying. Feeling no shame, I reached out and scanned his mind.
“Prudie?” I screeched, almost jumping out of my chair. Chief Thomas sighed and ran his hands over his face, shaking his head slightly.
“I keep forgetting you’re psychic.”
“How could you forget? I literally just brought it up moments ago, at the wharf,” I pointed out, internally seething about that nasty gossip Prudie. I was already planning what I would do to ruin her life.
“Listen, it’s been a long morning,” Chief Thomas began, and I really looked at his face for the first time.
Dark smudges hung under his puffy eyes and I realized that he’d been up for a long time already this morning.
Deciding to cut him some slack, since he had so recently helped rescue me from being held captive, I took pity on him.
“Sorry, but what the hell has that old bat been feeding you?”
“She reported seeing Luna’s car driving away from that beach. Since it’s an undeveloped area, not a lot of cars go down that road. I’m sorry, but I have to follow up every lead.”
“How do you know I was in the car?” I asked.
“She said there were two people. You and Luna are always together; it was just a hunch,” Chief Thomas sighed.
“Why am I here and Luna isn’t, then?” I asked, pointedly.
The Chief hesitated. “I can’t find her,” he admitted and I felt my stomach drop.
“What do you mean you can’t find her?” I asked, enunciating each word precisely as alarm bells went off in my head.
“Nobody is answering at her condo. Her car’s there. Your store is locked. Nobody has seen her. She’s not answering her phone.”
“Did you knock on her door for a long time? Sometimes she sleeps in.”
Chief Thomas leveled a look at me and I shrugged.
“Okay, okay. You knocked for a long time. I don’t like this,” I said, biting my lip. “Do you mind if I try to text her?”
“Go ahead,” Chief Thomas said and I dug in my bag.
Hey, it’s Thea. Text me immediately.
Then, feeling even more suspicious, I called her; the call went straight to voicemail.
“Now that’s even more strange,” I admitted, fear creeping up my spine.
“What?” Cash asked.
“Her phone never goes to voicemail. Never. She keeps it on in case her grandmother out at Seashores Living needs her. It’s never, ever, off.”
“I think it’s time to tell me what’s going on,” Chief Thomas said gently.
I turned to see Cash watching me carefully, his eyes curious, but I read no judgment coming from him. Still, I wasn’t entirely sure I wanted to tell him I’d been doing a magickal ritual naked on the beach with my white-witch best friend.
See, there’s this point in new relationships where your significant other finds out who you really are.
You know what I’m talking about – whether it’s your secret addiction to the Bachelorette, your love of all things Disney, or that you close your eyes every time you go over a bridge – there’s always this turning point where they pull that exterior flap away and take a peek at what’s really going on inside. And it can be terrifying.
I wanted the high to last a little longer with Cash.
I just didn’t have faith that he would stick around once he really knew how weird my world was.
I’m not apologizing for who I am – I’m just saying that I’m a realist. Not a lot of guys are going to stick around psychics and witches, and that’s just a fact.
Could I hide it just a little bit longer? If I asked Cash to leave now, he’d be even more curious about what was going on, and I’d probably hurt his feelings as well. Not seeing a way out of this, I sighed and turned to Chief Thomas.
“We were at the beach that night,” I said softly, looking down at the table.
“Jesus, Althea,” Chief Thomas swore.
“I think you’d better catch me up on what’s going on here,” Cash said evenly, his eyes darting between Chief Thomas and me, his shoulders tense.
“Friday morning we discovered a body laid out on a pentagram on North Beach, where the new condo development is going in. Someone killed him, drilled holes in his head, then planted seeds and saplings in the holes.”
“Saplings?” Cash said in confusion.
“Saplings. It looked like some sort of offering. There’s a Pagan festival in town, so the manner of death could fall in line with some sort of weird offering to the earth.
Then we found a second body this morning,” Chief Thomas continued, rubbing his temples with his fingers.
I felt kind of bad for him. Police work can be a thankless job sometimes.
“How was he murdered?” I asked softly, and Chief Thomas trained his eyes on me.
“This body was found where the hole for the foundation of the building has been dug. A chain had been wrapped around his neck and used to choke him.”
I shivered at the thought of it, shaking my head in confusion.
“I don’t understand. This is nothing like the other murder. I’d thought it was Horace,” I said, then trailed off as Chief Thomas raised an eyebrow at me.
“Who’s Horace?”
I sighed, knowing I would have to backtrack now and go over the whole story. I didn’t want to even start with it all as I was really worried about where Luna was.
“Were you at that beach last night?” Cash interrupted as I was about to speak.
“No, we weren’t,” I insisted, shaking my head back and forth fervently.
“No, that’s right – you were coming from the other direction, very fast, now that I think about it,” Chief Thomas said, rubbing his hand along his chin.
“Luna got pulled over after we left the Pagan festival last night,” I said to Cash.
“Festival? I thought you said you were coming from a party, Ms. Rose. It seems like it’s one lie after another with you,” Chief Thomas said, anger making his cheeks flush red.
“Okay, here’s the truth,” I began, refusing to look at Cash.
Knowing I was about to lose him.