[A Wicked Witches of the Midwest 10.0] Murder Most Witchy Read online

Uh-oh. That didn’t sound good. “Are you going to ask me to put on the Wonder Woman panties – and wear nothing else – and then twirl really fast when we hit the hotel?”

  Landon snorted, amused. “No, but I’ll take that under advisement. It’s just … I’ll need you to use your credit card to check into the room.”

  Oh, well, that certainly wasn’t what I was expecting. “Okay.”

  “Okay?” Landon cocked a challenging eyebrow. “Don’t you want to know why?”

  “I trust you.”

  Landon took me by surprise when he framed my face and planted a loud, smacking kiss against my lips. “Thank you. I’m going to tell you anyway. While I didn’t use my real last name, as you mentioned earlier, Landon isn’t something you hear every day. There’s always a chance the mother could be suspicious.

  “I also don’t have my government credit card with me,” he continued. “They’ll reimburse everything, but we don’t have time to get the credit card, and I don’t want to risk the mother asking me about my name.”

  It made sense. “In case Becky was bragging about her new boyfriend, right?”

  Landon gripped my hand so tightly I almost yelped. “Bay, I never flirted with that woman. Not even in an undercover capacity. I was there for Doug. We were most interested in him.”

  “I was just joking.” I tried to yank my arm away, but Landon kept a firm hold on my wrist. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “I don’t care about you upsetting me,” Landon replied. “I care about you being upset. I spent the entire time I was away from you thinking about you.”

  “Oh, geez.” I couldn’t hold back the eye roll. “You have got to stop doing that. It’s starting to make me feel uncomfortable.”

  “Yes, but I’m not in the mood to lie to you,” Landon countered. “I missed you. I pined for you.”

  “Oh, come on!”

  Landon smirked as he released my wrist and poked my side. “I missed you terribly.”

  “I missed you, too,” I conceded. “You still could’ve called.”

  “Yeah, you’ll never let that go, will you?” Landon tossed several pairs of boxer shorts into the cart. “I need to grab a T-shirt.”

  I followed him to a rack, tilting my head to the side. “I’m fine with using my credit card.”

  “I’ll make sure you’re paid back right away, before the bill is due, in fact.”

  “I have the money to pay for a night at a hotel,” I reminded him. “I live in the guesthouse for free. While I’ll never get rich working at The Whistler, I’ve managed to put a decent amount of money away.”

  “You’ll still get your money,” Landon said. “I simply don’t feel comfortable using my credit card in case Becky ever mentioned my name to her mother or sister. We’ll be checking in before the sister’s shift is done, but … you never know.”

  “You definitely never know.” I tapped my bottom lip as I tilted my head. “We got sidetracked at the restaurant, and I didn’t hear the last name you picked. All I know is that it wasn’t Aniston or Bacon.”

  I couldn’t be certain, but I was almost positive that Landon’s cheeks reddened as he pointed toward the main aisle. “We’ll get suitcases and then hit the toiletries section.”

  Much like Aunt Tillie when she realized she was about to make someone really uncomfortable, I couldn’t stop myself from grinning. “Wait a second.” I grabbed his arm before he could shuffle too far. “What last name did you pick? By the way, if you tell me it was ‘Bay’ I really will never stop laughing … or believe you.”

  “It was not Bay,” Landon shot back, pressing the heel of his hand to his forehead. “It was, however, inspired by you.”

  “Oh, that’s entertaining.” I searched my head for possibilities. “Landon Whistler?”

  “No.”

  “Landon Blonde?”

  “No.”

  “I’m out of guesses,” I admitted. “Tell me.”

  “I don’t want to tell you.” Landon made a big show of turning away from me, but I wedged myself between the cart and him, batting my eyelashes.

  “Please.”

  “No.”

  “Puh-leez!” I was so dramatic we earned a few odd gazes in our direction.

  “Fine.” Landon shook his head as he stared into my eyes. “Winchester. I said my last name was Winchester.”

  I couldn’t help being flabbergasted. “But … our name is well known in this area.”

  “As a group of crazy women,” Landon clarified. “Winchester itself is a fairly common name and … I wanted to feel close to you.”

  “And my name did that?”

  Landon shrugged. “Every time I said the name I thought of you. That’s what I wanted.”

  “Oh, man. You’re hard to make fun of when you’re being earnest.”

  “That won’t stop you, though.” Landon planted a kiss on my lips. “Do you want a book or something? We might be stuck in the room for a few hours before we can look around tonight.”

  “I’ll get some trashy gossip magazines at the checkout counter,” I replied, watching his back. “Does that mean, if we ever get married, you’ll be Mr. Bay Winchester?”

  Landon made a disgusted face. “No.”

  “Can I buy you a Mr. Winchester apron?”

  “No.”

  “Can I give you a hug because I think it’s incredibly cute that you did that?”

  Landon stilled. “Yes … but I want you to grope me a bit when you do it, because then I’ll feel like your personal property and my humiliation will be complete.”

  “Done.” I threw my arms around his neck, holding him close for a minute before letting my hands drop to his rear end and giving it a good squeeze.

  Landon jolted when I did it, chuckling as he shook his head. “That was meant as a joke, but it was so enjoyable that I’m not sorry you did it.”

  “Just wait until I put on the Wonder Woman panties,” I teased. “Then I’ll have super powers when I do it, Mr. Winchester.”

  Landon snagged me around the waist before I could scamper away. “You already have super powers, Bay. You’re magic. You always have been.”

  I studied his serious face. “You’re magic, too, Mr. Winchester. In fact, we should probably pick up some lotion so your magic fingers can rub me while we’re waiting to explore tonight.”

  Landon grinned. “I love the way your mind works.”

  “Right back at you.”

  “We should get snacks, too,” Landon said, grabbing my hand as we moved through the store. “Do they make bacon-flavored potato chips? I’m feeling an urge.”

  He wasn’t the only one.

  Thirteen

  Wanda Patterson was pleasant as she checked us in to the Bayside Bed and Breakfast. She had dark hair – like Rhonda – but her features were round and soft. She seemed to be in a good mood when we walked through the front door with our newly purchased belongings.

  I zipped my new hoodie up as far as it would go to cover my neck, and because Landon agreed I could make up the story for our visit, I did most of the talking.

  “We just wanted a night or two away,” I explained, handing over my credit card. “Hemlock Cove is madness at this time of year.”

  “Oh, I love Hemlock Cove,” Wanda enthused, taking the credit card and beaming. “This is actually our slow season until the spring. We’re always completely booked from April through September, but then we slow down. You pretty much have the run of the place.”

  “We’re just looking for a romantic night to ourselves,” I said. “We’ll probably spend most of the time in our room. Isn’t that right, pooky?”

  It took Landon a moment to realize I was talking to him. He lifted his eyebrow a fraction of an inch before responding. “Yes, honey pot, we’re really looking forward to spending time in our room.”

  I ignored his poor pet name selection. “We won’t be any bother,” I promised Wanda, signing the sheet she pushed in my direction. “We never cause any trouble.”


  “YOU LAID it on a bit thick, don’t you think?”

  Landon double-checked the hallway before closing and locking the door. He gave the room a dubious look – it had an ocean theme with seashells decorating almost every horizontal surface – and he launched himself onto the bed next to me as I struggled to remove my boots.

  “I’ll have you know that I’m a very good actress,” I sniffed, grunting as I freed my foot. “That woman believes we’re young, in love and interested in spending an entire night messing around. That’s what we wanted, right?”

  “If you had to fake the fact that you love me, we have bigger problems than your ability to spin a believable yarn.”

  I yanked off my second boot and threw it on the floor before rolling to rest my head on Landon’s chest. “I wasn’t faking that part.”

  “Oh, really?” Landon smirked as he inched lower on the mattress. “I thought maybe you were trying to make me suffer, honey pot.”

  “That’s a stupid nickname, by the way.”

  “No more than so than pooky.” Landon made a face. “Out of curiosity, what made you go with that one?”

  “You’re my pooky. It seemed natural.”

  “You’ve never called me that.”

  “I guess I haven’t,” I conceded.

  “You don’t really have a nickname for me.”

  I pursed my lips, considering. “Do you want a nickname?”

  “Not if you choose pooky.” Landon was diffident as he picked up one of the gossip rags I tossed on the bed while shifting through my small suitcase. “If you want to call me ‘King Landon,’ well, that’s another story.”

  “Oh, your majesty, that sounds like a divine idea,” I teased, giggling when Landon abandoned the magazine and tickled my ribs, rolling so I was on my back and he leaned over me.

  He sobered once he caught sight of my neck. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’d feel better if you’d stop hovering.” I considered rolling off the bed, but putting distance between us wasn’t high on my to-do list. “What do you think of Wanda?”

  “I think she doesn’t know that her daughter is dead yet,” Landon replied. “I have no idea why, but I’m not keen on being the one to tell her.”

  “Is that because you spent the better part of the last month lying to Becky while working against her in an undercover capacity?”

  “It’s because … well … she seems like a nice woman,” Landon hedged. “Rhonda, too. They’re normal people, at least on the surface. I think that Becky’s death is going to hurt them very badly.”

  “Do you think they know what she was doing in her free time? Of course, technically I don’t even know what she was doing in her free time.”

  “We haven’t really talked about that in depth, have we?” Landon ran his index finger down my cheek. “How much do you want to know?”

  “How much did your boss say you could tell me?”

  “That doesn’t matter. I’ll tell you anything you need to hear.”

  “Oh, well, in that case … I think you should tell me that you’re my love slave and no other woman will ever fill the Bay-sized hole I’ve carved into your heart.”

  Landon’s smile was slow and seductive. “That’s true.”

  “I like the way you’re sucking up, but it’s starting to make me uncomfortable.”

  “I’m not sucking up. I do have a Bay-sized spot in my heart. It’s not a hole, though. You’re in it … all of the time.”

  “Oh, you’re so cute.” I tapped the end of his nose. “Give me the basics on Becky.”

  “Okay.” Landon rolled his neck, returning to business. “I thought she was Doug’s girlfriend when I first started hanging around the group. Undercover work isn’t nearly as entertaining as you probably imagine. You can’t force yourself on people who make their living by doing illegal things. They’re naturally paranoid and suspicious.

  “So I got a tricked-out motorcycle and an apartment in Doug’s building,” he continued. “It was a hellhole and I’m fairly certain everyone inside was a criminal. I think that was by design.

  “I spent the first day ‘moving in’ to my new apartment. I carried boxes up and down the stairs until I wanted to crawl into bed and die. I made sure Doug saw my motorcycle – the requisitions department seized it a few months ago. It was a nice bike. Otherwise I acted as if I didn’t want to talk to anyone.”

  “That was by design, right?” I asked, feathering my fingers through his silky hair. “You wanted them to think you had something to hide.”

  “Exactly. I spent the night in my apartment, made sure I was seen outside having what looked to be a tense conversation on my phone the following morning, and then conveniently ran into Doug when I was leaving the building,” Landon said. “He wasn’t overly friendly, but I could tell he was intrigued. Becky interrupted us right away. Even though they weren’t affectionate with one another, I got a vibe off them. I thought they were sleeping together.”

  “Obviously not, huh?”

  “No, but I didn’t find that out until later,” Landon replied, rolling to his back. “The next few days involved a lot of pretending to be on the phone and taking off at frequent intervals. I wanted them to think I was constantly on the move and cutting deals.”

  “And this was for meth?”

  Landon nodded. “Even though Hemlock Cove seems immune because it’s a tourist trap, it’s an epidemic up here these days,” he answered. “It’s harder to cook meth in cities because people can smell it. Up here they can find houses that are literally falling apart and that have no neighbors. They get the houses for cheap and no one bothers them while they’re cooking.”

  “How big was the operation?”

  “Big enough that I grew nervous when I saw how many people Doug had working for him,” Landon replied. “I wasn’t really worried for myself. I knew that Steve would send in a team right away if something happened. I was more worried about you.”

  “Me?”

  Landon nodded. “My biggest fear when Steve told me how close I would be to Hemlock Cove was running into you. Sure, I wanted it really badly because I missed you so much, but there was something about Doug that made me feel cold all over.

  “I really felt it that day at the corn maze,” he continued. “I couldn’t stop thinking about you because we’d met at a corn maze and it was almost exactly a year ago.”

  “Was it like when people see Jesus in their toast?” I asked, hoping to lighten the mood. “Did you see my face in the corn?”

  Landon smirked. “I felt you. At first I thought it was the corn, but now I think I really felt you when you arrived. I think that’s what Doug sensed. He saw me look at you and I couldn’t hide my surprise. I tipped him off … and put you in danger in the process.”

  “Landon … .”

  Landon held up his hands and shook off whatever I was about to say. “Becky sensed it, too. She’d been trying to flirt with me for days, maybe even weeks. I don’t think she really wanted me as much as she wanted me to want her, if that makes sense.”

  I nodded. “I know what you’re saying.”

  “All I was supposed to do was find the route,” Landon explained. “I needed to know where they cooked the stuff and how they transported it. We were sure they used boats because of proximity to the bay – perhaps they even used this place, for all we know – but all I had to find was the house and the route.”

  “Did you?”

  “The day after I saw you Doug all of a sudden invited me to the cook house,” Landon replied. “I should’ve been suspicious, but I was so relieved because it meant I would soon be going home to you now that I knew the location. I didn’t pay close enough attention to what was really happening.”

  “And what was really happening?”

  “I’ve been giving it a lot of thought since last night, but I think Doug knew I was undercover and wanted me to take down the people he was working with,” Landon supplied. “We took out his crew, but he wasn’t
there for the bust. He and Becky escaped with a load of money. All of the money I saw at the house when I was there disappeared when Doug did.”

  That was interesting. “But … what about Becky? Why go to Hemlock Cove if you did what he wanted?”

  “Because I betrayed him all the same and he wanted me to know he wasn’t going to forget it,” Landon said. “He recognized in that moment when I couldn’t mask my emotions upon seeing you that I had a weak spot. He wanted to make sure I understood that he could get to you when he wanted.”

  “Do you think he wanted Becky to escape the initial run?”

  “I don’t think he ever had any intention of taking Becky with him, but I don’t know if he saved her to teach me a lesson after the fact or it was merely a coincidence.”

  “Okay, well … I know you’re bothered by this, but you seem to forget that we have an ace in the hole.”

  Landon shifted his eyes to me, amused. “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”

  I answered without hesitation. “Aunt Tillie.”

  Landon arched an eyebrow. “How is she our ace in the hole? That’s an expression I’ve never understood, by the way.”

  “Aunt Tillie can find Doug if we need her to. She casts a solid locator spell. We can always find him and then call in his location to the police. You don’t need to worry about that. He’s not going to get away.”

  Landon appeared intrigued by the suggestion. “I hadn’t considered that.”

  “We’ll find him. I promise.”

  “We will.” Landon grabbed my hand and gave it a good squeeze. “The problem is that we don’t know that he’s the one who killed Becky. Can you think back to that night and be sure that he’s the one who hurt you?”

  In my heart, I wanted to answer immediately. It was too dark, though. I had trouble remembering the attack. “I don’t know. All I really remember is trying to scream for you. It was too late. I couldn’t make any noise, and you were already gone.”

  “Sweetie … .”

  I shook my head and blinked back tears. “I kept thinking that I was going to die and you wouldn’t know that I forgave you. I wasn’t really angry. I mean … I was. I was hurt more than anything, though.