Four-Leaf Clover: A Wicked Witches of the Midwest Short Read online

  “She was unbelievably vague,” Thistle replied. “I mean … she knew I had a boyfriend but didn’t go into specifics because she could risk being wrong. She was vague on Bay’s stuff, too.”

  “But in some ways she wasn’t vague,” I pressed.

  “I think you’re seeing something you don’t want to see,” Bay offered. “What’s the deal with the coin? What’s on it?”

  “It looks like one of those old costume coins,” I replied, staring at the item in my hand. “It’s metal, but I think it’s iron rather than gold or silver.”

  “Since she’s looking for work, I’m guessing you’re right,” Thistle said, turning her attention back to her lunch.

  “Still, the symbol is interesting,” I added.

  “What is it?”

  “A four-leaf clover.”

  “Well, she did wish you luck,” Bay mused. “Now, sit down and eat your lunch. I believe you had a favor you wanted to ask me, and I haven’t decided how I’m going to answer yet.”

  “I only wanted you to help me clean the store so I don’t have to do it alone,” I said. “Thistle is leaving early to help Marcus at the stable, and I don’t want to do all of the work alone.”

  “Yeah, I don’t want to do that.”

  “I told you,” Thistle said, giggling. “You should’ve figured out a different way to phrase it or something. If you’re going to manipulate her you need to do it when she’s distracted and not bored because she’s pining for her boyfriend.”

  “You take that back!” Bay slapped Thistle’s arm. “I’m not pining for anyone.”

  “You’ve been sleeping in his shirt,” Thistle said dryly. “I saw you in it this morning. You’re pining like a crazy woman.”

  “You’re dead to me,” Bay said.

  I tuned out the rest of their conversation – it was just more of the same, after all – and focused on the coin. There was something familiar about it, although I was sure I’d never seen one like it before in my life. It looked harmless, yet I couldn’t put my finger on why it bothered me. There was something odd about Madam Rosa, too. Now I just had to figure out what.

  Two

  “There was a robbery at the bank!”

  Bay had been gone only thirty minutes before she lunged back through the front door and nearly knocked me off the stepladder I was on to dust the shelves.

  “What do you mean?” Thistle asked, confused. She wiped her hands on a towel as she wandered out of the storage room where she’d been bagging herbs. “The bank was robbed?”

  “Well, technically someone attempted to rob it,” Bay clarified. “Some dude wearing a hoodie went in and handed the teller a note, said he had a gun, and demanded money. It happened, like, twenty minutes ago.”

  Thistle’s eyebrow winged up. “Did he get any money?”

  “No. Shana Stevenson was behind the counter. She smacked him in the face with that candy jar she keeps there, and then he took off.”

  Thistle snorted. “That will teach him. Still, that’s kind of creepy. Did he ever show a gun?”

  “No, and I’m going to guess that means he didn’t really have one.” Bay rubbed her hands together to ward off the chill. “Still, it’s weird, right? Who comes to Hemlock Cove to rob the bank?”

  “An idiot.” Thistle shook her head and turned back to the storage room.

  I focused on Bay a moment, conflicted. “Do you think this person will try to rob other businesses?” I had no idea why my mind went there, but I couldn’t help myself. Bay and Thistle call me a “kvetch” because they think I’m whiny. I think “practical,” and occasionally “brilliant,” are much better terms.

  “I don’t know, but I wouldn’t worry about it,” Bay said, her blue eyes clouding briefly, as if reading my mind. “You and Thistle don’t keep a lot of cash on hand. I doubt this guy really had a gun.”

  “What if he does have a gun, though?”

  Bay shrugged. “It’s hardly the first time you’ve had a gun held on you. Aunt Tillie had her shotgun out so she could clean it just last week and she pointed it at us when we wouldn’t stop making those jokes about taking her hunting and leaving her on a farm to live out the rest of her days.”

  “I told you that was a mean joke,” I said. “She didn’t like it. She was sad and covering.”

  “She wasn’t sad,” Bay scoffed. “She was plotting her revenge. Why do you think your socks smelled like sauerkraut Thursday?”

  Something clicked in my head. “I thought it was just me!”

  “It was all of us,” Bay shouted, shaking her head. “She’s a mean woman.”

  “She’s still our aunt.”

  “That doesn’t mean she’s not mean.” Bay reached for the door handle. “I have to go back and close down the newspaper office, and then I’m heading home. I’m afraid if I wait too much longer I’ll need an ark to get there.”

  “Good luck.” I offered a half-hearted wave. “I’m going to finish up here and head home myself. Now that I know there’s a robber out there, I’m kind of … agitated.”

  Bay’s smile was mischievous. “That’s because you’re a kvetch.”

  “I am not!”

  “Oh, you totally are,” Thistle called from the storage room. “Thankfully for us, we’re used to it.”

  TWO HOURS later I let myself into the Dandridge, the restored lighthouse where I lived with my fiancé Sam Cornell, and let out a sigh as I kicked off my damp shoes. It had been a strange afternoon – there was no getting around that – and the only thing I wanted to do was curl up in front of the fire with a cup of tea.

  Sam met me in the living room, a curious look on his face as he looked me up and down. “You don’t look happy. Let me guess, did Thistle do something to annoy you?”

  Sam’s smile was cute and flirty, but I was hardly in the mood to encourage that kind of interaction – at least until I was in warm pajamas with no hint of a chill invading my bones. “Thistle always does something to annoy me,” I replied, reaching for the button on my jeans and glancing around. The walk from the parking lot to the Dandridge had been a long one and my clothing was so wet it dripped. I didn’t want to create a mess – which I would have to clean up – and sent Sam a pleading look. “I don’t suppose you could run upstairs and get me warm pajamas?”

  Sam took pity on me, running his hand over my damp hair and pressing a quick kiss to my forehead. “Absolutely. I’m sorry you had such a miserable day.”

  “The day itself wasn’t bad,” I clarified. “It was simply … different.”

  Sam arched an eyebrow, but otherwise remained silent. By the time he returned with dry pajamas I was already stripped down. Five minutes later he had me tucked under a blanket in front of the fire and was running a comb through my snarled hair.

  “I hope you don’t catch a cold from being out in the rain so long,” Sam offered, his eyes serious as they looked me over. “Now isn’t the time for you to get sick. It’s going to be a busy week around here, especially with so much work to do on the tanker.”

  “I thought all of that was taken care of.” Sam bought a tanker ship to use as a haunted attraction several months before. We’d been working overtime to get it ready to open for the holiday season. It wasn’t finished, but we planned to open the top deck this year and then work steadily throughout the spring and summer to get the area below deck ready for next Halloween. “What more do we have to do?”

  “Just small things,” Sam replied, slinging an arm over my shoulder and tugging me closer so I could share his warmth. “We can’t put the actual decorations out until the day we open because of the weather. Can you imagine if we left all of that stuff out there today? We’d have to start from scratch.”

  “It is bad,” I agreed, tracing my fingers over the palm of his hand as I got comfortable. “I didn’t realize it was supposed to be this rough out.”

  “It’s supposed to get worse before it gets better. I’m worried we could lose power tonight.”

  I wasn’t th
rilled about the possibility. I love living in the Dandridge – it’s beautiful, quaint and homey, after all – but the isolation frays my nerves at times. “What happens if we lose power?”

  Sam smirked. “Well, I was thinking we could spend the day in bed. I mean … it might be dangerous to maneuver those stairs without any ambient light.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You suggest we spend the day in bed when it’s sunny and humid out.”

  “You could get dehydrated if you’re not careful.”

  I barked out a laugh, amused. “You’re cute. I can’t take the day off from work, though. We have that big tourist group coming in. I’m sure they’ll visit the store. I’m more worried about not being able to shower and clean up more than anything else.”

  “I guess if that’s a real concern then we could run out to the guesthouse,” Sam suggested, referring to the small house I previously shared with Thistle and Bay. It was located on the Winchester family property, only a few minutes’ walk from The Overlook, the inn my mother and aunts operate. “I’m sure they would let you shower there.”

  “The guesthouse isn’t on the generator,” I pointed out. “We’d have to go to the inn to shower. I’m sure my mother wouldn’t care, though.”

  Even though he tried to hide it, I didn’t miss the way Sam cringed.

  “What?” I prodded.

  “It’s just … I would rather smell like a dirty armpit than risk Aunt Tillie sneaking up on me when I’m in the shower.”

  The visual was so absurd I could do nothing but chuckle. “Why would she want to see you in the shower?”

  “Why does she do anything?”

  That was a good point. Still … . “If she was going to sneak up on anyone it would be Landon.”

  Sam shifted, knitting his eyebrows. “Are you saying Landon is hotter than me?”

  “Of course not. I’m saying Landon has a shorter fuse and Aunt Tillie absolutely loves messing with him. She turns it into a game.”

  “Ah, well, that makes sense.” Sam relaxed, if only marginally. “As long as you don’t think Landon is hotter than me, I’m fine.”

  “You’re definitely hotter than Landon.”

  “Thank you.”

  “That long hair and smoldering intensity most women find attractive is barely a blip on my radar.”

  Sam’s smile slipped. “For some reason, that doesn’t make me feel better. It makes me feel worse.”

  “Oh, let it go.” I blew out a sigh. These rare moments of sitting together, alone, with nothing to do but talk were always some of my favorites. We’d been extremely busy for weeks. It was nice to have a moment of quiet. “Tell me about your day.”

  “I worked on the tanker most of the day and did a little yard cleanup before the rain started,” Sam replied, rubbing the back of my neck. “It was a pretty boring day for me. What about you?”

  “Mostly we just cleaned and straightened the store. Thistle put together a bunch of baskets with herbs to use as free samplers. We figured it couldn’t hurt and might draw people in to buy more items.”

  “That sounds like a good idea.”

  “We also had a weird lady come into the shop. Her name was Madam Rosa and she declared herself the best psychic this side of the Mason-Dixon Line.”

  Sam snorted, amused. “That’s a bold statement to make in the presence of the wacky Winchester witches.”

  “She was nice and had some interesting insights,” I said. “She was weird, though. She gave me a coin. I pulled it from my pajama pants pocket – I’d removed it from my jeans while waiting for Sam to bring pajamas – and held it out so he could take it. “She said something about luck, and then we suggested she see if she could get a tent for this weekend’s festival.”

  “That sounds like a good idea,” Sam said, his expression thoughtful as he stared at the coin. “If she’s as good at reading people as you say, she’ll probably clean up with the crowd coming in this week.”

  “You think she’s a fake?”

  Sam shrugged, noncommittal. “I didn’t meet her. I’m not sure I can answer that. I guess I would say that most of the people who claim to be psychic are frauds, but that’s just my gut answer.”

  “You’re cynical, just like Bay and Thistle.”

  “I don’t mind the comparison to Bay, but likening me to Thistle is so insulting,” Sam teased, poking my side. “This coin is neat. It looks old.”

  “Yeah, I’m sure it’s iron instead of silver or gold, but I kind of like it.”

  “It has a four-leaf clover on it.” Sam smiled.

  “It’s for luck.”

  “You’ve certainly been my four-leaf clover,” Sam said, kissing my cheek. “You’ve been lucky for me … and then some.”

  “Oh, that’s kind of sweet.”

  “That’s the way I roll.” Sam handed the coin back to me and watched as I pocketed it. “It’s kind of weird that woman was out in the storm today, huh?”

  “Yeah, we definitely weren’t expecting customers. We thought it would be a set-up day. Only a crazy person would go out in today’s weather if they didn’t have to.” Something niggled at the back of my brain and I realized I hadn’t told Sam the biggest tidbit I had to share. “Oh, and someone tried to rob the bank!”

  Sam’s eyebrows nearly flew off his forehead as he shifted his attention to me. “Are you serious?”

  “That’s what Bay said,” I replied. “She stopped by for lunch and then left after. She came back about thirty minutes later and said someone tried to rob the bank, He wore a hoodie, but didn’t show a gun.”

  “Did he say he had a gun?”

  I nodded. “Shana Stevenson smacked him with that candy dish she has behind her little wall and he took off.”

  “Did they call the police?”

  Now it was my turn to shrug. “I have no idea. I assume so.”

  “Well, I hope we don’t have a desperate guy with a gun running around,” Sam mused. “If he can’t get money from the bank, he might try to rob stores. I don’t want you to come into contact with this guy.”

  I widened my eyes, surprised. “That’s what I said! Bay and Thistle pooh-poohed me.”

  “Bay and Thistle are mean when they want to be,” Sam said, smiling as he slipped his arm around my waist and tugged me closer. “I get you. I understand the way your mind works. Mine works the same way.”

  My chest warmed at his earnest expression. There was something so delightful about the way he made me feel – as if I was the only woman in the world – I couldn’t help but love him even more. “I guess we’re the perfect match, huh?”

  Sam tapped the stone on my engagement ring. “Forever, right?”

  “And ever … and ever … and ever.” I dissolved into giggles as Sam tickled me, enjoying the fact that I was home, warm and safe. I couldn’t ask for much more.

  I DIDN’T realize I’d dozed off until I felt Sam’s shoulder jerk beneath my head. It took me a few minutes to get my bearings, and when I did, an unmistakable banging sound assailed my ears. It was loud, yet it sounded as if it came from far away, which was confusing.

  “What is that?”

  “I’m not sure,” Sam said, sliding out from beneath me and moving toward the window that faced the lake. It was dark outside, and when I joined him I couldn’t see anything at first. Then, when lightning split the sky, I saw it. The tanker was rocking against the dock construction site.

  “Son of a … !”

  I shifted my eyes to Sam, concerned. “What should we do?”

  “I have to check on it,” Sam replied. “I’m not sure there’s anything we can do, but … if the ropes have come undone … I need to reattach them. It’s probably a lost cause, but … .”

  I made up my mind on the spot. “I’ll come with you.”

  “There’s no sense in that,” Sam argued. “If I can’t do it alone, you won’t be much help. I would rather know you’re safe here. I won’t be gone long.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, but it was to
o late. Sam smacked a firm kiss against my lips before striding out the door. I watched the empty space for a moment, my mind blank. Then I realized he didn’t take a coat and my courage caught up to my hammering heart.

  I scampered outside in the darkness, taking a moment to stare at the lake. I didn’t see Sam until lightning flashed again. He was moving, and he was moving fast. Instead of thinking through my actions, I broke into a run and followed him.

  “Sam!”

  Between the waves crashing against the tanker and dock and the thunder rumbling, he didn’t even glance over his shoulder. I knew he hadn’t heard me, yet I continued my pursuit.

  “Sam!”

  Still nothing.

  I increased my pace, my short legs pumping as fast as I could make them move. I hadn’t bothered putting on shoes – which was a mistake – and my socks were soaked mere seconds after stepping outside. By the time I hit the dock area I’d lost sight of Sam. I tried calling for him again, but he didn’t materialize.

  For one moment – illuminated by a vicious flash of lightning – I wondered if I’d already lost him. Maybe he fell into the lake. Maybe he was drowning and I had no idea where to look. Maybe he was crushed between the tanker and the dock.

  A hint of movement caught my attention out of the corner of my eye and I bolted in that direction. Instead of finding Sam, though, I found one of the ropes meant to secure the tanker fluttering in the wind. I grabbed it without thinking. I had every intention of tying it to the dock stanchion and moving on. The tanker reared at that moment, though, and I was caught off guard. I didn’t let go, and was yanked forward.

  I hit the water before I had a chance to register what was happening. I managed to surface, gasping for breath, but it was so dark I had trouble orienting myself.

  “Sam!”

  I was desperate, and because I’m pessimistic at times, I couldn’t help but wonder if he’d even realize I followed him until it was too late. I clawed at the edge of the dock with each wave that hoisted me, but the wood was so slippery I couldn’t gain a grip to pull myself up.

  I wearily kicked my legs even as the water rocked over my head time and again. I coughed, trying to evict the frigid water from my lungs. I didn’t have enough time before another wave crashed over me, though.