Landon Calling: A Wicked Witches of the Midwest Short Read online

  Three

  My favorite part of the day is waking up with Bay. It may sound schmaltzy, but there it is. I love the quiet of the guesthouse. I love the way she makes cooing noises right before she wakes up. I also love how warm and cuddly she is when burrowed beneath the covers and pressed close to my side. In those few moments before I have to pour coffee into her to get her going, the day has endless possibilities.

  “Good morning.” Bay snuggled closer, resting her head on my shoulder. “How long have you been up?”

  “Not long.” I stroked the back of her head. “How did you sleep?”

  “Hard.”

  I smiled. “You always sleep hard unless something is bugging you. I guess that means you’re no longer annoyed with Thistle.”

  “Just for the record, I’m always annoyed with Thistle.” Bay ran her finger down my cheek, scratching my morning scruff. “I am looking forward to seeing how Aunt Tillie deals with the influx of law enforcement, though. It’s bound to be entertaining.”

  “I’m kind of looking forward to that, too,” I admitted. “She doesn’t have any pot plants in the greenhouse, does she?”

  Aunt Tillie’s pot proclivities were well known in certain circles. The last thing I needed was some overzealous rookie wandering into the greenhouse and deciding to bust her.

  “I checked. There’s nothing in there. She can’t grow anything this time of year anyway. She has her wine supplies out there and looks to be cranking up to make another batch, but I figure people would have to be desperate to bust her for that.”

  “I guess we’re lucky that Noah isn’t staying here,” I teased, referring to a junior agent from my office. He’d visited Hemlock Cove a few months ago and suspected Aunt Tillie in a series of murders. He’d left in a huff, and I hoped he’d never return. Recent events conspired to make sure that wasn’t a possibility.

  “Speaking of Noah, do you know where he’s staying?”

  “At your father’s inn.”

  Bay frowned. Her relationship with her father wasn’t always easy, but they were slowly edging toward reconciliation. After leaving Hemlock Cove when she was a child, Jack returned with Clove and Thistle’s fathers and opened a competing inn. So far, everyone appeared to at least pretend to get along. Er, well, everyone except for Aunt Tillie. She was still ticked off. She idled at irritated, though, so it was no big loss.

  “It will be fine,” I said, snuggling Bay into the crook of my arm. “There’s nothing hinky going on out there. It’s safer to keep Noah there. Your father knows to keep an eye on him.”

  “I still can’t help but worry a little bit.” Bay jutted out her lower lip and fixed her sea-blue eyes on me. “Aunt Tillie is a pain, but I don’t want her in jail. Worrying about going to jail is another story. She’s going to be hilarious.”

  “I can already picture it.” I kissed Bay’s upturned mouth and gave her a long hug. “We should probably get ready and head up to the inn. Everyone will be arriving for the first demonstration soon. I’m dying to see how Twila plays her part.”

  Bay barked out a laugh. “She’ll be the only dead body to win an Oscar … ever.”

  “That’s what I’m counting on.” I playfully smacked her rear and then rolled out of bed. “Just think, in a few weeks this place will be ours. We’ll be able to decorate and set it up however we want. You’re excited, right?” It was a pointed question, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking it.

  “I am excited,” Bay confirmed. “Are you?”

  “Yes.”

  “You know it’s going to be a long couple of weeks sharing a roof with Marcus and Thistle, right?”

  I nodded. “I like Marcus. He won’t be an issue.”

  “And Thistle?”

  “We can always send Aunt Tillie after her when we need a break.”

  Bay giggled as she followed me. “I like the way your mind works.”

  “Right back at you.”

  THE INN bustled with activity when we arrived. I took the opportunity to introduce Bay to several of my co-workers, keeping my hand at the small of her back as I showed her off. Most of the other agents were friendly, but I dreaded introducing her to Chris Wilson, and held off as long as possible. Ultimately I had no choice.

  “And this must be the famous Bay.” Chris is one of those guys who believe he’s heavy on charm when he’s really heavy on smarm. He has perfectly coifed blond hair and insists on wearing a suit even in a casual environment. He fancies himself the best agent in the office, even though my case record – and weekly workload – is double his. Yeah, he really irks me.

  “I am,” Bay said, nodding as I rested my hand on her hip. “And you are?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry.” I remembered my manners, but just barely. “This is Chris Wilson. We work together out of the Traverse City office.”

  “I’m sure Landon talks about me all of the time,” Chris said.

  “Not really.” Bay was either oblivious to the chill between us or opted to pretend she didn’t notice. I leaned toward the latter, because she’s insightful and almost always notices when there’s an underlying current of tension. “Should he have mentioned you?”

  “You’re funny.” Chris forced out a laugh, but I could tell her answer irritated him. “You don’t have to pretend that you’ve never heard of me. Landon and I are in competition all of the time at the office. I’m sure he’s mentioned me.”

  “I don’t see the need to bring office politics home,” I offered. “There’s no need to discuss you once I leave the office, because I rarely think about you when I’m away from that environment.” Bay’s conflicted eyes danced between Chris and me. She heard the edge in my voice, so I adjusted my tone. “When I’m here, I want to focus on her.”

  “And for obvious reasons.” Chris’ smile was wide as it landed on Bay. “She’s quite pretty, isn’t she?”

  “She’s also right here and can hear you when you talk about her,” Bay interjected. “I’m not deaf … or an idiot.”

  “Of course you’re not.” Chris attempted a soothing voice, but his eyes were icy when they locked with mine. “I didn’t mean any offense.”

  “That’s exactly what you meant,” Bay muttered, shaking her head before turning to me. “I’m going to check on breakfast. If that’s okay, I mean.”

  “You don’t have to clear your schedule with me,” I said. “Be careful of Twila. She’s behind the couch pretending to be dead. I saw her there a few minutes ago. I don’t want you to accidentally trip and hurt yourself.”

  The warning was enough to make Bay smile, which was exactly the reaction I wanted.

  “Thanks for the tip.”

  I watched Bay go, making sure she was out of earshot before letting my smile slip and focusing on Chris. “Don’t say anything to upset her. I won’t be happy if you do.”

  “There’s no reason to get worked up, Landon.” The way Chris said my name made me want to punch him in the face. “I’m not after your woman. You don’t have to worry.”

  “Oh, I’m not worried,” I offered. “Bay wouldn’t look at you twice.”

  “Then why warn me away?”

  “That wasn’t for her benefit. That was for your benefit.”

  “What? Is she going to bite me? I might like that.”

  He was trying to get under my skin … and it was working. “Have I introduced you to the rest of Bay’s family? Here’s Thistle. You’ll really like her.”

  I grabbed Thistle’s shoulders as she moved to pass through the crowd – she still looked half asleep because it was early – and shoved her in Chris’ direction.

  “What the … ?” Thistle scorched me with a look. “Do you want me to kick you?”

  Chris snorted out a laugh. “I like her already.”

  “This is Chris Wilson,” I said. “We work together.”

  Thistle was clearly unimpressed. “Lucky you.”

  “Oh, I really like her,” Chris said as if Thistle wasn’t there. “The blue hair is a nice touch, a
lthough … the color kind of washes you out. Have you considered an orange or a red?”

  Thistle narrowed her eyes to dangerous slits. “Really?”

  I’d already won and I knew it, but I opted to push her over the edge. “He wants Bay to bite him … and not in a sarcastic way. He thinks she’ll like it.”

  “No, what I said was that I would like it,” Chris corrected. “You don’t listen very well for an FBI agent.”

  Thistle was off faster than a beagle on the scent of fresh bunny. “Do you think that’s funny?”

  Chris was taken aback by Thistle’s tone. “I didn’t mean any offense.”

  “Oh, I don’t mean any offense either,” Thistle shot back. “Have I introduced you to my Aunt Tillie? She’s going to love you.”

  Chris offered Thistle a saucy wink. “All women love me.”

  Thistle turned to me with an incredulous look on her face. “Doesn’t the FBI mentally screen you guys before setting you loose with guns?”

  I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. “I guess he slipped through the cracks.”

  “Ha, ha. You’re a funny twosome,” Chris muttered, annoyed. “Do you have something going on with both of them? The blonde and the blue-haired chick, I mean. You seem pretty comfortable with both, after all.”

  I almost snapped and punched him. “Don’t ever say anything like that again.”

  Thistle stopped me with a hand on my arm. “He’s only trying to irritate you.”

  “It’s working,” I gritted out.

  “That’s why he keeps doing it,” Thistle said. “By the way, I wasn’t lying about introducing you to Aunt Tillie. I think this is going to be the perfect meeting of minds.”

  Chris rubbed his cheek and smiled, showing his teeth in an ingratiating way. “I look forward to it.”

  “Great. Here she is now.” Thistle caught Aunt Tillie’s arm as the matriarch tried to sneak through the crowd.

  Aunt Tillie’s eyes flashed when she realized she’d ceased moving forward and was instead being dragged in the opposite direction. “You’re on my list,” she sputtered, anger flaring.

  “This dude is about to bump me down a spot,” Thistle said. “This is Chris Wilson. He works in Landon’s office and he’s a tool. Get him.”

  And with that, Thistle grabbed my arm and yanked me away from Aunt Tillie and Chris, who eyed each other as if they were a pair of heavyweights at the weigh-in before a ten-round bout.

  “What are you doing?” I asked, confused.

  “That guy is a jerk, and Aunt Tillie needs a jerk to focus on,” Thistle replied, not missing a beat. “This will work out best for everyone concerned. Er, well, except for that Chris guy, of course. But no one cares about him. Trust me.”

  I momentarily felt bad, but the feeling didn’t last long. I figured Aunt Tillie would be the one left standing. And the likelihood of her actually murdering Chris in front of so many witnesses was slim.

  I found Bay sitting alone at the table and took the empty seat next to her, grabbing her hand and giving it a squeeze. “Are you okay?”

  “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”

  “Aren’t you the one who told me that answering a question with a question was a deflection technique?”

  “Didn’t you just answer my question with a question?”

  I grinned as I leaned over and smacked a kiss against her cheek, lowering my voice. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.” Bay’s smile seemed legitimate, which made me feel a tad better. “You don’t have to worry about me. I know how to deal with jerks.”

  “You do. I believe when we first met that I was undercover as a jerk.”

  “And just a few weeks ago you were a jerk again,” Bay pointed out, causing me to frown as her eyes lit up. “It’s okay. He didn’t upset me.”

  “Then why did you leave?”

  “Because I see no reason to put up with people like that,” Bay replied. “I grew up with people like that, people who think they’re better than others or somehow golden. I don’t want to waste my time when there are so many other things I could be doing.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, for starters, we have fresh doughnuts.” Bay grabbed the plate at the center of the table and slid it in my direction. Someone had gone all out and made fresh cake doughnuts, one of my favorite morning offerings at The Overlook.

  I grabbed a chocolate-covered one and immediately bit into it, moaning at its warmth. “Oh, these are fresh!”

  “Cop food,” Bay teased.

  “Funny girl.” I flicked the spot between her eyebrows. “Just don’t pay any attention to Chris. He’s going to go out of his way to talk to you because he knows it will irritate me. I told him you wouldn’t be remotely interested in him because you already hit the FBI jackpot with me. He’ll take that as a challenge instead of a reason to shut down his attitude.”

  “You don’t have to worry. I’m fairly happy with the FBI agent I have.”

  “Fairly?”

  “I would be happier with half your doughnut.”

  That was a tough call. I loved her, but … c’mon, the doughnut was still warm. “Why can’t you grab your own?”

  “Because I want to save room for breakfast,” Bay replied. “They’re making bacon, eggs, hash browns, corned beef hash, biscuits, sausage gravy … .”

  I groaned again and broke the doughnut in half. “You had me at bacon.”

  “I saw that coming.” Bay pressed a quick kiss to my lips and then smiled when she heard a familiar voice make a disgusted sound behind us. She swiveled in her chair and beamed at Chief Terry. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning.” Chief Terry affectionately patted her shoulder before taking the seat next to me. “You two seem to be in a lovey-dovey mood despite being surrounded by cops.”

  “We’re always in a lovey-dovey mood,” Bay supplied. “Are you attending some of the workshops?”

  “A few, if I can spare the time,” Chief Terry replied. “I have all of my officers attending the events so we’re covering everything. I’m actually here because I have a real case and wanted to see if Landon might go for a ride along with me. That way I won’t have to pull anyone from a workshop.”

  “I can do that,” I said, my interest piqued. “What’s going on? You’re not going to make me search the greenhouse, are you?”

  Chief Terry chuckled, shaking his head. “No, but speaking of that … .”

  “It’s handled,” Bay interjected. “Don’t worry about it.”

  “I can’t help but worry when it comes to this family. I’ll take your word for it,” Chief Terry said. “I have a missing person report I want to check out. Procedure doesn’t allow me to do it alone because I have to make an unauthorized entry into the house.”

  “Who’s missing?” Bay asked, licking her fingers to get the remainder of the frosting off.

  “Donna Emery.”

  Bay pursed her lips. “The woman who owns the yarn store?”

  “You have a yarn store?” I learn something new about Hemlock Cove every day. “Who buys yarn?”

  “Knitters.”

  “That was a dumb question,” I muttered. “Who reported her missing?”

  “Her sister,” Chief Terry answered. “She lives two towns over. Hasn’t heard from Donna in three days. The store is closed. I figure it can’t hurt to look.”

  “I’ll go with you,” I said. “The first demonstration is on the fingerprint scanner. I already know how to use it.”

  “I’ll go, too,” Bay offered. “If she’s dead and something remained behind … .”

  Chief Terry nodded curtly. He clearly didn’t want her mentioning ghosts in front of a roomful of police and FBI agents. “That’s fine.”

  “Can it wait until after breakfast?” I asked. “They’ve gone all out – and there’s bacon.”

  Chief Terry snorted. “That’s fine. It’s probably nothing, but I want to be sure.”

  “Cool.” I squeezed Bay’s hand and lapse
d into silence as I watched the enthusiastic officers and agents chat.

  Chief Terry was the first to speak again. “Why is Twila pretending to be dead on the floor?”

  “She’s our victim,” I answered. “We’re going to demonstrate the equipment on her.”

  “Okay, but … why is she dead now?”

  Bay giggled. “I can’t believe you even asked that question.”

  “Forget I did,” Chief Terry said, turning back to the table. “I need some coffee and … hey, doughnuts!”

  “Cop food,” Bay repeated the lame joke as Chief Terry guffawed.

  “You’re still my favorite, kid,” Chief Terry said. “Now hand me a doughnut so you stay that way.”

  Four

  “Why didn’t you tell me about Chris Wilson?”

  The doors were barely shut on Chief Terry’s department vehicle when Bay asked the question. From the passenger seat, I glanced over my shoulder and focused on her pretty face. She didn’t seem upset, but she was good at putting on a brave face when necessary.

  “What should I have told you?” I asked after a beat. “It’s not exactly if we’re friends.”

  “I know, but you tell me about the other people you work with,” Bay pointed out as she fastened her seatbelt. “I complain all of the time how I hate working with Brian Kelly – thankfully that’s essentially over by the end of the year – and you listen. You never once said, ‘Hey, I work with a total tool, too. I get it.’ I’m just kind of curious why.”

  “I … .” I wasn’t sure how to answer. Thankfully Chief Terry swooped in and gave me a moment to think.

  “Who is Chris Wilson?” he asked.

  “He’s a jerk who wants me to bite him,” Bay answered, pressing her fingers to the heating vent in the back as the engine roared to life.

  Chief Terry furrowed his brow as he glanced over his shoulder. “Are you cold? Where are your gloves?”

  I couldn’t help but smile at the concern in his voice. Even though he hadn’t been my biggest fan when I decided to pursue Bay, I’d always had a great fondness for the man. He doted on Bay to distraction at times, and he was equally good with Clove and Thistle. He seemed to understand their particular needs at any given time and reacted accordingly. He was a good man, and even though she didn’t know it, Bay needed a little doting today.