To Love a Witch Page 5

“I rarely have to talk you back from a ledge of your own making. Usually, if you fly off the handle, it’s because Thistle or Aunt Tillie pushed you in a certain direction.”

  “I’ve made myself crazy a time or two, too.”

  “Oh, I know.” He grinned as he kissed the tip of my nose. He seemed to be in a sloppy romantic mood this morning, which made for a fun bout of reminiscing.

  “Can I ask you something?” I prodded after a beat.

  He nodded as he ran his hands up and down my back. “Always ... unless it’s something really serious. I don’t want to worry about anything real until I’ve had my coffee.”

  I hesitated. Did I really want to ruin our morning? He was adamant he didn’t want to talk about anything serious. That probably meant I should take a step back and let him be happy rather than press him.

  He sighed when I didn’t immediately respond. “You’re going to ask me something serious, aren’t you?”

  I shook my head, making up my mind on the spot. “No. I was just going to ask if you thought I was the prettiest witch you’d ever crossed paths with.”

  He studied my face, his fingers moving to my cheek as he lightly touched my skin. “That’s not what you were going to ask.”

  “It is. I was fishing for a compliment. That’s what I like to do in the morning.”

  His lips curved but he didn’t break into a full smile. “You are the prettiest anything I’ve ever met,” he offered. “I knew the moment I saw you at the cornfield that I wanted to spend time with you.”

  “Naked time?”

  His grin spread. “Pretty much. It was more than that, though. There was always something about you. I don’t know how to explain it. I felt this ... pull.” He took my hand and pressed it to the spot above his heart. “I love you, Bay. I don’t know if I realized that you would become the center of my world the day we met, but I’m not sorry for a single turn we’ve made, because it brought us here.”

  That was enough to cause me to warm all over. “You bugged me,” I admitted, causing him to bark out a laugh. “The way you watched me made me uncomfortable.”

  “I wanted you to be uncomfortable. I was trying to scare you away from a dangerous situation. Little did I know you were going to do whatever you wanted no matter what I’d said. Self-preservation isn’t always your primary motivation.”

  And now we were getting to the nitty-gritty. “I need you to promise me something,” I prodded.

  “I’ll love you forever,” he said automatically.

  “Not that. I’ve come to the realization that we’re tragically co-dependent and attached to one another for life. For the record, I’ll love you forever, too. That’s not what I want you to promise me.”

  “Okay. Lay it on me.”

  I sucked in a steadying breath. “I want you to promise you won’t try to approach Dani on your own. If you feel she needs to be moved, then no matter what, you have to get me to help you.”

  The way he furrowed his brow told me that wasn’t the response he suspected. “That’s what you’re worried about?”

  His incredulous expression made me wonder if I’d made a grave misstep. “I just want to make sure you’re safe.”

  “You think she’ll kill me,” he surmised, shaking his head. “Bay, I don’t want you spending any more time with her. You’ve given it your best shot, but it’s a wasted effort.”

  “I can’t just abandon her,” I protested. “If I walk away ... then what?”

  “Then she goes to prison like she’s supposed to. The only reason we didn’t arrest her is because you insisted. After what happened with Diane, I didn’t want to push you. I gave in and I’ve regretted it ever since.”

  I didn’t doubt that for an instant. “She’s dangerous to you,” I insisted. “She could hurt you.”

  “She could hurt you, too.”

  “She could.” I would never deny that. “That’s why I go out there with backup. There’s still a chance for her.” I believed that to my very core. I had to. “If there comes a time when we all agree that she can’t be helped ... .” I trailed off.

  “Aunt Tillie already thinks she’s beyond help,” he pointed out, causing my eyes to flash. “Oh, don’t look at me that way. Of course I’ve talked to her about this.” He struggled to a sitting position, the duvet cover falling around his waist. “You’re the most important person in the world to me, Bay. I won’t risk you for anything. Dani is a concern.”

  “And that’s why you and my mother had your heads bent together last night?”

  He cocked his head, surprise briefly flitting through his eyes. “Your mother and I were having a discussion about a few different things. I didn’t realize that was against the rules.”

  “It’s not. But you two don’t usually talk like that. I know you were talking about Dani.”

  “We were talking about you,” Landon countered. “We both love you. We’re allowed to worry about you. Dani is a threat.” He pulled me tighter against him and I noted a bit of desperation lurking underneath the tough veneer he always put forward. “Don’t let her hurt you.”

  My instinct was to make him feel better. “I won’t. I need you to steer clear of her, though. She might hurt you, because ... well ... just because.”

  “Let us take her,” Landon implored. “Let us lock her up. It’s the only way people will truly be safe.”

  I shook my head. “You won’t be able to contain her. Prison won’t work for her.”

  “So, what do you suggest?”

  If our intervention failed, there was only one thing we could do to contain her, and I didn’t want to think about it. “We have to keep trying.” I swallowed hard. “That’s our only option. I know you don’t want to think about it, but it’s true. This is our only shot.”

  He stared hard into my eyes for a long beat and then sighed. “You have the biggest heart of anyone I know, Bay. Don’t let this girl use it to her advantage. She’s not a good person. She’ll try to twist things so she has the upper hand. Whatever you do, don’t turn your back on her.”

  I nodded.

  “Promise me,” he insisted. “Don’t put yourself in a vulnerable position. I need you too much.”

  “I won’t,” I reassured him quickly. “I’m much more careful than you give me credit for.”

  He rolled his eyes. “You run headlong into danger and don’t ever look over your shoulder,” he argued, taking me by surprise when he grabbed me around the waist and rolled on top of me. “I think, to be on the safe side, I should handcuff you to the bed and keep you here forever. That way I know you’ll always be safe.”

  “I’ll starve.”

  “I’ll feed you ... bacon macaroni and cheese. You’ll learn to love it.”

  I laughed at his grin. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”

  His eyes gleamed. “How about I give you a preview?”

  WE WERE LATE BY the time we arrived at the inn. Breakfast was on the table, and the look Mom shot us was straight from a bad horror movie.

  “You’re late,” she said primly.

  “We’re sorry.” Landon slid into his usual seat and immediately reached for the coffee carafe. “Our alarm didn’t go off.”

  “Oh, please.” Aunt Tillie rolled her eyes as she spooned fresh blueberries on her waffles. “You’re both glowing like supernovas. Everybody knows the filthy things you were doing this morning. Let me a guess, did you play a rousing game of ‘Officer, I have a different way to get out of this ticket’ or did you come up with a new game?”

  Chief Terry, who had taken to spending almost every night at the inn now that he and my mother had finally given in and started dating, made a face. “Don’t say things like that,” he hissed. “You know it makes me uncomfortable.”

  Aunt Tillie was blasé. “You need to get over it. She’s a grown woman. She plays grown woman games.”

  “Not in my head. There, she’s still eight and has pigtails. Oh, and carrying around a stuffed dog and trying to force me into tea parties
with her, Clove, and Thistle.”

  “Hey, those tea parties were never my idea,” I argued. “That was Clove’s thing. She always wanted to wait on people and make them happy. I wanted to play Monopoly.”

  Landon arched an eyebrow. “I didn’t know you were a Monopoly fan.”

  “I like winning.”

  He smirked. “I think that’s a family trait.” His eyes were serious as he turned his attention to Chief Terry. “Anything on our floater?”

  Chief Terry couldn’t seem to stop glaring.

  “What’s your problem?” Landon demanded, attitude on full display. “Did you have a bad night or something? Let me guess, Winnie is as bossy in bed as she is in the kitchen. Maybe you should watch an instructional video or something.”

  I was horrified by the suggestion, and then I saw the way his lips quivered. He was desperately trying to keep a straight face.

  “Oh, you’re trying to turn the table on them,” I noted, catching on quickly. “It’s better that they be embarrassed than us.”

  “Very good, sweetie.” He grinned at me. “You probably shouldn’t have said that out loud, though. Now they’re on to our dastardly plan.”

  “I’m going to beat you to within an inch of your life later,” Chief Terry warned, turning back to his breakfast. He looked furious. “Ugh. Now I’ve lost my appetite. I blame you, Landon.”

  “I’m sorry to hear your stomach is on the fritz.” Landon reached for the center platter, where the bacon was piled. “I’ll do my best to eat enough for the both of us.”

  I smirked as he piled at least eight slices of bacon on his plate. “Did you work up an appetite?” I teased.

  “You know it.” He winked at me and sipped his coffee before turning back to Chief Terry. “Do you have anything on our dead man? I figure that’s what we’re going to spend our morning on.”

  “You figured right,” Chief Terry said finally, turning to formal business. “It’s not a dead man, though. It’s a woman.”

  I was shocked. “Really?”

  Chief Terry nodded, grim. “The body was so bloated it threw us all.”

  “Do we know who?” Mom asked. “Was she a local?”

  Chief Terry nodded, causing my stomach to plummet. “Who?”

  “Anybody know Valerie Lennox?”

  My breath clogged in my throat. “The real estate agent?”

  Chief Terry nodded. “One and the same.”

  “She helped with some of the paperwork when Bay was buying The Whistler,” Landon replied. “Another guy in the office was handling the main transaction but she helped with some of the peripheral stuff.”

  “She seemed nice,” I offered as I tried to make sense of what had happened to the gregarious real estate agent. “She worked out of Eric Savage’s office. I’m not certain how long she was with his outfit.”

  “At least a few years,” Mom volunteered. “Before you moved back, Bay, we were considering getting an appraisal on the guesthouse. Eric helped us. We ultimately went another way, because we didn’t like what he suggested.”

  “Which was what?” Landon asked, tapping the side of my plate to get my attention. “Eat your breakfast, sweetie. You’re going to need fuel to get through the day if you’re going to help us.”

  I was caught off guard. “Seriously? You want me to help you?”

  “Of course I want you to help me. We’re a team, right? Besides, you saw the ghost. That probably means she’s still over there. But we should hit the real estate office first.”

  “I think that’s wise,” Chief Terry confirmed. “Once we got confirmation it was Valerie, several people mentioned working with her. I placed a call requesting an appointment with Eric’s secretary. Linda at the medical examiner’s office — you know the secretary who works at the front desk, right? — she said there was a rumor Valerie was involved with Eric. Whether that’s true, I don’t know. That body was in the water for several days, though, and we don’t have a missing person report filed.”

  “The real estate office should definitely be first,” Landon agreed. “Do we have a cause of death?”

  “That’s where it gets worse.” Chief Terry’s expression twisted. “There was water in her lungs and bruising around her neck.”

  “What does that mean?” my aunt Marnie asked, horrified.

  “It means she was held in the water and strangled,” Aunt Tillie replied blandly. “This is definitely a murder. You need me if you expect to solve it.”

  Landon gave her a dirty look. “We’ve got it under control, thanks.” He shook his head. “Eat your breakfast, Bay. It’s going to be a long day and I want you with me for at least part of it.”

  I nodded and focused on my heaping plate of waffles. Something bothered me about this whole thing and I couldn’t move past it. “What do you think she was doing out there?”

  “I have no idea, but we’re going to find out,” Landon promised. “That’s the first order of business. We’ll talk to the boyfriend. He might point us in a direction.”

  Five

  Eric Savage welcomed us into the office with a bright and inquisitive smile. Landon and Chief Terry had warned me to pretend I was merely an interested property owner and nothing more, as if I wasn’t used to lying about my witchy abilities. That was one thing they never had to worry about.

  “It’s nice to see you again.” He beamed at me as I sat in the chair behind Landon. I thought it was best to allow them the prime spots. “I’m so glad you’re in charge of the newspaper now. I have a few ads I want to run. This is our busy season.”

  “We’ll be happy to run them,” I encouraged, keeping my smile neutral. “I never turn down advertising.”

  Eric sat at his desk and fixed Chief Terry and Landon with a look of curiosity. “I take it this isn’t a friendly visit.”

  “It’s not,” Chief Terry agreed. “We have some bad news about one of your employees.”

  “One of my employees?” Eric’s eyebrows hopped. “Was there an accident this morning?” His gaze immediately went to me. He didn’t ask about my presence, but I could tell he was wondering.

  “Not this morning,” Chief Terry replied. “I don’t know any easy way to tell you this, but Valerie Lennox is dead.”

  Eric moved to stand and then collapsed back into his chair, his face going white. “I don’t ... understand.” Oddly enough, he looked to me for answers. “How is this possible?”

  “We’re not sure.” Chief Terry sat straight in his chair. He’d delivered bad news so many times he was used to it. There’s no easy way to tell people they’d lost someone but there are a million bad ways. He’d once told me that the key was to keep to the facts, and that’s what he did now. “Ms. Winchester is here because she was out at her property on the lake yesterday when she found a body in the water.”

  “His property,” Eric automatically corrected, gesturing toward Landon. “He bought it.”

  “It’s our property,” Landon supplied. “We’re going to build a house out there. Bay’s name will be on the deed just as soon as we file. I’ve already made sure the property goes straight to her in the event of my death. That’s her property as much as it is mine.”

  That was news to me. “What? I don’t understand.”

  He slid his eyes to me. “Because the registrar’s office moves slow as molasses up here, I wanted to make sure you were taken care of. My parents are well aware that property is yours, but I wanted it spelled out legally.

  “My pension and life insurance are going to you, too,” he continued. “I don’t foresee problems with my parents — they love you — but I’m not taking any chances with your future.”

  I was absolutely gobsmacked. “But ... .”

  “Shh.” He pressed his finger to his lips. “We’ll talk about this later. We need to focus on Valerie now.”

  He was right, but my mind was churning. This was the last thing I expected.

  “As we were saying, Ms. Winchester was out there looking around with her
great-aunt when she thought she saw something in the water,” Chief Terry explained. “Upon investigating, they found a body, at which point they contacted us.”

  “And she was in the water?” Eric rubbed his cheek, not focusing on anyone in particular. I was no drama critic, but if he was faking his reaction, he was very good.

  “She was.” Chief Terry nodded. “We identified her through dental records early this morning.”

  “Wait ... .” Eric leaned forward in his chair. “Why couldn’t you identify her right away? You’ve all met her. There should be no reason you wouldn’t know who she was unless ... .” He trailed off, leaving the dark thought hanging.

  “She’d been in the water quite some time,” Landon explained. “We weren’t even sure if we were dealing with a man or woman at first.”

  “She’d just cut her hair,” Eric offered absently, his hand automatically going up to his own hair. “This is unbelievable. I don’t understand how this happened. Was she swimming?”

  “That’s unlikely, but not impossible,” Chief Terry responded. “You should know that her death has been ruled a homicide.”

  “But ... how can you be sure?”

  “Let’s just say there are indications of a struggle and leave it at that for now.” Chief Terry was all business. “Several people have mentioned that you and Ms. Lennox were involved.”

  “It wasn’t a secret, but we’re no longer involved,” Eric explained. He looked dazed. “Er, we were no longer involved. We broke up about three weeks ago. That’s why she cut her hair. She said she was trying to free herself of things that didn’t bring her joy. It was a jab at me.”

  I pressed my lips together, considering. That sounded like something a woman would do after an emotional breakup. Clove had gotten more bad haircuts than I could count on both hands. Before Sam, she had bleeding tragic taste in men. Heck, when she first hooked up with Sam we were convinced he was another in a long line of disastrous choices. We turned out to be wrong, for which I was grateful. Sam was going to be a wonderful husband — he was infinitely patient — and a terrific father.

  “Why did you break up?” Chief Terry asked in anticipation of jotting notes.