Life's a Witch (21 page)

“I … .” Chloe broke off, confused. “I have no idea. Ask her.”

“Fine. I will.” Landon exchanged a brief look with Chief Terry and then moved in my direction. He grabbed my elbow, leading me far enough away that prying ears couldn’t hear our conversation, and then fixed me with a look. “I should’ve left you hungover in bed this morning.”

“This is not my fault,” I protested. “I didn’t touch her.”

“How did she end up in the water? She says you were the only one here.”

“I … it was Nathaniel.”

Landon stilled. “Are you telling me a ghost threw her in the water?”

“I don’t know,” I replied, fidgeting. “If I tell you that, are you going to have to put it in a report? I’m not sure I want that in a report.”

“Don’t push me, Bay,” Landon warned. “Start talking.”

“I honestly have no idea how it happened,” I said. “I was talking to Nathaniel. He was … being a pain. I heard a noise and Nathaniel disappeared. It was Chloe. I talked to her. She didn’t want to be alone. I followed her around a little bit. Then Nathaniel popped up and he just … tossed her in the water.”

Landon rubbed the back of his neck, conflicted. “How is that possible? I’ve never seen a ghost touch anyone. Well, Floyd touched people … and threw dishes across the room … but no one else. Why can Nathaniel do it?”

“I’m not sure. Floyd was a poltergeist. He wasn’t a regular ghost.”

“You’re not sure?” Landon was getting angrier by the second.

“I don’t know what you want me to tell you,” I snapped. “I’ve never seen a ghost able to do what Nathaniel did. It was as if he was overcome by rage. It’s almost as if he’s a mixture of ghost and poltergeist.”

“Does that mean he could tip and become one of the nasty ones?”

I shrugged, helpless. “I don’t know.”

Landon pressed the heel of his hand against his forehead. “This is a mess, Bay. You have no arguable defense, because if you tell anyone who isn’t sleeping with you this nonsense they’ll lock you in a padded room.”

“I know.”

Landon’s expression softened. “It’s going to be okay,” he said. “She wasn’t hurt. You have no motive. We can always argue she threw herself in the water and then blamed you. She’s grieving. People do odd things when they’re grieving.”

“Are you honestly instructing me to lie when that girl is struggling to hold on as her entire world crashes down around her?”

“I’m telling you not to do a thing without talking to me first,” Landon countered. “I cannot live my life without you. I need you to keep your head together. I … are you smiling? Yes, I said something schmaltzy. Don’t let it go to your head.”

I pressed my lips together to hide my smile. It didn’t work.

“Oh, you’re lucky you’re cute,” Landon muttered, although a small smile tipped the corners of his mouth up. “This isn’t going to be a thing. Don’t worry about it.”

“That’s easy for you to say,” I said. “What happens when she tells her story to everyone in town and they think I’m hanging around at Hollow Creek trying to murder teenage girls?”

“Then I guess the teenage boys are going to think you’re old and dangerous.”

I pinched his side, causing him to squirm. “Stop calling me old.”

“Stop getting in ludicrous situations.”

Chief Terry lifted his chin, sending a silent message for us to return. I longed to put my hand in Landon’s, briefly wishing for a few moments of solace. That was a really horrible idea given his official capacity, though, so I fought the urge.

“Mrs. Jamison has agreed that pressing charges probably isn’t smart given the … realities … of the afternoon,” Chief Terry said.

“And what realities are those?” Landon asked, confused.

That was a good question. “I … .”

“Shut up, Bay,” Landon ordered, refusing to meet my gaze. “Did we miss something?”

“Just one thing,” Chief Terry said. “Do you want to tell them, Chloe, or should I?”

Chloe screwed her face up into a petulant frown. “I am not making this up.”

“Chloe might have found her brother’s pot stash before leaving the house this morning,” Patty supplied, her voice stilted. “I was not aware that she was … high … until Chief Terry pointed out how large her pupils were.”

Huh. I’d missed that telltale sign, too. I should’ve seen that. When you live on the same property with a woman who claims she’s curing glaucoma on a daily basis, you learn to recognize certain things. Of course, when you’re used to it you also start to overlook it.

“It seems Chloe might be a bad witness today,” Chief Terry said. “I think she probably fell into the water and needed someone to blame. Her mother agrees.”

“I’m really sorry, Ms. Winchester,” Patty said. “Chloe has been dealing with her brother’s death, and she’s been acting out a little bit. That doesn’t excuse the way I blamed you. I hope you can accept my apology.”

My stomach twisted with guilt. “I … .” Landon shot me a warning look. “It was an honest mistake. I don’t hold a grudge.”

“Of course not,” Chloe seethed. “You threw me in the water, and now you’re getting away with it.”

“That’s enough, Chloe,” Patty said, jerking her daughter’s arm. “We’ll be going now. Thank you, Chief Terry, for looking past this.”

“I understand she’s going through a rough patch,” Chief Terry said. “Try to … I don’t know … toss all of the drugs in the house.”

“I thought I had. Thank you … and I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Chief Terry said.

Once it was just the three of us, Chief Terry swiveled quickly. “Did you shove that girl in the creek?”

I took a step back, surprised. “No!”

Chief Terry relaxed. “Good. I didn’t think so, but I had to be sure.”

I rolled my eyes. “Was that your way of testing me?”

“If you scare people they’re more likely to tell you the truth,” Chief Terry explained.

“I wouldn’t lie to you!”

“I know, Bay,” Chief Terry said. “What did happen out here?”

I told him the story, expanding on a few points now that Chloe and her mother were gone. When I was done, Chief Terry was more confused than when I started.

“I don’t understand.”

“I’m not sure how to explain it to you because I don’t understand either,” I said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Well, we did get something out of this,” Landon interjected. “We know that Dakota and Charlie were out here that night. Dakota might not crumble under pressure, but that Charlie kid will give up his mother if he thinks it will benefit him.”

“What did you guys find out about the knife?” I asked. “Chloe mentioned that there was a rumor going around town about you finding it.”

“This town’s gossip mill is churning overtime,” Chief Terry muttered. “The knife was in the water. It’s definitely the murder weapon, but there are no prints to lift. We’re trying to run the brand, but odds of us finding the owner seem slim at this point.”

“I’m bothered by Nathaniel’s admission that a lot of people were out here that night,” I said. “If people were out here, why has no one come forward to say they saw Nathaniel that night?”

“What are you suggesting?” Landon asked.

“Maybe they’re all hiding something. Maybe they’re not trying to cover up a murder. Maybe they’re trying to cover up something else. Even if one of these kids is a murderer, keeping the rest quiet would be a monumental task. There has to be a reason no one has come forward.”

Chief Terry’s shoulders stiffened as he shifted. “You think more than one person knew about Nathaniel’s death, don’t you?”

“I think that something else is being hidden out here,” I clarified. “I don’t think most of these kids have it in them to hide a murder. What if they’re hiding something else?”

“Like what?”

I shrugged. “Has anyone taken a good look around here?”

“We had people all over this place when the body was found.”

“Did they go to the other side of the creek?” I asked.

“I … .” Chief Terry rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Now that you mention it, I don’t remember seeing anyone searching that side of the creek. It’s wide and deep enough that you can’t simply wade across. Do you think something is over there?”

I shrugged. “It can’t hurt to look, can it?”

Landon and Chief Terry shared an extended look.

“What do you think?” Chief Terry asked.

“I think I’ve learned not to question her intuition,” Landon replied. “She’s right. This place should’ve been searched more thoroughly. Maybe we should look around ourselves first.”

“Okay. Let’s do it. If anyone throws me in the water, though – ghostly or otherwise – I’m arresting someone.”

Landon snickered. “Duly noted.”

Twenty-One

“Well, I guess you were right,” Chief Terry said three hours later, watching the county crew tear apart one of the biggest pot fields I’d ever seen. “I can’t believe this was right under our noses. I feel like a complete and total idiot.”

“Hey, you’re getting the credit for finding it,” I reminded him. “You look like a genius.”

“Only because we can’t tell people your witchy intuition led us to it,” Chief Terry muttered. “Where is Landon?”

“He’s over talking to the county guy,” I replied, my gaze landing on his broad back as he listened intently to whatever the man was saying. “I didn’t even know they had a response team for pot fields. You learn something new every day.”

“They have an entire drug team for the county now,” Chief Terry explained. “Meth is a huge deal in a few of the other towns. I don’t think they’ve seen a pot field this large in … maybe ever.”

“It was the perfect place to hide it,” I pointed out. “No one comes to Hollow Creek to swim. No one builds houses out here because the land is too dense and the ground too spongy. No one even bothers to go to that side of the creek. For all we know, they’ve been planting and cultivating this field for years.”

“That’s an interesting thought,” Chief Terry mused. “How did you know?”

“I didn’t know,” I countered. “I just had a feeling there was something out here drawing these kids to the area. I had it last night, too. I kind of forgot about it with all the drunken foolishness and nudity.”

Chief Terry scowled. “The kids were getting naked out here? Landon didn’t mention that.”

“The kids weren’t getting naked out here,” I clarified. “Well, maybe they were. We didn’t see that. I didn’t see the true drunken debauchery until I got home.”

“Do I even want to know?”

I shrugged. “Let’s find out,” I said. The story was too good not to share. “Aunt Willa has my mother and aunts in an uproar. They’re tense and they broke last night. They all went to our ceremonial field and got hammered.”

“Where does the nudity come in?”

“Oh, they like to dance naked under the full moon. I thought you knew that.”

“It wasn’t a full moon last night,” Chief Terry said, his cheeks coloring. “I … I know about the dancing. I just don’t like commenting on it.”

“You should check it out one night,” Landon suggested as he joined us. “You’ll never be the same again.”

“You saw them get naked?”

Landon nodded.

“I’m not sure how I feel about that,” Chief Terry admitted.

“It’s not the first time I’ve seen it,” Landon replied, nonplussed. “I make a point to run when I know it’s going to happen. Unfortunately, when we tried to run last night we ran into Willa and Rosemary. They were out for a midnight stroll.”

Chief Terry frowned. “What were they doing wandering around in the middle of the night?”

“See, that’s why you’re a good cop,” Landon said. “I was too drunk to do anything but laugh when Marnie tossed her bra and it bounced off Willa’s head.”

Chief Terry’s mouth dropped open. Marnie is extremely well endowed. “I … .”

“It’s frightening,” Landon supplied.

“You did more than laugh,” I reminded him. “You gave Aunt Willa a saucy salute and wished her a happy new year.”

Landon snorted. “I forgot about that.”

“It sounds like you guys had an eventful evening,” Chief Terry said. “How did everyone feel this morning?”

“Like burnt eggs on toast,” I replied.

“Nice analogy,” Landon said. “It’s pretty spot-on, too.”

Chief Terry shook his head. “Still, you had a hangover and you figured this out. I’m impressed.”

“It was the kids last night that tipped me off,” I admitted. “I didn’t realize it until … well, until you pointed out Chloe was high. That was a nice catch, by the way. I didn’t notice, and I’m used to hanging around the lone member of Hemlock Cove’s glaucoma club.”

“What did they do last night that tipped you off?” Landon asked.

“Remember when Charlie started screaming about cops and how everyone should run for their lives?”

Landon nodded while Chief Terry chuckled.

“I swear that kid will be a comedian one day,” Chief Terry muttered.

“A few of the kids started running into the water,” I said. “At first I thought it was panic. The more I thought about it, though, the more I realized that they would’ve run into the woods if they didn’t know there was a safe way across the creek.”

“That’s pretty smart thinking,” Landon said, winking. “You’re right. I thought the kids were just crocked when they tried to run across the creek. I’ll bet if we spend some time moving along the creek we’ll find a trail that allows people to walk across without going under.”

“Also, I don’t care how sentimental you claim to be,” I added. “There are plenty of wooded areas around Hemlock Cove where those kids could’ve partied last night that weren’t connected to a dead body. There had to be another reason for them to come out here.”

“The pot field,” Chief Terry surmised. “Well, I still feel stupid. We should’ve known something like this was out here.”

“Unless you were specifically looking for it, how would you find it?” Landon challenged. “What we need to do is find out who planted it and how long it’s been here.”

“Bay brought up a good point,” Chief Terry said. “For all we know this isn’t new. It could be an ongoing operation. The winters are brutal, so the field would be seasonal. That doesn’t mean they haven’t been planting it for years, starting a new crop every spring.”

“That is a good point, sweetie,” Landon said, tweaking my nose.