Life's a Witch (31 page)

I turned quietly, my shoulders stiff, and found … . No way!

“What are you doing here?”

Chloe’s eyes darted in eight different directions before landing on me. Her hair was a mess, as if she’d been dragging her hands through it for lack of anything better to do. Her eyes were wide, pupils dilated. She was stoned, although she looked a little more than that. She appeared to be verging on the edge of mania.

“I was out here … looking around,” I replied, choosing my words carefully. “I was upset after talking with you and I wanted to clear my head.” I risked a glance at Nathaniel out of the corner of my eye. He glowered at his sister. This wasn’t good. How could I have missed this?

“You were upset after talking with me?” Chloe arched her eyebrows suspiciously. “Why doesn’t that seem likely?”

Probably because she was stoned and paranoid. Marijuana doesn’t generally make people violent, so I had a feeling there was some sort of upper involved here, too. Crap, crap … double crap. Why did I come out here without telling anyone? I’m such an idiot sometimes.

“Are you looking for someone else to drown?” Chloe’s eyes flashed in the same instant Nathaniel’s aura mimicked the change. They were tied together in rage.

“I think I’m going to leave you here to … talk to your brother in private,” I said, taking a wide berth as I stepped around Chloe. “You guys probably have a few things to discuss.” I hoped I could get to my car and call Landon before locking myself away from the Jamison siblings. If Nathaniel was going to explode on his sister again – which looked likely – he had the capacity to kill her. Whether Chloe killed her brother was irrelevant right now. I wasn’t going to let the girl die if I could help it.

“Talk to my brother?” Chloe was more belligerent than confused. “My brother is dead! How can I talk to him?”

“Tell her you can see me and I’m here,” Nathaniel suggested. “I want to see her face when she finds out her secret isn’t safe … that stupid, little … .”

I ignored the rest of his outburst. “Many people go to the locations where their loved ones died so they can feel close to them,” I said. “You came out here to talk to your brother, right? There’s no other reason for you to be here.” Unless you’re a true psychopath and you’re reliving the crime because you get off on it, I silently added.

Chloe shook her head. “I came here to relive his death.”

Oh, well … crappity, crap, crap, crap. If I didn’t have bad luck I would have no luck at all today. “What do you mean?”

“She means she stabbed me to death and left me to rot,” Nathaniel hissed. “Ask her about it. I want to hear what she says. I want to know why.”

“Shut up,” I hissed, causing Chloe to jerk her head in my direction.

“Who are you talking to?”

“I’m talking to you,” I replied without missing a beat.

“Were you telling me to shut up?” Chloe challenged.

“Of course not. I … .” I scanned her hands. She didn’t look armed. That didn’t mean she wasn’t dangerous. Given Nathaniel’s rage, I knew he was dangerous. This whole situation was starting to get ugly. “Chloe, I think that maybe you and I should head back to town. You look a little … hyped up.”

“Hyped up?” Chloe snorted. “Haven’t you heard? I’m an addict. My mother is going to send me to a lockdown facility. Do you know what that means?”

“It means she’s going to have to go cold turkey,” Nathaniel sneered. “She deserves it. She’s a … whore!”

His vehemence took me by surprise. Sure, it was looking more and more likely that Chloe killed her brother, but his outright hatred for his own flesh and blood was surprising.

“It means you probably have some tough days ahead of you,” I answered, flexing my fingers. “Once you dry out, though, you’ll feel like a new person.” I hoped that new person wasn’t still homicidal. What? Sometimes I’m an optimist.

“I don’t want to dry out,” Chloe seethed. “I don’t want the edge off. If the edge is off, then I’ll have to remember … .”

Oh, here it comes.

Nathaniel leaned forward, intent on his sister. “Admit what you did to me, you bitch! Tell her how you murdered me and then tossed me in the creek like I was garbage.” He was screaming. I had to get control of this situation.

“Why did you kill Nathaniel, Chloe?” I decided to put all of my cards on the table – while keeping a safe distance from Chloe’s human hands and Nathaniel’s ethereal ones. They both could do damage.

Chloe’s face turned from miserable to shocked. She opened her mouth, working it, although no sound came out. Finally, she collected herself enough to address me. “How did you know?”

“I … .” What was I supposed to tell her? “Nathaniel told me … and you kind of just told me now, too.” There was no sense in lying. If she melted down, it would give me a chance to put distance between us. If she didn’t believe me, it might be a good thing, because people fear the insane. If she did believe me, though, I might actually be able to get somewhere.

“Nathaniel told you? How?”

“What have you heard about my family, Chloe?” I asked. “The first day I ran into you on the street in front of your house, you mentioned that we were witches. You said you didn’t believe it, that you thought it was all an act to fit in with Hemlock Cove’s rebranding. What if I told you that all of it is true?”

“I would say you were crazy!”

“That would be your right,” I said. “I’m not crazy, though, and I have been talking with your brother.”

Chloe considered the statement, taking time to scan the area around me. “Is he here now?”

Well, that was interesting. Would she believe me after all? “He is.”

“And he told you I killed him?”

“He did,” I said. “Although, to be fair, he refused to tell me for days, and only now told me when you approached. I had no idea who I would find behind me.”

“What did he say?” Chloe asked, her voice low.

“He said that … he understands and he forgives you,” I lied, taking a chance.

“Don’t tell her that,” Nathaniel screamed, lashing out with his rage and shoving me. The force wasn’t hard enough to topple me, but it did cause me to wobble before regaining my footing. “Tell her the truth!”

“Was that Nathaniel?” Chloe asked, her eyes widening to almost comical proportions. “Did he … do something to you?”

“He has some issues,” I gritted out, rubbing my arm in the spot where Nathaniel made contact. The skin was cold. That was interesting. His rage was hot, but his ghostly anchors kept him cool to the touch. I had no idea what that meant. I was in uncharted territory here, and I didn’t like the feeling.

“Is he the one who threw me in the water?” Chloe asked, realization dawning. “He is, isn’t he?”

“He’s angry about you killing him, Chloe,” I said, deciding not to risk Nathaniel’s wrath again. “He feels as if he’s been cheated out of a great life. He mentioned dying as a nobody when he should’ve been somebody.”

“Of course he feels that way,” Chloe spat, her expression unreadable as her eyes darted from one spot to another. She was desperate for a glimpse of Nathaniel. I realized she wanted to believe I was telling the truth, yet she was still doubtful. I had to prove myself to her. “He always thought he was destined for big things … even though he never wanted to work. He thought big things would just somehow magically happen to him.”

“You take that back,” Nathaniel raged.

“Nathaniel, you need to calm down before you do something that you’ll regret,” I warned, fixating on the enraged young man.

“How will I regret anything?” Nathaniel scoffed. “I’m dead.”

“You still haven’t moved on,” I reminded him. “I told you there was a better place out there for you to go to. There’s also a worse place. If you do something horrible now, you’ll go there.”

“Send him to the bad place,” Chloe ordered, narrowing her eyes. “He has it coming.”

These two were quite the pair. Chloe was a killer who showed no remorse, and Nathaniel was a murder victim with absolutely no redeeming qualities. I had no idea how to approach either of them. “I’m not in control of sending him anywhere,” I said. “He has to choose to let go.”

“Why won’t he let go?”

I shrugged helplessly. “Most murder victims who remain behind do so until their killer is caught,” I offered. “Some have other reasons … like seeing their family one last time or ensuring the safety of someone they love. Nathaniel doesn’t like you, but he seems more upset that I ruined Hollow Creek’s booming pot business.”

“That’s so typical,” Chloe said. “All he’s ever cared about is money and himself. He didn’t care who he hurt in the process. He’s a … jackass.”

That was putting it mildly. “Let’s start from the beginning, Chloe,” I said, keeping my voice soothing and calm. “Tell me what happened the night Nathaniel died.”

“Why? I’m going to jail no matter what.” Chloe was back to being morose. That’s another thing I hate about teenagers. They think the universe revolves around them. “What can it possibly matter at this point?”

“I need to know if I’m going to help you,” I replied honestly.

“Help her? She killed me!”

“Shut up, Nathaniel,” I ordered. “You’re not helping matters. I’ve offered you what I can at every turn and you’ve been nothing but a spoiled brat. I’m focusing on your sister now. Be quiet.”

Nathaniel was taken aback. Thankfully he clamped his mouth shut and let me focus on his sister.

I turned back to Chloe. “Did you come out to Hollow Creek to party that night?”

“I wasn’t supposed to,” Chloe admitted, resigned. “Nathaniel told me to stay away from here after … what happened. He said I was being a bitch and he didn’t like me around. He didn’t care about what happened, though. He only cared about himself.”

Huh. What happened? I filed that away to pursue later and let her talk at her own pace.

“I was so … angry with him,” Chloe said, her eyes taking on a far-off quality. “He didn’t see it. Either he was too stupid to see it, or he was too self-involved to see it. The more he ignored the situation, though, the more I wanted to make him pay.

“I didn’t come out here to kill him that night,” she continued. “I don’t want you to think I did, because it’s not true.”

“Okay.”

“When I got to the party, Stephen and Dakota were being jerks,” Chloe explained. “I wasn’t surprised, because they’re always jerks. They think they’re kings, even though Hemlock Cove is too small to have kings.”

Nathaniel snickered. “She’s not wrong about Stephen and Dakota,” he said. “Those guys are idiots.”

“What happened next?” I pressed.

“Stephen started making comments about me being a slut and wanting to take me into the woods,” Chloe replied. “He … touched my hair and face. I told him to knock it off, but he wouldn’t listen. After what happened that first time … I couldn’t stand it. I kicked him in the nuts and ran.”

A chill washed over me. I was starting to get an inkling of what happened to Chloe, and it wasn’t something I wanted to entertain. I didn’t think I would get a choice in the matter, though. Chloe needed to unload. I was her only option.

“I was crying and I got turned around,” Chloe said. “I knew where the pot field was because I followed Nathaniel once when he was in charge. I wanted to see where he was getting his money. When I saw him … it finally all made sense.”

“Did Nathaniel know you were aware of the pot field?”

Chloe nodded. “He yelled and screamed at me for hours,” she said. “I tried to apologize. I told him I wouldn’t tell anyone. I thought that he would be nicer to me once I knew his secret. I was wrong.”

“I was trying to protect you, you idiot,” Nathaniel muttered.

“Did you find Nathaniel in the field that night?” I asked.

“He was stealing,” Chloe said. “He had a knife and he was hacking parts of the plants down and sticking them in a bag. I surprised him when I showed up, but he couldn’t risk screaming at me in case someone at the party heard him.”

“How did you get out to the field without anyone noticing?” I asked Nathaniel.

“I hiked in from the road,” Nathaniel replied dully. “I parked out there and made the long walk. I knew there was no way Stephen and Dakota would allow me out there. I needed money.”

“What about the money you stole from them?” I pressed. “Why did you bury it in the cave?”

“I was going to use it to start my own business,” Nathaniel replied. “I knew they kept a can buried out here. I knew where it was, and I moved it. I needed product first. I was going to pay them back when I got on my feet.”

I was pretty sure that was a lie. Whether he was lying to himself or me, though, I couldn’t be sure. “So Chloe found you in the field and you were stealing,” I said, rolling my neck until it cracked. “I’m assuming there was some sort of scuffle. Did she kill you with your own knife?”

“She went crazy,” Nathaniel said, his voice gaining strength. “She started slapping and hitting me. I tried to stop her, but before I even realized what was happening she grabbed the knife and … it was over.”

“Why did you stab him, Chloe?” I asked. “More importantly, why did you stab him so many times? That indicates rage.”

“It was his fault,” Chloe said, her voice cracking. “Everything was his fault. He left me alone with … him. He ruined my life.”

“What is she talking about?” I asked Nathaniel, shooting him a sidelong look. “Who did you leave her with?”

“How should I know?” Nathaniel asked, nonplussed. “She’s crazy. She’s the murderer.”

“And you’re a thief who obviously did something to your sister,” I shot back. “Who did you leave her with?”

“I think that would be me.”

I froze when I heard the new voice, dumbfounded. Apparently it was Crazy Criminal Day at Hollow Creek, and things were about to get a whole lot worse.

Thirty-Two

Andrew Brooks stood about ten feet away from us, his mailman uniform – shorts included – wrinkled from the hike to the creek. His face didn’t reflect the kind man I thought I knew.

I guess it shouldn’t have surprised me. Stephen worried about what “they” would do. I knew at least one adult was involved. Discovering that adult was Hemlock Cove’s lone mailman, though, was surreal.