Calder didn’t check on us. Despite having slept more than sixteen hours the night before, I’d fallen asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow and didn’t stir until the pounding on my front door woke me the following morning.
“Yes?” I opened the door in the shorts and tank I’d slept in, my hair a mess and morning breath leaving a horrid taste in my mouth.
“Good morning, sunshine.” Doris beamed, bustling past me and heading for the kitchen. I looked outside. The storm had cleared, the morning dawned with clear skies and a skyrocketing temperature. There was no sign of the Impala.
“What time is it?” I grumbled, closing the door and following Doris into the kitchen. “And where’s your car?”
“I walked.” She shrugged and thumped her bag onto the kitchen counter.
“Walked? Why?”
“No reason.” She wouldn’t meet my eyes, instead busying herself with the coffee pot. Thankfully, the power had been restored while I’d slept. “Can’t a girl get a little exercise without being interrogated?”
“Your car broke down, didn’t it?” I guessed. “What was it? Left the lights on, and now your battery is dead?”
She sniffed. “Maybe.” Straightening her shoulders, she squinted at me. “Why don’t you go freshen up? Heaven knows you look like you’ve been pulled through a bramble bush backward. I’ll take care of the coffee.”
“Fine.” I ran upstairs to splash water on my face and run a brush through my hair. Flynn followed me, sitting on the hand basin, scooping little pawfuls of water from the running faucet and splashing his face. This morning, his fur was yellow.
“What is it with that?” I murmured, pulling my hair into a ponytail and securing it with an elastic band. Flynn shrugged, continuing his morning bath while I went to rummage in my suitcase for something clean to wear. I was going to have to do laundry soon, or buy some new clothes, for the amount of sweating I was doing in Gravestone was beyond ridiculous.
Pulling on a pair of jeans and a black tank, slightly wrinkled, I returned to the bathroom to turn off the faucet, ignored Flynn’s squeak of protest, and headed back downstairs to find Doris sitting at the kitchen table sipping from a steaming cup of coffee.
Sitting opposite her, I strapped my boot on over my jeans and picked up the coffee she’d made me, taking a hefty gulp. Much better. Now I felt semi-alive and reasonably coherent.
“Did you manage to work out what the rune meant?” I asked.
Doris shook her head. “Nothing like it in my grimoire. Although it probably doesn’t matter what it means. We know it’s a death hex. What else is there to know?”
“Origins might be helpful,” I suggested. “Did you know Kerris is a witch?”
“It does make sense,” Doris admitted. “How she become mayor, how she manages to manipulate every situation to her favor.”
“You think she’s been using magic all this time? Like for the vote with the Women’s Committee? River seemed surprised Kerris won.”
“Exactly.”
“That reminds me. I found a file about the boardwalk in Kerris’s office. I took photos. Let me get my phone.” My phone was where I’d left it on the floor in the living room next to the cot. Picking it up, I frowned when I realized I had a message from Calder. Odd that I hadn’t heard it ding. Opening the message, my eyes widened.
“This was found in your uncle’s pocket,” he wrote, and attached was a photograph of a black rock with a gold rune painted on it.
“Oh, my God, Doris, look!” I hobbled back into the kitchen and held out my phone to her so she could see the photo. “Calder just sent me this,” I explained. “It was found in John Smith’s pocket.”
“It’s the same,” we said in unison.
“I’m sure to the police it was just a rock with some squiggles drawn on it. Inconsequential,” Doris said.
“Agreed. I wonder if Calder could get me a copy of John’s autopsy report?”
“Why not ask him? He sent you that.” She jerked her head at the photo on my phone. “So, he’s open to you at least asking.”
I chewed my lip. “Yeah, but we’re also withholding evidence. We have Seth’s bones taped to a tree. How can I get them back to Calder without implicating myself? Or you?”
Doris snapped her fingers. “I’ve got it! We put the bones back where we found them and then call Calder, saying they just turned up. Which is true, they did just turn up, only it was a couple of days ago—he doesn’t need to know that part. He’s already on board that someone is trying to frame you. This backs that up.”
“You know, for a terrible idea, it’s not bad.”
“Right. Fancy a bit of tree climbing?”
I lifted my leg to reveal the walking boot.
“Oh, yeah, forgot about that. Looks like I’m it.”
Flynn led the way with Doris and I following behind. We were closer to revealing Kerris was the witch behind the killings, but it niggled at me that I didn’t find anything definitive at her house. Sure, she had a basket full of markers, but they were a common item, and given her predaliction for crafting, it was hardly surprising. No, what I needed was proof she was a witch.
“What are you thinking about so hard? You look like you need a good dose of prunes,” Doris said, coming to a halt at the base of the cedar elm.
I sighed. “I was thinking about Kerris,” I admitted. “She has to be behind this. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“She’s power hungry that’s for sure,” Doris agreed, spitting on her hands and rubbing them together. “Give me a boost will you?”
Cupping my hands together, I made a cradle for Doris’s foot. She placed her right foot in it, and I boosted her to the first branch of the big old tree.
“Flynn, go with her, will you? She’ll probably need help getting the tape undone.”
Flynn nodded and shot up the tree behind her.
“Do you think Kerris really used magic to get elected?” I asked.
“Possibly.”
“I didn’t find anything in her house though.” Which led me to believe Kerris practiced her magic somewhere else. Which of course made sense. As mayor, she no doubt had people visiting her house all the time. She most likely entertained there too. Which meant she wouldn’t want anyone accidentally stumbling across anything incriminating. No… she’d have her grimoire and anything else she used in her ceremonies sequestered away somewhere else.
“Where would you hide your grimoire and ceremonial items?” I said out loud.
“You know the best hiding spot is in plain sight.” Doris called down to me. I could no longer see her but could track her progress by the rustling of the leaves.
“True. But Kerris would hardly stash those items at work. Does she own any other property in town?”
“Besides being keen to get her hand on John’s place, and old Reggie’s next door, nope.”
I turned and looked toward Reginald York’s house, barely visible through the tree line. An old, abandoned house would certainly fit the bill. And maybe that’s why John was targeted too, because he was convenient and lived in close proximity.
“Got them!” Doris yelled. “Here, Flynn, take these will you.”
Flynn appeared moments later, the plastic bag with the bones dangling from his mouth, a trail of duct tape following behind. Doris shimmied down behind him.
“Right. We need to put them on the doorstep and then call Calder,” I said.
“Kerris has already proven she can waltz straight into the police station and take whatever she wants,” Doris reminded me.
“Although I’d imagine Calder has tightened security since that happened. Let’s stick with the original plan. I can’t keep the bones hidden here forever.”
“Can’t you?”
“Doris! No. I can’t. Seth’s bones need to be reunited so he can be buried in one piece.”
Doris mumbled under her breath, something about Seth being lower than a snake’s belly in a wagon rut and that he deserved to rest in pieces. Shaking my head, I followed Flynn inside. Unwrapping the bones, I placed them outside my front door and then disposed of the plastic bag and tape in the kitchen bin.
“There!” I declared, dusting my hands together. “Now to call Calder.”
“Why not just leave them there for whoever comes to your door next to discover?” Doris suggested. “Distances you a little.”
“That hardly seems fair,” I protested. “What if it’s Ada? She’ll vomit all over them.”
Doris chuckled, no doubt imagining Ada doing just that. “Fair call. Perhaps you should call Calder.”
Pulling out my phone, I dialed, only it went to messages.
“Calder, hi, it’s Holly Day. This is going to sound weird but… Seth’s hand has just turned up on my front doorstep. Don’t worry, I haven’t touched anything, but I figured you’d want to know. Um. Okay. Thanks. Bye.”
I hung up and looked at Doris, who was nodding her head as if to say job well done.
“Now what?” she asked.
“I want to check out Reggie’s house.” I pointed. “It’s been empty for years, so Kerris could be using it for her spells.”
Heading out the back door, the three of us skirted behind the trees separating John and Reggie’s properties and approached from the rear of the house. If I’d thought John’s house had fallen into rack and ruin, it had nothing on Reggie’s. Disrepair didn’t cover it. The house looked… weirdly still standing. Goosebumps rose on my arms, and I shivered.
“I think this is the place,” I whispered, spooked.
“You feel it, huh?” Doris whispered back. Even Flynn’s fur was standing on end.
“Is it magic?”
“It’s certainly a sense of foreboding. Probably a spell to keep people away,” Doris suggested, easing forward through the weeds and approaching the back porch. The wood was buckled in places, missing in others, but there in the dust on the top step was a discernable foot print. Someone had definitely been inside recently.
“Get behind me,” I hissed, shoving Doris behind me. Flynn streaked ahead, finding his way inside the house via the broken window next to the back door. I froze when I heard a latch turn, then the door was slowly swinging open. With my heart hammering in my chest, I bent my knees and raised my hands, prepared to fight, only it was Flynn balanced on the door handle.
“Smart rat,” Doris said, nodding in approval.
I’m not going to lie, it was with a certain level of trepidation that I stepped over the threshold and into Reginald York’s house.
“That’s better,” Doris said from behind me, and I had to agree. Now that we were inside, the sense of doom and foreboding had gone.
“Definitely magic,” I agreed. Reggie’s house was empty, save for dust and cobwebs. The floorboards creaked as Doris and I made our way through the kitchen and into the living room.
“Bingo!” Doris pointed toward two wooden crates pushed against the far wall, a plank of wood placed on top to create a makeshift table. Or altar. We hurried over. There, on the top of the altar, were three black rocks, a gold pen, and a scrap of paper. Picking up the paper, I squinted at it in the dim light peeking through the boarded over windows.
“This looks like a shopping list.” I frowned, puzzled.
“For magical items?” Doris asked.
“No. Eggs, bread, milk. That sort of thing. But…” I held up the shopping list and studied it. “I’ve seen this writing before, I’m sure of it. The way she’s written the ‘a’ with that little curl is quite unique.”
“You know who writes her a’s like that?” Doris piped up.
“Not Kerris.”
“Denise Hurt,” we said in unison, looking at each other in horror. I was so sure our murderous witch had been Kerris Jones that I was trying to shoehorn the evidence to fit. Only Kerris wasn’t our killer.
“Ladies.” Denise’s voice from behind us had us both jumping a solid foot in the air. I spun to find Denise holding Flynn aloft by the scruff of his neck.
“Denise,” Doris began, her voice scalding, “what is all this? What do you think you’re doing? And for goodness sake, put that rat down. You don’t know what you might catch.”
“Nice try, but I know he’s your familiar, Holly. Is your name even Holly?”
I nodded. “Yup. Holly Day.” No way I was going to reveal my true identity to her. Denise Hurt, the sweet looking, mild-mannered senior in her floral dress, apron adorned with kittens, hair set in demure curls—although how she got curls to hold in this humidity must be witchcraft in itself—looked at me with murder in her eyes.
I looked at Doris. “How did we miss this?” I asked.
Doris threw her hands in the air. “Beats me. I was sure it was Kerris!”
“Me too!”
“Stop it!” Denise shouted, stamping a foot. We looked at her, eyes wide.
Yeah, sweet little Denise was a little bit unhinged. I could see it now, the way her eyes darted around the room as if unsure what she should focus on, the blush of color in her cheeks, the beads of sweat on her forehead. Although, granted, it was a thousand degrees in the old house, with zero air flow.
“You get that when dabbling in dark magic,” Doris whispered out of the corner of her mouth.
“Can you read my mind?” I asked, louder than intended.
“No, honey. You’ve really got to teach your facial expressions how to use their inside face.”
“Oh.”
“Quiet!” Denise screeched, pulling back her arm and throwing Flynn at us. Thankfully, my reflexes hadn’t deserted me, and my hand shot out, catching him before he splatted against the wall.
“Okay, okay,” Doris said in a soothing voice. “Calm down. Why don’t you tell us what’s going on here, Denise?”
Denise began pacing, and my eyes tracked her every move, calculating the distance and effort required to take her down. I unconsciously took a step forward, and Denise swung around, arm raised toward me, in her hand… a gun.
“She’s got a gun!” I squawked, shooting Doris a shocked glance, then turned my attention back to Denise. “You’ve got a gun.”
“Well done, Sherlock,” Denise sneered, but I let her sarcasm roll over me for I was still in utter shock she’d produced a weapon. I mean, I shouldn’t have been surprised. This woman was capable of murder, after all, but still… a gun?
“Put the gun down, Denise. You’re not going to shoot anyone,” I said, keeping my cool as if I weren’t staring down the barrel of a SIG 9mm.
“I could shoot you,” Denise retorted, waving the pistol in an alarming manner.
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
Denise huffed but didn’t pull the trigger.
“Why kill John?” I asked, keeping my tone conversational and light. “I mean, I can understand why you killed Seth. Heck, the whole town wanted him gone. But John? Why him?”
“He saw me.”
“When? When you killed Seth?”
“Coming here.” Denise’s arm dropped, the gun pointing toward the floor as she ran her other hand around the back of her neck. I could practically see the cogs turning in her head, trying to figure out what to do with us. I exchanged a look with Doris who was jerking her head toward Denise. I knew what she wanted. She wanted me to take her down. Yet I hesitated. The gun was still in play, and if it went off and Doris or Flynn was hurt, I’d never forgive myself.
“Tell us about the runes,” Doris said, drawing Denise’s attention.
“Clever little things.” Denise smiled. “No one really notices them, wouldn’t think that a little rock like that could carry a death hex.”
“Where did you learn how to do it? That’s dark magic.”
Denise shrugged. “The internet. Where else? You can learn anything on the dark web these days.”
I blinked. Of course she’d learn how to perform a death spell on the internet. This was the sort of thing I’d expect from a teenager, not a woman in her seventies.
“I need to know something,” Doris cut in. “Why plant Seth’s bones at Holly’s house?”
“To frighten her off,” Denise said. “I didn’t need anyone else stumbling across my setup.”
“And your setup is?” I glanced behind me at the makeshift altar which was practically barren. Save for the rocks she used to hex her victims, there wasn’t anything else to indicate what she’d been up to.
“I’m creating a portal. I’m becoming a member of the Shadow Binder Covenant, enabling me to bind myself to the underworld, creating a conduit for a Draughr to cross dimensions.”
My mouth dropped open, and my head swung to look at Doris, who also had her jaw agape.
“Say what now?” Doris asked, aghast. “You’re talking nonsense, Denise. There’s no such thing as Draughrs. They’re a fairytale.”
“What’s a Draughr?” I whispered. I’d never heard of them before.
“A hybrid. The offspring of a witch and a demon. Not real,” she whispered back.
Denise’s hand, the one holding the gun, swung back up. “They are real!” she cried.
“Okay, okay. Calm down,” I interjected, taking a step forward. The gun turned on me.
“Why would you want to bring a Draughr here, Denise?” I wasn’t really interested in her answer—the woman was clearly crazy—but my intent was to keep her talking until I could get close enough to get the gun from her. And it worked. She was ranting about the Shadowfall Amulet and the Codex of the Solstice, whatever the heck they were, while I continued inching closer. From one breath to the next, I lunged, my hands clamping around her wrist and shoving her arm straight up, the gun aimed at the ceiling.
I threw all my body weight into her, catching her offguard, so she staggered back, then her knees gave way, and we tumbled to the floor. I had a brief second of remorse about landing on top of a seventy-year-old woman, but that was quickly dashed to pieces when she punched me in the face. With my cheek throbbing, I struggled to keep hold of her, and before I knew it, Denise had thrown me to the side and was off and running, Doris hot on her heels.
“Get the gun!” I yelled. Flynn shot forward and wrapped his paws around the butt of the pistol, awkwardly dragging it across the floor. Pulling myself to my feet, I ran as fast as my injured foot would allow into the hallway, pausing to listen. Where had the women gone?
A hand clamped down on my shoulder, and without a second thought, I curled my fingers into a fist and slugged my attacker in the face.
“Ow!” Calder cursed.
“Oh. Sorry, Calder,” I puffed, pinpointing footsteps overhead. I headed for the stairs, Calder right behind me.
“That’s the second time you’ve done that.” he said. “You’ve got good form.” I waited for him to add “for a girl,” but the words never came and a quick glance over my shoulder showed the grin on his face and the red mark my fist had left.
Reaching the landing, I spied Doris and Denise rolling around on the floor, wrestling. Calder moved me aside, and reaching down, he hauled Denise to her feet by her collar. Doris jumped up, keen to keep tussling. Stepping in front of her, I placed a hand on Doris’s chest. “Take it easy. We’ve got her.”
Breath heaving, Doris nodded. “Right. Good.”
“You okay?” Doris’s blouse was torn, and she was going to have a beauty of a black eye.
“I’m fine.” She jerked her head toward Denise. “Another minute and I would have had her.”
“I’m sure you would have,” I consoled.
Ignoring me, Doris said to Calder, “She’s the one behind Seth and John’s murders. You’ll find the evidence you need downstairs.”
He gave me an unfathomable look, then a curt nod before marching Denise downstairs. I rounded on Doris. “How are we going to explain the runes? That Seth and John were killed by a hex? We’re going to sound as crazy as Denise!”
“Didn’t you ever work with local law enforcement when you were with SIA?” Doris asked, straightening her clothing. “There’s an agreement of sorts.”
“So, you’re saying Calder does know about us after all? You said he wasn’t paranormal.”
“He isn’t. That doesn’t mean he doesn’t know about us.”
“Are you serious?” A surge of irritation shot through me, and I swivelled on my heel, needing some distance to get my thoughts in order.
“I’ll give you a minute.” Doris patted my shoulder and headed down the stairs while I stalked backward and forward on the landing.
“Uh, Holly?” Calder called.
“I’ll be down in a minute!” I snapped.
“Holly, you really should—” He tried again.
“I said—” Only my words were cut off when the floor beneath me gave way. With a puff of dust and a wheeze that squeezed the last breath of air from my lungs, I landed on my back on the floor below.
Calder leaned over me, grinning. “Hey, how you doing there?”
“Yeah, good,” I croaked.
“I tried to warn you.”
“Shut up.”
He held out his hand, and I accepted it, letting him pull me to my feet, but he didn’t release his hold on my hand, instead stared into my eyes. From this range, I could see the flecks of gold in his hazel eyes and realized his lashes were equally as dark as Casey’s. Why was I suddenly obsessed with eyelashes?
“Is there a single thing I can trust about you?” he asked, voice low but light.
I shook my head. “Not a thing.” Honesty at last.
His lips curled into a grin before growing into a full-blown smile. “That’s what I figured.”
Releasing my hand, he stepped away. It wasn’t until I turned to face Doris and she took one look at my face and burst out laughing that I realized anything was amiss.
“What?” I asked, touching my cheeks and hair. “What is it?”
“You’re covered in dust! You look like a ghost!” Doris chortled. Even Denise had a smirk on her face. I looked down. It was true. I was covered in a layer of pale dust. Slapping at my jeans, clouds of it puffed into the air, making me cough.
“That better not trigger your allergy,” Calder warned.
“It’s fine.” With every bone aching, I limped toward the back door. Behind me, I heard the click of handcuffs and Calder reading Denise her rights, while Doris walked sedately by my side.
“Sorry I laughed.”
“That’s okay.”
“Are you okay? Hurt?”
“I’m fine. I’m used to bruises. How about you?” I pointed to her shiner.
She snorted. “This is nothing.”
Outside, I breathed in the fresh air and waited for Calder to escort Denise out. Together, we walked back to my house.
“How did you know we were there?” I asked, jerking my head toward Reggie’s house.
“Well, your place was unlocked, and the coffee was on, which meant you weren’t far away. When I came around the back, I saw the trampled weeds. You left quite the trail to follow,” Calder explained. “I got your message about the bones,” he added.
“You know, if she hadn’t left them as a way to scare me off, Seth’s body might never have been found.”
“Depends on if the workmen followed through and went exploring that track. And if they did a spot of break and enter when they came to the barn.” He shot me a look I chose to ignore.
Flynn darted ahead of us, yellow fur resplendent in the sun. Calder’s steps faltered, but he didn’t reach for his gun, which I took as progress.
“Now what?” I asked no one in particular.
“She’ll be charged with Seth’s murder. I’m reopening John’s case, although the evidence is compelling that Denise is behind his death too. Did you spot the ladder?”
I nodded. I’d seen it leaning against the back of the house.
Denise had fallen into a catatonic state, her mouth hanging slack, her eyes lacking expression. I wondered if she was preparing for an insanity plea.
Doris and I watched as he secured Denise in the back seat of his truck, gave a wave, then drove away.
Doris clapped once, then rubbed her hands together. “Let’s celebrate!”
“With what? Coffee?”
“How about coffee liquor?” Doris grinned and headed inside. I followed at a slower pace. Lordy but getting beaten up by a seventy-year-old and then falling through a floor really took it out of me.
“I don’t have any alcohol.”
“A distastrous turn of events. One we must remedy, but don’t fear, I brought some.” Reaching into her handbag, she withdrew a bottle of rum, brandishing it in the air.
“You always carry rum in your bag?” I asked, sinking wearily onto a kitchen chair.
“Of course. Don’t you?”
After three of the most lethal cocktails I’d ever tasted, Doris was passed out in the camp chair while I lay on the cot, praying my liver would forgive me. I could hear Flynn squeaking and sat up to watch him weave across the room.
“What’s wrong with you?” I scooped him up to peer into his face, a whiff of rum and coffee reaching my nose. “Are you drunk?” I put him back on the floor, watched him stagger a little more, and laughed. “You’re the worst rat I’ve ever had.”
He looked up at me, then proceeded to vomit. Yep. Worst rat ever. Sighing, I swung my legs over the edge of the cot and headed into the kitchen for some paper towel. In the kitchen was the debris of Doris’s cocktail making and the source of Flynn’s current state. She’d spilled more than she’d poured, and he’d gallantly attempted to clean up behind her.
Damp paper towel was strewn around haphazardly, Doris’s attempt at cleaning, I presumed. Reaching for the roll that sat on the kitchen table, I noticed a lone piece ripped from the roll and laying there, unused. Reaching for it, I froze when I noticed it had something written on it.
If you believe in legends, you should believe in curses too.
I glanced toward the living room, where Doris was still snoring her head off. Had she written it? Flynn wasn’t capable of holding a pen, so it couldn’t have been him. And it certainly wasn’t me. Which only left Doris. Leaving it untouched, I snatched up the roll and returned to the living room to clean up Flynn’s puke. I had to admit, life hadn’t been dull since moving to Gravestone, Texas.
That’s the end of book one~thanks for reading!
Are you ready to continue Holly’s journey in book two, Battle of the Hexes? Get it here: