CHAPTER 17
“The biscuits are in the oven keeping warm and there’s clam chowder on the stove.” Grans pointed Levi to the kitchen when he arrived from the police station.
Levi smiled, but gestured to Trent to meet him at the door. “We need to talk.”
“Where’s James?” Trent left the couch, where he’d been sitting with Mia, watching her search the internet for any sign of either of the two men. After graduating from University of Utah together they both seemed to drop off the radar.
“The dude said he felt safer at City Hall, so he’s hanging with Baldwin for the duration. Did you know the two of them went to college together?”
“There seems to be a lot of that going around lately.” Trent glanced at Mia as she followed him to the door.
“Would you go with me through the school to make sure everything’s okay?” She grabbed a sweater. “I’d feel better knowing we were alone in the building before we turned in for the night.”
Trent slapped his brother on the back. “You stay here. Levi and I will do it.”
“I can walk through my own building.” Mia narrowed her eyes at the men.
“Yeah, but it gives us something to do to feel busy. You don’t want us to feel like we’re not helping, right?” Levi grinned at her, his dimples showing.
“What are you worried about?” Christina watched the exchange.
Trent shook his head. “Not worried, just taking precautions. We’ll be right back, and in the meantime I’ll catch Levi up on the William issue.”
“Okay, but there’s the front door, one in the kitchen, and one in the solarium. But I think there might be some other door or window open. Mr. Darcy seems like he’s disappearing at times.” Mia counted off the possible exits on her fingers. “Maybe I should just go.”
“Stay here and stay warm. We’ll find the exits. Remember, I used to help with the construction here.” He put his hands on her arms. “Trust me, okay?”
She nodded and let the two men leave through the doorway. “I’m locking the door after you, so call us if we don’t hear you knock.”
“What William issue?” Levi followed him into the hallway.
Trent shushed his brother. He leaned through the crack between the door and the doorjamb. “Don’t let anyone in until we get back.”
“Like who?” Mia called out after him.
“I don’t know, but with tonight’s surprises already, it could be anyone.” He grinned at her. “I didn’t expect William to show up at the fishing lodge, did you?”
Mia returned to her laptop. “Men,” she grumbled as she tried a new search tag, hoping to get a new hit on the two friends.
“It’s nice having someone to watch over you. Your grandfather used to fuss over me at times. I miss that.” Grans stood. “I’m due for a warm-up of my tea. You want some?”
Mia shook her head, already lost in thought as she paged through the search results, looking for the needle in the cyber haystack. From what they’d found, she didn’t think Samuel or fake William, as she thought of him now, had a chance in a court fight. Barney would make sure of that. Mia hadn’t gotten along with Adele, but that didn’t mean she didn’t want her money to go to the rightful heir.
Christina followed Grans into the kitchen. “Is there enough water for some hot chocolate?”
Mia smiled. Christina’s piercings made it look like she was a badass, but really, deep down, she was still a young woman who enjoyed drinking cocoa.
Mia watched as a glow grew on the rocking chair. The glow slowly materialized into a shape, and then Dorothy Purcell sat in Mia’s living room. Mr. Darcy, or maybe Dorian, moved over to sit by the chair.
“Hi, Dorothy.” Mia leaned back, the computer forgotten. She should have been frightened by the presence, but the woman didn’t seem spooky; in fact, during Mia’s hospital stay, she’d calmed her. Not the normal ghost sighting, but what in her life was normal? She pulled her sweater closer; the temperature in the room had dropped a good ten degrees when the ghost materialized. Mia had thought the hospital room had just been cold, but now she realized Dorothy’s presence had been to blame.
“What a lovely cat.” Dorothy glanced around the room, reaching down to stroke Mr. Darcy’s coat. Her hand jerked away from him almost immediately. “Did you know your cat has a human spirit sharing his body?”
Mia nodded. “Long story. So what are you doing here? I thought you only visited the hospital and the nursing home.”
Dorothy leaned back into the rocker, studying Mia. “So, you’ve heard the stories about me.”
“A few.” Mia waited, but the woman seemed content to rock and look around the room. “Is there a reason you stopped by?”
“People your age are very direct. It’s almost rude. What happened to polite conversation?” Dorothy shook her head. “No matter, you need to know this. The front door isn’t the only way into the school.”
“I have several doors here, front, back, side.” Mia held up her hands. “Exactly what are you trying to say? Is someone coming?”
Dorothy’s face contorted, and for a minute Mia thought the ghost might just cry. Then she sat still. “I said I’d tell you, so I will. There’s a secret passage on the second floor that leads to a tunnel. The tunnel dead-ends into the woods. People can still get in even if the men lock the doors. You must be careful.”
“How do you know about the tunnel?” Mia leaned forward, trying to will Dorothy to stay until she’d gotten a straight answer.
“I’m sure I mentioned that I went to school here. We used the tunnel to sneak out at night. ‘Meet up,’ I believe, is the modern term.” Dorothy sighed, and Mia wondered who the woman was remembering meeting as a young girl.
“I get your drift.” Mia smiled. “Where will we find the tunnel? And who told you to tell us?”
“Honestly, do you think after all these years I know where the entrance is? It seems to me it started in a classroom. Then the memory swirls into a book I read during junior year.” Dorothy looked up and cocked her head at Mia. “Memories are like precious stones: hard to come by and easy to lose or have stolen from you. Don’t let him steal your memories, dear girl.”
Noise from the kitchen diverted Mia’s attention, and when she looked back Dorothy was fading. “Wait, you didn’t tell me who sent you.”
“Your guardian,” the whispered words echoed in the small room, keeping beat with the crackle of the fire on the logs.
The room quickly regained its heat as the rest of Dorothy disappeared into whatever spirit realm in which she existed. Mia curled her legs under her. A secret tunnel? She wondered if Grans knew more about the tunnel. There had to be some type of local story, true or imagined. For the first time in her thirty years, Mia had been told she had a guardian.
Could the world get any stranger? Last summer she’d been an up-and-coming caterer living with her chef boyfriend and remodeling their dream house. Two months later she was unemployed, homeless, and learning her witching history from a grandmother who believed in magic and saving the world, one spell at a time. Now she was talking to spirits and apparently had a guardian in the other world, wanting to help.
Oh, and she and the others were snowed in by the worst storm to hit Magic Springs in a decade.
“Don’t forget to add poor Adele to your pity party. And Barney.” Grans walked into the room alone.
“Not a pity party, just a reciting of the facts.” Mia watched as Grans sat in the same rocker Dorothy had just vacated. “You need to stay out of my head. I like my privacy.”
Grans snorted. “Child, you haven’t had a private thought since you were born. Sorry, it doesn’t work that way in our family. What you know, we know.”
“So you knew I was stranded?”
She sipped her tea. “Of course, but Levi was already on the way to rescue the two of you.” The elderly woman paused. “You could do worse than Trent. He’s more like you than you believe.”
“I’m not ready for a new relationship. Not after Isaac.” Her stomach clenched as she thought about Isaac and his betrayal. How had she let herself get so blindsided? She hadn’t protected her heart or her head in that relationship. Now, Grans wanted her to jump into the pool again. She shook her head. Arguing with her grandmother wasn’t going to help them solve Adele’s murder. “Dorothy was just here.”
Grans set her tea cup on the table. “Dorothy Purcell? Why didn’t I sense her?” She looked around the room, and Mia wondered if ghosts left trails that people with power could see.
“She materialized right there.” Mia pointed to the chair where her grandmother sat. Grans stood and sat next to Mia on the couch. “Besides, weren’t you the one saying I must have imagined her in my hospital room? What’s up with that?”
“She and Adele had issues back in the day. I wasn’t sure she was going to be honest with you, so I needed to figure out why she appeared.” Grans shrugged. “Sorry I lied.”
“That’s it? ‘Sorry I lied’? Are you kidding?” Mia stared at her grandmother.
“Don’t worry about this. I’ll explain later.” She reached out and held Mia’s hand. “I can’t feel her. I always feel spirits. This is so strange. What did she say?”
“I’m in danger, my guardian sent her, there’s a secret passage; you know, normal, ghost talk.” Mia’s laugh died in her throat. Grans’s face had gone almost chalk white “What? What aren’t you telling me?”
“It may not mean anything, but years ago a girl disappeared from the school. The whole town looked for her. The headmaster swore the doors were locked, but when they found her body in the woods, his alibi didn’t hold up.” Grans sighed. “I pulled your mother from the school the day after the girl’s body was found. Even though everyone in town knew the headmaster had killed the girl, I never believed that. Your mother finished out school at Sun Valley High with the town kids.”
“You think someone stole her through the tunnel?”
Grans nodded. “The headmaster was a sweet man. He couldn’t step on a spider, let alone kill someone. Besides, his taste in life partners didn’t include the female persuasion.”
Mia’s heart sank. “Which probably labeled him as different, so the town believed he committed the crime.” How many people who had been falsely accused actually were convicted because of being different? Christina’s words echoed in her ears. People are scared of different.
“The poor man died in prison. Put a label of a child molester on someone, they won’t survive long there.” Grans stared at the chair. “So if someone came in through the tunnel and kidnapped that girl, he could still be around. Old, but around.”
“He’d have to be in his fifties. Even if he was young for the first kill.” Mia shuddered. “Very young.”
“We don’t know if he’s even still alive, but according to Dorothy, someone knows about the tunnel. Someone who may see you as a loose end.” Grans sipped her tea and Mia could see the thoughts racing through her head.
“I really can’t see a connection between this murder and Adele’s. Maybe Dorothy was confused. She said her memories kept swirling on her.”
Grans shook her head back and forth. “No. There’s a connection. Your guardian wouldn’t have made themselves known unless there was a problem. We just have to find it.”
“About the guardian thing . . .” Mia was interrupted by a knock on the door. She glanced at her grandmother as she stood to let Trent and Levi in. “We’re not done talking about this.”
“When the time’s right,” Grans agreed, postponing the discussion.
Mia didn’t like her answer but knew it would be all she’d get until her grandmother thought she needed to know the facts. She checked the peephole, then opened the door.
The two men hurried inside, shutting and locking the door behind them. “Doors, windows, construction entrances, all locked and sealed. No one is getting in the school tonight without you knowing.”
She pointed to the chairs. “Well, maybe. You need to hear this.”
For the second time she went through her visit with Dorothy and the hidden tunnel. By the time she was done, Christina had returned from the kitchen.
Christina’s eyes widened. “You saw a real live ghost?”
Mia’s lips curled into an involuntary smile. “Don’t you mean a real dead ghost?”
Christina bounced in her seat. “Whatever. What did she look like? Did the room grow cold? Did she try to possess you?”
“Calm down, girl.” Levi laughed. “You act like you’ve never seen a ghost in your life.”
“Some of us didn’t grow up in magical families,” Christina shot back. “I’m a newcomer in the paranormal department. Besides, don’t you have a party with your fawning admirers waiting for you to go to?”
Trent chuckled and Levi shot him a look.
“I chose to be here.” Levi shrugged his shoulders. “Maybe I should choose differently.”
“Maybe you should,” Christina shot back.
Mia watched the interaction with interest. Apparently Christina and Levi knew each other before tonight. Could Levi be the guy she was dating? Mia glanced at Trent, who smiled.
“Are we done?” Trent glanced at his brother. When Levi nodded Trent focused on Grans. “Tell us the stories you heard about the tunnel. Anything you remember?”
Grans shook her head. “Except for where the body was found, I don’t think they ever said anything about the tunnel. Malinda, Mia’s mother, told me the other kids talked about the tunnel. The girl was meeting someone in the woods over by the entrance from the town square.”
“Dorothy said the entrance was on the second floor. How is that even possible?” Mia frowned, thinking about the outside of the building. The rectangular shape didn’t have any signs of an outside stairwell.
“Look, it’s almost midnight.” Trent looked around the room. “Let’s build up the fire, bring in blankets and pillows, and get some sleep. Sorry about kicking you out of your rooms, but I’d rather have us together tonight, where we can watch over the group.”
“I’ll take first watch,” Levi offered.
Trent shook his head. “You sleep. I’m so wired, I doubt I could relax. I’ll wake you at three. You can finish off the night.”
Mia grabbed blankets and pillows from the rooms and the linen closet. She set her grandmother up on the couch, shushing aside her protests that Mia or Christina should take the couch.
After everyone had a makeshift bed she followed Trent into the kitchen, where she made a fresh pot of coffee. She sat at the table.
Trent tapped the table with his fingers. “You should get some sleep.”
“I will.” Mia hesitated, trying to phrase the question. Finally she just blurted it out. “You think we’re in danger?”
Trent sighed, playing with the spoon that sat next to his coffee cup. “Your grandmother thinks so. Your ghost friend thinks so. So, yeah, I think I’d be stupid not to listen.”
“It just feels like we’re missing something. I’m pretty sure if I called Officer Baldwin and asked for police protection because the local ghost is worried about my safety, I’d be locked up in the state mental hospital.” Mia shook her head. “How do you live with this woo-woo surrounding you?”
“Like I said before, I leave that part of the family heritage to Levi. He likes the mystery.” Trent stood and carried his cup over to the counter, where he poured fresh coffee. “I like running a grocery. Ordering supplies, paying bills, helping people. Normal stuff.”
Mia nodded. “That’s why I love cooking. You cook, people eat, you clean up. Rinse and repeat. The only magic involved is the food.”
“I think you’re selling yourself short.” Trent sat back and sipped his coffee.
“What do you mean?”
“One of the ways our magic flows through us is through what we produce. For me, it’s a cute little store that tourists want to stop and spend money at, even if they don’t need something.” He nodded at the kitchen. “For you, the magic is here, in your kitchen. And in the food you create.”
“I like that.” Mia considered his words and grinned. “I really am the kitchen witch.”
“Something like that.” Trent smiled. He leaned closer. “A very pretty kitchen witch.”
Mia closed her eyes, waiting for the kiss. When it came Trent’s lips were soft, teasing, making her want more, even with a living room filled with people next door. As she responded, a sound broke them apart. She stared at Trent. “Is that—?”
He nodded. “Someone is knocking on your apartment door.”