Pretty Witches All in a Row (26 page)

“What’s a piece of a communion wafer doing in a witch’s house?” Brady asked, his brow wrinkled in confusion and Nelson snapped his fingers.

“The preacher.  Maybe that’s why she was drowned this time?  Maybe he was going for an old fashioned baptism before he killed her, to you know, save her soul?” 

“Makes a kind of twisted sense I guess.  It explains why the room with all her magic stuff was so trashed; he couldn’t stand the sight of her evil paraphernalia or some such,” Troyer allowed.

“What time did you leave off watching him?” Nick asked. 

“Just after two o’clock, is that when you two knocked off around here too?” Troyer asked his men, who nodded in response.  “He would have had plenty of time to get back here and off her before you two arrived.”

“It was stupid of us to assume the killer would strike in the same window as before.”  Nick’s hands clenched in frustration.  “But I think we’re making an awful lot of assumptions here.  We don’t know it was Cahill that did this.”  In fact he was certain it wasn’t him, but he didn’t have a shred of proof to offer to support that theory, or even another concrete suspect to pin it on. 

“He’s looking like our best bet at the moment, him or one of his religious looney followers.  Especially after that little floorshow last night, he was right in the vic’s face, wasn’t he?  I want constant surveillance on him now; I don’t want him taking a dump without us knowing about it,” Troyer ordered. 

“On it,” Nelson nodded, pulling out his cell phone, he backed away from the group to place the call. 

“Alright, I want to know the instant we get the report from CSU and Fielding.  I’m going back to the precinct to lay this all out, look for whatever it is we’re missing to link him to these killings.”

“We need to figure out beyond a reasonable doubt who’s doing the killing, not look for connections until you can find a way to pin it on the guy you like for this,” Nick objected, trying to block Troyer’s exit.

“I should think you’d be happy we’re not trying to pin it on your girlfriend,” he snorted, jerking his head towards Annaliese.  “Speaking of which, I want her interviewed over what happened here tonight, and not by you.”  Troyer poked at Nick’s chest, looking to him expectantly to move out of the way.

“I can do that,” Park volunteered, with a raise of the hand.

“Fine, but I want it to be thorough.  We’ll have a briefing at eleven hundred hours; we should have some more answers by then.”  Troyer’s voice had the ring of dismissal to it.

This time Nick stepped aside, flashing Park a grateful look for the offer.  The last thing he wanted to put Annaliese through that morning was another interrogation by the idiot twins.  “Guys…” he said softly, asking his team to hold back while Troyer and his men cleared out of there.

“What’s up boss?” Brady asked as soon as the other detectives were out of earshot.

Nick let out a long breath, time to test out how strong his team’s faith was in him.  “I imagine you have a few questions, and I have a few things to add that didn’t make it into my report.”

Both detectives moved a little closer, waiting for him to continue.  “Go on, Sir,” Park urged with an encouraging nod.

“What I said was true about Annaliese having the dream that Seraphine had been killed and we rushed right over here.    She saw the vic in the claw foot bathtub and wrapped in white cloth like we found her.  Just like last time, she heard the same chanting, like the perp was working some kind of ritual.” 

“So you really believe she has a… a psychic link to the killer, where she’s experiencing the murders?” Brady asked, his tone neither approving nor disapproving. 

“I can’t explain it, but how else could she have some of the details right?  She’s not our killer, that wasn’t bullshit; I was with her at her place, she couldn’t have done it, and… I trust her.”

“That’s good enough for me, Sir,” Park offered the faintest smiles.

“Thanks Shelly-belly, I knew I could count on you,” Nick grinned, buoyed by her easy vote of confidence.  Just as quickly the smile was gone and Park scowled at him over the detested nickname, causing Nick to chuckle all the more.  “There’s more though, that might stretch your belief a bit.”

“Go for it,” Brady encouraged him with a light shrug.

“So… I took Annaliese to the previous crime scene last night…” he kept going, not wanting to give them a chance to censure him.  “And she did this thing with a pendant; I think she called it divining or something.  Anyway, it’s kind of like playing twenty questions and the pendant answers no or yes.”

“Like a magic eight ball?”  Brady was openly skeptical now, trading a look with Park who looked less than convinced herself.

“No, not exactly… look, I know it sounds crazy, but she asked it these questions and it said that the killer wasn’t Cahill or any of his followers, it’s a witch.  And given some of the other facts, I’m inclined to believe it.”

“I don’t know Nick… did it give you any more to go on than that?  I mean which witch are we talking about here?” Brady asked.

“We couldn’t ask it for a specific name, it only does yes or no questions.  It confirmed that it’s someone in the pagan community, someone that she knows, someone in the coven, but not any of the known members.”

“I don’t understand, how could it be someone in the coven but not any of the members?”

“That’s what we’re not sure of, we were going to ask Seraphine about it in the morning, see if she knew of any other members that might have quit or something, but… she was already gone by the time we got here.  But let’s think this through,” he challenged them.  “I’m the killer.  The victim knows me, so she lets me in the house even though it’s late at night.  We share a cup of tea, maybe I slip in a little bit of laudanum while Seraphine gets up to go to the bathroom or get some cookies or something, and then Sera passes out.  Now I’ve got plenty of time to stage my scene while she’s out cold.  I can toss the ritual room looking for… whatever it is I’m looking for, or maybe just trashing it, who knows.”  He waved that away as unimportant. 

“Then I strip Sera down and wind her up in the white fabric and dump her in the tub, maybe before or after I draw out the pentagram in dirt on the floor.  I do my little ritual and hold her down under the water until she’s good and dead.  After I drown her, I get rid of the dirt and carefully stage the bathroom, placing the communion wafer in her mouth and drop a piece on the floor.  Maybe I wanted to plant something else, but then I hear something up above and have to high tail it out the back door.”  He paused for a breath.  “It listens doesn’t it?” 

“So we’re looking for another witch who is killing off members of the coven.  Do we know why?” Park asked.

“No, not really.  I don’t have all the whys and wherefores, but what do you think, guys?  Annaliese was able to tell me that the pentacle drawn at Skye’s place was inverted, which means it’s meant for dark magic and they found traces of the same dirt at Mei’s and I’m betting they’ll find those same traces here, because she keeps seeing the pentacle in her dreams.  Also, the murder weapon for the last two was probably the witch’s ceremonial knife, though we have no idea why this one was a drowning.”

“Okay, so if it’s not Annaliese, Rose or Ellie, where do we go from here?” Brady wondered aloud.

“Let’s do as Troyer said; Park you take Annaliese down to the precinct and debrief her about tonight’s events.  Brady, you see if we can get Rose and Ellie to come in to discuss these developments and offer them protection.  At this point I don’t care what Troyer says, we can’t leave them sitting out there as bait, not when it’s coming down to the wire like this.”

“You got it, boss,” Brady nodded automatically.  “I’m not sure if I buy all of this, but I agree they need protecting, they’re dropping like flies.”

“You don’t need to buy into it.  Troyer and his goons are gonna keep investigating Cahill and his church; we need to keep digging, try and identify who this other witch could be.  Keep an open mind is all I’m asking and look for the right answers, not just the ones that fit neatly into the box,” Nick asked them earnestly.

“Where are you gonna go?”

“Right about now I feel a powerful need to hug my daughter.  I think I’ll go and try to intercept her on the way to school, but I’ll be in the office after that.”

“Sounds like a plan.”  Brady let out a long breath.  “I’ll go down and check with CSU before I leave, see if they’ve got any other quick tidbits before I head out.”

“Give us a minute, then Annaliese will be all yours.”  Nick held up a finger to Park who nodded in response.  Just as he felt the need to hug Veronica he felt the need to draw Annaliese close to him, but he settled for reaching out for her hand as he joined her on the couch.  “Hey, how are you holding up?”

Annaliese flashed him a tired smile.  “I’ve had better days, that’s for sure, but I’ll be fine.  How about you?  You must be tired too.”  She squeezed his hand back.

“Eh, I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”  Nick shrugged off her concern with a half smile.  “Detective Park will take you down to the station to ask you some questions about tonight.  You can tell her everything; she’ll decide what makes it into her report.  I already gave them the bare bones version of what we did last night.”

She blinked back at him in surprise.  “You told them what we did last night?  Oh… you mean about what we found at Skye’s and Mei’s with the dirt and the divination, gotcha.”  She gave him a sheepish smile.

“Yeah, what did
you
mean?”  His grin spread a little wider.  “You mean about us?  That’s not any of their business, but ah… they
are
trained detectives, so I’m pretty sure they know something is up,” he pointed out, wiggling their joined hands. 

“Is that going to be a problem for you?”

“How do you mean?”

“With your boss.  Like a conflict of interest or something?”

“It would be a problem if you were a suspect, and it’s probably better if I’m not the only person looking out for you because my judgment could be clouded where you’re concerned, but it’s not a conflict of interest, no.  Me the cop and me the man both want the same thing, to find the killer and keep you safe,” he smiled at her.

“That’s good to hear.  Because me the witch and me the woman both want the same thing too.  To catch the killer and make him pay, and for everyone I care about to be safe.”

“Do I fit in there somewhere?”

“I was kind of counting on you to be part of catching the killer, yes.” 

“I meant as part of the people you want to stay safe.”  He was fishing, he knew it, but he couldn’t stop himself from asking anyway.

“You mean as someone I care about?” Annaliese asked, the hint of a smile returning to her lips.  “Here I thought that was something you’d be able to deduce for yourself, Detective.”

“Sergeant,” he corrected her, smiling a little wider as he tugged her closer by their joined hands.

“Whatever,” she smiled back, allowing him to draw her closer without offering any resistance.

He had things to do, but Nick couldn’t resist pulling her in for just one kiss.  Their lips barely brushed against each other before he heard Park and Brady clearing their throats behind him and he straightened, giving an exasperated roll of the eyes.  “Right, time to go do cop stuff,” he sighed.  “Annie, you remember Detective Park, don’t you?  I leave you in her capable hands.  I’ll see you later, I promise.”  Giving her hand a last brief squeeze, he released her and rose from the couch.   

Chapter Fourteen

“Hey little girl, want a ride to school?” Nick called out to his daughter as soon as she emerged from her friend’s house. 

“Daddy?”  Veronica gave her friend a look and then darted off to her father’s car, leaning down to look in the passenger’s side window.  “What are you doing here?  Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, of course it’s okay.  Can’t a father give his own daughter a ride to school in the morning?”  He kept his voice light, already finding her presence a soothing tonic to his nerves. 

“Um… yeah… sure.  But why come all the way out here?  I was gonna catch a ride… are you sure everything’s alright?”  She opened the door and climbed inside, waiting expectantly. 

“Well… it’s all relative, right?  I mean I’m alright and you’re alright and that’s the important thing.”

“Oh God, there was another murder wasn’t there?  Don’t tell me it was Annaliese!”  The color drained out of her face as her eyes flew wider.

“No, no of course not!”  He tried to stem the flow of pre-hysterics.  “Well, there
was
another murder, but Annaliese is fine, it wasn’t her.”

“Oh…”  Veronica settled back against the seat, calming a little.  “Good, you had me worried for a minute.”  She let out a long pent up breath.

“You like her, don’t you?” he asked, watching carefully for her response.

“Hey, isn’t that my question?” she smirked back at him. 

“I do like her, I like her a lot.  Which is why I’m going to do everything I can to make sure she stays safe, and why I want to know if you can stay with Beth for another night.”

“Are you sure you’re not trying to get me out of the house so you two can hook up?”  She fixed him with a teasingly skeptical look.

“You saw right through me,” he quipped, starting the car.  “I’m not packing you off to a friend’s so I can make a booty call, I’m trying to keep everyone safe until this thing is over.  I have a feeling things are going to come to a head soon,” Nick added, pulling out into traffic. 

“I’m sure her family won’t care, I’m a model guest.  I pick up after myself and wash the dishes,” Veronica reported proudly.

“Huh, too bad you can’t do that stuff at home.”

“Ha, ha.”  A roll of the eyes was given.  “How come you came all the way out here to talk to me about this?  You could have picked up the phone and called.”

“I know, I just needed a little bit of V time.  You know, to recharge the old batteries.” 

“Dad, I just saw you yesterday.” 

“I know, your dad’s an old softie, so sue me.” 

“My own personal Stay Puft marshmallow man,” she grinned back.  “I don’t suppose now would be a good time to hit you up for a raise in my allowance…”