Three Witches and a Killer: Wicked Western Witches Book 1 (8 page)

“You’re needed out at Winterbane Hall, immediately.” Buck’s voice was somewhat distorted by all the white noise.

Jane turned back to me. “I guess our discussion is over. It’s time to get back to work.”

“No problem. I understand,” I told her and then quickly added, “If this is another strange death, which I suspect it is, could you let me know as soon as possible?”

“Of course.” She nodded. “As long as it is okay with Buck.”

When we were outside, Pax turned to me. “So now it’s the Trevil family. I guess there really could be something to this mysterious client’s theory.”

“I think so too.”

“So, do you feel like being an ambulance chaser?” he asked.

Although chasing down ambulances and morgue vans wasn’t exactly my idea of an ideal way to spend the day, this time it was probably necessary. At least it was necessary if we wanted to know what was going on.

* * *

Winterbane Hall was every bit as grand as Draven Court, as was the Trevil family. While the Petrova family had made their fortune from real estate and the tourism industry, the Trevil family fortune was made during the Industrial Revolution. Nowadays the Trevil factories produced everything from computers to cheese and butter.

When we pulled up to the massive red brick colonial mansion, I was fully expecting to see yellow crime tape around the perimeter, but that wasn’t the case. All the commotion seemed to be in the woods, behind the house.

Bringing his VW to a stop, Pax opened his glove box and pulled out a pair of binoculars. “Use these and see if you can tell what’s going on,” he instructed.

I didn’t have to be told twice. As soon as I put my eyes to binoculars, I could make out the yellow police tape near a clump of trees, several hundred yards behind the house.

“There appears to be some kind of crime scene in the woods,” I informed him. “We need to get a closer look.”

Normally, Pax might have argued with me since he didn’t really like getting into trouble with the police, but he didn’t so much as raise an eyebrow at my suggestion. I couldn’t blame him. After all, if there was anything to my client’s theory, his own mother was at risk.

Fortunately for us, Winterbane’s gates were still open, probably due to the police traffic that was making their way on and off the property.

Instead of pulling into the driveway, Pax continued down the road about a hundred yards and then parked his VW in a patch of trees.

“This should keep us hidden,” he announced.

“Yeah, now all we have to do is get close enough to see what’s going on. How do you propose we do that?” I asked.

A mischievous smile touched his lips. “Through the woods, of course.”

“Great! Exactly what I wanted to be doing today,” I complained.

Although I might’ve been a wimp when it came to trudging through the woods, I wasn’t going to let that stop me. Whatever had happened, it was important. I was sure of it.

After following Pax through what seemed like an endless forest, and then jumping over a patch or two of what looked suspiciously like poison oak, we were finally close enough to see something.

From our hiding place behind some tall brush, I studied the crime scene or what I assumed to be a crime scene. There was a corpse partially covered by a pile of leaves and the deceased appeared to be naked.

“Either this is a sexual assault or someone on the estate likes to run around without their clothes on,” I muttered.

“Well, they could be werewolves,” he suggested. “Haven’t you heard that old rumor about the Trevils being werewolves?”

The only answer I gave him was a roll of my eyes.

Everyone had heard the werewolf rumor, but like the blood cult rumor, no one paid it any mind.

I handed the binoculars over to Pax. “See if you can tell who it is.”

Pax looked through the binoculars for what seemed like forever before taking them away from his eyes and turning to me. “I can’t tell for sure who it is, especially since I don’t really know the Trevil family, but the person appears to be an older gentleman.”

“How much do you want to bet it’s Luca Trevil?”

Although Pax nodded in agreement, his eyes seemed to be fixed on something behind me. Twisting my head, I glanced over my shoulder to see what he was looking at. I wasn’t too surprised to see the Sheriff standing there, glaring at us.

“What do you two think you’re up to?” he asked, folding his arms across his chest.

It was left to me to answer because Pax was completely speechless. “We got wind of something happening at Winterbane and decided we would check it out,” I told him, truthfully, adding, “It is my job too, you know.”

Buck rolled his eyes. “I know you like to think otherwise, Sadie, but police business isn’t your job.”

“Oh come on Buck!” I frowned. “You know something is going on here and since none of you want to admit it then it’s kind of up to me.”

“You can work on your mystery solving later. Right now you are interfering with a police investigation and need to go,” he told us, leaving no room for argument.

“How’s that? We are staying back from the crime scene itself,” I came back, lifting my chin defiantly.

“What makes you think it is a crime scene?” he asked.

“Well maybe because it looks like a crime scene.”

“I hate to break it to you but it is likely that a bear attacked Luca Trevil, and you should really be giving the family some privacy,” he said.

He was probably right about that, but I still didn’t much like getting the brush-off from law enforcement, especially when that law enforcement was Buck. “Can’t you just pretend I work with the press and give me freedom of the press consideration?”

Again Buck rolled his eyes. “Seriously, don’t make this a big deal. Just go on your way and I won’t have to arrest you.”

“Fine then!” I stood up and glared at him. “Don’t think I’m going to forget this, Sheriff. The next time you need help with an investigation, I am going to totally remember this.”

“That’s fine, Sadie. You do that.”

“I will,” I yelled over my shoulder as I was stalking away. Pax followed, still not having said a word.

“You know, you could have stood up for me,” I turned on Pax.

“I hate to say it, Sadie, but he does have a point. We were kind of interfering in a police investigation.”

A lot of help he was.

“Makes you wonder if the Queen might be behind all of this,” Pax voiced his thoughts out loud. “I’ve heard she isn’t too happy with the CO5 these days.”

I shrugged. “I have no idea, but what I do know is that your mom and Aunt Sophie are likely next if we don’t figure this out soon.”

It was apparent from his grim expression that Pax was well aware of this. “I’ve heard that Asia Martell is a vengeful bitch,” he added.

Asia Martell was the Queen Witch and leader of the CO5. I’d heard she was a powerful witch and one you didn’t want to cross, but I’d also heard that she could be seductive and sweet. Which version was true I had no idea and hoped I’d never have a reason to find out.

“So what now?” I asked once we were back in Pax’s VW.

“I don’t know about you, but I was thinking of checking in at home to see why Holly didn’t come to work.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” I told him. “I’ll go back to the office and check on Mickey D. Maybe I can dig up something on the Internet about Asia. Could be there are some rumors circulating.”

Chapter Nine

As soon as I stepped into my office it became apparent that my Mickey D problem was getting worse. It had been less than two hours since he was fed and already he was moaning and groaning. He was definitely declining and fast.

At least he wasn’t in a frenzy yet, which meant that it was probably a good time to try the spell again.

Reaching into my desk drawer, I pulled out the old envelope that I’d used to jot down the reversal spell. It had been handled so much that it was barely legible. No matter, I’d tried the spell so many times that I’d practically memorized it.

Holding the envelope in one hand I used the other to carefully and slowly open the closet door.

As soon as the door was open, he lunged at me. It was a good thing he was chained to the floor.

In spite of the fact I knew he couldn’t reach me, my heart still jumped into my throat. I hated zombies!

I had to turn away. The flesh on his face was peeling away.

Hopefully, when he was turned back he wouldn’t be scarred. No doubt he deserved it, but I didn’t think it was my place to dish out punishment, no matter how corrupt and immoral he was.

Unfortunately, I’d come to this conclusion a little too late. Now he might be a zombie forever.

Doing my best to ignore his growling and lunging, I recited the spell once again and then waited for something to happen. But just like the last two dozen times, nothing did.

Sighing, I put my hands on my hips. “You know, Mickey, you really do deserve this. Next time you decide to use your money to try and crush someone, you should really consider the consequences.”

My only answer was a bunch of growling, which really wasn’t all that much different than when we were married.

Giving up, I shut the closet door. I definitely sucked at reversal spells.

With nothing else to do, I sat down at my computer and started researching Asia Martell, the Voodoo Queen of New Orleans. There was a lot of information on her but nothing to suggest that she was the leader of the CO5, let alone anything that would indicate she was thinking of killing off her followers.

Next, I looked up vampire type murders. There were more than a few of those but most of them could be chalked up to deranged individuals who believed they were vampires. Of course there was always a chance that was exactly what we were dealing with, but I had my doubts. The victims were witches, therefore it was highly unlikely a mortal would have the ability to subdue and kill them, even if they were deranged.

About three hours into my research my phone rang. “Hello,” I answered.

“Hey, Sadie. This is Jane over at the morgue. You asked me to call you if my new case was similar to Petrova.”

“I did. Do you have something for me?” I asked.

“I sure do. The preliminary exam of Luca Trevil indicates a bear mauled him, but on closer examination, it’s obvious that all his injuries were received postmortem. The COD is actually loss of blood.”

“No kidding? Thanks for letting me know, Jane. You have no idea how much this helps.”

“No problem. Let me know if I can be of any further assistance.”

Ending the call, I turned back to my computer. This absolutely had to have something to do with the Petrova family. If they were part of a blood cult, they would be the closest thing we had to a vampire in Shadow Crossing.

With that in mind, I returned to my research, but this time, I was looking up blood cults and witches.

According to most articles I found on the subject, the first vampire cult originated in Sumer. The gods they worshipped drank blood and it is believed that these gods bestowed some of their traits on these first followers, therefore creating vampires.

Was it possible the Petrovas were descended from this cult?

It was very possible. Not much was known of the family’s origins, other than they came from Eastern Europe to America a couple hundred years ago. Who knew what they were up to several thousand years ago.

With this new information, I was more convinced than ever that the Petrovas were behind the killing. What I didn’t understand was why they would’ve killed one of their own.

* * *

It was already getting dark by the time I switched off the computer. I wasn’t exactly thrilled to be walking home in the dark but that was partly my own fault for putting it off for so long. Of course, it was also the shop’s fault for taking so long to fix my car. Pumpkin Patch Auto had called about an hour before to let me know that it would be the next day before they could get to the repairs on my car.

Damn! How long does it take to replace battery cables anyway? At least that’s what they told me the problem was.

Locking the office, I started across the street to Specter Square, which was really large enough to be considered a small park and not just the town square. Most of the time, that wasn’t a big deal but I wasn’t real fond of walking through it at night, especially with a killer on the loose.

I always had the option of walking around the square to the other side, but that would take twice as long to get to my apartment, which was only a few blocks south of the square.

As I stepped onto the cobblestone sidewalk that would take me through the square I noticed a low-lying fog crawling across the ground.

Fog was unusual for this time of year but not unheard of. I decided to ignore it and picked up my pace.

I’d only gone maybe fifty feet before I started to feel eyes on me. Someone was there. One of the advantages of being a witch is that we had some very powerful intuition. Stopping abruptly, I swung around just in time to catch the shadow duck behind a tree.

“Who’s there!” I called out.

There was no answer. Not that I expected there to be.

All I could hear was the sound of my own breathing and the blood rushing through my veins.

“I know you’re there. Leave me alone or I’ll turn you into a frog,” I threatened.

Hopefully, whoever was following me he had no idea that I really sucked at turning people into frogs.

Still there was no answer and nothing moved.

With no choice but to continue, I turned my back on whoever was stalking me and started walking, though I kept my ears open. It seemed forever before I finally made it to the other side of the square.

I wasn’t out of the woods yet but at least there were fewer bushes and trees for my stalker to hide behind.

I didn’t dare breathe a sigh of relief until I reached Buckeye’s Saloon and home. As soon as I was safely in my apartment with the door locked, I called my father.

“Hello Sadie. What’s wrong tonight?” he asked.

I could hear the evening news in the background, which meant I was probably interrupting his after dinner cocktail.