Maudlin's Mayhem (Bewitching Bedlam #2)(34)

“Did anybody new come into your life recently? Beside Snow and the dwarves, I mean.”

“I can’t think of…wait.” I glanced back at the house. “Well, there’s Mr. Mosswood, but I really can’t see him as the problem and he’s been here several weeks. A few other guests came and went without anything seeming askew.”

“Anybody besides guests?”

“No. Wait. Trina left and…Thornton. He’s new. I hired him about a week before the shit hit the fan. Sandy, you don’t suppose he’s working for Essie? He’s not a vampire.”

“Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean much. Essie has a lot of human groupies. You know how some of them get crazed about the vampire thing. They geek out over the blood-and-goth set and line up for a chance to get fanged. You have to admit, the proximity between when he showed up and when all this freakshow stuff started happening—it’s way too convenient.” Sandy winced and stared at her hand. “Damn, this hurts.”

“It will, for a while.”

“Sucks. Anyway, did you check out Thornton’s references?”

“Yes, and they all checked out. Except…” I paused, thinking for a moment. “He has a gap of about five years between his last job and now. He said he was in a relationship that didn’t work out and that he had been out of the workforce during that time. I know that happens, so I just let it be—especially when everything else checked out all right.”

“You need to find out where he was during those five years.” Sandy paused as a butterfly circled around the table. She held out her hand and the gorgeous swallowtail landed on her finger. A few moments later, the butterfly took wing again and flew off.

“I think you’re right, but how do I go about it without sounding like I’m prying? And if he is in cahoots with Essie, won’t I alert them by asking? I suppose I can start with Delia. If he has any sort of record, she can tell me.”

I glanced at the sky. The clouds were building again, but we wouldn’t see rain before nightfall, by the smell of the air. The storm was out over the water and was moving slowly onshore. The birds, though, were picking up on the incoming moisture, and singing loud and clear about it.

“Sometimes, I think about the way the world was when we were young. No technology, really, beyond primitive basics. Cities were few and far between, and the world seemed so incredibly large. Now, everything seems so immediate and close together. I sometimes miss those days.” I shrugged. “But I don’t miss the backward attitudes. The witch hunters and the slavers and the bigots—”

“Oh, we still have those,” Sandy said. “Unfortunately, there will always be people who hate what they don’t understand. Or hate who might threaten to tip the status quo that might be in force. I’d like to say I think we’ll see a day when peace governs the land, but honestly? Right now, I’d like to just see peace govern one city.”

I leaned my elbows on the table. “So how’s it going with Max?”

A smile crept across her face. “Good. It’s so good that it’s scary. You know me—I shy away from any real relationships because, hey, I’m over three hundred and I’ve never found one that has lasted.”

“Honey, you find a relationship that outlasts sixty or seventy years, let me know.”

“Right. Let me just put it this way. It’s too soon to tell, but I’m having fun and he hasn’t pissed me off yet. And that’s a miracle.”

“I guess we give thanks for whatever sort of miracles come our way.” I let out a long sigh. “I guess I should call Delia while we’re out here, huh?”

Sandy leaned her elbows on the picnic table. “Yeah. I think you should.”

I pulled out my phone and, once again, put in a call to the sheriff.





DELIA HAD PROMISED to find out everything she could. She wasn’t pleased to hear that Essie might be up to her old tricks again. And she was none too happy to hear that someone was practicing Dirt Magic in Bedlam.

“Dirt Magic isn’t forbidden, but we discourage it, you know. Linda wrote that into the charter.” Delia paused, and I could hear the tap of her pencil on the desk. “Maddy, given you’re the High Priestess of the Moonrise Coven, I think you need to understand that you will attract enemies. I don’t think that fact has set in yet. Essie wasn’t the only one who was out to snare Linda into her own agenda. There are other groups on the island who would love to have you in their back pocket.”

I sobered at her tone. “I am starting to get the picture.”

“We haven’t gotten around to discussing this yet, but you need to be aware that Bedlam isn’t as rosy on the underside as it seems on the surface. There are dark secrets in this town. My father was sheriff before me, and I remember the days when he would come home, unable to talk about the problems on the job, but he would pace the floor half the night.”

“I thought you took over from your grandfather?”

“I did. He retired when I was old enough for the job. But my father was sheriff for a while before that. Ma begged him to quit. She wanted him to buy a little farm where we could just sit back and raise chickens and grow fruit trees. But he would always say, ‘Margie, I can’t do that. Folks depend on me.’ After Da was killed, Grandpa took over until I grew up and decided I wanted the job. Now folks depend on me, and I wish I knew half of what my father did.” Delia let out a sigh. “Grandpa never bothered to look below the surface. He moved away last year to Montana to stay with my aunt. But he walked softly after my father was killed, and he tried to talk me into doing the same.”