Sapphire Nights (Crystal Magic Book 1)(75)

Daisy nodded absently. “Bad spirits can go in good places. Let him guard your door.”

“Did you see Xavier there when you stopped by?” she asked as nonchalantly as she could.

Walker shot her an approving glance as he backed out but stayed silent. He did that a lot, Sam noticed. He listened and waited and when it was time, he acted. She liked the way he’d taken charge of the search, while letting others do their own thing.

“He’s haunted,” Daisy said. “Evil has drained his soul. I told him to rebuild by doing good deeds.”

She sounded perfectly rational, as if discussing last night’s dinner. It was the content of her speech that had Sam shaking her head. It was rather like having a sideways conversation.

“He overdosed. He’s in the hospital now. Do you know why he might have stopped by my place?”

Daisy stopped and frowned at the darkening sky. “He knows who wants to kill you. He consorts with the Evil One.”





Chapter 24





By the time they reached town, it was full dark, and both search parties had either gone home or gathered in the café. Walker noted the Kennedy Escalade parked in the lot, with Francois sitting inside, drawing on his cigarette. Did that mean Carmel had returned?

Inside the café, Monty and Mariah were glaring at each other, but at least the mayor had waited around instead of driving back to the lodge. No other Kennedy was present though, so why was Francois here? Monty’s Tesla was usually parked behind his office.

Seeing a graying blond head at the far end of the counter, Walker answered his own question. Carmel’s artist brother didn’t drive or even come to town often. The chauffeur must have brought him. Lance was contemplating a selection of pastries as if they were a still life to be painted. Walker almost laughed when Lance moved a beignet into a more artistic composition with the fruit tarts on his plate.

Oddly, Alan Gump, the real estate magnate from the city, was also at the counter, drinking coffee and telling loud stories to a group of business owners. Walker had Gump pegged as behind the condo deal the Kennedys were putting together, but he didn’t need town approval, so why was he here at this hour?

The Lucys had gathered at the far end of the counter from the Nulls, near the entrance. They hugged Daisy in excitement at her return, chattering and keeping their voices low, so the Nulls couldn’t overhear.

Walker was glad these people weren’t normally violent because the divisiveness was becoming more apparent every day.

Sam settled Daisy on a stool so Dinah could pamper her.

Confused by the way Sam, the scientist, fit in so easily with the crazies, Walker sat beside Monty for a normal summary of events. “Valdis?”

“Mariah said they searched the cemetery and didn’t find her. For whatever reason, they’re waiting for you and Sam to come up with a better solution. Got any?” Monty slugged his coffee as if it were whiskey.

“Bloodhounds? Wiggling sticks?” Walker gratefully accepted the burger Dinah slapped in front of him. He didn’t quibble over the avocado and sprouts because the bite of sriracha sauce made nutrition worthwhile.

Monty went back to glaring, this time at the mural. Lance appeared to be studying it almost surreptitiously, in between rearranging his food. And there was the reason Carmel’s artistic brother had deigned to descend from the mountain—he’d heard about Lucinda Malcolm and the mural that had been staring them in the face all these years.

Finding Cass looking gloomy in one of the booths, Walker decided if he had to look at misery, it ought to at least be female, he picked up his plate and sat across from her. “How is Xavier?”

“If you’ve tested the kerosene can for prints, you already know he burned the cross,” she said without hesitation.

Walker raised his eyebrows in surprise at this admission. He knew the story he was about to hear would have nothing to do with rationality, but he asked anyway. “He burned the mountain so the Kennedys had to go forward with the condos?”

Cass glared at him. “He says the spirits made him do it, but he thought they were the good spirits telling him to cleanse the evil. He says he only planted the cross and didn’t start a fire. So now he’s not so sure if the spirits were good or evil, and he wanted to ask Sam. Why would he want to ask Sam?”

“Because he’s crazy like everyone else up here?” Walker suggested. “Did he say where he got the drugs?”

Cass cast him an evil eye, but at least she was looking less depressed. “Are you going to arrest him? He needs medical help, not prison.”

“Is anyone pressing charges? If he lit that fire, he pretty much destroyed the lodge’s business, so it’s Kurt and Monty you need to talk to.” Which is why Xavier had gone to Sam, Walker realized. Cass wouldn’t talk to the Kennedys, but Sam might go with him to explain. The man was only half-crazy.

“The sheriff’s office will press charges if you tell them to,” Cass said.

“The sheriff’s office will do whatever the D.A. says,” he corrected. “I’ll take a wild guess and assume the D.A. will have difficulty convicting with only a drug-addicted mental case’s half-confession, unless there is other evidence. The kerosene can was a plant to make sure he was implicated and probably to explain his overdose. It was wiped clean of prints.”