Pretty Witches All in a Row (25 page)

The sliding glass door from the master bedroom to the rear patio was wide open, the sheer drapes fluttering in the light breeze.  “Stay here, I’m gonna check outside.”

“Nick, the bathroom…she’ll be in the bathtub.”  Annaliese darted forward without waiting for him and he was forced to follow, finding the master bath, nudging the light switch up carefully with the back of his knuckle.  The bathroom was large and modern with square white sinks set onto a taupe quartz countertop, the cabinets done in a rich cherry wood.  The most dominant feature in the room was a free standing claw foot bathtub, much more modern than the one in Anna’s house.  A tendril of dark hair hung over the side of the bathtub, drawing their eyes. 

“Seraphine!”  Annaliese started to rush forward, but Nick caught her by the elbow, holding fast to her. 

“Don’t touch anything.”  This was officially a crime scene now, even if she was still alive.  “Please, stay here, I’ll check her for a pulse.”

“Nick please… I won’t touch anything, I promise,” she begged, eyes on her fallen friend.

“I can’t take the chance of contaminating the crime scene.  Just… stay here, or you’ll have to go and wait outside.”  Without waiting for a response, he hurried to the side of the tub, leaning down to feel for a pulse even though he knew the second his fingers touched her cold, wet skin that she was dead and gone.  “I’m sorry.”  He looked up at Annaliese who was watching him avidly. 

“Oh God…”  Annaliese’s face crumpled as the tears came, “Poor Sera…”  She edged a little closer, mindful of not touching anything.  “Did she drown?”

Seraphine’s head lolled out of the water, but it was obvious she’d been submerged at some point; her hair wet and matted to her face.  “It looks like it, I’m gonna call this in, maybe you should go and sit down in her bedroom?  There’s no need for you to be right in here with the body.”

“That
body
was my friend,” she said solemnly.  “She’s in a bathtub and she’s wearing white cloth, like I was in the dream.”  Her hands started to shake.  “Maybe I will go and sit down for a minute.”  Annaliese left the bathroom and sank into a chair in her dressing room, where Nick could still see her.

“Wait here, I’m gonna check outside.  If you see or hear anything, yell for me, I’ll be right back,” he promised.  The odds were slim that the killer was still on the premises, but he had to check it out.  Nudging the filmy fabric aside, he stepped through the slider and out onto the patio.  The space outside was set up for entertaining, a patio table and several chairs scattered around the rectangular area.  A large sunken Jacuzzi was tucked away in the corner, with redwood benches surrounding it.  A thin strip of lawn completed the far edge of the outdoor space and continued around the side of the house in each direction.

Having no idea which way the killer might have gone, Nick chose to go to the left, following the lawn down the rear of the house which led to a narrow walkway between the side of the house and the fence surrounding the property.  A low wrought iron gate stood slightly ajar leading to the front of the house. 

Nick slowed, hot disappointment lancing through him at seeing the gate unsecured.  Whoever it had been there was long gone now, he was sure of it.  After all, they’d had nearly half an hour from the time Annaliese woke from her dream until their arrival on the crime scene, plenty of time to get away. 

Retracing his steps at a quick jog, he ducked his head back into the bedroom, eyes immediately searching for Annaliese to make sure she was still alright.  “Are you alright?  I didn’t see anything outside; we must have just missed ‘em.”  He tucked away his gun. 

“I’m… okay, I guess,” she replied, sounding less than convinced of that. 

Nick drew out his cell phone and started the series of calls he needed to get things in motion.  Troyer and his men, Park and Brady, the Medical Examiner, CSU, EMT’s, even a couple of beat cops were summoned to come and search the grounds.  Soon the house would be awash with people and he turned to face Annaliese, crouching down before the chair she sat it.  “If you want to avoid a lot of unpleasant questions, you’ve only got a few minutes to get out of here,” he said softly.

“No, I’d like to stay, see if there’s any way I can help,” she shook her head. 

“I’m not sure how much help you’ll be able to offer.  Once Troyer gets here it’ll be his show, he might order you to leave,” he pointed out, laying a comforting hand on her knee. 

“Still, it’s the least I can do, and… I don’t really want to be alone right now,” Anna admitted, dropping her gaze.  “I can’t reach either Rose or Ellie on the phone.  Rose’s goes straight to voicemail and Ellie’s rings and rings.  I don’t even know if she has an answering machine come to think of it, she doesn’t have a cell phone,” she replied, her eyes starting to water again.  “Can you maybe send someone over there to check on them?”

They’d do more than that.  With only three coven members left, they would likely be put on constant surveillance now both for their protection and investigation.  “Yeah, I can do that.  I’m sure they’re fine.  The killer’s never struck more than one victim a night before, right?  And you only saw one victim in your dream,” he pointed out. 

“That’s true,” she allowed after a moment’s consideration.  “I didn’t see a pentacle in there though, did you?”

“No, but if there ever was one there the CSU guys will find traces of it, especially now that they know what to look for.  What I don’t understand is why the drowning death now when all the others have been stabbed?”

“I don’t know, it seemed like the other deaths were part of a ritual.  Given the type of stabbings… I would have said the witch used her athame to do the actual killing.  I don’t know why she or he would vary that factor at this point.”

“What’s an athame?”

“It’s a ceremonial dagger, used in some rituals.  I don’t personally use them, but I sell them in my shop.”

Witches actually used daggers?  That seemed like an important factoid that she’d been holding back, what else hadn’t she told him?  “How come you didn’t mention this earlier?  Did you see an athame among Skye’s things or Meiliyn’s?” 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t really think about it before in this context.  They’re not used for stabbing or cutting, they’re purely ceremonial, like I said.  Before tonight I didn’t have a clue there was even a witch involved let alone this hidden coven member out to kill us all,” she blinked at the accusation in his tone.  “I don’t think there was one at either of their places; it would have been on the inventory though, we could check the list.”

Nick nodded, accepting the explanation offered.  “Alright, we can go over that later.  For now, why don’t you come upstairs with me and we’ll get you a glass of water?  There’s no reason for you to stay down here.”

She looked for a moment like she would object, but then she capitulated, nodding slowly as she rose from the chair.  They were headed up the stairs when a female voice called out from above.

“Hello?  Somebody call for a Doc?” 

“Yeah, come on in Libby, she’s downstairs,” Nick called up, quickening his pace a little.  “That’s the medical examiner, she’ll have to pronounce her dead and then we’ll start to get some answers,” he explained to Annaliese as they crested the stairs and spotted her entering the foyer. 

“Hey Nick, why did I know I’d find you here?”  Libby shook her head slightly.  “Isn’t Troyer supposed to be the Sergeant in charge on this one?”

“Right person at the right time,” Nick shrugged. 

“Not quite the right time, if it had been the right time we would have been able to save her,” Annaliese said softly.

“I’m sorry, you’re right Annie,” Nick rubbed her back comfortingly.  “Oh, sorry, this is Libby Fielding our medical examiner; Libby this is Annaliese Cross, she’s a friend of the deceased and my… friend too.”  He introduced them after a brief pause.

“Nice to meet you Annaliese, sorry it’s under these circumstances.”  She offered a hand that was already wearing a latex glove. 

“Nice to meet you too, Libby.” 

“I’m sorry I can’t stay and chat, but I should really examine the body.  You said she was downstairs?”  Libby was already heading for the top of the stairs. 

“Yeah, at the end of the hall to the left is the master, she’s in the bathtub,” Nick replied with a quick wave.  The sound of sirens could be heard in the distance.  “That’ll be the EMT’s.” 

“Why did you call an ambulance when she’s already dead?” Anna asked, moving with him towards the front door.

“Because technically I’m not qualified to make that determination.  Only the medical examiner or a doctor can make that call.  Not even the EMT’s; they would have to attempt to resuscitate her until the M.E. arrives; only she beat them to it this time.  She must have already been up.”

Right on cue, the EMT’s arrived on the scene and Nick jerked a thumb towards the stairs.  “Downstairs on the left in the master bathroom, but Fielding’s in there already, I’m not sure she needs you,” he called out obligingly.  After a moment’s discussion, the EMT’s decided to leave the gurney upstairs and proceeded down on their own.

“Why don’t you come and have a seat on the sofa; I’m gonna need to talk to just about everyone who comes through that door.  You want me to get you a glass of water or anything?” Nick asked solicitously, guiding her into the formal living room.

“No, I’m fine.  Just come and tell me when you know anything.  Well, when you can, okay?” she asked, sinking down onto the couch. 

“I will,” he promised, reaching out to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear and resisting the urge to kiss her forehead before he straightened. 

There was a steady procession of personnel arriving over the next half hour, all proceeding to the master bedroom.  Willis and Nelson were the last on the scene, arriving together.  By then, all non essential personnel had been shooed from the lower floor while forensics got to work and the detectives reassembled in the kitchen.

“What’s she doing here?” Troyer asked in a low voice as soon as he spotted Annaliese. 

“She’s here with me,” Nick answered promptly. 

“You always make it a habit to bring your girlfriend to a crime scene?” Nelson smirked.  “Does she get off on that sort of thing?”

It took a full count of five before Nick was able to let the comment slide and ignore the younger detective.  Instead he kept his responses to Troyer, where he owed them.  “I was watching her for her protection, when she got a strong feeling that something was wrong here, so we came to check it out, but it was already too late.”

“So she had a strong feeling and you come all the way over here in the middle of the night, guns blazing?”

“Actually it was a dream.”  Nick held up his hand against the protests he knew were coming.  “I know… I felt the same way last time, but she had one of these dreams on the night that Meiliyn Xiang was killed too.  Given what we found here, I’d have to say I trust her instincts.”

“It sounds a little suspicious to me; a little too convenient that she happens to know about this.”  Nelson shook his head.

“I was with her the whole time, there’s no way she was more directly involved in this, no way.” 

“You said she was dreaming, were you asleep too?”

“Well… yeah I guess I did fall asleep… on her couch,” he clarified.  “But there’s no way she could have slipped out, come down here and killed Seraphine then slipped back in and started screaming bloody murder.  No way, I would have heard her.” 

“Check the timing on it,” Troyer said shortly.  “So you got here and what happened next?”

“We found the front door unsecured and proceeded inside, the top floor was deserted and we found the victim in her bathtub.  I checked her for a pulse and then proceeded outside through the open slider in the master bedroom, but there was no sign of the perp.  The side gate was also left ajar.”

“You left her alone with the body when you went outside?”  Nelson piped up, drawing a frown from Nick who did not like the way things were heading. 

“Guys, Annaliese did not have anything to do with this; I would stake my reputation on it.”

“You might end up staking your job on it, Sergeant.”  Troyer gave him a pointed look but Nick refused to back down. 

“If I need to.”

Libby stepped into the kitchen, looking from one man to the other before giving Park a ‘what’s going on?’ look.    Park shook her head, not wanting to get in the middle of things.  “Ah… I’ve got a preliminary report before we bring her downtown.  Who wants it?”  She held up the report, fanning herself with it.

“I’ll take it, Libby,” Brady smiled, relieving her of it and scanning it quickly. 

“I’ll take the cliff notes version; what did you find, Fielding?” Troyer asked.

“The presence of foam in the trachea confirms she was definitely drowned.  There are no signs of a struggle, nothing under her fingernails or any contusions on her arms or shoulders like you would normally find in a deliberate drowning.”

“If she was drugged with laudanum like the others that could explain the lack of a struggle,” Brady suggested. 

“I place the time of death between two-thirty and four AM.  It’s a little difficult to pinpoint depending on whether she was originally in hot or cold water.” 

“The water was cold when we got here, that was a little before four in the morning.”  Nick supplied and Libby nodded in acknowledgement. 

“That’s about all I’ve got for now.  We’ll get her back to the office and I’ll have a more thorough report for you as soon as I can.”

“Thanks Libby,” Nick gave her a tight smile and she smiled back before starting to move away with a yawn.

“Oh, I almost forgot, the crime scene unit asked me to show you guys this; he said you might find it interesting.”  Libby pulled a sealed plastic baggie from her kit and handed it over. 

Nick reached for it but Willis was quicker, snatching it out of her fingers and studying the bag.

“What is it?” Troyer asked.

“It looks like a piece of a host.  You know, like they have in church for communion?”  He held the bag up to the light so they could all see the little white semi-circle.