Pretty Witches All in a Row (27 page)

“Now would be an excellent time, because I’m not tempted to raise it in the least,” he smiled broadly as she gave a long suffering sigh. 

“A girl has to try.”

“Keep trying, only next time try it on a full stomach, I’m especially partial to dutch apple pie,” he suggested and she gave him a sour smile. 

“I’ll keep that in mind.” 

It wasn’t far to the high school and Nick pulled up across the street.  “I love you, you know.”

“I love you too, Daddy.”  Veronica smiled, unbuckling her seatbelt and leaning over for a hug. 

“Nice to see you’re not too cool to hug your dad in front of the school.”

“Oh, I’ll tell them you’re my older boyfriend,” she teased, kissing his unshaven cheek, an impish grin on her face as she reached for the car door.  “Bye, ma cheri, have a fantastic day!” she called out brightly, stepping out onto the curb.

There were so many things wrong with her response; he wasn’t sure where to begin.  In the end he settled for waving back at her as she crossed the street.  He was about to head back to the office when his cell phone rang, the display showing Brady on the other line. 

“Hey boss.  I can’t get Miss Wentworth to leave her home and come in for protection.”

“Did you explain about the murder last night?  About how we’re worried it might be someone she knows?”

“Yes, she just… didn’t seem to think it affected her one way or the other. Maybe if you tried talking to her…?”

Nick let out a long drawn out breath.  “Okay, I’ll be right down there, you sit tight.”  Just what he needed, uncooperative subjects to babysit.  It didn’t take him too long to make his way over to Ellie’s little house and he spotted Brady sitting out in his car.  Brady gave him a little salute and started up the car, presumably to head over to Rose Spencer’s place. 

Ringing the doorbell, Nick waited patiently in the early morning drizzle for Ellie to answer, already getting his smile fixed and ready to go.  “Hello Miss Wentworth, I’m sorry to bother you so early.”

“Sergeant Gibson, what a nice surprise.  Please, come in out of the rain,” she smiled; stepping back and holding the door open wide.

“Thank you, Ma’am, don’t mind if I do,” he flashed her a grateful smile, stepping into her parlor. 

“Would you care for a cup of tea?  It won’t take a minute,” Ellie offered, pushing the door shut. 

“No thank you, Ma’am.  I am sorry to come so early, but I was concerned for your safety.”  Nick approached the seating group, but remained standing until she took a seat.

“Oh please, call me Ellie.  It’s sweet of you to worry about little ol’ me, but what makes you think
I’m
in danger?”

His eyes narrowed slightly.  “It can’t have escaped your attention that four of your coven members have been killed recently.  There are only three of you left, and yes, we’re a little worried for your safety.”

“That’s very sweet of you, Sergeant Gibson, but I’ve never run away before; I have no intention of doing it now.  I’ll be fine, mark my words.  Besides, I doubt the killer’s interested in someone as old as I am,” she scoffed. 

“We don’t know if age is a factor, Ellie,” he said gently before adding, “but I would like to ask you something about the coven if you don’t mind.  Are there any other coven members left here in town besides you, Rose and Annaliese?”

“No, that’s the whole group, such as it is,” she sighed sadly, “poor dears.”

“What about former members, has anyone dropped out over the past few years?  Perhaps with any hard feelings?”

“No, before all of this happened we’ve been increasing over the years, not decreasing.  May I ask why you want to know?”

“Annaliese was doing some divination last night and she believes that the killer is a member of the coven.  Only it wasn’t anyone that we already know about, so we’re trying to figure out if there were any past members that might have dropped out.” 

Ellie blinked in surprise, “What do you believe, Sergeant Gibson?” 

“I’m… keeping an open mind.”

“You don’t believe the Reverend is the killer?  Even after that fiasco last night?”

“I’m not willing to discard anyone as a suspect at the moment, but I am leaning more towards something with a more… occult aspect right now.”

“I’ve never heard of anyone else being in the coven other than the seven of us, I’m sorry.”

“That’s alright, thank you for answering my questions.  Are you sure you won’t reconsider coming into protective custody?”

“No thank you, it sounds a bit too much like jail to me.”  She wrinkled her nose with distaste.  “I’m sure I’ll be fine with my little guardian angel out there.”  Ellie nodded her head towards the window where a marked police car had pulled up in front of her home.

“Alright, it’s your call.  If you change your mind, just let us know.”

“Don’t you worry; it’ll all be over soon.”  She gave him a smile that he imagined was supposed to be comforting.

“What makes you say that?” he asked, rising to his feet.

“You’re drawing closer to catching the killer, aren’t you?  And there are fewer coven members left for him to choose from.  One way or the other, it’ll be over soon, won’t it?”

He stared back at her, not quite sure how to take her remark.  “Uh, right.  Thanks again for your time, Ma’am.  You have a nice day.”  Nick couldn’t get out of there fast enough.  Maybe Veronica was right, and she was like one of those spooky old ladies from a children’s tale that liked to eat little children.  The wicked old witch… he’d have to be careful not to say anything in front of Annaliese, she’d probably get upset at the analogy.  But it couldn’t hurt to look a little deeper into Miss Ellie Wentworth. 

Nick’s phone chirped again as he pulled into the station parking lot, another call from Brady.  “Rose needs me to come and talk to her too?” he smirked into the phone. 

“There’s no answer at Rose’s place,” Brady reported.  “Do you think we have probable cause to bust in and see if she’s alright?”

There were arguments to be made on either side of that question, but for the moment Nick decided to err on the conservative side.  Rose’s family did have a considerable amount of influence should she object to them breaking into her home, even if it was to make sure she was safe.  “No, why don’t you come on in, I’ll think of something,” he instructed, hanging up as he entered the precinct. 

A momentary flutter of nerves gripped him as he had the fleeting thought that Annaliese wouldn’t be there for some reason.  He eased as he saw her sitting with Park at her desk, smiling over a cup of coffee.  Watching the two women for a few moments, Nick wondered if it could be that easy.  Could he really blend their two worlds so easily?  Would his friends accept someone of her eccentricities?  And would her friends accept someone of his authority?  Veronica seemed to like her and that was the most important hurdle in his life. 

“Hello ladies, did I miss the hair braiding or am I in time?” he grinned, sitting on the corner of Park’s desk. 

Two sets of eyes, one brown and one green, gave him identical looks, waiting for him to get whatever comments were forthcoming out of his system and he decided to quit while he was ahead.  Was he ahead?  Nick cleared his throat.  “So, Ellie doesn’t want to come in, she doesn’t think that she’s in any real danger,” he gave a shrug.  “We’ve got a uniform sitting outside her house; there’s not too much more we can do for her beyond that.”

“That’s odd, when I talked to her last night she seemed pretty freaked out by all of this,” Annaliese frowned.  “I wonder if she’d come to my place tonight?  There’s safety in numbers, after all.”

“That might be a good idea, have a big old slumber party.  Tell ghost stories, ooh,
then
you can braid each other’s hair.”  Nick gave them a big grin, they had to give him that one, it was much more in context. 

“How about we braid
your
hair?  I assume you’ll be around tonight?”  Annaliese gave him a look that spoke volumes.

“Try and keep me away,” he dropped her a wink.  “Maybe you can invite Rose too?  Brady tried her at her place; she’s either not home or not answering the door.”  He left off any mention of foul play, knowing she could come to that conclusion all on her own. 

“He’s not having much luck this morning, is he?” Park’s lips quirked into a smile as she checked her email. 

“I was thinking maybe you and I could swing over there this morning, make sure she’s alright,” Nick suggested, and Anna nodded readily.

“I think that’s a great idea if you have time.” 

“The briefing’s not for a couple of hours, we should be fine,” he waved away her concern, more interested in what Park was looking at.  “Anything good?” 

“There were traces of dirt found on the bathroom floor, like you said.  No analysis is back on it yet to confirm it’s the same kind of dirt as the others though.” 

“That clinches it for me.  I think the whole baptism angle was staged, like the destruction of her ritual room, trying to throw us off the scent, it has to be.  Otherwise why go through the trouble of cleaning up the dirt?”

“Nick, can we go to Rose’s now?  I know I didn’t see her in the dream but… I’d feel a lot better if I could see her.”  Annaliese rose from her chair.

“Yeah sure, you bet,” he nodded, hopping to his feet.  “We’ll catch you later Shelly-belly.” 

“She really hates that, you know,” Annaliese commented as they reached the elevators.

“I know, that’s why I do it.” 

“You’re trying to be annoying on purpose?”

“People need something to bitch about their bosses for; this gives her something to complain about without having to actually dig for anything real,” his words were glib as he stepped into the elevator.

“You expect me to believe you’re calling her silly names on purpose to give her something constructive to complain about?”  She stayed put in the hallway, staring at him in disbelief.

“Everybody needs a hobby…” Nick replied defensively.  It wasn’t as if he did it to be mean, and the nickname wasn’t offensive, it just bugged her in a big brother sort of way, he was sure of it.  “Now come on, you’re holding up the elevator.”  He reached forward and grabbed the end of her scarf, tugging her towards him.

“Maybe you need to find a new one…” she muttered, darting inside before the doors closed.  “I have several I can recommend.”  Annaliese smiled, continuing her motion forward, she stood much closer to him than was necessary in the small elevator.

“I’ll bet you do,” he smiled back, leaning down to capture her lips in a quick kiss.  “But for now we gotta go roust your friend.  You wanna be the good cop or the bad cop?” 

“I think good cop; do you even know how to be bad cop?”  She fixed him with a skeptical look.

“Ouch,” Nick winced.  “I don’t know where you got it in your head that I’m this big softie.  Like I told you; most people find me fairly intimidating.” 

“Uh huh.” 

* * *

“You want me to kick the door in?  Go in with gun blazing?  That’d show you bad cop…” Nick teased as he rang Rose’s doorbell politely.

“That’ll go over well…” Annaliese muttered.  “If she’s hiding out inside because she doesn’t want to deal with the cops, I’m pretty sure busting into her house isn’t going to be tops on her list.”  They waited patiently but no one came to answer the door.  “Rose?  It’s me… open up if you’re home, honey.  I’m worried about you!” she called out, knocking heavily on the door.  “I swear if she doesn’t open up in the next five seconds I’m going to climb in through a window…”

“I should take you on all of my cases, then you can get in trouble for breaking and entering, and I can reap all the benefits from it,” he grinned, watching her pound on the door. 

“ROSE!  Open up!” she yelled again, ignoring Nick for the moment.

“Okay, okay, hold your horses!” came a muffled reply from inside the house and Annaliese flashed Nick a triumphant smile.  The door opened abruptly by a very tired looking Rose, still wearing her pajamas.  “You can come in, but he can’t,” she scowled in Nick’s direction. 

“Rose, we just want to talk to you, did you even hear about what happened to Seraphine?” Annaliese asked. 

The play of emotions over her face shifted from irritation to sadness.  “I heard, sweetie.  Are you alright?”  Rose reached out to push the hair back from Annaliese’s shoulder and laid her hand there comfortingly.  

“I’m dealing.  Though I don’t think I’ve really stopped to process it yet, and what it means.  We found the body this morning,” Annaliese replied, her voice dropping at the last.

“Oh honey, that must have been awful.”  Rose gathered her into her arms for a hug and Nick remained silent, letting them share a moment of comfort. 

“I’ve never seen a dead body before,” Anna nodded, her eyes starting to tear up a little.

“It’s not like it is on TV is it, sweetpea?”  Rose clucked, rubbing her back comfortingly.  “Do you want to come in and sit down?”

Annaliese turned to Nick, not wanting to leave him out in the cold.

Nick stepped up, knowing that like as not, all he’d get for his trouble was a snide comeback, but he owed it to Annie to ask.  “Rose, we’d like you to come in for protection…”

As he suspected, her face scrunched up like she’d stepped in something disgusting.  “Screw that, I am getting the hell out of Dodge, and you should come with me.”  She squeezed Annaliese’s shoulders.

“Rose, you’re not serious, are you?”

“The hell I’m not.  Four people are dead, Annaliese.  Why would we stick around?  I’m packing right now.  As soon as I’m done and can make a few arrangements, I’m outta here.”

“You’re part of an ongoing investigation, you really shouldn’t leave town.”  Nick felt obligated to make the point.  “We can protect you, you know.”

An inelegant snort left Rose’s lips.  “Yeah, tell that to Seraphine.  I’ve seen how well you can protect us.  Fuck that, either arrest me or I’m out of here, end of story.” 

Nick bristled at her response, but remained silent, teeth digging into the insides of his lips to keep from giving her a piece of his mind. 

“Where will you go?” Annaliese asked in a subdued voice. 

“Who cares?  I could go and stay with my parents in Palm Springs, or the apartment in New York, or I could take a cruise somewhere.  We should do that Anna, you and me.  What do you say, my treat?  We’ll hop on a cruise to Mexico and wait for this whole thing to blow over.”  Rose’s face took on an eager light.