The Trouble With Witches (32 page)

"That's a relief," I said as she tugged me toward the door. "Are you going to be okay alone?" I called to Abby over my shoulder.

"You girls go on," she answered, ignoring the helpless look on my face. "I need to clean up around here."

And I knew she didn't mean sweep and dust.

Darci
marched up to the library in Brainerd.

Well, she marched as best one can in platform sandals. But she still made it hard for me to keep up with her, and I was wearing sensible tennis shoes.

"What are we looking for? And why do we need Rick?" I asked, panting and wheezing in the hot, humid air.

"You and I are going to look for information on this Von Schuler Winnie mentioned. And Rick's going to check out the archives to see if there's any mention of Violet Butler's brother," she said.

"Why don't we just ask the Finches about them?"

She looked at me like I'd lost my mind. "I told you, I think you've worn out your welcome. Winnie won't let you near the place."

I gave up arguing and followed her into the library.

Rick stood over by the counter waiting for us. He still hadn't shaved, and the beard he'd let grow for the past four days was losing its scraggly look.

I couldn't help but wonder what his
fiancee
would think of his new image.

"Hi girls," he said with a crooked grin. "You want to explain to me again what we're doing here?"

I shoved my hands in my pockets and shrugged. "Don't look at me. This is
Darci's
idea."

"
Darci
?"

"It's like this," she said, urging us away from the counter. "Abby and Ophelia both believe Walks
Quietly's
telling the truth, so he's off the hook. That leaves the Finches…"

Rick shot me an "I told you so" look.

She continued. "But other than that they were the last ones to see Brandi, we don't have any proof they know more than they're saying—"

"In other words, nothing new has turned up," Rick interrupted.

Darci
held up a finger. "That's not true. We know
Tink's
a psychic and someone at the compound is playing around with
magick
. And whoever that someone is, they've been worried enough about us being here that they've tried to put a curse on us."

"Have you considered the spells were done out of jealousy?" Rick asked.

"By someone like Winnie?"
I interjected.

"Could be."
Rick scratched his beard. "This is all pretty strange. I feel like we're fighting phantoms."

Darci
gave him a knowing look. "Maybe we are."

"Come on,
Darci
." Rick frowned. "I can buy into the
magick
thing, but evil ghosts lurking around, kidnapping a young girl, murdering Duane Hobbs? That's crazy."

"Fine,"
Darci
replied, her chin shooting up a notch. "Don't help us, then. Ophelia and I will find out what we need to know by ourselves." She propelled me forward. "Come on, Ophelia, the card catalogue is over this way."

Rick let out a long sigh. "Okay, okay." His voice sounded defeated. "We don't have anything to lose. What do you want me to do?"

Darci's
face brightened. "The newspaper archives—go through them and see what you can find out about Violet Butler's brother."

"Why him?"
Rick's eyebrows drew together.

"Walks
Quietly
thinks he was the one who lived in the abandoned cabin—"

"The place where Ophelia saw the ghost lights."

"Yeah."
She nodded emphatically. "And the place where both Abby and Ophelia think there's some kind of nasty energy. Ophelia, you and I are going to look up twentieth century magicians."

"In particular, a magician named Von Schuler," I said.

"Yup.
We're going to see if there's some reason he popped up in your dream."

Rick wandered off with a muttered "What the hell," while
Darci
and I headed toward the card catalogue.

We found four references to Frederick Von Schuler. After finding the books, we started reading.

Twenty minutes later I turned and looked at
Darci
, sitting beside me. "These references don't say much. Not even much is written about what kind of magic he performed. Are you finding anything?"

"Hmm."
She peered at the pages she'd been reading.
" 'Born
1880; performed telepathic routine with help of assistant; retired 1929.'
" She
flipped the book shut and leaned back. "None of that information's very juicy."

I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and glanced down at the thick volume. "It seems to me he wasn't very famous, not like Houdini and Blackstone." Looking back up, I tapped my finger to my chin. "I wonder why Jason Finch is so interested in Von
Schuler?
"

"I don't know," she said, throwing up her hand. "Maybe it's the telepathic thing. Jason wants to know about all things psychic, and maybe this Von Schuler was better than people thought at the time. Maybe he really was a psychic."

I looked down at the pages again. "Do any of your books mention when he died?"

She flipped open the second book. "This one says, 'Believed to have died in 1933.' "

I quickly scanned the text. "Mine says, 'Date of death unknown.'
" Raising
my head, I arched my eyebrow. "Why wouldn't his date of death be listed?"

"He could have retired and slipped into obscurity. He wasn't all that famous to start with."

Shutting the books, I pushed them to the side and crossed my arms.
"Any more ideas?"

"One—"

"Find anything?"

We both jumped. We'd been so intent on Von
Schuler,
we hadn't noticed Rick slip up behind us.

"No,"
Darci
said, her voice heavy with disappointment. "Did you find anything?"

Rick waved two photocopies in front of our noses. "These."

Darci
made a move to grab them, but Rick, with a smug look on his face, held the papers out of her reach.

"I'll read them to you." He crossed to the other side of the table, pulled out a chair, and sat down. "It isn't much, but it raises some questions."

I rolled my eyes. "We're supposed to be finding answers, not more questions, Rick."

"Let me read them, and then you can tell me what you think." He laid out the papers in front of him. "Okay, the first one is only a couple of lines about the death of Violet Butler's brother." He looked down at the paper. "Refers to him only as her brother, his name isn't mentioned. It also does not mention any other siblings."

"So you're assuming it was just Violet and her brother?"

"Yes."

"Then the niece the Butlers raised would've been the brother's child?"

"Right," Rick answered.

He pointed to a line on the paper. "But the last line struck me as odd. The article ends with, 'May the spirits rest in peace.' "

"Not may
his
spirit rest in peace?" I said.

Rick raised his head. "No."

Darci's
eyes darted to mine and she mouthed the word "ghosts." I shook my head and sighed.

Rick saw the exchange and smiled.

"What year was this article written?"
Darci
asked, turning to Rick.

"Nineteen thirty-three—"

Darci's
eyes flew wide. "That's the same—"

"
Shh
." I placed my hand on her arm to silence her. "Let Rick finish."

"Once I found that article, I decided to dig a little deeper." He paused for a moment, pride at his discovery flitting across his face. "Care to guess what I uncovered?" he asked, drawing out the suspense.

I narrowed my eyes and scowled at him. "Would you cut to the chase?"

"Oh, okay." He picked up the second piece of paper and held it out with a flourish. "This is a short announcement concerning the marriage of Victor Butler to the former Violet Von Schuler—"

Before he could finish, I grabbed the page out of his hands and scanned it quickly. "Violet Butler was Frederick Von Schuler's sister?"

"Yes."

"That means—"

"Juliet Finch is the granddaughter of Frederick Von Schuler," Rick said, finishing the sentence for me.

I chewed the inside of my lip, thinking. The connection explained several things. Why the Finches lived at the lake. Why Jason was fascinated with Von Schuler. And if Von Schuler truly had been a psychic, the relationship could explain
Tink's
psychic talent. She inherited her gift from her great-grandfather.

I looked over at
Darci
. "You didn't read anything about Von Schuler being a medium, did you?"

Darci
opened the books and reread the passages swiftly.
"Nope, nothing in here about that.
Why?"

"No reason," I replied distractedly. My mind was locked on
Tink's
tie to Von Schuler.

I pushed back my chair and stood. "I guess that's it. This information is very interesting, but it doesn't help us find Brandi." Picking up the books, I headed toward the counter.

"Wait."
Darci
hurried to catch up with me. "I have one more idea."

I slowed my steps. "What now?"

The question was pointless. I had a pretty good hunch what
Darci's
next idea would involve. Rick wouldn't like it, but for once I agreed with her.

"We need to go to the abandoned cabin," she whispered.

"Okay," I said, and walked away, leaving
Darci
with a stunned look on her face.

We hurried out of the library and left Rick with a noncommittal "See you later." But before
Darci
pulled away from the curb, I placed a hand on her arm, stopping her.

"
Darci
, are you sure you want to do this?"

She looked at me in surprise. "Yeah, I'm sure."

I thought about the last time I'd been at that cabin, and I shivered in spite of the heat. "I don't know if it's a good idea for you to go along."