Prelude to a Witch, Amanda Lee [ebook reader web txt] 📗

“And what happened then?”

Aunt Tillie didn’t respond, so I did.

“Willa wanted Twila,” I explained. “She didn’t want her to raise and love, though. She wanted her because she thought that would grant her access to the family land.”

“Willa wanted to do the worst possible thing in your view,” Hannah said to Aunt Tillie. “She tried to break up your family.”

“That was never going to happen,” Aunt Tillie insisted. “I told Willa that right from the start. I would’ve killed her before I let her separate those girls.”

Hannah’s eyebrows hopped. “You would’ve killed her?”

“I said it, and I meant it. Screw Willa. She doesn’t care about anybody but herself.”

“I don’t think that’s entirely true,” I argued. “She seems to care about Rosemary. I mean ... why else would she be here?”

“To screw with us,” Aunt Tillie snapped. “She only cares about Rosemary enough to use her as a weapon against us.”

I wasn’t certain I believed that. “I think she genuinely cares about Rosemary.”

“And what do you think of Willa?” Hannah asked me.

“I don’t think much of her. We didn’t grow up knowing her. She was this relative way out there we never saw.” I waved my hand for emphasis. “We knew she was Aunt Tillie’s sister, but she wasn’t part of our family.”

“So she’s an outsider who is trying to invade your family.”

“That sounds a bit dramatic.”

Hannah laughed. “Maybe, but Tillie believes she’s an outsider. Did you always believe that? Were you always aware she wasn’t a full sister?”

Aunt Tillie held out her hands. “I knew there was something different about her. Ginger and I were close. Willa and I were not. I always hated Willa.”

“Did your mother treat her differently?”

“My mother raised her,” Aunt Tillie insisted.

“Yes, but did she treat her differently?”

Aunt Tillie worked her jaw. “I didn’t think so at the time,” she said finally, taking me by surprise with her honesty. “But now ... I think she was colder with Willa. There was an invisible wall.”

“And you picked up on it,” Hannah surmised.

“Probably. It doesn’t matter. Willa is the devil.”

“Willa probably picked up on the fact that she was an outsider and hated you for it,” Hannah said. “You’re right about her not being here for Rosemary. Er, well, she’s not entirely here for Rosemary. Payback against you is her primary motivation. That’s why she came to the inn the way she did last night.

“You obviously didn’t invite her, and any sane person would realize that going to the inn wouldn’t accomplish anything,” she continued. “She went anyway. I can only conclude that was to push buttons, something she managed to achieve.”

“Why would she do that?” I asked.

“It could be that she feeds off negative attention like Tillie, but it could also be that she wanted to serve as some sort of distraction. Perhaps Rosemary was doing something and she wanted to make sure that you were distracted enough not to figure it out.”

“That’s diabolical,” I muttered as Hannah laughed.

“We have other things to worry about,” Chief Terry interjected. “Willa is an issue — she’s always an issue when she comes to town — but Tillie will take care of her as she always does. She’s an annoyance but she can’t be our primary concern. Those shade things that hurt Bay last night are our primary concern.”

“That’s why I brought this.” Hannah tapped the folder on the table. “This is the case file from Salem. I had it messengered to me and it arrived this morning. I thought maybe Bay might want to take a look. I would like her opinion.”

“Why?” Landon asked as he returned to the table. “What good will that do?”

“I think the cases are similar. If they are, we might find answers in the first case. If they’re not, we can eliminate that right away.”

“I can look at it.” I accepted the file from her. “This is the case from two years ago?”

“Yes. The case from twenty years ago does not have complete information.”

“Why is that?” Landon asked.

“I’m not a hundred percent certain. I could chalk it up to lazy police work, or at the very least lazy filing. It’s likely a multitude of things.”

“But?” Landon prodded.

“But the pages of the file that are missing feel a little too strategic,” Hannah said. “I think someone purposely removed them.”

“Why?”

“Because there was a paranormal element,” I said. “Whoever hid it didn’t want people to read that part.”

Hannah nodded and brightened. “I like that I don’t have to explain myself. Anyway, I’ll let you look at this and explain a bit to the others while you do.”

I flipped the file open. I’d read case files with Landon. Still, it was slow going.

“Two years ago in Salem, I was called in because their regular profiler was on paternity leave,” Hannah started. “The initial case I was called in on involved three men. Their bodies were found on the second floor of a downtown business. They had long rap sheets, mostly for petty crimes, but there were some other disturbing allegations.

“One of them had twice been accused of rape,” she continued. “The women who accused him recanted at some point. The case notes explained that the women were terrified and the officers investigating believed that this man had intimidated them. But they could not prove it.”

“Okay.” Landon rubbed his hand over my neck as I read the file. “You’re talking about general dirtbags. How did they die?”

“There was discoloration around their necks, but there were no other obvious marks on the bodies. This happened two months before I was called to Salem. It only came up because of what I’m going to tell you next.

“The first individual who died in Salem was Maggie Masters,” she continued. “She was sixteen, beautiful, and her family owned an Irish pub. Maggie did not work there because she wasn’t old enough, but she came in to visit her parents from time to time. The men who died visited the