mystic caravan mystery 02 - freaky lies (19 page)

“I think Dawson was a douche, and everyone knew it,” Luke replied. “That’s why Kade is Dawson.”

“Yeah, I don’t want to be Dawson,” Kade said, refusing to rise to Luke’s obvious bait. He didn’t want to pick a fight, which I would’ve welcomed at this point. I knew why, too. He wanted those photos. Drat! “I want to be Pacey. If he gets the girl, I’m clearly Pacey.”

“You can’t be Pacey,” Luke scoffed. “I’m Pacey.”

“You can’t be Pacey,” I countered. “He gets the girl, not the boy.”

“Yes, but teenage soap operas rarely let gay characters get anyone,” Luke argued. “I’m Pacey.”

“
Dawson’s Creek
had a gay character named Jack,” Max pointed out, taking everyone by surprise. “He ended up with Pacey’s brother in the final episode. You’re clearly Jack.”

I couldn’t keep my mouth from dropping open. “You watched
Dawson’s Creek
?”

“You weren’t the only ones addicted to Netflix,” Max replied, clearing his throat to signify the conversation was going to take a serious turn. “What can you tell me about the body?”

“Nothing more than I’ve already told you,” I replied. “Kade thinks there’s something fishy going on with the scarecrow, but I don’t know what to think.”

Max lifted his eyebrows. “The scarecrow?”

“It was there the day the body was found and gone the night Poet was chased through the cornfield,” Kade explained.

“It’s back now,” Luke said, craning his neck so he could see the area in question. “Do you think it’s walking around killing people? That would make a great horror movie.”

“That’s not the same scarecrow,” I said. “Also, that would make a weird horror movie. Who’s afraid of a killer made of straw? Light a match and … whoosh!”

“Whatever,” Luke said. “I would be a great lead for that horror movie. I’ve always been a terrific screamer. I’ve even been likened to a young Jamie Lee Curtis.”

Kade incredulously shook his head before locking gazes with me. “I’m going to let that one go.”

“That’s probably wise,” I said, sharing a small smile with him.

“How do you know it’s not the same scarecrow?” Max asked. “Is it dressed differently or something?”

“I saw the scarecrow was back this morning when I was coming back from town with breakfast,” Kade said. “Poet and I went to check it out once we were done eating. We bumped into the farmer who owns the land. He told us.”

“A breakfast I wasn’t invited to, mind you,” Luke groused. “I still haven’t eaten.”

“There’s cereal in your trailer,” I reminded him. “Eat that.”

“I’m definitely giving Kade those photos now,” Luke huffed.

“Kade left you out of breakfast,” I said, an idea forming. “You’ll be rewarding him for bad behavior if you give him the photos now.”

“Hey!” Kade extended a warning finger. “I’m going to see those photographs. I don’t care how you manipulate Luke. They will be mine.”

“What photographs?” Max asked, his eyes twinkling. He clearly enjoyed the banter, which made the task in front of him all the more difficult. My heart went out to him even as my irritation threatened to overwhelm me. I needed him to move faster.

“The ones of Poet when she got drunk that one night and dressed up in the cheerleader uniform,” Luke replied. “I took photos and video, and I’ve been holding them over her head. She’s not being blackmailed right, though. I don’t like it.”

Max snickered. “I remember that night.”

“You do not,” I shot back. “You weren’t there.”

“Yes, I was,” Max said. “You might’ve been too drunk to remember, but I was there. Someone ran up to my trailer and told me I couldn’t miss the show, so I came down.”

I was mortified. I had no idea Max witnessed my performance, if you can even call slurring words and jumping up and down until tipping over a performance. “I … who told you to come down?”

“Raven.”

“Well, that figures,” I muttered, visions of payback dancing in my head. I didn’t care that the incident happened two years ago, she was going down. “She needs me to kick her in the vagina.”

“Poet!” Max’s eyebrows flew up his forehead as Luke and Kade burst into gales of laughter. “I just … her vagina?”

Sometimes I think my mouth has a mind of its own and my big brain doesn’t connect with that mind. I can’t explain it. “I … yes. I want to kick her in the vagina. I said it … and I mean it.”

“Oh, I love chick fights,” Luke enthused. “Tell me before you do it so I can film it and add it to my collection.”

“Your embarrassing Poet moments collection?” I wanted to kick him, too.

Luke bobbed his head as he snickered. “It will have prominent placement. I promise.”

“I’m going to find all of those photos and videos and destroy them,” I warned. “I can control minds. I’ll make you tell me where everything is.”

“You will not,” Luke argued. “You’re too good for that. It’s a violation.”

He wasn’t wrong. Controlling bad guys and forcing them to do something wasn’t easy, but I could convince myself of the merit associated with it because it’s for the greater good. Mind- raping a friend is something else entirely. The mere suggestion made me squirm. “Fine,” I muttered. “If you show him, though, I’m going to kick you in your vagina.”

“Well, at least that will be entertaining,” Luke said, winking. “Go back to the scarecrow. Why is it different?”

“The farmer, who calls his own wife ‘Mama,’ by the way, told us his went missing,” I replied. “Kade originally thought the scarecrow came alive and went after me, but now he’s leaning toward a human dressing as the scarecrow and replacing it so he could spy on us without attracting unwanted attention.”

“Wow, that was a mouthful,” Kade said, shaking his head. “I never thought the scarecrow came alive and chased you. I merely pointed out that the scarecrow was gone.”

“After admitting you’re terrified of corn because of
Children of the Corn
.”

“And that’s why I can’t wait to see those photos,” Kade said. “You need to be taken down a notch or two. By the way, I’m not terrified of corn. I said there’s something creepy about a cornfield. There’s a difference.”

Crud. I dig myself in deeper every time I open my mouth.

“Oh, leave her alone,” Luke chided. “I can’t stand it when everyone gangs up on her. It makes me want to take her side.”

That was a step in the right direction. “Thank you, Luke. That’s why you’re my best friend.”

“You’re mine, too.”

“I know,” I said. “You’re the most loyal person I know … and the most handsome. You’re even more handsome than Percival.”

Kade scorched me with a dark look. “Keep it up. I’ll finish the tickle war I started earlier, and I won’t stop until you cry.”

“You two really need to start doing the horizontal mambo so I don’t have to listen to this PG-rated courting you’re doing,” Luke complained. “If you’re going to have a tickle war you should be naked … and there should be oil and stuff.”

“All right, that will be enough of that,” Max said, making a face.

“You don’t even know what we’re talking about,” Luke said.

“I don’t want to know either,” Max shot back. “We need to focus on the problem at hand. We’re in town for only a few more days. That means if something is going to happen directed at us it’s going to happen soon.”

“That’s not our only problem,” Kade said. “The cops are suspicious of us, too. That Detective Brewer who was out here the day we found the body returned last night because Poet stabbed a guy with a potato peeler. He’s even more suspicious now.”

“I heard about that,” Max said. “That guy is lucky I wasn’t around, because I would’ve peeled him a couple of times before calling the cops. Things could’ve gone a lot worse for him.”

“Nellie wanted to peel him, too,” I said. “As for luck … well … he’s not going to survive county jail for very long.”

“Do you feel guilty about that?” Max asked.

I shook my head. “He was going to kill three innocent people. I don’t feel guilty about wiping his memory and setting him up for a messy prison death.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“The problem is that someone killed a man and removed his limbs,” Kade replied. “Poet has remarked on more than one occasion that the death felt ritual. That means it feels off and weird. Most people look at circus folk as if they’re off and weird. We’ll be suspects.”

“So you’re worried the police will try to pin the murder on us if they go too long without a legitimate suspect,” Max mused, rubbing the back of his neck. “We have an airtight alibi. We were hundreds of miles east when the murder occurred.”

“You have runners, though,” Kade reminded him. “Everyone knows it, because the guys ask questions and draw attention to themselves about a week before we show up. They could be suspects.”

“I never considered that,” Max said. “Still, we didn’t murder anyone. I have a hard time believing the cops would focus on us when there’s no proof of guilt. That seems … unlikely.”

“You obviously don’t watch enough television,” Luke said. “There are dirty cops everywhere.”

“There are also good police officers,” Max said. “I’ve chosen to live my life on the right side of the law for a reason. I believe in the system. It works. Are there errors? Of course. If the police come after us, we’ll handle it.”

Kade stilled, Max’s words washing over him. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Only that this isn’t the first time we’ve ended up on the wrong end of a murder investigation,” Max replied. “We make convenient scapegoats for some people.”

“But … .”

“He’s saying that we’ve been questioned before,” I explained. “Sometimes it was warranted, because we really do make people disappear. Sure, they’re bad people, but when you delve too deeply into our timeline you’ll find a string of missing people trailing behind us.”

“Like the guy you and Luke killed the week I started at the circus?” Kade asked, reminding me of the serial killer I mind-wiped before sending him into a lake to keep the unsuspecting local women safe.

“Yes.” I wasn’t sorry about killing him. The dreamcatcher lured evil entities. Some of them are supernatural but the rest are human. “We only kill bad people, but we do kill.”

“I’m not accusing you of anything,” Kade said, reaching across the table and resting his hand on mine. “Don’t think I was doing that.”

“I … don’t,” I said, my cheeks warming as Max sent me a sidelong glance, his expression unreadable. “I was only explaining that if anyone looks too closely at our history they’ll find some odd things. It’s inevitable. That’s why we have contingency plans for when that happens.”

“And what are those?”

“I … .” How could I explain this without looking like a monster?

Luke slapped the table, startling everyone before inclining his chin in the direction of the front gate. “Don’t look now, kids, but it looks as if we’re going to have to put that contingency plan into action sooner rather than later.”

“What? Why?” Kade knit his eyebrows.

“The cops are here,” Luke said, causing my heart to freeze when I caught sight of the now-familiar detective striding in our direction. “Something tells me he’s not here for an elephant ear and the big show.”

18

Eighteen

I
often find cop faces hard to read. They always look stern, even when they’re about to give you good news, so it’s impossible to ascertain their inner emotions before they speak. Granted, I’ve never received good news from a police officer. The first round of bad news I got was the death of my parents, so I might be biased. The look on Detective Lance Brewer’s face as he approached was one for the record books, though.

“He does not look happy,” Kade said, keeping his voice low. “What do you think is going on?”

“Something tells me he’s not here to inform us they arrested a scarecrow,” I replied, earning an appreciative chuckle from Luke and a warning look from Kade.

“Keep it up, Poet,” Kade intoned. “Once we’re alone I’m going to make you pay.”

“And possibly with photos,” Luke teased.

Now it was my turn to scowl. “We’re all going to have a big discussion about those photos before the end of the night. Mark my words.”

“I love it when you get bossy,” Luke said, wrinkling his nose. “If I was straight it would turn me on.”

“We all love it when she gets bossy,” Max said. “Let me do the talking.”

“Why do you get to do the talking?” Luke asked. He was obviously disappointed. His crush on the detective seemed to be growing.

“Because I said so,” Max replied, pushing himself to his feet. “Good morning, detective. Can we get you a mug of coffee?”

Brewer took a moment to look Max up and down before focusing on me. “Good morning, Ms. Parker. We need to have a talk.”

Uh-oh. This couldn’t be good. “Did something happen to Dakota?” I asked, hoping I sounded concerned rather than defensive. “I already wrote out my statement and emailed it to your office this morning, just like you asked.” I hate having to suck up, but sometimes it’s necessary.

“I read through your statement, and everything seems to be in order,” Brewer answered. “That’s not why I’m here.”

“Well, we’re all dying to know why you’re here,” Max said. “Why don’t you tell us? I think we’d all appreciate it.”

“Uh-huh.” Brewer furrowed his brow. “And you are?”

“I’m Maxwell Anderson. I own Mystic Caravan.”

“I thought she was the owner.” Brewer pointed at me. “She was the one I dealt with last night and when we discovered the first body.”

I stilled. The first body? Crap. That means they found a second body. That definitely wasn’t good.

“Poet is my second in command,” Max explained. “She handles the day-to-day operations while I take on more of an advisory position.”

“Does that mean she does all the work while you count the money?”

Brewer clearly had an attitude today. I had no idea why he was taking out his aggression on Max, but I had to prevent this burgeoning argument before Max lost his temper. I’d only seen that happen a few times, but it was terrifying. The last thing this situation needed was an out-of-control mage. “It means that Max is far too valuable to waste on petty disputes and the like,” I replied. “What can I do to help you, detective?”