“Hold on.” Landon pulled up another file. “Ben Mason works for Weaver.” He pulled up the final file. “And so does Matt Pope.”
“They stood to make a good bit of money if they were selected to do the concrete work at the new resort?” I pressed.
Landon nodded. “That would be a big deal. How does them getting that contract lead to a dead naiad?”
“Maybe they were out there to do some measuring and planning and they ran across the naiad. History suggests naiads get aggressive when their homes are threatened.”
“So the naiads approached our victims, threatened them or something close, and one of the naiads ended up dead,” Landon guessed. “The other naiad, grief-stricken and angry, decided to pay them back. Why days later? And why out there?”
“Maybe the men panicked after killing her and took off. The naiad might’ve fled and then returned to bury the other one. After that, anger could’ve gotten a foothold. She also likely stumbled across the arachnids at some point.”
“The naiad still had to track down the men,” Landon surmised. “That’s a loose framework, but it covers all the angles. I’m curious how a naiad was out there without anyone knowing.”
“I can’t answer that.” My shoulders hopped. “It’s possible there’s a plane door there we don’t know about. It’s also possible they’ve always been here and we never realized it.”
“How do we handle this?” Chief Terry asked.
“First, we need to talk to anyone else who might’ve been at the construction site in the past week.” I tapped my fingers on the table. “They might have information.”
“And they might be potential targets,” Landon added. “Maybe more than the three dead men were involved.”
I’d already come to that conclusion. “I can’t help but imagine a scenario in which ten or fifteen guys were out there and the naiads decided to take them all on to protect their home. Things might have gotten out of hand.”
“I’ll get a list of everyone who has been out there,” Landon said. “Are we going to split up to tackle this list? I want to be part of it, but I don’t think Terry and I would recognize a naiad if we saw one.”
And that was another problem. “We’re going to need help.” I was resigned. It wasn’t as if Evan and I could handle every name on the list. Clove and Thistle weren’t strong enough to fight a naiad, so I couldn’t send them. “I’m thinking of bringing in a few witchy friends.”
Realization dawned on Landon’s features. His mouth curved down. “That’s just what we need. A vengeful naiad, two Aunt Tillies, and Scout’s mouth. This won’t go off the rails or anything.”
“Better safe than sorry, right? We might need Scout.”
“I want Scout with you.” Landon said. “At least I know you’ll be safe.”
20
TWENTY
Stormy, Gunner, and Scout were excited when they arrived in town.
“Who are we torturing today?” Scout asked, her blonde hair pulled back in a braid that hung over her shoulder. If her hair wasn’t down, she meant business.
I’d been vague in getting them to Hemlock Cove. I figured telling the story once was preferable to going over it several times. To ensure privacy, I took them inside The Whistler to catch them up.
“Where is Evan now?” Scout, no longer laughing, asked.
“We left him at the resort site,” I replied. “He wanted to look around. That was about two hours ago.”
“He’s fine,” Gunner said when I shot Scout a questioning look. If she wanted to go after Evan, we would do that. “He can take care of himself, even against a naiad.”
“Have you ever faced off with a naiad?” I asked Scout.
She was grim. “Well, kind of.”
That was an evasive answer. I waited for her to expand. She didn’t. “Would you care to share with the class?” I asked when she’d been quiet for far too long.
“I’m not being difficult. I’m just … thinking.” She rolled her neck. “There was a naiad on the Canadian side of the Ambassador Bridge once. She was one pecan shy of being princess of the nut barn.”
“Is that your clinical diagnosis?” Gunner asked.
