“I just heard about the murder, down at the coffee shop. From Prudie. Awful woman,” I said with disdain, crossing my arms and leaning back against the counter. Not feeling even the least bit guilty, I took a scan through Chief Thomas’s thoughts.
Shit.
Now I knew what had been bothering me. My freakin’flip-flops! I’d forgotten them on the beach last night when we’d hightailed it out of there.
“Yes, well, she certainly knows how to get the news out quickly,” Chief said.
“That has to be frustrating. What with you trying to catch the killer and all,” Luna said soothingly, turning up the charm. I side-eyed her, but she refused to look at me, smiling sweetly at Chief Thomas.
“It certainly doesn’t help. Gossip in this town spreads like wildfire,” Chief Thomas grumbled.
“What can you tell us about the murder? Should we be worried for our safety?” I asked, deciding to take control of the situation and head the Chief down another path.
“Any time there is a murderer at large, you should be concerned for your safety,” Chief Thomas said earnestly. I wanted to reach out and squeeze his cheeks. He really was too cute. I didn’t want to tell him that bad people were always out and about.
“Absolutely, we’ll be extra careful,” Luna said, her voice syrupy sweet. “I really appreciate your coming by to warn us.”
Luna can manipulate with the best of them too.
“Oh, good. That’s good. Have you heard all the details then?” he asked, rocking back on his heels.
“Just some pretty gruesome ones from Prudie. Seeds drilled into the head?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him in disbelief.
“Yes, well, that and laid out on a pentagram. Now…I don’t want to go making assumptions here,” Chief Thomas began.
Luna and I looked at each other and simultaneously put our hands on our hips.
Chief Thomas immediately raised his hands.
“I’m not saying you did it. Iamcoming to ask if you could shed any light on what this could mean. I’m, uh – well, I don’t know much about devil worship and the like.”
Devil worship. Really?
“So you think Luna and I are devil worshipers?” My voice went up an octave.
“No, no, no. Now, I didn’t say that,” Chief Thomas sighed and scrubbed a hand over his face. “Listen, you’re the only ones I know in town who openly have a connection to this occult-type stuff. I just figured you might be able to help. That’s all, I swear.”
I picked his brain and found a rush of panic and sincere affection for us, so I gave Luna a look and we both backed down a little.
“Chief, there’s a world of difference between good rituals and dark rituals. Thea and I are not practitioners of the dark arts. However, that doesn’t mean that I’m not educated on them,” Luna said. Chief Thomas’s eyebrows shot up.
“You are?”
“I am. As I was just explaining to Althea, you can’t know the good without knowing the bad. Otherwise how would you know what lines to never cross?”
“That’s a good point. Makes sense when you explain it like that. So, can you offer me any information?”
“Do you have a photo?”
Both Chief Thomas and I looked at Luna, our eyes wide.
“Really? Ew,” I muttered, rubbing my hands up and down my arms. I caught a flash of movement over my shoulder. Great, now Rafe had joined the group. I bet he wanted to see the picture too.
Wordlessly, Chief Thomas reached into the folder he was carrying and slid a photo out, placing it on the counter. We all turned to gaze down at the picture.
It wasn’t pretty.
There was our pentagram, clear as day, though the circle wasn’t visible, as Luna had cast it with her wand. A body was laid out, head facing downward from the point of the pentagram; dark sticky blotches stained the sand beneath his head. The man looked to be of Asian descent, a skinny man with tattoos snaking over his arms. Little seedlings poked out from his dark matted hair, making it look as if he wore some sort of leafy crown.
