High Priestess Page 6

  Mick let out an audible sigh. “She feels terrible.”

  “Yeah, we wouldn’t want that.”

  Mick scowled at her. “She doesn’t want you to think she killed your mother.”

  Raven fisted her hand in her hair and suppressed the urge to scream. “Why didn’t they just run the damn tests?”

  “Well, that’s the question, isn’t it?”

  * * *

  Raven cut Mick loose for the night and sat at her desk to type up her report and a request to have Ena’s body exhumed and autopsied. Then she went home to her cottage, glad that she still had that six pack of beer from the night before. She sat in her living room with the lights off, staring out at Fairy Lake with the bright moon reflecting off the water. There was something about the water that calmed her. Being here, looking out at that view, centred her, grounded her.

  She got out of her chair and walked to the window, looking up at the moon. In a couple of days it would be full.

  Sunday.

  “Get the fuck out of my head.” Raven glared up at the ceiling, as if she would see Ena there. She took a long swig of her beer and headed to the fridge to grab another.

  Raven Sage. Is that the way I raised you?

  Raven stopped in her tracks and laughed. “The way you raised me? You didn’t even see me.”

  That’s not true. I’ve always loved you, Rave. You didn’t always make it easy, but I loved you.

  That tore the lid of Raven’s temper. She whirled around and threw her beer can across the room. “I didn’t make it easy? Are you kidding me? I was twelve years old. Twelve.”

  Why can’t we just get along? Why can’t we have a normal conversation, Rave?

  “Why can’t you just get the hell out of my head? I’m looking into what happened to you. You can leave me alone anytime now.” She made it to the fridge, pulled two beers out and took them with her back to the living room where she flopped down into a big easy chair, cracking the first one open. Silence. Finally.

  It took about five seconds before she realized she missed having someone to talk to. Even if it was just her mother’s voice. She downed half the beer and went to the window again. She’d gone off on Riley and now Ena. No wonder no one wanted her. At least she had the moon and the water.

  When she finished the second beer, she pushed off the window and picked up her laptop. Sitting back in the easy chair, she opened the browser and signed into Facebook. In the search bar, she typed Charlene Brock. As expected, no one had deleted her Facebook page. Her family wouldn’t be ready to let go. Raven looked through some of her photos first and then through her posts. She’d danced in some well known theatre productions in Toronto and even one on Broadway. She was vacationing at a resort near Gravenhurst when she went missing and she’d posted her location on Facebook. Raven wasn’t one of her ‘friends’, so the post was ‘public’, meaning anyone could see it.

  She searched for Sandra Kelway next and found her page as well. She was a student in Barrie and she played in a band on the weekends doing local gigs. The night she went missing, she’d posted that she was studying at the college’s library. Again, the post was public. Why didn’t these girls learn to be more cautious with who could see their posts? She’d never understand it.

  Emily McMurtie had her security settings set to ‘friends’ or ‘friends of friends’ because Raven couldn’t see any of her posts or her private information. Good girl, she thought. But, it ruined her theory that the offender found his vics on Facebook. She tried a couple of dating sites before she hit pay-dirt. All three girls had bios on the Dating Pool website.

  She was about to shut down her laptop for the night when she had a thought. Riley had left the security chain on when she answered the door last night. Was someone there with her and she didn’t want Raven to know? Riley shared the long red hair, green eyes, slim build, and fair skin of the vics. She did a search of women looking for women, ages 25 to 35, in the Muskoka area. Sure enough, there was Riley. She’d used a picture that had been of the two of them on Raven’s dock with Fairy Lake behind them, only she’d cropped Raven out of the picture and zoomed in on herself. There should be a rule about using pictures of you with an ex, even if you couldn’t see her, to fish for dates. Ha.

  Stupid. If she hadn’t gone home with Jax that night, how different her life would be right now. She was happy. Really happy. It was one damn slip when Riley had been on a stretch of ten night shifts. She’d given up her days off to cover another nurse who was off sick. Raven was itchy. She couldn’t stand the loneliness and she’d headed down to Jax’s favourite pub. Stupid. She’d had no intention of sleeping with him. She never thought of him in that way.

  Why the hell had she gone against everything she believed in and slept with her best friend?

  * * *

  A banging at the door startled Raven out of a deep sleep. She was still holding a can of beer. She set it on the side table and stumbled to the door, not because she was drunk, but because she was so exhausted and still half asleep. She flung the door open and Riley stood there, her arms still wrapped around her torso, but at least she was wearing a warm coat now.

  “Can we talk?”

  Raven snorted. All she’d wanted last night was to spend some time in Riley’s company. Just someone who would understand the pressures of her job and maybe hold her for a while.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Nothing’s funny, Ri. Ironic, maybe, but not funny.” Raven dipped her knees and waved her hand towards the living room, inviting Riley in. “Can I get you a beer? Coffee?” Roll in the hay?

  “Coffee’s good.” Riley bit her lower lip, her hands worrying in front of her. She took a seat on the edge of the couch with her clasped hands squeezed between her knees.

  Raven put a pot of coffee on, came into the living room, and stood by the window. The moon had moved out of view, but she could still see its reflection over the lake. She stuck her hands in her pockets and just stood there looking out, waiting for Riley to start the conversation.

  “When you came to my apartment last night, was it to talk about what happened to your mother?”

  “Nope.” She half expected Riley to stand up and leave. But she continued to sit stiffly, looking up at Raven like she was in pain.

  “Rave, come on. Throw me a branch here. I don’t know what’s happening. You have to know I would never hurt anyone, especially not your mother.”

  “I’m sorry. I thought your lawyer told you not to talk about it.”

  Riley stood, threw her hands up in the air and then slapped them down to her sides. Then she dropped down to the couch, buried her face in her hands and wept. Raven’s first instinct was to go to her and wrap her in a hug, but she stopped herself. It wasn’t her place to do that anymore. Riley made that clear last night.

  “I’ll just get the coffee,” she said and escaped to the kitchen.

  She came back out with two cups and set one down in front of Riley who was still in the same position, still crying. She took her own back to her easy chair then just sat there and waited. She didn’t know what she was supposed to say or do. She wasn’t good at comforting people the way Riley was.

  Riley sniffed, swiping the tears from her face. It reminded Raven she should offer a tissue. She scooted to the bathroom and came back with a box of tissues. Riley accepted the whole box, pulled out two, and mopped her cheeks before blowing her nose. Just when Raven thought she’d gotten herself under control, she began weeping again.

  “The h-hospital’s going to p-pin the whole thing on m-me.” She pulled two more tissues from the box and buried her face in them in a chest heaving wail.

  Bastards. Spineless bastards. Raven sank down on the couch next to Riley and put a tentative arm around her. “It’s not your fault, Ri.”

  Riley leaned into Raven, buried her face in the curve of Raven’s neck. Raven inhaled the lavender scent of Riley’s shampoo, her thighs tensing with a wave of pure lust. She tightened her arms around Riley and
tried to remind herself that this was only a friend seeking comfort. Riley’s job meant everything to her. Taking care of people was what she did, what she lived for. Like that little girl in the hallway.

  When Riley finally got herself under control, there was an awkward moment where they separated. Riley grabbed more tissues and wiped her face while Raven ran her hands down her jeans and then stood, going back to her chair, picking up her coffee and twirling it between her palms.

  Riley stood. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have come here and laid this on you. It’s just … I just … can you tell me what’s going on? The hospital won’t tell me anything.”

  “The hospital’s lawyer told you not to talk to me.”

  “Fuck the lawyer. He’s trying to pin the whole thing on me to save the doctor and the hospital.” She fisted her jacket at her chest and dropped to the couch again. “They’ve suspended me, Rave.” Tears welled in her eyes again, but she brushed them away with her fists.

  Raven fought the urge to get up and wrap Riley in her arms again. Her chest ached. She wanted to fix this so Riley wouldn’t be hurting anymore. “It’s early yet. I’ve put in a request to have Ena’s body exhumed for an autopsy. There’s reasonable grounds for that based on what we know so far and the hospital lawyer’s reaction. She didn’t have cancer, Ri. We believe she was poisoned. Did anyone come into the hospital with Ena?”

  Riley shook her head. “No, the paramedics brought her in.”

  “Did she request that you call anyone?”

  “She was unconscious when she came in. She never regained consciousness.” Riley wiped her eyes again then fisted the soggy tissues in her lap. The tissues vibrated, the only sign Raven could see that Riley was shaking. “Her next of kin was listed as Kiran Hayes. He didn’t answer any of the calls we placed. We left voice mails, but he didn’t return our calls.”

  Kiran Hayes? Raven had never heard the name before, but she thought of all of the cards in Ena’s drawer signed with a K. “Did you follow protocol for a patient coming in with Ena’s symptoms?”

  Riley hesitated then answered, “No. See that’s the problem. We would have ordered tests. No one did. And no one questioned it. We would have. If a doctor hadn’t ordered tests in that situation, we would have questioned it.”

  “This is going to sound crazy, but I think the reason no tests were ordered is due to some hocus pocus.”

  “Witchcraft? I thought you didn’t believe in that stuff.”

  She believed in it, she just didn’t practice it. “How would you explain it?”

  Riley shook her head. “I can’t. It doesn’t make sense.” The tears began again. “I don’t know what to do, Rave. I’m not just going to lose my job. I’m going to lose my license.”

  “The first thing you do is you don’t talk about it to anyone, especially the police. Your union pays for your legal fees. Get a lawyer. A good one. One that can file suit against the hospital for wrongful dismissal if this doesn’t get resolved.”

  “I don’t want some fricking wrongful dismissal suit. I want my job.”

  “Just do it. Get the lawyer. Don’t talk to the hospital or to anyone else.”

  Riley nodded and stood again. She started for the door and Raven followed, not knowing if she felt any better or if there was anything she could do to help. At the door, Riley turned.

  “You don’t think I killed your mother, do you?”

  “No, Ri. I don’t.” Raven shoved her hands in her pockets because she was desperate to reach out and touch Riley’s blotchy face.

  Riley closed her eyes and nodded again. “Okay. Okay.” She opened the door and fled to her car.

  Raven stood in the doorway until the taillights of Riley’s little red SUV disappeared over the hill, her heart breaking a little more. She didn’t think that was possible which had her wondering just how much more she could hurt.

  Raven retrieved a bag of supplies she’d left on the kitchen island and grabbed a paring knife from a drawer. She took them into the living room, moved her coffee table over to the window and sat down on the floor in front of it, facing the lake view. She removed a fat white candle from the bag and used the paring knife to carve the three moons into it - the waxing moon, the full moon, and the waning moon. Setting it on the table, she lit it and turned out the lights. A soft glow filtered in from the stove light in the kitchen and the flickering light of the candle danced over the living room walls. She took a stick of sage out of the bag, lit it, and went around the room, spreading the smoke with a cupped hand to cleanse the space of negative energy.

  Then she sat on the floor facing the candle and drew her feet up to her thighs in the lotus position. She laid the backs of her hands on her knees and touched her middle fingers to her thumbs. She hadn’t meditated for years. She needed something to calm the constant ache in her chest since she’d lost Riley and she was hoping this would help. Closing her eyes, she could see the glow from the candle’s flame. She focused on that and her deep breathing, but her mind kept wandering to images of Riley.

  There was a connection between them from the first moment they looked at each other. Raven had brought a teenaged boy into the ER after he’d been beaten by his father. Riley walked out of the triage area and they stood there staring at each other. Riley had her hair back in a tight twist and her green eyes were glowing, vibrant against her pale skin. The freckles across her nose were the sexiest thing Raven had ever seen. She couldn’t take her eyes off Riley until the boy cleared his throat, startling her out of a daze. To this day she didn’t know how long they stood there ogling each other. As soon as the boy was settled into a treatment room, Raven asked Riley out to dinner. That had been nearly four years ago and they’d been together ever since. At least, until Riley broke up with her nearly a month ago.

  “Focus,” Raven whispered and let the thoughts of Riley drift away, bringing her attention back to the flame and her breaths. The first time they’d made love was right where Raven was sitting, with the moon shining in the window, giving Riley’s skin an ethereal glow. Raven hadn’t been a virgin, by a long shot, but she was sure that it was the first time she’d ever made love. One light touch with the tip of Riley’s finger could set her aflame. Sex with Riley was more intense, more pleasurable, more satisfying than anything Raven had experienced.

  The air gusted out of Raven’s lungs and she dropped back onto the carpet, disgusted with herself. Trying not to think about Riley made her unable to think of anything but. Now she was missing her and so aroused she thought she might explode.

  Maybe keeping busy is a better option.

  “How am I supposed to sleep if I can’t stop thinking about her?”

  Wear yourself out. Go for a run or go down to your gym.

  “Does it get any easier?”

  No, not really. Not when you love someone with your entire being. I ended up having to take sleeping pills.

  Well, that explained why Ena never woke up in the middle of the night.

  Why? What was happening in the middle of the night?

  Raven surged to her feet, blew out the candle, and fled to her room. She stripped off her clothes and threw on a pair of track pants, a sweatshirt, and her running shoes and was out the door. She didn’t even bother to stretch. She set off at a full out run and let out a long, deep primal scream.

  CHAPTER 5

  RAVEN LET HERSELF into Adara’s back door at seven-thirty the next morning, just in time to catch Adara removing a tray of muffins from her oven. A long dark braid flecked with grey hung down Adara’s back, reaching her tailbone. She had a quiet beauty, a plump face with kind brown eyes. She limped to the kitchen island, deposited the tray of muffins on a cooling rack and then pulled the oven mitts off her hands.

  When Raven reached for a muffin, Adara reached across the island and slapped her hand away. “Honest to goodness, child. Doesn’t anyone feed you?”

  Raven laughed and then came around the island, deposited a kiss on Adara’s cheek and grinned. “Just you.�
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  Adara picked up the tea towel and whipped it at Raven’s butt. “Sit down. I’ve got a plate warming for you.” She limped back to her oven, pulled out a plate of bacon, eggs, and hash browns and set it in front of Raven.

  The ketchup bottle gave a wet fart as it dumped a large blob of ketchup next to the home fries. Raven set the bottle down and picked up the knife and fork as Adara set a cup of coffee in front of her. “Ah, thank you. You are a goddess.”

  Adara’s laugh filled the room, loud and robust. She cocked a hip, placed her fist on it. “You only say that when I heap food in front of you.”

  “You know I love you, Adara.” Raven threw her a wink and dug in. “So, what are all the treats for?” She motioned to the muffins and assorted baked goods sitting on the island.

  “Full moon on Sunday.” Adara brought a plastic tub over and began to stack various baked goods inside, each layer separated by a sheet of wax paper.

  “Ah, gathering of the coven. What happens with Ena gone?”

  Adara shrugged. “Looks like the coven members want to put it to a vote. Of course, you can only vote for those qualified to serve as High Priestess. You must be a third-degree and adept.” Adept referred to someone who had mastered the discipline of self-development.

  “So, how many are qualified?”

  “Oh, only a handful, I guess.” Adara placed the now full container on the kitchen counter, brought over an empty one, and continued with her meticulous layering. “Myself included.” She did a quick curtsey, making Raven laugh.

  “Would you want that?”

  Adara stopped stacking and stood a little straighter. “I don’t know, honey. It will be impossible to replace Ena. I don’t think anyone could fill those shoes.” She waved her hand in front of her wet eyes. “Oh, dear. Where did that come from?” She limped off down the hall to the washroom waving her hand in front of her face the entire way.

  Adara and Ena had been best friends since they were in kindergarten. Their relationship splintered a bit when Adara took Raven in, but it didn’t stop Adara from being in the coven and Raven supposed they got along all these years despite her. She hadn’t wanted to take Adara’s best friend away from her, but she’d needed a roof over her head and Adara offered.