took another swig of beer. “I missed you, and couldn’t wait another day to see you. Guess the feeling wasn’t mutual.”
“No. It is. Truly.” Her flush deepened to crimson. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what possessed me. It was nothing.” Kurt had a certain sexual magnetism, but she had wanted Wally for years. “I lo—” She cut herself off. Why couldn’t she tell him that she loved him? Was it because love had never worked for her before, and she still didn’t trust Wally not to leave her? “It’s just that I’m tired and I haven’t been feeling well and I . . .” She trailed off.
“I need to know that I can trust you.” Wally’s voice was ragged. “I can’t take another betrayal.” His ex-wife had left him without any warning, leaving a note and not much else behind.
“I promise I’ll never do that.” Skye flung herself into his lap, hoping Mrs. Griggs’s ghost wouldn’t blow up the house because she and Wally were touching. “Forgive me?”
For an instant Wally held himself rigid; then he wrapped his arms around her and whispered against her lips, “Always.”
His kiss was hard and searching, and in returning it, Skye tried to show him the love she was afraid to express in words. She pressed closer, tunneling her fingers through his thick black hair.
His hands moved to her hips, lifting and rearranging her so that she straddled him. She could feel his arousal through the wool of his trousers and the denim of her jeans, and it increased her hunger for him.
Lifting his mouth from hers, he stripped off her sweater and unhooked her bra. As he trailed kisses from her neck to her breasts, she heard music.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t celestial; “Hail to the Chief” blared from Wally’s pocket. Skye let out a tiny cry of frustration. Apparently his new cell phone worked inside her house. His old one hadn’t, and she’d never realized what a boon that had been.
She got off his lap and reclaimed her bra and sweater. As a little joke, she’d had Justin program “Hail to the Chief” as the ring tone for someone calling Wally from the police emergency line. She knew they wouldn’t be getting back to their lovemaking anytime soon.
While she got dressed, she heard Wally’s side of the conversation. “If she had a heart condition, why are you calling me about her death?” He listened intently, then stood. “Fine. I’ll be right there.” When he closed his phone, he said to Skye, “The high school’s night custodian was found dead by her son in your office. She had a heart condition, so it’s probably natural causes, but Reid is insisting it be treated as a suspicious death.”
“That’s horrible. I know—I mean, knew—Gloria, and I know her son, Cameron. He’s a custodian at the grade school.” Skye’s voice cracked. She had liked Gloria, a woman who had worked hard all her life. “They’re both really nice, sweet people.”
Wally murmured something soothing, then headed toward the door.
“Can I come with you?” Skye followed him. “Simon isn’t prone to flights of fancy, so if he thinks something more than a heart attack is involved, it probably is.”
Wally hesitated a fraction of a second, then agreed. “Sure.”
She wrinkled her brow. “Maybe it has something to do with Annette Paine’s death.”
“The connection being you?”
Skye nodded.
“I heard Quirk declared Annette’s death an accident. I take it you don’t agree.”
“I’ll fill you in on what’s been happening on that front on the way over.”
Once they were settled in Wally’s car, Skye turned in her seat and said, “The good news is, I don’t think Quirk had anything to do with Annette’s death. Even though he threatened Hope again, it’s probably a case of his bark being worse than his bite. The bad news is, there’s a better than fifty percent chance that the intended victim was me.”
“Why?” Wally shot her a concerned look before returning his gaze to the road.
Skye explained what she, Kurt, and Simon had figured out about the rope’s location, finishing with, “So, either the killer somehow knew that Annette would be dressed as a witch, would run down the hallway in my assigned position, and was prone to asthma attacks, or the trap was set for me instead.”
“But whoever strung the rope would also have had to make you run down the hall.” Wally turned into the high school parking lot.
“That was part of my act. When the audience stepped into the passageway, I was supposed to jump out from behind a panel, scare them, and then run away and disappear behind another panel at the opposite end of the hall.”
“That’s not a very efficient way to kill someone.” Wally got out of the car, went around to the other side, and opened Skye’s door. “Maybe it was meant to be a joke.”
“Maybe, but someone tried to run me over Sunday after church, too.”
He stopped and swung her around to face him. “Why didn’t you ever tell me that?”
“Quirk sort of convinced me it was an elderly driver who mistook the gas pedal for the brake, and at that time we still thought Annette or one of the other witches was the intended victim.”
“But now you wonder.”
“Yes.” Skye took a deep breath. “I think either the crazy parent who slashed my tires tried to kill me, or Dylan Paine murdered his wife, thinks I saw something that will incriminate him, and is now trying to silence me before I realize what I saw.”
“What makes you think that?”
Skye explained about Zinnia Idell’s presence at the haunted house and Dr. Paine’s affairs. Wally nodded and spoke briefly to Anthony, the officer at the door; then they walked silently to Skye’s office. When they crossed the threshold, Skye was glad that poor Gloria had been taken away—she’d seen enough dead bodies to last her a lifetime.
Reid stood waiting for them, then without preamble said, “Cameron Unger arrived at midnight to pick up his mother, Gloria, who worked the four-to-twelve shift as the high school custodian. When she didn’t come out by twelve fifteen, he went in looking for her. He had a key, since he works as a custodian at the elementary school and sometimes subs for his mother at the high school. He found her sitting at Skye’s desk. She was unresponsive and he called for an ambulance. The EMTs summoned me as soon as they verified she was dead.”
“But Cameron reported she had a heart condition?” Wally asked. “So why involve the police?”
Simon looked at Skye. “Have you filled him in on events since he’s been gone?” She nodded and he continued. “At first, I was ready to believe it was natural causes, but then I looked at the scene and saw this.” He led them around the desk and pointed to the bottom drawer. It was pulled out, and an open package of Oreos was propped up against the side. “I take it those are yours?”
“Yes.” Skye felt her face grow hot.
“I also take it you didn’t leave your desktop like this?” Simon directed their attention to a scattering of chocolate crumbs.
“No, of course not.” Skye shook her head for emphasis. “My mother raised me better than that.”
“I figured as much,” Simon murmured, half to himself.
“I always clean up before I leave,” Skye continued. “I don’t want to attract ants.”
“Which means Gloria was having a snack,” Wally concluded. “Have you noticed cookies missing before?”
“No.” Skye closed her eyes, thinking. “But I have noticed the level in my candy jar seemed to be going down faster than it should. I give treats to the kids I test, and Trixie has a few pieces whenever she stops by, but they should be the only ones eating from the jar. I keep it filled with candy I don’t like so I’m not tempted.” All three of them looked at the jar in question, which was empty. “In fact, before I left today I noticed it was out of candy, and made a note to myself to bring in a bag on Monday to replenish it.”
“So it’s reasonable to assume that Gloria was in the habit of eating some candy when she cleaned your office.” Simon pursed his lips. “And when there was none in the jar, she looked to see if you had any in the drawer, found your stash of Oreos, and helped herself.”
“That all makes sense.” Wally nodded. “But what does it have to do with her death? Unless you’re saying you think Skye poisoned her.”
“I’m sure it wasn’t Skye, but
