It wasn’t that I was lying to Thorn. I really did intend to go to both of those places, but I had somewhere else I needed to stop off first.
Mercy Cullen worked at one of the construction offices in the new section of town. I found that out fairly easily by looking her up on social media, and decided that I needed to drop in on her for a chat.
She was on the phone when I walked into the office, so I sat down in an uncomfortable metal chair and waited. Laney slept against my chest none the wiser to the fact that we were on an investigation.
“You’re Kinsley… Wilson,” Mercy said when she hung up the phone. “What brings you in today?” There was a bright smile painted on her face, but her voice cracked a little. She knew who I was, and it made her nervous for some reason.
Now, it could have just been because a woman had been found dead on my front lawn. I had no way of knowing if people suspected me, and I didn’t get out enough to hear any rumors.
“I wanted to talk to you about Samara,” I said.
“Oh,” Mercy said. She grabbed a can of Diet Coke from her desk and took a huge gulp. “I had hoped you were thinking of building a new house.”
The defeat in her voice was evident. Tears began to glisten in her eyes, and Mercy grabbed a tissue to dab them away.
“Is anyone around?” I asked.
“Why?” she asked and flinched. “I mean, no. It’s just me in the office most days.”
“Because I want to talk to you about Samara,” I said.
“If I’m being honest, I knew you’d come,” Mercy said.
“She had your name written in her grimoire,” I said. “In the back with other things, but I don’t know what they were. She’d scratched the rest of the list out, but your name was there. Oh, and she’d drawn a skull next to your name. Do you know what that’s about?”
Mercy took a deep breath. “Samara and I were very close,” she said. “I mean, we were at one point. We’d been best friends since high school, but she changed.”
“She changed?” I encouraged her after she got quiet and sort of spaced out.
“Yeah. It was pretty abrupt too,” Mercy said. “Before she was a happy person who was kinda into spooky stuff, but her obsession with ghosts and Halloween never made me think she was depressed.”
“I wouldn’t think so,” I said. Most of us were into spooky stuff.
“But it became something darker,” Mercy said. “She became… darker.”
“What do you think happened?” I asked. “What brought it on? Do you know?”
“When the magic went away,” Mercy said. “We’re both witches, but you already knew that. Anyway, I never realized how much of Samara was dependent on that. It became apparent when we could barely do spells anymore.”
“She didn’t take it well?” I asked.
“Not at all,” Mercy said. “It was like her whole identity was gone. Samara thought that her magical skills were the only thing that made her special. She was adrift and couldn’t seem to cope or adjust.”
“But you’re doing okay?” I asked.
“I have to be,” Mercy said with a shrug. “Samara’s death has hit me hard, but I know death isn’t the end. That helps. I’ll see her again.”
“So that was it?” I asked. It was a sad story, but it wasn’t particularly helpful.
“No. She got super depressed the first week, but then she withdrew completely. Honestly, when I heard she was dead, I thought she’d committed suicide,” Mercy said.
“Wow, really?” I asked. “And you have no idea what brought it all on?”
“I don’t,” she said. “One day she was… well, she wasn’t fine, but she was still taking my calls and answering my texts. Then she went to the grocery store to get more chocolate chips and some hamburgers, and everything changed. She wouldn’t talk to me for a couple of days, and then she pretty much told me to leave her alone.”
“I’m sorry,” I said because I didn’t know what else to say. “I wish there was some way of knowing what happened.”
“She kept all of her secrets close,” Mercy said. “Even I didn’t know everything about her, but she let me in more than most. I think that’s one of the reasons she loved that old house so much. It kept people away. Sure, kids would go out there at night and dare each other to break in, but none of them were ever brave enough. Everyone thought the place was haunted. Which it totally is, but where around here isn’t?”
“I assume you were brave enough to break in,” Mercy said, but there was no accusation in her voice. She apparently still respected my Coven’s authority.
“I did go in,” I said.
“So, did you find the grimoire in her chest?” Mercy asked. “I always wondered where she kept that thing. She’d never let me look.”
“Her chest?” I asked.
“It’s where she kept all the things she really wanted to keep a secret. I don’t think she knew I knew about it, but it was behind a false wall in her bedroom closet. I figured that’s where she’d keep the grimoire, but it wasn’t there?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “I had someone with me when I went into her house. They are actually the one who found it.”
“Maybe the reason she changed so much is in that chest,” Mercy said. “I’d be willing to bet it is. If it’s anywhere, it’s there. I’d go look myself, but I doubt I could get away with it. I’m not connected like you.”
“I’d prefer it if you let me and my family handle this anyway,” I said.
“Understood,” Mercy said with a head nod. “I hope your aunt feels better soon. I’ve heard about… the trouble she’s having.”
“How did Samara feel about my family?” I asked.
“Wait, you don’t think Samara had something to do with what’s going on with your aunt?” Mercy
