Allison Brennan - Original Sin

“I don’t.” What on earth was Jared up to? Moira was worried. She should have made it a point to talk to him earlier today, make sure he was keeping a low profile.

“I need to search you.”

“No. Do not touch me.” She was beginning to panic. She didn’t want to hurt Hank Santos, but she couldn’t go to jail. “Call Sheriff McPherson.”

“Turn around and put your hands on the car.”

A car pulled up behind Santos’s cruiser. Another cop. Great. Now she was going to be manhandled, searched, and they’d find her weapons, haul her to prison, and …

Skye McPherson got out and strode over. Moira sighed in relief.

“Hank,” Skye said. “I’ll take care of this.”

“With all due respect, Sheriff, I don’t believe you are impartial in this matter.”

“Why did you pull Ms. O’Donnell over?”

“She’s driving a stolen vehicle.”

“Hank, you know Jared loaned her the truck. He told me yesterday afternoon that he had.”

“He didn’t have my permission.”

“Bring it up with your son. If Ms. O’Donnell wasn’t breaking any laws while driving, you’ll need to let her go.”

“She’s driving without a valid license.”

Skye asked Moira, “Is that true?”

“I don’t have an IDP.”

“I can’t let you get back in the truck.”

“I’m arresting her,” Hank said.

“For driving without a license?”

“I have the right.” He rubbed his head as if he were in pain.

“Hank, can I have a word?”

They walked back to Hank’s cruiser. Moira breathed easier and tried to pinpoint what it was that disturbed her about Hank-other than his being an asshole.

Whatever Skye said to him, it had to have been good. Five minutes later, Jared’s father drove away.

Skye came over and said, “You have to leave the truck. Get your stuff.”

Moira grabbed her bag from the backseat. “Thank you.”

“I saw him follow you out of the school parking lot. I’d called him when I learned Jared ditched school. But I have a more immediate concern.”

“What?”

“I saw something on his neck.”

“I saw it yesterday. A birthmark. But-”

“I’ve known Hank for years. He never had it before. And I have four dead bodies with so-called birthmarks that they didn’t used to have. I’m worried about him now, I don’t even know if I should have let him go, but what am I supposed to do? Arrest him? Ask him to remove his shirt so I can compare his mark to the dead?” Skye shook her head, motioning for Moira to get in the passenger’s side of her cruiser.

“If it’s the same mark that Anthony showed me this morning,” Moira said, “I’ll tell you what I told Anthony. It’s the mark of a demonic baptism, but the fact that these marks are showing up spontaneously makes no sense. They usually come during the ritual baptism itself. Could Hank have been on the cliffs the other night? Is he part of the coven?”

“No,” Skye said.

“Can you be sure?”

“I suppose I can’t be, but I know that the other victims with this same mark were not at the cliffs-except for Abby. And her mark is substantially different, though it’s the same basic shape. All the victims were affiliated with the high school in some way. A secretary. A student. A librarian. And a murderer who lived next door to a teacher. It has to be related to the high school. I just spoke to one of the teachers and even she rubbed me the wrong way-I don’t know why. But Nicole Donovan-”

“What about her?”

“Rafe told me this morning to trust my instincts. He was deadly serious. My first impression-my gut instinct-about Nicole Donovan was that she was too nice, too helpful-without being at all helpful. She didn’t say one thing that I could follow up on. And there was a woman in her classroom when I got there who rubbed me wrong, but she left. Donovan said she was a friend.”

“Listen to Rafe,” Moira said, though she wondered exactly what Rafe meant by his comment, and what he knew that he hadn’t shared.

“The student, Chris Kidd, came to me yesterday after I spoke to the student body. He implied that his girlfriend, Ari Blair, was on the cliffs when Abby died, and was scared about coming forward. Now he’s dead, and Ari ditched school. All signs point to her being part of this coven. A witness saw her drive off with Jared.”

Moira slammed her fist on the dashboard. Why hadn’t she sat on him? She thought she’d made perfectly clear the risks he faced, and since she had his truck she thought he’d stick it out at home.

“I have an APB out on Ari Blair and her car,” Skye said. “Basically, I issued an order to detain her as a material witness and contact me immediately.”

“Ari Blair,” Moira mumbled. Reaching into her backpack, she pulled out the address book taken from a witch’s locker.

“What’s that?”

“I was looking for lockers that belonged to witches, okay? This came from one.”

“Why would you do that?”

“I was hoping for maybe a calendar or something that could give me an idea of where Fiona is staying.”

She opened it and saw on the front page:

Property Of:

Arianne Blair

“This is hers,” Moira told Skye.

“Was there anything helpful in there? I can’t believe I just asked that. It’s an illegal search and seizure.”

“I took it, you didn’t.”

“Fruit of the forbidden tree. I now know you stole it, so I can’t use anything in it to arrest anyone.”

“Screw that; I just want to stop Fiona from killing Rafe. She opened the address book to “Garrett Pennington” and tapped the address. “This is where I’m going to start.”

“What’s that?”

“Good Shepherd Church. Garrett Pennington. He lives in an apartment above the church-she has two addresses here, one for the church and one for Pennington.”

“I found a connection between Pennington and Elizabeth Ellis. It’s not safe for you to go there alone, and I don’t have a warrant.”

“Who cares about a warrant?”

“I do. Because if he killed Abby Weatherby, I can put him in jail.”

“Rafe could die. I need information, and Pennington is the best bet to get it.”

“This is fucked,” Skye said, then changed the subject. “Can a witch make someone sick?”

“Sure, it’s a standard spell. Not too difficult.”

“What about a brain tumor?”

“Harder, but for a skilled magician, not impossible.”

“I don’t generally like coincidences, but Matthew Walker’s mother has a brain tumor, and that was the reason he left Santa Louisa. Then just a few weeks later, Elizabeth Ellis, who is on the church council, hires Garrett Pennington as the pastor. But Walker didn’t know anything about it.”

“Seems obvious to me when you put it like that,” Moira said. “If the coven had something personal of hers-preferably blood, hair, or fingernails, but a personal object can sometimes work-they could curse her. Give her a brain tumor or a heart attack. It doesn’t always work, it’s not a science, and the farther the distance the harder it is.”

“That sounds like voodoo.”

“Yeah.”

“You’re saying voodoo is real.”

“Voodoo is witchcraft, nothing more, nothing less. What’s so surprising?”

“I have a lot to learn.” Skye paused. “Can you help me with something before we go to Good Shepherd?”

“I’ll try.”

“Ari Blair lives near here; I called her mother earlier and have permission to search her room.”

“Good idea-she’s young, probably less disciplined than Pennington. We might get what we need there. If not, you’ll take me to Good Shepherd?”

“No. I’ll drop you off down the street at the Starbucks. You can go wherever you like from there.” Skye glanced at her. “I’m still a cop, Moira. I’ve already broken so many laws that I’ve sworn to uphold that when I can pretend I’m not breaking one, let me pretend.”