Page 25

“Anything. It could carryanyhex,” Grant replies. “Lavie’s specialty is in mental manipulation, so that was the test.”

“Excuse me?” I blink a few times in surprise.

“The other Witch didn’t help with the distance, but she could make it multiply once it reached its target.”

“Would that Witch just so happen to be Darlene Reyes?” My stomach begins to twist in a knot.

“Yeah, she was so young,” Blondie mutters and sniffles.

“Was?” I ask sharply.

“She’s been missing for almost six months. Lavie has been gone for even longer. No one has found a trace of either of them. We’ve searched,” Grant’s teeth are starting to grind.

“So they interview Laverne. She tells them about a wonderful new hex but won’t give up the second part of the duo and then disappears. Six months later, the other half of the duo disappears?”

“Yeah, and in between then, the reporters got more persistent. We had one break into the house looking for information, but Lavie never kept anything here.”

“Wouldn’t the hex have been a huge deal?” I throw out, following a hunch.

“Of course,” Red scoffs.

“Then why is there no mention of it when I researched her?” I raise an eyebrow.

They all frown, and Blondie disappears back into the house.

“What do you mean?” Grant glances back at Red in confusion.

“I mean, the only thing I found was that she was from Salt House. There is nothing super exciting about her or Darlene. I thought this would be a crapshoot for information, to be honest. I figured I’d get some family history or what she was like before she disappeared, not this.”

Blondie comes back with what looks like a photo album. It turns out to be a scrapbook of Laverne’s interviews. Several different magazines questioned her. She never mentions Darlene's name, saying that the second Witch wanted to remain anonymous. Everything lines up with what her husbands have already claimed.

“What happened after she disappeared? Did TGT come to investigate?” I ask as I thumb through the articles.

“No one came,” Blondie whispered.

“Excuseme?” I ask in surprise.

“You’re the first person to come asking questions. I take that back. Someone else came, some reporter, I forgot his name,” Red frowns.

“Hername,” Blondie mutters. “Renee something.”

“Renee Snyder?” I ask in surprise. One of the other people who disappeared on April 30th? My, my, my, what a coincidence.

“That’s it,” Red snaps and looks pleased with himself.

“She’s missing too,” I frown back at him.

“What?” They say simultaneously.

“Yeah, about nine people that I’ve found so far with no correlation to each other, except Laverne and Darlene. Now Renee is connected to the search for Laverne, and she disappeared the same day as Darlene.”

“Shit,” Grant runs a hand through his hair, and his eyes well with tears.

“Yeah,” I wince as he starts sniffling. “Look, I won’t stop until I find them all. But if there are morehidden connections, I need to piece them together. Can I get one of your numbers? I’ll text the info I have to you, and you can get back to me with any other thoughts you guys have. In the meantime, I’ll be going around and asking people about them. Maybe if we can get everyone together to brainstorm…” I trail off.

That’s either the worst idea I’ve ever had or the best. Time will tell, I guess.

“Of course,” Grant gasps and pulls out his phone. I hand the scrapbook to Blondie and pull mine out of my pocket. We exchange numbers, and I add ‘Grant, Salty Bitch House’ to my contacts.