Page 43 of Never Been Witched (Starfall Point #3)

“I should feel bad for him, but he was such a dick,” Mina said, staring down at Clark’s prone form.

“My dad is right. Children are desensitized to violence,” Riley muttered as Caroline put her arms around the kids.

Mina pulled a disgruntled face. “Ghost violence. It barely counts.”

When the rest of them stared at her in horror, she flung her arms out and cried, “He hurt Alice!”

“Kids, go call your dad, tell him we’re going to need him to declare somebody dead,” Caroline told them.

“We should probably open with, ‘Hi, we’re fine,’” Mina said.

Caroline nodded. “Sure.”

Mina took Josh’s elbow. “Also, I recognize that you’re probably trying to get us away from the dead body.”

But Josh was watching Margaret’s retreating back, a heartbroken expression on his face. “Chester’s so mad. He’s just rage…no name, no story.”

Mina immediately shifted from her usual sarcasm to concern for her brother and his more daunting gift. “What, like the ceiling ghost?”

Josh shook his head. “Worse. It’s like one of those bad mash-ups of songs that don’t match, when the producer is trying too hard?

It’s a bunch of different ghosts, all their negative traits, all their pain.

Their voices crash over each other until it’s just noise.

Do you think that’s what Margaret meant by ‘creating’ him?

That she made him out of a bunch of different ghosts? Could she do that?”

“I don’t know,” Riley admitted. “She said it was a magical adaptation, so witchcraft was definitely involved in building him. But she had to build him out of something, right? And her family has a long history of trying to harness power from ghosts. It all sounds like a witchcraft attempt at Frankenstein-ing to me.” She shook her head.

“But first: phone, Dad, doctor, death certificate.”

“Right,” Josh replied, still staring into the distance.

“And what are we supposed to do?” Mina was muttering as they walked away. “Just pretend that we don’t know that Margaret is heir to an evil dynasty and the proud owner of a murder hamster? That we saw her murder someone? Also, Chester? Could she have picked a creepier name?”

***

Celia did, in fact, believe that Clark collapsed of a heart attack—with Ben’s expert medical opinion backing up their story.

Because honestly, Ben couldn’t come up with an explanation of Clark’s demise other than, “It looks like something reached into his chest and squeezed his heart until it exploded.”

Which was accurate.

Technically.

Celia, however, had lots of questions about why and how Clark had his “heart explosion” on Riley’s lawn, none of which Riley could answer to Celia’s satisfaction. She was particularly interested in why grown-ass women were outside digging in flower beds at night so late in the year.

“You know, I shared this island with your aunt for almost ten years and never once set foot on this property,” Celia was saying when Collin suddenly burst through the gate and bolted toward Alice like a semitruck intent on hugging.

“Gah!” she yelped as he caught her under the arms and lifted her up. “I’m fine.”

“Some of the construction guys said that Celia was over here because someone died at Shaddow House,” he said, his face pressed against her neck as he guided her to wrap her legs around his waist.

“I’m fine,” she assured him, trying to keep her voice calm, even as she melted against him in relief. He’d come for her. He was worried about her. “Clark had a heart attack.”

“Good,” he muttered, making Celia’s brows wing up into her auburn pixie cut. He gave her a long, flat look, and she went back to her clipboard of paperwork.

“Look, I know that Clark wasn’t a particularly…cuddly local figure,” Celia said to Ben. “But I have to make sure this is an official and complete report. Do you have any reason to believe that this was anything other than a heart attack?”

“Nothing that immediately jumps out at me,” Ben said.

“And does anyone here know of any reason someone might have to hurt Clark?”

Mina opened her mouth, but Riley held up her hand. “No.”

“Did you need Alice for anything else?” Collin asked. “Statements or signatures or anything official?”

“No,” Celia told him, bemused. “I have her statement. Alice, I’ll drop by the shop if I have any follow-up questions. Wait, I heard you don’t work at the shop anymore.”

“She’s working at the hotel,” Collin replied.

Celia’s brows somehow rose even higher. “Really?”

“I’m staying at Forsythia Manor,” Alice told her as Collin slung her over his shoulder.

Celia grinned. “Really?”

“Mind your business, Celia,” Caroline told her. “Don’t you have enough to handle right now?”

“Fine, I’ll just get it out of the Nana Grapevine later anyway,” she grumped, scribbling on her clipboard.

“I’m taking Alice home,” Collin told the group.

“See you later, sweetie,” Caroline told her. “Get some rest. It’s been a long night.”

But Collin was already carrying her toward the street.

“My legs work just fine,” Alice reminded him as she waved to the others.

“It gives me something to do with my hands,” he told her. “When I thought you were hurt—”

“But I’m fine,” she told him again. She was fully aware that someone was going to see Collin carrying her down the street, and by the morning, the Nana Grapevine would be on fire with news that either Collin and Alice had eloped, or they had a terrible row and he was seen carrying her, caveman style, back to the hotel.

“Clark didn’t have a heart attack, did he?” he asked.

She leaned back so she could see his face. “No. It was decidedly supernatural causes.”

“They can do that?” Collin asked.

“Ghosts? Sure. It’s just that most of them aren’t strong enough and have no desire to hurt the living. Or they just haven’t figured out how yet,” she said as they passed the hotel, toward Forsythia Manor.

Collin shuddered. “That’s terrifying.”

“And yet, the world keeps on spinning and the living are just fine,” she reminded him.

“You’re pretty unflappable, aren’t you?”

“Me?” Alice laughed. “No, I’m flapped pretty much full-time.”

“Well, you’d never know it—” He stopped talking. He stopped moving. He stood on his front walkway, silent, while she was pointed toward the hotel. His hand fell away from Alice’s rear. His voice sounded hollow as he gulped, “Paige?”