Curse the Dark (The Harstone Legacy Book 1)

Chapter 16

Once again, I woke up with a start. I reached up and found tears running down my face. Flora's desolation as she realized what had happened to Helen Napier had sliced through me. She didn't believe she could be saved, and she was preparing herself for the end. We needed to get her out of there. Throwing my clothes on, I went out the front door. This time I tried to show some sensitivity and left a note for Tilda on the kitchen bench. After last night, the last thing I wanted her to worry about was my need to wander through the streets of Walker Bay as the sun came up. I headed straight for the bench I had found the day before. I needed peace, and over the last few days, this was the only place I'd found it. Sitting back and letting the first rays of the day dance over my skin made me feel alive and able to cope with whatever life decided to throw at me. At this moment, if someone had asked me where my happy place was, I would have said right at this spot. Here, I was safe and I felt content.

I should have been more surprised when the sheriff sat down next to me.

"This is becoming a bit of a habit for you, isn't it?"

"This is only my second day out here," I bit off, annoyed that my happy place had been invaded by the law.

"Habits have to start somewhere," Sheriff Tolan said as he took off his hat and placed it on the seat next to him. "Although I can see why you like this." He peered out across the bay. "Kind of peaceful, isn't it?"

"It was," I muttered.

"I like it when this town is peaceful," he continued as if I hadn't spoken. "Makes my job a hell of a lot easier."

I waited. I figured there was a point he'd get to sooner or later.

"Word around town is that there was a full coven meeting last night."

"That got around quick."

"Not really, it's noticeable when you pull a hundred people away from their families for the night. I've heard a lot of them were very distressed when they got home."

I stayed silent. There was nothing I could tell him.

"Strange thing is, several of them remarked about the stranger that attended the meeting." He glanced over in my direction. "Traditionally, coven meetings are top secret. Nobody outside of coven members are ever allowed to attend. But the word is that you were sitting in the background, listening to everything and not saying a word. Rumors are flying around town as to who you are, but nobody has any real idea."

"I'm a friend of Tilda's." I needed to stick to the party line, even though I knew he didn't believe a word I was saying.

"Maybe, but I don't think that is your only reason for being here. Things have got strange since you came into town."

I glanced over my shoulder as I heard a car pull up and breathed a bit easier when I saw it was Tilda. Standing up, I brushed down my jeans and really looked at Sheriff Tolan. He looked tired and drawn, as if he hadn't slept in a couple of days. I was betting he hadn't.

"Believe me when I say that there was something happening in this town long before I arrived."

As I went to walk away, his hand grabbed my arm. I looked down at it and then looked up, only to be captured by those pale eyes.

"Just tell me you had nothing to do with Helen Napier's death."

I was trapped in his gaze and I could feel that hand burning through the sleeve of my jacket. "I swear, I did not have anything to do with her death. I don't know who did it. I wish I did. Maybe I'd be sleeping better at night."

Sheriff Tolan searched my eyes as if he was peering into my soul. Maybe he was. Whatever he was looking for he must have found it. He let go of my arm suddenly. "Be careful, Miss Goodwin. There is something very bad happening in Walker Bay. I would hate for you to get caught up in it."

I nodded once and turned to walk away. I may not know who killed Helen Napier, but I was already smack bang in the middle of this mess, and I couldn't see any way out of it.

"You're spending a bit more time with the sheriff than I was expecting."

I was surprised that Tilda had waited until we were back at her house before grilling me about my company for the morning.

"He wanted to know about the coven meeting last night. He's also suspicious about what I'm doing in town."

Tilda groaned. "The last thing we need is Conall Tolan looking into this."

"I know that." I couldn't help rolling my eyes. "I didn't tell him anything."

"That won't make a bit of difference. He'll find out. We need to put a plan in place to manage him when he does."

"What makes you think he'll find out. He's more focused on the murder. That will keep him busy."

"Conall was in school a few years ahead of me, so I don't know him that well, but I knew his reputation."

"What kind of reputation?" There was a part of me that really didn't want to know. And yet, the curious part won.

"Conall was the only werewolf in town who couldn't actually change into a wolf. It's pretty unheard of so that made him an oddity. On top of that, his dad is the alpha of the clan. As was his grandfather. One of his brothers will probably end up being the next alpha. And he was considered the defective runt of the litter. Could you imagine the childhood that he had?" She shook her head. "Werewolves are not the sensitive type."

"Bad?"

"I would say it's a good bet that it wasn't pleasant. A lot of people would have folded under that kind of pressure, but he stood tall and fought back, no matter who he was up against. Even outnumbered, he still put up a fight. It's how he became sheriff. Everyone knows that Conall Tolan does not bend, and he will continue to fight even when everyone thinks it's a lost cause."

"Why don't we just tell him what's going on? Seems like we could use someone like that."

Tilda shrugged. "To be honest, I don't know. With Flora unable to fulfill her duties, leadership of the coven falls to Grandma, Margot and Isobel. They made the decision not to make this official. I'm still unsure why they chose that course of action, but I don't get a say."

I considered what she said. "I think he could help. It's unlikely that Helen Napier's murder is not connected with what happened to Flora."

"It might not be," Tilda interrupted. "We don't have many murders in Walker Bay, but it has been known to happen."

"Do you really believe that?"

Tilda shook her head. "I really want to believe that."

"I spoke to Flora again last night," I said quietly.

"Is she doing okay?"

I looked down at my clasped hands. "I told her about Helen Napier, and it seemed to break her. It felt like she was giving up. I think she's preparing herself for death."

Tilda slumped down on the couch. "Did she say anything else?"

"Yeah, she recognized a couple of the symbols. She said they caused dissipation of the soul."

I was going to explain what Flora told me, but when I saw the horror on Tilda's face, I realized it wasn't necessary.

"Someone powerful is behind this," she said quietly.

"And evil," I added. "I'm pretty sure destroying a person's afterlife as well as killing them constitutes evil."