“Real magic,” Bobby repeated, managing, barely, not to sneer. “Isn’t that a simile?”
“I think you mean oxymoron,” Raye said.
“Moron is right.”
“What is your problem?” Todd asked.
“He’s a cop,” Raye said. “They don’t believe anything.”
“Or anyone,” Bobby agreed. Especially about this. It was all such BS. But as Raye had pointed out, it didn’t matter if he believed it, what mattered was if the killers believed and acted on it.
“Did you know Anne’s aunt?” Raye asked.
“Mrs. Noita?” Todd nodded. “Earth witch.”
Bobby groaned.
Todd’s eyes narrowed. “Does she have a great garden?”
“Didn’t notice,” Bobby said. He’d been a little busy with her dying on him, then there’d been the running for his life.
“I think so,” Raye said slowly. “I remember my father saying something once about buying her tomatoes instead of going to the store.”
“Lots of trees with stuff hanging in them,” Todd continued. “Symbols drawn on the leaves.” As Todd wasn’t asking, Bobby didn’t answer. “For protection.”
“Didn’t help.”
Todd straightened. “What happened?”
Raye’s breath caught, and she cast Bobby a horrified, helpless glance. The kid didn’t know. Now Bobby would have to tell him. He hated informing next of kin. Not that Todd was next, but he still had to be told.
“Her too?” Todd asked, their discomfort and silence telling the tale without them having to. “Damn.”
“Sorry,” Bobby said.
Raye reached over and patted the boy’s hand. Todd didn’t seem to notice.
“How?”
“Murdered.”
“The same guy?” His eyebrows drew together. “No. Some cop killed him.”
Bobby must have made a movement because Todd’s gaze widened. “You?”
Bobby shrugged.
“Thanks, man.”
“What about ‘harm none’?”
“He started it,” Todd said.
Bobby would have had a hard time accepting thanks for killing someone, even if that someone had been a murderer about to kill again, but thankfully Todd moved on without waiting for any acceptance or acknowledgment on Bobby’s part.
“Did Annie go to New Bergin because her aunt died?”
“Mrs. Noita died yesterday,” Bobby said. “You have no idea why Ms. McKenna went to New Bergin?”
Todd shook his head. “She called me in to work, said her aunt needed her and she’d be gone a few days.”
“Did she visit a lot?”
“She’d go see her around the sabbats—before or after. Annie had duties here on the actual days. Just like Mrs. Noita had duties there. She was the high priestess in that area.”
“How many witches are there in New Bergin?” Raye asked.
“Hard to say. Mrs. Noita’s coven was made up of the people from all the little towns between here and Eau Claire. There’s a fairly large coven in Eau Claire.”
“There’s a sentence I never thought I’d hear in this lifetime,” Raye muttered.
Bobby rubbed his forehead. He wasn’t sure what to make of the fact that the two victims had not only been witches, but the leaders of groups of a whole lot more. It might explain how Mrs. Noita had survived as long as she had, considering the nature of her injury. Then again, maybe not, since the explanation was magic.
“What’s a sabbat?” he asked. He’d heard the word, but he wasn’t sure what it meant, and apparently he needed to know.
“You should take Wiccan 101, dude.”
“Just catch me up,” Bobby ordered, then added, “Please.”
“There are eight sabbats—celebrations, feast days, gatherings. They’re seasonal and solar. There are four major sabbats.” Todd held up a finger. “Imboic.” He added an additional finger for each one. “Beltane, Lughnasadh, Samhain. Four minor.” He continued on the other hand with four more fingers. “Yule, Ostara, Midsummer Eve, Mabon.”
“And what happens during these celebrations?”
“Not what most people think.”
Bobby lifted an eyebrow. “What do they think?”
“Naked dancing. Orgies. Human sacrifice. At the least we must kill a chicken, maybe a lamb.”
“You don’t?”
“Harm none,” Todd said. “We sing, dance, eat, chant. It’s like church in the forest. You should come.”
“In the forest?” Bobby fought a shudder. He liked his church in a nice cathedral, with lots of candles and Latin. Although, remove the cathedral, and the dancing, add a ton of trees and the two were probably very similar. Too bad he had a thing about trees.
“What happens if the high priestess dies?” Raye asked.
Sadness flickered over Todd’s face before he answered. “There’s a ceremony in the place they felt most at peace. Probably the clearing where we hold our sabbats. In days gone by, the body was wrapped in a shroud and consigned to the earth. No casket. The sooner we return to the mother the better.”
“Is that even legal?” Bobby asked.