5 Beewitched by Hannah Reed Page A

this priestess knows who did it?”
    “That’s where you come in,” Lucinda said. “We need you in the circle.”
    What?
    Turned out, the gist was that they needed a thirteenth member, since one of the original twelve (not counting Aurora) had been stabbed to death. In the corn maze with a big knife, I might add. Not exactly a tempting offer. My flight instinct revved up.
    “What happened to the original number thirteen?” I needed to know. If she’d been murdered, too, I was so out of here.
    “Retired to Florida,” was the response, which was unexpected and refreshingly innocuous. “Well?”
    “Have you tried reaching out to Lori Spandle?” I suggested, feeling much less guilty throwing her just about anywhere—under a bus, over a cliff, into the rapids of a river. “She’s been a witch her entire life.”
    “You,” Lucinda said, shaking her head. “It has to be you. You already have some experience from last night.”
    Did I have a choice? What if Lucinda actually cast a spell and forced me to do it? Not that I believed in that (I kept telling myself). On the other hand, as she’d indicated, I did owe her for springing me from Johnny Jay’s trap. And since there was no such thing as a high priestess that could be invoked at Lucinda’s whim, nothing was going to come of this anyway. Right?
    I weighed the risks.
    The very least that could happen would be another strip-down around a campfire, which wouldn’t be the end of the world. And even if Johnny Jay crashed the party again, he already knew he couldn’t arrest us. Lucinda would see to that.
    “Where is the ritual knife you used last night during your ceremony?” I asked her.
    “The police have it,” she said.
    Ah, good, that was one wicked knife out of circulation.
    I couldn’t rule out the idea that Lucinda had ulterior motives for inviting me, but impulsively, I decided that I’d deal with that by staying close to the group and keeping my eyes open for trouble. I wouldn’t trot off for any clandestine meetings in the corn maze. Plus, I’d make certain Hunter knew exactly where I was. Heck, he might even agree to back me up in some way.
    At the moment, Lucinda and the others didn’t know about my relationship with the lead investigator, and I intended to keep it that way. They wouldn’t suspect that I was working for the other side. Yes, it would be the perfect opportunity to do a little investigating, maybe figure out which witch did what.
    “When?” I asked.
    “Tomorrow night,” came the reply. She bent down over a plastic bin and hauled out a black cape. “Here,” she said, thrusting it at me. “Wear this when you come.”
    She didn’t have to mention not to wear any undergarments. That part I’d figured out.
    “But the corn maze opens tomorrow,” I told her. “That won’t work.”
    “That won’t interfere with our plan. It closes before dark.”
    She thought I was worried about her, but my concern was more for Al Mason. He would have a fit if he heard about this. “What’s wrong with tonight?”
    “It’s going to start raining soon.”
    Ha! There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. But why should I care, I reasoned. That gave me one more day to get my act in order. With any luck, Hunter would have a suspect in custody before then and the witches could get the heck out of town before I had to do anything.
    I grinned. I’d successfully infiltrated the enemy camp. Hunter was going to be so proud.
    “Okay,” I said. “I’ll do it.”

Ten

    After Lucinda drove me back to town, I paused before entering the store . My gaze fell on the old cemetery beside The Wild Clover. The building that housed my store had once been a Lutheran church, until the congregation grew and the church needed to expand. Lots of local Lutherans had been buried in this graveyard, but it had filled up long before my time, and a new one had been built on the outskirts of town close to the new church. The stones here were weathered, many of the names