Page 29 of Witch Moon

He and Mirabella had sped straight here, heard Shauna's scream, and ran like the wind into the backyard just in time to see Hayes fall on his ass. Then Rowan was on her feet, turning to run. And then she was in her father's arms.

She jerked back, doubling up a fist and raising it. Then she blinked at him and hurled herself against him all over again. "Daddy!"

Beside him, Mirabclla was holding a shaken Shauna, calming her. Sirens wailed, not that the police were overly called for. A coven of Witches had thundered into the yard only a minute behind him and Bella, their robes dancing in the night wind, their hair smelling of sandalwood. Several of them were hauling Mr. Hayes to his feet, while a handful of others were busily subduing Mrs. Hayes, who had released Shauna and tried to run for it.

Officer Billy Cantone came running. He took in the women, most of whom he knew, all of whom were dressed in ritual robes and jewelry, many of whom wore five pointed stars on chains. "Just what the hell is going on here?"

Mirabella stepped forward. "I think I can answer that. Mr. and Mrs. Hayes have been very eager to purchase my friend Gwenyth's house, on the edge of town. You know the one? Mr. Hayes has Gwen's permission to fish in the stream out back. And he made his first offer shortly after she first gave him that permission, this spring. He wanted the house very badly. Didn't you. Mr. Hayes?"

He grunted, and looked away.

"She turned him down. So he decided to get her run out of town. And since she was openly Wiccan, what better way to do that than to orchestrate a few ritualistic animal sacrifices, get the locals all stirred up over the Witches in their midst? Hmm?"

Sniffling, young Shauna lifted her head. "You were the one paying Bryan Marcomb to kill those animals that way, mess up the tombstones, and all that?"

"You bet he was," Rowan said. "And when Bryan wanted out-threatened to tell the police everything unless you let him go, you killed him. Didn't you?"

Jonathon stroked his daughter's hair. "And then you came back here to get rid of any evidence of a connection between you and Bryan," he said, as his mind filled in the blanks.

"My God. Is this all true?" Officer Cantone asked.

"I'm sure we'll find the evidence, either on these two, or still in Bryan's room." Jonathon said. "But what I don't understand is why? Why is one piece of property worth more than a young boy's life? Hmm?"

"It's the pyrite in the stream out behind the house." Mirabella said softly. She walked over to where her friend Gwenyth stood looking puzzled. "It's not really pyrite at all, hon. It's the real thing. Gold. And Jim Hayes knew it. And he wanted it all for himself."

The cop's eyes widened. "How do you know all that, Miss Saint Angeline?"

She looked at Jonathon. And he knew. He knew these were the things that his wife had whispered to her in that magickal circle. How else could she have figured it all out-or known to come here, now, just at the moment when his daughter's life was in grave danger?

"An old friend told me," Mirabella said softly. "She, uh, prefers her name be kept out of this. It's nothing you can't verify, after all."

"Arrest those two, Billy." Jonathon instructed. "And get some men out here to go through Bryan's room for evidence. We'll take the witnesses' statements tomorrow. It's been...a long night."

Billy cuffed Mark and Sally Hayes, and escorted them to the waiting cruiser. Mirabella turned to Jonathon, to Rowan. "It's done." And then she turned, and walked away.

There wasno doubt in Bella's mind that, given the chance, the Hayes couple would have taken Rowan, and perhaps Shauna as we'll, killed them, and tried to make it look like suicide. Or maybe an accident. And if they had succeeded, it would have been one more crime for the good folk of Ezra Township to lay at the feet of the local Witches. And possibly, at Bella's own feet.

But thanks to one determined mother's love for her daughter, it didn't turn out that way.

Bella got all the way to her car. The others were pulling away now. The police car. The vehicles of her friends and sisters. She stood there, listening to the motors fade in the distance. Then to the crickets chirping and the gentle breeze whispering through the trees.

And then the breeze changed. It whispered "Mirabella..." in a voice that was becoming familiar.

Ashley's voice.

Closing her eyes to prevent tears, Bella said, "I saved her. What more do you want from me?"

"Savehim...." the trees seemed to whisper.

Bella opened her eyes, a trill of alarm running up her spine. "How?"

"Love him."

Damn. Why did her heart have to hurt so much? "I already do," she said softly, and she turned, and he was standing there.

"I'm sorry," Jonathon said. "I was wrong. I was wrong about everything. I was wrong about your faith, your beliefs. I was wrong about Ashley and about my own daughter. But most of all, Bella, I was wrong to ever let myself think for one minute that I had any choice at all about loving you. Because I didn't. And I don't."

She lifted her brows, tipped her head back to search his face.

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