Page 65 of Crossroads Magic
“Why?” Broch’s eyes narrowed. “I understand your need to find who killed your mother, Anna. You’re clinging to logic because it lets you pretend everything is still the old normal you knew. But have you considered that uncovering who killed your mother would upset everyone in Haigton?”
“Everyone wanted her dead?” I was appalled. Horrified.
“No! Not at all. I mean only that if you were to learn who killed her, if anyone did, then no matter who it is, we are all of us going to be shocked and dismayed. Everyone knows everyone in Haigton Crossing, Anna. We are family in a way that mere blood relatives could never understand.”
“So because you don’t want to deal with the fact that someone in this town is a stone-cold killer, I should just stop digging into it?”
“That isn’t what I meant, either,” he replied. “The Sheriff’s office—”
“Are doing nothing about it,” I said. “I’m starting to think that it is something to do with this town. The air or the water…I don’t know. But the captain I first spoke to about moving his ass on this had genuinely forgotten all about the murder. I can’t trust the Sheriff’s office to do right by my mother.”
Broch nodded. “You’re probably right. People do tend to forget about us here.”
“So I need to know how you spent your night after tucking Juda away.”
“Rolling barrels.”
“For six whole hours?”
“For four, at least,” Broch said. “Have you ever rolled a barrel?”
I shook my head.
“It is not straightforward, because their sides are not flat. The curve sends them in all directions. Shepherding four of them is very slow. I think Hirom’s still is just over a mile from here. But it took hours to get there and hours to roll the full barrels back here.”
Of course, Hirom would need to replace the empties.
I got up. “Excuse me for a moment.”
“Of course.”
I went over to the bar. “Hirom, what were you doing the night my mother died?”
Hirom didn’t hesitate. “You should ask Broch to confirm this. We were rolling barrels to my clearing. Then back here not long before dawn—enough time for me to snooze for a bit.” He raised his brow at me.
“Thank you,” I told him and headed back to the table.
“Hirom confirmed it?” Broch’s question sounded like a statement.
“It seems you’re in the clear,” I admitted.
Broch got to his feet. “Then I will leave you to your enquiries. Hirom wants to speak to you, I believe.”
Broch left and I moved over to the counter. It was getting late in the morning. Time for me to head into the kitchen and start preparing both lunch and dinner, but I could spare a few moments.
“Broch said you wanted to speak to me?” I asked him.
“Did he now?” Hirom moved up the counter, away from me, bent and retrieved a parcel wrapped in brown paper and tied with twine, and brought it back to me. He put it on the counter. “Most folks ‘round here are pagans, so you won’t be getting all the fuss you’d get back home. We tend to do the heavy celebrating at the solstice.”
The box hadMerry Christmaswritten in a lovely flowing hand on it.
I touched the box. “It’s Christmas Day,” I breathed. “I had forgotten.”
“Like I said, most folks round here…December 25this just another day. Thamina used to fret about it every year until she got used to it, then she just switched all the lights and baubles and decorations to the solstice, and carried on. But you’re new…”
“Thank you, Hirom. Shall I open it now?”
His face turned pink. “Do it later,” he said gruffly. “You’re busy. I don’t mind.”
