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"About the people here… well, as you can imagine, there are many. As I said, my wife's cousin is a Wiccan. Morwenna and her husband, Joseph, own a witchcraft store, and of their employees, I've come to know a girl named Sara—who tried to convince me that I was the most evil being in the world, and now thinks she's helping me anyway, for some reason. There's also a young man at the shop named Jamie, who seems to be all right. My wife has a distant relative living here, too—Aunt Martha. She's the epitome of the stereotypical New Englander, sound sense, logic, all that. Megan is staying with her, out at her place. That's the family. The Wiccan and her place, and her total opposite. Aunt Martha seems to think that they're all commercial, cashing in on Salem's reputation. I'm trying to think of anyone with whom I've spent time. Huntington House is managed—along with Susanna McCarthy—by a fellow named Fallon. I caught him cooking up Halloween herbs in the kitchen last night. Says he was making spells for protection, but he scared the daylights out of a couple of the kids in the place the night before. I don't know… I fell for his story. Could have been wrong, he is definitely a weird man. Susanna cooks, supervises staff such as the day maids, and takes the reservations. She's a dour old sort—amazing that they keep people coming back all the time with those two in charge. Who else… ? A guy named Sam Tartan hired us for the hotel, and he's got a body guard. Guy's name is—believe it or not—Adam Spade.
Let's see… ah. My wife has an old friend here. Mike Smith. He runs the new museum, down-to-earth type. No-nonsense guy. I should like him. I don't The girl running the ticket booth for him is Gayle Sawyer, and she's a strange little thing, looks Ivy League by day, and Goth by night. There's a cop who really helped us out one night when a guy got drunk and frisky at the bar—Theo Martin. And he has a brother, Eddie—the guy with the bookshop where Sara brought me to read about Cabal Thorne.
They're identical twins, by the way. Let's see… there's old Andy Markham. He's the one with whom it all started, I think. When we first arrived, we went to one of his 'storytelling' sessions. That night, Megan woke up screaming. Then Fallon came to the door, apparently certain that I was beating her. The thing is… it's like the dreams never stop. And… you'll see tonight. There's also this fog… okay, so it's New England. There's often fog. But this is one strange fog. "
"What about Huntington House?" Lucian asked.
"I told you about Fallon and Susanna. "
"What about the other guests?"
"Well, unless they're hiding people in the basement, I only know about two other couples, Brad and Mary—mid to late thirties, they're the ones with the children, Joshua and Ellie. The other couple are in their late twenties, maybe early thirties. John and Sally. She's very pretty, and they've both been pleasant.
I think all of them heard Megan screaming that night, but they seem to believe she really did have a nightmare. " He hesitated, then shrugged. "Because Megan's family lived in this area for generations, rumor spreads fast. Before we split up, we had a fight. In truth, Megan hit me with a loaf of bread. By the time the story traveled around, I was a wife beater, and the bread was a bottle of wine, or some such thing like that. I'm not sure who talked, but you know, maybe Aunt Martha, maybe Morwenna or Joseph… anyway, by the time we actually checked into Huntington House, I think we both had a reputation, in old Mr. Fallon's eyes, anyway. "
"Rumors will spread," Jade said, moving spinach around on her plate.
"And actually, there are so many people here now," Lucian said with a shrug, "you've probably talked to dozens that you don't even remember. But let's go back. When we met with you in New Orleans, you'd been married, you'd split up—and you'd made that trip to Maine, via Boston, to find your wife?"
"Right. " Finn said, staring at him. "Is that supposed to mean something?"
"I don't know," Lucian said. "Maybe. " He hesitated a minute. "You had no connection to this area, though, before you came here then—or through here—at that time?"
"No," Finn said, shaking his head. "I'd never been in Salem. I know that. Not even as a child, or an infant. Wait—I might have been in Salem. I drove to Maine from Louisiana, coming through the Boston area, and I stopped somewhere soon after for lunch. But as to a connection? If you can call ordering a hamburger a connection, I might have one. "
"But you and Megan had been married a while, right?"
He nodded. "Yes. So… ?"
"And everyone knew that you were married, right?"
"Everyone? Well, everyone who knew us knew that we were married. We didn't hide it, or anything. So?
I'm not sure that anyone else would care about our marital situation. Is that important in any way?"
"Again, I don't really know," Lucian said. "More coffee anyone? Dessert? Because, if not, I'd really like to get to that bookshop. "
Morwenna was in the basement, standing by the altar.
Candles burned.
Head bowed, she stood in deep reflection.
She stared at the flames, burning around her, narrowing her eyes, letting the light filter, and then diffuse.
She lowered her head.
There was a change…
She felt it. And, of course, it meant that they would have to make changes as well.
Tonight…
Chapter 16
Irritated with Morwenna and far more uneasy than she wanted to allow, Megan idly wandered through the streets, smiling at the kids at the play stations, enjoying their costumes.
She wished that Aunt Martha had made it back to the house that morning, but after whiling around for a few hours with nothing to do, Megan had called for a cab and come into town.
And now…
She wondered where Finn was. In town somewhere. Maybe meeting up with the reviewer and her husband. She wished that she were with them. They'd been a nice couple, and the woman, Jade, had certainly done good things for her and Finn.
The day was cool, but not cold. She bought a large mocha from one of the coffee bars and wandered toward the common. She was sitting on a park bench when she saw Darren, throwing a Frisbee for Lizzie. As the dog caught the Frisbee, Darren laughed, and moved toward someone, calling out. Megan frowned, shielding her eyes from the sun, curious to see if she knew the person with Darren. She thought she heard a woman's voice, rising, saying his name. More curious, and glad to give thought to something other than her own strange dilemma, she looked around the area surrounding Darren's position, intrigued that he might have a girlfriend. But the woman with the voice she had heard was nowhere to be seen, not through the different clusters of people in the common. Megan couldn't see anything at all except for the family group that was greeting one another warmly almost directly in front of her bench.
But a moment later, Darren was out in the grass, throwing the Frisbee again. He saw Megan, and waved.
A few seconds later, he and Lizzie came running toward her.
"Hey!"
"Hey, Darren, how are you?" Lizzie, knowing she was wanted and loved, got a little carried away and crawled up halfway on the bench, halfway on Megan. Laughing, Megan hugged the dog.
"Lizzie! Down, girl!" Darren said with dismay.
"She's fine, don't worry, I love her," Megan said. She scratched Lizzie's ears and looked at Darren.
"Where's your friend?"
"My friend?"
"I thought I saw you with a young woman," Megan said.
Darren stared at her, and slowly shook his head. "No. You must have been mistaken. "
"Oh, sorry. I guess so. "
He laughed. "I wish. No girlfriend at the moment. "
"Well, you're young, you know. Your entire life is ahead of you. "
"Right. Like you're old. "
She laughed. "I have a few years on you!"
"Not that many. " He grinned, joining her on the bench. "But then, alas, you're married anyway, right?
You're still married, huh? Or really married, I shou
ld say. "
" Yes, I'm really married, and still married. Why?" Megan said.
"Oh, I just saw your husband earlier. "
"He does go places without me," Megan said dryly.
"He was with a couple. "
"Ah, yes. " She still wondered why he hadn't wanted her to be with them from the start. "They're…
friends. From back home. "
"I see," he said, staring at her. He didn't see. "How come you're not with them?" He asked pointedly.
She was irritated by the question and tempted to tell him it was none of his business. But she knew that her own mood might have been better, and there was no need to offend Darren. "I… needed to run into Morwenna's this morning," she said. She forced a casual smile. "I'll catch up with them later. "
He nodded, staring past her. "Hey, look, there's Mr. Smith. "
She turned to see that Mike Smith, a brown bag in hand, was heading onto the common. Since it was a pleasant day, he had probably opted for a lunch hour outdoors.
"You two know each other?"
"Of course. Students do frequent museums, you know," he said, grinning. "And it can be a fairly small place, you know. " He turned and called out, "Hey, Mr. Smith!"
Mike had been preoccupied with his thoughts, apparently, but his head jerked up when Darren hailed him. He smiled, coming in their direction.
"Hey, I went in to see the new exhibit the other day," Darren said. "It's great. "
"Thanks. I worked hard on it. " He smiled down at Megan. "Hey, Megan. I don't know, but this seems strange, seeing you alone in the park. "
"Oh, well… I was just… sitting. It's really a beautiful day. "
"Yeah, I guess I thought the same. "