2 Yule Be the Death of Me (19 page)

Gus Holt
stepped forward with a small thermos. “I have some hot cocoa in there. Give her
some of that.”

Joshua twisted
the top off and poured a small amount into the little plastic cup. “Drink some
of this.”

She did as he
asked, coughing again. She spit out the first mouthful, hoping to get rid of
the dirt that had fallen in. “More.”

Joshua poured
another cupful and she swallowed a little bit without coughing. “How did you
find me?”

“You can thank
Gus for that.” Joshua wrapped a warm blanket around her. “He was heading down
into town and recognized your car in front of the cemetery.”

“You fell into
a grave.” Gus added. “This old cemetery is full of sink holes.”

Vivienne
noticed the paramedics working their way through the headstones. “Why are they
here?” She croaked.

“Because you
almost suffocated.” Joshua assured her. “We’re going to have you checked out.”

Vivienne shook
her head. “I’ll be fine.” She coughed again, a little more violently.

“Sure you
will. After you go to the hospital and have everything checked out.”

The paramedics
stood over her. “We’ll take it from here, Deputy
Arkins
.”

Joshua easily
lifted her off the ground and the paramedics guided her onto the stretcher.
“Easy now.”

Vivienne
weakly reached out to him. “I need to tell you something important.” She
coughed again.

“Let them help
you.” Joshua ordered.

Vivienne tried
to clear her throat. “It’s about Natalie…” Her voice gave out.

The paramedics
carried her swiftly down through the cemetery. She coughed again and again,
spitting out bits of dirt. It was no use. She’d have to wait until later to
tell him. With her energy fading, she closed her eyes as they loaded her into
the back of the ambulance and into the warmth.

Friday, December 13th

Vivienne had
never been so happy to walk into her front door. Tommy Cat bounded at her with
a concerned meow as Joshua helped her inside. She had been in the care of the
staff at Cayuga Memorial Hospital for the past four days. Of course, she only
could recall the past two days, as she was informed she had lapsed into a mini
coma on her ambulance ride in on Monday afternoon.

During her
stay, Stephanie had taken over the bakery on a limited hour basis and kept
things moving smoothly. Kathy had stopped in to visit, informing her that
Eunice Kilpatrick had been discharged from the hospital and that Sally Rollins
was formally charged with hit and run.

“Now don’t
jostle her too much.” Nora appeared from the kitchen wearing a festive snowman
apron which was splattered with red tomato sauce.

Vivienne took
a seat on the sofa. “I’m fine, mother. My oxygen levels stabilized.”

“You had a
collapsed lung from nearly suffocating in that sinkhole.” Nora chided her. “You
still need to take it easy.”

“She’s right,
sweetie.” Joshua agreed.

Vivienne
fought the urge to roll her eyes. “I must be dead if you two are agreeing with
each other.”

“Don’t say
such a thing.” Nora clucked her tongue. “Now, I made your favorite spaghetti
and meatballs with my special sauce.” Nora smiled and returned to the kitchen
humming a cheery Christmas carol.

“Family
recipe?” Joshua asked.

Vivienne
chuckled. “Only if our last name is Prego.”

“I’m glad to
see you back in fighting form.” He smiled and sat down next to her.

“So the big
question, why did Sally Rollins run Eunice Kilpatrick down?” Vivienne asked.

“Turns out
she’s quite the alcoholic. The team went out there and found bottles hidden all
over the trailer.” Joshua explained. “She was cursing up a storm when they
brought her in, blaming Eunice for blabbing her secret vice.”

“You mean
before she was run down?”

“Yes.” Joshua
added. “Eunice smelled alcohol on her breath many times at the bank and she
reported it to social services who removed her grandchildren from the trailer
after they investigated the claim.”

“So, she goes
on a binge and gets in the car to run Eunice down as payback?” Vivienne
shuddered. “I don’t know about this. I was in her trailer before and I never
saw any bottles or smelled alcohol.”

“I’m just
telling you what the team has in the report.” Joshua interrupted.

Vivienne
leaned close to him. “So, what did your background check on Natalie turn up?”

“Nothing.”
Joshua frowned. ‘The same thing with Eddie Robertson “It’s as if they both just
fell into Cayuga Cove out of thin air.”

“They exist.”
Vivienne pointed out. “We’ve all seen and interacted with them.”

“Are you sure
it’s not some sort of spell?”

Vivienne shook
her head. “I’m positive. Magic can fool the eye for a short time, but not that
long.”

“Natalie and
Connor have both been missing since Monday. Sheriff
Rigsbee
wanted to ask her some questions about Sally Rollins but she hasn’t been back
to her trailer. You were the last one to see Connor, actually.”

“You saw the
boot prints.”

“We found
yours, mine, Gus Holt and the paramedics. None of them were child-sized.”
Joshua reminded her.

“She must have
erased them.”

“With magic?”

Vivienne
shrugged. “I guess that’s possible. But I can tell you for certain that I was
not chasing a ghost that left footprints.”

“So what the
hell is she?” Joshua asked.

“If I had to
guess I would say we’re dealing with a banshee.”

Joshua whistled.
“Great. Another supernatural creature to try to wrangle in.”

“Natalie isn’t
a ghost because too many people have seen and touched her. She has a physical
form, she walks in daylight, and she has been exposed to the most brutal
tragedy.”

Joshua shifted
uneasily on the sofa cushions. “So, what about Connor?”

“She must have
found a way to bring him back from the dead. Who knows what powers she has
now.
I wish I had the answers, but I’m afraid Natalie is the
only one to give them up.”

“Is she
writing the Bad Santa notes?” Joshua wondered.

“I think she
is and she’s using magic to circulate them.” Vivienne deduced. “She told me
herself that when Missy Collins opened the dark portals, it gave her energy to
leave the graveyard and start interacting with everyone in town.”

“But what’s
the reason for the notes?”

Vivienne
thought for a moment. “She was lied to and had no one to come to her defense
when she was alive. She had to sit back and take every bad thing that came to
her without complaining.”

“So, when she gained
this new power to work dark magic, she decided to start dealing out punishment
to those whose deeds she had witnessed first-hand.” Joshua added. “Writing Bad
Santa notes to stir up the town and get everyone as upset as possible.”

“Misery loves
company. She must have felt a great deal of satisfaction having such power for
the first time.”

“What about
the vandalism at Miss Octavia’s shop?”

“Yes, I think
she did that and planted Pastor Kilpatrick’s business card at the scene in the
hopes to stir up more trouble.”

“But you told
me that you overheard his conversation with Eunice at the hospital. They wanted
to clean up the town and get rid of certain people.”

“I did, but
that’s the
most sloppy
way possible, wouldn’t you
think?” Vivienne shook her head. “She has an ax to grind with Pastor
Kilpatrick, but I don’t know exactly what it is.”

Joshua
scratched his chin. “You’re right. People like that cover their tracks much
better.”

“I think it’s
more likely that Natalie overheard Eunice and Sally’s conversation at the bank
and decided to target Nathaniel and Tristan.”

“You witnessed
Tristan having an affair with that guy in New York when you slipped into his
memory. How is that connected to Natalie?” Joshua asked.

“That man was
a relative of dear old Edgar
Rothwell
. What better
way to deal with family sin?” Vivienne reached out and gave Tommy a pat on the
head as he smelled her hair. “You know, being stuck in the hospital all week
gives you time to really think things through.”

“So how do we
deal with a banshee?”

“I had a
folklore book in my purse.” Vivienne started to get up from the sofa when
Joshua stopped her. “You stay put. Let me get it.”

She nodded
back. “It was in the car the last time I saw it.”

Joshua nodded.
“It was, but I took it out and put it into your bedroom when we brought your
car home Monday night.” He wandered off to get it.

“Do you feel
like garlic bread, my darling daughter?” Nora popped back into the living room.

Vivienne
smiled at her. “Can you make it extra cheesy?”

“Sure can.”
Nora waved the wooden stirring spoon in her grip like a wand and wandered back
into the kitchen. “Dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes.” She called
out as the doorbell rang. “Are you expecting company?”

“No.” Vivienne
shook her head.

Nora walked
over to the front door and opened the peephole cover. “Who is it?”

“Delivery from
Hummingbird Floral.” The voice replied from behind the door.

“Oh.” Nora
replied with excitement as she unlocked the door. “How lovely.”

Vivienne could
see a tall high school boy, dressed in a heavy jacket and a woolen hat hand a
large fruit basket to Nora. “Happy Holidays.” He smiled.

Nora accepted
the big basket and waved at him. “Happy Holidays young man.” She then shut the
door in his face.

“Mother.”
Vivienne scolded her. “You were supposed to tip him.”

“For what?”
Nora asked as she walked the basket over to Vivienne and set it on the coffee
table. “Doing his job?”

“It’s
customary.” Vivienne sighed. “He’s just a poor high school kid working part
time.”

Nora clucked
her tongue. “I swear, everyone doing anything these days feels they need a tip
for doing the job they’re getting paid to do.”

“Never mind,
I’ll catch up with Brian downtown and make it right.” Vivienne admired the
brown wicker basket. It was filled with apples, oranges, kiwi fruit, plums, and
a large pineapple. Wrapped in a festive red and green cellophane, an envelope
dangled from the curled ribbon tied on top. “I wonder who sent
it?
”

“Open the card
and see.” Nora rubbed her hands together.

Joshua returned
with the library book in his hand. “Who sent that?”

Vivienne
opened the envelope and pulled out the card. “Heard about your accident and
hope you are on the mend. Give me a call when you feel better. Cheers, Samantha
Charles.”

“Such a lovely
young woman.” Nora gushed.

“I wonder who
told
her?
” Joshua asked.

“It must have
been Kathy.” Nora guessed.

“Probably.”
Vivienne smiled.

“I better
check on dinner.” Nora dashed off.

Joshua handed
Vivienne the book. “Here you go.”

Vivienne
opened it to where the pages were dog-eared. “Okay, so it says here that holy
water is an effective way to drive the creature away when under attack.”

“Anything
else?” Joshua asked as Tommy jumped onto his lap and began head butting him
while purring.

“This isn’t a
hunting manual.” Vivienne winked. “We’re going to have to wing most of this.”

“That’s
assuming we can find her.”

That won’t be
a problem.” Vivienne interrupted. “Despite the fact that she can roam the
entire town, there is one place that she always will appear.”

“The
graveyard.” Joshua snapped his fingers.

“There’s
something buried there that keeps her anchored. We need to find out what it
is.”

“You’re in no
shape to go back there right now.” Joshua put his arm around her.

“Nor do I want
to.” She agreed. “What about the
Rothwell
mansion?”
Vivienne asked. “Did you find the attic?”

“Brian
Amberry
knew about the attic. He stores some of the
seasonal décor up there.”

“Did you check
it out personally?”

Joshua nodded.
“It was empty, except for the decorations he told us about. There wasn’t a
skeleton tied to a chair.” He took a deep breath. “But, when I ran the ultra
violet light up there I did find some residual blood spatter on some of the
floorboards.”

“I knew it.”
Vivienne snapped her fingers. “So Edgar did murder her up there.”

“There wasn’t
enough blood to indicate anything like that. It was just a few stains here and
there.”

“Still, that
proves that what I saw in my vision was true.” Vivienne nodded.

“But that’s
your magic at work.” He whispered quietly. “We need solid proof for anything to
be verified.”

“I think we
need to set a banshee trap.” Vivienne’s eyes sparkled. “Bait it with something
she can’t resist.”

“And what
would that be?”

Vivienne
glanced at the Christmas tree that sparkled in her living room. “I’ll bet Miss
Octavia might have a suggestion. I’ll go see her tomorrow morning.”

“I don’t know
why, but I have this feeling we’re missing this one thread that connects
everything together.”

“Me too.”
Vivienne agreed.

Nora called
out from the kitchen. “Dinner is ready everyone.”

Joshua helped
Vivienne to her feet. “After you.”

She winked at
him. “Such service. Why don’t we dine here more often?”

“Joshua, would
you be a dear and fetch me some antacid tablets from the bathroom medicine
cabinet?” Nora called out again. “This sauce is going to give me trouble, I can
tell just from the aroma.”

Joshua lowered
his head. “Probably because the staff can drive you crazy.”

Vivienne gave
him a light tap on the arm. “Now dearest, she means well.”

“Anything but
the cherry flavored ones.” Nora corrected. “For some reason they don’t seem to
work as well and the flavor is just dreadful.”

“You’re
right.” Vivienne smiled. “It’s the staff.”