2 Yule Be the Death of Me (21 page)

“Samantha, I need to know the exact day that
fundraiser was held.” Vivienne turned onto Meier Drive.

“I have it in my phone, let me pull it up.”
Samantha went silent for a moment. “It was on June 7th, over six months ago.”

“That was when he must have met Tristan in
New York.” Vivienne pulled her car into the driveway of her home.

“Who’s Tristan?” Samantha asked.

“He runs an antique store here in town.”
Vivienne answered. “There was a bit of scandal with him having an affair with
Robert around the time of that fundraiser.”

“So he is bisexual.” Samantha added. “I had
a feeling he had to be.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh Vivienne, he has a girlfriend, but let
me tell you she was such an obvious prop. Plain and just so mousy. I can’t even
fathom why he would have looked at her twice.”

“Did you get her name?” Vivienne asked.

“Um, she didn’t say much. Just sort of hid
by the potted plants. I think a few people assumed she was the help and gave
her their empty glasses.” Samantha recalled. “I think her name was Natalie.”

“Oh my Goddess.” Vivienne put her hands up
to her mouth. “Short stature, dark hair pulled up in a bun. Pale complexion.”

“Yes.” Samantha confirmed. “You know her?”

“Oh, I know her.” Vivienne could barely get
the words out of her mouth. “Have you seen her lately?”

“No, in fact I was going to say that she and
Robert disappeared from the scene right after that.”

“What does Robert look like?” Vivienne
asked.

“He’s tall, athletic-type of build. Very
easy on the eyes. Of course, when he opens his mouth it all falls apart.”
Samantha sighed. “The very definition of narcissism.”

“Can you email me a picture?”

“Sure.” Samantha confirmed. “I have some
right here on my phone, one with him and Natalie actually. I’m so glad he
hasn’t had a chance to buy property in town yet.”

“Yes, you mentioned that earlier.”

“He’s tied in with one of those shady
companies fracking for gas deposits.” Samantha explained. “I’m sure he wanted
to get cozy with the locals so he could throw gobs of money at them until they
sold their mineral rights.”

“We’ve had some debates here about it.”
Vivienne recalled. “I hate to say it, but money would win out over ecological
safety issues for most working families around here.”

“This isn’t a reputable company, Vivienne.
This is a get rich quick scheme by Robert to fleece Cayuga Cove. They don’t
drill safely. They poison the water supply. If they get their claws into the
town, they will turn it into a poisoned wasteland.” Samantha’s voice took in a
tone of urgency. “I’ve had a legal team putting a case together to use against
them when Robert makes his move on the town council.”

“Thank you for looking out for us.”
Vivienne’s head was spinning. “I think you just saved the entire town by
telling me what I needed to know.”

“Really?” Samantha asked. “I’m going to send
you all the information on that bogus company that I have.”

“Thank you so much.” Vivienne finished. “I
have some very important errands to take care of.”

“Let me know how things turn out. Miss you
Vivienne.” Samantha hung up.

Vivienne turned the car off and sat inside,
letting the silence clear her head. She had to see the picture of Robert and
Natalie and then she had to find Joshua.

Once her computer booted up, she opened the
email that Samantha had sent. The picture confirmed that Natalie was indeed the
woman who haunted Cayuga Cove. There was a hollow darkness to her eyes, a deep
sadness that reached out from the confines of the digital photograph. But it
was the picture of Robert that disturbed her more. His face was so familiar,
yet so alien. She was transfixed by the image of the robust and healthy man
before her. She could see why Tristan had been attracted to him. But as she
squinted and the image blurred, the answer came. “Oh, no she didn’t.” Vivienne
gasped. “How could I miss something so obvious?” She had found the thread that
pulled the whole tapestry of tragedy together and it was a bigger threat than
either of them could have imagined.

It was nearly an hour later after reading
what Samantha had sent about the gas drilling that the picture became clear.
She combed over the emails, pulling out what she needed to explain in the most
logical order.

Her fingers dialed Joshua’s work number.
“Honey, it’s me. I’ve got one hell of a bombshell to tell you.”

“I was just about to call you.” Joshua’s
voice was uncertain. “Tristan and Nathaniel have been admitted to Cayuga
Memorial. It looks pretty bad, Vivienne.”

As they sat in
the waiting room in the emergency room at Cayuga Memorial Hospital, Vivienne
and Joshua held hands. The trauma team was working somewhere behind the
automatic doors, trying to bring them back to health.

“This isn’t
right.” Vivienne shook her head.

“They were
targeted by the Bad Santa note like everyone else.” Joshua gave her hand a
gentle squeeze.

“We’re so
close to solving this.” Vivienne felt tears well up in her eyes. “This town is
falling apart at the seams.”

“They’re still
sorting out the details of what happened, but apparently Nathaniel confronted
the protestors outside of their store and someone threw a punch.” Joshua shook
his head. “It turned into a free-for-all fight right afterwards.”

“Did you round
up all the protestors?” Vivienne sniffed.

“Most of them
took off when the first cruiser arrived on the scene.” Joshua explained as he
used his free hand to gently rub her back. “But we’ve got a pretty clear
statement about who started it.”

“Who was it?”

“His name is
Neil Carter and he’s a gas worker from a company called R.N.G incorporated.”
Joshua sighed. “He doesn’t even live here. He’s just one of the workers that’s
driving those big equipment trucks up and down Route 90 to the different
drilling sites.”

“R.N.G.”
Vivienne repeated. “
Rothwell
Natural Gas.”

“That’s
right.”

Vivienne stood
up from the uncomfortable chair. “We need to go somewhere private where we can
talk.”

Joshua joined
her. “The cafeteria?”

“The chapel.”
Vivienne answered.

“This is a
surprise.”

“I think it’s
off limits for her.” Vivienne explained as she guided him into the hallway. “At
least, I hope so.”

Joshua simply
nodded and followed her down the mostly empty hallway.

As they
entered the small chapel that was decorated with a few red and white
poinsettias, they nearly ran into Pastor Seamus Kilpatrick. “Oh, pardon me.” He
apologized, his grip on a small bible tight in his right hand.

“Pastor
Kilpatrick?” Vivienne blinked in
surprise
.“
Yes
.
Have we met?” He asked her.

Vivienne
looked at Joshua and shook her head. “Not in person. I’m Vivienne Finch, I run
the Sweet Dreams Bakery downtown.”

Seamus winked
at her. “Oh, I’ve heard quite a bit of good things about your baked goods.”

Vivienne gave
him a little smile. “Thank you. How is Eunice?”

“My sister is
doing better each day, praise the Lord.” He smiled. “Are you two friends?”

“We know each
other, but just casually.” Vivienne answered. She gestured to Joshua. “This is
Deputy
Arkins
.”

“Deputy, it’s
always a pleasure to meet a man of the law.” Seamus passed the bible to his
left hand and offered his right hand. “We must keep the flame of the righteous
burning bright against the darkness.”

Joshua gripped
it tight and gave him a vigorous shake. “Thank you, Pastor.”

“Are you here
to say a prayer for a sick friend?” Seamus asked them.

Vivienne
nodded. “Two friends, actually.”

“I’m sorry to
hear that.”

“Nathaniel
Schroeder and Tristan Carr.” Vivienne revealed.

Seamus’ face
paled. “I see.”

“What’s the
matter, Pastor Kilpatrick?” Vivienne pressed. “Are you troubled by the fruit
that your seeds have wrought?”

“I beg your
pardon.” Seamus straightened his posture.

“You were the
one responsible for organizing the protestors after the Bad Santa note hit
town, were you not?” Vivienne asked matter-of-factly.

“Vivienne,
this isn’t the place.” Joshua gently put his hand on her shoulder.

“Cayuga Cove
is a small town, Pastor. I suggest not talking about how you intend to clean up
the sin in this town in such a public place. The walls have ears, you know.”
Vivienne finished.

“I have no
idea what you’re talking about, my child. But I will pray that the anger inside
you goes away.”

“Why don’t you
go down to the emergency room and pray that those two gentlemen down there
don’t die from being beaten to within an inch of their lives by a bunch of
moral cowards?” Vivienne brushed past him and stepped into the chapel.

“She’s an angry
woman.” Seamus whispered to Joshua.

“Hell hath no
fury.” Joshua replied as he followed Vivienne into the chapel.

Vivienne took
a seat on the front bench. “I’m sorry.” She took a deep breath. “I didn’t mean
to go off on him like that.”

“Oh, he
deserved every word you gave him.” Joshua sat down next to her. “I’m proud of
you.”

“Well, he’s
not going to be very happy with me after that.”

“I don’t think
he’s happy with many people living here in Cayuga Cove.” Joshua added. “But,
he’s not our problem.”

“No.” Vivienne
positioned herself to face Joshua. “I’ve figured out what’s going on and I’ve
only got three days to stop it before I die.”

“What?” Joshua
leaned forward. “Did someone threaten your life?”

She nodded.
“Natalie.”

“You saw here
again?” Joshua asked.

“No.” Vivienne
had to choose her explanation carefully. She would tell him everything she
knew, while keeping Miss Octavia’s secret. It wasn’t going to be easy, but she
had no other choice.

*            
*            *

It was well
after eleven in the evening when Vivienne and Joshua returned to her home. The
trauma team managed to stabilize both Nathaniel and Tristan, but their recovery
was going to be rough. More importantly, she had been able to explain the
entire plan to Joshua and although she could sense that he was edgy about the
threat to her life, he remained rational and in control.

Vivienne
pulled up the email photograph of Robert and Natalie. “It’s impossible for a
non-witch to see through magic of a glamor spell.”

“I don’t see it.”
Joshua admitted.

“Robert Edward
Rothwell
is Eddie Robertson, and vice versa.”
Vivienne pulled up the newspaper obituary picture from online and placed the
two together on the screen.

“But why did
Natalie do that?”

“She needed to
bring him to Cayuga Cove in order to carry out her plan, but he was far too
visible as Robert
Rothwell
.” Vivienne explained as
best she could. “As Eddie, he was just some low life creep that no one would
pay much attention to. Except, to feel sympathy for her as the abused girlfriend
and mother.”

“So, Robert
Rothwell
was going to bring in his R.G.E.
company
to set up shop drilling gas and inflating his family
fortune?”

“Right.”
Vivienne clicked on a separate email and brought it up on the screen.

“How the heck
did the two of them hook up in the first place?” Joshua asked.

Vivienne
pulled up the email from Samantha Charles with the information that her legal
team had collected over the past few months. “Well, it was an unfortunate twist
of fate that did it. He was in town over a year ago setting up a survey team to
look at gas deposit prospects under Cayuga Cove, starting at the most promising
location.”

“The Cayuga
Union Cemetery.” Joshua caught on.

“Exactly.”
Vivienne pointed to the screen. “This is a funding query a team of geologists
sent out about two years ago. In the fall of 2011, they detected a large pocket
of gas in the farmlands surrounding the cemetery while conducting a geographic
survey for a now defunct energy company. Lacking the monetary capital to
explore drilling options, they had no choice but to shelve the project until
additional funding could be secured.” Vivienne pulled up another email on the
screen. “Well, at some point these geologists approached Robert
Rothwell
while cold calling various wealthy individuals and
when they mentioned his family’s hometown, he couldn’t get his checkbook out
fast enough.”

‘’So he buys
the survey information and creates
an
new company to
explore these drilling options.” Joshua followed along. “Eventually, he makes a
personal visit here to see how things are going.”

Vivienne
nodded back. “When I traveled into Tristan’s memory, I remember Robert telling
him he had traveled to Cayuga Cove about a year ago which would work out to be
around the summer of 2012.”

Joshua pulled
a pillow behind his neck as he sat on the sofa staring at the monitor. “So,
Robert was visiting the fields out here and comes across the cemetery.”

“John Pagano
told me stories of how he used to see the black widow, that’s what he called
Natalie, out by the old civil war cannons. It’s not a stretch to think that
Robert had an encounter with her as well at some point.”

“You’re
positive that the black widow is Natalie?”

Vivienne
opened a drawer on her computer desk and pulled out the silver brooch that John
had given her. “John found this near the cannons. It’s engraved.” She handed it
to Joshua.

Joshua turned
it over. “Never a time apart,
love is
eternal.” He
handed it back to her unimpressed. “I don’t get where you find a link to
Natalie.”

Vivienne
turned the brooch inscription toward him. “Look at the first letter of each
word.”

“N-A-T-A-L-I-E”.
Joshua blinked. “Vivienne, you’re brilliant.”

“Old Edgar
couldn’t go out and have her name engraved, not for a secret mistress in a
small town.”

 Joshua
smiled. “So, Natalie finds Robert visiting the cemetery and must have sensed
that he was a
Rothwell
family member. From that
moment, she at last had a chance to take revenge.”

“How could she
not? She’d been trapped out in the cemetery for over a century, unable to seek
vengeance against the man who murdered her and her child. Now, all during this
time this is going on we had Missy Collins working her dark magic in her plot
to take down Mona Clarke.” Vivienne placed the brooch back in the desk drawer.
“Unbeknownst to her, she was opening dark portals which fed new energy to
Natalie and allowed her to do so much more than simply kill Robert
Rothwell
for his family sins. She would be able to seek
vengeance against the entire town of Cayuga Cove for celebrating the life of
Edgar
Rothwell
and his family’s charitable donations
over the years.”

“So, she casts
a spell on him and controls his mind?” Joshua asked.

“We know she
can glamor, so my guess is that he only saw a knockout beauty who made his
heart skip a beat. He tells her about his soon to be big fortune, because as
Samantha Charles told me, he loves to brag to everyone about it.”

“They both
travel back to New York to secure the plan to harvest the gas from Cayuga Cove
and make his family richer than they ever had been.”

Vivienne
nodded back. “So, after getting the funding in place, it’s time for Natalie to
seek her vengeance. I also guess that the time away from the dark portals was
taking a toll, so she has to return to Cayuga Cove to boost her power in
keeping all the magic spells she cast in place.” Vivienne pointed to her
grimoire
resting by the computer. “In order to do that, she
combines a glamor spell with a mind alteration spell, changing Robert
physically into Eddie, while blocking all memory of his former life.”

“Whoa.” Joshua
stopped her. “How did you figure that out?”

“It’s in my
spell book.” Vivienne opened her
grimoire
to the
proper page. “An individual with a mind block spell will become more agitated
and aggressive with each passing day as the mind fights the spell to restore
balance. Sounds like the Eddie we encountered, doesn’t it?”

“You have
never used that, have you?” Joshua asked her with concern.

“I don’t think
I ever will. It feels too dark, at least to me.” She reassured him and closed
the book. “We witches have to be aware of both the light and the dark magic, in
order to work to the optimum potential.”

“So how did
Natalie get these spells?”

“When we cast
spells, they are sent out into the world free to travel without boundaries.
From what I understand, certain spirits are more adept at capturing that energy
and using it for their own purpose.”

“Like when a
haunting suddenly gets more active because someone used
a
Ouija board to try and contact the ghosts? Joshua’s blue eyes flashed with
excitement.

“I can’t tell
you everything, sweetie.” Vivienne warned him gently. “We have our secrets for
a reason.”

“I know.”

 Vivienne
walked away from the computer and sat on the arm of the sofa next to him. “So,
they move back to Cayuga Cove and she gradually recoups her power while the
Rothwell
Natural Gas Company proceeds with the plan to
start getting the mineral rights to start drilling.”

Joshua reached
up and caressed her arms with his hands. “They moved into the trailer court at
Tall Pine Grove where at some point she must have brought Connor back from the
dead.”

“Connor has
always been a lost soul, just like Natalie. He just couldn’t take physical form
like she was able to do.” Vivienne felt a moment of pity. “She helped him by
casting a risky spell.”

 “Why?”

“There’s no
greater tragedy than a young life cut short.” Vivienne mused. “When I had the
vision with her in the attic, she was most troubled about Connor not living the
life he was fated too. Using dark magic, she was able to correct that mistake
on her own.”

“So why not
bring herself back from the dead and just go start a new life far away?”

“I don’t know
much about resurrection spells, only that they are the most dangerous to cast.
One little slip up and the witch can end up as dead as the person they are
trying to bring back.”