Cursed

He held up his cell phone. “I don’t think it worked,” he said. “Or I would have a call by now.”

Maria gazed around the small room as if searching the corners for something. For what? And she insisted, “She can’t be dead.”

“You better hope like hell she isn’t, because I can put you at the scene. In addition to your DNA that I’m sure was under her fingernails, I’m an eyewitness.” He had her. He finally had her. And now the senseless killing would stop.

“I didn’t hurt her. It wasn’t me.” She gestured at the photos. “I didn’t hurt any of them.”

“You’re the one. Raven confirmed it to me on the phone.” Even without that confirmation, he had been certain. She was the only thing all the victims had had in common; she was the last person every one of them had seen. “Raven also said she had proof.” And he needed to find out what that proof was. He needed to talk to the girl—needed her to live—so that he could officially close all those other cold-.case files. “I should call the hospital again.”

But a call wouldn’t be good enough. If she regained consciousness, even for just a second as she had at the barn, he needed to be there to question her. “Actually, I should go to the hospital.”

She nodded and stood up again. “I want to go with you. I want to see her.”

“I can’t let you go,” he said. “I have a material witness order for you. I don’t have to release you until you answer my questions.”

Or until she called a lawyer who could get her released. He could question her for only so long without charging her. And he didn’t have enough to charge her. Yet.

He hoped Maria was right and that the girl wasn’t dead. But he wasn’t sure how anyone could have survived a hanging. He doubted that the herbs put in her mouth and on her throat had actually been a healing potion. They were more likely to have been poison.

Maria settled back onto the chair. “I’ll stay,” she said as if she had a choice. “Please check on her.”

He slid his phone back into his pocket and reached for his keys. “I’m going to lock you in here.” Because he had no doubt that if he didn’t, she would be long gone by the time he returned.

But he waited for her protest. Maybe she would even ask for that lawyer now.

Instead she nodded in agreement. “That’s fine with me. I want to stay until you get back anyway. I have to know how she’s doing.”

Seth studied her beautiful face and wished he could read her mind. Did she want the girl alive or dead? Did she really believe the girl would exonerate her? Or was she afraid that Raven would implicate her, and she wanted the young woman as dead as her other victims?

* * *

It was so much easier than he had thought it would be—easier even than killing them in Maria Cooper’s little magic shops. Maybe a big-city hospital would have had better security, but here in Copper Creek he had no problem moving freely around the building, which was more urgent-care center than actual hospital. The lights low, as patients slept, he hovered in the shadows, as he had earlier that night in the barn.

He had been there when the girl had placed her hysterical phone call to the FBI agent. For him that call had confirmed that she really was a witch. How else would she have known, just as she’d told the FBI agent, that he would be too late to save her?

She had seen her future. Her fate. At his hands. And since she could see the future, she was definitely a witch.

But the girl hadn’t seen that Maria would come back to the shop. Neither had he.

Usually when the cards came up as they had, Maria Cooper took off—leaving everything and everyone behind her. Except him. She would never be able to leave him behind. He always knew where she was—unlike the FBI agent who’d been trying to track her down for years.

But Seth Hughes couldn’t save her—just as he hadn’t been able to save the girl with that hideous tattoo painted on what must have once been a pretty face.

Maria had been the one to cut her down—just seconds after he had strung up the girl and knocked the chair from under her. He would have grabbed Maria then, but he’d known the FBI agent was on his way. He couldn’t risk getting caught before he’d completed his mission.

Before he killed the most powerful witch...

And he’d thought the girl was dead—that surely her neck would have broken when she hung. But Maria had used one of her potions and some mystical spell to save her life. Or to steal her death from him.

Sticking to the shadows, he now crept into a room the farthest down the hall from Raven’s. Then, after tripping the alarm on the machine connected to the patient in that room, he slipped deeper into the shadows. He waited for the medical staff to rush to the elderly man’s aid before he stole, unseen, into Raven’s room.

Acting quickly, he disconnected the air hose from the machine and poured in the water he carried in a cup. It slid down the tube and directly into the girl’s airway. Her eyes opened, big with terror, and she stared up at him, a question in her gaze.

Why?

She wanted to know why he was so determined to take her life.

“Because you’re a witch,” he whispered. “And I’m a witch-hunter.” He didn’t know if she heard him, because with one last gurgling gasp, she was gone.

Another witch dead...

But he felt none of the satisfaction of his earlier kills; his joy in the hunt was waning. Yet he couldn’t leave his mission undone. He couldn’t allow witches to live—to work their craft and mess with people’s minds and hearts and livelihoods. He had to save the world from their evil ways.

The alarm sounded on Raven’s machine now, signaling with a flat line that she was really gone this time. He disappeared again into the shadows behind a tall cart in the hall as the nurses hurried back toward the girl’s room.

“What the hell happened?” one of them asked as she grabbed up the disconnected tube.

“Could she have done it?” the other nurse asked. “She’s in here because she tried hanging herself.”

Curses rang out, the voice deep and masculine, as the FBI agent joined the nurses at the bedside of the dead witch. He was getting close, too. Not just to Maria but to him.

He had been saving Maria until last, using her as bait to draw out the other witches. But she seldom shared her knowledge of witchcraft now.

While she sold the herbs and talismans and amulets, she didn’t teach the craft of spells and potions. It had taken Raven a long time to get close to her, and probably no one would get that close again.

Except for him.

It was time for Maria Cooper to die.

Chapter 3

Blood and water leaked out as the scalpel sliced through the flesh and tissue of the victim’s lungs. Seth didn’t even flinch; he had already seen so much horror in his job.

And in his dreams.

“I don’t understand it,” the coroner murmured as he stared down at the water spilled on the stainless steel table.

Bright light shone onto the table and the body of the young woman lying on it. Seth stood just outside the light, in the shadows, where he felt he’d spent so much of his life.

“With the trauma to the neck and the lack of oxygen that would have caused to her brain,” the doctor said, “I figured it might have been a stroke that caused her death.”

“She was drowned,” Seth said. He’d had the sheriff wake up the coroner to perform the autopsy to confirm it. But he’d already known.

He had seen the water that had spilled on the floor and had condensed on the inside of her breathing tube. When he’d stepped off the elevator, he had heard the alarm beeping.

And he’d known. He was too late.

Raven had told him that he would be too late to save her. And she’d been right. He had failed her twice.

“How the hell did she drown?” the coroner asked. The older man shook his head as if befuddled. The sheriff had assured Seth that despite Dr. Kohler’s age, the man was sharp. With his years of experience and the expansive county he worked, he had seen everything before.

Apparently he hadn’t seen anything like this—like a woman being drowned in her hospital bed.

“I’m pretty sure someone poured water into her breathing tube,” Seth said. While waiting for Sheriff Moore and the coroner to arrive at the hospital, he had investigated the scene and interviewed all the possible witnesses.

The coroner gasped but nodded his gray head. “That would have done it.”

“But how?” the sheriff asked. He had joined Seth in the morgue in the basement of the county hospital, but he’d stayed even farther from that brightly lit table than Seth had. So he hadn’t witnessed much of the autopsy. He wasn’t asking about the medical aspects, though.

He was asking the same question that Seth had been asking himself when he’d found Raven dead. How?

Maria was in custody. Wasn’t she?

“You have someone watching the suspect?” he asked Sheriff Moore. Again. It had been the first thing he had asked the man when he’d called him from Raven’s bedside.

The older lawman nodded. “Yes.” Now he glanced at the body on the autopsy table. “But it looks as if we should have had someone watching her instead.”

Seth silently cursed himself. He should have had a protection detail on Raven. But he’d thought he had the right person in custody.

He could feel his suspect slipping away now, though. This death would give her reasonable doubt. A grand jury might not even indict her now. And then she would be free again.

And if Maria was free, he was certain that more people would die—since everyone around her kept dying...

If only he had been able to talk to Raven...

Frustration eating at him, Seth grumbled, “I can’t believe this hospital doesn’t have security.”

“We’ve never needed it,” the coroner said. “This is Copper Creek.”

“But no cameras—”

“Never needed them,” the doctor interjected.

“Tonight you needed them,” Seth said. Because all of the nurses he’d questioned had claimed that they had seen no stranger—no one suspicious at all—lurking around the place. But they’d shivered as he’d talked to them—as if some cold spirit had crossed their paths.

Or some heartless killer...

Despite his leather jacket, goose bumps lifted on Seth’s skin. Maybe it was the coldness of the morgue. Or maybe it was something else that chilled his skin and his blood. He refused to believe in spirits.

Evil.

Hell, he knew evil existed. He had already seen so much of it. More likely what had chilled his skin was the thought that had just occurred to him.

If Maria really was at the station, then someone else was out there. Not acting instead of her but maybe in collusion with her. He should have considered before that she wasn’t working alone. The gruesome ways all the other victims had died would have been hard for her to pull off alone—unless she really was a witch. Or she’d had someone stronger helping her. Probably some hapless male who had fallen for her undeniable sexy charms...

Seth swallowed nervously as he realized he could be that hapless male—that he had been distracted so much by her looks that he hadn’t thought to put protective duty on Raven. His distraction had cost the girl her life. Along with the frustration, guilt ate at him, clenching his stomach into knots.

“I need to get back to the station,” he said. To make certain that Maria was still there—that whoever had just killed Raven for her wasn’t trying to break her out of the room in which he’d locked her.

As if he’d read his mind, the sheriff assured him, “Your suspect is still there.”

Where Maria Cooper was concerned, Seth would accept no assurances. He had to see for himself. But he didn’t want to just see her. He wanted to touch her, too.

“I’ll drive Dr. Kohler back to his house and meet you at the station,” the sheriff said.

“I have to finish up the autopsy,” the doctor said. “I can’t leave her like this...” He stared grimly down at the body.

“That’ll give you time to finish up the investigation here,” Seth suggested to Sheriff Moore. “Maybe you’ll have better luck talking to the nurses than I did.”

They might talk more freely to the local lawman than the stranger he was to them. They might admit to seeing something or someone tonight that would explain how Raven had died.

And maybe now that Seth knew Maria wasn’t working alone, he might have better luck getting her to talk. Maybe she would implicate her accomplice in order to save herself. If her accomplice hadn’t already managed to free her...

The security at the sheriff’s office wasn’t much better than at the county hospital. So Seth worried that he would find her as he had found Raven: already gone.

* * *

“She’s gone...”

“Who?” Elena asked as she glanced over her shoulder at her sister Ariel, who’d spoken so softly that she’d barely heard her whisper.

“Mama,” Ariel murmured. She was probably being quiet so she wouldn’t wake Irina. She was sleeping, finally, and hopefully so deeply that she wasn’t able to hear them.

When they were kids, the three of them had slept together on that lumpy mattress in the camper on the back of Mama’s old pickup truck. As they had then, the three of them slept together now—on the soft mattress of Irina’s king-size bed, though. Elena lay in the middle, as she had all those years ago, a younger sister under each arm as if she could keep them safe from all those horrible dreams she’d had. All those horrible things she had seen each of them endure...

As she thought of those twenty years without her sisters, Elena’s pain increased. And now she knew there was still one sister out there—still alone, as they had each been alone for so long.

Because, eventually, Mama had abandoned Maria, too.

Ariel’s husband, David Koster, had discovered that as he and his best friend, Ty, had tried tracking down Maria. Elena’s husband, Joseph, had other sources who had discovered other things about Maria.

Like her criminal past...

Or was it actually in the past...?

Elena closed her eyes and played out the vision she’d had days earlier.

Candlelight flickered, casting shadows about the interior of a barn. Dried herbs hung from the rafters. But they weren’t the only things dangling from the worn boards. A noose swung in the cool night air blowing in through the open door.

A man crouched on the floor, leaning over a woman—trying to save her. The candlelight glinted in his auburn hair.

The first time she’d had the vision, Elena had awakened screaming. As always Joseph had comforted her, pulling her tightly against his hard chest. His strong arms had held her close, and he’d reassured her that she was safe. But she had known she wasn’t the one in danger. She had thought that the woman lying lifelessly on the ground was Maria. But then she’d had the vision again and she hadn’t awakened that time until later. And then she had been even more horrified.

A woman crouched behind him. Long curly black hair hung down her back. She wore an old gray sweater and a long skirt. And from the folds of the long skirt she pulled a knife. The backs of her hands were gouged, as if she’d already fought with someone. And then she swung the blade of that long knife toward the man’s back...

That woman was Maria. Not the one lying on the floor. Joseph’s contacts had confirmed that Elena’s youngest sister had been a con artist. Elena remembered helping her mother run cons—before she, Ariel and Irina had been taken away from her. But Maria had kept running those cons—by herself—after their mother abandoned her. So she’d chosen to be a con artist. Was she now a killer?

Or had she always been?

Elena had had other visions. She had seen other bodies. Was Maria so damaged—so evil—that she had taken those lives?

“No...” Irina murmured the word in her sleep as she shifted restlessly on the bed.

“She can hear you,” Ariel warned her. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m remembering a vision.”

Ariel’s turquoise eyes widened and glowed in the darkened bedroom. She knew about the visions—knew that Elena wasn’t as convinced as she and Irina that it was a good idea to find Maria.

They were desperate to find the youngest Cooper sister because they were worried that Maria was in danger. Elena was worried that Maria was the danger.

Maybe to them all...

Ariel settled closer to Elena’s side, as if seeking comfort. She softly murmured, “I hope you’re wrong.”

Elena shrugged so that her shoulder rubbed against Ariel’s—offering comfort as she had when they were kids. “I can’t help what I see.”

And if Maria was what Elena was afraid she was, then they wouldn’t be able to help her, either.

* * *

Maria fought to breathe as she waited in the cell, opening her mouth to suck in deep breaths—to fill her aching lungs.

Was it her fear? Or someone else’s?

Shortly after Seth Hughes had locked her in the room and left, she’d felt that choking sensation. It wasn’t the too-close walls that were shrinking the already small room. It was the mist that filtered in beneath the door.

“No,” she murmured around the sob choking her throat. She felt as though that noose were around her neck, pulling tight, cutting off her breath. Off her life...

Raven had been such a sweet girl. She had never done anything wrong except for trying to be Maria’s friend...and for being a witch. Raven had wanted to be a witch. That was why she’d sought out the shop. Not for the healing cures or love potions that Maria could sell her. Like learning to read the cards, Raven had wanted to learn to make the potions and cures herself.

Maria glanced down at the photos Agent Hughes had left strewn across the small table. Every one of them had wanted the same thing. To practice witchcraft...

Even the two guys. And one of them had been crushed to death, the other burned. But had becoming a witch been their real wish...or was it just because they’d wanted to be close to her?

She had been told that she was that kind of person—the kind who drew other people to her. Apparently even when she didn’t want to...

Like Raven...

Her breath shuddered out with the sob that she couldn’t restrain. Nobody could get close to her without losing everything.

Nobody...

She reached out for the briefcase Agent Hughes had left on the table to see what else he had inside—like maybe the keys to the door. But the case was empty; he’d only had those crime scene photos in it. No keys. She needed the keys. She had to get out of here—before she suffocated or strangled. But as soon as her fingers touched the leather, images flashed through her mind...like when she read cards or touched a crystal ball.

His smoky blue eyes stared down at her, his gaze intense. Not with anger or suspicion now but with passion. Moonlight gleamed on the bare skin of his broad shoulders and heavily muscled chest. Then his face, so handsome with his square jaw and sharp cheekbones, got closer as he lowered his body. His legs, naked but for soft hair, parted hers. And his chest covered her breasts, crushing them so that her nipples hardened and pressed against his skin.

She moaned at the exquisite sensation. But it wasn’t enough. She wanted more, wanted his mouth...everywhere. On her lips, on her breasts and...

He must have read her mind because he chuckled and his chest rumbled against hers. “I can’t believe this...”

She shook her head, shaking off the image. “I can’t believe it, either.” It couldn’t be a vision; making love with Seth Hughes would not happen. Not just because he thought she was a killer, and she wasn’t entirely convinced he wasn’t one, too, but also because she would never, ever make the mistake of getting close to anyone else.

Ever again.

Even though she didn’t need reminders of what happened to people who got too close to her, she tried to focus on those pictures. Maybe she could see something in the crime scene photos that would help her figure out who was doing this. Who was the dark aura following her...

But even in her visions, she never saw a person, never saw who was hurting these victims. She saw only the darkness. The evil.

And then these images that the crime scene photos had captured. She had seen them before they had even happened—in her mind as she’d read their cards. The same cards that had turned up tonight. For Raven. The mist thickened so that she couldn’t see the photos. Or anything in the room.

Then the mist shifted into a human form. She expected Raven’s tall thin body, so she gasped in surprise at the small stature and long curly black hair of the ghost. “No...”

She shoved back her chair, as far as the wall would allow, and jumped up. Then she turned toward the door, clawing at the handle and hammering at the wood. “Let me out! Let me out!”

“I’m not going to hurt you,” that all-too-familiar soft voice assured her.

The scent of sandalwood and lavender, mixing with her own, overwhelmed her. And smoke. She always smelled smoke now whenever this ghost visited her. Tears burned her eyes. Seeing her always hurt. “I don’t want to see you. I told you to leave me alone!”

Her voice cracked with so many emotions as the ghost whispered her name: “Maria...”

“Go away!” she screamed.

“I can’t leave you, child.”

“Why not? You had no problem leaving me before!” she lashed out.

“I did it for you,” her mama’s ghost insisted. “To keep you safe.”

“You left a fifteen-year-old to fend for herself. How was that keeping me safe?” She had been lucky to survive on her own, driving without a license, continuing the scams so that she could put gas in the truck Mama had left her. So she could eat...

She had done it just so she could survive. But she felt sick with guilt and self-loathing as she remembered turning those cards and telling so many lies to the people who’d paid her to tell their real futures.

But that wasn’t all she’d done...

There had been the fake séances her mother had taught her to run. The way of projecting her voice so the ghost said what the person wanted to hear. She hadn’t charged as much as her mother had to summon the people’s lost loved ones, but she shouldn’t have charged at all for a lie.

Unlike her mother, most people passed from one world to the next without ever coming back. So no matter how much she had actually tried, she hadn’t often been able to summon the real spirit for her mark. And then the times she had, the real spirit hadn’t always said what they had wanted to hear. So she’d lied.

And people had paid more for her lies, tipping her generously as they’d cried with relief.

“My leaving you was my way of keeping you safe.” Mama’s reply was one that Maria had heard before. “I knew I was in danger.”

Even though it hadn’t happened until five years after she had abandoned Maria, Mama’s witch-hunter had eventually caught her. He had burned her alive. And that was the first time her ghost had appeared to Maria, warning her to run for her life—that he was coming for her, too.

“I thought that no one knew about you,” Mama said. “So I thought that if I left you alone, I could keep you safe...from my demons.”

Maria closed her eyes, trying to shut out the ghostly image.

But Mama’s voice wrapped around her, filling her head as she continued, “But you always had your own demons, hovering like that dark aura around you, putting you and anyone who would ever get close to you in danger. You were always...”

“Cursed,” Maria said, bitterness filling her with the warning her mother had given her. Too many times. A child shouldn’t have to grow up knowing that she would never know true happiness, that she would always be hunted.

“I should have left you sooner,” Mama said, “like I did the others.” The others were the sisters Maria had never known. “Or I should have given you to your father.”