Opened in 1940, the asylum unfortunately ended up doing more harm than good and its license was revoked in 1967. I didn’t know all the details, but there were rumors that some of the inmates who had died there—and there were a good handful—still haunted the area. I knew there was something about a “December curse” attached to the empty asylum building, but I had no real recollection what it was.
“I have no clue, nor does her husband. He said she went out for ice cream, but she never came home. They found her body this morning. She was lying in the snow, but there were no signs of foul play, no signs of anything. There might be more on the news tonight. Do you mind if I turn on the television?”
I found the remote and turned on the TV. There was a local news and weather channel and it constantly ran the weather, with updates on the news coming every half hour.
“We have ten minutes till the next update,” I said. “I met Millie O’Conner in the store today.”
“She’s Millie Tuptin now. She married Jake Tuptin. She’s the chief of police now, you know.” Ari bit into another piece of chicken. “She’s a good cop. I trust her. We had a sketchy chief of police until the last election. Turned out he was accepting bribes from several members of the Moonshadow mafia.”
I rolled my eyes. “Are the rumors about that group still running fast and loose?”
“Yeah, but turns out they weren’t rumors.”
“You’re kidding!”
“Nope. Remember old Rainier Johnson? You know—he owns the bank? He is actually a founding member. And the old chief of police, Chief Roberts, was accepting bribes from him to look the other way on a number of issues. I don’t know if any of the issues were actually serious, but a lot of Johnson’s family members got out of speeding tickets, DUIs, and the like. There was a recall. Millie, who was a detective at the time, ran for the office and won.”
I finished my wine. “Well, it seems that Moonshadow Bay has its fair share of soap opera and high drama.” Laughing, I poured myself another glass. “What happened to Roberts?”
“He was convicted of accepting bribes and ended up being sentenced to ten years in prison.” Ari glanced at the television and turned up the sound. “Ssh, the news is on.”
The announcer on the station looked familiar too, and I could have sworn I had met her, but I couldn’t remember where.
“Dana Wilby here for KC-12 News, at the top and bottom of every hour. Today, Arabella Jones was found dead out near the old Stellarview asylum in Moonshadow Bay. Police have no leads as to what caused her death. As of this afternoon, Chief Millie Tuptin said that police are still searching for answers, and that there are no clues to the cause of death. An autopsy is being performed to rule out foul play.”
I turned to Ari. “That’s creepy. You don’t just find people dead in the snow for no reason. If she had frozen to death, they would have been able to tell, right? Her family must be devastated.”
“Unless her husband did it. They always check out the spouse first.” Ari wiped her fingers and dabbed the napkin against the side of her lips. “What do you want to do tonight?”
“I want to buy a tree and decorations,” I said. “I want to get my life here going. Now that I have a job, I need to set up a new routine and settle in. The move is so new that I feel adrift. I also want to reconnect with some of our friends, so I don’t wear my welcome out with you.”
“Like you could ever do that, but hey, the Winter Carnival is coming up Saturday. And the Winter Cotillion is on the nineteenth—a week from Saturday. The Sunrise Solstice Ceremony takes place at sunrise on Monday the twenty-first. It starts at midnight, so if you’re game to pull an all-nighter, I’m up for it.” She smiled. “You know all the old gang will be there—at least, those who are still around.”
I marked off the dates on my calendar. “I doubt if I’ll go to the cotillion. I don’t have anyone to go with, and I can’t possibly scare up a date by then.” I paused, thinking it was likely I wouldn’t be scaring up a date anytime soon.
“Why don’t you ask that hunky new neighbor of yours?” Ari grinned. “He’s new in town, and he’d probably like to get in on a few of the activities.”
“I couldn’t,” I said, mortified. “I had lunch with him today and I made a fool of myself.”
“Do tell!” Ari tucked her feet beneath her on the sofa. “What did you find out?”
“What I found out is that he’s… I’d say nice but he’s not that…bland. He’s interesting and he’s had a rough time lately.” I told her about the fires and how he had lost everything. “He also lost his dog,” I said, staring at the floor. That made me sadder than just about anything else.
“He likes you. He wouldn’t have spent an hour and a half at lunch with you if he didn’t.”
“He was just being polite. As I said, I kind of made a fool of myself.” I told her about the incident with the spaghetti. “I sat there like an idiot, afraid to eat in front of him.”
A dark look crossed Ari’s face. “I want to pound Ellison into the ground. I wish you’d let me cast a hex on him.”
The lights flickered and I gave her a long look. “Don’t cast any spells without telling me first. Seriously, I don’t want you getting any backlash.”
“I won’t, but at the very least, that prick deserves limp-dick syndrome. Please let me cast a bounce-back spell on him!” Ari stretched, yawning. She was so petite that it was hard to believe she was a black belt in karate.
“I took care of that with the car. Kind of. That reminds me.” I pulled out my phone and peeked at the blocked messages. Sure enough, Ellison had left forty-three texts, every one typed in caps, every one screaming about what a cunt I was, how he would never forgive me, how I was ungrateful. I snickered as I showed them to Ari. “Think he’s still pissed about the convertible?”
“With your background, he’s lucky you didn’t shove the hose down his throat. Your family never was reticent about payback.” She giggled.
“My family knows the power of skillfully aimed revenge,” I said with an evil grin. “He won’t go to the cops, though. He’s too afraid of my magic.”
“Okay, up on your feet, woman. If you want to go tree shopping, let’s get a move on. The lots are open late, and so are the stores. We’ll also shop for decorations.” Ari carried our plates to the kitchen, and I followed with the leftovers, tucking them into the fridge.
“How many glasses of wine have you had?” I asked.
“Only half a glass. When you said you wanted to go tree shopping, I limited myself. You’ve had two, so I’ll drive.” She held up her keys. “My truck awaits, Cinderella.”
“Thanks, Princess Charming,” I said, giving her a hug.
“Hey,” she said, “what are friends for?”
The tree lot by the main fountain in the town square was open for business, but the selection was already sparse. The fountain ran for most of the year but had been turned off with the first sign of freezing weather. I stared at the trees, trying to decide what I wanted. Ari pointed to a massive blue spruce that must have been close to eight feet tall.