Chapter Seven
An hour later, Caitlin had a list of three names for me—a doctor and two nurses who had worked at the asylum during its heyday. She also had the name of someone I could talk to about the history of the land. There had been several buildings there before the Stellarview Institution bought the place.
“I made an appointment for you at three p.m. with Charles Crichton, who can give you a more detailed history of the area. He’s a member of the Moonshadow Bay Historical Society, and you’ll find his office in the Garrison Library.” She emailed me the information as well as printing it out for me. “You’ll find all their addresses and phone numbers there. I’ll leave it to you to call them, because I wasn’t sure who you wanted to visit first.”
I accepted the list, scanning it quickly. “I’ll call after lunch. I don’t want to just drop in on them.”
I glanced at the clock. It was 11:45. My desk was organized, Hank had assigned me a laptop and got me signed into the system, and I had finished the intake paperwork. My stomach rumbled. I was hungry.
“What do you guys do about lunch?” I asked, realizing I hadn’t brought anything.
Hank motioned to the door. “There’s a sub shop and a pizza place a few shops down the strip mall. There’s also a fish and chips stand across the parking lot. One of us usually just makes a lunch run for everybody. We trade off. In fact, it’s my turn today, so give me your order, I’ll phone it in, and pick everybody’s orders up in about twenty minutes.”
“Oh, what about fish and chips?” Caitlin said, clapping her hands. “It’s cold out there and I could use some chowder.”
“Fine by me. What about you, Tad? January?” Hank asked.
Tad and I both nodded. We placed our orders with Hank and he went to phone them in. I glanced over the paperwork one last time to make sure everything was accurate. The job offered insurance, which I didn’t expect, so it was a nice bonus. Tad offered a 401K plan, so I signed up for that. Finally, I handed Tad back the packet.
“Have a seat,” he said, motioning to the chair by the side of his desk. “So, do you think you’ll like the job?”
I nodded. “I think so. It’s interesting, and I’ll be able to stretch my writing muscles.”
“I looked into your old magazine,” he said. “Your byline’s all over it. How did your ex ever manage to push you out?”
I shook my head. “I trusted him too much. He lied to me, and I fell for a scam. I ended up signing everything over to him in a trumped-up prenup, long after we got married. I didn’t read what I signed—I thought it was something about the corporation, and that was my mistake. So, with my signature on the documents, and the fact that his lawyer had pre-dated them, I was stone-cold out of luck. That was shortly before he told me he wanted a divorce.”
“I think I see where this is going,” Tad said.
I nodded. “Turned out what I signed gave him sole ownership over the house and the magazine. Since I had signed it, the judge ruled it was legal. I tried to explain, but the judge is friends with Ellison. I walked away with half our savings, though I know he stuck money away in accounts my lawyer couldn’t find. But I didn’t lose every part of the magazine. As you said, my byline’s all over it, but that doesn’t mean I own it. And since we listed our LLC as the publisher, that didn’t help. Especially since I found out that he had secretly removed me from the corporation and changed the name of the registered agent to someone I didn’t know. That’s incredibly easy to do.”
“I can’t believe he got away with all that,” Caitlin said. “And yes, I was eavesdropping. Why didn’t you fight it?”
I shrugged. “I did, but Ellison’s family has clout all over the Pacific Northwest, and they have money. Old money. And with old money, comes power. And they never liked me from the beginning. It got worse as time went on. When they found out I was from a family of witches, they lost it. They also constantly harped about the fact that I was gaining weight.”
“Bigots,” Caitlin said.
“Big time. They’re xenos—they don’t like anyone from the Otherkin community. Neither do they approve of the fact that the Otherkin community has been integrating more into the human community. They’re an old-money family, and only tradition matters. Their traditions.”
“I’m sorry you went through that,” Tad said, shaking his head. “If it helps any, your articles were stellar. You’re articulate, you can write, and you have an engaging feel to your work. I venture a guess that the magazine’s circulation is going to go down, down, down, without your input. The rest of the thing was dry as dust.”
I laughed, leaning back in my chair. It felt good to have support, and I was rapidly coming to like Tad, Hank, and Caitlin. “Thank you—I needed that shot in the arm. Tell me, what other cases have you worked on lately?”
“Well, we investigated a UFO sighting last month. Hank went out on that one.” Tad paused.
“You’re going to like it here,” Caitlin said. “We have a lot of fun, and it’s always something different. Three months ago, I investigated a haunted house for a client. Turns out, it was haunted, all right, but by an infestation of gnomes.”
I shivered. Gnomes were nasty little creatures, more like what gremlins were supposed to be, than the fat-cheeked jolly fun folk of lore. Their red hats were red for a reason; they washed them in blood. And they got that blood from hurting humans. They never really outright killed anybody, but they would nip your heels or prick your toes or fingers, and they collected the blood that dripped. Their venom contained a numbing solution that made the blood flow freely, and yet it eased the sting of the bite. They usually came out at night and crept into your bed while you were sleeping to siphon off as much blood as possible.
“Gnomes are the worst, but thank goodness they aren’t common.”
“True that. They were a pain in the ass to clear out. The home owners heard them scuttling and they saw the shadows of the gnomes, and of course the first thing they thought was that the house was haunted. But no ghosts…just gnomes.”
“Did you get rid of them?”
“We weren’t able to—but I’m thinking you can probably take care of gnomes, can’t you? If you specialize in protection and warding magic?” Caitlin said.
I nodded. I had helped my mother deal with the creepy-crawlies when I was younger. She had taught me a number of tricks. “Yeah, I can handle a case of gnomes. I’m even pretty good going up against gremlins. Exorcising ghosts—that depends on the spirit. My mother taught me all sorts of tricks. I’m guessing that I should be able to take care of a number of these minor situations that might come up.”
Tad broke into a smile. “If you can do that, you get an automatic raise.”
Hank pushed through the door at that moment, carrying several large bags from the fish and chips stand. “Lunch!” He carried the bags to the table. Caitlin began helping him sort out the orders.
I turned back to Tad. “I want to have my private consultation business up and running by the first of the year. I promise I won’t take on anything that interfere with my work, or that Conjure Ink should be handling. Will that be acceptable?”