Free The Summerland by T. L. Schaefer Page B

is. Of course, I question the sanity of anyone who can consume that much grease and live to eat another day.” She could tell her frivolity wasn’t getting her anywhere with the Sheriff and sighed.
    “ All right. I hear you’ve got five dead girls, candle wax and green silk fibers.” She heard a muffled curse in an adjacent room and swung her head toward it. “FBI?” At Bill’s nod she continued. “Agent, you can stay back there if you want, but it’ll be easier on all of us if you come out.”
    Drebin walked slowly into the room, shaking his massive head. “Well ma’am, if I had any doubt before, I certainly don’t now. You really are a witch.” He pursed his lips in a wry smile. “If I may?” He indicated to a chair across the table from her and kitty-corner to the Sheriff.
    Josie regally nodded hear head, then continued after he’d taken his seat. “I know there is no way I can attest to my whereabouts for any of these murders. I don’t think anyone can, unless they’ve been out of the county for the last five years. What I can tell you is that neither I nor anyone in my coven had anything to do with this. We practice white magick only, and conform strictly to the Wiccan rede: An it harm none, do what you will. Are you familiar with that, Agent? Boiled down, it means that you can do anything you want, as long as no one else is harmed by it.” She smiled prettily, knowing that each of the men was dismissing her as a crackpot in their minds.
    “ A pretty solid way to look at life, isn’t it? As a religion, at least we’ve got that going for us. We also believe that whatever you do comes back to you threefold. That means both good and bad actions. In my coven, we practice only white magick, because when you practice the bad kind and it comes back at you, look out. From what I’ve heard so far through the rumor mill, it does look like there’s someone out there that’s gone his or her own way.”
    Josie placed her arms on the table, leaning forward to look at each of the men. “I’m assuming you think this guy’s doing more than just dabbling, otherwise I wouldn’t be here. I’m also assuming you think it is a man, or I’d be under suspicion and not sitting in this room. If this guy is for real, I have one very important question to ask, and you need to be up front about it. I promise not to tell anyone, and I mean anyone. Can we agree to that?” Each man warily nodded. “How was the pentagram aligned with the victim’s head? Was the point framing their head or their feet?”
    She watched as the two men exchanged a long glance, then Drebin gave an almost imperceptible nod. Bill nodded back, shifting back in his chair to get more comfortable. If Drebin was okay with this, then he was going to go with his gut and bring Josie in on this, at least a little bit. “From what we can tell, the wax itself was in a circular shape, with larger red and gold candles placed at each point of the pentagram. The tip framed each victim’s head.”
    “ OK,” Josie bobbed her head in time with an unheard beat, thinking. “This guy is practicing white magick then. How were the bodies positioned?”
    Again, the two men exchanged a quick glance, brief but loaded with meaning. This time it was Drebin who answered. “They were aligned north to south. Why? Does that have some significance?”
    “ Oh yes.” Josie nodded vigorously, looking a little puzzled. “Funny, though, given the time of year I thought he might use a south-north configuration.”
    Bill already knew the answer, but asked the question anyway. “Why?”
    “ Because it’s Litha, Midsummer to a layman. The sun is in the southern quadrant, the moon in the north. Any ceremonial circle at this time of year is positioned south-north. It’s just the way it’s done. The candle color is consistent with a Litha ritual as well. I’m going to need to do some research on this. When will my background check be complete enough for full disclosure?”