Chapter One
“This spiderweb is too big,” Kitty complained, leaning a bit too far while standing at the top of the stepladder. She pulled back quickly to keep from falling.
The spiderweb in question stretched halfway across the ceiling. It felt like it was going to fall on my head. “Maybe you should keep it to the top corners of the shelves so it doesn’t take over the whole shop.”
“If it’s hanging down the corners, won’t it get stuck on the yarn?” she asked.
When I’d suggested that we decorate for Halloween, I hadn’t expected Kitty and Chloe to get so excited about it. Since they were my friends first, employees second, when I’d mentioned the idea at dinner the night before I’d thought it was something we’d talk about more. I hadn’t expected them to show up for work two hours early with bags full of decorations.
Clearly they didn’t harbor any concerns that real spiders would make their homes in the fake stringy webs.
Comforting myself with the fact that they’d only be up for a little while, I shook my head. “I think they’re sturdy enough to stay put, even if you just break off little bits and make them wispy.”
Kitty frowned at the giant swath on the ceiling that made it look like the yarn shop was home to horror movie spiders. “I hadn’t thought about breaking it up. That might work.”
Black Sheep Yarns and Woolies — the yarn shop I inherited from my grandmother — was always eclectic. Tall shelves lined what used to be the main living space of the historic home, and lower shelves scattered around the room added a little more space to fill with stock. What was left of the open space was filled with a dining table where customers were invited to sit in the mismatched chairs and work on their projects.
I’d imagined the Halloween decorations adding a cute touch, not completely taking over. “Maybe we should hang some outside. We could string it through the lower branches of the big tree.”
Chloe was rummaging through the large black bag she’d arrived with. “Do you want these crocheted pumpkins out?”
“Yes, please.” I reached for them with grabby hands. “Do you have patterns for them that we could sell?”
She nodded. “It’s a free pattern online. We could put a sign up so customers could find it easily.”
“Don’t get distracted,” Kitty called over from her place on the ladder. “Am I taking this down or adding more?”
The sound of the back door closing and footsteps crossing the kitchen drew my attention.
When Zak stopped in the doorway, Chloe sighed. It was a reaction he got from most women, but I’d only ever seen Zak return it for Chloe.
“Good morning, ladies,” Zak said. He started to say something else, but broke off when he noticed the mess on the ceiling. “Is that a giant cocoon?”
“It’s a spiderweb.” Kitty reached out and started yanking at the strands. “And I’m taking it down.”
I turned my back on Chloe and Zak’s goo-goo eyes. “I still think you should put some on the corners of the shelves, and maybe stretched across the top.”
Somewhat mollified that I wasn’t making her take all of it outside, she settled on hanging up a relatively normal level of the stuff. Then she pulled out a few black pompom spiders with pipe cleaner legs to nestle in the webs.
“I was thinking of making some quick and easy witch hats to use as lampshades.” We had a few small accent lights scattered on the shelves, but they were plain black and a little boring.
“So you have pumpkins, spiders, and witch hats,” Zak said. He leaned against one of the low shelves, staying close to Chloe as she moved around the shop putting out the pumpkins she’d brought. “Anything else?”
“Maybe.” I looked around the shop. I wanted it to feel festive, especially since our friend Emmilene had organized a Halloween event to encourage tourists to celebrate the spooky holiday in town. “I still need to figure out the window display.”
Zak nodded. Window displays had become a common topic of conversation over the past year and a half, since the old mining town had reinvented itself as a shopping destination after a new resort down the road raised property taxes. With the mine closed, there hadn’t been any way for the residents to cover the unexpected increase.
I crossed my fingers that Zak wouldn’t ask what I was planning for mine. I didn’t even have any ideas yet.
“You’re buzzing,” Chloe told him.
Saved by the phone.
Zak read a text, then excused himself to make a call and went into the kitchen.
I moved over to poke at the spiderwebs. They were still a little heavier than I’d have done myself, but that was fine. “Kitty, it’s looking really good. Very realistic.”
She paused, the stepladder half-folded, and grinned at me. “Thanks. Do you still want some outside?”
“I’ll let you decide. Just make sure you save some to decorate your own house.” Even as I said it, I knew it was a lost cause. Kitty loved decorations for any occasion, and the fact that she lived right at the very edge of town where not as many people saw the effort she put in meant she enjoyed the extra work of making my home and shop stand out.
“Sorry about that,” Zak said as he came back into the shop. “It was Emmilene.”
“How’s she doing?” Chloe set the plastic cauldron she’d been filling next to the cash register. It was now overflowing with orange, black, and purple yarns.
I pulled a few skeins of lime green sock yarn off the shelf and went to add them to the cauldron for an extra pop of color.
“She’s overwhelmed.”
“Emmilene is overwhelmed?” I dropped the last skein on top of the pile. Emmilene could juggle almost anything and be completely unfazed. I hadn’t figured out if that was some magical thing unique to her, or if it came from being the quintessential southern belle. For her to be overwhelmed by mid-morning was unheard of.
“Sounds like it,” he said. He gave Chloe an apologetic look. “I’m going to go help her. I’ll try to be back by lunchtime.”
One of these days I was going to take advantage of the way he spent so much of his time in my shop and give him little jobs. Maybe he could move the shelves around or be in charge of providing lunch for our friend group, or something like that.
I couldn’t say he distracted Chloe from work — she had better boundaries than anyone I knew. It was something she’d learned through her divorce before moving to Clear Creek. But Zak couldn’t seem to keep himself from needing to be near her. He looked like a lost puppy when they were apart for too long.
“Don’t worry about that,” Chloe told him. “If Emmilene is asking for help, that’s where your focus should be. I’ll be fine.”
After giving Chloe a kiss that made Kitty blush, Zak started to walk away. “Oh, wait. Jemma, Emmilene wanted me to bring you, too.”
Kitty laughed. “Good luck. She probably saw your empty window this morning and wants to make sure you’re going to decorate it before the Witches’ Walk.”
It was more likely that she just needed extra hands, but I nodded. “I’ll be back when she’s done with me.”
Zak and I went out the kitchen door so we wouldn’t accidentally let any customers in early. The mess that comes along with decorating needed to get cleared away before extra people made it harder.
I started toward Emmilene’s house next door.
“She’s not at home,” Zak said. He motioned up the road past the park. “She’s up at the trail.”
As we circled around to the front of the shop, I looked up and waved at Shorn, the Selkirk Rex I’d inherited with the house. She was in the bedroom window of my upstairs living space, where she could look out on the world with the judgment only a cat was capable of.
“And where are you two going?” Granny appeared at my elbow, bouncing as she waited for an answer.
“Emmilene needs a little help,” I said. Granny had more energy than half the town put together, but if she came with us, she and Emmilene were sure to butt heads over how the Witches’ Walk should be set up. “Kitty and Chloe are here. Go ahead and go in. Kitty brought those orange sweet rolls you like so much.”
Granny’s eyes lit up. If there was anything that could keep her from feeling left out, it was being given a special treat. “I’d better get inside before they eat them all. I’m not making any promises that we’ll save any for you.”
Since I’d already eaten two, I wasn’t worried. “That’s okay. Have fun.”
We only made it a little bit farther before we were stopped outside Scribbled Words with the news that a book I’d ordered had just come in.
“I’ll come by for it later today,” I said as Zak pulled on my elbow.
When we were away, he frowned at me. “Do you have to talk to everyone you see?”
“That didn’t take long,” I muttered.
Zak grimaced. He probably thought I was complaining that he’d hurried me along, but he was wrong.
I was just noticing how quickly his whole disposition changed when he was away from Chloe.
As we passed the park, I waved to a few of our neighbors who were out enjoying the crisp air. One ambitious woman was speed walking. Max, my friend who liked to man the welcome booth where he could keep an eye on who was coming in and out of town, was fixing a loose floorboard in the gazebo. And Kitty’s very pregnant sister-in-law, Brooklyn, was watching her two daughters run off some of their energy. Hopefully that meant when they sat down to do their schoolwork they’d be able to get through it without too many wiggles.
“Did Emmilene say what she wanted help with?” I asked as we passed the last of the houses.
Zak glanced around. There was a couple doing fall cleanup in their yard. Even though they were too far away to hear — if they were even interested in our conversation — Zak just grunted.
Okay, then. We didn’t have to talk.
Just out of town, a small trail broke off the main path. It went through the wooded area Emmilene had chosen to hold the Witches’ Walk.
Zak paused and glanced around again.
“Are you expecting someone to be following us?” I teased him. “Everyone knows where the walk is going to be.”
While Emmilene was the one who’d made the final decision, she’d asked for suggestions, and had brought her final selection to the last town meeting to make sure everyone was okay with her choice.
When he didn’t respond, my skin began to prickle. “Zak, what’s going on?”
“Not here.” Instead of his usual easygoing, almost sultry tone, his voice was clipped and tense.
The hair on the back of my neck raised. “You’re making me nervous.”
He flashed a grin, but it didn’t do anything to make me feel better.
Leading the way, Zak started down the trail.
This area had never had large rocks, but anything that might cause someone to trip had been moved to the side of the trail that cut through wild grasses to the woods.
As we stepped under the trees, I looked up at the tangled branches overhead. They were reaching for the sky like knobbly fingers. While that had been one of the selling points for holding the Witches’ Walk here, now it sent a trickle of unease through me.
“What aren’t you telling me?” I asked.
“Is that you, Jemma?” Emmilene came around the bend in the trail. “There you are. I was starting to think y’all were going to leave me here alone all day.”
When we got closer, I could see how pale Emmilene was. Her hands shook as she wrapped me in a hug.
“Where is it?” Zak asked.
Keeping my arm around Emmilene, I frowned at him. “Where is what? What are you talking about?”
Emmilene pulled herself together, straightening her spine. “This way. Did you tell anyone else?”
Zak shook his head. “All anyone knows is that you asked us for help.”
She nodded. Then she looked at me. “I’m sorry, sugar. I made him promise not to tell you because if you knew, anyone who saw you would know it, too.”
I didn’t like the sound of that. “Tell me what?”
“When I got over here this morning, I found — well, see for yourself.” Emmilene motioned to the bend in the path.
Zak led the way, and Emmilene kept hold of my arm. For her comfort or mine, I wasn’t sure.
As we rounded the bend, I saw what she was talking about.
Leaning against a tree, her legs stretched across the path, was the deathly-still form of a woman.
Emmilene had stumbled across a body.
Ready to find out what happens next?