Part 11 (1/2)
Maris didn't need to ask her how she knew. ”Yes.”
”I'm sorry to hear that.” Felicia set a sugar bowl on the counter, laying a spoon beside the ceramic container with its depiction of the stone circle. ”But at her age, I guess it was expected...or wasn't it?”
Maris pulled one of the mugs close, swinging the dangling tag of the tea bag with her pointer finger. ”Apparently she was murdered.”
Felicia turned away to place the pot on the burner. ”How? Do you know?”
”The medical examiner says poison. Not sure what kind yet. I've heard poison is a very personal method of execution. Dan Stauffer is narrowing down his list of suspects at this time, I expect.”
Felicia spun back around, grasping the other mug in both hands, and brought it close to her face, chest expanding as she breathed in the aroma. ”So you've met our Detective Stauffer, have you?”
”Oh, yeah.” Maris sipped the herbal beverage, letting the hot liquid rest in her mouth a moment before swallowing.
”He's always acted the ladies' man, but I think that persona hides a deeper need. I think he wants someone special, someone different, and someone he can trust.”
Maris made no comment, drinking another mouthful.
”I bet he likes you.”
A blush heated Maris's cheeks. She kept her eyes downcast, pretending concentration on the tea. ”Why would you think that? Am I his type?”
”You're exactly not his type, which makes you what he needs.”
Maris cleared her throat, holding her mug in one hand and running the fingers of the other over a series of photographs contained beneath the gla.s.s countertop. ”I've only been here two days. We don't know each other.”
”Uh-huh.”
”Besides, liking me would definitely conflict with his job. He fancies me the prime suspect.”
Felicia was silent. Maris returned her attention to the woman.
”And are you?” Felicia asked.
”The prime suspect? It would seem so. But did I do anything to hurt my aunt? With the exception of certain things I said to her many years ago, no.”
Felicia set her mug down. ”He doesn't believe you?”
”He doesn't want to believe me. He's afraid to believe me. He's fearful and ashamed of what he feels.”
”For you.”
”For me.”
”Huh.” With a smug expression, Felicia resumed her tea, both elbows on the counter. She stretched out an arm to point at a photo by Maris's hand. ”You can see how overgrown and damaged the circle was in this one. I'm surprised anyone recognized it for what it was.”
Maris bent to peer closer. ”Do you think nature did that, or people?”
”What do you think?”
Maris pressed her fingertip to the gla.s.s, causing a halo from her skin's warmth. ”Unless there was a ma.s.sive tremor, those stones wouldn't have gone down. I think they were pulled down out of fear.”
”Fear of what?”
Raising her gaze to Felicia's, Maris studied her expression. ”Have you seen him, it, whatever guards that place?”
”I have. I'm a.s.suming you have, too. When?”
”Yesterday evening. What is it?”
Felicia shook her head. ”I'm not sure. Sometimes I think it's an elemental, other times a Native American spirit. I don't know, though. But I've learned not to be afraid.”
”It knew me. It said I knew it, too.”
”I think it knows all of us, all who have the gift we do, back through the ages and into the future. I've heard some odd tales about the circle but, as I said, I've learned not to fear it.”
Maris shuddered. ”It has to make people afraid. People not as understanding as you.”
”Is that why you think the circle was torn down?”
Maris straightened. ”It would make sense, yet I don't think everyone can actually see it. Dan did, though. Or he sensed it at any rate. I'm sure others have as well.”
Felicia's brows shot up. ”Really? Dan? That's interesting in many ways.”
”You would know the history of this area, though. Did women...like us...meet there?”
Mouth lifting at the corner, Felicia nodded. ”Still do on occasion.”
Come home, Maris. This is where you belong. ”When I stood in the center of the circle, I sensed that gathering going back through hundreds of years. But I sensed a break or an event, too, which caused a change.”
Felicia touched Maris's wrist. ”How long ago, do you think?”
”Not this century, certainly, nor the one just past. I don't know really.”
Poking Maris's mug at her, Felicia stood tall and then stretched. ”Drink up. I'm a.s.suming that's why you came here today? To ask about that?”
”Yes.”
”And you'll come back and visit me again before you leave?”
”I don't want to leave, Felicia. I want to stay here in Alcina Cove where I was born.”
”By the sea.”
”Yes.”
Felicia reached over the counter and pulled Maris close for a quick, tight hug. ”If Dan arrests you, you might have no choice. But if he doesn't, well, you will have a choice. I would think long and hard about leaving, because you belong here.”