Gray Witch (Black Hat Bureau 5)

7

Ten minutes into our drive, Colby called me with a breathless note in her voice that left my palms slick.

“I was checking online for a match,” she rushed out, “and I found another one.”

“A match?” I recalled our last conversation. “You mean a killer with the Boos’ MO?”

“A VacayNStay rental in Natchez with the same logo as the Amherst Inn hidden in the bottom left corner of their listing.”

The vacation rental boom had turned many a home into a hotel in recent years. The more popular destinations got sliced and diced into B&B-style lodgings. You were on your own for meals, but you shared a house with a few other guests.

After Charleston, I was starting to view them as the bane of my existence. Apps made it too simple for paras to set traps to lure in prey. Mostly, they ensnared humans. But this was next level strange.

“Whatever the Amhersts are into,” Clay added, “I bet the host is in it up to their necks too.”

“Book us a suite for the next week,” I said, covering our bases. “Do we know if the owners live on site?”

“Let me check.” Colby grew more confident. “There’s a note mentioning they stay on the premises.”

“You are one brilliant moth, smarty fuzz butt.” I grinned. “Do we know what the logo means yet?”

Silence on the end of the line warned me I had tread too close to a memory, and Colby shut down.

“The seal is part of the LARPer’s logo on their website, but it’s pinging in other searches too.” Clay jumped in with her notes. “I’ll let you know once we narrow it down.”

“The Amherst kids said their club was the largest in the state.” I was thinking out loud. “Do you think they meant LARPing? Or their online guild?”

“We’re working on that now. A number that big? Probably online. Given how small Raymond is, they must have LARPer buddies flung across the nearby counties to amount to anything.”

If whoever summoned Frankie was connected to the Amhersts, and their IRL members were that far-flung, then we had a summoning ring on our hands.

“If they recruited LARPers from their online guild,” Asa added, “they’ll be selective.”

“Only those with magic, or the potential for magic,” Clay agreed, “need apply.”

“The logo must be how they identify one another.” An if you know, you know thing. “Marking homes or businesses as safe havens, but safe for what? Meetings of their murder club?”

“The Kellies emailed an update.” Colby sounded more determined than ever. “I have to go.”

After she hung up, I sat there for a moment, allowing myself to breathe.

She was going to be okay. Already, she was climbing back to herself. This wouldn’t break her.

“I’m going to read up on the LARPer site,” I told Asa. “See what it can tell us.”

Whoever designed the website knew what they were doing. It wasn’t the type of drag-and-drop or template site so many businesses used to cut costs. No, this had all the hallmarks of a passion project. I wasn’t surprised to see the work credited to Markus Amherst at the bottom of the homepage.

“This says there are members from all over the state.” I skimmed further. “They have weekly online meetings and monthly in-person gatherings. There’s a painfully long set of interview questions if you’d like to be considered as a prospect, but anyone ‘with magic in their hearts’ is welcome to apply.”

“That means this problem could be more widespread than we first thought.”

“This says you gain access to the membership roster once your application has been approved.” I mulled over that. “Probably so you can pair up in various MMRPGs.”

There was no telling what contact information would be provided. Probably not names, addresses, or phone numbers. That was too old school. I was leaning toward social media and player handles with email addresses buried within a funnel of forwarding addresses.

“There’s also a link to the sister’s online wig store.” I clicked it. “She’s got some nice pieces.”

I got the creeps imagining she might keep trophies of her commissions to forge links to her clients.