He told the desk sergeant he’d be spending the rest of the afternoon out tracking down leads on a cold case. He didn’t say where. One of the perks of being a detective, the subordinates didn’t ask too many questions about where you were. Being able to wear street clothes also helped keep you on the down low.

He watched Morgan enter the herbal remedy store on Rose Street, and sat on a park bench across the street pretending to read a newspaper. He was there for a while, so he had time to think.

Not really able to concentrate on the newspaper, he wondered what she might be buying in there. He hoped she wasn’t such a bleeding heart that she was actually buying medicine for the perp’s injury that she had caused. He understood why she felt bad, but the lady really had to let that go at some point.

Then something in the newspaper caught his attention. The local paper had a quarter-page advertisement on the back page, inviting the public to a “service of healing,” whatever that meant. In the ad was a photo of the leader, Hank Snow. Adam shivered in disgust. The advertisement encouraged participants to arrive at the church at sundown on October 31. Tomorrow.

What the hell were they planning?

Adam’s hunch was something big and not at all holy was going to be going down on Samhain.

Shit.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden appearance of a girl who had walked up to the park bench without warning. He was startled for a second, then saw it was a young girl. Slender, almost bone thin. Long, straight hair and long, prairie-style dress. She wore no makeup and no jewelry. She was holding a piece of paper.

“Can I help you?”

“Hello, sir, my name is Makayla and I would like to invite you to join us at a service of healing with us and our Reverend Snow at the Church of the Messenger.”

Adam looked around. Sure enough, standing back down apiece on the sidewalk was another woman, older than this girl Makayla, keeping a careful eye on her young charge.

Typical of zealots, putting young innocent children out front to do the hard work, making it less likely that their targets will act rude or outright ask them to leave.

Adam kept a poker face on and asked the girl some polite questions, trying not to seem like he was trying to glean information for any other reason than curiosity. He took the flyer from the girl and assured her he would see her there.

Elated, the girl nearly skipped off to join her older companion to hone in on their next target.

Adam watched them leave and stuffed the flyer into his pocket.

So far this Church hadn’t broken any laws, though, Adam had to remind himself. A bad hunch was not enough to get a judge to issue a warrant on this church.

Morgan exited the herbal remedy store and headed east. When she was about a block away, Adam followed. Her next stop was an antique store. He assumed this was going to take a while.

He knew he was going to regret his next move, but he took out his phone and punched the name in his contacts folder that said “Mom.”

“What a pleasant surprise! Calling me back so soon with good news? When’s the wedding?”

“No, Mom, that’s not it.”

“Pity.”

“I have a history question.”

“…and by history, I think you mean a witch question?”

“Come on, Mom, I’m trying here.”

“Fine, what’s cooking, doll?”

“Have you ever heard about weird shit happening whenever a lunar eclipse coincides with Halloween?”

“Define ‘weird shit.’”

“Like, creepy cults popping up. Religious zealots suddenly getting more vocal about targeting people with…different lifestyles? More violence?”

“Oh, you mean like holy-rollers getting their panties in a wad about Halloween? I might have heard of that.”

“Don’t be facetious, Mom. This time it seems like it’s exceptionally wadded-up panties.”

“Well, what’s going on?”

“There’s this group that’s suddenly cropping up everywhere in town, making a big push against Halloween and the Samhain festival. They seem to be especially targeting the Sisters community, putting up posters, claiming the occult is out to snatch all the children or whatever. They’re getting some pushback, and we had a minor incident this morning. They seem to be really up in arms about this Colony Hill thing everyone is going to.”

“Honey, yes. Every time there’s a lunar eclipse, people act crazy. The blood moon makes everybody crazy, here and in the spirit realm. And during Halloween season and Samhain, it’s an even bigger deal. So it’s really a good time to harness our power, both for good and bad, and it scares some people who think they know about witches. Some of the Normals might try protection spells or other things, or even dark magic spells because they think it’s cool to dabble in that kind of thing. But Normals are so weak at it, there’s often a delayed reaction. They really don’t know what they’re doing.”

“But why would these church-goers mess with all of that, if they are just holy-rollers?”

Adam’s mom paused a moment, then said, “Darling, watch closely the people who loudly judge the behavior of others. There you will find their guilt, and you will find what they are actually hiding in plain sight.”

His mom’s words gave him a ripple of gooseflesh. “OK, Mom.”

“I will do some digging and I’ll get back to you, honey. And Adam?”

“Yeah, Mom?”

“Be careful. I love you.”

“Love you too, Mom.”

He must have waited a full 20 minutes before Morgan emerged from the antique shop with a huge, loaded shopping bag. And then she continued east, and it looked as if she was heading home. Against his better judgment, he followed.