▌Chapter 12 ─ Catnip For The Dead ▌
▌Part 1 ─ Season 1 ─ Episode 7 ─ The Tale of the Fallen Sea Queen ▌

━━━━━ "IN THE HOURS after being crowned, Horseshoe Bay's most infamous Sea Queen made her way to the bluffs. All we know of the killer are the bloody knife and tire tracks they left behind. But why is that all we know? Maybe the town didn't want to face the fact that the killer could've been one of us. Denial. Small Town USA's favorite pastime."

Alora stood in the kitchen, she was next to Ace helping him cut food for the day. Bess stood near the front counter, while Nancy was across from her sister and Ace.

"Lucy Sable's murder has been reduced to a nursery rhyme. But now we know there's more to it. Her death is linked to Tiffany's. That's what she was trying to tell Lor and I at the Velvet Masque. We have to solve Lucy's murder in order to solve Tiffany's." Nancy explained to Ace and Bess while Bess turned back around to look at them.

"Yeah, but how are the two murders linked?" Bess asked the Drew twins.

"They both learned things about the Hudsons that could've gotten them killed. Tiffany found out about the Hudsons sinking the Bonny Scot, and the coins we stole at the Velvet Masque. Luckily, the coins proved what they did." Ace said, looking between Nancy and Alora.

"And Lucy found out that Celia Hudson was having an affair with her husband's business rival." Nancy said, walking over to Alora.

"And then, less than a year later, she was murdered." Alora added.

Nancy looked to see George walking into the room. "Oh, uh, let me help." Nancy walked over to George.

"Get your hands off my chest. These tables aren't gonna set themselves." Alora stopped what she was doing and followed behind her sister.

"Okay, George, I get it. I ditched you to go to an underground, depraved, rich-people party, with Lor." Ace's phone started to ring, both Alora and Nancy turned around to look back at him. George walked away from them as Ace answered his phone. The twins walked over to the table and looked at Ace.

"Hey, I can't talk right now. This is a bad time. I'm in the middle of something. Yeah, I may have found a lead on the Hudsons. Um, I'll call you back."

The bell jingled indicating that someone had stepped in the Claw. Alora looked up from the table she was setting up. Alora saw Nick step in and walked over to Nancy. Alora walked away from them placing various items onto the tables so customers could use them when they got their food. Once she was finished she walked back over to the others and stood next to Bess as Nick emptied the gold coins onto the bar table for them to see. Ace left the kitchen and walked up behind George joining her side.

"Between Laura Tandy breaking in and the cops searching my place, no way I'm leaving them at home." Nick explained to them.

"So, what do we do with the coins now?" Bess asked.

"Oh, we turn them into the authorities. They could prove the Hudsons sank their own ship and killed their crew for insurance money."

"There's an FBI agent we can trust in Portland." Nancy mentioned.

"Really?" George asked Nancy. "And how do you suddenly know about this person?"

"He's friends with Owen. We can bring him the coins and the toxicology report on Tiffany's blood as soon as I get the results back from John Sander."

"Your scientist friend? The one who found somebody else's hair?" Bess questioned her.

"Yeah, the... a woman's hair." Alora said, jumping into the conversation.

"You think it's Celia Hudson's hair?" Nick asked Alora and Nancy.

"Uh, we did at first. But after a little Internet digging, I found the society pages from August 2000. Turns out, Celia was in Argentina when Lucy was killed."

"That a solid alibi?"

"Not for somebody who had the means to hire a hitman." The door opened up, Alora turned to see George's mom Victoria shut the door and stand against it. She was panting heavily as she looked around.

"They're here." She whispered. "They're here, they're out there."

"Mom?" George questioned, causing the older woman to gasp loudly.

"Who's... out there?" Alora asked her.

"Spirits. Dark forces. Something is drawing them here. I can feel it." She proceeded to walk away from the door and head towards them.

"You want to sit down?" Ace questioned walking around the bar and standing in between Nick and George.

"Those." She pointed to the coins that sat on the cloth. "Get rid of them right now."

"Why?" Nancy asked.

"Because they're magnets. Catnip for the dead and for things that were never even alive." Nick proceeded to grab the cloth.

"What do you mean, things that were never even alive?"

"Yeah, that's a bit concerning." Alora added, still looking at Victoria.

"You don't want to know. Just put them into whatever lead-lined box was obviously protecting them and throw them into the sea."

"Victoria, how many drinks have you had?" George asked her mother, as she walked towards her.

"I'm telling you they were out there!" She ran over to the windows to look outside. "They're gone, but, no, they were... They were out there." She turned around and looked back at them and suddenly screamed. "Oh, God!"

"Victoria, are you okay?"

"Get rid of those coins."

Alora stood in the kitchen near Ace, she watched Bess and Nancy closely as they tried to sort through what to do with the coins. But her mind was elsewhere.

"We have to listen to Victoria and get rid of the coins." Bess informed her.

"Nick is gone, and he took the coins with him, and he's gonna put the in a box that will hopefully block the spirit from sniffing them out." Nancy mentioned, trying to calm Bess down.

"For now." Ace said, briefly looking at them. Alora knocked her elbow into Ace and proceeded to place her eyes on him.

"No."

"Come on. Get back to work." George said, walking into the kitchen.

"You and Alora were the ones who kicked the blood bucket, and you got possessed. You of all people should believe Victoria." Bess yelled, trying to keep her voice quiet.

"I never said I didn't believe her, but cowering in the kitchens won't pay the bills." George proceeded towards them, while Bess continued to freak out.

"Can't Owen just bring us the lead box that kept the ghosts away?"

"I can't get a hold of him. He's in Singapore on business, and I don't know when he'll be back."

"Oh. This website says the coins, they're working in overdrive, attracting spirits cause of the new moon rising." Ace said, looking from his phone and around at everyone.

"Great."

"And they're more than catnip. If used properly tonight, those coins will be like tokens for a pay phone that calls to the other side."

"George. Lor and I need to take a 20-minute break. We need to get the coins from Nick and talk to Victoria." Alora walked away from Ace following behind her sister.

"We just opened." The two walked down and headed towards their locker's. Nancy's phone started to ring, Alora looked at her phone to see their dad pop up.

"Hmm. Fatherly check-in." Nancy and Alora turned around, Nancy lifted her phone so they both could see their father.

"Hi." Carson said, looking at the twins from his end.

"Hey. You're back. We thought maybe you extended your Boston business trip." Nancy said.

"Oh, I got... hung up meeting with a friend this morning." The two only nodded their heads. "I wanted to ask you, how would you two feel about starting family dinners again? Tonight?"

Alora and Nancy briefly exchanged a sisterly look with each other. "Family dinners?"

"It won't be the same, I know. But... I figure we could give it a shot. I could pick up some steaks after work."

"Work. As in working for Ryan Hudson?" Alora questioned him.

"Celia Hudson. Just a minor favor."

"Oh. So you're doing favors for the whole family now?"

"I'm returning the favor, actually. It turns out Celia was the one who gave Ryan the money to bail you both out."

"Of course she did." The twins said.

"We will see you at family dinner." Nancy ended the call and the two proceeded to leave the Claw.

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Nancy and Alora walked into the car shop where Nick worked. Nick looked up to see the Drew twins standing next to each other.

"Uh... would you mind giving us a second, Josh?" Nick asked him.

"Take your time." The twins watched as he walked away from Nick.

"What's up?" Nick asked the two.

"You tell me." Nancy said, walking towards Nick and away from her sister. "Why does it feel like we're on different teams?"

"Nancy, you're the one that never tells me anything." Nick remarked.

"That's... not true. I just don't tell you everything."

"Well, maybe that's why it feels like we're on different teams." Nancy turned to lean against the table while Alora looked away from the two. "Okay. Not a lead box, but it'll do for now." Nick proceeded to pull out the coins and started to place them in the container. "So we can drive down to Portland and give these to Owen's FBI friend."

"That sounds great. When we're ready. I was kind of hoping we could hold onto these for a little bit longer. Give me one very quick second." Nick looked at Alora, while Nancy proceeded to call George. "Hey, George, um, I was just wondering if you knew where your mom might be? I wanted to ask her... She what?"

───── ☾☾☾ ─────

The twins stepped into the Horseshoe Bay Police department. The two walked past George and Victoria.

"Officer Rawley, it is my understanding that a drunk and disorderly arrest requires clear and obvious signs..."

"Calm down, Nancy. My guys didn't arrest her." Rawley said, cutting her off. Alora looked back at George and Victoria.

"Only because you don't know how to do your job!" George slapped her mother's leg.

"She walked in here 20 minutes ago and fell asleep in that bench."

"You're trying to get arrested?" George asked her.

"Look. This precinct... is the least haunted building in Horseshoe Bay, and, uh..." Nancy and Alora ran towards Victoria grabbing her arm. While George grabbed her other arm. "Okay, and you know what?" Victoria pulled her arms away from the three, Alora stared at her. "And as long as those coins are out, exposed and unprotected..."

"We can get rid of the coins. As long as you help us figure out how to communicate with Dead Lucy." Nancy said.

"Dead Lucy?"

"She's haunting Nancy and Alora. Just go with it."

"Lucy only comes around when she wants to, and even when she does, we can't figure out what she wants, so if we can... I-if I or Lor can call on her, if-if-if we can use the coins to focus her enough to ask her questions..."

"There are way worse things out there, and they are attracted to those coins like magnets. We're talking inhuman entities, pure evil."

"These were the things that were never even alive?"

"Yes."

"So then you can keep us safe."

"Us? You want to do this, too?"

"Of course not. But solving Lucy's murder would help us solve Tiffany's and get us off that suspect list."

"Oh."

"I mean, if you don't know how to use the coins, then I guess we'll just figure it out on our own." George proceeded to place her eyes on Alora and Nancy.

"It's not just the coins. You would need an object that Lucy touched the night she died. It would be the only thing strong enough for her to latch onto if you were to summon her."

"Say we acquire said object. Then what?" Alora proceeded to ask her.

"We would have to do it tonight. Because the coins work best with the new moon."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me. Conducting a séance with a force as powerful as those coins will probably end up in disaster."

"Well, that's never stopped us before." Victoria raised her eyebrows looking at the Drew twins as they looked at her. George slowly turned to look at Alora and Nancy.

───── ☾☾☾ ─────

They made it back to the Claw. George sat with her mother while Alora sat at the bar. She watched Ace and Bess come out of the kitchen with food and coffee.

"Here you go." Ace said, placing the cup down on the table.

"Our finest fried clams. You can barely taste the clam." Bess explained.

Victoria proceeded to pick one up and eat it. "Oh... it's good." She said.

Nancy pushed through the door. "Thank you so much, John. I really appreciate the rush." She walked over to Ace and handed the laptop over to him. He took it and sat down next to Alora. "Okay, so John Sander will messenger Lucy's crown and hair for us to use in the séance tonight when he gets to his lab."

"So, all we need is, like, a spirit board?" George asked.

"This isn't the 1800s. Nancy, Alora, how has Dead Lucy been communicating with you?" Victoria asked the twins.

"My cell phone, light bulbs, TV, DVD..."

"I've been seeing her mostly in my dreams." Alora said, causing Nancy as well as the others including Ace to look at her. "When I don't see her in dreams, I see her in the things that Nancy said."

"Electronics."

"So we should use an electronic device for her to speak to us."

"Yes, but Dead Lucy has never spoken aloud to you." Bess said, looking between Nancy and Alora.

"Well, then, we ask yes or no questions only. And make them good. We only have a short window of time to keep the spirit door open."

"And if we do keep it open?"

"Well, then we'd allow the darkest forces to come through. So we get in and we get out."

"Yes. I'm in." Ace said. Alora leaned closer to Ace to look at the screen while Nancy came up next to her. George and Bess stood on the other side.

"Really? You hacked into the Horseshoe Bay digital library?" Nancy asked him.

"Sort of. I used my library card." Alora looked at Ace and smiled at him.

"Why are we hacking into the library?"

"To access Lucy's Sea Queen ceremony video." Alora answered.

"If we trace her final hours, we might be able to figure out which questions we want to ask her." Nancy added on.

"Taking it back to the year 2000."

"This year's Horseshoe Bay..."

"Wow, that's Lucy?"

"...Sea Queen winner is..."

"She was so beautiful."

"...Lucy Sable!" Alora watched her walk forward to accept the crown and stache. One of the contestants walked up to her and whispered something into her ear. Her features quickly changed.

"Did that girl just tell Lucy she killed her dog or something?"

"What do we know about the first runner-up?" Nancy asked.

"Candice Weaver is her name." Ace told them.

"Do we think she still lives in Horseshoe Bay?" Bess proceeded to ask.

"All Sea Queen runner-ups still live in Horseshoe Bay."

"Oh."

An email popped on the screen. Nancy pulled laptop over to her and opened up the email to see pictures. Alora looked at it and read the words that had been left on the picture. Nancy then turned the laptop towards the others so they could read it.

"Oh, my God. Ooh, looks like Laura Tandy went on a one-woman campaign against the police." Bess said.

"Good for her." Alora said, with a smile on her face.

"How pissed do you think McGinnis is gonna be when he sees that?" Nancy asked, as Ace's phone started to buzz. Nancy and Alora laughed as they continued to look through the pictures. Ace walked away from them, Alora and Nancy briefly looked back at him.