Witcher Upper

by Amy Boyles

  “Please excuse us,” he said to Sluggs. When we were out of earshot, Rufus turned to me. “It’s not going to help anything if you get on the chief’s bad side.”

  “What do you know about it?” I snapped. Why do you even care? All you’ve ever done was hurt people, and now you’re trying to help me.

  I wanted to scream at Rufus and shake him into remembering who he was, but stopped myself.

  “The one thing that I do know,” Rufus said patiently, “is that the chief needs to do his job.” He glanced over my shoulder, presumably back at Sluggs. “Now, I’m not sure how well his performance will be, that remains to be seen, but for the moment we need to remain calm.”

  I shoved my arms into a folded position. “I can tell you all about his performance—it’s horrible. See what he’s wearing now?”

  “His bathrobe?”

  “Half the time he forgets to dress in the morning and shows up at work looking like that. So now you know how this will go with Sadie.”

  Rufus planted his hands tenderly on my shoulders. “Let’s wait and see.”

  “Clementine,” a masculine voice called. My heart plummeted. Liam must have heard about Sadie. “Let me do the talking here,” I said to Rufus.

  He retracted his hands, and I turned to see Liam, eyes wet with tears, lurching toward me. He wore a wrinkled T-shirt that looked as if it had been plucked from his floor before he put it on and jeans crisscrossed with more lines than his shirt.

  “Liam.” I opened my arms to him. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Is it true?” His brown eyes filled with water. “About Sadie?”

  Darn the stupid phone tree. How had Liam found out so quickly?

  “It is,” I said quietly. “I’m so sorry.”

  Liam brushed past me. “I have to see her.”

  I curled my fingers around his arm. “Wait, Liam. You don’t want to.”

  He paused and turned back to me. “What happened?”

  “I don’t know. I found her. She was…it looks like she was attacked or something.”

  Liam’s hand closed into a fist. “She liked to come out here sometimes at night. I never knew why. I would try to talk her out of it, try to tell her that it wasn’t safe, but you know Sadie.” His face bent in anguish. “You couldn’t talk her out of anything.”

  “I’m so sorry.” I moved to hug him, but Liam pulled back.

  “Sluggs in charge, I assume?”

  “He is.”

  “I better go talk to him.”

  Liam headed off and Rufus spoke. “Her boyfriend?”

  I nibbled my bottom lip. “Yeah. I hate to think of what this’ll do to him.”

  “Clementine, I came as fast as I could.”

  Malene waddled up. She wore her bathrobe, too. Wow. Did no one get dressed in Peachwood?

  Malene threw her arms around me. “I would have been here sooner, but I was at Norma Ray’s playing poker. She had to drive me home because I didn’t have my car, and she’s night blind.” Malene rolled her eyes. “But still won’t wear her glasses. What happened?”

  I scoffed. “I figure you’d know since you’re here, and telling half the town, I assume.” A flash of anger lit up my veins like lava. “Why the heck did you call Liam and get him down here? He shouldn’t see Sadie like this—in the condition she’s in.”

  Malene frowned. “I didn’t call him. Must’ve been someone else.”

  I barely listened to her. Malene didn’t even like Sadie. “Why are you here, Malene? To get the latest gossip about the woman you didn’t like?”

  Malene looked wounded. “I did not come for that. I came because I knew that you’d be hurting. When Norma Ray and I found out what happened and that you were down here, I came to make sure that you were okay.” She exhaled a sharp breath. “But I see that my worries have been placed on the wrong person.”

  My frustration and anger were worse than I thought. Malene had been nothing but kind to me, and here I was, accusing her of being a gossiping opportunist. Oh, she was, but maybe even Malene had boundaries, borders that she wouldn’t cross.

  “Who is this?” she said, eying Rufus.

  Before I could say, No one, Rufus stepped forward, the flat of his hand to his chest. “I would love to say that I know, but I’m afraid that I’m suffering from a touch of amnesia. I found myself in your wonderful village, which is where I made Clementine’s acquaintance. She’s been kind enough to drive me around, letting me look at buildings to see if anything jogs my memory.”

  Malene stared at him, flustered. It took a moment for the words to sink in, for her to actually realize that she had a full-blown amnesiac on her hands.

  She peered at him skeptically. “Let me get this straight—you don’t remember who you are?”

  “That is correct,” he said, sounding amused by the whole situation.

  I wanted to scream.

  Malene took him by the arm. “Well, then I will forgive Clementine for taking you around after her date with Shane.” Yes, she shot me a dirty look. “So you don’t know who you are?”

  Rufus sighed. “Alas, I wish I did, but I do not.”

  What the heck was up with his verbiage? Alas? Where did Rufus think he was from, England and this was high tea?

  “Where will you stay?” Malene said.

  Rufus pointed to the side of the barn. “From what I understand, there is a wonderful pile of straw just over there.”

  Her eyes bugged out. “Near where the body was found?” She glared at me again. If Malene knew about Rufus, she would not have looked at me like that. “No, now I insist that we check you into the bed and breakfast in town. The water isn’t always the hottest, but they’ll do you right.”

  Rufus shook his head. “No, no. I don’t have any money. I can’t pay for anything like that.”

  “Once Julie discovers your condition, she won’t hear of you staying anywhere else. Besides, we’ll figure it out.” Malene pointed to her car. “Now, you come with me and I’ll get you all settled in. Julie owns a coffee shop downstairs, Bender’s, so after you wake up, you can have a coffee and pastry in her shop.”

  “I admit,” he said, a lopsided grin on his face, “that does sound like heaven.”

  “It’s all settled then,” Malene said with a smile before giving me the once-over. “The barn! As if you could let someone so discombobulated sleep there.”

  “Oh, it wouldn’t have bothered me,” Rufus said jovially.

  “Come with me then, Mr., er… I’m afraid that I don’t know what to call you.”

  Rufus ran a hand through his hair sheepishly. “I’m afraid that I don’t know, either.”

  “How about a nice simple name until you remember who you are? Something like John?”

  Rufus said the word as if he were tasting it. “John. Sounds good enough.”

  “Then it’s all settled. Clementine, you don’t mind if I take John to Julie’s, do you? That is, unless you have a proper barn you want him to sleep in?” she asked snidely.

  “We’ll be right back.” I grabbed Malene by the arm and whisked her down the gravel path. When we were out of earshot, I said harshly, “Listen, Malene. You shouldn’t be nice to him.”

  “Why ever not? He seems okay. Doesn’t have a memory. Clem, you’ve got to be kind to people when they’re all out of sorts. You can’t turn your back on them.”

  You can if who they are is the worst thing imaginable. Part of me wanted to tell Malene, but that would mean discussing things that would turn Malene’s blue hair the color gray.

  Malene patted my hand. “You can’t be helping him right now. You’re in mourning. Let me assist the young man. Besides, he’s quite a looker, isn’t he?”

  When my gaze flickered over to him, I saw what Malene meant. Rufus’s strong jaw reflected the moonlight, and his skin looked like marble.

  “I, um…I’m not going to answer that.”

  Malene waddled away from me and directed her words to Rufus. “It’s all settled, then. You’re
coming with me. I’ll drop you off at Julie’s, who’ll take good care of you.”

  Rufus took my hand. His warm flesh sent a shock wave ripping up my arm. “Thank you for everything you did tonight.”

  With that, Malene whisked him away. First thing in the morning I would check on Rufus and make sure he hadn’t changed in the night.

  But something told me I didn’t have to worry, because Rufus—or John, as Malene had dubbed him (how original, right?)—would be the same tomorrow.

  I didn’t have to worry about him remembering, but I did have to worry about him changing back. Even though Rufus didn’t know who he was, wouldn’t his old nature shine through? Wouldn’t he, sooner or later, become his old evil self?

  Of course he would. Rufus was only being nice right now because he needed help, because he couldn’t remember who he was. But even if he never recalled his name, he couldn’t hide from what he was. A person couldn’t keep that sort of thing buried forever.

  He turned around when he reached Malene’s car and waved at me, his eyes full of gratitude. My stomach soured.

  Crap. I almost felt bad for thinking the worst of him but shouldn’t. I should feel justified in my emotions.

  But then why did I feel so crappy?

  “Well, it looks like we’ve got this one figured out.”

  I turned to see Sluggs striding like a cowboy toward his deputies.

  Was he really going to announce that Sadie had been murdered? That seemed awfully inappropriate.

  He smoothed his hair. “It appears that the young lady came out here, tripped and fell in the concrete. What happened was an accident, plain and simple.”

  My jaw dropped. “An accident?” I murmured. “There’s no way that it was an accident.”

  I said that a bit too loudly, because Chief Sluggs glanced in my direction. “I’m sorry, Clem, but that’s mine and the coroner’s conclusions. Accidental death caused by tripping on her high heels.”

  What the heck? My gaze darted to Liam, who looked lost. Anger burned inside me at Slugg’s decision. Accidental death my foot. Sadie did not trip and die. No. Someone killed my best friend, and I would be darned if I didn’t find out who had done it.

  My eyes narrowed. First thing in the morning I would start my own investigation, and I would get this whole thing figured out—no thanks to Tuney Sluggs.

  Chapter 9

  I did not sleep well that night. Heck, I didn’t sleep at all. A bout of crying came over me and never let go. Tears streamed down my face every time I thought about Sadie and what had happened.

  Then anger would fill me when I thought about how incompetent Tuney was. How could he honestly have ruled Sadie’s death an accident? He and his deputies hadn’t even been at the scene long enough to determine that. Shouldn’t there have been an autopsy—something? Thirty-year-old women do not just up and die in wet foundation.

  By midnight I’d made the decision that I would head to the police station and talk to someone—Earl Granger maybe. He had a head of smarts on him, or at least he appeared to. I’d discuss my concerns with him and see if at least someone would listen.

  But then there was Rufus. What was I going to do with him? Obviously it was impossible to watch him 24-7, not with the barn to renovate and Sadie being gone.

  Clutching my pillow, I buried my face in it, hoping that would dissolve some of the pain that riddled my body, but no luck.

  By three a.m. I realized that sleep wouldn’t come, so I got up and made a pot of coffee. There was no point in lying in bed, so I started scanning the Internet for knickknacks that might look good in the barn when it was finished.

  It soothed me to shop, even if the idea of butting heads with Dooley Hutto made me want to punch him in the face.

  Scanning websites, I came across an old milk jug that only needed some sanding and a little paint. It would be perfect in the kitchen. It took me a minute to locate my purse, but I found it and my wallet, then punched in the numbers on my business credit card and waited for the sale to go through.

  It was declined.

  I sucked my teeth. There should be plenty of credit on the card—plenty. Sadie always kept great track of our spending, and she would let me know when we got close to our limit and would pay it off. That’s how we did things.

  Suddenly her being gone hit me again, and fresh tears pearled in my eyes. After a draining cry that lasted a good ten minutes and left me with a throbbing head, I returned to my computer and pulled up my bank account to see what had happened.

  When I logged into the credit card part of the site, my jaw dropped. The card was maxed out. I stared at the transactions and saw lots of purchases at a store called Frank’s. What the heck was Frank’s? There wasn’t a store in town with the name, not that I knew of. I jotted it on a notepad and decided to pay down the card with money from the account.

  No problem. Even though finances were Sadie’s department, it wasn’t like I was incapable of paying a few bills.

  When I logged back into the business account, I searched for our balance and did a double take. The number staring at me on the screen couldn’t be right, it just couldn’t. There was no way that we only had one hundred dollars to the business’s name.

  What transactions had taken place? It took a moment to find the right tab to search (note to self—learn how to maneuver the bank’s website), but I eventually did and clicked it.

  Three large checks had been written, checks that I hadn’t authorized. There was one for five thousand dollars, another for three thousand, and the last was for a whopping eight grand.

  Fiddlesticks. No wonder the account was empty—that was all we had in the bank total. Who the heck could Sadie have paid? Liam and his crew weren’t scheduled for paychecks until…well, until today.

  I took a deep breath and calmed the panic working its way up my chest. I was sure it was no big deal. Sadie probably went ahead and gave Liam a check so that he could pay his workers. After all, we partnered with Liam. He always got a percentage of the total job once it was finished, but we also wrote him a check so that he could pay his guys. Sadie and I agreed on that because we needed his men, too.

  Surely that’s what had happened. Sadie had simply written Liam a check ahead of time, which meant that I didn’t have to worry about it today. She should have told me, but clearly that was the last thing on my mind right now.

  My finger hovered over the touch pad. For some reason I was afraid to look at the digital check that would pop up when I clicked the pad. But I had to make sure that Sadie had written it to Liam.

  I swallowed a gargantuan egg in the back of my throat and pressed my finger to the pad, all the while chewing on the index finger of my opposite hand.

  “This is stupid, Clem, just tap it.”

  Yep, that was how I gave myself pep talks.

  Finally I clicked the digital image and my worst fears shot to life. Sadie had penned an eight-thousand-dollar check to herself.

  My hands fell to my sides. My face heated with dread. That couldn’t be right. Sadie wouldn’t have done that.

  Breathe. Just breathe.

  Maybe one of the other two checks had been written to Liam.

  But a quick investigation of those revealed what I already knew. All three of the last checks written, the ones that had drained our business bank account, had been written to Sadie, who was now dead.

  Y’all, I was flat broke. There had always been enough money, always. I’d never had a problem with the credit card before. But while I stared at the numerous withdrawals that Sadie had made, I wondered not only why she needed the money, but how she’d managed to keep me so unaware.

  I thought back to the last money that Sadie had distributed to me. It had come in the form of cash. Cash. I’d questioned it at the time, but Sadie promised that it was okay—she’d discussed it with the accountant.

  But as I studied this paper trail and saw how many checks that Sadie had written herself, I wondered exactly where all this money had been
going.

  Forget Tuney and Rufus—first thing in the morning, I needed to visit the bank.

  “I’m sorry, but there’s nothing I can do,” the bank manager said. “The checks were written and authorized by Miss March.”

  I sat across from his big mahogany desk, drumming my fingers on the glossy top. “Can you tell me if the checks were deposited into her personal account or cashed?”

  His lips pursed. He didn’t want to do it, and I didn’t blame him. I’m sure there was a company policy against releasing confidential information, but this was my business, too. I also wrote the checks.

  Well, I did now, I supposed.

  “Please,” I pleaded. “She passed away last night. I need to know what happened.”

  He flexed his fingers over the keyboard and sighed. “I really shouldn’t be doing this.”

  Of course you should.

  “I know that it might not be right, but looking into her account may help me better understand how to straighten out this financial mess.”

  The manager’s fingers relaxed before flying over the keys. He stared at the screen a moment. I held my breath, unsure of exactly what he would discover. “It looks like she cashed the checks. Miss March’s personal account is fairly low.”

  “How low?”

  He grimaced. “This is confidential information.”

  I made a cross sign over my heart. “I won’t tell anyone.” Probably I wouldn’t. Heck, I couldn’t completely promise not to say anything. It might be important.

  “Fifty dollars low.”

  Wow. Sadie had less money than I did. So where had it all gone?

  I thanked the manager and left the bank. A quick glance at my watch revealed that it was getting on in the morning. I still needed to check in with Tuney and Rufus.

  Oh gosh, Rufus. Could someone please jab a fork in my eye right now? He was the last person I needed to deal with. But still, I couldn’t leave him unchaperoned and running around town.

  Frustrated, I raked my fingers down my face. As much as I wanted to visit Tuney, I had to check on Rufus first.

  Growling, I flung open my truck door, started up the engine and headed over to Julie’s to see about him. Hopefully he hadn’t strayed too far away from the coffee shop.