The Witch On Twisted Oak

by Muller, Susan C.

  His torso lay on one mattress, covered by a light blanket. His feet hung over onto the second mattress with no cover. The moon glinted off the gun on the floor beside him.

  He had removed his shoes, but not his clothes or socks. Molly’s leash was wrapped around his hand, and she lifted her head as Tessa and Bob entered the room.

  Ruben’s hand gave a slight jerk and Molly’s head dropped back down.

  So he was awake. Tessa tugged on the hem of her T-shirt and climbed into Bob’s favorite cubby, pulling the curtain tight.

  Mamacita’s snoring was immediately muffled and Bob relaxed in his familiar spot. Tessa’s eyes began to droop and her body felt like it was floating. She would stay awake, make sure Bob and Molly didn’t get into any trouble, but at least she was comfortable.

  Tessa’s eyes jerked open in the darkness. Something was wrong. Something was missing. Her hand searched the cubby but Bob wasn’t there. Her heart caught in her throat. Where was he?

  She peeked out of the curtain. Molly slept on the sofa, her leash tied to one arm. Ruben was stretched out on the recliner. One hand stroked a contented Bob, curled on his chest.

  When had that happened? Bob seldom went to her, and never to other people. She pulled the curtain back into place and closed her eyes. If she tried to retrieve him, she’d wake Molly and start the symphony all over again.

  The next thing she knew a sound in the kitchen woke her and she opened her eyes. Even through the curtain, she could tell daylight had finally arrived. Bob protested as she moved him to the side so she could peek out from behind the heavy fabric.

  Mamacita was in the kitchen making coffee and Ruben and Molly were disappearing through the front door.

  If she hurried, she could be dressed before they got back. But then what? How could she stand a day with three humans and two animals in this small cabin?

  Ruben had spent worse nights, but not many. He’d sat in cars when the temperature dropped below freezing. He’d stood deep in shadows in the rain. Even crouched behind a dumpster until his legs cramped.

  So why did last night bother him so much? He was inside. Warm, dry, even fairly comfortable. But that damn curtain felt like the Berlin Wall.

  “Come on, Molly. Do your business.” The dog was more interested in a squirrel that rustled across the leaves in front of them and up a nearby tree.

  What was his hurry? He sure didn’t want to get back to the cabin before she had time to get dressed. One more sight of her in that T-shirt might be more than he could handle. It was worse than those short-shorts. Maybe because he knew she didn’t have anything on under it.

  The lake was silent. No one ventured out on this cool November morning. What he wouldn’t give for an hour fishing. That would calm his mind. But he couldn’t leave the women unprotected. Tessa didn’t look like the fishing type, and Mamacita was terrified of water. She’d never learned to swim.

  He and Molly strolled to his dock and he checked the lines on his Boston Whaler. Waves lapped gently against the boat, making turning his back and heading for the cabin even more difficult.

  He’d slammed the door when he left. Surely she was awake and dressed by now.

  Approaching the door, he called out to Molly, “That’s a good girl.”

  Give her a little warning I’m about to come in. If he caught her unaware, like he did last night, she might insist on leaving, and then how would he protect both her and Mamacita?

  The aroma of fresh coffee hit him as he opened the door. Mamacita had the toaster out and the table set with paper plates. How that must have riled her. She didn’t approve of paper plates.

  Tessa was nowhere in sight. He glanced at the cubby. Had the curtain been moved? Maybe.

  Water running in the bathroom confirmed his suspicions. She was up. Now, if only she was dressed. Preferably in a suit of armor.

  The bathroom door opened and Tessa came out wearing jeans and a three-quarter-length sleeve sweater. Good. The more skin she covered, the better.

  “Good morning.” Tessa’s smile was hesitant. Was she still embarrassed about last night? Well, so was he.

  He certainly hadn’t meant to look down her shirt, but she fell right in front of him. If he’d closed his eyes, he would have dropped her.

  Who was he kidding? He could have looked away if he’d wanted, he just didn’t want to. No man would have.

  The memory stirred more than he wanted to admit. “Morning. Do you think it’s safe to let Molly loose? I tried to wear her out, but I don’t think that’s possible.”

  “Bob’s hiding, but she knows where his spot is now. Why don’t you let her drag her leash? That should slow her down and give us something to grab if she starts acting up.”

  Why hadn’t he thought of that? Sexy and smart, a double whammy. But she was still off limits.

  When Bob came out to join him last night, he’d expected a commotion, but Molly ignored him in favor of sleeping on the sofa. At least now he knew where the cat got his name. He sported a bobbed tail half the length it should have been. A notch was missing from one ear, also. He was one tough cat. Maybe Molly was the one that needed to hide.

  “Breakfast is ready.” Mamacita’s face left no doubt what she thought of toast and paper plates.

  He stuffed most of a piece of toast in his mouth then choked as he watched Tessa nibble delicately at the corner of a slice.

  “Will we have time for me to go out and draw? I won’t take my paints this time, just my sketch pad.”

  Damn. He’d forgotten his promise. He really didn’t want to be alone with her, but outside was better than inside.

  Fifteen minutes later, they were hiking through the woods. Tessa carried her sketchbook and Ruben held onto Molly. He couldn’t leave the dog in the cabin with Bob and Mamacita.

  Tessa headed directly for a low hill overlooking the lake. She began to sketch and he lay back in the leaves and watched the clouds. Somehow, he always felt more relaxed outside. His eyes were closed and he drifted close to sleep when he heard her voice.

  “I don’t know what to think about your mother. She’s obviously ill. No wonder you’re worried about her.”

  How did she know he was worried? He hadn’t said anything. Was he that easy to read? He opened one eye and studied her back as she continued to sketch.

  “I went over it and over it, all night and I can’t reconcile my mother’s actions with what your mother says happened.”

  Heat rose up the back of his neck. “If Mamacita says it happened, it happened. She wouldn’t lie about a thing like that. She might be bat-shit crazy to believe all that mumbo-jumbo, but she wouldn’t lie about it.”

  Tessa swung around, her face red. “I never said she lied. And it’s not mumbo-jumbo. Like it or not, there are people with powers and my mother was one of them. I just don’t understand why she would do that to Mamacita.”

  Ruben dropped his face into his hands. Not her too. “Don’t tell me she suckered you into all that dancing in the woods, black cats, magic spells crap.” Fuck. Had he just said that out loud? It was exactly what he’d jumped on Mamacita for saying.

  Tessa’s voice turned to ice. “Bob was a stray cat that I started feeding. He adopted me, not the other way around. I consider him my pet, not my familiar.”

  “But you had a black cat when you were a kid. It even had the same white paw. Was that, what did you call it, your familiar?” Every time he opened his mouth, he made things worse. When would he learn to shut up?

  “Snowflake? He was a kitten my mother gave me, nothing more. He ran away. I think he got hurt the same night I did, and probably died. He could hardly be the same cat. They don’t live that long. The coloring is just a coincidence.”

  What did Adam like to say? There’s no such thing as coincidence, until there is. It couldn’t be the same cat. How would he have found her, and where had he been for all those years? He was turning as crazy as she was.

  Her eyes narrowed to pinpricks. “And if my mother liked to danc
e in the woods, what’s it to you? She wasn’t harming anyone. If some kid watched her, it was no different than if he peeked in her window.”

  It was a lot different. A case could be made that the woods were a public place. Even if she didn’t know he was there.

  “As for powers, there’s no doubt she had them. I don’t understand it, but I witnessed it.”

  She’d told him she was a Catholic. How could she believe in all that witch nonsense?

  She leveled her gaze at him. “I know witchcraft falls outside your normal ideas, but if you believe in angels and spirits, is it so hard to accept that there are things in this world we don’t understand?”

  Shit. Wasn’t that exactly what he’d told Adam last spring when he started talking about ghosts? But really, decide to call yourself a witch and think that gives you some type of magical power? It was no different than a placebo, a sugar pill; believe it and it started to work. Only in this case for evil, not for good.

  Chapter 24

  Mamacita sat on the old sofa, her suitcase at her feet. Ruben sighed. What was she doing, she couldn’t go home. Was he in for another fight? He and Tessa had reached a silent truce. He might not be as lucky with Mamacita.

  Mamacita leveled her gaze at him. “I’ll stay with Emily until you finish this case. The kids will be in school all week so the house will be quiet during the day. Please have everything settled in time for my prayer meeting on Thursday.”

  Well, sure. He always tried to have murder cases settled in time to avoid any inconvenience.

  That meant one down. If he could get rid of Molly, the cabin might be almost habitable. No need to worry about temptation with Tessa. She was on the verge of killing him in his sleep as it was.

  Tessa walked Molly and Mamacita down the path, and Ruben carried Mamacita’s suitcase and the empty crate through the woods to the spot where he’d hidden the car.

  As he slid behind the wheel a momentary urge to keep driving flitted across his brain, but he stomped it down.

  The three females were waiting when he pulled up. With Molly’s crate disassembled and Mamacita’s suitcase in the trunk, Tessa and the dog sat peacefully in the back seat.

  He glanced in the rearview mirror and saw the dog’s head in Tessa’s lap. Why hadn’t he tried that on the way up?

  Even with light Sunday-morning traffic, the drive to Julio’s took over two hours. Mamacita frowned in disapproval every time he passed another car. Tessa leaned her head back and may have slept.

  Tires hummed on concrete, and Molly’s tail thumped occasionally. Otherwise, the car was silent.

  Cars lined both sides of the street in front of Julio’s. Wonderful, the whole crowd was here. Aunts, uncles, cousins. Tessa was in for the examination of a lifetime.

  He had just finished checking the back fence for escape holes for Molly when he heard a familiar voice.

  “Yo, little brother. You were dumb enough to bring a date to a family get-together? Man, you must really be serious about her. I don’t think you’ve ever subjected one of your girlfriends to a third degree like she’ll get here.”

  He swung around and grinned. This day might be bearable after all. “Ramona. What are you doing in town? How long can you stay?”

  His sister looked great: tan, strong, healthy. The only other one of his siblings who had inherited the elusive height gene. If being unnaturally tall had been difficult for him, it must have been murder on her. Yet while he bitched and moaned and felt out of place, she never let it show.

  “Not fair. I asked my questions first.” Ramona’s smile helped settle the acid building his stomach.

  “She’s not a girlfriend. She’s a witness and I’m trying to protect her.” He’d probably have to say that fifty times before the day was over. Not that it would do any good.

  “You have a funny way of protecting her. You just threw her to the lions. And they’re all licking their chops.”

  Shoot. He needed to get back inside and run interference. “I need to talk to you. Big time. Do not get away before we have some time together.”

  “Julio filled me in on some of it. Emily acted like you were laying it on a bit thick, but once she gets a good look at Mamacita, she’ll change her tune. And instead of you blowing things out of proportion, she’ll accuse you of ignoring it.”

  True, but he didn’t care. As long as the family got together and did something.

  He glanced back at the fence. If Julio’s pug couldn’t get out, Molly was probably safe. He sprinted for the house.

  The family had Tessa surrounded like a pack of hungry dogs. She shot him a look of sheer terror that put her fear at finding her house invaded to shame.

  “Did Mamacita introduce you to Ms. Reyna? She’s a witness in a murder case I’m investigating. Someone broke into her home looking for a key piece of evidence. She can’t go back there until it’s safe.”

  He glanced around the room. Everyone was studying their shoes.

  Ramona stepped through the back door, smiling. “Hi, Ms. Reyna. I’m Ruben’s sister, Ramona. I’m sorry we had to meet under such trying circumstances. Was there much damage to your house?”

  Tessa’s shoulders relaxed a millimeter. “Call me Tessa. I’m not sure how much damage was done. Detective Marquez rushed me out of there before I had a good chance to look around.”

  She was good. Calling him detective was a nice touch. That should tamp down any rumors.

  By the time they were ready to eat, half an hour later, Tessa had been accepted as part of the family.

  The adults sat in the dining room at a long table with card tables added to either end. The house overflowed with the aromas of Mamacita’s Chicken Mole, tamales, beans—both refried and negro—pork chops, fresh vegetables, and breads. All the women and most of the men, including Ruben, drank iced tea. Julio, Vincente, and his cousins Carl and Thom drank a beer.

  Ruben eyed the beer with envy, but as long as he was responsible for Tessa, he was on duty.

  After Julio gave the blessing, Mamacita harrumphed, “You should have let Ruben say grace. He’s the one who almost became a priest.”

  Julio almost spit his beer across the table. “Ruben, a priest? Where did that come from?”

  Ruben rolled his eyes. “Mamacita has the idea that just because I once served as an altar boy, I was bound for the priesthood.”

  “Ruben Frumencio Renaldo Maldonado Marquez, don’t you roll your eyes at me. You loved serving as an altar boy. You spent hours at the church.”

  Tessa snapped her head toward him. “That’s your full name?” She blinked several times.

  “Don’t blame me.” Ruben nodded toward Mamacita. “She’s the one who hung it on me. Can you imagine trying to learn to spell that in first grade?”

  All his relatives laughed, but only Julio spoke up. “You still haven’t caught on to his devious methods? On Sundays he could leave early and come home late and you never questioned him. You thought he was too pious to be up to no good.”

  Vincente broke in. “It wasn’t the priesthood that called him. It was that blonde from down the street. She thought he looked so romantic and important carrying out his duties.”

  A picture of Mary Kathryn O’Connell flashed across his mind. Why could his brothers recall more of his life than he could? That whole year was shrouded in fog. It only came back to him when they talked about it.

  Mamacita sputtered. “But he was determined, until someone talked him out of it.”

  He opened his mouth and something totally forgotten came out. “No one talked me out of it. I found a stronger calling. Do you remember that cop who arrested a man for beating his wife and then the wife came out—face swollen, nose bloody—holding a shotgun and insisting he release her husband. When he refused, she shot him point blank. The guy had a wife and family with another kid on the way. It was early spring. Just a few days before Easter.”

  A couple of his cousins nodded, but without much conviction. The others had blank looks on their face
s.

  A good man gave his life to protect someone and after a few years, he was forgotten. If he was killed in the line of duty would anyone but the people sitting here remember him?

  It didn’t matter. He didn’t choose police work for the glory, there was little enough of that, but for the feeling of duty.

  “The service was held in our church. It may have been the last time I served as altar boy. I looked out and saw the mayor, the chief-of-police, and a sea of blue uniforms with black armbands. That’s when I knew what I wanted to do with my life. And I never wavered from that decision.”

  Mamacita’s eyes where huge. Did she understand now? Could she let go of her resentment?

  Tessa was the only one who spoke. “We didn’t go to the service, but I remember that day. They let school out early and the whole city lined the streets as the procession passed. My mother told me to stand up straight and show some respect. That was on a Friday. That weekend was the last time I ever lived with my mother.”

  Julio’s backyard teemed with life as kids of all ages played an intricate game of Frisbee in which Molly seemed to be on both sides at once. She could run faster and jump higher than any other player, but who she would return the Frisbee to was anyone’s guess.

  Ruben watched her play like she was his own kid. This was the first time he’d had anybody to root for in one of these games and it was a dog. She ought to be good and tired when he returned her to the Watsons.

  He and Ramona sat in lawn chairs off to the side. They’d tried to talk in the house, but people kept listening in. The yard was more public in that it was filled with warm, or in this case sweaty, bodies. But the noise kept their conversation private.

  “You’ve seen her. What do you think?” Ruben held his breath. Maybe he’d been overestimating the problem. She was getting older, that’s all.

  “I haven’t seen her in almost six months. The change slapped me in the face. And you say the doctor doesn’t know what’s wrong?” Ramona leaned forward in her chair.

  “She was slightly anemic. I’ve made sure she takes her pills, but I haven’t seen any improvement. She’s gotten worse, in fact. Tessa assured her that her mother wouldn’t put a spell on anyone, but the woman did tell her she was hexed. I wish Tessa would have said there was no such thing as a hex or spell, but apparently she believes those things do exist and that her mother, as a true witch, had to power to invoke one.”