by Tegan Maher
"Nope," he said, leaning forward on his elbows and taking my hands in his. "According to Rae, Angel called and said her mama took a bad spill at the library and was being rushed to the hospital. Rae was over at Anna Mae's store lookin' at some doodad or another she'd told her about the night before."
"An antique jewelry box," I said absently, still thinking things through. Angel was the girl who worked part-time for Raeann at Brew and her mama worked down the street at the library.
He waved his hand. "Whatever. She told Angel she'd be there as soon as she could, but when she got there, Angel was gone and she says Katie was on the floor, unconscious."
Smitty, Hunter's second-in-command, pecked on the doorframe and leaned in.
Hunter glanced up. "Yeah, Smitty?"
"The say Ms. Flynn's all booked in."
My eyes shot to Hunter. "Booked in? Surely you don't mean she has to stay here!"
Smitty's ears turned red at my outburst and he looked at the floor several feet to my right.
"I don't know yet, Noe," Hunter said, withdrawing. "She was found kneeling over a body holding the murder weapon."
"You don't know that was the murder weapon. All you know is that Rae was bent over her. Knowing Raeann, she was probably trying to resuscitate her like I did Hank."
I'd met Hunter when he'd rescued me from performing the ultimate sacrifice and placing my mouth on that of our dead sheriff to do CPR. The near-miss still gave me the willies.
He lifted a shoulder. "Maybe so, but I can't appear to pay favorites."
Addy popped in right as he said that, along with Belle. She had fire in her eyes.
"You're damn skippy gonna play favorites. You let my girl out of there right now." She crossed her arms and if looks could rain fire and brimstone, he'd be burnt to a crisp. When he continued to sit there, Belle and Addy zipped closer to him, one on either side.
"She didn't mean in ten minutes, boy!" Belle barked. "She meant, off your ass and on your feet. Grab the keys, get whatever judge on the phone you gotta, then go let her out! She ain't no more a murderer than Mother Teresa and you know it."
He slipped his hands from mine and something about him changed. An icy expression slipped over his face. "Are you presuming to tell me how to do my job?"
Addy narrowed her eyes, noting the change. "I wouldn't think we'd need to."
Belle looked back and forth between them, confused by the sudden friction.
He pushed back from his desk and grabbed the open door. "Noelle, I think you know the way out. I'll call you once I know something."
I gasped. "Wait, what? But I want to see her! You said you were going to do things on your end to see about getting her bail."
"And I will," he said, curling his lip at Addy. "This afternoon, when I speak with the judge about the rest of the cases."
Stunned, I pushed up from my chair. Addy was hovering a foot from his nose wearing her mama-wolf expression, her eyebrows pulled low over her eyes. She was shimmering more than usual, which I'd never seen happen before. "Let. Her. Out." she said, her eyes boring into his.
Ignoring her words but maintaining the eye contact, he motioned again toward the door. "Noelle."
Now I was mad. "What's your problem? You know Addy's just wound up and worried 'cause one of us girls is in trouble. This is her way. She wasn't startin' a pissing match."
Belle floated forward. "I think we all need to just take a deep breath—"
"I'll call you with details when I have them," he said, cutting her off.
"You'll take me to see her now," I said, crossing my arms.
Matt strode down the hallway toward us, a grim smile on his face until he was close enough to pick up on the tension. He wrinkled his brow, confused. "Hey man. What's going on? Is everything straightened out with Raeann?"
Hunter looked back and forth between us, his expression inscrutable.
Ignoring the hand Matt held out, he poked his head out the door. "Smitty, see Ms. Flynn out. She seems to have forgotten her way."
He strode past us, hanging a right down a hallway that lead deeper into the department.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Smitty came toward me, red faced with pinched lips. "I'm sorry Noelle, but—"
"No, no, Smitty. It's fine," I said, waving off his apology. "He's your boss. It's okay though, we're leaving."
Addy and Belle had popped out and poor Matt was looking back and forth between Smitty and me, clueless. To be fair, I couldn't blame him; I had no idea what was going on, and I’d witnessed it firsthand. We left the courthouse in silence, then I explained as well as I could what had just happened.
I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel, trying to decide what to do next. I pulled out my phone and pecked out a text to Shelby to let her know what was going on.
"Has anybody called her mama?" he asked.
Oh, lord. Aunt Elizabeth. I ran my hand over my face. "I can't imagine; otherwise, she'd be here. She spends a lot of time outside when she can, and she's probably getting her garden ready for winter." Like Raeann, she was an earth witch and had one of the finest herb gardens in the region.
Rae and I had spent countless hours as kids weeding and learning how to care for the plants. Aunt Beth had taught us what each one was good for and how to make blends for different purposes. It wasn't one of my strengths, but Rae had taken to it like a duck to water.
A hint of movement in the back seat caught my eye in the rear-view as I was pulling out of the courthouse lot; Cheri Lynn was appearing. She'd developed the habit if fading in because she said it was rude to just pop in out of nowhere and scare the bejezus out of somebody. I, for one, greatly appreciated it. She also did her level best not to pass her body parts through anybody else’s. The feeling was sort of like passing an ice cube through your flesh.
The longer Addy was dead, the less she cared about personal space and privacy, so a little courtesy from at least one of the ghostly folks I cared about was nice.
"I just came from talkin' to Raeann," she said.
"What did she say? What happened? Is she okay?" I met her eyes in the mirror, anxious for any new information.
"I think okay is relative. She's shaken up, but in a cell by herself, so at least she's not in there with some big Amazon chick lookin' to steal her lunch or virtue."
I snorted. Silver linings.
"But seriously," she went on as Matt twisted around to look at her, "she says Angel called and said her mama took a bad spill at the library and she had to go. Rae was at Anna Mae's, so she told her she'd be right there. Apparently, Angel didn't wait ’cause when she got there, the place was empty and Katie was on the floor. I guess Angel ran everybody out but forgot to lock the door."
"It couldn't have taken more than ten minutes for her to get from Things Forgotten to Brew," I said, "so whatever happened, happened fast."
Matt furrowed his brow. "I wish we could talk to her ourselves. What was that thing with Hunter?"
"What thing with Hunter?" Cheri Lynn asked as I pulled out of the lot. "And why are we leavin' without Raeann?"
I heaved a sigh and explained what had happened.
Cheri frowned. "That don't sound like him at all."
"No," I agreed as we turned onto Main Street, "it doesn't."
Addy popped in right then with a pop so loud even Cheri Lynn jumped and put her hand over her chest. "Sweet baby Jesus, Ms. Addy. If I weren't already dead, you'da just put me in my grave."
For my part, my mind was flipping through options so fast a purple cow could have popped in on Matt's lap and I woulda kept driving.
I tossed a glance back at her. "You been to Aunt Elizabeth's yet?"
She pressed her lips together. "No. To be honest, I hadn't even given it a thought. That where you're headed?"
"Yeah," I said as I flipped on a blinker to hang a right off the main road. "I don't know if Raeann called her or not, so I figured it'd be better to go tell her in person instead of callin' her."
There w
as a third pop and I was shocked to see it was Angus. I could count on my hands the number of times he'd popped in on me in the years since he'd been gone, even though he'd been a regular fixture in my life growing up. I see him all the time, but he’s not one for just dropping in. Good thing I'd bought the king cab, though—even incorporeal folks took away the feeling of spaciousness once you piled so many of 'em in the back seat.
"Hey, everybody," he said. "I just heard poor Rae got arrested for offin' Katie Lawson. Your sheriff get that straightened out yet?"
I scowled. "Apparently, he's not my sheriff right now. He got his butt on his shoulders and said he'd do somethin' about Rae when he talked to the judge about everybody else, then kicked me out of his office."
Addy sagged a little. "He got his feathers all ruffled cause I got bossy and ran my mouth."
I dodged a pothole then looked at her in the mirror. "Don't you dare do that! You were only doin' what you do and he knew it. There was no reason for him to get all high and mighty like that."
"Well that ain't the onliest reason I popped in," Angus said. "Seems like the whole town's gone plumb off its rocker. The mayor just got in a knock-down, drag-out with his next-door neighbor, Gene Spencer. Their wives had to pull 'em apart. And the preacher swatted Mary Sue Jennings right on the caboose."
That made me swerve as I whipped my head around to look at him. "Come again?"
"Yeah, she bent over to pick up a hymnal, and right out of the blue—crack! Right on the heiney. I don't know who was more shocked."
He was grinning, and I frowned at him in the mirror. "It's not funny. He's a good guy and that could be catastrophic for him."
My suspicion that this was magical in nature swept back over me, and I stopped the truck. I chewed on my lip, debating what to do next.
I thought for a minute and came up with an idea to keep the fine folks of Keyhole from running poor Gabriel through the wringer for something that I was becoming more and more certain wasn't his fault. "Will you please pop into Coralee's and ask her and Belle to do what they do best, and spin it so there was a bee or a fire ant or something on her? That's a little thin, but I'm sure they can beef it up into somethin' believable. They like Gabe, and they’re the best option for quick damage control. Shoot, tell 'em the devil made him do it. Whatever it takes to keep him from gettin' rode outta town on a rail 'til I can get this figured out. Now, what about the mayor?"
Cheri Lynn turned toward him, concern etched on her face. "Yeah, what happened there? Gene used to come to Tassels"—the gentleman's club where she worked pre-corporally impaired—“when he was still drinkin', before he met Mimi. Nice guy, never rude or handsy. I was glad to see him climb on the wagon and stay there."
Angus shrugged. "I reckon they've been havin' a kerfuffle cause the mayor says that little pocket dawg of Gene's has been leavin' yard snickers by his mailbox, and Gene says he ain't. Gene got tired of hearin' it and popped the mayor in the nose when he said something about it." He shook his head. "Dangdest thing—Gene used to get a snoot full and fight at the drop of a hat, but he swore off the stuff when Mimi threatened to leave him after she bailed him outta jail for the umpteenth time. He hasn't raised a hand since."
"Addy, will you go talk to Aunt Beth? I need to find Camille. None of this is addin' up and we need to get it straight before the whole town goes to hell in a hand basket."
She gave a brisk nod and popped out, and I turned to Cheri Lynn. "Can you please pop into the high school and tell Shelby what's going on so she doesn't hear it from somebody else, if she hasn't already?"
"Sure thing, sugar. I'll pop in on Raeann again too, just to keep her company. If you need me, holler. I'll be listenin'."
Somehow, they could always hear. All we ever had to do was call them, and if they could, they'd pop in. I reserved it for near-emergencies though, because it felt rude to just ... summon somebody.
"Thank you. Tell her we're doing everything we can for her," I said as she faded out. I shot a quick 911 text to Camille.
Matt looked at his watch. "If you need me, I'll gladly help, but if so, I need to call and cancel an appointment."
I waved him off. "There's not really anything to do right now. You go take care of business."
I did a three-point turn and pointed the truck back toward town. Just as I pulled onto the main road, my phone dinged with an incoming text. Figuring it was either Shelby or Camille, I unlocked my phone and handed it to Matt since I was driving. "Can you check that, please?"
"Whoa," he said, his voice filled with surprise when he glanced at it. "It's Hunter. All it says is that Raeann's bail is set at a hundred grand."
Drawing in a deep breath, I thanked the fates for sending me that reward money; otherwise, I would have had to put up the farm.
"Okay, so I just go to a bail bondman, give him like ten or twenty percent, and then I get it back when she shows up for court, right?"
He drew his lips thin in a wince. "Not exactly. I mean, it's usually ten percent, but if you go to a bondsman, you forfeit the money."
"What! That's highway robbery! They know Rae's not goin' anywhere."
Shaking his head, he said, "That's the way it works. If you post full bail at the courthouse, you get it back when she shows up. If you use a bondsman, it's only ten percent, but it's cash money, gone. Sorry."
I ran a hand through my hair, trying to think. I had that much, but if I spent it, I'd either be out my business money or my rainy-day money. Addy popped back in at the tail end.
"What's cash money, gone?"
I explained the situation. "Well that's a no-brainer. Put up the farm. If Hank were still in office, I'd say, over my dead body—." Matt arched a brow at her, earning him a scowl. "Don't get smart. You know what I mean." She turned to me. "Get to the farm and get the deed. She ain't goin' nowhere and there ain't no reason to hand that greasy Clyde Harris so much as a dime of your stash."
I did as she said. When we pulled into the yard, Matt climbed out and loped to his truck, yelling over his shoulder for me to call him if I needed anything.
Within fifteen minutes, I was pulling back into the courthouse parking lot and within an hour, Rae was in the truck, buckling up as we went back to the farm to meet Camille and Shelby for a witchy pow-wow.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
As soon as we were underway, I started grilling her.
"Tell me everything. Did you see anybody? How long did it take you to get there after Angel said she was leaving? Why were you holding the scarf?"
She held up her hand. "Gimme a minute to breathe, sweetie. I'm just recovering from my first time in the hoosegow and it didn't agree with me at all. You know they made me put on orange? Like, I thought that was just hype, but it's not. And it was faded, so somebody else—or many somebody elses—had worn it before me! That's nasty! And the cheap flip-flops. Those weren't just fashion disasters, they were crimes against humanity!" she paused, then a look of abject horror crossed her face. "Ohmuhgawd. Do you think the flip-flops were used, too?"
I couldn't help it; between the relief of having her out of jail and the fact that the thing that bothered her most was the wardrobe, I laughed. Then, when I pictured her in a faded orange jumpsuit and worn-out, dollar-store flip-flops, I couldn't stop laughing. I reached across and hugged her.
"Lord, you scared me girl. Then Hunter went all Neanderthal on me. Tell me everything you know."
"Well," she said, changing the radio station from classic rock to country, "there's not much to tell. Angel called, and I thought she was going to wait on me, but I guess she didn't. Not that I blame her, mind ya. She must have cleared the place but forgot to lock the door. When I got there, it was unlocked and Katie was sprawled out in the floor."
She stopped to take a breath before continuing. "I nudged her with my toe—honestly, I thought the beast was tryin' to fake me out so she could sue me for fallin' or somethin'—but she didn't move. I bent down to check for a pulse, but she had on that ape-ugly pink scarf. I cou
ldn't check with it on, so I pulled it loose and that's when Olivia came in and started screamin' bloody murder. Literally."
I flicked on the blinker to turn onto the road that led to the farm. "So you didn't see or hear anybody?"
She shook her head, picking at a thread on her purse. "Not a soul, living or dead."
"And how long did it take you to get to Brew? You were at Anna Mae's right?"
"Yeah," she said, "but Anna Mae was in the ladies' room and I was watchin' the front for her. There were a coupla folks in there browsin' so she didn't want to leave them alone, but there'd been people in and out all day. She hadn’t had a chance to go since she got there."
"Yeah, but that's all of two minutes," I said.
She shook her head. "She had fast-food tacos and burritos the night before, and pizza with jalapenos for lunch before that. It was more like fifteen. Speakin' of," She pointed at the seven-eleven. "Stop and lemme get a taquito. I didn't have breakfast or lunch," she said.
I pulled into the lot and digested the new info while she ran in. It opened up a much bigger window than I'd originally thought for somebody to kill Katie and get away.
When she climbed back in, I continued as if we hadn't stopped. "So all in all, the store coulda been empty for twenty five minutes or so.”
"Sure, easy," she said, handing me a crispy roll-up filled with fake cheese and mystery meat. "The weird thing that I remember is that she was holdin' a bright-blue crocheted hat."
I took a sample bite then blew in and out, trying not to let the hot cheese-ish burn the buds off my tongue. "A crocheted hat?" I asked as soon as I could chew a couple times and swallow. "You mean like a beret?" When she nodded, I scrunched my forehead. "So what? It was probably hers. She was a bit of a diva. I could see her wearing something like that."
"Maybe, but why would she wear a blue hat and a pink scarf? I mean, I realize she wasn't the shiniest button in the box, but she did look at the pictures in every fashion magazine known to man."