by Renee George
I returned to the front door and took my phone from my bag. I opened it straight to my voicemail, clicked on the first of two messages, and put the cellphone to my ear.
"Hey, I got a lawyer, Loretta White, to take Buzz's case. She is driving from Cape Girardeau so she won't be able to meet him at the sheriff's station for an hour or so. A buddy of mine vouched for her. I'm sorry I can't--"
The message cut off. I clicked on the second one.
He spoke faster this time. "Hey, again. Anyhow, the Blakes called about Hester tonight. She'd started vomiting followed by tremors, and they said she started walking wobbly until she just flopped down. They are taking her over to Ryan's clinic, and I'm going to meet them there. I'm really sorry that I'm not home for you, but I know you understand. Love you, and I'll be home as soon as I can."
Veronica and Mick Blake were one of our best foster families. They'd taken Hester, a geriatric seventy-five-pound brindle, in a month ago. The elderly dogs were harder to get adopted, and we counted on people like Veronica and Mick to give them a loving home until we could find a permanent place for them. Ryan had given Hester a clean bill of health so I couldn't imagine what had happened for her to suddenly take ill.
I called him back, and he answered on the first ring. "Hi," he answered. "I'm sorry I'm not there."
"I'm glad you're with Hester. She needs you more than I do right now, and I'm sure Mick and Veronica are scared, too. How is Hester doing?"
"Ryan took some blood and hooked her up to an IV. He's doing a few tests, but he thinks she ingested some antifreeze."
"How?"
"The Blake's don't know. Mick says he doesn't have any at their house." I could hear the anger edging his tone. "Which means Hester was probably poisoned deliberately."
Elvis nudged his head up under my armpit as if he could sense the growing agitation in his master, even from miles away. I could hear Parker's breathing as I walked to the couch and sat down. I breathed with him. Elvis took up two of the cushions to the right of me with his massive size, and Smooshie squeezed in between the armrest and my leg on the remaining cushion. "I'm sorry, Parker. That's awful. Some people are really terrible. Does Ryan think she'll be okay?"
"He's optimistic, but it's a matter of wait and see."
"Like most things in life." I wedged the phone between my shoulder and ear to free up my hands to pet the dogs. "I miss you."
"I miss you, too." He sighed. "Keep the bed warm for me."
"You got it." When I hung up a cloud of stench surrounded me. I looked from one dog to the other, both of whom didn't acknowledge the stinky butt in the room. "Rude."
It was midnight when my phone lit up with a text. I'd fallen asleep on the couch, sandwiched between two furry heaters. It was from Nadine. Buzz has been arrested. Court at 9:00 a.m.
"Son of a witch's britches." I texted back. Are they holding him? What about bail?
He might not get bail based because of the seriousness of the crime. Lawyer is going to try.
I let out a frustrated growl, and both dogs got up and moved away from me. "I'm sorry," I told them. To Nadine, I texted, I'll be there.
I heard the key in the door before it opened. Parker pulled his wallet from his back pocket, set it down with his keys on the stand near the entrance.
I whistled to get his attention. His tired eyes brightened when he saw me.
"I was trying to be quiet. Didn't want to wake you," he said.
"It wasn't you," I told him. I held up my phone. "Nadine texted. Buzz has been officially charged."
"What does that mean for him?"
"It means Sheriff Avery isn't going to waste resources trying to find the real killer. He won't want anyone looking too hard in his family's direction."
Parker sat next to me and laced his fingers with mine. "Do you really think Theresa killed Jock?"
"I wouldn't think so, but people can surprise you." After all, my mom and dad had been killed by my best friend's mother. "I'd like to rule her out."
"Do you have class tomorrow?"
"No. I'm supposed to work at the animal clinic in the morning, but Buzz has court, so I'm going to call in." I hated to give up the money. Ryan paid me $15.25 an hour, almost double the minimum wage in Missouri, but I only worked on Wednesday mornings and Thursday afternoons for a total of eight hours. Parker could only afford to pay me minimum wage at $8.60 per hour, and I only worked twenty paid hours a week for him as an employee. The rest of the time at the shelter, I volunteered. The twenty hours was all Parker could afford and keep the place running, so I didn’t mind. I loved working with him to save as many Smooshies as we could. If only love could pay my bills. I sighed and rested my head on Parker's shoulder. "Do you think Theresa will come in tomorrow?" She worked most Wednesdays.
"I haven't heard from her. If she doesn't show up at seven, I'll call her. If she does come in, I'll go to court with you."
I squeezed his hand and inhaled his scent. "You always make me feel better."
He leaned his cheek against the top of my head. "I feel the same."
"Nadine and Buzz want to have a kid," I said.
Parker's heartbeat accelerated, and his chest rose once and held for a count of three seconds. "Really?" he finally asked.
"Yep."
"I thought that wasn't possible between, you know..."
"Shifters and humans?"
He rubbed his throat. "Yes, that."
"Buzz said a guy on the west coast managed to make it happen by suppressing his animal side until his swimmers--"
"Lost their tails?" Parker let out an unexpected snort.
I smacked him playfully. "That's not funny."
"It kind of is."
"It kind of is," I conceded. "But, yes, essentially, it caused a receding in our therianthrope DNA that allowed the guy to get his wife pregnant."
"How did he do it?"
"By not shifting for six months."
Parker leaned forward and rotated his hips to face me. "Isn't that dangerous? I know I don't know everything about your people, but I remember you telling me how the full moon is hard to walk away from. Could that have made Buzz...unsettled enough to kill Jock?"
"Honestly, it could. And he hasn't turned in four months, which has turned him into a powder keg. His whole life has been about restraint, yet, he’d punched Jock today in front of a diner full of lunch customers. But my witchy lie detector didn't ping at all when he told me he didn't kill the man. I know he's innocent."
"It doesn't ping with me. You told me that it's because we are mates and that supernatural bond doesn't allow you to use your magic on me. Do you think because you and Buzz are kin that it might not work on him."
I shook my head. "I've caught him in a fib or two. Believe me, it works."
"So, a kid, huh?"
"That's the goal, as long as he's not spending his life in prison or on the run."
“Do you want my opinion?”
“Sure.”
“I think Buzz needs to be honest with Nadine about who and what he is if he intends to have children with her. It’s not fair to Nadine, regardless of Buzz’s good intentions.”
“You’re right,” I agreed. However, I didn't want the conversation turning toward us and babies, so I leaned into Parker and kissed him. He met my lips with gentle enthusiasm.
"Is this your way of changing the conversation?"
I stared into his intense blue eyes. "Take me to bed, handsome."
He stood up and held out his hand. I took it. He helped me from the couch, then surprisingly caveman-like, he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. I let out a delighted laugh as he hastily made his way down the hall.
Chapter 9
"I think the entire town of Moonrise is sitting in this courtroom," I said to Nadine. We'd arrived early on Wednesday morning, but it was standing room only. I spotted Opal and Pearl Dixon sitting on the defense side, four rows back from where Buzz sat with his lawyer, a middle-aged blonde woman in a severe dark blue
dress suit. It had to be the criminal lawyer, Loretta White, from Cape Girardeau.
Opal saw me and waved. She scooted away from Pearl and indicated for Nadine and me to come sit by them.
"There," I said to Nadine, pointing in their direction. "The sisters have saved us seats."
Theresa had called off work early in the morning, which meant Parker had needed to stay at the rescue. Ryan calling us to say he wanted to keep an eye on Hester for a few days, but that she would make a full recovery was the one bright spot of the morning.
"What if the judge doesn't grant him bail?" Nadine asked. "What if Buzz has to stay in jail until the trial?"
"I wish I knew," I told her.
"Buzz is in trouble," Opal said. "Judge Robinson is a hard case. He's as close to a hanging judge you're going to get in these parts."
"How do you know this?" I asked.
"We like to come watch the criminal cases," Pearl answered. When I raised a brow at her, she added, "It's the only amusement I'm allowed these days."
"All right," I said. "So, tell me about this Judge."
"He rotates in every six weeks, and he rarely sets bail, and when he does, it's higher than most people can afford."
Buzz turned to look at me. "You doing okay?" I asked softly.
He nodded, but the darkness under his eyes told another story. He wouldn't survive prison. And with the full moon only four nights away, I wasn't sure if he could take another night in county lockup. "Hang in there."
His eyes pivoted to Nadine. The look he gave her, mate scent or no mate scent, said he loved Nadine Booth with every part of himself. I held her hand when her lower lip began to tremble. When she saw Sheriff Avery walk up the aisle, Nadine's back stiffened, and her face hardened. She stared straight ahead.
I, on the other hand, studied the room. Maybe the real killer had come to see his or her handiwork.
Freda and her daughter Lacy stood in the back. Lacy had reason to want Jock dead. He'd sexually harassed her when she was in his employ, and when she pushed back, he'd attacked her. Without her job at the law office, she'd had to move herself and her son into a smaller place. Still, murder seemed like a stretch. I didn't see Lacy as the revenge-type. Theresa sat with her mother, Anna Avery, across the aisle near the middle. Theresa's eyes were red. She'd cried. For Jock? I guessed it was possible, even after everything he'd put her through, that she might still love him. I shook my head. More likely, her pregnancy hormones were steering her mood. Still, I wouldn't completely rule her out.
An attractive dark-haired woman wearing a gray v-neck sweater blew her nose and pocketed the tissue. The question was, did she suffer from seasonal allergies, or was she upset? I'd gotten better at guessing human age, and I estimated she was in her thirties, mid to late. "Who is that?" I asked Nadine.
"I have no idea."
"That's Electa Laverty. She and Jock were doing the nasty flamingo." The veins bulged in Pearl's thin hands when she made a circle with her thumb and fingers of her left hand and poked the circle with her right index finger in a suggestive manner.
"Pearl!" Opal smacked her sister's hands down to her lap. "Stop that."
"Are you sure you didn't make up the rumor?" I asked, reminding her that I knew she was the poisoned pen who'd nearly sent me running from Moonrise before I'd even gotten settled.
Pearl grinned. "I saw them kissing in his car some months back. They were definitely doing it."
Electa’s name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place her face. Still, I added her to my list of suspects. Who else? I scanned the room again. The number of bodies packed in the court had increased the temperature in the room by ten degrees. I ran hot by virtue of my species, but the heat combined with the claustrophobia settling in was making it hard to concentrate. I settled on Sheriff Avery. He'd have heard about Buzz's dust-up with Jock yesterday. Maybe he'd used it as an opportunity to get rid of his no-good son-in-law. Maybe it had been an accident, a crime of opportunity. Still, stabbing Jock at one place then dumping his body somewhere else had been a risk. A calculated one. Someone smart like Sheriff Avery might have thought it was worth the chance to deflect blame. He could have disguised his voice and called Buzz about the break-in at the diner. All he'd have to do then is show up like he'd come to investigate the scene like everyone else.
"The call," I said aloud.
"What?" Nadine asked.
"Someone from the police called Buzz last night and sent him over to the diner. That person was probably the real killer. Did they confiscate his phone?"
Nadine nodded. "He told them in the interview about the call, but no one will tell me if the call exists or not. The sheriff has forbidden anyone from talking to me about Buzz’s case."
I glanced at Avery again. "Do you think someone at the station deleted the call?"
"No." She shook her head, then nodded. "I don't know. Maybe. If Buzz says he got a call, he got one. It should have been on his phone log."
I glanced around again. It was hard to see everyone, but there were a lot of faces I recognized, mostly as regulars at The Cat's Meow.
"Buzz has a lot of fans here," Opal said as if reading my mind. "No one wants to see him stitched up for this."
I smiled at the old woman. "Thanks."
"Outside each other," Pearl added, "Buzz is the closest thing we have to family. We don't want to see him done dirty. If you need anything at all. You tell us, and we'll do our best to help."
They both spent almost every afternoon at the diner. They saw who came and who went, and they were privy to private conversations because people tended to ignore the elderly. This made them huge assets in my book. I nodded to the sisters. "I'll take you up on that."
Opal flushed with pleasure, and Pearl smiled. We still had a few minutes before court started, so I stood up for a better look around. Addy Newton was there with his parents. Jordan Deeter and James Hanley were together against the wall under one of the large picture windows. So, maybe Addy had seen James's vehicle at the shelter two nights ago. I'd have to talk to Jordan about allowing unauthorized people in the kennel area.
"All rise," a bailiff called out.
Nadine and the Dixon sisters stood up next to me as everyone in the courtroom came to their feet.
"The Moonrise county court is now in session. The honorable Judge David Robinson presiding."
A silver-haired man, probably in his sixties and wearing a black robe, walked out of an adjacent room and strolled up the steps to his bench. His lips were thin and set in a grim line as he adjusted his glasses up his nose before saying, "Be seated."
We all sat. At least those of us with seats.
The judge took notice. "This is a courtroom of the law, not a party. Anyone standing with no official business here in the court needs to leave now."
A general rumble of complaints and outrage made its way through the crowd.
The judge banged his gavel. "Anyone still standing in this courtroom in thirty seconds will be arrested and held for not less than one night in the county jail for contempt. One. Two..." by the time he got to three people were running each other over to get out. I could see why Pearl had called him a hard case. I could also see why she and Opal enjoyed attending court during his rotation. However, having him as my uncle's judge made me anxious.
By the time the thirty seconds were up, the courtroom, emptied by half, had quieted exponentially.
The judge nodded his satisfaction. "Will the defendant please rise?"
My uncle and his lawyer stood up.
The judge read from a file. "Mr. Edward Mason, you have been charged with second-degree murder and fleeing the scene of a crime. How do you plea?'
"Not guilty, your honor," Buzz said.
The judge didn't even look up. "Recommendations?"
The prosecuting attorney, a pinched-looking bald man, said, "Due to the brutal nature of the crime, your honor, the county of Moonrise request bail be denied." He ended on a confident smile. And why not, he'd gotten the hangi
ng judge.
Even so, I wanted to wipe the confident, smug smile off his confident, stupid, smug face.
"Your honor," Ms. White protested. "Edward Mason is a pillar of this community. He owns his own business, is in a committed relationship, and he has family ties here in Moonrise. He has no criminal history. For heaven's sake, he's never even had a speeding ticket. There is no evidence he is a flight risk or a danger to this community, which are the only reasons to deny bail."
"I agree," the judge said.
"Thank you, your--" the prosecuting attorney's mouth dropped open. "Excuse me?"
"You heard me, Mr. Nichols," the judge said. "Ms. White has made a good case for bail, and I'm inclined to grant it." Ms. White looked nearly as surprised as Mr. Nichols.
Pearl nudged me with her elbow. "Me thinks somebody got laid last night."
My eyes widened as I shushed her. I scooted forward, Nadine chewed her thumbnail, and it felt as if the whole court was holding their breath while we waited for a number.
"I am setting bail in the amount of one-hundred thousand dollars. The trial is set six weeks from today. Mr. Mason, you are to stay in Moonrise for the duration of your pre-trial. You will not be allowed to possess any firearms during this time. If you fail to show up on your assigned court date, you will lose your bond money, and you will be held for the entirety of the trial until you are either cleared of the charges or convicted. Do I make myself clear."
Ms. White nudged my uncle. "Yes, your honor," Buzz replied.
It took every ounce of self-control not to jump up in the air and whoop. Nadine, who'd done a great job of holding it together, wasn't so restrained. She rose to her feet and gripped the back of the bench in front of us, her arms and legs shaking from the adrenaline that flooded her body. I got up to steady her. "He's coming home," I said gently. "Buzz is coming home."