Hoodoo Woman (Roxie Mathis Book 3)

by Sonya Clark

  Standing in the middle of the room, I moved the light over everything slowly, trying to find anything that jumped out as being out of place. I spotted an air vent high in the ceiling, one screw missing and a chair underneath. Someone had already beaten me to whatever Britney hid there but I was going to look anyway.

  Among the many things in my bag was a set of small screwdrivers. Finding one that fit, I made quick work of the other three screws. A pen was the only thing left behind.

  Why was Britney Parker hiding things in her own home? Most people hid cash, jewelry and valuables. Why a pen? What was taken before we got here, and by who? The most amazing sense of freedom in my life came when I first moved into my own place and didn’t need to hide stuff anymore. No more stashing magical supplies and romance novels under floorboards. No more labeling burnt CDs with the names of Christian groups when they were really blues or something my mother would find equally objectionable. In my own place, no one but me would be poking around. No one else had access.

  Which was the answer, of course. Had to be. Britney lived here but her family owned the building. What would she feel the need to hide from them?

  Daniel rushed into the bedroom. “We’re in a tight spot.”

  “What the hell?”

  “Somebody else is breaking in. Come on, we got to hide.” He pulled me into the closet, closing the door and grabbing my flashlight. The small space plunged into darkness.

  Chapter 19

  Heavy footsteps came from the front of the apartment. Hurried, frantic even. A man searching for something. A closet was a good place to look. I groped for my phone in the dark, texting Ray. By the dim light of the phone I could see Daniel’s face. He’d gone from goofy to dangerous in the space of a heartbeat. Less, as his heart did not beat. His fangs were out and I knew he’d use them if he felt like he had to. I’d rather he used his vampire compulsion, though. I placed a hand on his chest to get his attention, then made a downward calming motion.

  A crash came from the living room, followed by a man swearing. The clumsy burglar must have knocked something over. Daniel took a deep breath. The steps came closer, along with more awkward fumbling. What the hell was the guy doing? Light shone under the closet door. More swearing was followed by running water. Daniel leaned down to whisper in my ear. “He cut himself.”

  “You’re not allowed to eat him,” I whispered back. “Ray’s on his way.”

  A sudden pounding on the front door almost made me scream. I did jump, Daniel catching me.

  “Sheriff’s department, open up!” The door swung open, hinges creaking. More swearing came from the bathroom.

  Daniel leaned his forehead on my shoulder, giggling. “You ‘bout jumped out of your skin.”

  “Shut up.”

  I could hear Ray arguing with the burglar. Whoever it was, Ray knew the man and did not find him a threat. I pushed Daniel away, pressing my ear to the closet door in an attempt to hear better. The voices were too low. I opened my phone, shining the light in Daniel’s face. “What are they saying?”

  He waved a dismissive hand. “It’s some guy who had a fling with Britney a year or so ago. He’s checking for pictures or anything that can prove it, afraid his wife is about to find out. Step back, Ray’s about to open the door.”

  It was too late. The door opened and I fell against Ray. Warm, strong hands righted me quickly. “I’m gonna get him out of here then you two get gone.” He closed the door before I had a chance to say anything.

  I turned to find Daniel leering, eyes bugged and brows wagging. “Confess your sins.”

  “Only if you confess yours.”

  That wiped the smug grin off his face.

  Within minutes Ray had the other burglar escorted out, then we retraced our steps and hurried to the car. Once on the highway headed to the lake house I said, “We’re in a tight spot? Really?” I laughed.

  “We should break and enter more often. That was kinda fun.” Daniel hit the button to lower the window and hung his head out, singing at the top of his lungs. “I am a vam-pire of constant sorrow!”

  Somehow I managed not to go off the road despite how hard I was laughing.

  Home safe and sound, I lamented not having enough time to find something that might be useful in the séance.

  Daniel picked up the jacket he’d dropped on the back of the couch. “I almost forgot, I got these.” He withdrew a pair of CDs from the inside pocket.

  “What are they?”

  He flipped them over one by one to read the labels. “Pink. Uh. I think it’s supposed to be the word misunderstood but apparently spelling is a challenge.”

  “Geezer,” I said under my breath.

  Plastic clacked as he snapped the two CDs together. “I heard that!”

  “What’s the other one?”

  “It’s a mix labeled favorites. In gold marker.” He left the CDs on the table and started opening cabinets. “Want a drink?”

  “A cup of tea, if you don’t mind.”

  He turned on the kettle.

  “Why don’t you quit for the night and talk to me about something else.”

  We sat on the sofa and I waited for him to bring up whatever he wanted to talk about.

  It didn’t take long. “I heard from Blake.”

  “Yeah?” I sipped my tea, not sure what to think. “How is he?”

  Daniel gave me his bitch please face. “He’s convinced Stack is evil and you’re about to go dark side if you don’t banish him. I tried to talk sense to him but he wouldn’t listen.”

  “He called you? He’ll call you but I get emails.”

  “Look, I don’t want to meddle and I don’t want to tell you what to do. But I love you and I’m starting to get worried.”

  “Worried about what? Stack? Bubba, I told you.”

  He cut me off. “It’s not you I’m worried about. No, honey, I’m worried about Blake. I think this is a problem.”

  “Hell yeah, it’s a problem. I have to make him see Stack is not a threat. They need to meet again, this time with me there. I think that would help.”

  “That’s not going to help.” He paused for a moment, staring into his glass as if the words he wanted would float up out of the amber liquid. “I’ve seen vampires go through this. They pass through the initial blood lust, then things start to change. They start to remember what it was like to be human. To be mortal. To have a conscience. It’s a personal hell that’s different for everyone and you either go through it and come out the other side, or you get stuck. I came through it. I can’t say whether I came through it quite whole, but I came through and I can function and I can live with myself again. I’ve seen some get stuck and when that happens, Roxie.” He shook his head.

  “What?”

  “It does things to a person. The guilt. Having to face what you’re capable of.” He looked at me. “His aura’s black. You told me so.”

  “It was a starfield. It wasn’t totally black. It looks like, like outer space. Like astronomy pictures.” I tried to keep my tone light but a cold dread seeped into my bones.

  “There’s a whole lot of emptiness in space, honey. There’s a whole lot of emptiness in him he’s having to face.”

  “I should be with him.” Guilt of my own tugged at me. I’d been so busy figuring out how to work with Stack, building a new business and trying to fashion a new home, I hadn’t given much thought to what Blake needed.

  “You should be as far away from him as possible.” Daniel took my hand, his skin cool but not cold. That was the booze and the blood working in him, raising his temperature to something approaching normal. “This isn’t something anybody can help him through. He has to help himself.”

  “That hardly seems right. I’m his girlfriend.” I had an obligation to him, didn’t I? That’s how relationships worked. I didn’t want to screw this one up like I’d done so badly with…in the past. “We get this Britney Parker business wrapped up, I’m going to Blake.” I left the couch and headed for my room.


  “Then I’ll go with you.”

  I looked back, raising an eyebrow. He said, “There’s no sense arguing. I’ll stay out of the middle of things as long as he doesn’t cross a line but I’m gonna be close by, just in case.”

  “Blake is no danger to me, any more than Stack is.”

  “Blake has always been a danger to you, because you can’t see him for what he is.”

  “And what is he?”

  Daniel stood. “A sorcerer with a black hole where his heart and his conscience should be.” He drained the last of his drink as he walked to the kitchen.

  Saying nothing, I turned on my heel and went to my room. Daniel was wrong.

  He had to be wrong.

  Chapter 20

  Another request for a love spell. Except it’s not really a love spell they want, it’s a “make this person do what I want” spell. I said no. He called me witch bitch and went away angry. As long as he went away, I don’t care.

  Deputy Travis came into the steakhouse again tonight. Mindy says he always asks to be seated in my section. When she told me that last week I thought she was full of it but he was different tonight. The way he smiles at me is different from the way he smiles at other girls. I don’t know. I suck at this.

  I wish Miss Rozella was here so I could talk to her about it. God, I miss her so much.

  I closed the diary, swamped with memories. Going home late at night with my clothes and hair smelling of charred meat, working money spells to improve my tips because I wasn’t always the best waitress. I recalled a night not long after that entry was written where I deliberately spilled tea all over Ray. He still left me a huge tip. That’s when I really started to take his smiles and surreptitious looks seriously.

  Home back then was a small trailer not unlike what I lived in now, only a rental and older. I left my occult books out and stored herbs and roots for magical workings in the kitchen, reveling in the fact that I no longer had to hide anything. The first time I brought Ray home was a test, one he passed. He hadn’t been entirely comfortable learning the rumors about me had some basis in fact, but he handled it better than anyone else I’d met up to that point. He never judged me. He didn’t always understand me, but he never judged me.

  I tossed the diary back in the nightstand drawer, slamming it shut. There was work to do. I spent some time planning the séance. As the hours dragged on I became restless.

  Ray was off duty for the day. After a quick call, I left Daniel a note and drove out to Ray’s. We sat on his back deck in the afternoon sunlight.

  He surprised me by saying, “You’ve done some real good work in Nashville.”

  “Do I get a gold star?” I regretted the sarcasm instantly.

  He looked away briefly. “I wasn’t trying to sass you, I meant it as a compliment.”

  “Thank you.” I bit my lip. He’d never been one to give out compliments lightly. “I’m good at what I do.”

  “I know.” He sipped his beer. “That’s why I asked for your help.”

  I considered that for a moment. “Have you really been keeping tabs on me?”

  His mouth turned downward. “No. After we ran into each other last year I made a few inquiries.”

  “You made a few inquiries?”

  “Yes, Roxanne, I made a few discrete inquiries. I was curious how you were doing so I checked up on you.”

  At least he was honest. I decided to change the subject. “Who do you suppose went through Britney’s apartment?”

  Ray shrugged. “Her family, I guess. Far as I know they’d be the only ones with access.”

  “I think somebody in the family used their access even before she died. I found a nice little hiding spot, but someone had already cleared it out.” I considered my next words carefully. “The Parkers are powerful. Lot of money, lot of influence and connections.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying you live here. I don’t.”

  The pressure of his hand around mine answered before he spoke. “She asked for my help. She…she appeared in my kitchen and told me she was murdered in the best way she could manage. I took that as her asking for my help and I won’t back down. I aim to see this through to the end, no matter where it leads.” He leaned close. “Look, if you want to go home, that’s fine. You don’t live here, you don’t have to deal with this if you don’t want to.”

  I had a home to get back to, and a business, and a boyfriend who needed me. I should have said goodbye right then, gone back to the lake house and packed up. Called Blake and find out exactly where in Asheville he was staying, and hit the road. That’s what I should have done. So why didn’t I?

  Maybe for the same reason Ray couldn’t turn away. Someone had asked for my help. “You need somebody who can deal with ghosts. Besides, we haven’t tried the séance yet.”

  He squeezed my hand. “Thank you,” he whispered. “Thank you.” He released me, opening the notepad again. “I’m free tonight if you want to go ahead with the séance.”

  “You want to be there?”

  “Of course. Hell, I’ve seen her ghost twice now. I’m not scared.”

  I thought of all the books I’d seen in his home office the other day and decided to ask him about them. “I wound up reading the books you left behind. The ones you bought,” he added quickly. “I never read your diary.”

  “I know. I could tell the leather cord hadn’t been untied in years.”

  “I read those other books and I thought about some of the stuff you could do, some of the things you’d told me about. I guess I was just curious. I never meant to wind up with a bookcase full of them, it just kind of happened over time.”

  “If you’re keeping some kind of list, you can add séance to it tonight.”

  “When and where?” A veil of professionalism almost obscured his nervousness. If I hadn’t known him so well I would have missed it.

  As for a location, I’d been thinking a lot on that. Ray had already had me cleanse and ward his house against more spirit intrusion. Daniel and I did not want to open up the lake house to ghosts. We couldn’t risk another trip to Britney’s apartment. “Is the old Lawrence place still standing?”

  “Nah, it went down in a tornado a few years ago. The foundation and one wall is all that’s left.”

  “Nothing’s been built close enough to notice if we go out there to raise the dead?”

  “Still surrounded by pasture. All we’d be in danger of spooking is ourselves and some cows.”

  I grinned. “Sounds good. We’ll meet there after full dark. Hey, did you ever go talk to the coroner about his new houseboat?”

  His face darkened. “He threatened me with a harassment suit. I’d love to get a search warrant for his financials.”

  “I don’t know how to do anything legal like that. I’m better at the breaking and entering side of things.”

  “You always had a knack for things that are illegal.” He rose, heading back into the house. “And things that ought to be illegal.”

  I sat there, all out of snappy comebacks.

  Chapter 21

  A manila envelope waited for me in the mailbox of the lake house. No return address, my name and the lake house address written in careful block letters. Thanks to the Blythe Grapevine forum everyone knew right where to find me. Adding wards around the house was tricky though, with a vampire in residence. I’d developed a spell tailored to allow Daniel’s presence while blocking out other dangerous entities and unwanted visitors but it required a bit of blood from him. The mood he’d been in lately didn’t make me eager to ask so I’d just mention we needed to be careful.

  Ripped pages fell out of the envelope, hot pink filled with bold, looping handwriting in black ink. A shimmer of leftover energy radiated from the pages. This belonged to Britney Parker, whatever it was.

  It’s a girl. The doctor says it’s too early to tell but I know. I can feel her already. Not moving, of course, I’m only twelve weeks, but I can feel her presence
. Her energy. It’s like the light of a star is filling me, and all the darkness doesn’t matter anymore. The past doesn’t matter. All that matters is right now, and her future. Nothing can make me feel ashamed anymore. Nothing can make me hate myself anymore. Nothing can make me feel dirty anymore. Her light fills me and cleans all the dark, dirty things away. Her light makes me whole.

  My kid’s gonna be fucking perfect. Ha! But she will.

  None of the things that hurt me will touch her. None of the people. So I have to start figuring out what to do and make plans. Time to get the fuck out of Blythe and start over someplace new, just the two of us.

  I keep thinking of her as Star. If I name her that will she hate me for giving her a flaky hippie name? She can always change it. We can have a New Name Ceremony when she turns thirteen. She can pick a new name and we can have a big rite and celebrate!

  I couldn’t read anymore. Too much hope, on top of layers and layers of pain. I had to, though, so I forged ahead. The rest was similar in tone, Britney speculating about the future and what her daughter would be like. Nothing concrete, and nothing about who the father was. The clearest thing about it was her intention to leave town. She wanted away from her family. No, I couldn’t make the assumption it was her family who were the people who’d hurt her. It was likely, but I needed more than projecting my own shitty family life on hers to know for sure.

  A talk with Mackie Parker jumped higher up my “To Do” list.

  Whoever took items from Britney’s hiding spot in her apartment was the most likely person to have gotten hold of the diary these pages were obviously torn from. But why clear out potentially damning evidence only to share it anonymously? And how did they know who to share it with?

  I booted up the laptop and went straight to Blood Shots. Sure enough, there was a post about the ghost haunting Blythe.