Fried Green Witch

by Amy Boyles

  His gaze flashed to Brock. “You’re the one who called me,” he said.

  Brock nodded. “Dexter Taylor, meet Roman Bane and Dylan Apel.”

  We made our introductions. When Dex met my gaze, he offered a friendly smile and said, “Don’t worry. I won’t bite.”

  I scoffed. “I’m not worried. I wasn’t worried. I mean, how could I be worried? These two beside me are dangerous—probably more so than if there were two of you.”

  Roman wrapped an arm around my waist and brushed his lips over my temple. “It’s okay. We’ll be fine.”

  Dexter, or Dex as he told us to call him, led us into a large office with a mahogany desk, a map of the world, and other knickknacks that made the room look worldly and tasteful.

  Dex sat down, swiveling back and forth as he studied us. “So, Brock. What’ve you got for me?”

  Brock cocked his head toward Roman. “My friend has a name of a person of interest we’d like to speak to, but knowing the dynamics of this town, I wanted to run it past you first. See if this was your territory.”

  Dex steepled his fingers to his nose. “Okay. What’s the name?”

  With hesitation Roman said, “Walter Scales.”

  Dex exhaled a breath. “Sure that’s the name?”

  Roman nodded. “That’s what I’ve got.”

  Dex drummed his fingers on the arm of the chair. “Walter Scales. You couldn’t come to me with a nice, little old lady, could you? Course not. That’d be too easy.”

  “So there’s something wrong with Walter, I take it,” I said.

  Everyone glanced at me, and for a moment I wished I’d kept my mouth shut. Clearly I’d asked probably the dumbest question of the century.

  “Walter Scales,” Dex started, “is believed to be involved in the black market. Now, since the supernatural community in Normal is new, most of the folks are good. But when good moves in, so does the bad, and Walter is undesirable, to say the least.”

  Roman crossed his arms. “What sort of trade is he involved with?”

  “Petty stuff mostly, from what I understand. But it was rumored that he did a little bit of magic selling—potions and the like—to people who don’t have magic. Nothing was ever proved, so no arrests were made. But since I moved into town, I’ve been keeping an eye on him.”

  Brock nestled down into his chair. “We’ve got an address. Can we speak to him?”

  Dex drummed his fingers on the armrest while swiveling side to side. “He might be dangerous. Hard to say. What’s the info you want out of him?”

  Roman thumbed his chin. “He was seen talking to the sister of recently deceased woman. That woman is married and very pregnant. Now, what would she be doing with a black market magic dealer?”

  Dex cocked his head. “Good point. What, indeed?” He sighed and scrubbed his hand down his face. “Okay. So you want permission to see him.”

  Brock nodded. “That’s a start. Will it be enough? Will he talk to us?”

  Dex barked a laugh. “Hard to say. If you need me to come, too, I can. Thing is, the guy’s not your typical supernatural…he’s a leprechaun.”

  I choked. I coughed into my hand to regain my composure, but I was pretty sure that my surprise was noticed by all.

  I tapped a fist to my chest. “A leprechaun? They exist?”

  Dex nodded. “Not common, but they exist, and that’s what Walter is. He can be a mean devil, and part of why he sells on the market is to increase his gold, or so I’m told.”

  I slapped my thighs. “Then seriously? What are we waiting for? As long as this guy doesn’t try to attack us like that movie Leprechaun, I’m pretty sure we’ll be okay. I mean, you’re a vampire and you didn’t try to suck my blood.”

  Dex offered a stiff smile. Oops, I guess I’d hurt his feelings. “There’s only one thing,” he said.

  “What’s that?” I said, chipper as a lark.

  “To see Walter, you have to give him something.”

  I shrugged. “What do I have to give him? I don’t have any gold in my pocket.”

  Roman grabbed my hand. “He’ll require something of us to see him. Leprechaun’s want you to give up something important.”

  I furrowed my brow. “Is this something physical or not? Like, if I’m going to have to give up my soul, you can forget it.”

  Dex shook his head. “Probably not your soul, just something important to you. Walter will pick it when you meet him.” Dex rose. “Everybody ready? I’ll go with you, make the proper introductions.”

  We rose. “Okay,” I said cheerfully, “let’s go meet a leprechaun.”

  EIGHT

  We reached an industrial steel corrugated building with bright spotlights blazing down on the parking lot. The surface had been hosed down recently. Shimmering pools of water speckled the landscape.

  I slid out of the SUV. “This looks intimidating,” I said.

  Roman sauntered up beside me. “It’s only a leprechaun. We should be fine.”

  A sinking feeling pitted my stomach. For some reason a cloud of black intuition filled my head. I sensed something bad would happen; I just didn’t know what.

  Brock strode up, his hands on his hips. “Y’all ready?”

  “Aren’t we waiting on Dex?”

  Dex showed up at that moment. “Here I am,” he said, flashing a devilish smile. “Let’s go.”

  I craned my neck to see what he’d driven, but I saw nothing.

  “I ran. I’m a vampire. I can go twice as fast as a car,” he said.

  Impressive.

  I huddled beside Roman as we crossed the starkly lit lot to the building. Dex waved a hand over a sliding metal door. The structure clanked and rattled as it slid on wheels, opening the building to us.

  Caged single-bulb lamps dotted the ceiling. The place was an open warehouse, with rows of expensive cars parked inside. Four walls had been erected in the front, and a yellow light glowed from within.

  “He’s got quite a collection of cars,” I murmured.

  “Pretty sure they’re stolen,” Roman said. “But right now I’ve got other things to worry about than hot vehicles.”

  Dex led us to the door. He rapped his knuckles lightly until a voice quietly said, “Come in.”

  The door swung wide. Cigarette smoke filtered out into the building. I stifled the urge to cough and followed the men inside.

  Walter Scales, the leprechaun, as Dex had informed us, sat in small office chair in a dimly lit room. He had red hair, sprouts of a beard threatening to emerge on his chin, a sharply pointed nose and piercing emerald eyes that sparkled with intelligence. He wore a beige suite that was wrinkled around the calves, shiny new sneakers, and a boutonniere made up of a sprig of greenery.

  He was, in fact, the man I’d seen with Daisy earlier that evening.

  He took a long drag of his smoke and then jammed it into an ashtray. “I don’t think it’s polite to smoke around ladies and children. Something my father always said.” There was a slight accent to his voice, as if he’d been born overseas.

  Dex stood off to the side. He watched Walter casually, waiting for something.

  “You wanted to see me, Dex,” Walter said.

  I assumed the mayor of supernatural town had been biding his patience for exactly that.

  “A woman was murdered today,” Dex said.

  Walter leaned back in the chair and motioned for all of us to take a seat. He folded his hands in his lap and waited until we were each settled comfortably.

  Actually I was sitting on an aluminum chair. It was cold and hard, so comfort was something hard to achieve at that moment.

  “I heard about the woman. Didn’t see it. I tend to sleep during the day. But I heard it was quite the spectacle.”

  “It was murder, Walter,” Dex nearly growled.

  Walter placed a hand over his heart. “And I’m deeply sorry for that, but I didn’t know her.”

  “You know her sister,” Roman said tersely.

  Walter’s eyebrow
s rose to points. “Yes. I suppose I do.” He flashed a look to Dex. “Am I guilty by association?”

  “Her sister hasn’t been arrested,” Dex said.

  “So she hasn’t,” Walter mused. “Listen, are we going to play verbal roulette all night, or are you kindly gentlemen going to tell me what this is about?”

  Dex shot Roman a look that I interpreted to mean, let me handle this. “You were seen with the girl’s sister tonight.”

  Walter nodded. “Had dinner with a grieving woman.”

  “Care to tell us what it was about?” Dex said.

  Walter rubbed his eyes. “Why should I?”

  Roman adjusted in his seat. “Because my guess is almost every car in this place is hot. I’m a cop.”

  Walters smiled. “Fine. Then. Yes, I had dinner with Daisy.”

  “Without her husband,” I said.

  Walter’s eyes flicked to me and settled there. An uncomfortable creepiness edged up the back of my spine. I glanced away, feeling small and, quite frankly, wanting to disappear.

  “Without her husband, yes,” Walter said. “We had business to discuss.”

  “What was it?” Dex said.

  Walter shrugged. “She’d hired my talents to do a certain thing. We were discussing payment.”

  “What certain thing?” Roman said.

  “If you’re asking if it was murder, it wasn’t. She’d been wishing for a child, and I made that happen.”

  “You’re saying you’re the one who made her pregnant?” Roman said.

  Walter nodded. “Helped her with the wish.”

  “And?” Dex said. “That was something you had to discuss the day she lost her sister?”

  Walter shrugged. “Daisy wanted the appointment. It wasn’t up to me.”

  Dex shook his head. “You need to be straight with us, Walter. Now. Before I get a lot of heat on your head.”

  “I need payment,” Walter said. His eyes flashed around the room until they landed on my hand. I quickly covered my engagement ring. His gaze then flickered to my throat. “That necklace.”

  I quickly clutched the heart necklace that Roman had given me. “You can’t have this.”

  Walter smiled. “That’s the price. Go ahead and tell the cops about the shop. I’ll be gone before they arrive.”

  Roman touched my knee. “It’s okay.”

  Which I took to mean I could give Walter the necklace.

  I suddenly felt the weight of the entire investigation on me. Sera had to be released from jail. I mean, she probably would be anyway, right? But what if she wasn’t? What if the information that Walter had could save her? Free her?

  It was a risk I had to take. I gave Roman a feeble smile, closed my eyes and unclasped the necklace. “Here.”

  Roman took it from me. Surely he would understand. He palmed it for a moment and said, “I will get that back.”

  Walter smiled. “We’ll see.”

  Roman handed it to him. Walter felt its weight and examined the gold before slipping it in his pocket.

  My stomach twisted. Giving him my necklace was a small price to pay for Sera’s innocence. Or was it? Would Roman be angry that I’d handed it over? Gosh, I hoped not.

  “Tell us,” I growled. “What did you have to do with the pregnancy?”

  “Daisy made a wish; I granted it. That’s it. But lately she’s been having some complications, I suppose you could say.”

  “Is that why her husband wasn’t with you?” I said. Basically I felt like I had more than a right to ask as many questions as I wanted. I had paid the price to this leprechaun.

  “Her husband wasn’t with us for another reason,” Walter said.

  “What’s that?” I said.

  “Because he knows the truth of the matter,” Walter said.

  “Will you just tell us,” Roman snapped. “Stop dancing around the words.”

  “Why? It’s so much more fun this way,” Walter said. We shot him a collective glare. “All right, let me start at the beginning.”

  “Sounds like the first route you should’ve taken,” Dex said.

  Walter grinned. “Daisy came to me wanting to become pregnant. I was happy to help her however I could.”

  “For a price,” Brock said.

  Walter nodded. “A price she paid, but the payoff was a child growing in her womb. As far as I knew, everything was fine, but then Daisy came to me again. Apparently the spell didn’t take. Either that or someone performed a counterspell, destroying what we’d done.”

  Here Walter stopped.

  “What do you mean, the pregnancy didn’t take?” I said.

  Walter’s mouth coiled into a hideous smile. “Can’t you guess?” he said.

  I shook my head. “No. Of course not.”

  Walter scratched the sprouting hairs on his chin. “Daisy’s growing as if she’s pregnant, and even doctors believe she is, as it appears there’s a child in her womb, but there really isn’t.”

  “She’s not?” Roman said.

  Walter sighed. “No. She’s not. Never has been, but by the time she figured that out, she’d already told everyone. Plus, she keeps growing as if she really is about to deliver a baby any day now.”

  Hence, the opened bottle of wine she’d been drinking. Daisy wasn’t pregnant and never had been.

  I frowned. “But why did she go through with the baby shower? Why is she letting everyone believe she’s pregnant?”

  Walter shrugged. “Not everyone. Her husband knows the truth.”

  “Maybe Maisie did, too,” I whispered.

  They all looked at me. I shrugged. “I don’t know. Just a thought.”

  Walter leaned back. “Now, if that’s all you need from me, I would like for you to leave. I’ve answered your questions and been more than accommodating—short of offering you cold coffee, that is.”

  We left the office and walked back to the cars. I threaded my fingers through Roman’s. “I’m sorry about the necklace.”

  He stopped, turned me to face him. His eyes held a seriousness I was familiar with, but at the same time didn’t see that often.

  “Darlin’, that is metal. It isn’t flesh and blood. Metal can be bought and sold, traded and given away, but flesh should never be. I would give all the diamonds in the world or all the stars in the sky if that’s what was required to keep you safe. I can buy you another necklace.”

  Tears pricked my eyes. I nodded, unable to say anything. I swiped a finger out from under my lashes and stifled a sniffle.

  Dex strode up to us. “I don’t know if that gives you what you need, but at least it’s a start.”

  Roman nodded. “We need to find the husband, see what he has to say. I’ve got a feeling he’s gone for a reason.”

  Brock stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets. “I think you just might be right. But it’s getting late, and I have no idea where we can find him, or even what his name is.”

  Dex ran a finger down his jaw. “I’ll take a look in my registry. I keep one on all the supernaturals. I’ll go home, check it out and get back to you.”

  Brock and Roman shook Dex’s hand. “Thanks for all your help,” Roman said.

  “Don’t mention it,” Dex said. “We’re all in this supernatural world together. We’ve got to help each other.”

  He left, and Brock walked over to his car. “I’m going back to the police station to wait. Sera may not want to talk to me, but at least I can be close if she needs me.”

  My heart broke a little at the pain in Brock’s voice. I had no idea what they were in an argument about, but it wasn’t like Sera to be angry at someone for a long time. She wasn’t the sort to hold grudges, so the entire scenario confused me.

  When he was gone, I turned to Roman. “What do you want to do?”

  “Get a hotel room, take a shower and get some sleep.”

  “We could,” I said, wrapping both hands around his waist. “Or…”

  He groaned. “Or what?”

  “Or,” I said slowly,
“we could go back to Daisy’s house and find out about her husband.”

  Roman rolled his eyes. “She’s probably asleep.”

  I gave him a broad smile. “Exactly. She’ll be asleep and we can snoop.”

  He shook his head. “That’s illegal.”

  “So’s murder,” I said.

  “What if she wakes up?” he said.

  I shook my head. “I’ll put a sleep spell on her, and I’ll continually feel around to see if she’s waking up or can sense what I’m doing.”

  Roman thumbed my chin, tilting it up until he met my gaze. “This sounds like a heap of trouble.”

  I hugged him tighter. “But isn’t this why you love me?”

  “Because you’re a troublemaker? Sometimes.”

  “Come on, I want Sera’s name completely cleared from any wrongdoing. Will you help me?” I snuggled closer to him. “Please?”

  He shrugged. “Why not? Let’s go do a little breaking and entering.”

  NINE

  Darkness shrouded Daisy’s house.

  “Why do you think she lied about the pregnancy?” I said.

  “Pride,” Roman answered. “Why not come clean? Maybe she was too far along, maybe she wanted so desperately to be pregnant that the idea she wasn’t devastated her. No telling.”

  I tapped my teeth. “According to Walter, someone could have performed a counterspell to the pregnancy wish—who was it?”

  Roman shot me an amused smile. “I know who you think it was. That’s not necessarily the case, though.”

  “We haven’t even checked Maisie’s house,” I said. “Maybe she was delving into counterspells or dark arts or something.”

  Roman nodded. “Let’s find out the husband’s name, and we can hit Maisie’s house, too. I’m sure Daisy has it somewhere in her house.” He rubbed his thighs. “Before I change my mind about this, are you ready to break the law?”

  I batted my lashes at him. “You’re so sweet to do this with me.”

  “More like stupid,” he said. “Do the magic and let’s go.”

  I closed my eyes and focused on putting Daisy and anyone else who might be in the home into a deep, deep sleep. Magic pricked my core, and a moment later I felt it bubble from me and enclose the house.