My random thoughts were enough to draw Leo’s attention. His slow blink told me that I already had the answer, but I didn’t believe for a moment that Madam Rose really had the gift. I would have sensed it, and Leo would have, too.
“Liam was just telling the crowd that the game warden is confident the tracks weren’t left by a mountain lion,” I said, giving Madam Rose some gratification in her supposition. I got satisfaction from the fact that Eileen had just exited the bakery. The dispatcher didn’t even pause as she quickly gave us a wave and kept walking toward the police station. “It looks like the town is safe from predators, doesn’t it?”
Well, that was a bit passive-aggressive, don’t you think?
“We all know January is slow, so how about we schedule that meeting to go over the possibilities of a cross-promotion that I suggested earlier? I do think we can help one another.” Madam Rose waited expectantly for my response, not in the least bit disturbed that I’d figured out how she’d known that there wasn’t a mountain lion in our vicinity. “How does next Monday sound?”
There was no getting around this meeting, so I simply nodded my agreement. I don’t believe for a second that this woman meant any ill-will toward the residents, but I definitely had a problem with her claiming to be something that she wasn’t, especially when it involved the supernatural.
Either way, it was best to keep a close eye on her, and what better way than to at least discuss doing business with her?
I guess one could say that is a strategy. You should know that I tried it once with Skippy and his band of ninja squirrels. It didn’t go so well.
“Monday is good,” I responded with a small smile, catching sight of Leo batting the base of the statue. If there was a troll magically entombed inside, I could only imagine what he thought of all the knocking. “Let’s meet at the diner around eleven-thirty. We can enjoy lunch while talking over what we could do to increase some foot traffic into our shops.”
Just so you know, I’m busy on Monday. Naps and all things squirrelpocalypse are on the agenda. Can we just agree that a kilo of C4 would solve our current problem so that we can get back to our scheduled routines?
“Wonderful,” Madam Rose exclaimed with a bright smile. Even though it was cold out, her perfume broke through the freezing air and managed to engulf me as she began to walk past me. “I’m heading back to enjoy this delicious bear claw. I have a mind to steal the recipe when Bree isn’t looking, you know. Simply mouth-watering!”
Yeah, I’ve confirmed my suspicions, Raven. There is nothing inside the base of this statue. C4, it is! Of course, we could always decapitate the thing with a few wraps of det-cord, but I’d opt for the C4 and shatter this chunk of rock like a cheap porcelain vase.
“Leo, we aren’t blowing up Gary,” I muttered as I thought over our next move.
What do you have against explosives? I mean, the end result is messy, but I’m sure the lump of wax could be incentivized to be on the clean-up crew.
Our next move should be lunch. I hadn’t had anything to eat since meeting with Rye earlier this morning, and Madam Rose’s description of the sweet pastry had my stomach growling in protest. Asking Heidi to lunch was out of the question, because she’d texted that she had client meetings all day. I still hadn’t heard from my mother, so it looked like I was going to have to get take-out from the diner and take it over to the teashop. I could run all this past Beetle to get his two cents on the situation. There was a chance that he could know some interesting gothic legends concerning gargoyles.
The rumble of an engine had me looking over my shoulder. The day was finally looking up, because Rye was parking his truck against the curb. As long as he’d been able to locate the card that Bree got with her so-called gift, we could cast a spell and solve this mystery right away.
From the look on the cheating wizard’s face, it appears that we might be opting for that C4 option I keep mentioning.
“Rye, what’s wrong?” I’d waited to ask the question until he’d joined me on the sidewalk. He rubbed his hands together to keep warm, not having his gloves on him. “Could you not locate the card?”
“Oh, I found it alright,” Rye revealed with a frown before shoving his hands in his pockets. I kept expecting him to pull the card out, but he began to survey our surroundings in a cautious manner. I couldn’t help but tense in anticipation of an attack of some sort. “Bree had thrown it away at home, so I went to her house to fish it out of the garbage.”
That’s disgusting. I feel a hairball forming now.
“That’s great,” I exclaimed, shifting my stance when a gust of wind came out of nowhere and tried to knock me off my feet. “I’ll take it back to the cottage with me and see what I can find. Let’s hope we can figure out who sent it, and then ship it back to where it came from.”
You aren’t any fun, Raven. The C4 option would have been so much better.
“I wish I could give it to you,” Rye said cryptically as he shot a guarded glance over at the stone statue. The fact that he completely ignored Leo’s comment told me that I wasn’t going to like what was said next. “It caught fire.”
“What caught fire?”
“The card.”
“The card caught fire?”
“Yes.”
I tried really hard to comprehend what Rye was trying to tell me, but I couldn’t get my brain to accept the words.
“Let me get this straight—you are saying the card spontaneously combusted in your hand.”
“Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.”
I had a pretty good understanding of complicated spells, intricate potions, and complex hexes. I’d basically been immersed in them for the past two years. The only reason that a card would suddenly combust upon the touch of a wizard was if…oh, boy.
I couldn’t even bring myself to say the words aloud.
Then I’ll say it—this is the coven’s doing! We’re all going to be stampeded by a gaggle of gargoyles, Raven. We’re all going to die a horrible death!
Chapter Eight
“Where are you?”
About to board the gargoyle train to—
“I’m at the cottage,” I replied before Leo could finish his sentiment, shifting the phone so that it was more secure in between my shoulder and ear. “I didn’t get the chance to tell you that the game warden spiel was fantastic, by the way.”
All of my hard work on the squirrelpocalypse will be for naught. We’re all going to either be turned into toads or die. Two end results. Well, unless I can convince our local grim reaper that I’m the only one who can stop the squirrelpocalypse. That could work, Raven! I’m a genius!
“Are you suggesting that I lied to the residents when I said that a mountain lion wasn’t roaming the streets of Paramour Bay? I will have you know that it was the truth,” Liam revealed, though I could hear a smile in his voice. There weren’t any sounds coming from the background, so I could only assume that he was in his office. “I actually did speak with the game warden, gave a detailed description of the tracks that Monty and Mindy saw on the days that snow blanketed the sidewalks, and he confirmed that the depiction didn’t match that of a mountain lion.”
“And he offered up a raccoon instead?” I asked in bewilderment, waving my hand in the air to garner Rye’s attention. “I find that hard to believe.”
Rye shook his head at my offer of coffee as he went about using the dining room table as an altar. When casting spells or creating potions, I usually used the coffee table. Rye didn’t like the cramped space, so he’d pulled out one of the chairs and began to make himself a larger work area. There were numerous sized pestles and mortars spread about on the wooden surface, filled with ingredients and components, courtesy of Ted.
Well, he’s slacking on the job. I don’t see one kilo of C4 anywhere.
“Actually, the raccoon was my idea,” Liam disclosed with a small laugh. “I went out on a limb and figured the gargoyle doesn’t change size from the description that Mont
y had given regarding the tracks. If you take out the base, the statue of the creature itself is about the size of a large raccoon. I can’t even believe I’m suggesting that a stone statue could come to life and wreak havoc over our little town in the first place, but there you have it.”
“Trust me, I can’t either. I paid Harry a visit at the library.” I slid the glass carafe back onto the burner before picking up my coffee cup and leaning against the counter. It was probably best that I leave Rye alone while he set up his workspace. “He’d never heard of a gargoyle being part of the supernatural, as we know it.”
Seeing as I have witnessed that monstrosity move from time to time, I am here to tell you that thing isn’t just stone.
“I really want to believe Harry, but I saw the marks on that floor of the hardware store with my own eyes,” Liam said begrudgingly. “Those gouges weren’t caused by the wheels of a dolly for any safe. If those claw marks were any larger, I might be thinking it was more along Harry’s kind of size.”
Considering that the cottage was one level with a bedroom loft over the kitchen, privacy wasn’t a thing to be had at any given moment when there was a guest around. I’d come to find out something that might very well explain the gargoyle’s existence, but Rye was almost ready to cast a spell on the ashes that had been left over from the small note that Bree had received along with the so-called gift.
“I’ve got to run, but how about we meet at the diner for dinner?”
“Sure thing,” Liam said in agreement. He’d caught the message in my tone, though. “Everything okay?”
Did the good ol’ sheriff really ask that question? Having a stone monstrosity come to life is anything but okay. Hey, I just got another brilliant idea! We could sneak out tonight, snatch Gargoyle Gary from his post, and then lock him in the drunk tank at the police station. Seeing as the mayor hasn’t fixed the entire debacle with the security cameras being installed on River Bay, they’ll never know it was us!
“That’s a rather complicated question, but I’m going to say yes.” At least, I hoped that everything was going to be fine once I could convince Rye that we might need to call in reinforcements. “I’ll see you at the diner around six o’clock.”
You’re not going to mention my idea? It’s a solid option, Raven.
I finished my goodbye as I continued to monitor Rye’s movements. It was a wonder that the frown on his face hadn’t made permanent lines around his mouth, eyes, and forehead. As for Ted, he stood off to the side and watched Rye work in silence.
“Leo, we’re not stealing the statue from the bakery,” I informed him wryly after taking a sip of my coffee.
I’d mentioned before that Ted resembled Lurch from The Addams Family, but there was something very comforting in his presence. He was a gentleman all the way through and down to his suit, which was cut straight from the style of the 1800s.
“Ted, you mentioned that Agnus was confident that gargoyles didn’t have a place in the supernatural realm, but did she say anything else?” I asked, closing the distance from the kitchen over to the hearth in front of the living room furniture. As I’d stated, the cottage was an open layout. “Harry thought that the statue’s base might contain some supernatural being such as a troll, but Leo and I ruled that out. Mainly because he did witness the gargoyle go missing last night during River Bay’s blackout.”
“Ms. Agnus had no further insight on the subject.”
There was something about the way Ted had responded to my question that had me on edge, but that wasn’t unusual when having these types of discussions. His speech was stilted, and he was always very precise when answering questions.
“Did she say anything else?” I asked, prompting Ted to supply us with more of his conversation with our village druid. “About the gargoyle, that is.”
“No, Miss Raven.”
If you’d told me that you were going this route to gather intel, I would have chosen to take a nap. I could have gotten at least twenty-three minutes of solid sleep into my schedule between answers.
“Did Agnus mention anything else to you today?”
“Oh, yes.”
Now we’re getting somewhere.
“About Rye?”
“No.”
“Bree?”
“No, Miss Raven.”
Oy vey. I’m about to push the two of you out of the caboose. This gargoyle train isn’t slowing down, and we don’t have time for twenty questions.
“What was the topic of conversation with Agnus, Ted?”
“The dead.”
I’d believed that my question had been pretty definitive, and my inquiry had even caught Rye’s attention. He’d glanced Ted’s way in anticipation. Needless to say, his answer wasn’t exactly what we’d been expecting.
The dead?
What did that mean?
There’s a saying on the tip of my tongue that might benefit us here, Raven. Something about curiosity and cats.
“I’m sorry.” I left my warm spot by the fireplace and walked around the coffee table to close the distance between us. Even Leo leaned out of his cat bed and closer to the ledge of the bay window as we all waited for clarification. “In what context did Agnus use the word dead in her sentence?”
“The dead will rise.”
Leo’s front paws slipped and sent him promptly to the floor with a thud.
Rye blinked a few times, and the palm of my hand reacted for the first time in a month. Warmth invaded my sensitive skin. I gripped my coffee mug a little tighter to give me some semblance of continuity.
“Ted, this is very important,” I cautioned him as I leaned against one of the dining room chairs for support. Leo had decided to remain on the floor, and he even laid down and rolled onto his back with his paws up in the air. “Agnus specifically said the dead will rise?”
“Yes,” Ted replied with a frown, as if he couldn’t understand our concern.
There were a lot of alarming images and thoughts crisscrossing in my mind.
This is where we just give up, right? I mean, our best option might actually be allowing the squirrelpocalypse to happen. I’d like to see how the evil forces deal with that on their own.
“Not until the next All Hallows’ Eve, of course.”
Is that hope I hear?
Granted, I understood why Leo would pose that question. I mean, it was only January. October was over nine months away, but those four words had certainly put a damper on the moment.
You are the queen of understatement.
“I’d like to confirm something, Ted.” Rye took a step toward him and set his hand on the golem’s shoulder. The height difference was clearly six inches or so, but that didn’t stop Rye from confirming what we all needed to know about Agnus’ declaration. “Does the dead rising have anything to do with the statue that Bree received as a gift?”
“No,” Ted replied, lifting his own large hand and patting Rye awkwardly on the arm in reassurance. “Not at all.”
“Thank you,” Rye said almost desperately as he stepped back and began to focus on the altar in front of him. His sigh of relief was audible. “We’ll deal with the dead in October. Right now, we have a rampaging gargoyle to stop.”
And the cheating wizard is apparently the king of procrastination. We’re all doomed, aren’t we? Oh, and don’t forget that the dead will rise on Halloween, but we’ll get back to that later!
Chapter Nine
“Rye, slow down,” I replied softly, finding myself agreeing that we should postpone Agnus’ warning. “We need to talk about the coven’s possible involvement here.”
I could always stop by Agnus’ place on the outskirts of town to get some clarification on the dead will rise gambit. She had to have said it in jest. In the meantime, we really needed to address the elephant in the room.
I wouldn’t mind being stepped on right now by that elephant. It would be more preferrable than enduring this torturous afternoon. How can it only be three o’clock in the afternoon?
Okay. I’ll admit that I’m starting to feel bad for the cheating wizard, but no one can say that I didn’t try to warn all of you last week that we were about to be invaded by a gaggle of gargoyles.
“I will take my Justine with me.”
I waited to follow up with Rye about the coven until Ted had collected his black dress coat and bid us all goodbye. Once the front door was closed, I set my free hand on my hip in disbelief.
“Seriously? I can’t believe you can stand there with a straight face and tell me that the coven doesn’t know about your relationship with Bree. Mom’s wedding was last month. If you recall, Aunt Rowena made an appearance.”
Oh, I recall. I did my best to ignore her, but the purple hat that she was wearing was such an incredible eyesore.
“Then you would also recall that Bree was having electrical problems at the bakery, and she didn’t come to the reception until after the circuit breaker was fixed and Rowena had long since departed,” Rye pointed out, seemingly a little bit too confident that Aunt Rowena hadn’t caught onto the fact that he’d fallen for someone who didn’t have a magical bone in her body. “As I said, I never mentioned anything about Bree to anyone in the coven.”
Rye was an intelligent man. He understood that there were certain things that were hard for Aunt Rowena to accept, and him being with someone not capable of casting magic would have sent her into a tailspin. From what I understood, she still wanted complete control of the council. Any weakness in her eyes would be seen as a fault that needed to be dealt with immediately.
Stony Blend (A Paramour Bay Cozy Paranormal Mystery Book 16) Page 7
