by K E O'Connor
The door opened, and Axel walked in.
“Not him,” Wiggles said. “He is not a real man. Promise me you will never date Axel.”
Despite my glum mood, I had to smile. For some reason, Wiggles was not a fan of Axel. “He’s not so bad. Axel is kind of cute. And as Granny Dottie said, he has loads of money.”
Wiggles growled at me. “You date him, and I’m moving out.”
“I’ll help you pack your bag if you like.”
He turned his back on me and stalked out of the cafe. “Tell Brogan I’ll have my breakfast out here.”
I laughed as I watched him go.
Axel caught my eye and waved. He collected his order from the counter and wandered to my table. “How’s everything going?”
“No problems here.”
“I heard what happened to Serath and about the arrest Angel Force made. Did you have something to do with that?”
“Not really. I mean, I spoke with Angel Force. I’m not sure about Josh being Serath’s killer, but they’re convinced.”
Axel scrubbed a hand across his chin. “That is a weird one. I went to school with Josh, only pre-school, before the old man shipped me to a fancy boarding school. Josh is a decent guy. A bit of an oaf, but I wouldn’t have picked him for a killer. Why did he do it?”
“It’s a question to ask Angel Force. They’ve got him in custody, and no one else can get to him.”
“I guess they know what they’re doing,” Axel said.
“You’d think so, but I sometimes wonder.” Angels were beautiful and pulled off wearing white jeans like a super model, but their heads were full of fluffy clouds.
Brogan walked over with our food. He set mine down alongside the pancakes and looked around for Wiggles.
“He’s outside,” I said. “He’s in a bad mood.”
Axel grinned. “Let me guess. He doesn’t like the company you’re keeping?”
I shook my head as I speared a sausage. “Something like that. You’d better avoid him when you leave.”
“I’ll do my best not to annoy Wiggles any more than required.”
“Before you leave, have you seen Puddles’ nephew, Dewey, around this morning? She was freaking out earlier because he didn’t come home last night. Apparently, he met up with some girl. Puddles is hassling and wants to know where he is.”
“Haven’t seen him,” Axel said. “I’ll look out for him today. I wouldn’t mind a quiet word after his behavior in your bar.”
“That’s all sorted. No need to get all macho on my behalf.”
“Of course there is. We’re friends.”
“It doesn’t suit you.”
“What? Our friendship?”
“No, being macho.”
Axel chuckled. “You have a good point.”
“I’m sure it’s nothing, but you know what Puddles is like when she gets stressed.”
“Her face gets as pink as her hair sometimes is.” Axel grinned and left me to my enormous breakfast.
After twenty minutes of eating, I felt marginally better about being stood up by Rhett. Still, I did want to know where he was. Partly, it was a pride thing. He needed a damn good explanation for standing me up.
I dismissed the niggle at the back of my head. With Serath dead and Dewey now missing, I needed to reassure myself that everything was fine with Rhett.
If I discovered he’d slept in and forgotten we were meeting, he might also end up in a shallow grave, dug by me.
I paid for breakfast and collected Wiggles from outside the cafe, where he sat next to an empty plate.
“I hope you were nice to Axel when he left.”
“I barely noticed the guy,” Wiggles said. “Although, I did get an eye-watering whiff of cologne. That could have been him.”
“Axel’s not so bad.”
Wiggles cocked his head. “We both know the reason he’s so nice to you.”
“He’s a friend. That’s all. Someone who isn’t a friend right now is Rhett. Let’s head to his house and see what’s up with him.”
“You should cut the guy some slack. Rhett is busy leading the notorious Willow Tree Falls biker gang. That’s always going to give him a few headaches.”
“I’ll give him a few headaches if he’s forgotten we were supposed to meet.”
Rhett lived along a single-track road. His house was a converted warehouse, and he’d done all the work on it himself. I spotted several of his metal sculptures as I headed to the front door. As a sideline, Rhett sculpted incredible creations out of scrap metal. He even had one inside that was supposed to be me.
I hammered at his front door and waited. There were no sounds from the other side. I walked around the back of the house, but everything was locked and shut.
“He could have company,” Wiggles said.
Jealousy simmered inside me. “Are you suggesting Rhett forgot our date because of another woman?”
Wiggles raised a paw off the ground and whined. “Forget I said anything. Rhett would never cheat on you.”
“He’s welcome to cheat on me, since we’re not a couple.” After staring up at the windows for a few seconds and trying not to picture Rhett in bed with another woman, I turned on my heel. “Let’s try the forest. That was the last place we saw him.”
After hunting among the trees for an hour, I’d gotten no closer to figuring out where Rhett was. I’d even left a message on his snow globe asking him to contact me and tried not to sound too angry when I did it.
“Tempest!” I turned to see Adin Tombe, one of Rhett’s gang members, approach through the trees.
“Hey! I’m looking for Rhett,” I said.
“You’re not the only one.” Adin stopped in front of me. “We figured he was with you.”
“He was supposed to be this morning, but he didn’t show.”
Adin shook his head. “No, I mean we haven’t seen him since last night. Someone figured the two of you hooked up and went back to your place.”
I shook my head, my anger for Rhett shifting to concern. “There was no hooking up. He’s been gone the whole night?”
Adin nodded. “It’s not like Rhett to take off without telling anybody what he’s up to.”
“What is he up to? Is he doing private business he doesn’t want anyone to know about?”
Adin shrugged. “He always leaves a message with someone when he goes off just in case a deal goes bad. You definitely haven’t seen him?”
“No, we had plans to meet for breakfast and discuss how to help Josh, but Rhett never showed. Where have you looked for him?”
“Everywhere. We’ve been to the stone circle, the thermal spas, the caves, his house, all the local stores. No one’s seen him since yesterday.”
Unease ran through me. “Rhett has enemies. You don’t think someone’s gotten to him, do you?”
Adin snorted. “Rhett knows how to handle himself. If anyone jumped him, they’d be the one with a sore head. It’s weird. It’s so unlike him.”
“This is a dumb question, but you haven’t been in touch with Angel Force to see if they’ve heard anything, have you?”
Adin shook his head and frowned. “We’ll make contact as the last resort. We’re not keen on them poking around our business.”
“I’ll make contact. Maybe Rhett’s there supporting Josh. He’s keen to get him out. He could have put aside his dislike of the angels to speak with Josh.”
“I doubt it. But Josh is innocent. No one believes us, but he was with us the night of that guy’s murder. It couldn’t have been him. Besides, Josh is not into curses.”
I nodded. “Rhett mentioned what happened to his mom.”
“And Josh has never forgotten it. Even if someone rankled him until his last nerve snapped, he wouldn’t use a dark curse like that. He’d be happy to use his fists but nothing twisted like that Serath guy had inflicted on him.”
“I’ll head to Angel Force and see if they know anything about Rhett. I can also check in on Josh if you’d like.
”
“Thanks, Tempest. Let me know if you hear anything. We’ll keep looking.”
“This is strange,” I said to Wiggles as we walked away.
“Rhett could be sick. Maybe he’s at home but can’t get out of bed. He could be desperate for help, running a fever and too weak to move. He could be lying in a pool of his own—”
“Enough! I bet he’s fine and got a sniff of a deal and went after it.”
“What if he didn’t?”
I huffed out a breath. “If Rhett is still missing by the end of the day, I’ll get Dazielle to break into his place. And if she won’t, I will.”
I left Wiggles outside as I walked into the Angel Force headquarters. Sablo looked up from the desk.
“Have you seen anything of Rhett?” I asked her.
“He’s not been here,” Sablo said.
“Not once? Not even to visit Josh?”
Sablo checked the visitors’ log. “There’s no signature to show he’s been here.”
I tugged on the ends of my hair. Where was he? His top priority was helping Josh. Maybe he’d discovered a lead in Serath’s murder and had gone after it. But would he have done that without backup from his gang?
“Is Dazielle around?” I asked.
“She’s out back.”
“I need to see her. This has to do with Serath’s murder.” I wasn’t certain of it, but three missing guys was too much of a coincidence.
I only had to wait a minute before Dazielle sauntered through, an annoyingly smug look on her pretty face.
“Don’t tell me you’re here to defend Josh’s honor.”
“I will if I have to, but he’s a big boy. He can hang tight until his innocence is proven.”
Dazielle arched an eyebrow. “You seem very sure that Josh is innocent.”
“I am, but I’m not here about Josh. I’m worried about Rhett. He’s also gone missing.”
Dazielle pursed her lips. “How long has he been missing?”
“Nobody’s seen him since last night.”
“That’s hardly missing. All that suggests is he had too much to drink last night and is passed out somewhere. Have you tried his house?”
“Yes. We were supposed to meet this morning, and he didn’t show. He was the one who insisted on the meeting, so I was surprised when he didn’t put in an appearance.”
Dazielle grinned at me. “Are you nursing a bruised ego and want to make Rhett pay for standing you up?”
“If I wanted to do that, I wouldn’t come here looking for him. I’d sneak up behind him and slam him with a nasty spell.”
Dazielle tutted. “I shall pretend I didn’t hear that.”
I glowered at her. Dazielle was right. I had been angry with Rhett at first, but was beginning to worry, especially after discovering his gang was also trying to find him. “Can you spare a couple of your angels to help look for him?”
“No. Rhett is not missing.”
“This is not like him,” I said. “It’s like he’s vanished.”
“Tempest, Rhett is a full-grown man. He’s more than capable of looking after himself for twelve short hours. Until he’s been gone at least seventy-two hours, there’s nothing we can do. I said the same thing to Puddles.”
“Puddles is looking for Rhett?” This day was getting weirder by the minute.
“No, Puddles came in flapping because her nephew, Dewey, is missing. At least, he didn’t come home last night.”
“Oh, that’s right. I saw her this morning. She barged into my mom’s house, stressed out because he didn’t show for the meal she cooked him.”
“Maybe he went out with Rhett. Are they drinking buddies?”
“I can answer with surety that they are not drinking buddies.” I tapped my fingers on the desk. “Don’t you think it’s weird that Rhett and Dewey went missing on the same night?”
“If they had gone missing, or if someone had seen something dodgy going on that involved them, I’d agree. Just because they didn’t make it home last night doesn’t mean anything bad has happened.”
Something felt off here. First, Serath went missing and turned up dead, then Dewey vanished, and now Rhett. What was going on in Willow Tree Falls?
“You won’t help me find Rhett?”
“Come back in two days if he’s not made an appearance then we’ll talk,” Dazielle said.
“You’re not a tiny bit concerned, given that other people have gone missing?”
“One person went missing, and we found out what happened to him.”
“Yes, he’s dead! Murdered by a curse. And you haven’t found out who did it,” I said.
Dazielle sighed. “Josh is locked up tight in a cell. He’s not going to curse anybody else. And he’d never curse Rhett.”
“What if it wasn’t Josh? What if Dewey and Rhett have been taken by the same person who killed Serath?”
A flash of concern passed across Dazielle’s face before she shook her head. “No, Josh is the man we want. He did it. Just you wait. Rhett and Dewey will turn up full of apologies for worrying everyone.”
I turned and stomped away. I was getting nowhere, but Dazielle was wrong. Something odd was going on, and it was up to me to find out just how odd it really was.
Chapter 12
It was late in the day, and I’d spent the afternoon hunting for Rhett and had come up blank. He was nowhere to be found. The last time anyone had seen him was late last night. Since then, there’d been no sign of him. It was as if he’d vanished into thin air.
I’d also asked about Dewey and gotten the same response. Both men had been missing since yesterday.
“My paws hurt,” Wiggles said. “We’ve looked everywhere. We need a break.”
I let out a sigh. “I’m all out of ideas about what to do. Where are they hiding?”
“Maybe Dazielle is right and Rhett and Dewey will turn up this evening. You never know. They could have buddied up and headed out of Willow Tree Falls to have some fun.”
“Rhett wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t leave one of his gang members locked up and head off for fun with Dewey Lavern.”
“You’ll have to carry me.” Wiggles stopped and sat down. “I’m getting blisters.”
“You have paws. You don’t get blisters.”
“I had a pedicure last week. I haven’t got much rough skin on my feet.”
I eyed him with suspicion. “Please tell me that’s a joke.”
“A hellhound needs to be in top shape. You never know when an exciting opportunity with a cute furry butt and a winsome wag will pad your way.”
“Hellhounds do not get pedicures.”
He lifted a paw and whimpered. “My feet hurt.”
“I’m not carrying you.”
Wiggles lay down and rolled onto his back.
“Stop that. You’re making a scene.” I looked around as several amused looking people passed by and stared at Wiggles as he whimpered and thrashed around on the ground.
“I’ll report you to animal services for cruelty.”
“This isn’t cruel! You’re being a brat.”
“I’m your dog. You must help me.”
“You’re an embarrassment. You can walk. We’re just going to Cloven Hoof. I need to make sure everything is fine for tonight. Once we get there, you can have a rest.”
“I’m too weak to move.” Wiggles continued to roll around on his back and flail his legs in the air.
I walked away a few steps and looked back to see him staring sadly at me.
“You are unbelievable.” I walked back, rolled him over, and lifted him onto my shoulder, tucking my hand under his back legs so his front paws could hang over my back.
Wiggles licked my cheek. “I knew you loved me.”
I did, but Wiggles took advantage of that. I hefted him higher and strode to Cloven Hoof.
I pushed through the door and into the quiet of my bar.
“Yum! I smell sausages. Let me down.” Wiggles wriggled in my grip.
&n
bsp; “I thought your feet were too sore to walk.”
“I can make it to the kitchen. A sausage will help with the pain.” He wriggled again until I let him go, and he raced into the kitchen.
So much for having sore feet. I walked to the bar where Merrie, Izzie, and Blaze were working.
“Is everything good for tonight?” I eased myself onto the seat and gratefully accepted a lemon drop from Merrie.
“As always.”
“I don’t suppose Rhett’s surfaced while I’ve been away, did he? He should be looking shamefaced and embarrassed about standing me up this morning.”
Merrie pursed her lips. “Sorry, I’ve not seen him. What’s he up to?”
“It’s a question I’d love answered,” I said. “I checked everywhere.”
“Have you looked in the forest?” Suki asked as she emerged from the basement, ready for her duties on the door.
“I had a look around this morning. I ran into one of his gang members; that’s when I got worried. None of them have seen him since yesterday.”
“I can take you back there if you’d like,” Suki said. “I know the place like the back of my hand. There are lots of hiding places. I can show you. Rhett might be in one. His gang makes use of those places.”
“To do what?”
Suki shuffled her feet. “It’s best you don’t know. They never caused any bother and were always polite when they spotted me, so I left them to it.”
I nodded. I didn’t want to know how shady their behavior was. “We need to go before it gets dark.”
“We can go now,” Suki said. “I need to check in with Fallon, anyway.”
I nodded. Fallon was Suki’s new assistant, and she’d taken on the role of part-time Forest Guardian ever since Suki had started at Cloven Hoof.
“Hit me with one more lemon drop,” I said to Merrie. “And go drag my greedy dog from the kitchen before he eats the entire menu for tonight.”
Merrie laughed as she passed me a drink before heading to the kitchen.
Wiggles dashed out a moment later, munching on something stuffed between his jaws.
“Are you ready to keep hunting for Rhett?” I asked him.
