Perilous Paws (Kitten Witch Cozy Mystery Book 8)

by Corrine Winters

  “No, it wasn’t Bobby Joe McIntyre. It was Hanky Bob Stubbs. And we didn’t use sling shots, we used BB guns.”

  “Because of course you did,” Ember said with a chuckle. “Anyway, you were saying? Mrs. Hickenbottom bought the bread store, and…?”

  Cedric frowned, his eyes swimming with confusion. “What now? Oh, right. So Mrs. Hickenbottom bought the building and donated it to the city. They in turn donated it to Libby Sanchez, who operated a donut shop out of there called—”

  “The Old Bread Store,” Ember said. “So, who owns it now?”

  “Well, Libby passed on a few years back, which is when the donut shop shut down. Most folks assumed it reverted back to the city’s ownership, but it turns out Libby had a boyfriend she bequeathed the building to upon her death.”

  “And this boyfriend is the owner? Is he still alive?”

  “He is. We’re heading to his place right now.”

  Ember sighed. “Why do I get the feeling I’m going to regret tagging along for this one?”

  They pulled up outside of a run-down gas station. A young man with dark skin and an easy smile rushed outside. “Our pay at the pump is down, but I can help you inside at the counter.”

  Cedric grinned. “I’ll be in there in a minute. Is your fountain soda machine working?”

  “Yes, we just got the repair man out here last week.”

  “Splendid. I got a hankering for a pink lemonade on this hot, hot day.”

  “Pink Lemonade? That what they feed you pigs to make the bacon they sizzle off your behind taste better?”

  Ember and Cedric turned their gazes on the speaker, a venerable man sitting in a lawn chair, shaded by the gas station’s looming shape. He gripped a thin white cane in his gnarled, wizened fingers. A pair of dark glasses perched upon his wide nose. He grinned at them as they approached.

  “How’s it going, Sheriff? Suu-eeee I smell a piggie.”

  Ember was aghast. “You’re just going to let him talk to you like that?”

  The man’s brows came low over his glasses. “He ain’t going to do squat about it. I done got beat about the head so much by the dang po pos trying to vote in sixty-two that I went blind. Cops don’t scare me none.”

  Cedric rolled his eyes. “The story of how you lost your sight changes every week. Listen, Chitlin, I need to talk to you about that store you own.”

  “The bread stores?” Chitlin leaned back in his chair and guffawed. “Done forgot all about that place. What, some local kids finally burn it down or something?”

  “Did you rent it out recently?”

  “Yeah, so? It’s my building.”

  “The people you rented it to may not have been the most reputable. What can you tell me about them?”

  “Not a dang thing.” Chitlin laughed uproariously, slapping his knee. “Not a dang thing.”

  “Chitlin, you must know something. Didn’t they fill out some paperwork or something?”

  “Nah., I did all that nonsense over the web. Worked through an online property management company.”

  Cedric scratched the back of his head, a puzzled frown wrinkling his features. Ember arched a brow at Chitlin.

  “Wait, how did you set up the internet account when you’re blind?”

  “Well, you see, after so many years of being blind, my fingertips have become so sensitive I can read the screen just by touching it.”

  Ember gaped. “Really?”

  Chitlin burst into laughter. “Naw, not really! Ha! I wish I could see your face right now. My grandson did all the dirty details for me. I probably done drank up the profits by now.”

  Cedric sighed. “Thanks for your time.”

  Chitlin’s grandson turned out to be a lot easier to deal with. He readily guided them to the website he used to set up the temporary lease with Manpower Etc.

  “They used Paypal to deposit the funds the first week, right on time. Then we stopped hearing from them. I went to the old bread store to change the locks and found it deserted.”

  “Thanks for your help, son,” Cedric said. He and Ember piled back into the car. “We’ll head back to the station and check on this Manpower Etc. company. They have to have offices somewhere.”

  Ember sighed. “So far, it’s looking like our best suspect in the murder case…is the subject of our missing persons case.”

  Cedric put his hand on Ember’s shoulder and gave it a brief squeeze before starting the car. Ember wondered if she would ever catch up to Ash.

  And what she would say if she finally did.

  Nineteen

  Deputy Smothers wasn’t the bravest of Cedric’s deputies. Or the fastest. Or even the smartest, really. He’d been the victim of his brother-in-law's snipe hunt some years back, so he wasn’t a brilliant man.

  What Deputy Smothers excelled at was computers. Not hacking them or anything truly illegal—or useful—or being anything more than a skilled hobbyist. Ember once assessed Smothers’ computer skills as roughly equal with a contemporary middle-schooler’s level. Cedric had laughed and failed to disagree.

  Still, they were reasonably confident when Smothers told them Manpower didn’t have a physical base of operations that he spoke the truth.

  “These days, you can list an address as a locker in a bus station,” Smothers said, his wide, freckled face peeled back in a smile. His bulk sagged over a beleaguered rolling stool, to which he put the squealing test as he rolled across the office floor to his second monitor set up.

  “See?” Smothers tapped the screen with a pencil, sending little distortions through the screen. “The guy who formed Manpower Etc, he listed his address as being a hotel room in Borneo.”

  “He ran it out of a hotel in Borneo?”

  “Maybe,” Smothers shrugged. “Though I think it’s far more likely he never even stayed in that hotel. Maybe never even been to Borneo.”

  Smothers rolled back to his original computer. Ember feared his stool would give out at any moment, but the stalwart furnishing continued its duty without collapse.

  “Then he has the funds go through a paypal account, which he cashes out into a Swiss savings account, which he then converts to bitcoin, at which the funds become virtually untraceable.”

  “What’s your point, Smothers?” Cedric asked, stroking his chin as confusion reigned on his face.

  “My point is, this guy covered his tracks very, very well for a temp agency what served one meal, and one meal only.” Smothers looked up at Cedric with more than a little fear in his gaze. “These people are professionals, Sheriff. International criminal cartel kind of professional.”

  “Are you afraid, Deputy Smothers?” Cedric asked.

  “Not really, given everything else that goes on in this town. My cousin swears he saw a house on chicken legs when he went quail hunting a while back.”

  Ember and Cedric exchanged a look. Cedric cleared his throat. “About this alleged person or persons behind the Manpower Etc. agency…what are the chances we could lay hands on them?”

  Smothers heaved a heavy sigh, then pushed his glasses up on his nose. “Slim to none, Sheriff. I wish I had better news. They used an Onion router and hid their location every step of the way. We’d need the cooperation of dozens of national and international agencies just to figure out half of it.”

  “I guess we’ll have to solve this case with good old fashioned detective work instead of fancy computers, Deputy Smothers.” Cedric patted him on the shoulder. “Still, nice work. I appreciate it.”

  “No problem, Sheriff. I’m glad to actually be of use for once.”

  Cedric nodded. “You ever hear of the Sons of the Wheel, Smothers?”

  “Yeah, I think so.” His face scrunched up in thought. “Street racing’s not really my thing, but everybody’s heard about the Sons. They manage to keep their gatherings secret from law enforcement.”

  Cedric chuckled. “Usually, that’s true. They do try to keep their gatherings secret from law enforcement.”

  Smother
s’ mouth gaped open. “You know when they’re racing?”

  Cedric cocked an eyebrow. “I can’t comment on an ongoing investigation.”

  “Oh, of course not,” Smothers said, his eyes downcast. Ember chuckled.

  “What happened to not caring about the Sons of the Wheel, Clint?” Ember asked.

  “Well, I didn’t say I don’t care about them, just that street racing wasn’t my thing.”

  Cedric chuckled. “Thanks for checking this out for me, Deputy. I’ll buy you lunch some time. Keep up the good work.”

  “Yes sir, Sheriff, sir,” Smothers said. Ember and Cedric headed outside, the heat hitting them like a solid wall.

  “Phew. Never thought I’d appreciate air conditioning so much.”

  “It’s a hot one all right,” Cedric said, mopping his brow. “Hotter than a flapjack fresh off the griddle.”

  “What can we do now?” Ember shielded her eyes from the bright sun with her hand as they walked out to the squad car. “Manpower might as well be untouchable. The only one with a clue as to who they might be is my sister Ash, who’s missing—and might even be complicit in the crime.”

  Ember hid her face in her hands as Cedric turned over the engine.

  “I just want to talk to Ash so much. I need to talk to her so much, it’s driving me crazy! I can’t just sit around doing nothing while we hope the truth stumbles and falls into our lap.”

  “Well, we don’t have to. It sounds to me like our best lead on Manpower is Ash, and our best lead on Ash happens to be the medallion for the Sons of the Wheel races.”

  Ember’s eyes went wide. “Are you suggesting we try to bust them? We’ll be sorely outnumbered.”

  “No, I think we need to go incognito,” Cedric said, cocking an eyebrow and a lopsided grin her way. “No one needs to know I’m the Sheriff, and nobody needs to know you’re a witch.”

  “The only way they’d come close to accepting us into their world is if we had—what did Smothers call it last week? A sweet whip? Whatever the kids are calling a flashy street racing hot rod these days.”

  Cedric grinned. “Great idea, Ember. We need a hot rod.”

  “We do?”

  “Yes. And I know just the guy to see about getting one.”

  Twenty

  The sun sat fat and red on the horizon, squatting like a hungry spider along the road as they sped away from town. Ember glanced over at Cedric. He spread his lips wide in a wolfish grin.

  “So, you’re sure this friend of yours—I’m sorry, what was his name again?”

  “Hanky-Bob,” Cedric said.

  “Right, Hanky-Bob,” Ember replied, struggling to keep her growing impatience out of her tone. “He’s a moonshiner?”

  “Yes, that he is. A darn good one, too.”

  Ember ran a hand down her face. “Look, Cedric, I’m trying to be patient here, I really am, but you’re the Sheriff.”

  “Yes?” Cedric said, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

  “And he’s a moonshiner!” Ember said in exasperation.

  “Yes, I don’t see your point.”

  Ember buried her face in her hands. “He’s a criminal. You’re the police. You can’t be friends with a criminal.”

  “Well, thing is, Hanky Bob’s place is right over the county line, in Buford Mussels. That puts him out of my jurisdiction, technically.”

  “But he’s breaking the law. Aren’t you violating some oath or something?”

  “Ember, the main Oath I remember taking was to protect and serve. Hanky Bob has never and will never hurt anyone—unless they drink too much of his green apple pie shine.”

  “Green apple pie?” Ember’s eyes narrowed. “Wait a minute. You get me a jar of apple pie whiskey for Christmas every year and said it was from your Grandpa.”

  Cedric’s brow broke out in a sheen of sweat. “Ah. Well, it probably comes from Hanky Bob, as I don’t have any memory of getting shine from my gramps.”

  “Swell.” Ember leaned her head against the cool glass of the cruiser and sighed. “I wonder how many other things my husband has been hiding from me?”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Please, Cedric, for the love of all that’s decent, stop apologizing. It doesn’t help, and in fact kind of makes things worse, all right? So stop.”

  Cedric sighed. “Okay.”

  They drove for a time in silence. Cedric glanced over at her, his eyes swimming with an intense yet inscrutable light.

  “Hey, can I ask you a question?”

  Ember took a long moment before answering in a tight voice. “Sure.”

  “When I had my memories, did I tell you that you’re beautiful? Because you are.”

  Ember closed her eyes, a smile on her face but a sob in her heart. “Sometimes you told me that. I never got tired of hearing you say it.”

  “Listen, Ember.” Cedric said, clearing his throat. “I don’t know when, or even if, I’ll be getting my memories back, but you and me really seem to—”

  “Cedric, look out!” Ember grabbed the wheel and jerked it to the right. Cedric screamed as they careened around a huge alligator which had heaved itself onto the packed dirt road to absorb the dying sunlight.

  Cedric fishtailed the old crown Victoria all over the road until he regained control. Ember stared back at the giant beast, whistling at how close their tire tracks came to hitting it.

  “Man, that was close. Gators are bad this year.”

  “It’s their domain, Cedric. We’re the invaders.”

  “True enough.” Cedric’s eyes widened. “Here we are. This is Hanky Bob’s place.”

  Cedric slowed to a crawl as they approached a crossroad. The one lane gravel road had a patch of green separating the two rocky halves. Weeds had grown up here and there, flattened by the recent passage of cars. A rusted metal signpost designated it Hanky Bob Lane, with a grinning tow truck as a mascot.

  “It might get a little bumpy,” Cedric said. He pulled off onto the gravel road. They came over a slight rise and then down a hill to come upon a large farmhouse flanked by two garages. The seemingly abandoned feel of the entrance belied the bustle within.

  More than a dozen cars sat around the property, at least that she could see. Ember wondered how many more might be within the barns. Some of the cars had their hoods open, shirtless dirty men moving between them and peering inside, or fiddling with this and that.

  A bearded giant of a man with the most innocent, teddy bear eyes Ember had ever seen rushed over to greet them as they exited the squad car. “Cedric! Why are you showing up in your uniform? You want to scare my friends off?”

  Cedric laughed. “Ah, you know I’m out of my jurisdiction, you old cuss. Hanky Bob, this is my wife Ember.”

  “Oh yeah, nice to meet you.” Hanky Bob wiped his hand on a shop towel and then offered it for a shake. Ember’s hand disappeared inside of his paw. “Sorry I missed the wedding, I was out of state for a tractor pull.”

  “Hanky Bob’s Sweet Machine took second place in regionals,” Cedric said.

  Hanky Bob left to get them beers from the cooler. Ember turned toward her husband and cocked her eyebrow.

  “There’s a whole other side of you I’ve never seen, Cedric.”

  “Yeah, well, maybe I was too afraid of you judging me when I had my memories,” Cedric said with a shrug.

  “Maybe you were,” Ember said. “Of course, I’m a witch who owns a tavern. How judgy you really think I’m going to get?”

  Hanky Bob returned with their beers. “Here you are. Cold as the devil is naughty. Now, what can I do for you, Cedric? You only come out this way when you need something, and you brought the old lady to charm me, no less.”

  Cedric sighed. “Am I really that predictable?”

  “Yeah, but it’s fine, it’s cool. Helping you out makes me feel like completing my civic duty.”

  “I’m glad to hear you say that. I need a hot rod.”

  Hanky Bob grinned.

  “Sweet. Yo
u thinking two and a half tons of Screaming Detroit Steel? Little Lead Sled?”

  “Hank—”

  “No? Maybe more into the Tokyo drift kings type of deal? I’ve got a guy, Agito, he can get you everything you need, man. I’m talking suspension, sound system, paint job, the works.”

  “Hanky Bob,” Cedric said with a sigh. “You don’t understand me. I need a hot rod now. As in right now.”

  “Oh,” Hanky Bob said. “Well, that’s a brew of a different vintage. But I might have the hook up. Just a minute.”

  Hanky Bob went to confer with a greasy-haired man. Cedric checked his messages, his face growing grave.

  “What’s wrong?” Ember asked.

  “There’s an officer from the Department of Family Services at the station,” he said, his eyes full of anxiety. “And she wants to see me, now.”

  Twenty-One

  Hanky Bob’s garage complex lost its cheer as Ember digested the news about the Family services officer waiting for them at the station.

  It almost had to be about April. What had befallen the family now? Had April succumbed to toxic mushrooms as well? Or had something even more unthinkably worse happened?

  Ember’s mind raced a mile a minute as Cedric conferred with Hanky Bob.

  “Hate to just run, Hanky Bob, but duty calls.”

  “No problem. Just hit up old Mickey whenever you’re ready for that chassis. He’s got a Datsun 720 that he can’t sell you can probably pick up cheap.”

  “Thanks again. I’ll be in touch soon.” Cedric jogged back to the squad car and folded his tall form behind the wheel. Ember met his gaze, and neither spoke for a long moment.

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” she asked a length.

  “Maybe. Are you thinking Tom was right, and April really is possessed?”

  “That’s one of the awful things going through my mind. Oh, Cedric, that poor girl has gone through so much. Why can’t the universe just leave her alone?”

  “Not the way the Universe works,” Cedric said, looking over his shoulder as he backed the squad car around in the gravel lot. “But the Universe puts people like you and me out there, too. We help girls like April.”