Thinking.
I was halfway down the outside stairs when it finally hit me. I hadn’t said a word about the taser, the magic, the council, none of it. I’d only thought it.
My cat could read my mind.
Goddess, but I was in so much trouble.
Chapter 12
THE BRISK BICYCLE RIDE helped clear my mind from my newest startling revelation. So the Goddess could read my mind. Since when had that ever not been the case? She could read all of our minds and knew every little thing about us too. Even our most deep dark secrets were subject to the Goddess’ gaze.
In reality, nothing had changed. It would still take a lot of getting used to, mind you. It’s one thing to know that the Goddess is watching your every move, and a totally other thing to have a piece of her right there judging your every move and hiding your taser.
This would take a much bigger period of adjustment than I had planned on.
I pulled up outside the new chicken place and gazed for a minute up at the sign over the door. Clucky’s Palace. Really? They couldn’t come up with a better name than that?
It kind of made me wonder why Opie had wanted to meet here. Hopefully, their ability with food was a little better than their creative ability with name-giving. Then I saw the sign in the window.
Opening day special: Lunch Buffet half price. $3.99 today only.
Ah, that explained it. I hoped they kept the buffet well stocked. Opie and I could do some major damage to it pretty quickly.
Even with the special and prime location, the place wasn’t nearly as busy as I would have thought it would be. Opie was there already and had snagged us a table fairly close to the buffet line. One of the best seats in the house, really. Close enough that it would only take a few steps to be able to refill our plates, but far enough away that we weren’t constantly being interrupted by other diners doing the same thing.
I stopped by the table and dropped off my pack. Opie already had two plates piled high with food in front of him. I’d have to catch up.
“I’ve already paid for both of us, so go ahead and grab a plate.”
The heck with that. I’d grab two. It might have been the lesser crowd, but there was more than enough food to fill two plates. I’d go back later for a dessert plate. The food looked good too. I loaded down with grilled chicken strips, mashed potatoes, steamed asparagus, and a roll that was almost the size of my head.
It smelled good too.
Opie got a full hour for lunch, and it was a good thing. Conversation lagged during the first half-hour as we were far too busy shoving food into our faces to talk. This place would definitely be one of our regular haunts. If they survived, of course. A lot of new restaurants didn’t. Then again, it was going into the summer tourist season, so they might do okay after all.
When our bellies finally allowed us to slow down, Opie looked over at me. I noticed he was kind of blushing. It was enough to tell me that this wasn’t just a normal lunch date. He had something on his mind.
“Spill it.”
He took a deep breath. “I had a kind of weird dream last night.” His blush deepened. “It kind of involved you.”
I grinned at him. We hadn’t taken our relationship to the stage that would create blushing yet. Maybe this was a good sign that we’d be getting there soon. I was more than ready. It was only the thought of my uncontrolled magic that had been holding us back this long. Well, holding Opie back, anyway.
“Not that kind of dream,” he said.
Well, dang. “Then what kind of dream was it?”
Another deep breath. “I’m really not sure. This incredibly beautiful lady came to sit on the side of my bed, and we had a long chat. She told me that I needed to get you back into Karate. You know, like we used to do back when we were teenagers.”
Yeah, there for a while we’d really been into it. Even did a few low-key cage fights. Don’t judge. They were mostly for fun.
Mostly. When the fun part stopped, so did we. It just wasn’t worth it.
That didn’t mean we weren’t any good at it. We were. Both of us. But when you’re good, everyone wants to fight you to make a name for themselves. That’s the part we could do without.
“You still got your belt?” We’d made it all the way to brown belt before ending our lessons. We probably could have gotten our black belts if we’d really wanted them. To use, though, it wasn’t about the belts. Never had been.
“Yup. Do you? And more importantly, do you still have your outfit?”
That made me think. “I don’t think so, honestly. It’s been a while, and I’ve changed out my entire wardrobe too many times for it still to be there.”
“I’ll buy you a new one... and pay for our lessons too. The lady was pretty insistent. She said you needed the discipline right now.”
I couldn’t meet his eyes. I was thinking I knew exactly who this dream lady was.
“Did this lady happen to have long golden hair that fell in waves like liquid sunshine? And was she perhaps wearing a long flowing gown that looked like wedding night lingerie? Did she smell like the most expensive women’s perfume ever?”
When I finally raised my eyes, I found him staring at me in horror.
“How the hell did you know all that?” Then he glanced around and lowered his voice. “Can you gals enter our dreams now?”
I laughed. “Oh, no, nothing like that. It’s just that I had a visit from the same lady a day or so ago. Actually, she isn’t a lady at all. She’s a Goddess. The Goddess, actually.”
He swallowed and continued his staring. His mouth opened a couple of times, but nothing came out.
I knew how he felt. She kind of did that to me at first too. Before she became an annoying little kitty presence in my life.
“So, when do we start? Have you decided what dojo to join?” I hoped that by getting back to the subject at hand, he would recoup faster.
It didn’t work.
“The Goddess?” His voice squeaked a bit. “Please tell me you’re kidding me.”
He should know I wasn’t. Otherwise, how the heck would I have hit the nail on the head with my description of her?
“Unfortunately, no kidding involved.” I blew out a breath and pushed what little food remained on my plate around for a few seconds. “She seems to be taking a huge interest in my life right now. I think she has big plans for me.”
He lowered his voice even farther. By now, he was almost whispering. “What makes you think that?”
Um, she kind of told me so herself? A part of her was currently inhabiting my new familiar? I really didn’t think he’d be able to process either of those things right now, even if they were both true.
I shrugged. “Well for one, she visited my boyfriend in his sleep.” Then I giggled as I thought about it. “Please tell me you were wearing pajamas.”
His color flared even more than it had before. That kind of answered that. I bet he’d be wearing them from here out, though.
“So, the town’s dojo or are we going out of town for this?”
It had been worth a shot, even if it didn’t work. The man could face down the criminal element on a daily basis to keep the town safe, but the simple thought of a Goddess seeing him naked had him totally derailed. That’s my guy in a nutshell.
I switched tactics. Reaching around to my backpack, I drew out the list of suspects and my very meager order of suspiciousness. Marco Ramirez was at the top of the list. If that didn’t get Opie’s attention, I didn’t know what would.
Yes, I’d given the list, minus my notes and numbering, to the sheriff already, but they hadn’t known I’d kept a copy for myself. I was betting that would be enough to get Opie on a more solid footing.
I was right.
His eyes went from wide to narrow. “Why do you have a copy of that?”
“Because Mabel and Tommy are my friends, that’s why.”
Opie shook his head. “Let us handle this one, okay? I don’t want you getting hurt.”
For that, he just got the look. He had to know that just because he was a sheriff’s deputy, that didn’t mean I was okay with him getting hurt either. The buckshot he took from helping my family out still weighed heavily on my mind. He’d only just recovered enough to be put back on active duty. Personally, I’d felt a lot better about things when he’d been chained to that desk. Even if he did hate it.
“You know we do this for a living, right? We’ve gotten pretty good at it too.”
I knew all that. His dad hadn’t been the sheriff for the past decade just because of his handsome face and muscular body. Although, I’m sure that didn’t hurt with the female voters in town. He was good at his job. And the town had never been safer.
“And you do know that once I get my license, I’ll be doing this for a living too, right?”
He made a face. “Yeah, it’s not like I will forget that little fact anytime soon. I’m kind of hoping you give up on that before then.”
Like that would happen.
I snatched the paper back out of his hands. “I’m pretty good at this, too, you know.” Especially with my family to back me up. But I didn’t have to put that into words. He knew the power that backed me. He knew the power in me too. A little too well, actually.
Shoving the paper back into the pack, I tried for nonchalant. “Of course, if you guys already have a break in the case...”
He blew out a breath. “You know we don’t.” He paused for a minute when the waitress came by to refill our drinks. Once she walked away, he looked me in the eyes. “Look, it sounds like this G—woman—was right. I think you need to brush up on your fighting skills. I remember you used to be pretty good. Have you kept up with any of it?”
“Without you knowing it? I don’t think so. You pretty much know everything about me, you know. No secrets here.” Not anymore, anyway.
He popped the last bit of roll left on his plate into his mouth. “I did, you know. Keep up with it, I mean. Did you know that?”
I stared at him. “Well, duh, you had to, right? Don’t you like have to go to the gym for your job?”
Leaning back in his chair, he grinned at me. “You doing anything tomorrow night?”
“Nothing planned at the moment. You want me to pencil you in?”
“Make it in ink. This is an event that can’t easily be rescheduled.”
Something was up. He was looking altogether too proud of himself for my liking.
“Sure. Count me in.”
“Good. I’ll pick you up when I get off work.” He started to stand, his lunch hour almost over. “Oh, and wear something you can move easily in.”
Then he gave me one of his lopsided smiles and walked out. I watched him all the way to the door.
You probably would have watched him too. My man has a mighty fine backside view.
Chapter 13
WHAT WITH THE NEWS of the Goddess invading my fellow’s dreams and all, I totally spaced out on the whole getting an extra piece of chicken thing. Of course, now that I really thought about it, smuggling a piece of chicken out of the restaurant and then leaving it in the hot basket of my bike probably wouldn’t have been the smartest thing to do.
And I had things to do while I was in town. People to visit. Starting with Marco Ramirez, Ralph’s business partner. Or should I say partner in crime?
The two of them had gone in together and purchased an old ranch house a mile or so outside of town, in the other direction from the farmhouse, thank goodness. Zoning restrictions weren’t as hard to bypass when you weren’t directly in city limits.
Now the poor house was what they called a Cigar Club. The gist of the whole operation was that it was a place for men to go and enjoy the finer things in life. Oh, they did that all right, if rumor had it right.
According to the town’s scuttlebutt system, there were two rooms in the back dedicated to clandestine meetings with women. Some of whom were paid for their time, if you get my drift. And the building’s basement was said to house an illegal gaming den and off-track betting establishment.
So, all in the same place, a man could enjoy a fine cigar, play a hand of five-card draw, and have some fun with a hooker. The finer things in life indeed. Of course, the only part of that the two men had advertised was the cigar part. The rest they relied on word of mouth to get around.
From the number of cars in the house’s yard, I’d say business was booming.
I wove my bike through the parked cars and up to the porch. Leaning it against the side of the wooden porch railing, I paused to look around. And to listen.
With most country houses, you could hear what was going on inside for the most part if you got close enough and tried to. I was plenty close, and trying, but I couldn’t hear a dadgum thing. Part of the renovations the men had done to the house must have included a ton of insulation and maybe even a bit of soundproofing. Can’t say I blame them on that. Not if all that really was going on inside.
Once at the door, I hesitated. I mean, do you just walk in, or do you knock? Businesses that ran out of houses always confused me on the entry protocol. Finally, I just reached down and turned the knob. If they didn’t want people coming in, they would lock it, right?
The door opened into a large open space filled with couches. A few men were indeed camped out on the couches smoking smelly cigars. If they weren’t paid to do that for cover, then I bet their wives appreciated them having a place other than home to stink up like that. I never got the whole cigar thing. But then, I’d never tried one, either. Maybe the smoke tasted better than it smelled? In my opinion, it would have to. Or else these men were totally nuts.
I searched out the place and finally located Marco getting a beer from one of the massive refrigerators in the kitchen area. He almost dropped the can when he saw me standing there. Good thing he hadn’t had time to open it yet.
“Hey, Marco,” I said, trying out a smile. I’d been working on my acting skills. I think I was improving.
He glanced over at the men on the couches, but they hadn’t even seemed to notice me yet.
Striding over to me, he took my elbow and marched me right back out the door.
“Hey!”
“Don’t have a cow, but if you’re here to talk about what I think you’re here to talk about, it’s better to have that talk outside.”
By this time, we were both standing on the porch and the door was firmly closed behind us.
“What if I was just here wanting to play a hand of cards?”
He just looked at me. “Try again. Unless you’re here to smoke a cigar—which I’d be happy to sell you—then you’ve come to the wrong place. We ain’t that kind of joint.” His expression told me differently, but I wasn’t here to argue with him. Not about that, anyway.
“Okay, so let’s have that little talk then. Did you kill Ralph?”
Sue me, but I believe in being direct. What good did dancing around the issue do when we both knew why I was there?
Marco laughed. “Me? Kill Ralph? No way. Not until I got the money back from him that he stole from the business.”
I gave a pointed look at the door behind him. “Cigar Clubs do that well, do they?”
“They can. If you know how to run them right. I do.”
“How much do you think Ralph took?”
He glanced over to make sure the door was still firmly shut. It was. The soundproofing must work both ways. Even still, he lowered his voice.
“Around fifteen grand, which has really put me in a bind.” Marco leaned in closer than I was comfortable with. “I think he was about to do a runner on his wife and needed the money to get away. I’d say she might not have been too happy about that if’n she’d found out about it. And he was killed right behind where she worked, wasn’t he?”
I wasn’t even going to respond to his implication. “Wouldn’t that mean he was going to do a runner on you too? I’d say you wouldn’t have been too happy about that, either. Especially with that much money missing.”
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br /> “You got that right. And if Ralph was alive today, I’d throttle him within an inch of his life with my own bare hands, but as it stands, I won’t be getting that opportunity.” He paused. “But you gotta admit, his wife had motive. That money he took is somewhere. And if she finds it, well, she’s the widow, right? No way will I ever see it again. She’s the one you need to be looking at. Not me. Then, too, there’s the whole insurance thing to think about.”
“Insurance? You mean like life insurance?”
He shook his head. “No, but he may have had some of that too. Even more reason to look at Mabel, if you ask me. She’s gonna come out smelling like a rose.”
Marco hadn’t really answered my question. “So what insurance are you talking about?”
“Business buy out insurance. Or they call it something like that. My missus insisted that me and Ralph did the business end of things right. We took out a policy so that if one of us died the insurance company would come up with half the business’ worth so the one left could buy out the family’s share.”
I thought about that for a minute. “So, you get to collect half of what the business is worth?” The house alone would be a substantial chunk of change. I was starting to see a motive here.
“You ain’t listening to me. The money goes to Mabel Morgan. It’s all in the insurance contract.”
That took a little more thinking on my part. “Okay,” I said slowly, getting my thoughts around it. “But that means that now you own this place all by yourself, doesn’t it? No more partner to have to share the profits with?”
He swallowed. “True, but it will take me a good while to make up that money Ralph took. It’s not like I’m suddenly gushing with money cause he’s dead. And I’ll have to hire someone to help with the... operations too. That’ll take money.” Marco shook his head. “I still think the best bet is the wife on the whole murder part of things.”
Then he winked at me. “Or maybe the little Trixie he was gonna leave her for. Can you think of any reason a woman would want a man like Ralph besides money? Maybe he gave that money to her, and she killed him so she wouldn’t have to deal with him.”
Un-Familiar Magic (Accidental Familiar Book 3) Page 8
