by Jill Nojack
“Do they?”
Cassie laughed. “In Giles? Come on! Don’t pretend you don’t know it’s the top sporting event.”
She was sure she saw the hint of an upturn at one side of his mouth on an otherwise impassive face.
He asked, “So what did they say about him?”
“Just that he was a player—and not just the football kind.”
“Popular with the girls, you mean?”
She said, “You could call it that.”
“But that was in high school.”
She shrugged. “Sure, I guess.”
He nodded and the right side of his mouth opened as he sucked air between a small gap in his teeth. “So, you’re saying there’s gossip along those lines that isn’t about high school.”
Oh. She hadn’t meant to. “Ummmm….”
“Spill it.”
“Can I just…” She leaned across the table and lowered her voice, “Could we close the door? I don’t want Jenny to hear. She’s had a rotten enough day already.”
When he’d closed the door, she thanked him and continued. “So…you know Ling’s Things downtown? That new shop that Ling Li owns? I guess she and her husband bought one of the older homes out by the lake last summer and they’re going to be needing a lot of art to dress up the walls…”
“Is there a point here?”
“Yeah, I’m getting to it. Dash, my boss at the gallery…” Denton nodded, looking impatient, “…told me that Ling was in the shop hoping to find some early modern era style art, and she told him that Butch was seen coming out of the Toadstone with a woman who wasn’t his wife the night before the murder. Which might be true, but she might also just be making it up because she’s desperate to make friends in town, according to Dash, anyway, and he’s usually pretty good at knowing that kind of thing.”
“I’ve already identified the woman, but I appreciate you giving the additional information. It may help build a case to have another witness. I’d ask that you don’t pass that gossip along any further.”
Cassie nodded, glad to have the focus on something other than her own story.
There was a tap on the door, then it opened a crack and Gillian asked, “Okay to come in? We’ve run out of tea and could certainly use a little more herbal intervention.”
“I think I’m done here unless you have something to add that the young ladies haven’t already told me about the fight,” Denton said.
“Other than to say that I’ve been feeling horrid about having to conk him like I did. But when he threatened that poor, sweet girl….”
“You’re off the hook. It sounds like a clear case of self defense.” He stood and pushed the chair in to the table. “I’ll let myself out. Try not to beat anyone else up tonight.”
When they heard his car pulling away, Gillian closed the kitchen door again and Cassie said, “Do you think he bought it?”
“He better have bought it. I don’t think Jenny could stand it if she’s the reason Denton finally finds out that the local choir is full of ladies and gentlemen who make more than music together, particularly when his boss the mayor is deeply involved as a member of that choir. Robert has worked so hard to keep Denton innocent of the coven’s existence so that his ability to do his job isn’t affected. In a town like Giles it would be easy to begin to see magic behind every perfectly ordinary crime.”
“Yeah, just look at Nat if you need an example of that. But really…how would he find out? It’s not like he’d go, ‘I can’t figure out how three women could tie up a big guy like Butch Holgerson, so his wife must be a witch,’ right? I mean…”
The kitchen door opened and Jenny stood there, holding back tears. “I didn’t mean to, it took me over, it…”
Gillian rushed to her and hugged her close. “It’s okay, sweetheart. No harm done. You had to protect yourself. No one blames you.”
“But I didn’t mean to do it either time. It just happened, it…. I haven’t used my magic for years. Not since I was a teenager. Butch didn’t like it, and I always wanted to please him. I didn’t even know it could be that strong. I use only one spell every morning. The one my mom taught me to dissipate my magic. This shouldn’t have happened. I’m afraid for the babies, I don’t want to hurt them….”
“Shhhh,” Gillian soothed her. “You would never hurt your children. Your magic wouldn’t let you. Just like it protects you, it would protect them. But if you didn’t mean to use it, that could complicate things. I’d assumed it was intentional.” Her eyes met Cassie’s, and the look they exchanged overflowed with concern. “But…still, there’s no harm. You haven’t exposed anyone, although I think you need more than childcare from the coven now. Natalie and I are busy with Twink, and you’re going to need an experienced mentor, at least for a little while. I didn’t even think about what’s going on in your system right now having just had triplets and with the stress of….” She sighed deeply. “Hormones and magic can be a difficult mix. That’s probably why the spell stopped working. I’ll confer with Nat. We’ll decide on someone suitable. It’ll be fine, sweetheart.”
***
It had been too late for dinner at the diner, which closed at eight, because of Natalie’s tardiness.
But even if she’d let William hold her hand while they spent a pleasant half hour peering in windows and discussing the wares on display downtown, it didn’t mean that he should be able to keep hold of it all night. Grabbing it again after he disappeared from the passenger seat to open her car door was perhaps too much, but she decided not to grab it back as they moved along the walk. He’d be on his way soon enough.
She admitted to herself that he looked nice in a blue cotton button-down shirt, jeans, and black leather lace-up shoes. She’d have to compliment Marcus for the help he’d been in picking out the wardrobe William had ordered online. It would have been composed entirely of ugly argyle sweaters and penny loafers if he’d been left to his own devices.
She let go of his hand to unlock the front door and flicked it away when it sought hers again as the door opened and Marcus called, “That you, gram?”
“In the wrinkly old flesh.” She walked into the living room, where Marcus and Twink were sitting at opposite ends of the couch, books open on their laps. She’d trusted the boy to be studying for next week’s final exams exactly as he said he would. She’d had no reason not to trust him in the short time he’d lived with her.
The girl, on the other hand, needed watching.
“Hey Nat,” Twink said. “Daria can come pick me up if…”
“Have the two of you eaten?”
“No. Had a snack.” Marcus motioned to opened boxes of Cracker Jacks, William’s favorite treat. He’d ordered two cases from one of the big chain stores and had them delivered to Natalie’s, saying they were for Marcus, but it was really to make sure there was always some on hand for his own visits. She pretended that he hadn’t ordered them for the toys he expected to find inside, and she had always been polite each time he looked disappointed when he opened a new box and found only a piece of paper with something called a QR code inside.
“If you haven’t eaten anything more than a handful of candied popcorn, why don’t you stay for dinner? We’ll call it a double date.”
Twink shrugged. “Sure. I always like to hang with the senior citizens in town when I’m out with my man. I’ve had some hot times up at the retirement home.”
Natalie’s eyes narrowed as Twink got her cell out and Marcus laughed. “I dunno, Gram. You mighta asked for that one.”
“Come on, William. Let’s see what we’ve got in the fridge while these two finish their studies.”
The best she could rustle up that wouldn’t require Marcus taking over the cooking was a frozen pizza with salad. That would be fine. The boy would like it. And it would keep William from making too much of their dinner date. Nothing special, that’s the message it would send.
She could have gotten to their appointment in time. It hadn’t been absolutel
y necessary to rush off to the Sanders place for a play-by-play. She hadn’t needed to have each of the women repeat their interviews with Denton to her word for word. Twice. She could have gotten the information the next day in summary form; she knew that. And she bet William knew it, too, even though he hadn’t said a word.
But she didn’t know how to date, did she? She’d only ever dated William, and he’d been dead for fifty years. During that time she’d never come up with a good reason to get back in practice. It wasn’t easy when she was young for a woman to finish a degree and find work that paid a living wage. If she’d been male, she’d have become a doctor. But she wasn’t male, and she’d spent quite a few years resenting men in general because of it.
Plus, by the time she was in her early thirties with her career as a nurse firmly established, it was clear she wasn’t on the motherhood track. And without motherhood as a goal, she didn’t see the point in dealing with all the mess that came with relationships.
William finished slicing the onions for the salad and turned to her, blinking away tears.
“You know if you slice those under running water, you can avoid being a crybaby,” Natalie told him.
“Golly, I hope I never cry in front of you for real. Because I sure wouldn’t get a scrap of sympathy.” He slammed the knife he’d been using down on the counter.
That wasn’t like him.
“What’s got you so rattled?” she asked.
“Let’s start with the woman I love acting like our relationship is something to hide or avoid even though I’d walk through fire for her. And then we can go on to the fact that a nice woman has been murdered and her defenseless granddaughter is missing, maybe having met the same fate. And I’ve done nothing to fix either of those things even though I’m supposed to be the town’s guardian.”
Natalie stiffened. He was right. All night, she’d complained about this and complained about that, and made digs he ignored about Denton’s lack of progress in finding the child. She’d been so busy expressing her own frustrations she hadn’t even asked him how his day had been.
Her tone softened when she said, “I’m sorry. I never mean to be insensitive.” Then she ruined her apology by barreling on with, “Although, in the spirit of fairness, if you did walk through fire for me it wouldn’t be particularly impressive since you wouldn’t be harmed. At least not permanently.”
“You know what I mean.”
She sighed. “I do.” She grabbed the hand she’d rejected only a short time before. “I am truly sorry. I’m so used to being on my own, and now that I’ve got a man and a child in my life, I can’t say that I’m coping well with either of them.”
She was caught by surprise when Marcus, who she hadn’t seen standing with Twink in the kitchen entryway said, “You’re not doing so bad on the kid side. I got no complaints. Dinner ready?”
She dropped William’s hand quickly and checked the stove timer. “Grab your salads. We’ll eat in the living room. I’ll be out with the pizza in about five minutes.”
The rest of them had made a good start on their salads when she arrived with the main dish, but it didn’t stop any of them from grabbing for a slice before the plate met the top of the large wooden coffee table. She took her own small piece to go with a larger portion of salad and sat on the couch next to William, facing Marcus, who was seated on the floor next to Twink.
“How was school today?” she asked, aiming her question at the boy.
“It was okay. Too much to do for this test Monday, though. I’m not sure how it’ll go.”
Twink’s eyes went skyward for a second and then returned to look at Marcus fondly. “Yeah, he might get a ninety-nine instead of a one-hundred percent.”
Natalie nodded. “I can’t say that I’m concerned, either. What about you, dear?” she addressed Twink. “How was the shop yesterday?”
“It was okay. Kind of boring because there weren’t a lot of people coming in. Cassie says it’ll pick up once school’s out and people start taking vacations. I sold an entire packet of chalk and a tea sampler right after you left. So you know, big profit there. And the customer complained that she couldn’t buy the chalks separately! How cheap can you be?”
“We do have our new senior discount to tempt the tourists. You remembered that, didn’t you?”
“Seriously? Like I could forget. You’ve only told me a hundred times. But she didn’t qualify. She was probably only a little older than Cassie. But, you know, you could tell she was cheap about everything. Her nails? They were stick-ons. Seriously. I mean, why even bother? So low class.”
William asked, “You mean her fingernails? Why would a woman want to stick something on her fingernails? What happened to her real ones?”
Twink laughed. “Nothing happened to them. It’s like nail polish or eyeshadow. A girl needs a great set of nails, the real deal, not stick-ons. Gel nails cost more, but they look real. And they stay put. The last thing you want is to hold someone’s hand…” She put hers out to Marcus, who took it, smiling shyly, “…and have a nail pop off in it.”
“So you stick them on with glue?” William asked.
“Yeah, some kind of glue. Comes in the package. But it doesn’t work that great. And there isn’t always one that’s the same size as your real nails, so they can have these gaps showing at the sides. They come in different colors, so your nail underneath is just nail color and it looks bad. I tried some when I was a kid. Never again.”
“Colors like red?” William asked.
“Yeah. Red’s a great color for nails.” She looked down at her own purple ones and scowled at the two she’d had to file off. “I only noticed hers because I broke a couple of mine, and I want to get them wrapped.”
Natalie had been chewing a piece of pizza for much of the discussion, but after she swallowed, she asked William, “Why this sudden interest in women’s fingernails?” She glanced down at her own short, utilitarian ones. Maybe they could benefit from a coat or two of clear polish to shine them up a bit.
He tapped an index finger on his pursed mouth, then held it out and shook it slightly as he said, “Just a minute.”
He disappeared without a warning.
Twink’s eyes went huge. “Wow! I knew he could do that, but wow! That’s whacked.”
Natalie agreed. “Yes, it would be nice if he’d give a person a little notice.”
William reappeared just as quickly and flipped a plastic bag down on the table next to Twink’s plate. “Now, don’t open the bag, but…is that a stick-on?”
She picked it up and held it in front of her face for a better look. “Yeah. Even matches the color of the one that woman was wearing.” She held the bag out toward him. “See how cheap they look? I mean, no class at all.”
He took the bag back and looked at it, then folded it and tucked it into the front pocket of his shirt. He didn’t know a thing about class, but he knew when he was on to a lead. “This is important,” he said. “Did you get her name?”
“No, she didn’t…no wait, she had it put on her mother’s tab. The mother’s name was…” Twink’s forehead crunched in concentration, “…Zelda, I think. Yeah. Definitely. Zelda James.”
William patted the girl’s hand and gave her a smile before he headed to the hall for privacy. He dropped a call to his chief; Deborah James was going to need to answer a few more questions.
12
Zelda wasn’t enjoying the walk. It wasn’t that far—probably only a little over a mile, but trekking through Corey Woods with only the moonlight through the trees made it difficult. She’d never liked the woods at night. In a town like Giles, anything could be out here.
She had to make the trip, though. If she managed the casting right, it would keep Natalie out of other people’s business for a while, maybe even for good; it had to be done. Who else would throw suspicion on Deborah so that Denton would come around to interview her? Who else thought she had the right to poke around in other people’s yards and business?
> Protecting her daughter was the most important thing. And keeping that interfering Natalie Taylor out of James family business was the first step to making sure that happened.
But she hadn’t used this spell before and didn’t know if she had the magic right or, once she’d cast it, if it would even work the way she hoped it would. She patted her bag of supplies, taking stock mentally. She couldn’t doubt herself; it had to work. Her family had been every bit as powerful as the Taylors when they’d first come to Giles, and this was family magic. She didn’t need to worry.
She stumbled over something jutting up on the dark forest floor and pulled hard on the leash she held in an attempt to prevent herself from falling forward. Her new familiar cried out in protest; the stupid thing was going to give her away if it kept that up.
She pulled its head up to look into her eyes so it could see the warning there. It would be at least another week before she could complete the binding cycle. When it was done, the creature would be bound so tightly to her will that she wouldn’t need the chain, but until then, she had to take precautions.
From its reaction, it understood her meaning well enough. It curled into a ball beneath the tree, hiding its face in the crook of a foreleg.
***
“Don’t canoodle so long that you’re not back before your curfew,” Natalie said as she waved Marcus off to drive Twink home. “No point in being so tired tomorrow that all the studying you put in goes to waste.”
“I hear ya, Gram. I’ll be back by bedtime.”
When she set the pile of dishes she’d brought to the kitchen and moved to turn on the water for washing, William blocked her efforts by gently grabbing her wrist and turning her toward him.
“So…that means you and I get half an hour for some of that canoodling you mentioned? Seems like a better use of our time than doing the dishes.”
He moved closer, but she moved away, pressing against the counter where the Formica edge cut into her lower back. His hands moved along her arms, then around her shoulders, then he was there, his lips coming toward her inexorably, glistening as they puckered nearer. He must have licked them in anticipation. It was like watching a snail glide across the top of a glass table from underneath.
