Strangetown Girl (Welcome To Witch County Book 1)

by C. M. Cevis

  The sun had begun to set outside, so while there was still light streaming through the curtains, there wasn’t much of it. How in the world she had managed to go through all of this without Asher stumbling onto her again, she had no idea. She assumed Asher hadn’t gotten back to the house for the night yet. She had a brief moment of concern that something had happened to her, but then she remembered that Asher was a big, bad wolf. She could take care of herself better than Luna could take care of herself.

  Once she was marginally sure that she had her bearings straight, Luna scrambled to her feet and ran into the closet. Her hands immediately went to the spot in the wall where she’d seen the large crack. Where she’d squinted against the blinding light, where she’d sworn that she’d heard someone call her name. There was nothing, no sign that what she’d seen had ever been there.

  “That’s not right,” Luna whispered to herself. She was a lot of things. Not all of them completely normal, but she wasn’t insane. If she’d seen it, it was there. If she’d heard it, someone had said it. Or she’d messed up the magic. She rubbed her forehead in frustration, then winced as she hit on her bandaged gash.

  It wouldn’t be the first time that something she’d made had “spoken” to her, but it would be the first time that it had happened when she wasn’t in some sort of mortal danger. And the first time that she’d heard words audibly. No, this was different.

  The problem was that Luna didn’t know why it was different, which was pointing her straight back towards the insanity explanation.

  “I’m not insane,” Luna said out loud. Maybe her brain just needed a little reassurance.

  “I’m not!” she yelled.

  No one responded. Thankfully.

  “Whatever,” Luna whispered, shaking her head, and heading back towards the mess that she’d made. She needed to clean up before she had to explain something that she didn’t want to talk about to her best friend.

  She’d worry about the insanity later.

  27

  LUNA MISSED HAVING PEOPLE IN her house, and with everything that had been going on grating on her mental state, being alone didn’t seem to suit her the way it used to.

  So what did she and Asher do? They woke up earlier than normal, cooked a gigantic breakfast, and brought it out front for a public, warm, spring morning breakfast with anyone who cared to stop past.

  Even Wesley.

  The food was in the largest serving dishes Luna had in the house, and there was more waiting inside. Coffee was piping hot, and she had sugar, artificial sweetener, and three different flavors of creamer set out. She could make another run to the store if she needed to. She didn’t care. Right now, all she wanted was to be around the people who had made her fall in love with the town. The people who had welcomed her with open arms when she’d bought the big house on the hill that had been on the market for months. They said that it was as if the place had been waiting for her, because anyone else who had looked at the place hadn’t been able to buy it for one reason or another.

  By the time the morning was in full swing and Luna was on cup of coffee number three, there had to be thirty people in her front yard. Some had come and gone already, and most of the food was gone. Now it was just one big, warm conversation between friends of all ages and backgrounds. It was beautiful.

  Until the cop car pulled up in front of the house, and Wesley stepped out.

  “I know I said I didn’t care if he showed up, but I wasn’t telling the truth,” Luna said softly to Asher, who chuckled.

  “He’s probably here just to try and start something with you again. He won’t go that far, not with this many people watching,” she replied.

  Luna took a deep breath and stood. “Welcome, Sheriff. You’re a bit late for breakfast, but there’s plenty of coffee and I believe there are still eggs if you’d like.”

  Wesley had an odd look on his face. Almost happiness, but with just a hint of evil. “It’s funny that you’d pick today to be nice to me.”

  Luna frowned. “What exactly does that mean?”

  “It means that I’m not here for breakfast,” Wesley said, his voice carrying over the crowd. “It means that I’ve got a warrant for your arrest here, and I’m going to need you to come with me.”

  “What?!” Luna said, snatching the piece of paper from his not-really-outstretched hand as Asher jumped to her feet and came to stand beside her.

  “You can resist if you want,” he said, this time his voice so low only Luna and Asher could hear him. “It’ll make this a whole lot more fun.”

  Luna ignored him and read over the paper as quickly as she could without missing something important. He sure had managed to get an arrest warrant for her.

  “Signed ten minutes ago. You didn’t waste one second, did you?” Luna snapped, handing the paper to Asher.

  “Of course not. That’s why I’m sheriff: I get things done. Now, are you going to let me put these cuffs on you, or do we need to get rough?” he asked with a wink that made Luna have to work not gag.

  Luna didn’t answer, instead turning her back to Wesley and allowing him to pull her hands behind her back. She used what little time she had to mouth to Asher, “Call Graham.”

  Asher nodded just slightly. Luna was pretty sure Asher would have called him anyway, but she wanted to make sure that it was done as soon as possible. She had no idea what Wesley had up his sleeve, but she didn’t want to give him more time to try and build whatever he was trying to build against her.

  “In the car, please,” Wesley said, giving her arm a little twist for good measure.

  Luna didn’t so much as wince. She wouldn’t give Wesley the satisfaction. Instead, she allowed him to lead her to the police car while the entire neighborhood looked on.

  There would be a fight, but not on that street. And from the looks of it, not waged by her other than passively. She hated that, but she didn’t really have a choice, did she? The last thing she needed was a legitimate charge from fighting the sheriff on top of everything else.

  “I’ll figure this out,” Asher called through the window.

  Luna smiled and tried not to let tears of anger show in her eyes as she nodded. “I know,” she said softly, knowing Asher would hear her.

  Wesley climbed into the front of the car, slammed the door shut, and started it up.

  “Anything you want to tell me before we get back to the station and you lose your chance?” he asked.

  “Yes, but none of it is polite,” Luna muttered.

  “What?”

  “Nothing.” No point in making the situation worse. She closed her mouth and rode back to jail in silence.

  28

  IT HAD BEEN TWO DAYS. Two days of Graham and Honey rattling chains and annoying the hell out of everyone to get this and that tested and inspected. They’d even had the body moved and re-processed by people that they trusted. All in the hopes that Graham could return to Calidity with something that could clear Luna.

  Everything was going pretty well, until Graham’s phone rang.

  “Was that Luna?” Honey asked as Graham came back into the conference room they’d settled in, various sheets of paper detailing their evidence spread out in front of them.

  “No, that was her best friend, Asher. The sheriff managed to get someone to sign an arrest warrant for Luna. She’s on her way back to jail.”

  Honey frowned. “Nothing that you’ve told me about this case was enough to justify arresting her again.”

  “Nothing was. He must have someone who trusts him down there,” Graham muttered, sitting back down.

  “Or someone who got paid.”

  Graham sighed and shrugged. “Either way, our window to do something is getting smaller and smaller.”

  “You’re right. I don’t know what he has planned for her once she’s in a cell, but it can’t be something as simple as holding her. If she was going to run, she’d have done it by now.”

  Graham nodded. “Asher said she’d call back if something
else happened. In the meantime, we need to get this together and to a judge.”

  “Right. Let’s go through this once more to make sure that we’re presenting this the best way we can, and then we’ll head out to see the people we need.”

  ~*~

  WESLEY’S STEP ONE HAD BEEN flawless. Judge Hatcher had signed the warrant without much convincing, though he did state that it wouldn’t hold up in anyone else’s court, especially if there wasn’t more evidence to back it up for a trial.

  The problem was that there wasn’t any more evidence. What they had was what they had, and the case needed to move forward with that, no matter what. Wesley needed this closed and shut, so life could go back to normal in Calidity.

  For Wesley, that meant that he needed to push for conviction sooner rather than later. He’d done his fair share of things that he shouldn’t have, legally, as sheriff, but this was bigger than covering up one of his officers doing something stupid when they were drunk. This meant calling in favors that might not exist, and issuing threats to people he probably shouldn’t be threatening.

  It didn’t matter. It needed to happen. Which meant he needed to start making calls now, before that fed tried to interfere. He didn’t think that he could, since he’d been asked to leave, but he wasn’t one hundred percent on that. His experience with FBI was limited.

  Why in the world did Luna know a fed anyway? One day, she was going to tell him. She had way too many questions around her, and he wanted to know why. He’d asked her about Graham in the car on the way over, but her response had consisted of a roll of the eyes before she went back to looking out the window.

  That had been her response when he asked about her father as well. Eventually, he’d just given up. Once she made up her mind about something, there was no changing it. He told himself that was why she wouldn’t give him the time of day.

  Not because he was married or anything. Who cared about that? He didn’t.

  Wesley closed the door to his office and picked up the phone on his desk, redialing the number he’d dialed before he’d left that morning.

  “Good morning again, Judge. I need another favor from you.”

  29

  “RUN THIS PAST ME ONE more time,” Judge Wright asked. “This woman has been accused of the murder of her father, but the dead body isn’t the man who contributed genetic material to her creation? You want to tell me how she missed that?”

  Graham shrugged. “I can’t begin to explain that one to you, sir. It’s possible the injuries the man sustained could have hindered identification. I wasn’t allowed to view the body.”

  The judge stopped and looked up at Graham. “I thought you were there for a few days. That’s plenty of time to see it.”

  Graham nodded. “Flip in a few pages.”

  Judge Wright did as he was asked, and Graham waited as his eyes read the page, looked up at both Graham and Honey, and read it again.

  “They had the scene professionally cleaned twenty-four hours after the murder?”

  Graham nodded.

  “I don’t understand what’s going on here. What sheriff shuts down a scene before anyone who matters can see it?”

  “One who’s hiding something, if I had to guess,” Honey responded softly.

  Judge Wright flipped back to where he’d paused initially and started reading again. Graham and Honey stayed silent, sharing a look but nothing else.

  Graham had put enough in that file to make it easy for anyone to grant him the jurisdiction to take over. Most of it was legally obtained, and by the time the judge got to the bits that were questionable, he was hoping that he wouldn’t care enough to ask. Honey had something up her sleeve in case he did, but Graham didn’t know what it was. He was fairly sure he didn’t want to know, from a legal standpoint.

  “The way that the sheriff in Calidity handled this means that there isn’t much here to get your witness off, but there isn’t anything that would convict her either. Why the urgency?”

  Graham fielded this one. “We can’t be sure, but we believe he must have someone up there in his pocket. Luna was arrested again for the murder, and we’re afraid that he’s going to try and force a trial on her with what little is left behind.”

  Judge Wright sighed and rubbed his temples. “Nothing that you’ve shown me here makes me want to stick up for this guy. Forcing her into a conviction to cover his own ass seems right in line with everything else in this folder.”

  Graham didn’t so much as nod, though he did agree.

  “Can you make it there before he pushes a conviction through?”

  “I believe so. Luna’s friend has been keeping me informed. As long as she isn’t cut off, I’m up to date.”

  “Good,” Judge Wright said, pulling a pen from his desk. “I’ll sign the order. Go get your girl.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Graham and Honey said in unison.

  “And when you get back, I expect to see that you’ve filed something official against the sheriff up there. He needs to be removed.”

  “Yes sir,” Graham said, trying to swallow a smile. He’d remove Wesley himself if he had to, and he was glad that Judge Wright saw the same things that he had.

  “Hurry,” the judge said, slipping the additional piece of paper into the folder, closing it, and holding it out to Graham.

  “Leaving now, sir,” Graham said, grabbing the folder and turning to face the door.

  Graham called Asher as he walked out of the building. She’d sounded so worried when she’d called after Luna was arrested, and he wanted her to know that he was on his way back with something that could help. Not to mention wanting to make sure that things hadn’t gone from bad to worse while he was working on getting things in place.

  The line didn’t ring. Instead, Asher’s voice happily announced that she couldn’t come to the phone right now. Graham took the phone away from his ear and frowned at it. Then he dialed again.

  Hi, you’ve reached Asher, but I can’t come to the phone right now.

  “Bad,” Graham whispered.

  “What’s bad?” Honey asked. Graham hadn’t even noticed that she’d caught up with him.

  “Asher’s phone is going straight to voicemail.”

  Honey frowned. “Maybe her battery died?”

  “Maybe,” Graham responded, walking faster.

  “Maybe you need to get there sooner rather than later,” Honey said, keeping pace.

  “Maybe.”

  Graham hit the door at a trot and headed straight for his car. He could buy anything he needed when he got to Calidity, but he needed to get there as soon as possible. Something told him that he didn’t have much time, and Luna had told him years ago that that “something” was to be listened to.

  30

  “RISE AND SHINE, LUNA. TODAY is your court date.”

  Wesley’s voice cut through Luna’s dreamless sleep, reminding her that she was in jail, not at home, and that he was a jerk. She kept her eyes closed. She had no idea what time it was, or when she’d fallen asleep. What she did know was she felt like she hadn’t slept a wink, and she was hungry.

  “You up?” Wesley barked. Heavy footsteps thudded closer.

  “Sheriff! There’s a call for you upfront. It’s the feds, and they won’t talk to anyone but you,” a voice called.

  Luna smiled. Wesley hissed a curse under his breath and sucked his teeth. “Get her up and out, we’ve got to be at court in a little bit.”

  “Yes sir,” the voice responded as Wesley walked off. Luna opened her eyes as the rookie from the day this had all began walked into sight. He turned and waited for a few moments before turning and smiling at Luna.

  “That fed lady does not sound happy. He’s going to be a while,” he said, a chuckle in his voice. He held out a steaming Styrofoam cup of what smelled like coffee through the bars.

  “What’s this?” Luna asked without moving. She didn’t trust anything that was happening right now.

  “I snuck you a cup of coffee. It�
�s terrible coffee, but it’s something. It’s the best we can do.”

  “We?” Luna asked, leaning towards the cup.

  He lowered his voice. “None of us know what’s going on, but it’s not right. We haven’t figured out how to stop what the sheriff is doing, but for now we can at least do things like this,” he said, inclining his head towards the small cup of coffee.

  Luna finally took the cup and gave the steam a good sniff. She didn’t smell anything out of the ordinary. “If this kills me, I’ll come back just to haunt you.”

  Officer Bo grinned and nodded. “Understandably so. I’ll be back to get you down to the courthouse. I can’t hide that we brought that to you if he comes back again.”

  Luna nodded as she took a sip. “I’ll think of something if he comes back before you do.”

  ~*~

  ASHER HADN’T SEEN ANYONE SINCE she’d arrived. She was starting to think that the only people who knew that she was in there were the ones who brought her in. Was that on purpose? What was going to happen?

  She’d tried hissing Luna’s name a few times, hoping that her friend was nearby, but she didn’t get any response other than her own echo. She was well and truly alone, and she had no idea what to do about it.

  So she didn’t do anything. She sat in her cell and waited for something to happen. Eventually, something did.

  “Come on, Asher. We have to take you down to the courthouse.”

  Someone had a cruel sense of humor, sending Ryan to see her like that. She’d really thought that reconnecting with him while he was watching Luna had been something good. Weird, but good.

  “The courthouse? Have I been here long enough to warrant that?” she asked, standing. No use in not complying, was there?

  “I’m just following orders. I’ll need your hands behind your back,” he replied, pulling handcuffs from his belt and waiting.

  “Ryan, I’m not going to do anything.” Asher held her hands out, fingers splayed, as a peace offering, but it didn’t seem to matter.