Gran Ana turned and stared at me. She hardly looked welcoming. I gave her a tight smile then nodded at the sheriff.
“What would you like to know?” I offered.
I glanced around the room. There was a stenographer present, taking down notes of the interrogation, such as it was, and Shane stood off to the side. He gave me a quick nod and I smiled at him too.
“I’m going to need a more private atmosphere to conduct a questioning session with you, I’m afraid,” the sheriff said, speaking to me. “If you will just wait outside…”
Gran Ana whirled on him. “Are you going to arrest my granddaughter too? How do you expect me to perform the service of the Spiritual Renewal necessary to conduct the festival with any sort of integrity without my two closest assistants? You leave me blind and paralyzed and expect the sort of performance the people demand? Those who have come to town expressly to be moved and uplifted by my power to create an experience? You know very well this is the main tourist draw of the Fall Season for the Moonhaven Sector.”
“Madam, please calm down….”
“I am calm. You have yet to see me really angry Mr. Small Town Sheriff. That may not be too long in coming though.” She faced him squarely and stood tall and majestic before him. “I demand that you release Oliver right now. I need him.”
Was it my imagination, or did Sheriff Hayes swallow a little before he got up the nerve to deny her? He definitely squared his shoulders and tried to get a little taller.
“I’m sorry Madam, but that’s impossible.”
“No. It’s eminently possible. Just as it is possible that I could blow this entire building….” Her voice raised with each word until it was almost a scream and she lifted her arms so that her robe billowed around her.
Now the sheriff looked scared. Heck, we all did.
But she never finished her statement. Suddenly her arms dropped and her voice went silent and she seemed to lose the fire that had been igniting her.
“Or I could just withdraw from the program,” she said in a soft, cunning voice, and then she smiled. “That’s what I’ll do. I’ll refuse to appear.”
Suddenly I was the one who was scared. I had a horrible feeling I knew where this was going to go.
“But…but you can’t…” I tried to tell her.
“Oh yes I can,” she said, and reaching out, she caressed my cheek. “I can because I know someone who can take my place. You can do it. There you go. My granddaughter will take center stage and be the star of the show. I’m sure she’ll do a bang-up job.” Then she lifted her hand and made the form of a gun, aimed it at the sheriff, and said, “Bang!”
Laughing like the witch she was, she left the room, and then the building.
The rest of us slumped like used wash clothes, but I recovered quickly. I had to get her to change her mind. I ran after her and caught her outside. She’d actually driven herself over in a long silver car that looked like things movie stars drove in the Thirties.
“Gran Ana!” I called as I caught her. “This is crazy. I can’t take your place. I could never…”
She looked at me and shook her head sadly. “Oh I know dear. It’s impossible. I just wanted to make him sweat a little. He is standing for re-election soon you know. I’m going to make sure the people know who ruined this festival for them.” She clenched her fists and shook them at the building. “I’ve had it with this town! After all I’ve done for them they can treat me this way? If Oliver isn’t out by midnight, I just may burn the building down!”
“But, what am I supposed to do? Should I plan to do the festival or…?”
“Of course dear. Oh I know you’ll do a horrid job of it, but who cares? Just do your best. You’ll have my script to work with. Oh, and don’t let any stones be damaged and don’t let any demons in. That would be the death of us all. Cheerio!”
And she stepped into her car and drove off.
I watched her go, my heart sinking. I only now had really begun to realize what this meant. I was going to have to do the ceremony. I was going to have to give the performance. It was all going to be on me. And if I failed, it was all going to be a disaster.
I wanted to crumple into a little ball of sobbing human flesh and let the wind and weather carry me away. I wanted to leave town and hide. I wanted to be someone else, anybody else. But all the time I knew what the truth was. I was going to do it. And I was going to do the best darn job I could.
Look out world. Here I come.
Sigh.
I came to terms with what I was going to have to do and I went back into the station, hunting down Shane in his office. I wanted to ask him once again if he and the sheriff had been the ones to burn down the werewolf enclave. I couldn’t believe they could have done such a thing but I had to know for sure.
“Haley, have you ever known me to go around burning down the homes and hideouts of people I’m pursuing or spying on?” Shane was not pleased with my question.
“No. You’re right and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that to you.” I paused for a moment. “But how about the sheriff?”
He stared at me for half a second then threw back his head and laughed.
“You got me,” he said, and then he turned the lock on the door and pulled me into his arms and kissed me for a long minute, warm and sensual. Then he pressed his nose against my cheek and sighed. “Will you stop trying to find ways to convince yourself I’m a bad guy?” he said softly, his mouth so close his voice vibrated against my skin. “I’m not, you know. I’m your number one fan and I’m on your side. Nothing is going to change that. So stop fighting me at every turn, would you?”
And he kissed me again.
That was an unfair way to start the interrogation. I was in a silly mood, sort of floating on air and feeling bubbly and it was hard to get too serious after that. Shane is a really good kisser.
The trouble was I was feeling so good, I was tempted to tell him everything, and that couldn’t happen.
Did I trust him? Yes. He was a stand up guy and he would do what was right—in his opinion. But I had supernatural things on my hands and he was a hunter. No matter how much he cared for me, he would have to do what a hunter had to do and I had to save him from having to do those things right now—at least in the case of Marcus, and in the case of Randy, and even in the case of Oliver. So I didn’t tell him much and he knew I was holding back. And he didn’t hate me for it.
But he said something toward the end that would stick in my conscience.
“Haley,” he said, “I’ve got a lot of patience, but you can’t expect me to wait forever.”
He was talking about me coming clean on what exactly was going on behind the scenes here, not whatever else you might have thought.
“I know.” I sighed. “But tell me this. Am I really a suspect?”
He gazed at me sideways for a moment, then almost smiled. “Not in my book,” he said. “I can’t promise you what the Sheriff is thinking.”
That was a relief.
“Then I can go?”
“Maybe.” Then he frowned. “Now what is the deal with this festival? Are you really going to take Gran Ana’s place?”
“Oh jiminy, I hope not!” I looked at him pleadingly. “Can’t you let Oliver go? If you let him go, she might relent and do the festival after all. You know he didn’t kill anyone.”
He nodded. “I know, but Sheriff Hayes seems to be taking particular pleasure in driving your grandmother crazy.”
“Oh, it’s like that, huh?”
“Yup.” He looked at me. “About Oliver. Did you happen to see him out there flying around while you were in the ocean?”
I shook my head. “Later while I was getting a ride back, just before I got left by the side of the road and you picked me up, I saw him flying away from town, not toward it. But not going out to sea either.”
He was looking at my arm. My bracelet had slipped down to my wrist and caught his eye. Reaching out, he put his fingers under it and held it
out from my arm for a minute.
“That’s pretty,” he said. “Where’d you get it?”
“Uh…”
“The kooky guy on the beach? The one who gave you a ride and then dumped you?”
So he was paying attention. I’d hoped he wasn’t.
“Uh, yeah.” I made a split second decision. He deserved a little more. “Actually, he claims he was driving when I had my original accident. He says we were old friends and that this bracelet was mine from those days.”
His gaze seemed to be hoovering up every nuance he could catch by boring into my eyes. It was slightly disconcerting because I was pretty sure, though he wasn’t a supernatural per se, he had some pretty darn super instincts and abilities of his own. He could see things, read things, others couldn’t. I tried hard to be open and honest, but who knows what he actually saw.
“Uh huh,” he said, and I didn’t really like that skeptical tone. “I take it he also was one of the people staying in that abandoned roadhouse that got gutted up in werewolf country.”
I nodded.
“Is he okay?”
I took a deep breath. “I’ve talked to him but I don’t know for sure.” I tried hard to look earnest. “Who was behind that fire? Do you know?”
“No.”
“How about the murder?”
“Another no. But we have a few leads.”
“Such as?”
“Such as you’ll know when it’s time for you to know.”
“Great. Thanks a lot.”
He touched my cheek and sighed. “Okay, you want to hear some of the theories?”
I perked up. “I’m all ears.”
“No, you’re not,” he murmured as he kissed my earlobe.
“Mmm,” I said, snuggling just a bit but trying to pay attention.
“Here goes,” he replied, pulling back. “What if your Gran Ana was smuggling in contraband rubies from Burma.”
“You mean Myanmar?”
“Of course.”
“And she sent Oliver out to pick them up?”
“That would be a part of it.”
“And he killed the captain? Why?”
“I don’t know. Smuggling is dangerous work. Sam might have been trying to shake Gran Ana down. He might have tried to pull some other sort of fast one on her. And Oliver took care of business for her.”
I thought about that for a minute, then shook my head dismissively. “Weak.”
He nodded. “I agree.”
“Next?”
“Okay, Sam’s ex-wife just filed for divorce two weeks ago. She had a little motorboat. She could have taken it out there and done him in.”
“Did anyone see her out there?”
“No.”
I made a face. “Even weaker.”
He grinned at me. “Yes.”
“Got any more?”
He thought for a second. “Your friends in the VW bus. Where did they come from? Why are they here? Where are they hiding?”
A sliver of fear slipped through my chest. “Have you tied them to Sam in any way?”
“There are names on cargo billings found on the cruiser that might be referring to them. We will only know once we find them and check their ids.”
In other words, so far he had nothing. I felt a wave of relief.
“Okay. Any more?”
“The werewolves were seen out at the boat at one point. They got burned out before we had a chance to question them.”
“Really? I thought you were out there earlier today.”
“We were, but by the time we found their hideout, they had scattered to the winds. We went back out when we got the alert about the fire.” He raised an eyebrow. “We’re trying to track them down right now.”
He was looking at me sharply.
I kept my cool. “Motive?”
“Possible illegal cargo. Smuggling. Bringing in drugs or other illicit items. Argument over payment resulting in a fight.” He shrugged. “Seems plausible.”
“Maybe.”
Nothing I’d heard made a very strong case. And that was a problem for the innocent ones, wasn’t it?
He looked deep again and shook his head. “Be careful, Haley. Don’t believe everything you hear.”
“I don’t.”
He shrugged. “Okay. You want to go see Oliver?”
“I do.”
“Let’s go, then.”
Chapter 15
Down the cement stairs and into the holding area, there he was, behind bars, dressed in a fancy tux, just like a fancy butler, but looking as forlorn as any raven shifter in human form you’ve ever seen.
“Oh, look at him,” I said. “Can’t you just go ahead and let him go?”
“Not my decision,” Shane said again. But he gave me a nod. “I’ll give you fifteen minutes with him,” he said. “I’ll be back to let you out.”
“Thanks.”
I went on down and faced the poor guy. He jumped when he saw me and I swear he had tears in his eyes.
“Oh Miss, for you to see me in such a state!”
“Oh think nothing of it, Oliver. We all have our low times. This is just one of yours. It will pass and you’ll forget it ever happened.”
“But to be suspected of murder!”
“Oliver, you didn’t kill anyone!”
He looked at me hopefully. “I didn’t?”
“No, of course not.”
“Then why are they saying I did?”
“Oh Oliver. You poor baby.” I wanted to go into the cell and give him a hug but I knew there was no way that was going to happen. “Shane told me the truth. They’re just holding you here to torture Gran Ana.”
“What?” He moaned. “Oh, my poor Madam! Is she very upset?”
“Yes. She threatened to burn down the building.”
He grew serious now. “Oh no. I hope you reminded her that I would still be in it.”
I grinned. “Never mind. She’s not going to do it. But she may abandon the festival and make me do that.”
“Oh dear.” He looked as shocked as I felt about the prospect.
“Well might you say. If that happens, I’m going to need you my old friend. So don’t do anything rash. Be nice and make them like you. Then they might let you go sooner.”
He frowned thoughtfully. “You think that would work?”
“Can’t hurt,”
He sighed. “You might be right.”
I looked around. There was no one in sight. “So quick. Tell me what really happened.”
“What really…? About what, dear?”
“When you went out to the cabin cruiser.”
“Oh, that.”
“Yes, that. You do know that’s what they are basing this charge on, don’t you?”
He looked shocked. “Oh dear. I suppose that must be it. And that’s all wrong.”
“Of course it is. So tell me how it’s wrong.”
“Well, here’s what happened. I was dusting the antique Ming Dynasty ceramics in the Blue room when Madam stormed in and ordered I stop fiddling around with knick-knacks and go looking for you. She said you were at sea and she wasn’t sure if you were swimming or on a cabin cruiser. But she wanted you back to her house as quickly as possible.”
“Hmm.” I thought that over. “Did she say why?”
He shook his head. “No. But she did say you were going to get into big trouble if she didn’t bail you out of this one.”
Interesting. “Ah. She didn’t elaborate, huh?”
“No my dear, she did not.”
“So you went for a trip to sea. To see the sea.” I giggled.
He frowned. It seemed he didn’t care for light humor when his freedom and honor were at stake. “I did indeed. And quite exhilarating it was. Until a nasty seagull took a dislike to my little sequined jacket. He nearly ripped it to pieces. He was like a wild animal with an obsession. By the time he was through it was in rags. I don’t know if the tailor will be able to patch it. If I see that bird come t
hrough our property I’ll give him what for!”
That made me wonder exactly when and how he’d done his shifting, but I didn’t want to get bogged down in details so I let it go.
“So you spotted the cabin cruiser and landed on board. What did you see there?”
“I didn’t see you, and that was what I’d come for.”
I shook my head. “No, I never was on that boat.”
“No. And I wish I hadn’t been. If I’d kept my head about me, I’d have stayed in Raven form and just flown off again. But there I was, being attacked by a sea gull, so I shifted. He’d plucked half the feathers off my back by then, trying to get at my fancy jacket. The nerve!”
He cocked his head toward the doorway, then leaned forward and said in a conspiratorial tone, “They don’t believe me. They think I shifted in order to kill the captain of that boat.”
“So you did see him.”
He shrugged. “I saw a dead man lying there in a pool of blood. I saw a two by four lying beside him. And I saw the werewolves dashing back toward the pier on their jet-skis. Whether they’d been on the boat or not I cannot say. But they were high tailing it back toward the pier. And that is all I know.”
“How many did you see?”
“Three I believe. Though I couldn’t swear to it.”
I nodded. “So you shifted back and headed for home?”
“Of course not. I shifted back and flew up and down the coast for a long, long time, still looking for you. When I didn’t find you, then I headed for home.” He sniffed. “Limping a bit, I might add. Less a few necessary feathers. I’m hoping they won’t be too hard to grow back, but you can’t tell. I’m not as young as I used to be, you know.”
“No darling,” I said to him soothingly. “None of us are.”
But I left him to sulk and I met Shane on the stairs. “Why don’t you let the poor man go?” I asked him again.
He smiled at me. “I would do exactly that if it were my call,” he said. “But it isn’t.” He glanced at the clock. “And you’d better get on home and make preparations. Tonight’s the big night. I can hear the band already tuning up for the dancing.”
“Oh gosh, it is getting late.” I hesitated, wanting to ask about whether or not the werewolves were considered suspects for the murder, but what the heck. I knew that without asking, didn’t I? Still, it didn’t hurt to pin down facts.
Wild and Witchy Page 12
