“Look, we just lost my Grandpa. It’s not a good time.”
Gram tried stepping forward, pushing her way in, but Petra blocked the door with her foot.
Scarlett glanced at Gus who was carefully not laughing at Gram. It made keeping a straight face all the more difficult, but she found it way less so when she felt that tickle on her senses that was starting to cue her into Lex’s presence.
She turned slowly and saw a police SUV pull-up outside of the James home. Of course, it was Lex. He had a look on his face that said he was furious. Was it Gus? Or was it that they were there? Or perhaps a special bouquet of the two?
She met Lex’s gaze. His flicked from her face to Gus and then settled back on her again. A part of her felt the need to shift her feet, but she held firm. She wasn’t doing anything wrong. Not really. They were here with every right. It wasn’t like they were pretending to be the police or even getting past the door. Plus, she told herself, Gram had known Betty for years. Scarlett even remembered spending a summer in the library program with Betty. They’d been friendly once.
He got out of the police SUV and walked towards the house, adjusting his gun belt. Scarlett’s lips twitched. He stepped up behind them and cleared his throat.
“Petra James?”
She nodded.
“My name is…”
“I know who you are,” Petra said. She wasn’t being rude or confrontational. She glanced at Gram, Scarlett, and Gus and said, “This isn’t a good time.”
Gram stepped back, shot Scarlett a nasty look as if Petra getting rid of them were somehow Scarlett’s fault.
“We’ll be back,” Gram told Petra.
She raised her brows and said, “Don’t bother.”
Lex paused long enough that Scarlett was sure he was biting his comment back. Gram walked back to the car, got inside, and said, “That was interesting.”
“I always find it interesting when someone shakes you off so easily,” Scarlett said. “I don't know about Gus, but I was definitely taking notes.”
“Why are you dragging me into it?” Gus asked, adjusting his too long legs in the back seat. He looked folded over, and Scarlett grinned at his discomfort.
“Wuss,” she said.
“Brat,” he said.
“Shut it,” Gram said.
Scarlett started Harper’s car but she didn’t drive away. This had to be finished before Christmas. Her girls needed to wake up carefree and happy on Christmas only worried about all the things they wanted to do with the rest of their holiday from school. Scarlett, Gram, and Gus needed to talk to Petra and Betty. They couldn’t while Lex was there. Scarlett pounded the steering wheel in frustration.
Maybe…her gaze was caught by the sight of an elderly woman in a house dress, big warm boots, and a robe making her way from the back of the house towards the trees. The only reason they could see her was the way the house was situated on the lot. Even then, it was pure luck that the trail the woman was following cut at the right angle. Scarlett jerked her head towards the woman and Gram cackled.
“Betty,” Gram said. “But we can’t let Lex know what we’re doing. He’ll ruin everything.”
She glanced around and said, “Drive down the street. Park at the blue house.”
Scarlett started the car and Gram said, “Rev the engine.”
Given the level of Scarlett’s anger with Lex, she enjoyed revving it a little too much. She was pretty sure Lex would assume she was furious and that gave her just a little more delight. She drove down the street, pulled into an empty driveway, and parked Harper’s car. They walked behind the house and into the woods that ran along the whole block.
As soon as they were within the trees, Gram called, “Betty?”
Gram was the one who embraced magic and used it to follow the old woman. They found Betty sitting on a stump next to an ashtray smoking a cigar.
“If I wanted you around, Sasha, I’d have answered when you called.”
Gus and Scarlett both stopped while Gram crossed over, took a seat next to Betty and snatched the cigar from Betty, taking a long drag.
“If I cared what you wanted,” Gram said, “I’d have let you be.”
Gram leaned back, handed the cigar over, and examined Betty. Scarlett did the same. Betty was too thin with dark circles under her eyes and hair that hadn’t been combed in longer than Scarlett’s.
“You always were a cow,” Betty said holding the cigar close to her face and breathing the scent of it in.
“You ok?” Gram asked. There was that elusive Gram gentleness again.
Gram said, “Wasn’t this what Herbert smoked?”
Betty nodded. Her tight curls bobbing in the cold. She wrapped her scarf tighter and said, “Petra doesn’t like smoking. She didn’t want Herbert to either. Even though he was dying. Petra would have taken away the last of his comforts if I’d have let her get away with it.
The sadness of that answer had Scarlett taking Gus’s hand. She wished that it wouldn’t be weird for him to give her a hug because this was breaking Scarlett’s heart.
“I heard he passed,” Gram said. “You were a lucky woman. I’m…”
“Don't say it,” Betty snapped. “Just don’t say it.”
Gram just took the cigar, took another drag and told Betty, “Ok.”
Scarlett leaned against the tree behind them letting Gram do all the talking. Scarlett kept hold of Gus for the comfort of it.
“Getting old sucks doesn’t it?” Betty’s hand was shaking as she took another puff of her cigar. “Losing the people you care about one after another and realizing that the poor fool who died first was the lucky one.”
Scarlett bit her lip to keep from commenting. She felt this need to do something, to say something, but what could you say to this kind of grief?
“It does suck. You were lucky to have Herbert though.”
“You have your warlock,” Betty snapped. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
Gram snapped her mouth shut and then carried on instead and said, “But you had Herbert for decades. And as much as I care about José, he still mourns his wife. It’s a weird thing to be loved even while your love regrets another.”
Scarlett wasn’t sure she wanted to hear her Gram reveal herself this way. Scarlett also didn’t want to hear Gram ignore Betty’s desire to be left alone.
“At least he’s alive,” Betty snapped. Her eyes were almost smoking with fury. “I asked you to not say it.”
“I’m sorry,” Gram said, ignoring Betty’s request. “I’m sorry about Herbert.”
“I never liked you, Sasha Oaken.”
“It’s going to be ok,” Gram said. She had that forced gentle voice back again, but Betty almost snarled.
She held up her hands with their large arthritic knuckles. Her nails were thick and yellowed. Her hands shook and she had scratches on her wrist. She sniffed, scratched at her arm, and then snarled, “Ok? Smoking cigars and hiding from my granddaughter. How has it come to this? And would you call that ok? All I have left is to endure until I die. Too bad we’re so long-lived isn’t it?”
Scarlett wanted to just wrap the little woman up. Gram glanced at Scarlett, trying to shoot her a look about something, but Scarlett couldn’t read it. Gram’s eyes narrowed on Scarlett and then Gram shook her head as if she were exasperated. She cleared her throat. Scarlett glanced at Gus and then back to Gram.
Gram coughed. What in the world? Scarlett looked at the trees for some clue, but…oh. Oh then she felt it. Scarlett turned slowly. Lex was standing a few feet behind them with Petra, his gaze was not fixed on Betty and her cigar. It was on the place where Scarlett was clutching Gus’s hand. She sighed as she let go. It wasn’t a dating thing, it was a mourning thing. It was hearing Betty’s pain and projecting it onto the people that Scarlett loved. That was what had her grasping at Gus. But it wasn’t something she could explain to Lex. Not then. Not with an audience and not with that look in his gaze.
It felt as though fate
were somehow determined to keep Scarlett and Lex fighting. She wanted to go to him. But she wasn’t going to. An audience prevented anything from being fixed or explained. Besides…she was the one who was angry.
“Grandma,” Petra said, shooting Scarlett’s Gram a nasty look, “This is Lex Warder. He’d like to talk to you.”
“About what?” Betty demanded without even bothering to look over at them. She ran the cigar along the end of her nose, breathing the scent of the smoke in deeply. The way she clutched at that the cigar, the way she savored it was so full of grief it felt like a kick right into Scarlett’s empathy.
“About Jennifer,” Petra said. “Grandma, those things aren’t good for you. Please, I asked you to stop.”
Petra hadn’t ceased in her nasty looks to Gram with a few tossed towards Scarlett and Gus. Scarlett wanted to explain that Gram was immune to the social pressures. And perhaps to apologize, but it would be a wasted effort.
“Stupid…” Betty said and then snapped her mouth shut.
Lex knew Gram wouldn’t leave easily, so he just asked, “Betty, would you mind coming inside to talk to me?”
Smooth Lex, Scarlett thought.
“Why?” Betty cast Gram a sly look and then said, “So Sasha doesn’t hear that Murphy is an idiot? Sasha isn’t stupid. She can talk to Murphy and figure it out for herself.”
“Grandma,” Petra hissed. “Stop.”
“Why?” Betty demanded. “I won’t pretend to like Jennifer. You know she was worthless. A waste of space and air. I complained about her time and again. She was terrible for Herbert, and the clinic should have replaced her like I demanded.”
Scarlett blinked at the sheer, unadulterated hated in Betty’s voice.
“Not that it matters now.”
There was so much grief in that last sentence that Scarlett winced. Betty took a deep drag off of the cigar and closed her eyes.
Scarlett wanted to tell Lex, ‘It’s not them. This woman is just mourning.’ Only Scarlett wasn’t sure she believed that. She felt like she was swimming in motive up to her ears. If Betty were younger, Scarlett would have laid money on the woman being the killer of Jennifer Murphy and the person who hurt Gus and hex bagged Scarlett’s apartment. But would they involve the Oaken family in this murder?
There was no connection between the James and Oakens beyond both being druids. There was no reason that Scarlett would need to be involved at all—and yet her apartment had been targeted.
“Jennifer Murphy spent a lot of time here,” Lex said, without bothering to make Gram, Scarlett, and Gus leave.
“It was her job,” said Betty. “You think she’d have done it instead of just pretending to.”
“You know that isn’t true, Grandma,” Petra said, talking over her grandmother. “She’s upset. I told you she hasn’t been the same since Grandpa started to pass away. It isn’t right to question her. Her faculties…”
“You stop it with that,” Betty snarled.
Petra’s face demanded that they agree, but Scarlett hadn’t seen a sign of diminished capacity in Betty. She seemed a sharp and as angry as anyone could be.
“We need to figure out what happened to Jennifer Murphy,” Lex said in that professional tone that had no give. Not that he owed anyone kindness. It certainly wasn’t his job to let someone bypass questions about murder. “You need to come inside.”
Scarlett wanted to go to him, but she couldn’t. And not just because they were fighting but because affection would be out of place in this setting, and they needed some time without an audience to get back to themselves.
“Mrs. James,” Lex said, capturing Betty’s attention. “I’m sorry to tell you that Jennifer Murphy passed away. We’re trying to find out what happened to her?”
“She probably died of stupidity,” Betty said. “The world’s a better place without her.”
“Grandma!” Petra hurried forward and wrapped an arm around Betty’s waist. “Put that nasty cigar out. It isn’t good for you. Let’s go inside. She’s just upset,” Petra said to Lex, but her gaze circled all of them and there was a bit of plea in it. “She hasn’t been well. She’s…struggling.”
She mouthed the word “dementia.”
Betty’s mouth twisted and the east wind rose with her agitation. It swirled around everyone pushing them back steps except for Betty, Gram, and Scarlett.
“Stop it,” Gram ordered, and the east wind rushed away.
Gram snorted derisively said, “Help the woman, Gus. Her feet are cold.”
Gus stepped forward, but Petra pushed him off and said, “I got it. Leave us alone.”
Chapter 10
Lex got rid of Gram far easier than Scarlett would have thought possible. He walked Petra and Betty to the back of their house, but before he left, he said to Scarlett, “I’ll be calling. Answer the phone.”
Given the pretty justified irritation in his voice, she nodded and then watched him swerve back to Betty and Petra. Betty’s face was stone with narrowed eyes and a look of shifty eyes. She looked like Gram. Scarlett wondered if there was something about an aging druid that morphed them into something else. Something mean and immovable as a mountain.
Petra, on the other hand, looked sick. Scarlett couldn’t even imagine how hard it was to care for your dying relatives. She preferred to avoid even thinking about it. The sheer idea of it made Scarlett want to clutch them all closer.
They walked back to the car where the residents of the house still hadn’t come home. What a head-scratcher it would have been to find Harper’s car in their driveway. Given Harper’s reputation, they’d probably worry something was on fire.
Scarlett glanced at Gus and said, “Let’s dump Gram, yeah?”
“You say that as if I want to spend the day with you fools,” Gram said. She gave Scarlett a snide glance and then said, “You’re in trouble with Lex. He’s gonna yell at you.”
“I love you, you old bat,” Scarlett said, kissing Gram’s cheek. “I’m glad you aren’t dead.”
Gram cupped Scarlett’s face for a moment and said, “I’ll be around to harass you for much longer. You better figure out how to slide out of trouble with Lex. He’s a good match for you.”
She was in trouble with him? He was the one who let her assume his parents were dead because it was easier than explaining why there was a problem. She didn’t want to think about that either.
She deserved to be in trouble for meddling in his job? Maybe. Lex had every right to do his job without the interference of family. But then again…it wasn’t like he hadn’t set the precedent when they’d discovered who killed the last mayor. He should have known what he was a getting into.
Scarlett shrugged one of Lex’s enigmatic shrugs and grinned wickedly at Gus, “I’m childfree, the bakery is closed, shall we pull a Harper and set something on fire?”
He looked at Gram, his gaze lingering for a second with something in his expression, but he said, “Sure.”
“Oh my gosh,” Scarlett laughed. “You want to pick Gram’s brain about the woman Gram has picked out for you.”
“Shut up,” he said, shivering. He frowned and while Scarlett watched his teeth started chattering.
“You do,” Scarlett said distractedly. Why was he shivering? He was wearing a warm coat, like they all were. Scarlett hadn’t reached that point of too-cold. And Gus…
She and Gram reached out at the same time to touch Gus’s cheek. He was freezing. Far beyond what a few minutes outside would justify.
“Get Lex,” Gram snapped already embracing magic.
“I…” Gus said. His voice slurred to a stop and he seemed to have forgotten what he was going to say. His fangs were out and his eyes were becoming clouded.
“Now!” Gram shouted.
Scarlett turned and ran back to the house. She pounded on the door, ringing the bell frantically.
“Lex,” she shouted as she shook the handle of the door.
He answered the door in moment, grabbing her and pullin
g her to him. It was almost as if he knew what was happening. He ran towards Gus and Gram and Scarlett chased after.
“Stay back,” Lex yelled.
She didn’t, of course. She channeled her energy and gave it to Gram. Lex broke a charm off of his bracelet and slapped it onto Gus’s chest while he was still reeling from whatever was happening. The charm caused Gus to collapse and Lex had him in cuffs a second later.
“Lex,” Scarlett gasped. “What are you doing? He wasn’t hurting us.”
“He’s dangerous,” Lex said. He flipped Gus onto his back and checked him over.
The charm had knocked Gus out cold, the cuffs held his wrists tight, but the charm hadn’t removed the terrifying gray skin, the way his lips were blue, or the way his fangs had dropped. He seemed to be almost deflating as whatever magic used against him ate his strength.
“No one was here,” Scarlett said. “We were out here alone. The car isn’t hex-bagged, and we aren’t even in it.”
“It has to be a hexed voodoo doll.”
“Those don’t work, do they?” Scarlett asked, hoping they didn’t. She hadn’t learned about those either.
“Yes,” Lex said. “They do.”
“Did Petra or Betty do anything?”
“I didn’t see anything, but Betty had said she was changing her clothes, and Petra was making coffee.”
“Isn’t there more to voodoo dolls than a wish? Even for a magic user?” Scarlett knelt down next to Gus and touched his cheek again. It was near ice cold.
“Yeah,” Gram said, sounding dangerous. “You need the know-how, magical materials, Gus’s true name, and something from him. Skin or hair or blood.”
“Those are all pretty easy to get,” Scarlett said. She brushed his hair back. When they were little she’d done this so many times. Knelt next to him as his magic ate at him. He shouldn’t have survived childhood. He wouldn’t have without Scarlett’s family. She seemed to see that image of the child, Gus hovering over this version of him. “Except the blood. I suppose that would be harder.”
Lex placed a hand on Scarlett’s shoulder, squeezing it. He glanced back to Betty’s house where Petra and Betty were standing on the stoop watching them.
Christmas and Curses Page 7
