by Jane Cousins
“The court rules that the north side of the fence is to be painted white, the south side, green.” Instead of making the brothers happy, this decision seemed to only fuel their protests. “What’s the issue now?”
“What about the top of the fence?” They asked in stereo.
Berry frowned down at the fence schematics before her. They were seriously going to continue this dispute over the quarter of an inch line of wood running along the top of the fence? “The court rules that the top is to be painted black.” Neither man appeared happy with her judgement, good, there would be no winner or loser here today.
She banged her gavel again, to get their attention once more. “Problem?”
“Well…” Morty shifted uncomfortably.
Malcolm grimaced. “Pasty and Barb.” He referred to their two wives. “They want a gate in the fence.”
“And?” Berry asked.
“We’re at loggerheads over the best placement for it.” Morty supplied.
Berry nodded her head. Biting the inside of her cheek to keep from screaming. Honestly, why couldn’t these two get a hobby? Berry looked over at Marion. “Can we set a new court date for next month to hear the proposed fence gate placement arguments?”
Marion gave her a small smile and a discreet roll of her eyes. “Yes, Your Honour.”
Berry nodded. “Then we are adjourned.”
The twins looking unhappy, hurriedly approached the bench with the obvious intention of continuing to air their real and imaginary grievances. Berry could ask Glen, her court bailiff to escort them out, or even Gideon, her personal police bodyguard for the day. But once the hearing was officially over, Morty and Malcolm were family… she’d have to be polite.
Damn, she barely had enough time to head back to her office for a quick lunch and review the information regarding this afternoon’s scheduled case. Her third cousin, once removed, Truman, who owned Southey’s Bar and Grill wanted monetary restitution to cover property damages and loss of profits from her Cousin Cedric… or rather his sheep.
Since the sheep were invisible and there was no security footage that could back up his claims, Truman had a list of twenty-five witnesses he wished to call to testify upon his behalf. It promised to be a long winded afternoon, especially if the sheep decided to gate crash the proceedings.
Berry stood up, plastering a smile onto her face as the twins approached, trying to elbow each other out of the way like children, rather than the seventy year olds Berry knew them to be. Though given her family’s longevity and magic, the two could have passed for fifty year olds.
Despite how passionate they were about their grievances, the twins still had the good sense to freeze in place as Cicero suddenly landed on top of Berry’s desk, issuing a soft, plaintive meow. In fact, everyone in the courtroom froze, even Glen and Gideon, and they were carrying guns.
“Where did Cicero come from?” Marion asked softly, between clenched teeth.
Berry badly wanted to leap onto her chair in case Puffball and ringleader Limbo were also in the area but decided against making any sudden moves. “I don’t know.” Berry slowly began to back away. Cicero didn’t like that, meowing sharply in Berry’s direction. Berry immediately froze. Honestly, hadn’t her Great-Great-Aunts ever thought of keeping their cats in crates with big assed locks? The community at large was not safe with the feline trio on the loose.
“Stay still Berry…” Morty instructed.
“We’ll take care of this.” Malcolm agreed. The twins were back in team mode.
Cicero was having none of it, arching her back and hissing long and loud at them.
“I think she wants you two to leave.” Berry whispered softly.
“No Berry…”
Cicero’s next hiss was louder than the twins’ protests. Reflexively the two started to back away, Cicero now disinterested in them switched her full attention back to Berry.
“Why do you hate me so much? What have I ever done to you?” Berry eyed the ginger coloured feline with displeasure.
“Don’t taunt her Berry.” Gideon was sidling up next to her. “Just keep her attention fixed on you, be nice for Goddess sake.”
“Nice?” Berry hissed between gritted teeth. “Do you have any idea the havoc they’ve caused?”
The embarrassment of being locked out her house naked, being found by Ramsey like that. The money she could ill afford to spend on clothes and shoes… wasted. Thank Heavens they hadn’t gotten their claws on Etta’s cast-offs, otherwise she’d have nothing left to wear but her court robes.
Ooh, she’d just had the best idea ever. Berry yanked her robe off quick smart, flinging the garment over Cicero. Laughing, as the cat, suddenly trapped by the layer of fabric, hissed and made its displeasure known.
“Everyone out. Now!” Berry doubted her court room had ever cleared so fast. Out in the corridor Berry slammed closed the door, panting hard, trying to catch her breath, accepting Marion’s thanks and Glen’s grudging appreciative, abrupt nod. Practically effusive praise coming from her taciturn court bailiff.
Gideon gave out a whoop of approval. “Good thinking Berry, I so did not want to have to request back-up and explain to the Chief I was calling in a hostage situation perpetrated by a cat.”
Berry chuffed a laugh. “That would definitely be playing the charming small town eccentric card one too many times. I have some work to catch up on over lunch.” She turned and headed towards her office at the far end of the hall. Behind her, even through the thick mahogany doors she could hear the angry yowls of Cicero still. Payback it seems, was a pissed off judge with voluminous robes.
Gideon followed her to plant himself across from her office door. “I’ll be out here if you need me. Marion bought an extra sandwich in for me, so I’m all set for lunch and don’t worry, I’ll keep a sharp eye out for Gaia. Not that she’s likely to get passed Thom.”
Berry entered her office, closing the door behind her with a soft satisfied sigh. She’d escaped Morty, Malcolm and Cicero all in one fell swoop. Her day was looking up, now she had plenty of time to enjoy a peaceful lunch and review the police reports regarding the notorious Southey Bar and Grill sheep invasion. Taking a seat at her desk she relaxed, letting the mid-afternoon breeze blowing in through the open balcony doors clear away the cobwebs.
She’d always considered the balcony a bonus, until today, when the business end of a gun was suddenly jabbed into her cheek.
“If you want to live, you’ll be very… very quiet. Understand?”
Berry’s gaze tracked over the gun, up the arm holding it, to the man standing next to her. Thin, rabid and jittery, were three descriptive words that instantly leapt to mind.
“I understand.” The words coming out of her mouth, barely a whisper. The intruder must have slipped into her chambers whilst she was in court, hiding out on the balcony until he heard her return. “Who are you? What do you want?”
“Quietly.” He reminded, jabbing the gun into her cheek hard enough to bruise, just because he could, she thought, not because she’d forgotten to whisper. “And you can call me Gerry.”
“Gerry? What is it you want, Gerry?”
He leaned in, he was a tall man and thin to the point of being unhealthy, with dirt ground into his skin as if he’d been living rough. Certainly his breath attested to a recent lack of dental hygiene and a smoking habit. His dark hair was thinning and slicked back from his face, dark eyes, prominent nose and fleshy lips.
Berry didn’t know a Gerry, and she couldn’t recall ever encountering this man before. But it didn’t take a rocket scientist to put two and two together and work out Gerry was the one who’d shot her. It would have been nice to ask why, but she was guessing from the increasing pressure of the gun being ground into her cheekbone and the way Gerry’s dark eyes burned, that he was not a particularly patient man.
“I want you to call him, get him in here.”
“Who? Gideon?” That earned her another jab.
“That fucke
r, Hughes.” Gerry hissed directly into her face. “Betraying bastard.”
“Chief Hughes?” Oh Goddess, this was about Ramsey, though now was not the time to say I told you so, especially to the deranged man holding the gun.
“Chief? What a joke that is. That piece of lying scum…” Gerry mumbled a few more words that Berry couldn’t make out. “Call him. Tell him to get his ass over here.”
“Why?” She couldn’t just call Ramsey, let him walk into danger. Maybe if she could figure out what motivated Gerry she could manage the situation better. Despite the pain she managed to turn her head slightly so she could look directly into his eyes. How could such cold eyes burn with such anger, malice? It physically hurt her to stare into those depths, but she didn’t dare flinch, Ramsey’s life was on the line.
Gerry barked a soft laugh. “You haven’t gone and fallen for him have you? I wouldn’t trust whatever promises he’s made to you. The man has no code, can’t even face a brother when he stabs him in the back.”
Berry tried not to frown, Ramsey didn’t have any family, let alone a brother, and she’d heard him state he had no friends. So just who the hell was jittery Gerry?
“Call him bitch.” Gerry picked up the phone on her desk, waving it under her nose.
“Not until you tell me what you plan to do to him.” Berry fought not flinch as the phone passed within an inch of her jaw.
Gerry smiled, and it wasn’t pretty. “I intend to do whatever I damn well please, bitch.”
Berry’s magic kicked in as she stared into those dark, hate filled, depths. The future as it stood right now presented her with a hundred different pathways, all of which showed her in a millisecond Ramsey entering her office and immediately being shot dead by Gerry. She wanted to scream, to howl, as terror at seeing Ramsey killed a hundred times over rocked her to her very core. Instead, she forced herself to reach up and take the phone from Gerry.
“That’s a good girl…”
She swung the handset with all of her might at his face, screaming as she did so. Gerry’s howl of outrage joining hers. She elbowed him out of the way, scrambled around the desk and hit her office door, even as Gerry hit her from behind, slamming her hard into the wood. Outside she heard Gideon’s cry of alarm.
“It’s a trap.” She screamed. Ducking Gerry’s arm as he tried to wrestle her under control. “He’s not to come through this door. Not this door! Do you hear me Gideon? Not this door!” Crying out as Gerry grabbed a handful of her hair and slammed her head into the door, dazing her.
The door handle rattled and she heard Gideon calling out again on the other side. She screamed again as Gerry bought his gun up, firing through the wood… deafening her in the process but not enough that she didn’t hear Gideon’s pain filled cry. Oh Merciful Lady, she hoped he wasn’t dead.
Gerry grabbed her by the hair again, shoving her across the room, back towards her desk. Turning he leaned his back against the door, grinning at her, blood streaming down his face from his nose that she’d managed to break when she’d slugged him with the phone.
“Well I guess that’s as good as a phone call.” He laughed loudly this time, his teeth stained with blood.
Berry closed her eyes. The madness in Gerry’s eyes seared her soul. Oh Goddess, this couldn’t be happening, Ramsey would die if he stepped through that door attempting to save her. She bit back a moan, blinking away tears of frustration. Getting hysterical, letting emotions cloud her judgement, none of that would be helpful. She could fall apart later, after this was all over. Right this minute, she needed a plan. If the Goddess decreed someone had to die here today, she wouldn’t let it be Ramsey. No matter what she had to do to protect him.
Chapter Seventeen
“You’re a calm one, I’ll give you that.”
Berry concentrated all her attention on finishing the chicken sandwich she’d ordered in for lunch. Her stomach was roiling but she forced down the food, acting, she hoped, like she didn’t have a care in the world. Figuring that ignoring Gerry would prove to be the key to getting him to talk. Cray-cray people, ones who smiled all the time like Gerry, they needed an audience. They wanted to talk. But they liked their secrets and games too. Gerry had to be the one to break the silence, not her.
She shifted on the visitor’s chair, absently rubbing her bruised forehead. She would be black and blue by the time this was over. Lowering her arm she bit back a sigh as she noted a small rip on the cuff of her blouse, she prayed Riya would be able to mend it. Little things, she just needed to keep calm by focusing on the little things. Ignore the gun. Ignore the madman. Ignore those eyes of his.
“Hey.”
Berry flicked her eyes up, settling her focus just left of centre, his nose had stopped bleeding and now Gerry was smugly perched across from her. Strange to see someone else sitting at her desk, in her chair. He was swinging from side to side, like a small child discovering their first swivel chair. Damn, could the man get any creepier? She quirked an eyebrow upwards briefly before forcing herself to take another big bite of her sandwich.
“I just worked something out… Gerry and Berry… get it?” He brayed a nasal laugh that cut off eerily into sudden silence as he scowled across at the heavy office door. “Sure is quiet out there. I hope for your sake that sanctimonious bastard is on his way.”
Berry forced herself to shrug carelessly. “He might be out on a call. Next time, make an appointment.”
Gerry laughed again. “I wonder how that cop’s doing? The one I shot.”
Berry turned her head to study the door. Thank the Goddess Gideon was tall. She was betting, from the height of the bullet-hole in the wood, that if he had been hit, it wouldn’t prove fatal. She had to believe that, or she’d be a complete wreck.
“It’s real quiet out there. You think he’s dead?” Gerry needled, obviously trying to get a reaction out of her.
Berry shrugged again. “If you’re worried, why don’t you open the door and stick your head out and take a look.”
Gerry laughed again, bouncing up and down slightly in the chair. “You’re funny, cool in a crisis and pretty. I can see why Hughes would hook up with you. Of course, banging the local Judge is a smart move on his part.”
“You’re implying Ramsey has a hidden agenda by… dating me?”
“He’s Chief of Police and has the local magistrate under his thumb, textbook definition of having this district sewn up.”
Berry fought not to take umbrage at the ‘under the thumb’ assessment. So Gerry was a chauvinist pig, now was not the time for a feminist rant. “Maybe I’m the one who has the town sewn up and Ramsey’s the one under my thumb.”
Gerry actually giggled this time, it was a chilling sound. “He never said you were funny.”
Berry crumpled the paper bag up that her sandwich had come in and dabbed her mouth with the napkin provided. From the corner of her eye she caught a flicker of movement behind Gerry, out on the balcony. Was that Ramsey? Act natural Berry, for Heaven’s sake, act natural… don’t give the game away. “Who never said?”
“Robbie boy.”
Berry didn’t have to fake her surprise. “You know my ex-husband, Robert Granger?” Suddenly she put a few - staring her in the face - facts together. “You’re one of the prison escapees? Where’s Robert?” She turned her head to the door, for some reason expecting Robert to saunter in. He always did know when to make a dramatic timely entrance, but the door remained firmly closed.
Gerry giggled again, bobbing up and down. “You could say we had a parting of ways.”
Robert was behind all this! It boggled her mind. Snap out of it Berry, now wasn’t the time to get distracted. She chanced a glance behind Gerry, Ramsey had made it safely over the stone balcony wall and was now crouched in the shadows, waiting for what, she wasn’t sure. The only thing she could do to help was to keep Gerry talking and focused on her. “Why does he want me dead?”
Gerry blinked eerily, looking confused for a moment.
“
The shooting… setting my car on fire?” She reminded tersely.
“Oh that.” Gerry waved the gun in the air absently. “My bad… the shooting anyway. Though you really only have yourself to blame there.”
“I do?” Berry was so surprised she almost missed the indistinct, second shadowy figure ease over the balcony wall. Thank the Goddess, Ramsey had bought back-up.
“Well duh. You’re supposed to be some whizz bang witch and you step right in front of a bullet meant for deputy dipshit.”
“You were aiming for Ramsey that day?” She knew it! And what did he mean by calling her a witch?
“If I hadn’t been so fucking surprised to see him here… with you, of all people.” Gerry grinned suddenly, his eyes blazing with what Berry could only describe as glee. “Life is a funny thing you know. It kicks you in the balls, then it delivers your archenemy gift wrapped and oblivious, just standing across a car park from you. Though why I should be surprised, after everything Robbie boy said about you… you really are a good luck witch charm.”
“Good luck witch charm?”
Gerry rolled his eyes. “The number of nights he kept us awake going on and on about his wife, the good luck charm. How you had to be a witch or a psychic or something, the way you could predict those winning horses the way you did.”
Damn, why did the man have to speak so loudly or for that matter, so eloquently? It was one thing for her to distract Gerry and keep him talking but for Ramsey to hear about magic… no, lunatic remember, no way Ramsey would believe Gerry’s ramblings had any credibility.
“I talk in my sleep.” Berry admitted, embarrassed colour flooding her cheeks. “Robert heard what he wanted to hear in my midnight mutterings. If he’s here with you now, he can’t possibly think I’d go with him willingly.” She forced herself not to tense as Ramsey began to ease closer to the still ajar balcony door. Where his back-up was, she no longer knew. The balcony wasn’t huge, where had the other man gone?
