Mayhem and Murder

by Tegan Maher

  "Are there any other creatures I need to know about?" TJ asked.

  Addy puckered her lips and pushed them to the side, thinking. "Need to know about, or don't know about?"

  "Uh, either, I guess. Both."

  Now they had my attention.

  "Well, as you can imagine, there are vampires, but again, the movies got that all wrong, for the most part. They can't turn into bats, and it offends them if you even suggest they sleep in a coffin."

  TJ raised a brow. "Of course they would. That makes at least as much sense as everything else I've learned lately. And are there any of those in Eagle Gap?" TJ asked.

  Camille glared at Addy. "What? The girl's gonna live there, and she has the same herbal gifts Nora had, folks are gonna come knockin'."

  Camille heaved a sigh. "Let's meet up at your place tomorrow and I'll bring you up to speed. She's right. You're gonna need to know some things. Course, I'm thankful Nora's around. At least she knows who's allergic to what."

  My mind drifted back to the night I met TJ and Moira. Shelby and Emma were with me, and we stopped at an all-you-can-eat Chinese place. There'd been a beautiful, exuberant family of probably twenty there, pounding down the food like it was going out of style. When Shelby'd passed them on her way to the buffet, they'd stopped eating, paid, and left.

  "Are the werewolves all blondes?" I asked.

  "Yeah, as a matter of fact they are," Camille said. "Why?"

  "I think the girls and I ran into them the first time we met TJ and Moira. At the Chinese buffet. Except when Shelby walked by them, they got all quiet and left like their tail feathers were on fire."

  "That doesn't surprise me," she said. "That was a rough time for all of us over there. Since they didn't know what witches they could trust, it's logical that they avoided all of us. One of their kids was cursed during the ordeal, along with several humans and witches, but, as Addy said, they're not forgiving when it comes to family."

  Rae snorted. "Who is? That just seems normal to me."

  TJ was worrying her lip. "Are we going to have problems?"

  "Nah," Addy said, waving a hand. "The Cavanaughs are good people. If you get a chance, talk to Sue Ann. She's the grandmammy in the pack, and makes the best peach pie in Georgia!"

  Moira elbowed her. "Seriously. Camille's right. It's not right to look down on them or be scared of them because they were born a certain way. They're the same as us, except with arguably cooler gifts, at least sometimes."

  TJ quirked a lip. "When you put it that way ... ."

  "I'll tell you how I'll put it," I said. "Those men were hotter than a two-dollar pistol! Hope you run into a couple of the single ones!"

  Rae nudged me. "Careful. Hunter finds out you're oglin' other men, you'll be in trouble."

  "Oh, honey," Camille said, flapping a hand at her dismissively. "Ain't no woman this side of dead"—she glanced at Addy, who was fanning her face—"or apparently the other side, either, who can't ogle those men!"

  "Okay," Rae said, "We need to cool it down a degree or twenty in here. I interviewed a woman yesterday and she's gonna start tomorrow. As soon as she's trained, I'll officially be able to take entire days off."

  "That's awesome, sweetie!" Camille said. "You've earned it."

  "Yeah, she's actually coming back in a few minutes to fill out her paperwork. I wasn't expecting y'all. She applied back before Christmas, but I couldn't contact her. She has an odd accent, but she's nice."

  We chatted awhile longer, then a tall, leggy brunette came strolling through the door, the bell tinkling above her head.

  Rae waved her over. "Levana, I'd like you to meet the crew." She introduced us, and before we could even say hi, Shelby and Emma burst through the front door, chattering.

  "Shelby, Emma," Rae said, "This is Levana. She's going to be helping me out around here."

  Shelby glanced at her. "Pleased to—" she took a closer look, "Have we met?"

  Levana studied her closely, then looked away. "No, I'm sure we haven't. Well, that may be skating the truth, a bit. I believe you were here when I first applied."

  "Skirting the truth," Shelby muttered, still studying the woman.

  "Pardon?" Levana asked.

  "The expression is skirting the truth, not skating it."

  "You're so right." Levana said, picking up the paperwork. "Raeann, I'll just take these to the small table by the window?"

  "Of course," Rae said.

  Shelby frowned, looking after the woman, but the shook her head and turned to me. "We just wanted to see if y'all were interested in going to the movies with us tonight. We already asked Gabi, but she has to work. The new Marvel movie is out."

  I looked at the other girls, who nodded. "Sounds great. Justin's coming, too."

  We made arrangements to meet, and I shoved thoughts of werewolves from my mind. After all, I had a murder to worry about.

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  WE HELPED RAE CLOSE up while Levana finished her paperwork. She seemed nice, though I did pick up an odd vibe from her. Nothing bad, just odd. I'd keep an eye one her, especially given Shelby's reaction. She and Emma, being typical teenagers, left to do their hair and get dolled up at the farm, while I went to pick up Justin at Bobbie Sue's.

  I chewed my lip as I considered how to approach her about why she was at the restaurant when Justin said she was at the grocery store and decided to shoot straight with her. That's how she'd have approached me. I poked my head in the kitchen to find Justin, Earl, and another little boy about Justin's age pulling pork in preparation for the evening rush.

  "Hey, Noe," he said, reaching for another hunk of meat. "We gotta finish up before we can leave. Earl's been teaching me how to do things because there's a big barbecue cook-off comin' up in a couple months and they have a kids' division. I'm gonna use our family rub and kick some butt, then Earl's gonna win it for us in the grown up section. I could with two thousand dollars and a four-wheeler!"

  I bit my lip to keep from laughing. His pitch had gone up about two octaves and he almost knocked Shane off his chair gesturing. "No kiddin'? Holy moly, then, you'd better get on the ball. Come on out when you're ready." I glanced at Bobbie, who was running a load of dishes through the dishwasher. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

  She tilted her head when she heard the worry in my tone. Shoving the rack of dirty plates into the machine, she followed me out to the server station.

  "What's got your tail in a twist?" she asked.

  "Oh, I'm not mad, and nothing is wrong," I said, hoping I was right. I flicked a wrist to start a fresh canister of tea out of habit—I'd worked there for over four years—but also to buy myself a minute to think. "It's just ... I saw you at the steakhouse last night, and when I called, Justin said you were at the grocery store. Is everything okay?"

  She scrunched her forehead, flummoxed. "Honey, I don't know what you're talkin' about. I went to the Walmart, then to Sam's, then home. I wasn't at no steakhouse."

  I rubbed my face. "There's somethin' not right here. You're one of my best friends. I'd recognize you from behind at a distance, let alone passing within two feet of you, and so would Shelby. And I'm tellin' you - I saw you at the gas station and Shelby saw you at the restaurant." Her face clouded and her eyes narrowed. I held out my hands. "Let me rephrase that. We saw a you-not-you. It's weird."

  "There for a second, I thought you were callin' me a liar," she said.

  I drew back. "Absolutely not! But I am telling you there's somethin' fishy goin' on. At the very least, your doppelganger's in town."

  She smiled, then shrugged. "I don't know nuthin' about that. It's all I can do to keep up with one of me. But you can bet your bottom dollar whoever you saw wasn't me."

  Justin and his friend Shane came rushing out of the kitchen, bringing the conversation to a close. There wasn't anything else to say, anyway.

  I told them to get their coats, then thought of something. "You don't reckon Shane's folks will have a problem with me takin' him to see a sup
erhero movie, do you?"

  She shook her head. "Nah. I've known 'em forever. They ain't like that, but I'll call just in case. If they have a problem, I'll let you know. Oh, and they just piled down enough food for a lumberjack so they should be good to go for a few hours, anyway."

  "Good," I said. "The way that boy eats, I can't imagine feeding two of him."

  She took me by the sleeve as I turned to leave and I glanced back at her. The look on her face was hard to discern; I couldn't decide if it was sadness or gratitude.

  "Thanks for believin' me. I don't know what's goin' on, but it means a lot that you came to me instead of jumpin' to the wrong conclusion."

  I smiled at her. "Of course, you dingbat. I love you."

  She rolled her eyes. "That's enough with the sappy stuff. Git." She gave Justin a quick hug and a stern order to behave himself, and we left. My brain was churning with all of the loose information I'd thrown in there that day, and I was thankful Shelby'd asked us to go. It would be a nice distraction.

  My truck was still at the shop, so we had to walk, but that was fine with me. It was another beautiful day, and I was glad to soak up some sunshine. Anna Mae's what-not shop was on our way, and I stopped in front of her display.

  Anna Mae was Hank's widow and came into a huge chunk of cash when he died. She didn't have to work, but wanted to. She loved her shop and had a real eye for design. This week, there was a mannequin wearing a gingham dress and some cute costume jewelry stood over a washtub and old-timey a 70s-style bathing suit and sunglasses with a picnic basket beside her overflowing with old blue porcelain camping equipment.

  Coke and gas-station signs from the same period hung in the background. They gave me an idea and I decided to poke my head in. I stopped the boys, who were already two stores down.

  "I wanna say hi to Anna Mae for a second."

  Justin wrinkled his nose. "We can't be late for the movie."

  "Chill out. We still have an hour before we're meeting them. We're in no hurry."

  Heaving a sigh that only an impatient tween can, he motioned to his friend. "C'mon. Let's just let her get it over with. Besides, Anna Mae has some cool antique trains and stuff."

  My friend was hard at work arranging a 50s display. An old washtub with homemade soap and a washboard sat beside a wringer washer that was in mint condition. We still had one of those at the farm because Addy was sentimental about it. Personally, I had no desire to even try to use one because as klutzy as I was, I knew I'd lose at least some fingers. Those things were no joke.

  She was stretching to hook the end of a clothesline to a nail that was just out of her reach.

  "Here, lemme help you," I said. Even though I was only average height, I still had at least three inches on her. Think blonde, adorable, and petite and you have a general picture of Anna Mae.

  She jumped when I talked and spun around, grasping her chest.

  "Oh, hey Noelle. You scared the dickens outta me, sweetie." She handed me the rope. "I was just about to empty the washtub and stand on it. I shoulda hung the nail lower, but then the skirts aren't displayed as well."

  I slipped the looped end over the nail. "There ya go. Speaking of displays, I noticed the coke and gas station signs in the front window and I have an idea to throw your way. How about I turn a few of them into clocks for you?"

  She shrugged. "Works for me. Then you just wanna take out our costs and split the profit?"

  "Sounds like a deal."

  "We're headin' to the movies with TJ, Moira, Rae, and the girls if you wanna go. The new Marvel movie's out."

  "Thanks, but I've already seen it. You're gonna love it, though I gotta warn ya, about halfway through, when—"

  I held up a hand and cut her off. "Stop, stop, stop!" I loved her to death, but she should have spoiler alert tattooed on her forehead.

  She had the grace to look sheepish. "Sorry. Enjoy it—it's one of the best yet!"

  "Wow!" Shane said from the back of the store. "Look at those weird video-game cases! They're hard plastic!"

  I smiled when I glanced at the Atari games he was holding.

  Justin said, "You're not gonna believe this, but those are the actual games! Like, way back in the nineteen hundreds, that's what they had to play with."

  Wow, way back then! That didn't make me feel old at all. Anna Mae must have read my mind because she nudged me with her elbow. She was older than me by ten years or so. "You think you feel old? We actually had an Atari when I was little. I can remember when they were the coolest thing ever. As a matter of fact, that one's from Mama's attic."

  I laughed and collected the boys, ready for a little bit of modern entertainment. We had super-villains to thwart.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

  THE MOVIE WAS, AS ALWAYS, awesome. Hunter didn't make it back from Eagle Gap 'til almost midnight, so when he texted to say goodnight, he said he'd give me a rundown of what he'd learned from Sam Keith.

  Since I had the boys, I got up early the next morning and made them pancakes. Addy'd taught us how to make hers, which was a blessing. When she passed, the three things I mourned the most were the loss of her hugs, her advice, and her pancakes. The morning I looked up as saw her floating in that stall, I realized I'd never get the hugs again, but I had the other two back, and considered myself one of the luckiest women in the world.

  "You're gonna burn it if you don't flip it," the pancake queen herself nagged as she hovered over the stove, pointing at the griddle. "You've got the heat up too high."

  Okay, I was still one of the luckiest women in the world, but I was also one of the most irritated right then, too.

  "I am not! I have the heat set at medium, same as always." I slid the spatula under the edge of one of the pancakes and peeled it up just far enough to see under it. I slid my tongue over my teeth in frustration and cursed under my breath because she was right. I flipped them about three seconds before they would have turned black.

  I pointed the spatula at her and narrowed my eyes as she hovered with her arms crossed, looking smug. "Don't say it."

  "Say what, dear? That I was right? No problem. I'll just zip it."

  Justin and Shane padded into the kitchen yawning. Justin sniffed the air. "Aw, you didn't burn 'em, did you?"

  I turned to them and scowled. "Don't start or you'll have leftover meatloaf for breakfast. With spinach."

  He grimaced, and Shane looked terrified. "She's kidding, right?" he asked Justin.

  "Probably," he answered, "but maybe we should go see the horses 'til she'd done."

  I huffed out a breath and brushed a stray curl off my forehead. "No, don't do that. It's ready."

  A quick peek in the oven told me what my nose already knew—the bacon was done. I pulled it out, then made the boys a couple plates and set them along with the warmed homemade blueberry syrup in front of them. I knew better than to put the bacon over there, too. That stuff had to be rationed.

  Shelby and Emma shuffled into the kitchen yawning. They headed straight for the espresso maker and it was only a couple minutes before they collapsed at the table, shooting the chattering boys the hairy eyeball. Teenagers are rarely morning people, but Shelby was worse than most.

  I still had her beat with age and experience though, so we had an unwritten agreement that no conversation would be initiated until we'd each had at least half a cup of caffeine. It kept things civil.

  I heard Hunter's bike purring up the driveway, and a few seconds later, came stomping across the porch. I smiled when the screen door slapped shut and he entered the kitchen.

  "Hey handsome," I said.

  "Hey beautiful." He gave me a hug from behind and kissed me on my temple, then reached around me for the bacon. I smacked him on the hand with the spatula, but not before he snagged a piece.

  He poured himself a cup of coffee, then teased the kids while I finished cooking. A few minutes later, I slid the stack of pancakes onto the table alongside the plates.

  Shelby, looking moderately more awake,
grabbed a slice of bacon and popped it into her mouth. "What are your plans for the day?"

  I forked a couple of pancakes onto my plate. "I'm gonna take the boys riding. What about you?"

  "We were gonna do the same thing. Wanna ride back around the lake?"

  Shelby'd had a come-to-Jesus experience at Christmastime that had changed her. Before, she'd been a spoiled brat. Not mean or nasty—just egocentric. We'd almost lost each other because of her arrogance, and suffice it to say, she did a lot of growing up in a short amount of time.

  She'd overestimated her magic and landed herself in no-man's land, between the two worlds. It had literally taken a miracle to save her, but she'd come back to this plane a different woman. Kinder, more thoughtful, and she put much more care into her actions. We'd revived a relationship I'd thought was gone forever, so all in all, it was a horrible yet wonderful experience.

  One of the ways she'd changed was that she made an effort to spend time with me when she could, and I did the same.

  "What do you think, boys? Are you up for a longer ride?" I threw the question out before I invested any thought into the situation I gave myself a mental forehead slap. "Shane, have you ever ridden before?"

  He nodded like a bobble-head doll, eyes wide. "Yes, ma'am. My oldest sister has horses and I ride hers all the time. She has a gelding named Jake she keeps just for me. He's sorrel, with a big blaze and socks."

  I breathed a sigh of relief. Horses are so woven into my life that sometimes I forget that's not the case with most people. "Good, then a longer ride's okay?" They both nodded, and Shane looked at Emma with those giant eyes that only accompany a kid-crush.

  When the boys were finished eating, Justin grabbed the egg basket and motioned to Shane. "C'mon, I gotta go collect the eggs."