by Ellie Moses
My Aunt Dixie hoofed it up the mountainside like a regular old billy goat but I straggled behind her. I wasn’t out of shape, but I sure wasn’t climbing any faster than I had to.
The site wasn’t going anywhere and the clues we could see wouldn’t have been disturbed by Sheriff Quinn or any of his regular deputies. I hoped Deputy Carter hadn’t been up to investigate yet.
I felt the power used to break my ward ten yards before I saw the demolished still. It lingered over the site like a heavy, black cloud. This was dark magick for sure.
I suspected as much since my family only practiced bright magick, that meant we used our talents to help others. Dark magick was practiced with the intent of helping oneself at the expense of others.
Aunt Dixie walked around the perimeter of the site and I could see she was using her gift again. I got busy searching the brush around the still for any clues to lead me to whoever was powerful enough to break my ward.
There were signs of a struggle, and other physical markers of a murder scene, but the thing that caught my eye was almost too tiny to be seen. Something sparkled on the branch of a flowering mountain laurel. I moved closer and knelt to inspect it.
It was bright blue and the surface swirled like water going down a drain. I blinked my eyes and moved closer. Sure enough, it was moving. My hunch about the mountains was right. Something was as wrong as two left shoes.
I stuck my pointer finger in my mouth to get it wet and then pressed it to the sliver of bright blue. I only meant to retrieve it from the branch but as soon as I placed it in my palm, a dizzy spell knocked me on my rear end. My head felt heavy and I tried to call out. My vision blurred and a scene played before my eyes like a moving picture show.
I saw Billy Jack beside the still, angry as a hornet. He was yelling at someone I couldn’t see yet.
In a blur, a werewolf came tearing through the brush and tackled him to the ground knocking over the still. They fought and rolled around and in the end my cousin stood over the other shifter and ended his life. From far away, I heard Aunt Dixie’s voice. I focused on her words and pulled myself from the trance.
I was shaking, sweat rolling off my body, and darn near close to losing my lunch. Aunt Dixie pulled out one of her perfumed handkerchiefs from deep inside her purse and swiped my forehead. “Hold it against your neck, dear, and you’ll stop feeling like you need to upchuck.”
Doing as she said, I whispered my thanks. She’d done something to that simple piece of cloth, it smelled like peppermint and was as cold as ice, and I was back to my old self in just a few minutes. My clothes felt damp, but I ignored that small aggravation. Mosquitoes whined around my ears as I told Aunt Dixie what I’d seen.
Her face went white and her lips pursed. “I saw the same thing, Jolene! But it can’t be true. Billy Jack is a ne’er-do-well, trifling boy, but he ain’t a murderer. You know that as well as I do. Right?”
Her question shook me. If Aunt Dixie had doubts, we were in a heap of trouble. Something sinister had happened here, but I didn’t have enough clues to figure it out. I looked at my palm. The blue, swirling sliver was still there. Something told me to keep it, that it had to be connected to the murder and to Billy Jack. I slid my hand inside my pocket and took out the bandanna I’d shoved in there this morning. Carefully placing the strange artifact inside, I tied it up and shoved it back in my pocket.
We made our way back down to my jeep after I put another ward on the site. It had taken longer than usual and my strength was sapped. I felt like a limp dishrag but tried to hide it from my aunt. She was busy talking a mile a minute so it wasn’t too hard to follow behind and mumble my responses when she stopped to take a breath.
“Aunt Dixie, we know something is off, we know my ward was broken, and we both saw Billy Jack murder that man. We need to find him and find out the truth. Either he did it or someone is setting him up and messing with my magic.”
“I’m afraid you’re right, Jolene. And I’m afraid this is bigger than Sheriff Quinn can manage. Granny Mack will want to know what happened here today.”
On the way back to town, I left Aunt Dixie at her house and sent out a psychic call to my granny. I needed her at my shop pronto. I could sure use a private tea party with her like the ones we had when I was a little girl.
3
Back at my shop, Genie greeted me with a smile as she rang up a customer. I was sad to see three vintage dresses going into the paper sack with Value Vintage stamped in dusty rose on the front and back.
I quickly reminded myself that I was a business owner and selling stuff was a good thing. But at heart, I was someone who loved pretty things and parting with them was harder than I cared to admit.
When my customer turned to leave, I offered the obligatory “Y’all come back!” as I didn't recognize her.
She merely glanced at me and quickly looked to her feet as she hurried past.
There were all kinds of people passing through Devil's Elbow this time of year, so I brushed it off. The Mountain Laurel Festival brought folks from all over the state and the South.
Genie grabbed me in a fierce hug and showed me the till. My eyes dang near bugged out! I hadn't been gone long enough for her to have sold that much stuff.
I was shocked but teased her anyway. “I might have to steal you away from your books, missy, and make you work for me full-time. I'm thrilled, but what on earth did you sell while I was gone?”
She pranced around the counter, her cute updo bobbing up and down as she talked. “A man came in all duded up in a cowboy hat and fancy boots declaring he was up from Texas visiting kinfolk. He got all excited about some arrowheads you had in the case here,” she tapped her long, bubble-gum pink nails on the glass between us, “and asked me where they come from.”
I reached in the till and pulled out ten one-hundred-dollar bills. There was plenty more in the till.
“Have mercy, Genie! How much did he pay for them?”
She looked worried so I patted her hand. “I’m not angry, just shocked. I've never made much more than what's needed to keep the doors open and the lights on.”
While it was true my little shop didn’t bring in enough some months to keep it going, I did own the building and several others adjacent on Main Street. When Mama and Daddy died, the property had been placed in Granny Mack’s hands until I turned 21. I made enough in rent from those to live better than most. And there was the savings Granny had set aside from managing the rent payments on all of them over the years.
Genie’s beautiful smile returned. She was a real looker. Bless her heart, she had avoided all the good ole boys runnin’ these hills and done herself proud at MPU.
“Mr. Riley, that was the name he gave, bought the ten you had in the case and wanted more. He said they were more valuable than gold.”
I peered inside the case. It was true, all my arrowheads were gone. “Well, I guess I could go lookin' for more this Saturday. Who knows if he'll ever be back but if he comes, I'll sure take his money.”
Genie laughed and went behind the counter to retrieve her book bag. “Let me know when you need me again. Granny Mack's upstairs. Said she wanted to talk to you about Billy Jack. I’m kinda worried about him myself, Jolene.”
I gave her a hug and pushed five of the big bills into her hand. “You might need this for books or something. Don’t worry about my cousin, he’s in a pickle for sure, but I know he didn’t do anything too terrible.”
Genie tried to object to the money, but I told her it was the least I could do. If she hadn’t held down the fort for me, Mr. Riley wouldn’t have seen the arrowheads to begin with.
I flipped the open sign to closed after she left and climbed the stairs to sit for a spell with my granny.
I smiled when I entered my front room. Granny had the tea set out complete with cucumber sandwiches and tiny strawberry cakes. These were old favorites from my childhood.
“Jolene baby, come on in this room and have a seat. I know you have a lot on yo
ur mind. Ray's gone out to the orchards for me. I've been having trouble with them crows lately.”
Ray was forever doing odd jobs for Granny Mack. She treated him like I did, with respect, in spite of his less than substantial form.
I held my tongue until Granny poured my tea. We sipped in silence and once she placed her cup on the table, I spoke up.
“There’s something wrong at still #4. I found this." I pulled the blue sliver from my pocket. I placed it quickly on the table between us.
"You need to be careful what you go around picking up, Jolene. Everything you pick up, you can’t always put back down. Magick always has a price.”
Granny naturally thought I was a hoarder, but my place was clean as a whistle and there was very little clutter. My knack for finding things was as good as my skill at premonition. I just brought home things that spoke to me. But she had a point this time.
"I wish I hadn't picked up this sliver at the still site, that's for sure." I lamented and touched Granny’s amulet that had hung around my neck as long as I could remember, to ward off the bad feeling that jumped up in my heart.
"What happened? Why did you pick it up?’’
Her question was simple but my answer was complicated. "I got the sight from it. I saw Billy Jack kill that man, Coleman Davies was his name, and so did Aunt Dixie. But it can't be true, Granny."
She pushed the thing around with her thumb, careful not to pick it up. “This here's a piece of a summoning stone. It's been a coon's age since I last seen one. Dark magick can turn this into a dangerous weapon."
I thought about what she was trying to tell me. “What does bright magick do with the summoning stone?"
"Well, it's very powerful for one thing. You'd never use one unless a life was at stake and even then, it's magick is hard to control. Now, as for your cousin and that murder; the victim, he was workin’ for the Covey brothers."
The Covey brothers, Buck and Eustice, were from a neighboring county and about as close to a mafia family as you could get in these hills. They were feared for good reason. The youngest one was the most dangerous in my opinion. He was known to bring his pet bobcat into town at the end of a leash like a dog.
“You thinking what I’m thinking? Must be the ‘shine.”
Granny was two steps ahead of me as usual.
“Well, he had no business in Devil’s Elbow far as I can tell, but your cousin does make good money with his moonshine thanks to your wards."
“So you think he might have been after Billy Jack's customers? I still can’t see my big, goofy cousin killing anyone on purpose." I said on purpose because Billy Jack was the reason, in my mind, for Ray's death.
Granny broke a cucumber sandwich in half and glanced down at Delilah who sat patiently at her feet.
She dropped one half for my familiar and popped the other in her mouth. After wiping her hands and mouth daintily, she nodded her head. "I can't think of any other reason anyone would go after your cousin. With the Coveys, money and power means everything."
I finished my treats and tea. I picked up Delilah. Her deep purr always centered me. I placed my nose to hers and meditated on her blue eyes. I could tell this murder business had her concerned for me.
"You stay here with Granny, I'll be fine." I said in reply to her worry over me.
I kissed Granny's cheek and went downstairs. Tomorrow, I would go looking for Billy Jack. We needed to talk before things got much worse.
Later that night, I awoke with a start and sat bolt upright in the bed. A noise at my bedroom window set Delilah to growling at my feet. She was already changed to her painter. Possum pellets.
Ray appeared and I was thankful for his presence and the chill he brought to the room. My AC worked when it felt like it and apparently tonight it wasn’t feeling like it.
I rose and went to the window. Billy Jack was crouched on my roof like a thief in the night. Raising the window, I hissed at him. "Get in here, you heathen.”
He half-crawled and scrabbled at the shingles for purchase as he slid a few feet on the way to safety. It was somewhat amusing to watch him struggle and I thought of hexing him, but Ray stopped me. "Jolene, you don't want him caught and locked up, though it would serve him right."
I loved that about Ray. He knew me through and through. "He's lucky none of Quinn's deputies caught him, especially Deputy Carter."
Billy Jack was drenched in sweat as he finally crawled through my window. "Dang, Jolene, why's your roof so steep?"
"To make it harder for my fugitive cousin to break in during the midnight hour.” I glanced at the clock on my bedside table pointedly. Of course, my hint went right over his thick head.
"I might have known," he said as he made himself comfortable on the bench in front of my dressing table.
I ignored his remark and led Delilah to my bedroom door. "Out you go, my love. You don't get to claw him up this time."
Delilah was decidedly unhappy as I closed the door in her face. I'd have to make it up to her come morning.
I turned to Ray and Billy Jack. "There's something wrong in these mountains and we've got to figure it out."
Billy Jack looked relieved. "I thought I was going to have to beg you to believe me. "
Ray pointed a finger at his own chest and I bit my tongue when it went right through and out the back of his shirt. He provided more comic relief than a billy goat in a briar patch, but I dared not laugh.
"I'm the one you need to beg," Ray said and gave my cousin a mile-long stare.
“You ain't fixin’ to do nothing Ray Davis. You're a ghost, remember?" Billy Jack rolled his eyes.
I stood between them. "Both of you just hush. This,” I gestured wildly around me, “ain't the time nor place for fussin’ and fightin’.”
Billy Jack hung his head. I'd never seen him do so unless his mama was on his case. My heartstrings tugged a little.
Ray snorted. "Come on Jolene, you aren't falling for that old trick, are you?"
I fixed Ray with my own death stare. "He's in some bad trouble, and so am I. He wouldn't commit murder."
"He killed me,” Ray challenged.
"That was an accident and you know it. He wouldn't hurt anybody on purpose."
Ray backed down, hanging his own head. “You're right, much as it pains me. Even I know better than to believe he's a murderer all of a sudden."
Billy Jack perked up a bit. I sat on my bed and thought of the summoning stone. I almost didn't have the heart to tell him what I'd seen.
"I already know what you and Mama saw up at the still site, Jolene. I came right here after talking with her tonight. I need your help."
Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather. I tilted my head and pushed my hair back behind one ear. “Sorry, did you just say you need my help?"
"Now who's playing games? I told Mama this was a bad idea,” Billy Jack grumbled and got up to leave.
I stood and blocked his way, pushing him in his big, broad chest. It didn’t move him an inch. "I'm sorry, don't go. We have a lot to figure out before dawn."
He sat back down grudgingly.
"Tell me what you remember about that day, the day that man was murdered."
Billy Jack placed his hands on his knees and took a deep breath. "It was the same as any other day, really. I washed the truck after I dropped Mama at Kudzu's so she could have breakfast with her bunch of biddies and then I went over to see Floyd and Zeke at their garage. We sat around messing with cars and talkin’ bull. I went home for an early supper and did some stuff around the house for Mama.”
“Will they corroborate your story?" I prayed he would say yes.
"Of course, we're best friends."
I sighed. That wouldn’t fly with Sheriff Quinn. He'd say they were biased and protecting Billy Jack. “What did you do after that?”
Billy Jack looked sheepish and I wondered what was going on. “Come on, spit it out. I can’t help you if I don’t know what you were up to.”
His face
turned red and he glanced at Ray. He blurted out his confession so fast my head almost spun. “I went to watch Genie at the amphitheater. They were practicing the coronation ceremony for the festival.”
Ray’s ghostly form flew across the room and circled Billy Jack like a whirlybird in a tornado. He couldn’t hurt my cousin, but when an incorporeal being is angry, it isn’t a pleasant experience for anyone.
Delilah’s body thudded against the door over and over as the pictures on my walls crashed to the ground. The lights went out and the chill in the room approached arctic levels.
“RAY! RAY!” I yelled repeatedly.
Billy Jack was close to shifting and my bedroom door was splintering due to Delilah’s continued assault. I hated to cast a spell on Ray, but he was wrecking my bedroom and short-circuiting my interrogation of Billy Jack.
I grasped the amulet around my neck with fingers stiff from the bone-chilling cold and whispered a binding spell. It would hold Ray long enough for me to reason with him. Billy Jack would never be a match for Genie if Ray could help it, but Billy Jack’s actions were innocent as far as I could tell.
Ray continued to spin around Billy Jack for a few seconds and then my spell took hold. I’d never seen him this angry and it scared me. I forced back my fear and yelled at him again. “Ray, leave us alone. You’ve darn near made Delilah tear the door down so you’ll have to steer clear of her if you stay here tonight.”
I wanted him to stay, but only if he meant to calm down.
His glare at my cousin was malevolent but when he looked at me, his expression changed to regret. “I’m sorry Jolene, but he better steer clear of my baby sister.”
“You can’t run Genie’s life, Ray. She’s smart and capable of deciding who she might date. Besides, it was just Billy Jack indulging a crush. Genie probably doesn’t even know he exists.” I knew I was telling a bald-faced lie as Genie had mentioned her worry over Billy Jack earlier in the shop when I returned from the still.
