“I think it means that Freddy Black has an excellent reason to worry about one of my Karma spells. What kind of Karma kick would you get for killing your partner?”
“Call Patty and tell her I would highly recommend she bring in Freddy Black for questioning.”
I did.
“Okay, so I can understand if Freddy was trying to frame Morgan with the whole burglary business. Maybe that was a fallback in case she wouldn’t agree to honor the original contract. But why kill her? Why not just turn her in for the thefts?”
Orville shook his head. “Maybe the burglaries didn’t start out as a way to get Morgan. Just maybe the kleptomaniac thing is real, only it wasn’t Morgan that had the problem. Then, when he re-read that part of the contract and realized it might mean another five years together, he saw a way to use his problem to his advantage.”
“That makes sense.” I hesitated. “It also makes sense that it would be really hard to hide something like that from Morgan. I mean, she had to have realized that a lot of homes the two of them showed were getting robbed, right?”
“Exactly. So what if she was there at the old Wilson place that night waiting for Freddy?”
Crapsnackles.
Orville still hadn’t let up off the gas pedal, and for once I was very grateful for that. “He doesn’t have any reason to go after Patience, does he?”
My man didn’t answer, but if I hadn’t known it was technically impossible, I’d have sworn we were now going even faster.
WHEN WE GOT THERE, my heart immediately leaped to my throat. During the trip, I’d tried very hard to convince myself that I was reading too much into her call. That there was a logical explanation as to why she wasn’t picking up.
But when I saw her front door standing wide open, what little hope there was of that dashed pretty dang quickly. That wasn’t normal. Not with a killer on the loose. And most certainly not from a woman with the foresight to change all her locks after buying a house.
Patience was a lot more safety-conscious than that.
Orville must have thought so, too. “You wait here. I’ll go in and check things out.”
“Right. Like that’s gonna happen.” I hesitated, breaking one of Orville’s standing rules by opening my own stupid car door. “Better idea. I go in the front and you come in the back.”
“How about vice versa on that?”
I shook my head. “If the back door is locked, I couldn’t make it in. You’re pretty good with that credit card trick of yours.” What I didn’t say was that if it came right down to it, he could probably break the door down, locked or no, pretty easily.
That wouldn’t be an option for me.
He didn’t like it, but he nodded. “Okay, but give me at least a minute’s head start before you go in.”
I glanced at my watch. “Go.”
He went. I waited the requested sixty seconds and not one single second more. My new friend just might be in danger in there.
I powered up my protection bracelet before I crossed the threshold. For all the good it did me.
Within seconds the magical shield burst into a million pieces, and I found myself standing in Patience’s living room soaking wet. I had a very bad feeling about that part of things. Especially when I licked my lips and tasted salt.
This was so not good.
I blinked the burning saltwater out of my eyes as best I could and took stock of the situation. Patience was bound and gagged, tied to an old kitchen chair in the center of the room. She was drenched to the bone, too. Whoever was doing this wasn’t taking any chances.
Then Freddy Black stepped from the kitchen. I had trouble breathing when I saw him following Orville, with a gun pointed straight to my man’s back.
I should have been the one to go in the back, after all. Too bad I hadn’t had the benefit of Patience’s sight on this one. Saltwater wouldn’t have done a thing to Orville.
“If you have an issue with witches, Freddy, then you can let my husband go. He’s as normal as they come.” Well, witch-wise anyway.
Freddy laughed, and I got the full view of the situation. The man had gone stark-raving mad.
“I think this is all about more than just the two of you being witches, Opal,” Orville said quietly.
Yeah, I understood that fully now.
“Let me guess,” I said slowly. Wasn’t there a rule about situations like this? That you kept them talking as long as you could? “Morgan found out you were stealing from past clients and threatened to go to the police if you didn’t return everything, didn’t she?”
“Not exactly. But close enough. She was blackmailing me to stay with the agency and void out our original buy-out contract. She knew full well she couldn’t run a business by herself. Morgan didn’t have the brains for that. Or the people skills.”
“And that was enough of a reason to kill her?”
“Don’t judge me, witch. You don’t get that right.”
Freddy stepped out from behind Orville. “I was hoping you’d come alone, but I knew there was a chance you’d bring Orville. His death is on your head, you know.” He hesitated, looking from me to Orville and back again. “My only question is who to shoot first.” Then he gave a horrible smile and pointed the gun at Orville’s head. “Oh, who am I kidding? There’s really no contest, is there?”
I tore my eyes from Orville. There had to be something I could do. And even as Freddy had been talking, I had noticed Patience’s desperate movements. She kept nodding her head to my feet. She was trying to tell me something. But what?
That’s when I saw the small ball there. But it wasn’t the ball that was important. Or was it?
I grabbed it up and yanked on it with all my might.
Just as my man dropped like a stone.
Chapter 21
Not, praise the Goddess, because he’d been shot. Orville dropped to his knees to escape the path of the first bullet. Then, as he jabbed out at the man’s right kneecap, my tug on that ball did its work too.
Freddy Black screamed in frustration even as we went flying backward.
It would appear that the ball was connected by thin fishing line to the corners of the rug he’d been standing on.
With the man thoroughly off balance now, the gun went flying. And with the most likely broken kneecap, Freddy was in no shape to try to retrieve it.
Orville, however, was.
Trust an ex-lawman to always carry the important little things like evidence bags and zip ties. Within seconds, he had Freddy trussed up at the wrists and the ankles. Which, by the screams still coming from Freddy, probably didn’t do his knee any good.
Ask me if I cared.
Only when the danger was over did Orville turn to me. At that point, I was busy untying Patience.
“What the bloody devil just happened?” Orville asked, his voice incredulous. “By all accounts, I should be dead right now. That kneecap move was just to buy you some time.”
I looked Patience in the eye, then nodded to her. “She’s what happened.” I pointed to the ball, now back on the floor. “Take a closer look at that.”
He did, his eyebrows shooting upward as he looked from the ball, to the fishing line, and then to the rug. “You literally pulled the rug out from under him?” Then he shook his head. “But how... and why...?” He picked up the ball, examining it closely.
I could tell he was still confused.
“Patience isn’t a witch in the same way I’m a witch, Orville. She’s a seer.”
His eyes snapped to the two of us. By now, Patience was sitting up, rubbing her wrists. Freddy hadn’t been easy with her restraints.
“But if you saw this coming, why didn’t you warn us? Why did you call us here to begin with?”
“First of all, I didn’t call you here. That was Freddy. He used a voice mail I’d left for Morgan when I found the place still full of junk.” She hesitated. “As for the warning. That’s not exactly how the sight works. If you’re given a glimpse of something happeni
ng, it doesn’t mean that you can change that. Your actions might delay it or change it in a way you haven’t foreseen, but the outcome is always the same.”
Patience shivered. “The few times I tried to warn people did not end well. The vision still managed to come true and even multiplied in intensity.”
Orville hefted the ball and looked at her. “And this?”
She smiled. “Well, the vision was nothing more than a glimpse of this room right when Freddy was about to shoot you. There’s nothing in the rule book of seers that says we can’t try to change what happens after the vision.”
He tugged on the fishing line, and the rug moved. “I’ll be danged.” Then his eyes sharpened onto the area around the rug. "Have you polished this part of the floor recently?"
Patience nodded. "Sure did. Polished, shined, buffed it to the high heavens."
We shared a glance. Other than ice, there wasn't a much slicker surface than a freshly polished and buffed floor.
Freddy must have passed out briefly from the pain because now he was back to screaming. “I need an ambulance here!”
Orville just looked at him. Not an ounce of pity in the man’s eyes, either. Then he took out his phone and called Patty.
Within minutes, the benefit of being so close to town and having the new sheriff on speed dial, Patty’s squad car and one other came careening into Patience’s new front yard.
Patty was the first in, followed very closely by Trevor. Their eyes flashed around the room, then Patty sniffed the air. “Saltwater?”
“Booby-trapped threshold,” I told her.
We gave our statements even as the paramedics came in to deal with Freddy. They cut his ankle zip ties but left the wrist ones in place at Orville’s insistence. When they left with him in the back of the ambulance, Trevor was right in there with him.
Freddy Black would not be getting away this time.
ONCE EVERYONE HAD CLEARED out, Orville drove home. I opted to stay on with Patience for a bit longer.
We were back out on her front porch swing. Neither of us was in all that great of shape, to be honest. Patience had been through an ordeal, what with the whole not being able to warn us thing and watching it all play out right before her eyes.
And I had come within a hair’s breadth of losing my forever mate. That wasn’t something one just blinked and got over. Let’s just say that right now, Freddy Black had every reason to be afraid of me.
Very, very afraid. His life in prison would not be an easy one. I’d bloody well make sure of that. Well, with a little help from Karma, of course.
We swung for a few minutes in silence, then I couldn’t take it any longer. I had to know.
“This vision of yours.”
“Yes?”
“When, exactly, did you have it?”
“The first time it was a dream. That happened the night I found Morgan’s body. You never can tell with dreams. Sometimes they are true visions in the night, yes. But other times they are just, well, dreams. After the stress of that day, I’d hoped it was the latter.”
“You had the vision more than once?”
She nodded. “The important ones generally come three times. Each one getting stronger and stronger and showing just a touch more. Up until this last one, I didn’t get a clear look at the person holding the gun.”
“And that one came...?”
Patience took a deep breath. “When I opened my front door to see Freddy Black standing there.” She looked over at me. “I really do wish I could have warned you, Opal. But I was afraid to take the chance it would just make things worse.” Her voice grew soft. “Like last time.”
“What happened?”
A single tear trailed down her face. “I tried to save my daughter from her fate. It cost two innocent people their lives and almost cost you yours.”
“I don’t think you can blame your daughter’s actions on yourself, Patience.”
“No. She acted well and truly alone. But if I hadn’t interfered... maybe things would have turned out differently.” She wasn’t meeting my eyes. “I should have known better. I’ve tried to warn people before. At first, I thought that was the purpose of the visions. I mean, you would think that, right?”
I nodded. I would think that, all right. Being given access to visions that you didn’t have a chance to change? Count me out, thank you very much.
“You would.”
We swung another minute in silence. “Why don’t you come over and stay with us tonight? I don’t like the idea of you being alone here.”
She shook her head. “I appreciate the offer, Opal, but I have other plans for tonight.”
“Oh?”
“The hilltop is calling me again. It does that when things start to go haywire inside me.” She paused. “And before you offer, as I know you’re about to, no, I don’t want company. Well, other than the Goddess, should She choose to show up. One can’t very well say no to Her, can one?”
“If you’re spending the night up there, I have a portable hammock you can borrow. Sleeping bag too, in case it turns chilly tonight.”
She gave me a glowing smile. “Now, that’s an offer I won’t refuse.”
Epilogue: A New Beginning
At least she’d picked a nice day, weather-wise, for the actual formal moving-in thing.
Not that it would have mattered much to any of us. Team Destiny was there for her. Pretty much every single one of us too.
The men were busy loading and unloading trucks and vans of furniture and boxes, and we women were working hard on getting the yard back into tip-top shape. Truthfully? I rather thought the men had the easier route of the two.
By the middle of the day, we were all ready for a break. Luckily, Orville had already brought over and fired up his big gas grill. It was quick work to throw on some hamburgers, hot dogs, and chicken strips. We set up a long craft table with a colorful plastic tablecloth and all the trimmings anyone could possibly want for their sandwiches.
And chips. Lots and lots of chips. Plus, of course, my sister’s famous potato salad and coleslaw. It turned into quite the feast.
Good thing too. Because by the time lunchtime rolled around, every single one of us needed that overload of calories.
I should have known I was in trouble the minute I saw Gray set up the video camera. It took that for me to notice the little makeshift stage the kids had made using sheets and Patience’s clothesline.
What can I say? A tired and hungry Ravenswind can be rather singularly focused on food and rest.
A glance over at Orville showed me that he, however, wasn’t in the least bit surprised by the impromptu entertainment. Huh. Guess that meant it wasn’t so impromptu, didn’t it?
The kids had done an excellent job updating their show with the new tricks and props. As much as I hated to admit it, it was good.
Really, really good.
When the show ended with a big flourish, every eye in the yard was on me. Yeah, I can smell a set-up when I’m right smack dab in the middle of one.
I looked over to Orville, then to Kim and Gray. “You all know if I give the okay to this, it could be the start of a big thing, right?”
They all nodded.
“And you all are okay with that?”
More nods. Seemed I was the only hold out here. I glanced at Nancy, who was obviously holding her breath.
“Breathe child.” She did, but it was more of a gasp than a breath. I took my own advice and took a deep breath, then met Kim’s eyes. She was the one, other than me, that would bear the brunt of the responsibility for all this. “You’re totally sure about this?”
She smiled at me. “No. But I think we owe it to them to let them try. Nancy made an excellent point about the cost of college and all that. They’ve both agreed that any money made from the videos will go directly into college funds. A fifty-fifty split.”
Another, deeper breath. “All right, then. But don’t ask me for any technical help. You know how I am with computers.
”
Nancy and Mason both ran over to bear hug me. After a minute, Nancy stepped back. “You really mean it, right? We can upload the video?”
“Go for it.” And yes, my heart was beating double time.
I had a really bad feeling about this.
Can't you just hear all the Crapsnackles lining up already? If you want to be first in line to get the next Witch Reborn book, be sure to Join the Witches and Wolves Newsletter for author (and book) updates!
Other Books by Belinda White
(Click on the series link to be taken to the Amazon page for that series. Series are listed in recommended reading order.)
Accidental Familiar Series
All Too Familiar
Relatively Familiar
Un-Familiar Magic
Home Familiar Home
A Familiar Tail
Gemstone Coven Holiday Shorts
A Very Opal Halloween
A Very Happy Birthday Halloween
Witch Reborn Series
A Witch of a Godmother
A Witch of a Sister
A Witch of a Bride
A Witch of an Ex
A Witch of a Honeymoon
Yorkie Doodle Mysteries (Novellas)
Yorkie Doodle Dandy
Yorkie Doodle Sweetheart
Yorkie Doodle Joy
Team Destiny Paranormal Cozy Mystery Series
Team Destiny and Gray's Grave
Team Destiny and Archie's Apparition
Team Destiny and Shaman's Secret
Team Destiny and Trevor's Tarot (coming soon!)
Benandanti Series (Wolves)
Finders Weepers
Sister's Keepers
Demon Peepers
Witch of a Neighbor (Witch Reborn Book 6) Page 12
