by Fiona Roarke
“Aunt Birdie!” The Sheriff called from across the room. “He’s not headed for the big house.” He paused. “At least not yet.”
“He’s locked up. What does that tell you?”
“It tells me he’s a suspect, not that he’s guilty.”
“Whatever.” Aunt Birdie’s gaze moved back to Ruby. “So, are you here to visit the prisoner?”
“Maybe. Depends on who it is.”
Sheriff Merrow crossed the room to join them. “Normally, I wouldn’t be obligated to tell you anything you asked for, but the man we have in custody sent me to give you a message.”
“Me? Who is it? What message?” Don’t say Max. Don’t say Max.
“Max asked me to let you know he won’t make it to dinner tonight.”
“You had a date with a prisoner?” Birdie asked and leaned eagerly forward in her seat.
Ruby ignored her question and asked one of her own. “Why would you arrest him? I asked and he told me he didn’t do it. He really does have to tell me the truth.”
The Sheriff’s brows lowered in confusion. “Be that as it may, we watched the video feed from the fountain area. It shows Max walking into the frame with the paper sack, leaving it beside the fountain and…well, he looked up directly into the camera for several seconds and then he left. Less than an hour later, the bag exploded into a contained circular pyre going straight up into the air, but with no shrapnel spray. We’re just lucky no one got hurt.”
“Max would never do that. Besides, what kind of explosion goes straight in the air without shrapnel?” Ruby truly wanted to know.
Behind her, Bubba Thorne walked into the station. “I know the answer to that question.”
Chapter Thirteen
<^> <^> <^>
Max paced the small jail cell, a thousand thoughts racing through his head. He could only take about three and a half steps before he had to turn around and go the other way. The familiar panic of being incarcerated yet again for something he didn’t do reared up in his mind, making him want to scream and wail and not stop until someone released him or knocked him out cold. He barely had a lid on his dread. Did the Earth colony have a gulag? Was it worse than XkR-9? Maybe he didn’t want to know.
After being shooed away from the aftermath of the fountain blast, Max had gone back to work and explained to his employers what happened at the Black and Orange Ball that led him to Ruby.
Bubba laughed out loud when he heard about the love spell and truth spell put on him by two intoxicated witches. Max understood it sounded ridiculous, but worried more about the love spell being removed than having it remain. He and Ruby planned to visit the two older women before dinner to have the spells removed. He vowed to himself he would tell her again that he loved her and wanted to marry her regardless of what happened when they removed his spellbound feelings.
He texted Ruby to let her know he was on his way and practically skipped to the mercantile building. He couldn’t wait to hang out with her.
Max passed the Sheriff’s office just as Hank Merrow exited in a hurry, heading in his direction.
He lifted his arm to wave. Sheriff Merrow looked surprised. “Max, just the guy I wanted to see.”
“Me? What’s up?”
“I have something really important that I need to show you,” the Sheriff said. “Could you come inside, please?”
Max glanced at his watch, unsure if he had the time. “I don’t know. I don’t want to be late. I’m meeting Ruby for dinner.”
The Sheriff put a hand firmly on his shoulder. “I’m afraid I’ll have to insist.”
That was the moment Max should have run. But he didn’t. He allowed a modicum of trust carry him right inside the Sheriff’s office. Foolish, in retrospect. Then again, Sheriff Merrow looked like he was more than capable of giving chase and catching him, had Max tried to make a run for it.
He was shown into a room where a computer had been set up. “We got the video of the fountain area cued to when the paper sack was left behind.”
Max settled in to watch, expecting to see Howard, his disappearing client, or the mean guy in the green tux from the Black and Orange Ball bathroom.
He watched the silent video for several seconds before his eyes widened in shock. Then his mouth dropped open as he watched a man who looked exactly like him, except wearing a baseball cap, walk into the fountain area carrying what looked like a paper grocery sack. The man placed it on the ground. There were not many people around. The person in the video looked directly into the camera as if he wanted everyone to know who had left the bag behind before exiting to the left of the frame, rubbing a finger on his upper lip.
The Sheriff sped the video up to a few seconds before the explosion, then slowed the frames to show a circular pyre blasting straight into the air.
He was in trouble now. Even Max thought the man on the video looked like him.
All of his carefully laid plans had changed. He wasn’t going out to dinner with Ruby. The spells remained intact, but he hadn’t been able to call her because they took all his personal belongings and only offered to let him have one phone call.
He called Bubba, who had already left the business, which was closed for the night. Max left a message. He was allowed another call and promptly called Bubba’s home. No luck. Perhaps Bubba and Astrid had gone out to dinner. He called Bubba’s cell phone and left another message.
After three calls, Max wasn’t allowed to make any more calls. He should have called Ruby after all.
The Sheriff locked him in one of the station’s three cells, but at least he didn’t handcuff him before leaving him alone in the small cellblock to contemplate his miserable thoughts of no future.
He heard voices in the main office area, but not what was being said. He could have sworn he heard Ruby’s voice and then Bubba’s, but so far no one had come in to rescue him or post any credits for the security of his return for trial or whatever the human justice system did.
Maybe he just had to stay in jail and pace this small space until they found him guilty and sent him off to the nearest Earth gulag. Would Ruby visit him? Probably not. Why would she?
The urge to grab the bars, climb up and rage-scream for his release forced him toward the cell door. No. He wouldn’t let himself get crazed. He took a deep breath and let it out, trying to figure out what he could do to help himself in this circumstance. Nothing came to mind.
Well, Ruby came easily into his thoughts. Would she believe him once she saw the video footage of him in a baseball cap leaving the offending paper sack next to the fountain?
The Sheriff promised to contact Ruby and let her know dinner was off. Max wasn’t certain what she would do. Would she visit him behind bars? Or would she wash her hands of him? Leave him here to perish all alone. Like his family had back on Alpha-Prime.
The door opened and Ruby marched toward him, followed closely by Bubba and the Sheriff.
“Max?” she called out. She didn’t sound angry. She didn’t look embarrassed to see him like this, in jail, accused of another crime he didn’t commit. She looked…determined.
Max approached the cell door, placing his hands around two bars just above waist level, hating for Ruby to see him incarcerated.
“Are you okay?” Her fingers wrapped around his hands, her soft touch so welcome to both his spirit and his soul.
“No. I hate it in here. I want out.” He still had to tell her the truth. He’d wanted to say that he was fine, but that was a huge lie. He was about to crawl out of his skin and the urge to pace grew again.
“I don’t blame you one single bit.” She turned to the Sheriff. “Let him out. I’ll take responsibility for him.”
“It doesn’t work that way.”
“I will share responsibility for him,” Bubba said.
Sheriff Merrow pushed out a long sigh. “Look, I don’t like this any more than you do. But I can’t overlook the evidence of that video. Maybe he was compelled. Maybe someone made him do it, but that doesn�
��t negate the fact that it was Max Vander on the video.”
“Was it?” Ruby said.
“Who else could it be?” The Sheriff didn’t look happy about having Max locked up, which was good. Perhaps he could be persuaded to let Max go for a promise of good behavior.
Bubba said, “It could be a different Alpha, as loath as I am to say that. The explosion and fire by the fountain smelled like bauxite fuel, which is mined in Alienn.”
Ruby’s eyes narrowed. “Perhaps it was a supernatural being with the ability to be a chameleon.”
“That’s very rare.” The Sheriff looked both intrigued and unconvinced.
“What’s a chameleon?” Max asked. Could it help set him free? He wanted to be free. Now.
“Lots of magic in this town,” Bubba said. “It’s not out of the realm of possibility.”
“Still, I would need some sort of proof before releasing Max.”
Ruby squeezed Max’s fingers reassuringly. “I have an idea.”
<^><^><^>
Ruby was convinced Max was innocent. Someone was trying to frame him and they had stepped things up a notch.
“What’s your idea?”
Max looked so forlorn behind bars. She wanted to hug him and reassure him that everything would be all right. To the Sheriff, she said, “If you have surveillance of the fountain area, surely you have more cameras around town.”
Sheriff Merrow’s eyes narrowed. “I will not confirm or deny that.”
Ruby smiled. “If there are more cameras, then there is more surveillance footage, and you should be able to trace him from Bubba’s Psychic Readings all the way to the fountain, showing where he got the paper sack along the way. Right?”
The corners of Sheriff Merrow’s mouth lifted to form a partial smile. “In theory.”
“So, let’s go look at some video. I feel confident we can prove Max’s innocence. In the meantime, please let him out of this jail cell.”
Sheriff Merrow gave Max a stern look. “Do you swear on all that you hold dear that you won’t run the minute I let you out?”
Ruby added, “Do you promise me you won’t run, Max?”
Max gazed deeply into Ruby’s eyes. “I swear I won’t run. I love you and I want to marry you. I could never leave you, Ruby.”
She winked at him. “See, Sheriff? He won’t run. He has to tell me the truth.”
“Whatever. I don’t even want to know why you’re convinced of that.” Sheriff Merrow reached for the keys in his pocket and unlocked the cell door.
Ruby pulled it open and Max rushed into her arms. He lifted her off the floor in an exuberant hug. “Thank you, Ruby. For believing I’m innocent.” He kissed her forehead. She kissed his mouth. He kissed her back.
“Break it up. Let’s go, you two.” Sheriff Merrow led them to an office near his that was set up with several pieces of equipment, surveillance monitors and a computer. “Aunt Birdie, will you come and help us out in here?” he asked in a normal tone, as if knowing his aunt was already listening in.
Birdie leapt out of her chair like the seat had been spring loaded and raced to where they all stood. Seating herself in the swivel chair before the computer monitor as the rest of them crowded behind her, she navigated her way into the town’s surveillance system without being asked.
Ruby explained what she was looking for. Birdie brought up the video feed for the back entrance to Bubba’s Psychic Readings, showing Max entering ten minutes before his shift started. She then brought up the feed for the front door. They all watched a split screen of both on fast-forward until the explosion. Max didn’t show up at either entrance during the timeframe when the explosive device was planted before the explosion, other than to go for lunch. Further surveillance showed him walking directly to Howler’s, then walking directly back to Bubba’s after his delayed lunch.
Ruby pointed triumphantly at the screens. “See? He didn’t do it. Alphas can’t teleport, right, Bubba?”
“That’s correct.”
“Then who is that?” Birdie asked, pointing at the man who’d left the paper sack beside the gargoyle fountain. She swiveled around and stared at Max. “It looks like him, except you can’t see his hair with the baseball cap on.”
“But I didn’t do it,” Max told Birdie. She narrowed her eyes as if considering whether to believe him or not. Birdie was really poking the bear. “So you say, but you’re the prisoner. What else would you say?”
“Please back up the footage from an hour before the explosion on the front door of Bubba’s Psychic Readings,” Ruby said before a fight broke out.
Birdie turned back to the monitor and rewound the video. “What am I looking for?”
“A guy with red hair,” Max and Ruby said at the same time.
They watched in regular time as a short, small-framed guy with a potbelly and bright red hair entered Bubba’s place.
“There!” Max pointed to the screen. “That’s him. That’s Howard.”
“Go forward until this guy, Howard, comes back out and follow him. Please.” Ruby added the last word quickly, having almost forgotten she wasn’t in a position to give the Sheriff and his aunt orders.
Birdie didn’t seem to notice. She pushed various buttons and different video surveillance throughout town followed the little red-haired man as he walked slowly to an alley halfway between the psychic shop and the fountain.
He disappeared from sight. Half a minute later, a man with Max’s face and body, wearing Max’s clothing and a baseball cap, emerged from the alley.
“Whoa,” the Sheriff said. “That’s crazy. Rewind that again.”
“Say please, Hank. I’m not your servant.”
“Please rewind, Birdie, my employee, who is currently trying my patience.” She huffed, mumbled a few words under her breath about familial ingratitude and a few more things that Ruby didn’t hear. She pushed more buttons and brought up the video feed showing when Faux Max exited the fountain area after leaving the paper sack. The impersonator entered the same alley. Less than a minute later, the short, potbellied man left the alley. She followed him through town, losing him as he seemed to be heading back to the Pinehurst Inn. The last image showed the man putting a finger to his mouth before looking each way at an intersection, as if trying to decide which way to go.
“See? Max is innocent.” Ruby brushed a palm down Max’s arm and patted him affectionately. She hadn’t questioned his innocence, but it was good to have video proof for any doubters.
“Anybody recognize this guy?” the Sheriff asked.
“Nope,” Bubba said.
“I was at the Pinehurst Inn and there are two new guests registered there this week.” Ruby didn’t look at the Sheriff after voicing that tidbit.
He looked at her through narrowed eyes. “How do you know that? I know for a fact that the crusty old clerk there refuses to give out information about guests.”
Ruby gave him a wide-eyed, innocent smile. “The crusty old clerk still refuses specific details on guests. However, the sign-in log was wide open on the desk in plain view for anyone to see. You just need to learn how to read upside down.”
He gave her a wolfish smile. “Who says I don’t already have that skill?”
Max straightened. “Am I allowed to leave now?”
Birdie swiveled around in the chair. “Guess you’re innocent after all. Sorry for all the things I thought in my head that you probably could read.”
Max laughed. “You have quite an imagination, Miss Birdie. But I accept your apology.”
“Can you read my mind right now?”
Max frowned. “I’m afraid to.”
“Good call,” her nephew said.
Birdie pursed her lips. “It wasn’t anything bad, Hank. Go ahead, Max. Read me like an open book.”
Max closed his eyes, put two fingertips to his temple for the space of about fifteen seconds and then smiled. “Yes. That is true.”
“I thought so. And I approve. I think it’s wonderful.”
> “I will surely regret this,” the Sheriff said, glancing at the ceiling as if for direction from the powers that be. “What did you see in Aunt Birdie’s mind, Max?”
“She wanted to know if I really love Ruby and want to marry her. And that is true.”
“At least for now, until I take him to see Matilda and Helen,” Ruby added. “They promised to remove their spells. I hope they’ve come up with a reversal spell.”
“Matilda and Helen? They put the spell on you?” Birdie asked and cackled with glee.
“Yes. At the Black and Orange Ball,” Max said.
“Good luck getting them to remove it.” She laughed uproariously again. “They never remember anything after the Black and Orange Ball, especially the day after they’ve been drinking like thirsty fish.”
“Are we free to go?” Ruby asked.
“Sure. Why not?” Sheriff Merrow looked Max in the eyes. “But if I need you, I expect you will return.”
Max shared a glance with Ruby and nodded. “I promise.”
“Do you believe him, Hank?” Birdie asked, sounding surprised.
“I don’t believe he’ll stay for the sake of my investigation, but I’m confident he will stay for Ruby.”
Ruby led Max out of the station with Bubba following close behind.
Once out on the street, they waved goodbye to Bubba, who said Astrid was likely chomping at the bit to hear his report of what had happened. Hand in hand, Ruby led Max back to her office. They entered through the back so Max wouldn’t have to pass the satellite office of Bubba’s Psychic Readings.
Ruby had only just closed and locked the back entrance when someone knocked loudly on the front door.
Ruby motioned for Max to stay out of sight. She made her way to the front door, unlocked and opened it.
A bear of a man stood there with a grin on his face and what looked like a tan bucket hat crunched between his callused fingers. Ruby noted that while she was sure they’d never met, he looked familiar. His hair was more gray than original color, which looked to be reddish-blond.
“Hi there.” The man extended his hand. “Are you Ruby Hart?”
