Would-Be Witch (30 page)

“I brought you some tea with honey.”

“You brought me the honey I want, all right,” he said, pulling me to him. He felt as solid and strong as ever, and the kiss was so potent I had to sit on the edge of the bed when he let me go.

“Take this. It’s an iron pill.”

He popped it in his mouth and gulped down the tea with it. He looked in the empty cup. “Not bad.” When he looked up, he said, “I’ve got to go make a report at the station.”

“What will you say?”

“Gang violence,” he said.

I nodded. Zach didn’t mention that they’d been werewolves, so neither did I.

“Don’t you want to have some cake?”

“Not right now.” He yanked his boots on and walked over to the door. “Hey, that ghost of yours. What’s she supposed to look like any way?”

“Black hair. Very pretty. Delicate as this cup.”

“Hmm.”

“Did you—”

“Now that I’m leaving here, I’ll expect you to pack your stuff and head home, too. I’ll call you there in an hour.”

Just like that, he was back to calling the shots. “I’ve got some errands to do. I might not be there when you call,” I said.

“Errands around town?”

I nodded.

“That’s all right, so long as you clear out of here. And I told TJ and Nadine we’d have dinner with them and the kids tonight. To make up for the car business. Maybe you could make a pie or something,” he said on his way out the door.

I looked down at the cake I had already spent several hours making and gritted my teeth. Sure, I would make Nadine a pie, but if Zach thought everything was just going to go back to the way it was, we were sure headed for some trouble. Turns out taking on a werewolf pack changes a person.

I took a few bites of torte, letting the buttercream melt on my tongue. Delicious. It was good to be alive. I reloaded the tray and returned to the kitchen with it. All the pots and pans were rinsed and already soaking in soapy water. Yep, I love that Jenson.

I sat down at the table and watched Mercutio lick cream off his whiskers.

“Any dessert left?” Bryn asked.

I glanced over my shoulder to see him stroll into the room. He sat next to me at the table. I lifted one of the pretty white china dishes and put a slice of the torte on it for him with a silver spoon.

Bryn took a bite, then licked his lips. “This is incredible.”

“Thank you.”

We sat quietly considering each other for a few moments. I didn’t know how I felt about him siphoning power from me every time he got the chance, but I guessed he had mostly helped me over the past few days, giving me Mercutio, getting me out of jail, saving my life. I supposed that kind of made us friends, even if I couldn’t totally trust him.

“I put your gold coins back in your room. On the bench at the foot of the bed.”

“I saw. Thank you.”

“Sorry about the door. I’ll pay for the damage as soon as I get on my feet money-wise.”

He waved away the offer. “The door was flimsy. I needed a reminder to replace it.”

Bryn’s pretty darn generous. I wondered if that might have been because he had a guilty conscience. I kept asking myself, how much had he known and when?

“So, that night that Georgia got bit, Lennox said that he owed Kenny a favor. Do you know why?” I asked.

“Kenny makes his own bullets. My father commissioned him to make several boxes of silver bullets. On his way to meet my father, the sheriff pulled Kenny over for speeding and spotted the ammunition that had been sitting in the passenger seat. The sheriff wanted to know what was going on, but Kenny wouldn’t tell him who he’d made them for or why, so Hobbs confiscated the boxes of bullets.”

“Is that why the burglars broke into the sheriff’s safe? To get the silver bullets?”

Bryn nodded. “And to keep the sheriff distracted by the break-in at his own house, so Hobbs wouldn’t focus on the other things that were happening in town.”

“How involved were you in the break-ins?”

“I wasn’t. I suspected my father might have orchestrated things when I cast a spell to find my watch, and it was repelled, but he didn’t admit to everything until this morning.”

“Then why’d you come to Georgia Sue’s party?”

“To see you.” He smiled. “I had a premonition, of sorts, involving a beautiful girl and some incredible sensory details of a night of—”

“I get the idea,” I blurted, holding out a hand to stop him.

“My seer cards have shown me more than usual lately. A red witch kept coming up, often with a lion. At first, I thought the lion meant courage. But then Mercutio came down the Amanos River on a raft, like a feline Huck Finn. The current brought him right to the landing. I knew immediately I was supposed to introduce him to you.”

“Yeah, that worked out. He and I get along.” I tapped my thumb on the table. “On a raft, huh? I wonder where he came from.”

Bryn shrugged.

“Well, I guess I’ll go get my things together. The torte will keep fine in a cake dish or Tupper ware in the fridge.” I stood and started away from the table. Bryn caught my hand and held it in his.

“I want to see you. Have dinner with me this week.”

“I don’t—”

“We have things to discuss about our case.”

“Case?”

“There will be an inquiry into this matter.”

“Zach’s giving a statement to the sheriff. They’ll chalk it up to gang violence, I guess.”

“Not that inquiry. One from the Otherworld community.”

“Oh.” I tilted my head. “Well, tell them whatever you want, whatever you think is best.”

He went right on holding my hand, which tingled in his grasp.

“Still planning to avoid me?”

“It’s just one of those things.” I wasn’t sure if the impending theft of the locket had been the reason we were supposed to stay away from the Lyons family. Now that it had been returned safe, maybe they could come off Lenore’s list, but I’d have to wait to talk to Momma and Aunt Mel about it when they got back. I tugged, and he let my hand go reluctantly.

“Sutton doesn’t have the market cornered on tenacity.”

“What’s that mean?”

“It means, I won’t give up easily on the idea of you and me having some sort of relationship.”

“I sure wish you would. It would make things a heck of a lot easier for me.”

He smiled. “Sorry. No.”

“Well, anyway, I can be all tenacious-like too when I set my mind to it. So I wouldn’t get your hopes up.”

He continued to smile at me, looking as smugly happy as Mercutio with that bowl of cream.

“Merc, you ready or what?” I demanded.

Mercutio looked up lazily.

“Okay, stay here for all I care. I’m going.” I was out the door and halfway down the hall when I felt Mercutio bound up next to me.

I bent down and ran a hand over his sleek head. “You were tempted to stay in that kitchen with him and all that cream, huh?” I glanced around to be sure no one was listening. “I can’t say as I blame you.”

He meowed, and I smiled.

“Yeah, you’re my favorite, too.” I said, hugging his neck and adding in a whisper, “But it’s probably best if you don’t tell the men I said that.”

I just had one thing left to do before I could go home and see about getting my doors fixed. I’d decided to let Zach loan me some money until I got a new job, so Merc and I drove to Macon Hill, and I retrieved Earl’s .38 from the roof.

Johnny Nguyen called while I cleaned it. I reassured him that I’d gotten the locket back and Edie was safe and sound. He asked how I was feeling emotionally because Rollie’s coven had called to tell him about how gruesome the attack at the witch meeting had been.

My lip did tremble a little when I thought about all the dead people. I filled him in on the details of the past couple days, and my voice sort of choked up as I did. Johnny told me I’d done a good job protecting the town. I wished I could have helped more at the meeting.

In the background, I heard Rollie say, “Hey, these things happen. Tell her there’s no point crying over spilled blood.”

I shook my head, but couldn’t help smiling a little.

“Rollie say, listen to relaxation tape and get sleep. You feel better.”

For not being a native English speaker, Johnny’s sure got the translation thing down pat. “You’re sure a good friend, Johnny. I’m sorry I thought—”

“Oh, that all behind us. Come for haircut and scalp massage. We talk about happy things.”

“Thanks.”

I pulled up to Earl’s pawnshop and tried not to be nervous. Mercutio slept in the passenger seat, which was good. I didn’t think Earl’d be too happy to see me, let alone Merc.

I went in and was surprised when he didn’t glare at me.

“Hey, Earl.”

“Tammy Jo,” he said evenly. I noticed Jenna Reitgarten standing near a big mirror next to an original Elvis Presley Vegas polyester jumpsuit that I didn’t think anyone but the king could really pull off.

I shifted uncomfortably, not wanting Jenna to hear my conversation with Earl, but there wasn’t any help for that I guessed.

I set the gun and the four hundred dollars on top of the glass case he was standing at.

“I brought back what I borrowed. I’d like my jewelry, please.”

He grinned, and my heart pounded in alarm.

“Too late. Jenna bought the lot of it about five minutes ago.”

“What?”

“Yep. She likes to get a good deal, so I called her this morning to let her know I got some nice jewelry in stock.”

Only a former friend knows how to really hurt a person deep. And Earl definitely fell in the “former” category when it came to friends.

“Well, I guess we don’t have anything else to say to each other then.” I picked up the money, but left the gun where it lay. Just as well. I didn’t think I should have a gun in hand when I talked to Jenna.

I walked over to the mirror and saw that she was holding up her hair to check out how Aunt Mel’s emerald earrings looked on her. My stomach churned, and I swallowed hard.

“Morning, Jenna.”

She smiled, smug as can be. “Good morning, Tammy Jo.”

“I’ll be wanting that jewelry back.”

Her grin got wider. “Not a chance.”

My blood started to boil. “You really plan to wear my family’s jewelry?”

“Well, it could be a little better quality, but it’ll do for regular occasions.”

My heart hammered from the effort of not screaming my head off at her. “Name your price. You can make a profit and buy something that suits you better.”

She turned and looked me up and down. “First of all, you couldn’t afford it.” She paused, turning her nose up. “And second, lately you’ve been acting a lot higher and mightier than you are. It’s time someone taught you a lesson. That’s going to be my fall project.”

I clenched my fists, tempted to hex her, and tried not to give her a four-letter piece of my mind, but I couldn’t help it. I opened my mouth to holler that I didn’t deserve this kind of treatment the morning after the most traumatic day of my life. Then she hiccupped.

“Well, I’ll see you around,” she said, hiccupping again.

Uh-oh.

She rolled her eyes at me, then strolled to the shop door. “Darn hiccups,” she muttered after she hiccupped again.

I watched her walk to her car, her shoulders jerking every few seconds from a new hiccup.

Earl ignored me, until I started giggling.

“Something else I can help you with? Otherwise, you can go on and get out of my store.”

“Earl, you turned into a real nasty person, and temporarily losing my jewelry was a small price to pay to find that out.”

He frowned.

“You know, I was just thinking that the universe and the good Lord have ways of seeing that things work out. Better watch yourself, Earl.”

I hurried out and hopped in the car. Mercutio woke when I slammed my door shut, which was real convenient since then I could tell him about what happened.

I pulled out of the parking space as I said, “And having the hiccups gets old pretty darn quick.”

As usual, Merc didn’t disagree.