All Too Familiar, page 8
part #1 of Accidental Familiar Series
The drive back was a silent one with Ruby sulking behind the wheel and ducking every time a car passed us. Once at the farmhouse, she pulled around back, got out, and ran up the stairs.
Opie pulled up beside the car and rolled down his window. “You ready to roll again?”
I glanced up at the balcony entrance and hesitated. “Can you give me just a minute?”
He nodded, and I ran up the steps to check on Destiny. I could have saved myself the stair workout. He was quietly curled up in the corner of the carrier, fast asleep. I jumped when Ruby touched my shoulder.
“Don’t be too worried about him sleeping so much. He has a lot to work out of his system. Drugs and magic.” She took a deep breath. “You have a lot to learn coming into this so late, but magic really drains you. And if you pull it through your familiar, it drains them too.”
Good to know. She was right; I did have a lot to learn. “I didn’t hurt him, did I?”
Her answer wasn’t as immediate as I would have liked it to be. “I don’t think so. I mean he looks well enough, just tired. And besides, if I remember correctly, he slept through the whole thing.”
That did make me feel a bit better. I checked his food and water, gave Ruby a quick hug and a peck on the cheek, and ran back down to Opie. Part of me expected him to not be there, but he was.
“Destiny okay?”
“Yup. Sleeping off the last of last night’s activity.”
He acted like he was going to say something, but if he was, he changed his mind.
It was a short drive into town and Calvin’s office. I don’t know about Opie, but I was spending it imagining breaking the case wide open on only my second interview. At least until Opie burst my bubble once he’d parked.
“Remember, you agreed to let me do the talking. I believe your exact words to my father were ‘yes, sir’.”
Crap on toast. Wheat toast, my least favorite.
When we walked in, there was a beeping noise. Most likely it was set up to alert Calvin that he had visitors. His office certainly wasn’t on the busy side. In fact, it was empty.
A couple of minutes later, Calvin came rushing in through a side door, straightening his tie. He glanced at us with a smile. As Opie wasn’t dressed in his normal uniform, he even kept the smile.
“What can I help you fine folks with today? Looking for a nice little house? It’s about time the two of you finally got together.”
I shot Opie a covert glance and was surprised to see his cheeks turning red. Going to his rescue might have been an option, but I’d promised to keep my mouth shut. So I did.
“Actually, I wanted to check on the investment deal you had going and see if it was still open for investors.”
That was enough for the smile to vanish. Calvin made a face. “Oh, I’d be happy enough to take your money. But I don’t think that hotel will ever happen. Sorry.” His gaze turned to some papers on his desk, dismissing us.
Opie didn’t give up.
“What happened? I thought it was a great idea.”
Calvin sighed. “It is a great idea. But without the zoning change, the biggest investor backed out of the deal. You can’t put up a hotel in a residential neighborhood without the proper regulations being modified by the town council.”
“I take it they didn’t agree to the modifications?”
“I had two of the three in my pocket so to speak, but Valerie Kimble was a regular thorn in my side. ‘I don’t want my hometown turned into nothing more than a tourist attraction’. Shoot, a hotel would be great for this place. Bring in business and help the town grow. Not that I could convince her of that.”
“But now that Valerie’s no longer a member of the council, do you think they might approve the zoning change?”
Calvin gave a bitter laugh. “You’d like to think so, but no. Opal Ravenswind is the likely replacement for her seat on the council and if there was one single thing the two of them agreed on, it was that the town of Wind’s Crossing was better off without a hotel.”
I hated to admit it, but he was probably right about that. Which took away any motivation he might have had to do away with Valerie.
“Wait a minute.” Calvin looked at me, then back to Opie. “That’s what this visit is really about, isn’t it? Misty said you guys might come here ask—,” he broke off mid-sentence.
I opened my mouth but closed it when Opie’s elbow made contact with my ribs. Ouch.
“So, you must know Misty pretty well, then?” Opie asked, innocence pouring out of him.
Calvin swallowed and threw a nervous glance at the side door. “No, not really. We just bump into each other now and then around town.”
It disappointed me that Opie let it drop there, but he did.
“Well, thank you for your time.” Opie grinned at him. “Hope we didn’t interrupt anything important.”
“Not at all, not at all.” He walked us to the door and opened it for us, ushering us past him and out onto the sidewalk. “But just for the record, if Val’s death turns out to be murder, I think it most likely stems from her being a witch.” When I made a quick move toward him, he held up one hand. “I’m not implying Opal Ravenswind had anything to do with it.”
He gave the side door another furtive glance before leaning in and lowering his voice. “There are a lot of religious fanatics in the town, and some of them really hate witches.”
Then he shut the door in our faces and flipped the open sign to closed for lunch. Huh, he probably should have done that before going into that side room to begin with.
I contained myself until we got into the car. Barely, but I did it.
“Misty Rhodes and Calvin Brenton are having an affair, aren’t they?”
“I’d say there was an inordinately high probability that is the case.”
I just looked at him. “You know you could be normal for once and just say yes.”
He grinned at me. “I could. But then how would you grow your vocabulary?”
Opie could be so maddening sometimes. With most people, he was the nice, polite young son of the sheriff. Put him with me, and there was an inordinately high probability that he was going to turn into a horse’s patootie at some point.
Pluck a duck! Had I really just used his new vocabulary phrase in a sentence? I gave him an extra glare and then realized that Opie still hadn’t started the car.
Not that I would give him the satisfaction of asking why we weren’t leaving. My stubbornness turned out to be in my favor a minute later when Misty’s blue Toyota came barreling out of the alley.
I waited until it had disappeared around a corner before turning to Opie. “She was in that back room the whole dang time, wasn’t she?”
“I’d say there was an inordinately high—oof!”
The ‘oof’ came when I punched him in the arm. Opie had told me many times that my playful punches are a lot more painful than playful. This one wasn’t intended as play.
“Anybody ever tell you that you hit like a guy?”
“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Then I reached back and fastened my seat belt. “Where to next? Should we try to corner Misty?”
He laughed. “I’m glad one of us got a good night’s sleep. But to answer your question, I’m taking you home to your new cat and then I’m going home to take a nap on my nice soft bed.”
Oh sure, ratchet up the guilt, why don’t you? It wasn’t like I’d asked him to hover over me all night.
“You do know that bed was plenty big enough for the two of us, right?”
He blushed and then pulled out into traffic without really looking first. A guy on a scooter laid on his horn and flipped us off. I looked out the window and smiled.
Yeah, like I was the one that shouldn’t be driving.
Chapter 12
OPIE DROPPED ME OFF, and I climbed the outside stairs to my shared balcony. Ruby wasn’t about, but that didn’t surprise me. Chances were good she’d rescued Yorkie Doodle from downstairs and was taking him for an extra-long walk. Opal didn’t mind pet sitting, but her idea of giving the dog exercise was letting him out into the backyard. That wasn’t what the little guy was used to.
I plopped down on my rocking chair. It was nice to have the house to myself. Opal off at work, Ruby out with YD, all was quiet. Perfect for thinking. I had a lot of that to do.
As I rocked back and forth, I let my mind wander to the conversation with Calvin and its conclusion. He and Misty were most definitely having an affair. In my book, that brought Misty in as a suspect too. Calvin was married to a pretty powerful woman. She was an attorney in the next town over—far too big of a name for our little legal needs to fill. Everyone in town always said that he stayed with her for the money. It wasn’t like she spent much time in Wind’s Crossing, or with her husband for that matter.
He was arm candy for events and dinners with high-powered corporate clients. Nothing more, it seemed. I could kind of understand him looking for a little affection on the side. A man’s got to get it from someone, I guess. At least that's what everyone seems to say.
That could also explain why Misty clamped her mouth shut so tight after mentioning the fact that it might have had something to do with council business. What if she hadn’t thought things through like Calvin had and had decided to make things easier for her man? The hotel deal would have made him a pile of money. Money that could have made a new start for the two of them, if he’d chosen to make a break for it.
Of course, as I was thinking about it, I had to also consider the possibility that Calvin had thrown out. The religious fanatics like Mrs. Naomi Hill. I knew for a fact she hated us with a passion. But my thoughts didn’t linger too long with her or her ilk. Part of being religious was accepting the entire doctrine. And there was that whole Thou Shalt Not Kill commandment too.
I just couldn’t see her risking eternal damnation just to take out a single witch for dancing naked around a bonfire and believing there was a Goddess that went along with the God. I’d been wrong before, and I was sure I’d be wrong again, but it didn’t feel right to me.
At this moment, Misty Rhodes was looking like prime suspect number one.
I heard a yowl of frustration and immediately felt guilty. Here I’d been sitting rocking away and Destiny was inside all caged up. I’d promised him some time out. Time to make good on that. Misty would wait.
When I opened the door into the sitting room, I saw two paws sticking out through the bars of the kennel door. They were working furiously trying to open the latch mechanism. Even as I watched, he almost made it. After the failure, he let out another yowl.
Wow. Opie had been right. If he had done that back at his apartment, the whole place would have heard him. Cats can be loud when they want to express their displeasure. Good to know.
I bent down to look at him and made sure he saw me. “Hey, Destiny. I’m home now, and I’m going to let you out for a while, okay?” But before I did, I took a little stroll around the apartment looking for places he might be able to get into that I couldn’t get him out of. In the end, I shut off my bedroom and the bathroom and let him out. That gave him access to two of my three rooms. The bedroom he would have to earn by behaving.
When I opened the door, he shot out like lightning, moving so fast he was almost a blur. I managed to track him, but he didn’t make it easy. Destiny was fast. Like, really fast.
Once he finally stopped moving, he was on the back of the couch, looking around him with a frantic expression on his face. No doubt wondering exactly where he was and how he came to be here. After all, he’d slept through the move, and who knows what those sleepy time drugs did to him, or how long they affected one after they started to wear off.
“It’s okay, fella.” I was trying for soothing, but to be truthful, his utter panic was almost catching. “This is your new home. I got you out of there before they could cut off your favorite parts. That’s something, right?”
His little green eyes locked onto mine and his head tilted slowly. I could see the recognition growing in them. He remembered me. That was a start.
“I took a big risk getting you, just so you know. If I’d been caught, I could have gone to jail. So you owe me.” There, I’d said it. I was a firm believer in laying out the groundwork for a new relationship right up front. Then I softened and made a face. “By the time I got there, they had you all drugged up. That’s why you slept so long.”
Well, that and the fact I had pulled a massive amount of magic through him somehow. Something I was bound to do again at some point soon. Hopefully, I’d have learned to control it by then.
He was still staring intently at me. It looked like he was trying to ask me something. Oh yeah, the whole where am I thing. I guess telling someone they’re in their new home really doesn’t answer a lot.
“This is an old farmhouse. I share it with my family.” I motioned around me. “But this space is just for the two of us. My cousin, Ruby, lives just across the hall.” I chewed my lip. “She has a dog, but nothing for you to worry about. You could easily take him if it came to it. My aunt lives downstairs and whenever my mom’s home, she does too. Each on separate sides of the house like Ruby and me.”
He was still staring. What else could he want to know?
“Once we get to know each other and establish some ground rules of behavior, you’ll have a lot more freedom, I promise. But for now, this is your domain.”
Time to let him explore a bit without me yammering on at him. I went into the kitchen to deal with the sink full of dishes that had been waiting for me for a day or two. I should have done them while he was still sleeping. I didn’t want him to think I was a slob or something. But then there weren’t all that many.
I was just putting them away, when Destiny came walking in, surveying his surroundings. He walked over to the first shut door and pushed his nose against it, then looked at me.
“That’s the bathroom. Where we humans go to pee and poop. You’ll have your litter box.” Which reminded me. It was still in my trunk along with the bag of litter I’d picked up yesterday before my illegal mission. I made sure we had eye contact before I continued. “I have a proper box for you, but until I get it set up, you use the little one in the kennel. Got it?”
I could have sworn he thought about it before his head inclined just a tad. I’d take that as a yes.
He took a nonchalant stroll over to the last closed door as I wiped off the counter and sink and hung up my dishcloth. There, all sparkly clean. See, no slobs here. Well, as long as he didn’t make it into the bathroom before I had a few minutes in there. Last time I noticed, the hamper was overflowing. Doing a few loads of laundry was in my near future. Either that or a shopping spree for more clothes. That sounded a lot more fun.
When he put a paw up on the door, I smiled at him. “That’s my bedroom and the last room in our space. You have to earn your right to go in there, okay? Let’s start with these two rooms and go from there.”
That seemed to make him happy enough, at least to his living space. Then he spied the refrigerator. His eyes got a glint to them.
I laughed. “Tired of tuna? Would you like some milk?” I didn’t wait for an answer. Taking a small bowl from the cupboard, I filled the bottom of it with fresh milk and sat it on the floor.
Destiny looked at it and then back to the refrigerator.
“Start with the milk, and in a minute, I’ll see what else I can scrounge up that’s palatable for cats. I’ll get you some proper cat food next time I’m in town.” Duh, feeding him was probably an important thing. How could I remember the litter box and litter and forget the food?
My cell phone rang in the sitting room, and I had to run for it. The Darth Vader theme from Star Wars was the alert that my aunt was calling. I was really hoping it wasn’t bad news.
“Hey, Opal, is everything okay?”
A dry chuckle came through the line. “Well, they haven’t arrested me yet, if that’s what you’re asking.” She paused. “I was just calling to see that you made it home okay. It isn’t like you to spend the night at Opie’s. I’m hoping that means you finally gave the boy a break.”
Crapsnackles! I hadn’t thought to ask Ruby or Opie what the cover story for last night was. All I knew was that I had to keep Ruby out of it. It would really help right now if I only knew what they’d told her.
When I didn’t respond right away, she continued. “Let me guess, you didn’t. You really did fall asleep on his sofa watching Ghostbusters, didn’t you?”
She sounded disappointed. What on earth had she been expecting to happen? The whole town seemed to think there was something between Opie and me, but I would have thought surely Aunt Opal knew better. We were just friends. Why break a good thing?
“Well, I have seen it a gazillion times, you know.” There, the truth. I felt a lot lighter now. That was almost too easy.
“Ah well, a gal can hope. By the way, we’re all getting together to make dinner tonight in your mom’s kitchen. Ruby called dessert, so you’re in charge of peeling the potatoes.”
“Maybe we could have stuffing instead?” That was so much easier to make. Stove Top was my best friend.
“Nope, I have my heart set on mashed potatoes. We’re just getting ready to leave the shop now. See you in a few minutes.”
I was guessing the we she spoke of was her and Ruby. That must have been where the long walk took her and Yorkie Doodle.
If I wanted to gain a little favor in Opal’s eyes, I’d go down right now and get started. But I really hated peeling potatoes. We all did. It was the least liked part in the making of the meal. Unfortunately, we all really loved the resulting mashed mounds of goodness.
When I turned, I found two little green eyes staring at me. Okay, that would definitely take some getting used to. I was far too accustomed to living alone. Sharing my living space was going to take some adjustments.
He turned back toward the kitchenette and walked up to the refrigerator. The milk didn’t look as though it had been touched. Who knows? Maybe I got a lactose intolerant cat. I already knew he was a bit of a freak of nature, so that wouldn’t surprise me.
