Witchin' Impossible, page 10
The cinnamon scent spiked. I blushed and nudged him with my elbow.
When Anita sat down on the other side of Bryant, he folded his paper, put it down on the floor then leaned over to kiss her. “Breakfast looks wonderful, sweetheart. You are a marvel.”
Aww. That was sweet! My face must have reflected my thoughts because Ford nudged me.
“Where’s Lincoln?” Anita asked.
“Not down, yet,” Bryant said.
I almost ducked for cover when Anita roared, “Lincoln! Get your furry butt downstairs now!”
“I’m coming!” roared back a male voice.
Bryant smiled at his wife before his face turned serious and we locked gazes. “Agent Kinsey.”
“Call me, Hazel.”
He nodded. “Hazel. I’m afraid I agree with you about the coalition hiding something. If you are serious about wanting to find out about what happened to Danny, and frankly, what’s been happening to our town for the past thirty years, you need to talk to your father.”
“Why?”
He gave me a meaningful look. “I know my son shared those newspaper clippings with you. Who do you think gave them to him? When your father went to jail, the disasters and deaths stopped for a brief period of time, then they started back up again, but the gruesome death of Daniel Mason, and now Boyd Decker, happened after he arrived back in town. Clementine Battles insisted he be put back on the council, but it’s the one thing I agreed with Adele Adams about. That man has no business being in charge of anything going on in this town.”
“That man is my father,” I said. Why in the heck was I defending him? It wasn’t like I disagreed with Bryant about my dad being on the coalition. However, I found it a bitter pill to swallow that he might be somehow involved in the death of my best friend’s brother. Hell, Lily spent a lot of time at our house. My dad wouldn’t do that, would he?
He killed Mom, I reminded myself.
“I’ll ask him,” I finally said, after I’d processed the information. “I don’t want to believe it, but you’re right, it’s a possibility.”
A boy, nearly as tall at Ford and looking very similar to the high school boy I sloppy-kissed all those years ago, stomped into the room. He flopped into the seat next to his mom. “I don’t know why I got to get up this early on a Sunday. It’s bad enough five days a week,” he complained. Then he noticed me. His temperamental expression turned to chagrinned. Having a sulk-filled pity party in front of a stranger had taken the vinegar out of him.
“Hazel,” Anita said. “This brooding young man is our son Lincoln. I was pregnant with him when you and Ford graduated.”
I nodded to the kid. “Nice to meet you, Lincoln.”
“Is this Ford’s new girlfriend?” the teenager asked.
Before I could jump in with a big ol’ maybe, Ford’s dad said, “Special Agent Kinsey is here investigating the terrible things in our town. Show some respect.”
“Yes, sir,” the kid mumbled then stabbed his fork into a stack of the pancakes. “Pass the bacon,” he muttered next.
After breakfast, I resisted the urge to unbutton the top button on my jeans. Lincoln went back upstairs to do whatever it was teenage boys did on Sunday mornings. I took the opportunity to speak more with Bryant Baylor while Ford helped his mother clearing the table and cleaning the dishes. If I hadn’t already been gaga for the guy, seeing him clean and oil a cast iron skillet would have done the trick.
“Mr. Baylor, is there anyone else on the coalition that you find suspicious?” After all, my witchy radar had pinged on everyone but Mary the cat queen.
“There isn’t a one of them I would trust as far as I can throw them. They are always making moves for more power for the folks they represent, which is what they are supposed to do, but as the ursa for my people, I have to be vigilant that we don’t lose our standing in the process.”
“Anyone more power hungry than the rest?” I asked.
“I would put Adele Adams at the top. Your grandmother will have her hands full if Adele’s magic gets much stronger. The woman has become very powerful with age.”
“It’s unusual, but it happens.” I nodded. “Thanks. I appreciate the information. If you think of anything else, please call me.” I dug a card out of my purse and handed it to him. “And thank you for talking to me this morning.”
“Uh hum,” he said. He picked up his paper from the floor, flicked it open, and effectively concluded our conversation.
Ford poked his head into the room. “You ready, Hazel?” Cinnamon frosted the room. Sort of like a witch and a bear shifter catching each other’s scent. Oy.
“Sure,” I said.
Anita bustled past him. She gave me an unexpected hug and said, “You come back anytime.”
“If you keep making breakfast like that,” I told her, “you won’t be able to keep me away.”
CHAPTER 14
When we were back on the road, Ford said, “I got a call from a contact who gave me Dennis Mitchell’s location.”
“The bungling detective?” I asked. “Way to bury the lead!”
“We’ll stop by Wonderland Reality first, interview Robert Townsend, then we’ll go hunt down Mitchell. He’s the next county over in Lister.”
“Sounds like a plan.” I liked the hunting part. If it weren’t for Mitchell’s poor investigating, Danny’s killer might have been caught already, and the poor Deckers would not be suffering now. I planned to make that bad cop pay for it.
It took only five minutes to get to Wonderland Reality. Robert Townsend wasn’t in his office when we got there at eight-thirty in the morning. His secretary, Sally Teeter, a dark-haired woman of average build, told us he’d taken a personal day.
“Do you know why?”
“I don’t,” she said. “It was personal.” A small smile formed on her lips, happy with her own cleverness. “He’ll be back in tomorrow. Are you two looking to buy a home?”
Before I could throw out a gazillion denials because of my insecurity, Ford said, “Why, yes, we are.”
Sally nodded as she looked Ford up and down. “I know Bob’s got a couple of properties that would suit a big fella like yourself,” she said. I looked at the board on the wall behind her with property listings. There were as many commercial buildings as personal homes…and trailers.
“Did he sell Daniel Mason a trailer about eight months ago?”
“He did,” Sally said brightly, then shook her head. “Poor kid. Terrible thing that happened to him. He seemed like he was doing better. Sometimes you just can’t dig yourself out of the holes you create.”
“No one can dig themselves out of a hole,” Ford said. “It just gets deeper.”
Sally nodded. “Exactly.”
There were framed pictures on the wall of Townsend on vacation in what looked like the Caribbean, Germany, Italy, because he was standing to the side like he was pushing over the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Ireland with a Guinness, England, leaning on a rock at Stonehenge, in Paris squishing the Eiffel Tower, and a few other places I didn’t recognize. Weirdly, he was alone in every photograph.
On another wall was a collage of Townsend with local people standing outside of properties, proudly displaying “Sold” signs. I recognized two people in one of the many pictures. It was my parents, my mother thick in the belly with me, and they were standing outside the house I grew up in. My father had known Townsend for a long time. Maybe this was something both of them were doing together. I still wished I knew what was going on.
Before I could ask Sally if she knew if my father and Townsend were cold-blooded killers, Ford’s phone rang.
He looked at me. “It’s the station. I have to take this.” He answered. “Officer Baylor.” His brow pinched, creating deep frown lines. “I understand. I’ll be right out.” He hung up.
“What is it?”
“There’s another body.”
“Where?”
He rubbed the crease between his eyes. “Junkyard Dog.”
“Oh, crap.”
“Yep,” he said. “You want to come along?”
“What about Nichols? Won’t you get in trouble?”
“He’s an ass.”
“But he’s a boss ass. I don’t want your life to get harder because I’m back in town.”
“Since you’ve arrived back in town, everything’s harder.” His blue eyes twinkled. “Are you coming or not?”
“Not yet.” I gave his package a quick glance. “But we can save that for later. Right now, we have a crime scene to get to.”
I heard Sally sigh as we exited. “Honeymooners,” she said wistfully.
On the drive out to the junkyard, I saw I had two missed calls from Lily. I must have turned off the ringer by accident.
“You should call her,” Ford said as if reading my mind.
“Thank you, Dr. Phil.”
He shrugged. “Or not.”
I put my phone away. My head had forgiven Lily, and I never wanted her to know just how hard this was for me, but my heart wasn’t ready. My father being in town was an unexpected blow. He killed my mom. He wiped her from the face of the Earth. This is something I’d want to freaking know about. And now…was he really a monster?
“Did you know my dad was back?”
“Yes.” He gripped the steering wheel tighter. “My father mentioned it when he arrived in town. I didn’t know you didn’t know, though, or I would have said.”
The gravel road out to Junkyard Dog was hazy with dust and debris. Two marked police cars, along with a silver sedan, a blue full-sized pickup, and a green and yellow compact truck were parked along the drive. My heart froze a beat. “Oh no.” I unsnapped my seat belt as Ford parked. “No, no, no.”
“What is it, Haze?”
“That’s Lily’s truck.” I yanked on the handle and threw my body at the door to open it. “That’s Lily’s,” I said again. I could hear Ford telling me to wait, but I couldn’t. What if the dead person was…
I brushed the awful thought from my head as I sprinted for the metal building where a small crowd had gathered.
Chief Nichols’ eyes widened at my speedy approach. He held his hand up in the universal sign for halt. I brushed past him without slowing down. Inside, the overwhelming scent of rot and decay nearly sent me to my knees. I gagged at the stench but kept going. Where Danny’s Chevelle had been on the lift, now there was something that looked like a bloated bag of blood. There wasn’t enough light for me to tell for sure.
I scanned the room for any sign of Lily. Something to tell me that she wasn’t involved.
Red fur wrapped around my neck as Tizzy unexpectedly flew in for a landing on my shoulder.
“I can’t find Lily. Is that…” I pointed to the dripping object on the lift. “Could it be?”
“No,” Tizzy said. “Lily got a call to come here, and that was already up there.” She rubbed her cheek against mine as if for her own comfort, which meant she found the scene as disturbing as I did. “Apparently, it’s a guy named Dennis Mitchell.”
“The detective in charge of Danny’s case.”
“If you say so, Haze.”
Ten kinds of relief flooded me. It was too bad for Dennis Mitchell. No one deserved to end up like that, but I was more grateful than words could say that it wasn’t my best friend. “Did you ride with Lily?”
“Yes. She tried to call you.”
Guilt pinched me. “My ringer was off.”
“Uh huh.” She whacked me in the side of the face with her bushy tail. “Lily and I got here half an hour ago. She was talking to that asshole Frank, and I came in here for a closer look. When I went back out to find her, she was gone.”
“And Frank?”
“Him too.”
I took my phone out and dialed her number. Straight to voicemail. I had two voicemails from her, so I dialed my messages next.
Message One: Hey, Haze. This is Lily. Duh. Right. You know that already. Anyhow. Got a call from the Dick Knuckles. He’s asked me to come out to Junkyard Dog. Not sure why, but I wanted you to know since Tiz is coming with me.
Message Two: Hey. It’s me again. Her voice was tight as she continued. Dennis Mitchell is dead. Someone said I threatened him for bungling Danny’s case. Dear Goddess, Haze. I’m a suspect. I heard a man say, Can I talk to you a minute? Then Lily said, Okay, Haze. I’ve got to go. Call me.
My guilt compounded. “I need to find Lily.”
“I’m sure she’s around here somewhere, Haze,” Tizzy said, but she didn’t sound convinced.
“Special Agent Kinsey,” Nichols said as he walked up behind me. “This is not the Daniel Mason case, so I’ll ask you to quit contaminating my crime scene.”
Clayton Driver was right behind him, his arms crossed over his chest.
I pushed past him. “Where’s Danny’s car?”
“Wha—I don’t know what you mean?” Driver pretended ignorance.
“When did you discover the—” I waved at the thing in the air.
“I’m the only one allowed to ask questions around here, young lady.”
“Fine,” I said. “Don’t help me.” I pushed past both men.
I blanked on a spell so threw out:
“Double bubble. Show me trouble.
Show me what Mitchell could see.
Point to the clues, so mote it be.”
Several spots began to glow for me. I walked to the first. A puddle of tarry liquid, too dark for blood, was pooled near the victim. The second spot behind the lift and near the acetylene torch had an H scratched into the concrete floor, but like a small pimple on a friend’s face, I wouldn’t have noticed it if the spell hadn’t pointed it out.
I knelt next to it and traced the symbol with my finger. “What the heck are you?”
“That’s a hagalaz.” Tanya Geller stood over me, peering down at the mark.
“A what-a-laz?”
“It’s a rune of disruption.” She squinched her perky nose. “It’s Witchcraft 101, Hazel.”
“I flunked that class.” I stood up and dusted my hand on my pants. “I’ve seen the same mark in relation to Danny Mason and Boyd Decker. I think having it show up again is more than a coincidence.”
“It’s usually half of a spell. The rune is rarely used alone.” She put her hand close to it. “It’s not active.”
Under the acetylene torch machine, something grew so bright I couldn’t ignore it. I reached under the welder and pulled out a sphere with many points coming out of it. It looked like an ice crystal, but I was certain it was made of glass.
The prism in Danny’s car, the faceted glass ball in Boyd’s room, and now this star-like ornament.
“Looks like a tree ornament,” Tanya said.
It didn’t feel like magic, but neither did the rune. It should, right?
Clayton Driver grabbed me by the forearm and leaned in close. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll back off, Miss FBI.”
I staggered sideways, eyes wide in disgust and disbelief. “Let go of me before I shoot off your fingers.” Magic flared along my arm where he clasped me, and he jerked his hand away.
In the next second, Ford was next to me and glaring at Driver.
He raised his eyebrow and chuckled. “Be careful when looking for answers, Agent Kinsey. You might just find them.”
I looked over to Ford. “Was that a threat?”
He growled. “I think it was.”
“What are you doing here, Baylor? It’s your day off,” Nichols said. “And what are you doing here with Kinsey?”
“Leta Givens called me, Chief. I figured you’d want some extra help working the scene.”
I remembered Givens. She was the desk officer at the station. So, the chief hadn’t called Ford. While Nichols was distracted with Ford, I took matters into my own hands. Lily was missing, and right now, she was the only body I was interested in, and I wanted to find her alive and well.
I stroked my familiar’s head. “Show me where you last saw her, Tiz.”
The squirrel hopped off my shoulder and raced for the exit. I exchanged a look with Ford then followed at a brisk pace after her.
“Wait a minute, Mizz Kinsey,” Chief Nichols said.
I snapped my fingers at him, surprising myself and him when a jolt of electricity flared from my fingertips. “It’s Special Agent Kinsey, Dick Knuckles. And I’ll thank you to remember that from now on.”
Ford stepped in front of him, blocking Nichols’ view of me as I headed out. I heard him say something along the lines of, “Can I get a word with you, Chief?” The menace in the brilliant bear’s tone came across loud and clear.
With my obstacle out of the way, I hurried to catch up to my familiar.
CHAPTER 15
Tizzy leaped into the air and swished her tail in a fanning wave to get my attention near a row of stacked smashed cars. When I got close enough, she said, “They were chatting right here.”
I let my fear form a spell.
“Goddess don’t let this be the end.
Show me the path to find my friend.
Protect her and keep her safe for me.
This is my prayer, so mote it be.”
Footsteps lit up a path that led down the row.
“What’s happening, Haze? Did it work?”
“Yes,” I said, concentrating on following the glowing marks.
“Really?” She took two giant leaps toward me and clambered up my clothes until she was in her favorite spot. “I don’t see anything? Are you sure it’s working? I’ve heard stress can make you delusional.”
“Stop talking, Tiz.” The path continued on past the walls of dead cars to the back fence. There was an opening in the chain link that was haphazardly covered with a piece of wood. The steps were scattered, and I saw the glowing outline of a body being dragged through. “Oh, Goddess.”
“What? What!”
“I think Lily is unconscious.”
“Are you sure you’re not unconscious?” she chattered nervously in my ear, something she did when her anxiety levels rose. “I want to believe you, Haze, but you were never much good at spell work. I still have a few places where my fur doesn’t grow well to prove it.”
