Hexes and X's (Z&C Mysteries, #3) (5 page)

“My name is Claire. I am here with my mother Zoey. We are guests of Matilda.”

“Oh, yeah? What business do you have with her?”

“We are… friends, I guess you would say. We met on a cruise.”

“Well, that sounded certain,” she said sarcastically. “Friends, huh? Who just happen to come up the same week of the big hearing.”

Claire was confused. Why would a coven sister act so nasty to a friend of Matilda? She decided to be straight forward. “What do you have against Matilda?”

The woman chuckled, snapping off her other glove. “I have nothing against Matilda. I just don’t like busybodies from out of town, being more involved with the case than they need to be. Matilda already has a lawyer.” She circled Claire, eyeing her. “I don’t know why you are needed. You are obviously hiding something from me. You don’t look like you would be one of Matilda’s friends.”

“What does that mean?” Claire felt hot and like she was back in high school, standing up to a snob.

“I mean,” she circled around her more, like a vulture, “you are much younger and even in the early morning you are dressed like you could attend a press conference.”

Claire looked down to her designer jeans and high-heel boots. What would Judy think if she did dress up for a press conference?

Judy continued, “Matilda’s friends are usually more… eccentric.”

Just then Zo burst through the swinging double doors of the kitchen. “Claire, dear, I got a prize!” She waved it, rushing over.

“What is it?” Claire humored her.

“A temporary tattoo.” She showed the piece of paper and then looked up to Judy. “But this one is rather cute. Look. Oh, excuse me. My name is Zoey Kane, mother to Claire here.”

“Okay, it makes more sense now.” Judy’s lip turned up. “I apologize, Claire.”

“My mother,” Claire cleared her throat, “likes grab bags and…” She trailed off.

“Yes, I’ve been a regular at auctions, real estate investments and such. And it has paid off, hasn’t it, dear?” Zo said.

“Modern day treasure hunter?” Judy smiled.

Matilda entered the room. “Judy! Hey, lady! How are you?” She almost skipped over to her, she was so excited, and they met in an embrace.

“I’m splendid. I’m over my flu. Debbie helped me.” She referred to the R.N. in their coven.

“These are my friends, Zoey and Claire Kane from out of town.”

Judy nodded and said, pointing to Claire, “I thought she was affiliated with the town council, trying to pull one over on me.”

“Oh, no, no, no. They’re with me. I know Zoey from way back in college, and I just reunited with her on a cruise.” Matilda turned to the mother and daughter, and said, “And this is my friend Judy. She is the coven’s potion maker.” She gave a sly wink.

Judy nodded.

“Anywho, what brings you by?” Matilda offered Judy a seat, but she stayed standing.

“I wanted to hang some of the signs we made up around town. Do you know where we put them?”

“Yes, yes, of course. Come with me to the library.” The two excused themselves, leaving Zo and Claire alone in the foyer.

“Mother, what do you think of how I’m dressed?”

“You’re my Claire,” she said sweetly, patting her on the back. “…And you are gorgeous as usual.”

When Judy returned with an armful of poster boards that were decorated with lots of glitter and colored markers, seeming more appropriate for catching the attention of a boy band, Matilda suggested, “Make sure you put one up in front of Debbie’s house, since she lives right next to Town Hall!”

“Of course,” Judy agreed. “I might be able to talk the diner into hanging one up in their window.”

“Don’t forget the gas station. Slobber supports us,” Zo added.

“Sounds like a convincing endorsement,” Judy said. “Slobber supports us!” With those words, she left.

“Mother, what do you say we take a little drive around? See if we see Jack.”

Matilda interjected, “Oh, I wanted to talk about the sketch more with you two, but no worries. We can discuss later.”

SIX

As the two drove around, Claire at the wheel, Zo hollered “Jack!” out the window at the pastures they passed by.

“Mom, something could be terribly wrong with him.”

“Jack is a tough guy, sweetie. Whomever kidnapped him is sure to regret it.”

“Kidnap?”

“Is that what I said? What were you thinking?”

“Oh, I don’t know. The worst. Decapitated, his head in a tomato crate.”

“Whoa, wow! That is way creative. Did he have a drinking problem, a propensity to forget where he is? Did his creditors catch up with him? Is Marsha’s dad a mobster? Does he have Sundowner’s with a need to wander in the night?”

“Maaaaybe. But, I more likely think a jilted woman came in, slit his throat and threw his head in a tomato crate.”

“He could be passed out with too much whiskey in him behind a hay bale. Drinking his money woes away.”

“I don’t think so,” Claire said. “I have chills at the back of my neck over this situation.”

“You mean like you always get when something terrible is around the corner?”

“Yes, Mom, as of late.” She was still busy eyeing the lonesome expanse of Dreary Oak Road. She joined in, yelling out the window “Jack!” as the car crept along.

“Mother, why did we accept this invitation to Matilda’s? What were we thinking? Are we adrenaline freaks? Did we want to face danger yet again? Are we asking for trouble? Is it our fault Jack is now gone?”

Zo tried to make Claire feel better with the truth: “Jack came by his own will. We had no idea he would follow you here.”

“Well, he followed me to Hillgate Manor. And after I came back from the cruise, I saw he had e-mailed me a couple times.”

“Too bad it isn’t for love, but money,” Zo said. “What’s that?!” She pointed.

Claire jerked her car to a stop and their necks whipped forward and backward. “What?”

“Oh, drats. Nothing but a fox. See?” The red-haired little guy with a patch of white over his face took off, his bushy tail giving away his every move.

“What other wild animals do you think could be out here?” Claire asked, peering across acres and acres of wild brush.

“Oh, the worst, maybe rattlesnakes.”

Claire shuddered. “I hate snakes.”

“Snakes aren’t so bad. A lot of people think they are slimy, but they aren’t.”

“It’s not slime I would be worried about,” Claire said. “Think about it.”

“If we come across any snakes, I’ll beat them with a stick for you, sweetie, and then we can make new boots out of them.”

“You are really upsetting PETA right now.”

“Who’s Peter? And what’s with the English accent?”

Claire chuckled. “Oh, nobody.”

Rain sprinkled the window and Claire turned on the windshield wipers to their slowest swipe. The grey clouds above were gathering more, as if having a meeting over their next big shower above the small town.

“Of course the weather won’t cooperate with us this weekend.” Claire nodded to the sky.

After driving back and forth down the long, lonely road a few more times, they decided to head out further. The first place they saw was Slobber’s gas station.

“Do you think he did it?” Zo asked.

“What? What do you mean? Slobber kidnapped Jack?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Because, remember, Slobber couldn’t harm a fly. You heard that from Matilda.”

“Yeah, we’ve known other guys we thought were good, but ended up being demented.”

“We can’t judge Slobber by our dates.”

“Slobber should not be ruled out. He was the only person in town other than us who knew Jack was here. Let’s go question him.”

Claire groaned at the thought. “Mom… I just hate it when you are right.”

“Mommy’s always right.” She patted her daughter’s shoulder. “Except for when her genius daughter is right. Hurry and pull in. I can do the dirty work if you want.”

Claire turned her steering wheel to the left, and parked right in front of a window that said “Convenience Store.” There was one man at the pump, looking like a farmer, filling his truck.

The man soon passed by Claire’s door on his way to the station, offering her a stained-tooth smile. Claire reciprocated with a polite smile. She tried to see through the littered-with-posters windows to the register. One of Judy’s bright green signs read, “Support Taxpayers: The Coven House Witches.”

After quite a while, Claire glanced at her watch. She was on the edge of her Volkswagen’s seat, expecting her mother to have been doing quite the interrogation.

“These Corn Nuts say they are on sale for $3.29.” Zo squinted her eyes. “On that big pink sale sign over there.”

“Oh, no, ma’am, that sign is for the orthopedic foot inserts right above them,” the checkout boy said, scratching at a zit.

“Really?” She turned back around. “Drats. How much are these?”

“$4.99, ma’am.”

“$4.99?! You have got to be kidding me.” She turned to the farmer in line. She thought about asking his opinion on the price, but quickly reconsidered.

“Hi, purdy lady,” he acknowledged.

Great, Zo thought. Claire gets Slobber and I get Stinky.

The bell jingled as a well-dressed man entered with white hair and a neat handlebar moustache.

Stinky reached into his pocket and brought out a card that read, “Mac Graff’s Real Estate, Agent Darrel Conners.”

“I thought you were a farmer.”

“No. Jake here would be the farmer,” Darrel said, pointing to the man who just entered.

Zo turned back to the counter boy. “Where’s Slobber? In the back?”

“No, he ain’t here. But I am sure he would agree with me on the price. He is the one who puts the price tags on, himself.”

“So, let’s see…
peanuts and jerky, all $4.99, except for the footpads. Then there are a few boxes of cheap sodas. And that’s it. This is a ‘Convenience Store’?”

“You don’t have to drive outta town for your Corn Nuts. How convenient is that?!”

Zo dropped the Corn Nuts onto the counter. “I see what you mean. That’s fine. I’ll pay the price $4.99. I just wanted to talk to him. When will he be in?”

“In the morning. I’m in charge of closing tonight.” His shoulders went back with pride over that comment.

“You searching for Slobber?” the unlikely real estate agent asked. “He just lives around the corner from here.”

Claire tried to read her mom’s face as she got into the car and slammed the door. “What’s up?”

“Slobber won’t be back until tomorrow morning, but Stinky gave me his home address.”

“Stinky?”

“Don’t ask.”

*

Slobber’s home lived up to their very low expectations. It was small, with a torn screen door and peeling paint. Side effects of being an entrepreneur in a po-dunk town. Right there, in the front yard, a little wire cage prevented several chickens from escaping; somehow one was loose anyway, pecking around like it owned the place.

A bloody ax was affixed in a tree stump which doubled as a chopping block. Zo touched its handle in thought. “Where do you assume all this blood came from? You don’t think…
?”

“No, Mother.” Claire furrowed her eyebrows. “He must eat his own chickens is all.”

“His truck isn’t here. Should we even knock?”

The windows were dark and all they could hear was clucking from the pen. “Nah, he’s gone.”

Surprisingly, the front door creaked open. Through the screen, they saw a shadowed figure. “What’re you doing here?” came a woman’s voice.

Zo stepped closer. “Oh, pardon us. We thought this was Slobber’s residence. Is it not?”

“What’s it to you?” The screen opened a crack, but all they could make out was drops of blood splattering the front porch. The mother and daughter eyed each other.

Claire slowly said, “We just wanted to see if he ran into my friend Jack.”

The door opened completely, and the woman stepped out. A plucked naked and headless chicken was grasped by a leg. More blood dripped. “No one by the name of Jack.” Short fuzzy hair framed a round face. Without a smudge of makeup and wearing men’s clothing, she was a sight for making sore eyes sorer.

“Can you tell us where Slobber went off to?” Claire inquired tentatively, deciding to ignore the bizarre fact that the woman wasn’t more careful with her poultry.

“I can tell you, but do I want to? Is your name Claire?”

Claire’s chills up the back of her neck intensified. Apparently the woman was alone in Slobber’s home. “Is your name Pat?” she blurted.

“I see my man has been talking about me,” she said, squinting an eye.

“I see he has been talking about me, too. As far as I understand, you aren’t supposed to be around here.”

“Yeah, what else did he say?”

“That he isn’t betrothed to you.”