Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
C ecil, Fennel, and I prepped in the garden room before we set off to question Annabelle Rossi. I helped put together several charms, the power I’d encountered at the park still thrumming hotly through my veins, the bone dagger I’d formed using the calcium in the soil behind the park heavy in my pocket.
Fennel and Cecil listened as I explained, then demonstrated, the soil vaporization-absorption effect on my skin.
“Not gonna lie. I was hoping this meant I’d finally connected to the earth here.” I stood at my workstation and stared through the windowed wall at the grass in front of Mom’s cottage.
Fennel head-bumped my leg.
“Thanks, partner. Don’t worry. I’m not feeling sorry for myself. I’m thrilled that I’ve got some magic back. Albeit in a weird way.”
Cecil chattered his opinion.
“I know. I’ve never heard of this happening to an earth witch either,” I replied. “This is uncharted territory.”
By late afternoon, we’d armored up with charms and were on our way to Annabelle’s house. I didn’t call ahead because I was hoping I’d find her away from home so I could snoop. If she was there, I’d distract her and send Fennel and Cecil out, so there would be snooping regardless. I hated when people lied to me. Her lie about her husband could’ve been wishful thinking or a post-death platitude, but it bothered me that the truth charm hadn’t pinged.
Damned unpredictable things.
Or, rather, damned unpredictable me .
She wasn’t home. At least, she didn’t answer the door when I knocked. Cecil rode Fennel to the front garden when I gave the signal. He examined the previously faltering rose bush. It had only been two days, and it was already looking better.
“Do we have a root situation, or did I miss something?” I asked.
We both sank our hands into the soil. From the messages I was getting from the roots—in the form of energy, not words—the situation was the same as the first time I’d been here. One of the plants was hogging all the root space.
I pulled my hands from the soil and watched it vaporize and absorb into my skin in a steamy rush that rocketed through my bloodstream and radiated outward. The phenomenon would never get old. It felt so good to have magic—even one I wasn’t sure how to wield. I’d never take it for granted again.
I only hoped it lasted.
Cecil chittered at the plants. It was obvious he agreed and was ensuring that the plants continued to behave themselves. I might be an earth elemental able to communicate with them through magic, but Cecil could literally speak their language. One of the benefits of being a garden gnome.
He finished his lecture and stomped back to Fennel, leaving the root bully rose bush shuddering its leaves in fear.
“Let’s head to the backyard. She mentioned doing some work recently.” I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. “We need to be sure the only organic material she buried was compost and rose bushes.”
We slunk around the side of the house. I used a chanted spell to open the back gate, and we spilled into the backyard.
Annabelle hadn’t been lying about doing work on her patio. The entire yard was covered with concrete that was still curing. She’d paved over all the grass, leaving only a strip of soil along her back fence for overly manicured shrubs and rose bushes. My upper lip curled.
Cecil let out a stream of what I assumed were Gnomish curses.
“Easy,” I said.
As a desert denizen, I respected the need to conserve water, but there were much better ways to do it. Ways that honored the soil, not obliterated it. Not only that, but this much concrete was going to radiate a lot of heat during our one-hundred-fifteen-degree summers. It’d be miserable out here for the remaining plants.
Cecil fisted his tiny hands. The brim of his hat dropped even lower over his eyes.
I sent my partners off to poke around in the yard and made my way to a side entrance that led into the two-car garage from the back door. I’d seen one from the street when I pulled up—simple door, no window, and it was locked.
That wasn’t going to be a problem, but what might be one was any sort of alarm system. Fennel or I could mute the sound with a spell, but we wouldn’t be able to do anything about it alerting Annabelle via phone. If she was nearby, we’d be in trouble and wouldn’t know it until she pulled up.
After weighing the risks, I decided to go for it.
I didn’t worry about breaking the law. Paranormals had their own ways of handling things, and if Annabelle called the human cops and it got out, she’d be dealt with. We didn’t screw around with secrecy. The paranormal community might not agree on much, but we were united in not wanting humans to know any more about us than necessary.
I set my fingers on the doorknob and sent a burst of magic into the lock. It wasn’t anything special—a simple deadbolt. It snicked back, and the door opened outward. No alarm.
The scent of fabric softener told me this was where the washer and dryer were kept. Neatly stacked and labeled plastic containers sat on shelves lining the right wall. Two dusty bicycles were suspended from strong hooks screwed into the rafters. Clean gardening tools hung from a pegboard affixed to the wall on my left, beside a light switch.
I flicked on the switch.
One side of the garage was empty.
On the other side was a blue Toyota Corolla.
My conversation with Jenny from the garden weaved into my thoughts.
“I checked to see if it was impounded. Nothing came up.”
“Then it’s probably still near the kidnapper.”
“Oh, Sy,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
“Nine times out of ten, when there was deception afoot, my team and I found it in whatever person or place we’d immediately discounted at the start of the investigation.”
“Annabelle, what’d you do?” Surprisingly, I didn’t feel all that angry. The whole situation made me sick and sad—and resolute. She was going to pay for this.
Fennel let out a loud meow from the backyard. I slapped at the light switch, shut the door, and ran out to see what he needed.
I found him digging under the far-left edge of the concrete pad. Cecil peered up at me, chattered, and gesticulated to a spot about five feet into the concrete. He pulled a stub of chalk from his pocket and ran over the spot, dragging the chalk behind him. When he was finished, there was the distinct outline of what appeared to be a wolf on the surface.
It was on the tip of my tongue to ask why Fennel hadn’t picked up on the body buried there when we were here the first time, but I swallowed the words. Even Fennel’s excellent sense of smell had limitations. If Annabelle had rubbed her own scent into the concrete, he’d be more likely to pick that up. And if Sy was buried deep underground…
Besides, we hadn’t been looking for a dead man then, only a missing one.
Next time I questioned a suspect, I was bringing Cecil along. Unlike Fennel and me, he always looked for the worst in people; he’d have found the body.
I slid my cell out of my pocket and scrolled to Ronan’s name.
Annabelle Rossi’s house. Bring a jackhammer and shovel.
Not the most delicate way to deliver the news, but I was all out of decorum.
Ronan immediately text back: OMW
The pub was on the other side of La Paloma. This was Smokethorn County’s largest city, but it would still be considered a town by most people outside the county, so it would take him ten minutes at the most to arrive. Still, the thought of being in a murderer’s backyard for any amount of time was deeply unsettling.
“Let’s go wait for Ronan in the car,” I said to the guys.
Fennel shook off his dirty paws and bent down so Cecil could climb onto his back. They padded to me, leaving a trail of dirt on the pristine concrete.
“ Why are you trespassing on my property ?” Annabelle Rossi’s voice hit my senses like a jolt of electricity. She was definitely an alpha. No doubt about that.
“We’re looking for Sy’s body.” I saw no point in engaging in clever banter or coming up with creative lies. Cecil had drawn a chalk outline of the wolf on her patio. It didn’t get much more obvious than that.
“Oh,” she said.
“Why’d you kill him, Annabelle?” I asked.
“I didn’t.” She wrapped her arms around her middle and squeezed. “Not exactly. I lied to you about him showing up here. He arrived on time and ready to go, as usual. We decided to try a new location—the back patio. It would be a challenge, because Sy was a shouter.”
I didn’t ask what she meant by that. I’d have to be a fool not to know what she was insinuating.
“We turned out all the lights and had our fun.” A grin tilted her pale lips. “The other day you told me the grass you walk on absorbs our joy. That night, the grass absorbed a great deal of it. We had a wonderful time.” The grin slipped away. “Too good, perhaps. I was helping Sy to his feet when he cried out and clutched his chest. I thought I’d perhaps injured his arm pulling him to his feet, but soon realized that wasn’t the problem. His eyes rolled in their sockets, and he dropped like a stone. I listened for sounds of breathing, a heartbeat, anything, and there was nothing. He was here one minute and gone the next.”
“If he had a heart attack, why didn’t you call the pack to pick up his body?”
“Not an option.” Her expression was like an opposite happy face—brows thrust together, mouth downturned. “Do you think I don’t know what the people in this town think of me? They believe I forced my husband away from our old pack and made him move here. They believe I wouldn’t allow him to see outsiders. It wasn’t true.”
That was debatable, but what did I know? And, more importantly, what did I care?
“So, because you have a bad reputation with the paranormals in town, you decided to conceal Sy’s death? Did it occur to you that he has— had —friends and family who are worried? Didn’t you think they deserved closure?”
“ I deserved not to have to go through what I dealt with when Joshua died. The snide looks, the whispered accusations, the lies,” she said coldly. A blue shine flickered over her eyes, like a cat blink. “Did you tell anyone you were here?”
“Why? What are you planning? Are you going to kill my partners and me and bury us under new construction, too?” I threw my hands up, exasperated.
“If need be.”
“Concrete is expensive. Geez Louise, how much disposable income do you have? Did you take out a second mortgage on your home or something?” I signaled to Fennel with a flick of my hand behind my back.
Run .
He ignored me.
“I am not without means.” Now her eyes glowed the blue of a spring sky, which seemed unfair. It was too pretty a color for someone like her. “As you will soon find out.”
“Get a grip. So far, you’re guilty of being a heart-attack-inducing booty call and a shitty partner to your husband. Neither of those are crimes.” If you didn’t count the unlawful burial, but I sure as heck wasn’t bringing that up. “If you murder us, that changes. You’re not affiliated with a shifter group in town, Annabelle. You have no protection. If the wolves decide to kill you for your crimes, you die.”
“The pack would give me a medal for murdering you. They hate your guts.” A sneer accompanied the words.
“Not the whole pack,” a deep, female voice said.
Ronan and Gladys Jiménez rounded the side of the house. Both were in hybrid form, though Gladys was a little further into her wolf than Ronan was.
“Hey, Betty. Cecil, Fennel,” Gladys said, her voice a two-packs-a-day version of her usual tone.
“Gladys was in the pub when you texted,” Ronan said, before I could ask. “I can always use a little backup.” He and Gladys fist-bumped each other. “Besides, you said we’d need a shovel, and Gladys is one of the best diggers in the pack.”
“This is my property. You have no right to trespass.” Annabelle brought herself back under control. The blue shine in her eyes was gone.
“We have reason to believe you have the body of a Pallás wolf buried here. That gives us the right.”
It had been a weak argument, and she knew it. The mole shifter flopped into a wicker chair and folded her arms. “Fine. The gnome was correct. The dead wolf’s body is buried in that approximate area. Go ahead and dig him up. Ruin all that expensive concrete.”
Ronan swiveled around. He grasped Annabelle by the throat and dragged her out of the chair. A muscle pulsed in his cheek. His gaze locked onto hers.
Although I could clearly see he wasn’t choking her, the color bled from her face, and she gasped for air. He stared hard into her eyes.
“ Shift .”
The word was so laden with power it made my chest hurt.
In my work, I’d witnessed shifters changing into their animals many times. Some did it almost like a cartoon ninja—poof, one second they’re human, the next they’re a wolf. Some changed in slow stages, some fast, and some changed in a fluid mix of all three. Bones and muscles and skin rolling and sliding smoothly between forms.
Annabelle did none of those things.
The moment the word shift left Ronan’s lips, her animal exploded out of her with a wet splat. Clumps of white, shivery, fatty flesh hung from the porch roof. It spattered the side of the house and nearby furniture. A glob landed at my feet.
A very shaken giant mole creature shook off the tatters of her clothing and stared up at Ronan, who hadn’t moved nor decreased the intensity of his stare since issuing the command.
“ Holy shit .” I breathed the words.
Gladys nodded at me, a satisfied grin on her wolf face. She’d shifted completely when Ronan gave the command and loped to the edge of the concrete pad.
“You will retrieve our brother from your land, mole. If you attempt to flee, I will tear you into so many pieces even your own soul won’t recognize you.” Ronan still hadn’t moved. “Go. Now.”
Annabelle shot off, her front paws making digging motions before she’d reached the edge of the patio. Gladys took a step back, lowered her head, and let out a full-throated growl. There was nothing beta about the teeth she bared when Annabelle came within biting distance.
I knelt beside Fennel and Cecil, both of whom hadn’t taken their attention off Ronan. “You two head out to the car. I’ll be there in a little bit.”
Fennel lashed at me with his tail, flinging dirt from the yard onto my clothing. His way of asking, “You sure you want to be alone with this guy?”
“I’ll be fine.” I stood, watched them leave.
“You should go, too,” Ronan said, his voice hitting me in the back like a shove. “Alpha will be here soon.”
I faced him, surprised to see he hadn’t moved since issuing the shift command to Annabelle. Bits of crumbly flesh clung to him, his face and neck were wet with it, and his eyes glowed like a full moon on a clear desert night.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
“It’s okay not to be,” I whispered. We were several feet apart, but he heard me. That wolf hearing never failed.
“I’m fine.”
I closed the distance between us using slow, deliberate steps. “Yeesh. Is that what I sound like when I’m lying about being okay?”
The glow in his eyes dimmed a little, and one corner of his mouth crooked up. “Probably.”
I reached for him, and he pulled away. “I’m a mess.”
“Yeah, you’ve got human all over you.”
“The way she spoke about Sy. I was angry,” he said, his voice sounding miles away. “That’s not something I ever wanted you to see me do. Not you .”
I tugged at my sleeve, dislodging a glittery scattering of the soil Fennel had thrown on me. Ronan and I watched as the dirt in my hand heated up and dissipated, steaming into the air before sinking back into me.
Magic flowed and power built with no exit plan. I simply didn’t know how to direct this magic. So I fell back on what I knew would work.
I chanted a spell, ending with a single word.
“ Limpiar .”
Then I hovered my hands two inches over his face, sliding down his throat, chest and arms, abdomen, groin, legs, feet. The debris covering him slid to the floor, leaving him clean.
“Witch shower,” I said when I was done—my lame attempt at lightening the moment.
He stepped over the mess, a step that brought him inches away from me. “Your eyes.”
“Are they silver again?”
“Yeah.” He rested his forehead against mine. “You really should go. He’ll be here soon.”
“I’m not afraid of your father. I’ve handled him fine on my own before.” I stroked my fingers over his chest, enjoying the way he sucked in his breath. A few feet away, Gladys growled at Annabelle.
“I know, but I’m not … in the best headspace at the moment. My wolf is hanging on by a thread. He wants vengeance for his brother wolf. If the alpha struck out at you, I might do something…” He let the rest of his sentence blow away.
“Something you aren’t yet ready to face,” I said.
He nodded. “Betty, I’m sorry about this.”
“Don’t be. I get it.” I cupped his jaw, ghosted my mouth over his, before breaking away. “Do you want me to tell Calvin about tonight?”
“I’ll stop by later and tell him myself. I owe him that.” He held my hand, rubbing his thumb over the center of my palm. “I’ll call later, let you know how it went.”
“Okay.” I waved goodbye to Gladys and walked around the side of the house to my car. I peered through the passenger window on my way to the driver’s side. Cecil and Fennel were lounging on the backseat, eyes closed.
Huh. Guess my “guardian angels” trusted Ronan to watch over me.
On my way around the hood, an arm banded around my waist, pulling me hard against a solid chest. Ronan’s mouth rested against my ear, his right hand splaying over my ribs. “Thank you.”
“Anytime,” I said.
He held me a second longer, brushing his lips over the rim of my ear. His heated breath beckoned at a need so intense it made my knees weak. As suddenly as he’d grabbed me, he let me go. I turned to watch him walk away, but I was too late.
He was already gone.