4. Hostess with the Mostest
FOUR
Hostess with the Mostest
“ T here are more of us than who’re here,” Arthur said. “We all have lives. If you allow us to meet here, that means you’ll be part of the team more often than not. Arwyn here,” he said, gesturing to the woman, “has a huge gallery, but I’m afraid one of us will knock over a glass octopus and end up owing her twenty thousand dollars.”
“I told you we could meet on the deck,” Arwyn said. “Fresh air and the sound of the surf would cover our voices.”
“And,” the werewolf—Declan—began, “when my workshop is done, we’ll have that too.” He caught my eye. “We wouldn’t always need to invade your territory.”
The falcon Kaknu stood to the side, silent. Having him in my home felt like my feathers being brushed the wrong way. His stance said it was the same for him.
“You might not know this,” I told the others, “but raptors don’t get on well with each other. It would probably be best to decide if your investigation needs an owl or a falcon, but not both.”
“Oh,” Arthur said. He and the others looked between Kaknu and me. “We didn’t know that. Is it a problem right now?”
Kaknu glanced at me and away. “It would be best if we didn’t occupy the same space. You need to talk with her. We’re in her territory, so I’ll go. If you need me, you know where to find me.” Without seeming to hurry, he was out the door and starting up his truck before anyone had a chance to respond.
“Sorry about that,” Nick said, leaning on my table.
I gave a quick shake of my head and picked up my stool. “There’s a couch and chair in the back.” I led them to the rear of the store. I had a long brown leather couch and matching chair back here. I’d rationalized the purchase by telling myself I was giving customers a comfortable place to sit and peruse books. Really it was where I’d sometimes lie down to read.
Declan, Arwyn, and Nick took the couch. Arthur sat in the club chair. I sat on my stool. Nick opened his mouth to begin but I popped back up, causing everyone to turn to me.
“Sorry,” I said. “I just—I’m supposed to offer you refreshments and I forgot.”
Nick grinned and Arwyn shook her head. “You don’t need to get us anything.”
“No. I’m sure it’s true. I’ve read it in books across various genres,” I confirmed.
“Not so fast,” Arthur said to the others. “Let’s see what she’s offering.”
Declan chuffed out a laugh at that.
“Okay.” I moved to the doorway into the back. “Go ahead. I already know what he’s going to tell you, and I can hear from the kitchen.”
While Nick explained what had happened last night, I looked through the cupboards. I found a package of cookies. When had I bought those? I checked the date. They were only a little past the expiration date. The package was unopened. They were probably fine. I found a mixing bowl and dumped the cookies in.
What else? I found a pack of popcorn, so I programmed the microwave and then checked the refrigerator. I had eggs, some meats, cheese. Oh! Any crackers? I checked all the cupboards again. Nope. How about the freezer? Corndogs? Why in the world did I have a box of frozen corndogs?
When the microwave dinged, I dumped out the popcorn into multiple cereal bowls and then put the corndogs in. While they cooked, I filled up five glasses of water. I remembered a large cutting board my mom had. I found it under the sink, so I cleaned it and then started piling everything on.
Hmm . I’d clearly organized this wrong. I moved the popcorn to the big mixing bowl and the cookies to the smaller cereal bowls, which worked better. The microwave dinged again and I piled the corndogs onto a plate.
After grabbing a bunch of paper towels, I brought the board loaded with food back and then realized I had nowhere to put it down. I ended up kicking my stool closer, so it stood between the couch and chair, like a tall but narrow coffee table.
I handed everyone a paper towel and then sat on the floor, leaning up against the end of a bookcase.
Declan and Nick stared at the food, their eyebrows near their hairlines. Arwyn clapped her gloved hands on a laugh and took a corndog stick. Arthur scowled at the food but then took two corndogs and a glass of water. Nick stood and handed out the remaining water glasses, taking a corndog and three cookies for himself.
“Thank you,” he said. “We appreciate you doing all of this for us. I was just telling everyone about you finding the phone and how we both checked the woods but didn’t find any indication he’d followed her in.” He looked over at me. “Anything to add?”
Nodding, I said, “Does anyone want mustard for their corndog?”
Arwyn laughed again. She wasn’t laughing at me. I knew what that looked like, how it felt. She honestly just seemed happy, which made me happy.
“Yes, please,” she said.
I rose and went back to the refrigerator. I was almost positive I had seen a yellow bottle in the door. I came back a minute later, squeezing lines of mustard down all the corndogs, even those still on the plate.
After I returned the bottle to the refrigerator, I sat again, this time with my own corndog, and asked, “Did you make sure McKenna didn’t stay in her apartment?”
Nick paused mid-chew. Shaking his head, he swallowed quickly. “No. Why would I tell her she needed to leave? The guy didn’t have her wallet. He doesn’t know her address.”
Alarmed, I rose to my feet again. “We need to go check on her. When I was patrolling the neighborhood last night, I saw her in the window of her apartment house. She lives quite close. If I found her—and I don’t have a wolf’s nose—aren’t we worried he could too?”
Brow furrowed, Nick looked at Arthur and then back at me. “I walked her to her door—which should muddle her scent—accompanied her in, and made sure her lights stayed off until all her blinds were closed.” Tilting his head, he asked, “You saw her through the window of a darkened apartment?”
Nodding, I took a bite of the corndog and sat back down. I turned to Declan. “Can you see through darkened windows?”
He thought about it a moment. “Yes, but I’d need to be close. If I’m across the street and looking up, would I see a face in a dark apartment window? Absolutely. Would I see it from down the block?” He shook his head. “Doubtful.”
“Let me make sure.” Nick stood, put his corndog stick on the plate, and pulled out his phone, swiping through screens. When the woman answered her phone, I breathed a sigh of relief.
Arthur nodded at me. “Good thought. Did you notice anything else?”
I thought a moment. “I flew over the neighborhood last night. There are surprisingly few pickup trucks. The few I found had cold engines and smelled of human, not wolf. I may not have your noses, but I could identify all of you tonight so I think I would have scented a wolf. Granted, garages exist.” With a shrug, I continued, “I also went through my forest earlier this evening. I didn’t pick up on anything out of the ordinary.”
Nick walked back, pocketing his phone. “McKenna’s staying with her mom.” He looked at me. “Did you find anything else in the ditch besides her phone?”
I shook my head.
Declan’s brows were furrowed as he glared at the floor. Arwyn rubbed his knee. He looked at Nick over Arwyn’s head. “You’re sure you scented wolf?”
Nick nodded. “It was faint—barely there—but I caught it on McKenna. I didn’t scent anything on the road, but she was carrying a scent that wasn’t human, one I’m pretty sure was wolf.”
“Are there dog shifters?” I asked. “Maybe he’s a Huskey or a Malamute.”
Declan turned his hard glare on me, but after a moment it softened. “No. There are no dog shifters.” Relaxing back into the sofa, he continued, “Wolves are not dogs, but we are genetically close, so I’m following the logic.”
Had I just offended him? I was sitting cross-legged, so I rolled forward onto my knees, took a corndog, and handed it to him as a peace offering. “Sorry.” Then I rolled back down to my spot, leaning against a bookcase.
“No offense taken,” Declan said.
“Well, some offense was taken,” Arwyn murmured.
“Yes, but I was given meat, so all is forgotten,” he replied before taking a big bite.
“Can you call the pack together?” Arthur asked. “Then we could have Nick try to identify him.”
“Wait,” Arwyn said. “Can we narrow it down for him? Do we have anything the truck guy touched?”
“Did you show them the video?” I asked Nick.
He nodded. “While you were in back.”
“From that,” I said, “it doesn’t look like he touched anything other than his truck. McKenna never said he touched her. Right?”
Nick shook his head, “No. He didn’t touch her.”
We all thought a moment. I stared at Arwyn’s gloves, wondering. Some wicches I’d heard about had special gifts. “Why are you wearing gloves?”
She held up a hand and said, “Psychometry. When I touch things, I see visions. Usually, it’s stuff that’s already happened. Sometimes I see stuff that will happen. Why?”
I thought about that. “Well, we know he touched his truck, and his truck was on the pavement. We even have the rubber burn where he floored it to scare McKenna. Do you think you’d see anything if you touched the mark on the pavement?”
“I have no idea.” She stood. “But let’s go find out.”
Arthur took the last corndog and finished it in two bites. Nick took a handful of cookies, and then we all headed out the front door and down the hill.
“It doesn’t seem like you get a lot of customers,” Arthur said. “How do you stay open?”
I shrugged one shoulder, uncomfortable with the topic. “There’s a long answer and a short answer to that. I’ll give you the short one. I own the house and property outright. I don’t need to cover a high rent. If I sell a book, good. If I don’t, okay.”
He seemed to be waiting for me to say more. When I didn’t, he gave a suspicious hmm .
At the bottom of the hill, we turned left again and went back to where the truckman had approached McKenna. Nick pointed out where the bag had been found and then showed them where the truck had left the pavement, leaving an impression on the slope.
Declan crouched, his head lifted, trying to catch a scent. Arthur walked back and forth over the area, looking for anything. Arwyn waited on the dark road.
Nick eventually joined her and pointed to a dark spot on the pavement about ten feet away from where she was standing. “I think that’s the mark his tires made.”
Arwyn shook her head. “No. It’s here. I didn’t feel anything when I walked over there. It feels dark and ugly right here.” She took off her backpack and handed it to Declan. “If it looks like I’m going down,” she told him, “catch me. I don’t want to get all dirty.”
He swung her backpack onto his shoulder and said, “My pleasure.”
“Everyone else, move back please.” She waved us away. “I don’t want to catch any stray thoughts.”
Nick, Arthur, and I moved back to the crossroads to wait. The men discussed the case in low voices.
When they went quiet, I asked something that had been nagging at me. “Can I ask you two a question?”
Arthur and Nick exchanged a look and then Nick said, “Is it about black bear shifters being Black humans?”
Arthur shook his head, his focus on Arwyn, who didn’t appear to be doing anything other than touching the road with one finger.
“Yeah, that was it. Is that a dumb question?”
Nick shook his head. He tore his attention from Arwyn and met my gaze before I remembered and looked away. “There’s no connection. Some black bear shifters are white, some Latino?—”
“I know an Asian grizzly family,” Arthur added.
“Hey,” Nick said to his cousin, “remember when I took that vacation in northern Canada a few years ago? I met a Yupik man who was a polar bear shifter. Nice enough guy. Kept to himself.”
We fell into silence again and then I whispered, “How long does this usually take?”
Nick shrugged as Arthur said, “As long as it takes.”