Chapter 13 #2
“Right…” The mermaid winked at me in an exaggerated way, then she cracked the knuckles on her webbed fingers.
Huh. Did mermaids have ties to the mafia?
Those godfather types liked that whole “swim with the fishes” approach to conflict resolution, right?
Yeah, I could see Tulip being connected.
Especially now. She was giving off very murderous vibes.
I sighed. Would it be wrong to put a leash on her until Josh left town? Probably. I looked at my grandfather to back me up, but he didn’t seem too interested in intervening on Josh’s behalf.
“Why are you all here?” Gideon asked.
“We’re here to help with the investigation, obviously.” As Sandy spoke, he didn’t even look up from selecting another muffin. Would this be his second or his third? Tulip reached for one, but Sandy turned the basket away from her.
“Well, there isn’t much to do this morning. The brewers are all going to look around their properties for the hex bags, and other than that…” Gideon shrugged. “Declan and I are heading over for the tour of Black Feather Brewery. I’m hoping we can find something there.”
Sandy licked his fingers, then smiled. “I could go on a tour. I don’t have any shifts this afternoon. When do we leave?”
“Right away,” I said. “The tour doesn’t start until one, but we were going to grab lunch at one of the food trucks out there. They’re supposed to have a few, including Perry’s, I think, because the tour is the festival’s big event for the day.”
“Well, I’m coming, too,” Tulip said. She tapped her foot, splashing water as she did.
“Okay,” I said, “but we won’t be talking about Josh. So if you think you’ll convince me to give him to you while we drive out to the brewery, think again. I won’t change my mind.” For Josh’s health, I really hoped he wasn’t out at the brewery today.
Tulip crossed her arms but didn’t deny my accusation.
“Oh, can I come, too?” Hazel asked. “I wouldn’t mind stretching my legs a bit.” Her skirt fluttered, and I knew her spider legs were already moving and stretching. I shivered and looked away.
At a recent Misfit Monster Support Group meeting, she’d complained that when she used glamour to hide her legs from humans too often, the quality of her webbing deteriorated.
Since she preferred good, strong webbing over glamour, she usually opted to hide her legs under a skirt instead.
Elwood had tried to convince her that it wasn’t likely, but I supported her choice wholeheartedly.
Gideon sighed. “We won’t all fit in my truck.”
“I’ll drive,” Elwood offered, surprising me.
Sandy hooted and grabbed the half-empty basket of muffins. “I’ve got the road snacks.”
“You need to eat an actual meal,” I said, not quite sure how I’d become the responsible one in this group. But between Sandy’s sugar fixation and Tulip’s murderous impulses, someone had to be.
Within a few minutes, everyone was following Elwood to his chartreuse microbus.
“If Sandy holds the muffins, they’ll be gone before we get out of the parking lot,” Az muttered as he brought up the rear.
Huh, Az was coming, too? It’d be a full bus.
“Shotgun!” Sandy shouted as he scurried to the front door on the passenger’s side.
I didn’t mind. That meant I could cuddle with Gideon, but Az’s thunderous expression suggested he didn’t feel the same way. I could see where he was coming from. He was a big guy, almost as big as Gideon. Squeezing into the back wouldn’t be comfortable for him.
But Az didn’t complain, nor did he back out.
Why was he so determined to come? He didn’t strike me as a spontaneous road-trip kind of guy.
Was it wrong that I was questioning everyone’s motives?
Was helping with the investigation an excuse to monitor me?
Everyone seemed very invested in my relationship with Gideon, and now that they knew Josh was here…
could they be worried? They had to know I was happy with Gideon, considering where I’d spent the night, but what if they still wanted to hurt Josh because he’d hurt me?
I suppressed a groan. I wasn’t a damsel in need of saving or defending—no matter what had happened a few weeks ago. I’d have to watch them and see if I could figure out their motives. I’d rather not have a conversation about my private life with everyone if I didn’t have to.
As soon as we’d all piled into Elwood’s microbus—with Az squeezed in beside Gideon and me in the back, Hazel and Tulip sharing the two-person seat in front of us, and Eugene curled up under their seat—we were off.
Az immediately pulled out his book and started reading. I glanced over at his novel, but he had it turned so I couldn’t see the pages. Well, that was no fun.
Tulip twisted around to look at me as Elwood took a sharp, jolting turn out of his parking stall. “Did you see him yet?”
“Who?”
She rolled her eyes. “Josh.”
I sighed.
“Talk to him?” she continued.
“We spoke briefly last night,” I finally said, hoping that’d be the end of it.
“How fast can he run? Is he strong? Does he work out?”
“Tulip, you can’t take him to your pond.”
She huffed, faced forward for half a second, then spun back to face us again. “What about just dousing him? A quick little dip. Just to remind him not to mess with you?”
“That’s not necessary.”
“What if I want to? You’re my friend, Declan. Friends do things for their friends.”
If Tulip kept this up, it’d be a long trip. But I got to cuddle with Gideon, which was always nice, so it wasn’t all bad. In fact, there was only one thing that’d make this excursion better.
“Can we stop to grab coffee on the way?”