Chapter 38 Otis Keeps an Eye on Us
THIRTY-EIGHT
Otis Keeps an Eye on Us
Declan returned a minute later with three large pizza boxes in his hands.
“Dude.” I had to grin. “Even for you, that’s a lot of pizza.” Forcing myself awake, I went and got us plates. Declan was right behind me, getting drinks.
“Baseball or British mystery?” he asked.
“Guess,” I passed him a plate and sat down on the couch. As soon as he opened the first box, the scent had me ravenous. I slowly made my way through three pieces, while he ate an entire pizza himself.
I’d just put my empty plate down when he tapped my arm and pointed toward the back door. “Your friends have arrived.”
I jumped up, grabbed the three muffins I’d already warmed up for them, and went out the back door. Otis was in front, with his siblings Daisy and Jasper sitting behind him.
Bracken called from the direction of his RV. “They came to me first, but I told them you were here and they seemed to have understood.”
“Is that right?” I asked them. “You’re so smart.” I gently put down the three muffins on the deck between the raccoons and me. Stepping back, I sat on the bench by the door to keep them company while they ate.
Declan walked out a moment later with three pieces of pizza.
He placed each one beside a muffin, then sat beside me.
Jasper chittered excitedly, but Otis made a low hiss and Jasper shut up.
Otis moved forward, sniffing the offerings.
He picked a muffin, grabbed a piece of pizza, and moved to the side to wait for his siblings, all while keeping an eye on Declan and me.
“You’d think he’d trust us by now,” I said.
Declan wrapped his arm around me. “He does, but he has his siblings to look after.”
Once they were all holding their food, they scampered off so they could eat, protected under a far bench.
“The pizza was a genius addition,” I told him, nudging him with my elbow.
“I thought they might like it.” Declan stretched his legs out, crossing them at the ankles. “Do you see the way Otis keeps peering out at us?”
I nodded.
“They’re vulnerable right now. They’ve hidden themselves and their food away from predators who might want to steal it, but in doing so, they’ve cut off multiple exits.
Otis needs to keep an eye on things so he can warn his siblings if they need to run.
They’ll try to eat as fast as they can so they can move to a safer spot. ”
“Is there anything I can do to make them less nervous?” I peered around Declan to see the tip of Otis’s nose poke out from beneath the bench.
“Nah. We’ll let them eat.” He put his hand in my hair and massaged my scalp. “Are you still hungry?”
I shook my head.
“Ready to go home?” he asked.
I nodded. “As soon as they’re done. I don’t want to spook them while they’re eating.”
We sat in silence, watching the waves. Declan kissed the top of my head. “How are you feeling about having to speak at this Wicches’ Council meeting?”
I glanced up at him, then back out at the water.
“Honestly, I’m pretty freaked out about it.
I don’t know any of those wicches. Well, except for the one we talked to on the phone today.
Standing up in front of a meeting room filled with magical people who have no idea who I am and telling them that the woman who’s been attending their meetings for decades is actually an evil killer is going to be interesting. ”
“I want to go with you to make sure no one does anything to hurt you or the baby.”
“I appreciate that,” I told him. “I do, but I can defend myself. Don’t forget I’ll have Mom, Bracken, and Faith with me. I’m not doing this alone.”
His chest vibrated with a low grumble. “I hate sitting home while you’re walking into a dangerous situation. Can you call me as soon as it’s done so I know you’re okay?”
“I can and I will.” I rested my hand on his stomach. “Not to worry. Most people are scared of me.”
“As well they should be,” he said. “All it takes is one person touching you, though.”
“Yes, but that’s been true my whole life. I’m very good at protecting myself, and you’ve never seen my mom in full protector mode. No one will get anywhere near me.”
“See that they don’t.” He stood and pulled me up beside him.
I peered around him, to make sure we weren’t disturbing the little raccoons, and saw them waddling quickly toward the far gate. “Wait. How did they—” Answering my unfinished question, they climbed onto a bench, to the back rest, then over the lower edge of the gate.
I smacked Declan’s arm. “Is that why you designed the gates that way, so my furry friends could visit me?”
He pulled me in for a quick, strong hug. “I didn’t want them locked out. Plus, I liked the idea of the top edge of the gate echoing your tentacles, so it was a win-win.”
I grabbed the front of his flannel and pulled him down for a kiss that quickly turned heated. When we finally broke apart, I whispered, “Thank you.”
“Wait here,” he said. “I’ll put the pizza in the fridge, grab your backpack, and turn off the lights.”
While he did that, I went to the railing.
“Goodnight, Cecil.” A tentacle lifted above the surface in a wave.
“Say goodnight to Poppy and the babies for me. Sleep well, Wilbur. You too, Charlie and Herbert.” Wilbur’s snout popped out of the water.
“You can tell my dad I’m okay.” Wilbur nodded and dove back underwater.
Declan returned a moment later, my backpack over his shoulder. He wrapped an arm around me and I flicked my fingers to lock up the gallery.
As we walked through the gate, I called, “Have a good evening, Bracken. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
A chuckle floated to us from his invisible RV. “I enjoy being a part of your goodbyes. Sleep well.”
When we got home, I changed out of my work clothes, thinking we’d finish watching the mystery we’d started the night before. Unless Declan had already finished it when I fell asleep. Instead, when I came out of the bathroom, the lights were off, the fire was on, and Declan was in bed.
“You’re exhausted, love.” He flipped back the covers as I made my way around the big bed.
I set my phone on the charger, took off the pearl necklace, and crawled in. Snuggled up against Declan, my head on his chest, I dropped off faster than I thought possible.
When I woke, I was alone and the flat smelled like bacon. Declan was cooking for us again. The bed moved and I opened my eyes to see Declan sitting on the edge, a small glass of juice in his hand.
“I added a drop of Bracken’s anti-nausea potion in it so you can keep breakfast down.” When my eyelids drooped, he said, “None of that. You need to take this glass so I can get back to the stove before the bacon burns.”
I forced myself to sit up and take the glass. “We can’t have that. Thank you.”
He kissed my forehead while I took my first sip, then was jogging back to the kitchen. I made a pit stop to the bathroom, then followed him. He took the glass from my hand to refill and nudged me toward the table.
“I made us toad-in-the-holes with bacon. Does that sound okay?”
I shook my head in wonder, taking the seat by the window overlooking the ocean. “You’re so good at this. If it were up to me, we’d starve.”
He poured himself a glass of juice and sat. “You take care of all our carb needs. I’ll handle the protein. This is your loaf of rye. I took it out of the freezer.”
I considered my juice glass and the hole in the slice of bread on my plate. “Did you use this glass to make the holes?”
He nodded. “My aunt used to make these for breakfast on Sundays. I hadn’t thought to make them since she passed away.”
He’d made a perfect hole in each piece of bread, put them in a hot skillet with melting butter, then dropped an egg into the hole and sprinkled cheese on top. I had two eggy slices on my plate and he had four, with a plate of bacon between us.
“I had a hard time sleeping last night,” he said.
“I kept seeing Quinn and Mac in my head. More than anything, I want to be a good mate and father.” He reached over the table and squeezed my hand.
“I don’t want to screw this up. Eventually, thoughts of our future transitioned into needing to take care of you now, so we can have that future.
First up: breakfast.” He pointed at the toad-in-the-holes with his fork.
“I thought maybe I’d continue the tradition and make these for us on Sunday mornings. ”
My throat got tight. He was such an earnestly good man. “Today’s not Sunday.”
“I know. This was a test to see if you liked them.” He took a piece of bacon and waited for my opinion.
I swallowed the bite I was eating. “I love that idea, and this is delicious.”
“Good.” Smiling, he looked back down at his plate and had another bite.
I took a piece of bacon and considered. “I could make Saturday morning pancakes.”
He looked up, his warm brown eyes twinkling. “Perfect.”
The next two days were weirdly stress and drama-free.
I worked in the hot shop. As the work was repetitive, my mind wandered to what I was going to say at the meeting on Friday.
I had the video evidence, but I wasn’t sure what kind of equipment they’d have at the meeting.
I decided to bring my own laptop and a small portable projector, just in case.
Uncle John had given me the footage of Milo outside his house, which could only help our case. The detectives were leaving me alone, so I assumed the FBI was making progress identifying the victims. I loved it when no one needed me.
After I closed down the hot shop late Thursday afternoon, I walked over to check on the new construction.
I’d told them about the changes I wanted in our future nursery, but I wasn’t sure if they’d had time to start yet.
I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the door.
The bathroom had already been framed out.
Given all the delicate glass on the other side of this wall, I flicked my fingers and added a spell to keep the pounding in here from affecting the gallery.
There was now a door-sized hole in my outside wall. Instead of standing in the parking lot, though, I was in what would soon be Bracken’s living room.
“Good evening, Miss Corey. Did you have a question for us?”
I turned to find a tall Black woman in blue coveralls with a bandana over her hair. She had been in charge of the remodel of Declan’s workshop and our new home. “Cam. It’s good to see you again. I didn’t realize you were the forewoman for this job.” I glanced around. “It’s looking great.”
Cam nodded. “It’s coming along. It’s a pretty easy job.
I’m overseeing both this one and the new wall around Quinn Woodcraft.
We should be done here next week. The wall is going to take longer.
It’s labor intensive. We’re doing a wooden fence along the road, but the other three sides of the property will have stone walls.
He wants your home as secure as possible. ”
“That I do,” Declan said as he walked in from the future nursery. He gave me a kiss and said, “You weren’t in the hot shop or the studio, so I followed your scent over here.” He looked up. “Thanks for all your hard work, Cam. Both jobs are coming along well.”
She nodded. “I have good crews who are doing their best work for you. I’m finishing my walk-through. The bathroom is almost done. The shower was installed today. We’re waiting on cabinets for the kitchen, and the stove.”
She pointed through the door to the nursery and we followed her in. “This was an addition to the original plan, so we need to wait on some materials.” She looked at me. “You want a half bath here, right?”
Nodding, I said, “Yes. There’s a full bath in my studio.”
“Okay, good,” she said. “This room won’t take long. What color do you want us to paint it?”
“No need for that,” I told her. “I’ll paint in here.”
“Bracken told us to paint the playroom a standard white for now because you were going to be painting a forest scene in there. Is that right?”
“I think so. I’m still deciding.”
“All right then.” She checked the time on her phone.
“I’m going to head out.” She gestured toward Bracken’s apartment.
“I’m going this way.” She stopped short.
“I meant to tell you earlier, but I was told not to open the hot shop door. My guys informed me that there are dead birds in the bushes at the edges of the parking lot. I told them not to touch anything, in case they were spelled or something.”
I slumped against Declan. “Damn. I knew it was too quiet.” My hand went to my queasy stomach.
“Why do they keep hurting living things? It doesn’t work.
Their curses aren’t stronger than my wards.
” Sighing, I said, “I’ll follow you out.
I need to clean up. I don’t want the poor things rotting by the side of the road. ”
Cam said goodbye and drove away. Declan stayed with me. He walked along the roadside of the parking lot, while I stayed behind the wards. We walked parallel to each other on either side of four-foot flowering bushes that marked the property line.
Declan stopped beside the first dead bird.
It looked to be nailed to a board and had beads and trinkets stuffed down its craw and in wounds.
I had no idea what any of it meant other than it was dark and filthy.
It made my skin crawl. Declan shook his head in a way that made me think of his other nature, shaking the unease out of his coat.
He had the presence of mind to photograph the curses for my presentation tomorrow, while I cleaned them out, asking the Goddess to grant peace to the poor tortured birds. There were five in all. I really hated the Swans.