“No, but he occasionally visited. A lot of people know your family. You’ll do fine here. This is Mrs. Wright’s class. You’ll like her.”
She led Loretta into a schoolroom with twenty or so kids who all stared. Loretta didn’t think she looked any different from them, so they must be staring because they didn’t know her. She hadn’t decided whether she wanted to change that or not. In general, she didn’t like kids her age. Their bubbles were pretty small and uninteresting.
“Hello, Loretta, it’s good to have you here.” The teacher seemed a little younger than the principal. She had a nice smile and long golden hair she wore tied in back. “I hope you’ll enjoy being with us. Just take any empty seat. We’re studying the planets today. There should be books in the desk.”
The books were battered and old and well below the level of her studies, but Loretta obediently opened them when the girl beside her showed the page.
Mrs. Wright was one of the teachers with a good bubble. If Afterthought was the last place her parents had visited, then she needed to meet everyone she could. Maybe she’d find someone who had seen them. Or if they’d been kidnapped, maybe she’d see the person with a black pit.
She might be able to tell Mr. Roark and Mr. Reuben about the black pit, if she found it. She didn’t know why they were on the school roof. Maybe they could track her parents from there?
* * *
“All the doggiesare walked and all the errands are run. I can cover for you. Go have a good gossip with Gertie. Find out what the mayor is up to now.” Evie strolled into her mother’s shop, checking the shelves to see if anything had sold today. Mid-week, it was unlikely.
“Lottie Shepherd bought the last of the arthritis balm. I’ll have to collect some willow bark and ginger and make a new batch. Can you hold the desk long enough for me to walk out to the Hill and gather them?” Not waiting for an answer, Mavis bustled from behind the counter, removing the apron she used when she mixed her concoctions.
“Take an amulet. I was out there this morning and sense unrest. The Magician was there, too. I don’t think he was the cause of this disturbance though.” Evie picked up a feather duster and started cleaning the merchandise.
“I don’t like any of this. Your friends seem nice, but they’re stirring up what should be left alone. Now, if they’d stir the mayor to leave town, I’d be a little more appreciative.” She dashed out, straightening the pins in her graying bun.
As soon as she left, Evie set down the duster and headed for the small office in back. She wanted to see that official-looking notice. Mavis had ignored the condemnation notices on the trailer park, assuming lawyers would stop the city from evicting her. But the trailer park lawyers hadn’t been as determined as the city’s.
Now that Evie had a genuine big-city lawyer in the house, for however long, she’d put him to use, if needed. Otherwise, she’d boot him out as soon as reasonably possible. Jax was disturbingherpeace, if no one else’s. How was she going to talk to Loretta’s parents if his disbelief blocked them?
Psy followed her, leaping up on the desk and hindering progress. Evie shoved the cat aside to lift the desk blotter and find the clear-address envelope. Mavis didn’t use computers, but she didn’t use ink or the blotter either. If her mother couldn’t address a bill directly, she gave it to Evie to handle. The desk—and probably her habits—simply hadn’t changed in Evie’s lifetime.
The envelope had been opened, so she figured she wasn’t breaking any laws checking the contents: NOTICE OF TAX SALE.
Stomach plummeting, Evie scanned the contents, then frowned. She might be spacey, but she could read. The notice had Mavis’s name and the shop’s address. It declared a property lot with some incomprehensible number on it was being sold for unpaid back taxes.
Evie knew they paid the taxes on the shop and Val’s house every year. She wasn’tthatscatter-brained. She worked hard and saved ahead.
She’d have to take this down to the courthouse and ask what it was about. She just had this uneasy notion that allowing anyone to see her ignorance would give them the upper hand somehow. Mayor Block owned a real estate firm and squeezed money out of every exchange of property in town—but this came from thecountycourthouse.
The shop bell over the door rang. Evie shoved the envelope in the back pocket of her capris and scuttled back to the counter. Studying the shop’s contents with a disapproving frown, her nemesis awaited.
“Does anyone still buy crystals?” Jax asked, picking up a particularly fine black agate. “Or these other gewgaws?” He gestured at the New Age displays.
“They’re popular with tourists who have nothing better to spend their money on. But Mavis uses the crystals for healing, so yes, people buy them.” More regularly than Evie’s ghost-busting or detection talents. “Why aren’t you on your way back to Savannah? Don’t you have work to do?”
“You don’t really think I’m leaving my ward with strangers? I’m paid to see to Loretta’s safety, and I’m not convinced that you or the school can provide it.” He set a cell phone on the counter and opened it to a map. “Do you recognize this parcel?”
Evie looked at him in disbelief. “Parcel? I don’t even know what you’re talking about much less what you want me to see. It’s a map with a bunch of squinchy writing.”
“It’s a parcel map of Afterthought. If you had anything as reasonable as a computer, I’d send it to you.” He made the screen show a wider area. “The town is here.” He tapped a bunch of lines.
“I have a computer. I just haven’t given you access to it.” She moved the image around and decided the little squares might be buildings along Main Street. She scrolled it to the area where Witch Hill ought to be. The squares got a lot larger and more irregular. “What plot of land are we talking about?”
“All this area outside of town. Is all that Witch Hill?” He stabbed his finger on the area she studied.
“Most of it, I suppose. I don’t know where boundaries are. There’s an old rock wall around the family cemetery. Is that one of the squares?” The paper in her back pocket itched. Parcels, lots... “Do those squares have numbers?”
“Not on here but probably in the deed books. Why?” He stuck the phone in his pocket.
Wouldn’t it be loverly if all that intense focus was on her and not land? But his steely gaze gave her cold shivers, so she shouldn’t admire.
He was a lawyer. She might as well get as much free advice as she could. She produced the crumpled notice and spread it on the counter. “Would that number be to a lot in the deed book? How would I find it?”