Her inability to accomplish anything was the reason she got no respect.
The room fell silent as Mavis caved to Psy’s demand and focused on her scrying ball. “I see men gathering at the pond. I recognize the mayor and the sheriff, not sure about the others. They’re arguing. There’s a man with surveying equipment. And a fat old guy yelling. There may be others but they’re not coming in as strong. There’s fear as well as anger. AndTobias?”
Of course, Tobias would be there with his froggie protestors. The gathering was predictable.
“I wish you could tell us how much time we had,” Evie said gloomily. “Sounds like a party and we should prepare.”
“Soon.” Mavis dropped the velvet cloth over the ball again. “When the vision is that strong, the parties involved are decided, and it’s happening pretty soon. How do we prepare?”
“Excellent question. Depends on what we’re preparing for. Catching a killer?” Evie realized that’s what she really wanted. Jax could handle deeds and courtrooms and lawsuits. She didn’t care who played what silly paper game. She wanted the killer who had taken Loretta’s parents away too soon and left her an orphan.
She heard the protests rising around the room. Her family had grown lazy and soft these last years, while times were good. Confronted with an ugly future, they wanted to bury their heads in the sand and pretend someone else would take care of it—just as Mavis had. Remembering what had happened when they hadn’t fought back then, Evie resisted the family’s tendency to trust.
“Sage, ladies,” Evie decided. Without auras or spirits to guide her, she had to fall back on known mayhem. A good old-fashioned mob had shaken loose rusty screws in the past. “Brooms. Hard to see torches in daylight, but rain is moving in. It will be dark early. Iddy, can you send La Chusa to tell us when the gathering starts?”
“She’s already there. Someone is tinkering with the police tape, if I’m correctly seeing what she’s sending. Do you have extra broom grass here or do I have time to go home?” Iddy wrinkled her nose as she glanced down at her jeans and wrinkled work shirt. “I’m not at my most impressive.”
Her cousingot it. Evie grinned.
Before she could answer, Mavis took command. “Hats, at least. We need to be quick, before Loretta is out of school. I can bring the sage and extra broom for anyone who needs it. We should go home and prepare, then gather in force here. That will set off the gossip and give the trespassers time to worry.”
“Cool. We haven’t done a march since I was a kid.” Gracie gathered up her purse. “This is totally worth using my half-day off. Here, in half an hour?”
“I hate hats,” Evie muttered.
“More attractive than skin cancer,” her mother admonished, bustling about, gathering sage and whatever other dried herbs she’d decided on.
“Warts. Witches should havewarts.” With a sigh, Evie stood up, wondering what one wore to a witch parade. She’d heard about them, but she hadn’t participated in the one Gracie remembered.
“Those artists who painted witches with warts probably meant to symbolize the pustules from bubonic plague, which was the evil of their time.” Unconcerned, Mavis headed up the stairs to her apartment.
Evie had set this insane plan in motion. She’d have to make the best of it, she decided as she jogged back to her house. Jax would take one look and run far, far away once he saw her family in action. That was probably for the best. She and Loretta needed to learn to deal with each other without outside interference.
But the niggling voice in the back of her head said shewantedto work with Jax. Since that wasn’t happening...
What would a good witch wear to an execution?
Might depend on whether it was hers or a killer’s.
* * *
TROUBLE.POND.
Leave it to Ariel to text incomplete sentences but use punctuation. How was she seeing the pond from this side of the hill? Better not to ask.
STAY INSIDEhe texted back, just because he needed to acknowledge her warning. It wasn’t as if Ariel would leave the house.
He showed his phone to R&R and climbed into his Jag. “You might want to monitor the pond, if you have the equipment. If nothing else, the TV news will pay for the video on the gruesome discovery of two bodies.”
Roark laughed. “Don’ go getting’ yourself whacked. We’d be in jail in a week wit’out you.”
“Evie’s family will put you up. They just won’t pay you.” Jax whipped his car around in the lane and roared off.
He was a lawyer these days. Even in the service, he’d been a lawyer. He was trained to fight, sure, but he preferred courtroom brawls. It wasn’t as if hewantedto investigate trouble—except Evie was most likely at the bottom of whatever was brewing. He didn’t expect her to knit baby booties after hearing about the bodies. She’d had time to notify her entire family of their suspicions. He was probably lucky they weren’t on the roof of city hall, hacking their way into the mayor’s office.
He’d examine why he should care some other time. For right now, he listened to his fear. It had saved lives before.
Out by the pond, he pulled the Jag up behind the mayor’s Escalade. His father’s Lincoln was parked on the other side of the road, headed out of town. If nothing else, his father’s presence indicated trouble forhimself. He hoped that’s what Ariel meant.