“The Universe has spoken. You would quit the moment something more interesting came along,” Mavis countered with a vague wave of her hand.
Jax figured Mavis was right, but that wasn’t the point. He directed Loretta down the street. “Why don’t you run down and buy a box of donuts? That will cool them down.”
“Their bubbles are big,” Loretta answered enigmatically, holding out her hand for money.
The line between his ward’s expenses and his own was being cut pretty fine. He handed her cash and she happily skipped off.
“You don’t even have the business sense to sue the city when they steal your land! You’d be telling the council their futures instead of paying attention to what needs doing.” Evie’s argument needed more focus.
Jax stepped in between mother and daughter, thinking he really needed his head examined, but he apparently had nothing better to do than get his head shot off.Magickedoff. “You’re both right and you’d both make lousy mayors. You’re people oriented, not business oriented. Admittedly, a female on the city council would be a nice change of pace, but half the town is Black. Wouldn’t that be even better?”
Identical crystal blue eyes glared at him. Well,glarewas probably too strong a word. Evie had slipped into one of her blank trances, and Mavis was crinkling her already wrinkled eyes. Jax thought maybe that was a psychic glare. While they were quiet, he continued, “The council is all white male. That has to end. I’m assuming they’re all the mayor’s cronies?”
“Next council election isn’t for two years. Mayor’s position is only open because Mayor Blockhead got himself arrested. Paul Clancy just filed papers. He’s one of the council’s own,” Evie said in indignation. “I know everyone in town. And since I’m the reason the mayor had to resign, I have recognition now.”
“It took ateamof us to bring the mayor down. It will take a team to elect someone new. The council has a team, you don’t.” Jax suspected he was being selfish in wanting Evie focused on Loretta so he could go his own way. But he was also pretty certain he was right. The town knew Evie as a bubble-headed dog walker—which might be better than a self-serving fraud, admittedly.
“I have my family! I can round up a team. And before you say I can’t focus on the details... Iknowthat. So I’ll use my salary to hire people who can.” She said that triumphantly. “I just want to bring diversity and honesty to this town.”
“And keep them off Witch Hill,” Mavis muttered. “And get us the pharmacy they promised.”
“Fine then, if you’re agreed on your goals, work together to find a candidate who represents them. You have what, two weeks before the final filing date?” Jax sighed in relief as Loretta burst through the door carrying a box of donuts.
“We could send Loretta out as a scout to find the best bubble in town.” Evie gloomily helped herself to an apple fritter. “I can scout for honest auras. But neither tells us if they’re capable of doing the work.”
“Which is why government always ends up in the hands of lawyers.” Jax held up his glazed donut. “No, I’m not running. You don’t need another white man.”
“Reuben’s Black and smart.” Loretta studied the box carefully before choosing an éclair. “But his bubble is twisted.”
“And he’s not a resident yet and he’s not a people person. We are.” Mavis stoically took her seat behind the counter and ate a plain donut.
Jax needed to get back to his team and discuss what they’d found in his father’s papers, but he felt oddly compelled to continue this senseless argument. “I’m from Savannah. I don’t know anyone here except you and your family. I can’t help. You need to start making lists of likely candidates—beside yourselves. Then go out and study them in whatever way works for you. A candidate needs to think beyond his own needs.”
“I can help.” Loretta cheerfully darted behind the counter, found pen and paper, then settled in the window seat. “I can start with my teachers.”
Evie chewed on her donut and eyed them all with suspicion. “Fine. You do your thing. I’ll do mine. I have dogs to walk and a business to run.” Not looking at Jax, she walked out, again.
“You have a black cloud on your horizon,” Mavis told him. “You need her. The town doesn’t.” She produced her tarot deck and lost interest in the discussion.
Swearing to find a job and get the hell out of Podunk as soon as he could, Jax stalked to the post office in hopes his express documents had arrived. Puzzles were a better use of his time than figuring out female emotions. He needed to know who he was before he could work out what direction to take next.
And maybe text Conan with his new information and ask about Pendleton. Maybe the old man committed suicide over something in the papers Jax had requested. Maybe he didn’t. He simply disliked loose ends like potential killers roaming free.
* * *
Evie hurriedthrough her dog-walking duties instead of drifting as usual. The men were down in her basement, plotting without her. She needed to be there.
She was still mad at Jax and Mavis for stealing the idea of mayor. She was creative and hardworking and knew what the town needed. Why should some pettifog who couldn’t see beyond dollar signs have the job?
But the whole time she walked the dog and worked off her anger, Mr. Pendleton lingered at the back of her mind. Sheknewhe hadn’t committed suicide, but how could she prove it from here? And why should she? The only reason she could conjure was that his killer might be after Jax and those papers.
Which not only meant that Jax and everyone around him might be in danger, but that someone rich and important had something to hide. Those were old papers involving old businesses and dead people. No one from back then should care about a defunct mine—unless they’d killed the real Franklin Jackson.
Even so, a common ordinary killer wouldn’t be paying attention to a safety deposit box or Pendleton’s law office. A hired criminal would have moved on—or already be in jail for something else. Pendleton’s death should have nothing to do with Jax, except that it happened after their visit.
Desperation and the hope of riches had led the murderously inclined to kill Loretta’s parents. Had Jax’s father been caught up in something similar?
And frighteningly—at least one of those contracts in his father’s files had been drawn up by Stockton and Stockton, the same law office that had helped former Mayor Block with his land fraud. So maybe S&S had a tradition of coloring outside the lines—probably a professional hazard for people in a position of power who knew too much. Lawyers knew how to cover their tracks.