Said the lawyer climbing on his Harley, Evie thought grumpily as she joined him. “I’ve saved the reward money and the allowance I receive from the trust. I have enough for a down payment without dipping into the kid’s money.”
“I know—she’s family.” He repeated the argument they had regularly over their orphaned ward. “But herfamilyused to own three high-end cars.” He climbed on and hit the motor, drowning out further argument.
But Loretta’s parents hadearnedtheir wealth. Evie hadn’t. She still felt guilty accepting the allowance, but buying groceries for Loretta and the tribe the kid now called her family cost more than Evie earned. As long as she spent the money on Loretta, she could handle it.
If she had any credit, she could take out a car loan. But dog walkers and psychic problem solvers had difficulty obtaining credit for some odd reason.
Afterthought, South Carolina, a town with a population smaller than some mega-church congregations, was inland, roughly halfway between Charleston and Savannah. On a quiet Sunday morning, it took them a little less than an hour to drive home.
“Reuben’s van is gone.” Jax leaned the bike against her Victorian carriage house and unbuckled their bags.
“Doesn’t mean anything. He could still be at the mayor’s. Check your messages.” Evie hurried up the back steps of the huge old house her great aunt had left in her care. If Reuben wasn’t here, who was watching Loretta?
Her mother, of course. Owner of the Psychic Solutions Gift Shop, Mavis greeted them with the wave of a spatula and the smell of burning pancakes. Reading crystal balls didn’t include reading pancake recipes. “Just in time, dear. There are atmospheric disturbances over Witch Hill.”
“Yeah, they’re called Roark LeBlanc.” Evie leaned over and gave Loretta a kiss on her braided hair. The kid was in her favorite seat at the breakfast banquette, frowning at burned pancakes covered in syrup and chocolate chips. “Throw them out,” Evie whispered. “You should have told her about the frozen ones.”
Running away from her pricey boarding school, the kid had landed on Evie’s doorstep a few months back looking for her parents—who were spirits desperately clinging to their only child. Since Loretta was heir to their fortune, Jax, as their executor, had followed close on her heels. It had taken some untwisting of palpable disbelief to convince him that Loretta was another psychic Malcolm and belonged with Evie, the dog walker.
Having happily settled into Evie’s chaotic family, Loretta added canned whipped cream. “Nah, these will do. Reuben’s bubble was really twisted when he ran in and out a little bit ago. What’s wrong?”
As an Indigo child, Loretta’s declarations were often perceived as strange, but Evie interpreted thebubblesshe saw as a person’s soul. The kid was pretty good at nailing character. As part of Jax’s former military intelligence crew, Reuben had alotof issues to work through. Roark, his former partner before he vanished, was one of them.
“Roark showed up at Ariel’s. We’ll let Jax handle it. I think Sensible Solutions has a genuine case.” Evie showed the kid her phone, then rescued the rest of the pancake batter from her mother.
Had Roark crushed his personal Sasquatch or the beast trounced him? And why in the name of the goddess had he gone to Jax’s hermit sister?
“Shouldn’t one of us go with him?” Mavis asked worriedly as Jax dashed back out.
“Ariel is less than five minutes away. If he needs us, he’ll let us know.” Shy Ariel did not need spacey Mavis fluttering around.
Solid as Gibraltar in her colorful caftan, her mother settled on a counter stool. “Your Aunt Ellen claims she’s won a Cadillac. I’ll believe it when I see it sitting in her driveway.”
“Another one of those magazine giveaways?” Evie guessed. Her aunt’s subscriptions provided the local library with all the magazines it could use and then some.
“Most likely. They’re always sending her junk from some contest she’s won. Pris needs to take the mail away from her. My sister is losing her marbles.” Said the woman who’d lost her home because she didn’t read mail that she’d psychically determined to be unpleasant. Mavis poured syrup on the pancakes Evie set in front of her.
Evie tried not to worry about Ariel and Roark while her family ate. She thought she almost pulled it off until her phone beeped with a text message. She grabbed it back from Loretta and opened the app.
helpwas all it said—from Jax’s sister, who never communicated.
Two
Ariel pacedthe narrow strip of kitchen between Roark’s sprawling dead weight on the floor and the table. The man was huge. His biceps had biceps. Broad brown shoulders covered five entire tiles.
She didn’t like touching people, so she couldn’t test his pulse. He didn’t seem to be bleeding, but she couldn’t lift him to see his front. She hadn’t seen blood in that first glimpse before she shot him. Water couldn’t kill.
He still breathed.
Reuben was Roark’s friend, not hers. He hadn’t answered her text. Jax was too far away. What should she do? Call an ambulance? How? She’d have to explain...
I can’t. I can’t.
The therapist said she shouldtryanytime she told herself that. If she ever wanted to be typical...
Just calling a taxi was almost beyond her capability, even when she had an address. A phone call giving directions to this cottage hideaway plus a description of Roark collapsing... extended into the inconceivable.
Ariel crouched down, gathered her frayed nerves, and poked Roark’s bulging upper arm. It was like touching leather over steel. He didn’t stir.