"Rachel," Marshal said gently, "he did it to get rid of Bis." Marshal took off his hat and unzipped his coat, sending a wave of redwood into the kitchen, heady from whatever magic he'd used to catch Tom. "What's important is finding out what he was doing under your church."
We all turned to look at Tom. "Good question," I said. "Got an answer, witch?"
Tom was silent, and Ivy cracked her knuckles one by one. I hadn't even known she could, but that's what she was doing, pop, pop, pop.
"Ivy," I said when it was clear he wasn't going to say anything. "Why don't you call the I.S.? They might be interested in this."
Tom snickered, his arrogance clear. "Sure, you do that," he said. "I'm sure the I.S. would love to know a shunned witch was in your kitchen. Who do you think they'll believe if I tell them I was buying charms from you?"
Oh shit. My gut twisted, and I frowned when Marshal's eyes widened at the word "shunned." Without a word, Ivy set the phone down. Her eyes a dangerous black, she eased closer. A threatening haze seemed to drift a few seconds behind her as she placed her finger under his chin and asked in a soft voice, "Is there a contract out on Rachel?"
Fear bubbled against my skull, and I caught it before it triggered something worse in Ivy. I'd lived with a death threat before, and it was hard. If not for Ivy and Jenks, I would have died.
Tom took a step back and rubbed his wrist. "She'd be dead already if there was."
Jenks bristled, his wings a sharp clatter as he came to stand on my shoulder.
"Oooooh, I'm scared," I said to hide my relief. "What are you doing here, then?"
The angry witch smiled. "To wish you a happy New Year."
My eyes narrowed, and, fist on my hip, I looked at the dirty puddles his boots were making. Gaze slowly rising, I took in his white nylon pants and his gray coat. His face was calm but the hatred was there, and when Ivy shifted her feet, he jerked, tense. "I'd start talking," she threatened. "If you're shunned, no one will care if you don't show up for church next week."
The tension started to rise, and my gaze broke from Tom when Bis flew back in.
"Tink's diaphragm!" Jenks shouted. "When did he leave? Rachel, did you even see him leave?"
"Here, Rachel," the gargoyle said as he dropped an amulet and my hand flashed out to catch it. The metallic circlet hit my palm with a cool sensation, smelling like redwood and frozen dirt. "I found it stuck to the floorboards. It was the only one."
Tom's jaw went stiff as he clenched his teeth. My anger grew as I recognized it from the days when I'd sit with my dad while he prepped his spells for a night at work. "It's a bug," I said as I handed it to Marshal to look at.
Ivy's face grew even grimmer, and spreading her feet, she tossed her short, gold-tipped hair out of her eyes. "Why are you bugging our kitchen?"
Tom didn't say anything, but he didn't have to. I'd found him in front of the Tilsons' house. He had told me he was working. He probably thought we'd have the inside scoop on the situation, and since he didn't have access to anything magical or the Inderland database, he was going to steal what we knew and use it to jerk the tag out from under us.
"This is about the Tilsons, isn't it," I said, and I knew I was right when his eyes went to the soup, scumming over. "You want to tell me now? Save me the trouble of having Ivy beat it out of you?"
"Stay away from her," Tom said vehemently. "I've been watching that woman for five months, and she's mine! Got it?"
I leaned back, nodding as he confirmed my thoughts. Tom knew they weren't the Tilsons and was probably working on the murders already. He seemed to think the woman had done it. "I'm just doing my job, Tom," I said, starting to feel better. Sure he had bugged me, but my car was probably not wired to explode; dead people don't talk-usually. "Tell you what. You stay out of my way, I'll stay out of yours, and the best witch will win. Okay?"
"Sure," the man said, confidence suddenly flowing from him. "Good luck with that. You're going to come begging to talk to me before this is all over. I guarantee it."
Jenks's wings made a cool draft on my neck. "Get the cookie out of here," he said sharply, and Marshal came forward to manhandle him out. Ivy beat him to it, gripping Tom's wrist and twisting his arm into a painful angle to propel him into the hall.
"Don't forget his amulet," I called after her, and Bis darted down to take it from Marshal and fly after them. I heard a muttered comment from Ivy, and then the back door shut. Bis didn't come back. I assumed he'd gone with her.
"She can handle him okay?" Marshal asked, and I nodded, my knees suddenly shaky.
"Oh yeah. She'll be fine. It's Tom I'm worried about." My stomach hurt. Damn it, it had been ages since anyone had dared to violate the security of my home, and now that it was over, I didn't like it. Grimacing, I stirred the soup, nervous energy making me slop it over. Jenks was flitting like a mad thing, and while wiping up my spill, I muttered, "Park it, Jenks."
The kitchen grew quiet apart from the rasp of Marshal taking off his coat, but it was the gurgle of him pouring two cups of coffee that brought my attention back. I managed a thin smile when he brought me one. Jenks was on his shoulder, which was unusual, but the man had saved us a lot of trouble, and Jenks had to appreciate that since he couldn't go outside and Bis was just one gargoyle-and a young, inexperienced one at that.
"Thanks," I said, turning from the soup and taking a sip of coffee as I leaned against the counter. "For Tom as well as the coffee," I added.
Looking satisfied and smug, Marshal pulled a chair around and sat with his back to the wall and his legs in the middle of the room. "Not a problem, Rachel. I'm glad I was here."
Trailing a thin green dust, Jenks flew to land beside me, pretending to feed his brine shrimp on the sill. I knew Marshal thought my estimation of the danger I could attract was overrated, but even I'd admit that his catching a shunned ley line witch was impressive.
I breathed deep as I listened to the pixy play-by-play, filtering in from the sanctuary, of what Ivy was doing to Tom. The subtly masculine-flavored scent of redwood eased about me, a witch's characteristic smell. It was nice smelling it in my kitchen, mixing with vampire and the light garden scent I was starting to recognize as pixy. Marshal was eyeing the ceiling in an expectant way, and chuckling, I went to sit with him.
"All right," I said as I touched his hand encircling his coffee. "I admit it. You saved me. You saved me from whatever Tom had planned. You're my great big freaking hero, okay?"
He laughed at that, and it felt good. "You want that box from my car?" he said, starting to gather himself to stand.
I thought about what was in it, and froze. "No. Will you throw it out for me?" I'm not throwing Kisten away, I thought guiltily. But to keep his last gift in my bottom drawer was pathetic. "Uh, thanks again for going with me out to the boat."
Marshal shifted his chair, angling it to face me. "No problem. Is your FIB friend okay?"
I nodded, my thoughts drifting to Glenn. "Ford says he'll be awake in a few days."
Jenks had gotten himself a pixy-size mug of coffee from the still-dripping machine, and he settled between us on the box of crackers. He was unusually quiet, but he was probably keeping an ear on his kids. There was a sound of rising awe from the sanctuary when Ivy did something, and I winced.
My eyes went to the corner of the envelope, and in a sudden surge of irritation, I picked it out. "Hey, will you do something for me?" I asked as I handed it to Marshal. "I'm trying to pay for some classes, and I need to get this to the registrar's office, like yesterday."
"I thought registration ended," Jenks piped up, and Marshal's eyebrows went high as he took it.
"It did," he said, and I shrugged.
"They sent my check back," I complained. "Can you see if they will take it? Use your connections to get it in the system? I don't want to have to pay the late fee."
Nodding, he folded the envelope over and slid it into a back pocket to look at later. Brow furrowed, he leaned back in his chair, thinking. "You want some soup?" I asked, and Marshal smiled.
"No, thanks," he said, then his eyes brightened. "Hey, I've got tomorrow off. It's a teacher workday at the university, but it's not like I've got any papers to grade. You want to go do something? Blow off some steam? After I get your check in, that is? I hear they opened up a new skate park on Vine."
Whereas two months ago the offer would have tripped all my warning flags, now my lips curled up in a smile. Marshal wasn't my boyfriend, but we did stuff together all the time. "I don't think I can," I said, annoyed that I couldn't say yes and go. "I've got this murder I'm working on...and my sign to clean..."
Jenks's wings clattered. "I said I'd help you with that, Rache," he said brightly, and I smiled and curved my hand around him.
"It's too cold, Jenks," I protested, then turned back to Marshal. "Then I've got to pick up my brother at the airport at three, talk to Ford at six, and then go back to my mom's and do the good-daughter thing by having dinner with her and Robbie. Saturday I'm in the ever-after with Al..." My words trailed off. "Next week, maybe?"
Marshal nodded in understanding, and suddenly seeing a golden opportunity to avoid being badgered at my mom's, I blurted out, "Uh, unless you want to come with me to my mom's for dinner? She's making lasagna."
The man laughed. "You want me to play boyfriend so your life doesn't look pathetic, right?"
"Marshal!" I gave his shoulder a smack, but I was red-faced. God, he knew me too well.
"Well, am I right?" he needled, his eyes glinting under his hat-flattened hair.
I made a face, then said, "You going to help me here or not?"
"You bet," he said brightly. "I like your mom. Is she making pi-i-i-ie?"
He stressed the word as if it meant the world to him, and I grinned, feeling better about tomorrow already. "If she knows you're coming, she'll make two."
Marshal chuckled, and as I sipped my coffee and smiled back, content and happy, Jenks flew out of the kitchen on quiet wings, a green trail of dust spilling from him to slowly fade to nothing.