Cold Hard Magic (2 page)

“Fearless or not," he continued, "you should be more wary of people. Just about everyone in this area owns a gun, ya know?" He petted her head gently. "Just the same, you should give us all some distance.”

She didn't respond, not that he really expected her to. She turned toward a grove of nearby trees, listening intently to a sound Rob could not hear, but he tried anyway.

"Something spook you?" he asked. The doe turned back to him. "I don't blame you. It does get spooky this time of year, especially with what happened at the Rumhilde's."

The doe dipped her head, bumping his hand and gave it a quick, reassuing lick before starting to wander off.

Rob watched her go. A smile touched his lips when she stopped between two trees and turned back to look at him. She dipped her head, so he felt obliged to wave, even in the darkness.

He kept watching her until her glow disappeared into the darkness of the woods.

“Well," he stuck his hands in his pockets and shook his head, "a glow in the dark deer. That's something different. I wonder if that's a new species.” Rob shrugged and headed back to the truck.

Rob entered the Early Morning Diner
,
the next morning
.

“Hey, everybody,” he said as the bell on the door jingled behind him.

The single local patron snorted from behind his paper and paid more attention to his coffee than Rob.

Rob sat down on the worn leather stool and waited at the slightly sticky counter until the bottle-blonde waitress sauntered to him. He smiled. She scowled.

In fact, Rob didn't remember the last time Peggy had actually smiled, now that he thought about it.

“Coffee, eggs and hash browns?” she asked in an annoyed tone that she patented after years of working in the town's diner.

Rob really couldn't figure out why Peggy Landon was perpetually unhappy. She had a steady job, working at the diner since just before graduating high school. She'd been a cheerleader then, well, a reserve cheerleader, but that still got her into all of the local games at half-price and that was an absolute deal. And she'd be downright pretty if she eased up on the cakey makeup and the platinum blonde hair dye.

“Actually, could I get pancakes today?” Rob asked.

Peggy pursed her lips and huffed. “I already wrote that order down and I don’t want to erase it”.

Rob sighed as Peggy turned her back to him and passed the ticket to the cook.

“Do you want to catch a movie this weekend?” he asked.

“I don’t know if there is anything showing, maybe," she said with a careless shrug and dumped cutlery in front of him. "I’ll let you know.”

Rob nodded. “Say, did you catch my show last night?”

“Nah, I was washing my hair.”

Rob looked at Peggy’s disheveled pony tail and couldn’t help but wonder if she actually had washed her hair. He shrugged off the mystery that was anything to do with females.

"You missed a great show," he said. "Big Jimmy was amazing. His pyramid story was a real showstopper."

"Uh-huh," Peggy mumbled as she kept doing whatever it was she did most of the time without actually accomplishing anything.

“I saw the darndest thing on my way home after the show," he continued. "A doe came right up to me and it glowed. Have you heard of a radiation leak or something lately?”

Peggy snorted and crossed her arms. “You must have dreamed it."

“I wasn’t dreaming, Peggy,” Rob answered, put off by her belligerent tone.

“Well, then you shouldn’t use drugs.”

“I wasn’t high.”

“Don't be stupid," she sneered over her shoulder as she picked up his plate from the cook. "There is no such thing as a glow in the dark deer.”

“Well, I saw one.”

“Then you might want to keep that to yourself," she said, slamming his plate in front of him hard enough for the hash browns to get some air time. "People will think you are crazier than they already think you are if you keep spouting all that nonsense.”

The jingle of the bells interrupted anything Rob might have said. Not that anything he could have said anything because his jaw was sitting wide open at the sight in front of him. Peggy smiling.

"Why hi there, Pegster."

Rob sighed. He should have known that the only to get a real smile out of Peggy was the town's favorite football hero and brand spanking new deputy, Walt Brennan.

"Hi there," Peggy's smiled broadened, "
Deputy
Walt." She leaned forward on the counter, arms framing her breasts. "Can I get you some pancakes? I'll make sure they are extra fluffy, just for you."

"That's might nice of you Pegs," Walt said, then turned his attention to Rob. "How you doin' there, Bob?" He slammed one meaty hand hard on Rob's back.

Rob winced and carefully put his fork down. "Fine, Walt. How about yourself?"

"That's Deputy Walt, now, Bob," Walt said. He winked and showed his pearly whites at Peggy who put a hot cup of coffee in front of him.

Rob eyed the coffee, then Peggy who was now completely ignoring him and sighed. He didn't bother to correct Walt. Instead, he asked about the one thing Walt would care about.

"Any new leads on Mrs. Rumhilde's murder?"

Peggy sent him a wicked glare. “It was prolly a drifter and he’s long gone," she huffed. "You know the husband didn’t do it, so it must be some no good drifter."

"How do you know the husband didn't do it?" Rob looked at her, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"Don't be ridiculous, Rob," she snapped. "A
big
man like Mr. Rumhilde could a killed her with his bare hands if he was angry enough to do her in.”

"That's downright instinctive of you, Pegster," Walt said. "I'm thinking if you had taken that deputy exam, I might have had some competition for my job."

Peggy giggled and batted his arm with a lingering touch. "Don't be silly, Deputy Walt. Little ol' me couldn't compete with a big, strong man like you."

"I'm just saying," Rob interrupted, "that you can't discount all the possibilities. There are forces out there we can barely understand even in a small town like this."

Peggy snorted and turned away to grab Walt's pancakes.

"Well, why don't you tell me what you think happened, Bob?" Walt smiled again at Peggy as she carefully placed his plateful of food and topped off his barely tasted coffee. "You know, with that mumbo jumbo nonsense of yours." He forked a large chunk of pancakes and shoved it in his mouth.

Peggy sent Rob a look of pure condescension. “Yeah, didn’t the magic didn’t tell you nothing?”

Rob looked disappointed. “Not yet. I did all I could in my line of work, but there's nothing definitive." He shook his head. "Doc said she got killed with an axe," he continued. "That rules out the locals because…" he paused and scratched his head, "well, they mostly all prefer guns—"

"See," Peggy jumped in, "it has to be a drifter then. Case solved."

"Well, Pegs," Walt said between mouthfuls. "They might give you a medal for solving the case so quick."

Peggy giggled. Rob sighed.

"You keep working on the magic thing of yours, Bob," Walt said. "Let me know if it pans out any."

"Well, I got a new tarot pattern to try," Rob said, pulling out his wallet. "So, I'll give you a call, Walt, if anything comes up."

"Deputy," Walt said without looking at Rob. "Say, Peg, is there any more of those pancakes?"

Rob slipped his payment under his plate and headed out. "See you later, Peggy," he called out from the door with a wave, but she was all eyes on Walt.

The routine back home was the same as always for Rob.

Checking orders. Printing orders. Packing orders.

It turned out to be a light day, overall. Cold Hard Coats always did well this time of year, especially the heavy coats, but Cold Hard Facts… Rob sighed, looking at the lonely tarot deck in his hand. He slipped it into mailing envelope and sealed it.

Jimmy's idea was great, but Rob had no idea how to promote the Cold Hard Facts website and merchandise on the Cold Hard Facts show. He scratched his head and looked at the packages. Maybe what he needed was some sugar to help him think. With that plan firmly in his mind, Rob picked up the boxes and set them outside the front porch for mail pickup, then headed for the kitchen.

He stopped in front of the refrigerator, closed his eyes, took a deep breath and placed his hand on the door. Another deep breath and he drew a circle of energy on the door, before opening his eyes, then the door. With a refrigerator almost fifty years old, every little bit of good energy helped and it did so again.

He learned the circle of energy bit from Betty Richardson of Milwaukee during one of Sioux City trips. She shared her guarantee to keep any appliance, regardless of age, running, over tea and cookies. Rob looked at the refrigerator.

"It definitely works," he said. "Thanks, Betty." He grabbed a Mountain Dew and headed for his computer.

"Now all I need," he said to himself, "is to figure out a way to mention the site. If only I could guarantee another showstopper revelation like Jimmy's."

Rob stared at the practically glowing green soda can in front of him.

Glowing.

The doe!

Cold Hard Facts quickly forgotten, Rob pulled up Google and searched for glowing deer and glowing deer Boydon. But the only results he got were Harry Potter, John Deere dealerships and a weird link about glowing lingerie.

After thirty minutes in the lingerie website, he decided he needed a different type of inspiration. He went into his living room and got out his favorite Ouija board and set it up.

"There is a land where we all go,

Whence ne'er the frost nor cold wind blow,

And friends remembered reunite,

And those who hate, forget their spite,

In glow surround these gentle beings,

We call you now to bless our meetings,

Heaven's promise, our spirits thrive,

So now for the living, let the dead come alive.

Greetings spirits,

Speak thee to me?"
*

Rob looked at the board and waited. And waited.

"Spirits are you here?"

Nothing.

After trying for several minutes to get a reading, he sighed and gave up, carefully packing the Ouija board away. The he grabbed the magical dice. He picked those up at Sioux City, too. Finding nothing with the dice, he tried throwing bones. Then made tea and looked at the leaves. Nada. He finally tried his trusted tarot deck. Zip.

"It has to be a new species," he finally declared. "It's the only explanation."

Rob poured himself another cup of tea, this time with a regular tea bag, and went back to the computer. Who could he ask about a new deer species? He suddenly closed his eyes and smacked himself in the head.

Then he picked up his phone. Speed dial was a wondrous invention.

"Hey! This is Larry. Listen to some good music and I'll be right wit'cha."

"Who let yo puppies out? Woof, woof, woof, woof?"

Rob smiled as he listened to Larry's version of a popular song.

"This is Larry. What's your animal emergency?" A serious voice came on the line.

"Hey, Larry. This is Rob."

"How ya doing, Rob?" The voice was suddenly much friendlier. "It's not Mrs. Sampson's cow again, is it?"

Rob shook his head, then remembered the phone. "I'm good. No, not it's not Sassy. I was just wondering if you've heard anything about some weird looking deer."

"You mean like that two headed calf Mr. Longtrout used to scare us with?"

"Well, no," Rob said. "More like glowing deer."

There was a distinct scratching noise from Larry's end.

"Can't say that I have," Larry answered after a long pause. "But then I wouldn't hear about deer unless they are snacking in someone's garden. You might try them university folks. No one pays me no mind, but I still swear they are doing some weird experiments over there."

"Really?" Rob's head tilted in interest. He was always looking for a new story.

"Oh yeah," Larry said. "The bird poo in that area is eating through everything and anything including that statue they have and it's made of metal and all. Hey, maybe that's something you can put on your show?"

"Did you watch the other night?"

"Oh yeah, Big Jimmy is amazing," Larry said. "Almost made me want to get up and go get his book. I didn't. But I thought about it."

"Yeah," Rob said. "It was a showstopper. Listen, thanks for the head are up on the university. Maybe you can take some pictures when you're over there and come on the show to talk about it?"