Demon Hunting In the Deep South (15 page)

“I’ve got a little in savings.” Evie swallowed heavily. “I don’t know if I’m ready for this.”

“Ready for what?” Addy demanded.

“Ready for . . . you know.” Evie waved her hand at the windows. “Out there.”

She was a murder suspect. People would talk and point and whisper. She would be
noticed
.

Addy’s jaw tilted at a stubborn angle. “When
will
you be ready?”

Evie’s heart sank. Addy had that Look, the one that meant she’d made up her mind about something.

“What about Meredith’s funeral? Have the arrangements been made?”

“Not yet, but I imagine it will be at the end of next week. The chief says the body hasn’t been released by the medical examiner.”

“I can’t go to the shop, Addy. Be sensible. You’re going to be slammed with orders for Meredith’s funeral. People think I killed her. How’s it going to look if I’m at the shop?”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass how it looks,” Addy said. “Get off your duff and find your purse. It’s after eight. I’ve still got to drop Dooley off at the vet’s, and I should have opened the shop already.”

“I don’t know,” Evie faltered. “I’m not sure—”

“You have to go out sometime. It might as well be today. Unless you plan to hide out here until the trial, and that could be months.”

“Addy, please—”

“You’re going, Eves, and that’s that.” Addy slammed her hand on the table for emphasis. “I won’t let you cower in this house. You didn’t kill Meredith. And if anyone says anything rude to you, they’ll have me and Ansgar to deal with, right?”

Ansgar crossed his arms on his chest. “Right.”

“See?” Addy waved her hands in triumph. “Ansgar agrees with me.”

“Twice, in the space of but a few moments,” Ansgar murmured. “Something of a miracle. Or else a sign that Han-naha-lah approaches, the end of all things.”

“Don’t try to be funny, Blondy,” Addy said. “You’ll hurt yourself.” She gave him a squinty-eyed glare. “You never answered my question. What did you think of this Nicole person?”

He shrugged. “Large bosom. Demon dog. Otherwise, unremarkable.”

“Men.” Addy rolled her eyes at Evie. “There was a whole person there, but he only noticed the boobage.”

“He noticed the dog, too,” Evie said.

“Yeah, but he was kidding about the demon part,” Addy said. Her eyes widened as Evie remained silent. “Wasn’t he?”

“I don’t think so, Adds. You said it yourself. Ansgar’s not much of a kidder.”

“OMG,” Addy said.

Chapter Fourteen

A
short while later, Evie followed Addy through the employee’s entrance of the flower shop. Dooley had been dropped off at the vet’s, happy as a clam to be going to the House of Treats. It was twenty minutes after eight, and the phone in the front room was ringing off the hook.

“Crappydoodle,” Addy said. She picked up the receiver. “Flowers by Adara. Oh, hey, Miss Hixie. Yes, ma’am, I’ll have the Hoo Hah flowers at the club by three o’clock today. You’re terrified of pumpkins?” She cut her eyes at Evie and pointed to the front door. “No, I don’t believe I knew that. Yes, ma’am, there will be jack-o’-lanterns . . . Made out of pumpkins, yes, ma’am . . . No, I never thought about using squash . . . Tell you what. I’ll do something special for your table, something without the evil pumpkins. Just try not to look at the other centerpieces.”

Addy hung up. “Apparently she was traumatized as a child. Pumpkins are evil, the gourd-ish spawn of Satan. Can you believe it? The woman is a loon.”

The phone shrilled again. “Oh, for Pete’s sake,” Addy said, making a grab for it.

While Addy fielded phone calls, Evie bustled around the shop, unlocking the front door and flipping on the lights. Evie loved the flower shop. It had been her home away from home since the age of twelve when she started working there with Addy, who’d fled the horrors of Dead Central—as Addy called Corwin’s, the family funeral parlor down the street—in favor of her great-aunt’s flower shop. It was a transgression Addy’s mother had yet to forgive.

Two years earlier, Addy’s great-aunt had retired at the age of sixty-three and sold the flower shop to Addy. Addy changed the name from
Fairfax Flowers
to
Flowers by Adara
and remodeled, adding two open display coolers; several large worktables in the middle of the front room that allowed customers to watch their flowers being arranged; a balloon station and a number of gift items, including pewter ware, hand-thrown pottery, monogrammed stationery and linens; and a few paintings done by local artists.

Best of all, Addy gave Evie a corner of the shop to display her handmade candles, lotions, soaps, and shampoos. Evie named the line of products
Fiona,
after her mother. She had a small but enthusiastic clientele and big dreams. Right now,
Fiona
was more of a money suck than a cash cow. But her plan was to work at the mill for a few years, live modestly, and sink all her money into her business until the line grew. “Was” being the operative word.

Now that Meredith had gotten herself murdered, Evie was out of a job, and her future as a young entrepreneur looked dim.

She didn’t regret quitting the mill. There was no way she could go back there, not after what had happened. But jobs were scarce in Hannah.

Of course, depending on how the trial went, she might not have to worry about that. She might go to prison.

Prison.
Oh, God. The thought made her knees go weak. So, she wouldn’t think about it.

Much.

She was booting up the computer when the bell on the door jingled and Addy’s great-aunt, Edmuntina Fairfax, walked in. Edmuntina was the youngest of the three Fairfax girls by a good piece—only ten or twelve years older than Bitsy—and if Addy’s mama was a tsunami, her aunt Muddy was a climate-changing meteorite. Seeing Muddy lifted Evie’s spirits. Muddy was her hero. Cool, confident, and unafraid. Evie wanted to be more like Muddy and less like a doormat.

Nobody loved a doormat. Heck, nobody
noticed
a doormat. They wiped their feet on it and moved on.

Always picture perfect, today Muddy wore a biscuit-colored silk top, matching peach twill slacks, and a flowing, steel-blue cashmere cardigan. Her short silver hair was swept back from her forehead, accentuating her elegant bone structure. Diamonds winked in her ears, and a huge sapphire sparkled on her ring finger, her engagement ring from her beau and Evie’s lawyer, Amasa Collier.

It was a pip of a ring. But, more than that, it was proof positive that all things come to those who wait. Muddy and Mr. C’s love story spanned more than thirty years, and they were finally getting married. Two of her favorite people were getting their happily ever after, and Evie was delighted.

Muddy stopped short when she saw her. “Evie! Oh, shoot, I’m too late. I was hoping you were still in jail. I was gonna drive my Mercedes through the courthouse wall and bust you out of the slammer.” She made a sweeping gesture with one arm. “I can see us now, driving into the sunset like Thelma and Louise.”

Addy hung up the phone. “I got news for you, Muddy. The jail is in the courthouse basement and Thelma and Louise ended up dead in a ditch.”

“It was the Grand Canyon,” Muddy said, “which is like a ditch, only bigger.”

Evie giggled. “And grander,” she added, unable to resist.

Addy gave her a warning scowl. “Don’t encourage her.” She grabbed a clear glass container, filled it with candy corn, and set to work on an arrangement of orange roses, butterscotch chrysanthemums, and miniature carnations. “And in case you’ve forgotten, auntie dear, you and I have starring roles in an upcoming double wedding. Being a fugitive from the law might spoil Mama’s Big Plans, and God help you if you do that. She is
consumed
.” Addy added a few sprigs of salidago and autumn leaves to the bouquet, then muttered under her breath as she knocked a bunch of dried eucalyptus off the worktable, scattering them on the floor. “You know how hard she’s been working to make sure everything is perfect.”

“Oh, pooh,” Muddy said. “I’m sick to death of the wedding. Amasa and I should have eloped. And if Bitsy was so all-fired set on everything being perfect, she wouldn’t have scheduled the damn thing on a football Saturday. Nobody’s going to miss the Alabama game for a wedding, for God’s sake. We’ll be lucky if the priest shows up.”

“That’s not Mama’s fault,” Addy said. “Brand and I set the date. We couldn’t wait until spring. We’re tired of sneaking around.”

Evie felt a twinge of envy. Addy and her demon hunter were so madly in love. The two of them together equaled spontaneous combustion. But there were rules in the
Bitsy Rule Book
about premarital sex, so Brand and Addy snuck around to keep her mama happy. Little did Bitsy know, Addy and Brand were already married, although Evie was pretty sure Bitsy wouldn’t recognize the union as valid. Months ago, Brand whisked Addy off to someplace called the “Hall of Warriors,” where he wrote Addy’s name in something called the
Great Book
. Addy told her all about it. It was the first time a Dalvahni warrior had ever claimed a life mate. Apparently, in Dalvahni Land that was as good as being married.

Bitsy didn’t know about the
Great Book
or the life mate thing. Heck, she didn’t even know her future son-in-law was a demon hunter, much less that he wasn’t from Earth. Bitsy thought Brand was European. And
Great Book
or not, Bitsy wouldn’t be satisfied with anything less than a church ceremony for her daughter.

A stylish, petite blonde in a pair of pleated cropped black pants, a camel wool–blend jacket with three-quarter sleeves, and black pumps sailed past the storefront window.

“Speak of the devil,” Evie said, bending down to retrieve the eucalyptus. “Here comes your mama, Addy.”

The bell on the door jingled.

“Hey, y’all,” Bitsy said, coming in to the shop. “No news yet on the Peterson funeral. But hold on to your hats. Once the police release the body and the family makes the arrangements, you are going to be up to your eyeballs in orders. This is going to be
huge
. I’ve been getting scads of calls at the funeral home since it happened. I’ve told Shep to reserve the Magnolia Room. It’s our biggest space.” Evie heard a thump as Bitsy set her purse by the cash register. “I heard the news, and it’s dreadful, simply dreadful. Evie, accused of murder! What can we do to help our girl?”

Evie straightened with the flowers in her hand. “Hey, Miss Bitsy. I’m all right.”

“
Evie.
I thought you were in jail.”

“Yes, ma’am, I was. I got out this morning.”

“That’s wonderful, dear. You better believe I gave the chief an earful when I heard. I wanted to get in my car and drive to Paulsberg and give that Sheriff Whitsun an earful, too, only the chief wouldn’t let me. Why anybody with the sense God gave a goose would think for a moment that you killed Meredith Peterson is beyond me. I don’t care how many bloody knives they found in your car. It’s a setup, and that’s what I told Car-lee.”

Bitsy and Carl E. Davis, Hannah’s Chief of Police, were an item. Miss Bitsy adored the chief, and when she said his name it came out
Car-rah-lee-hee
.

Evie blushed and ducked her head. “Thanks, Miss Bitsy. I appreciate that.”

“How’d you find out about that knife anyway, Mama?” Addy said. “That’s police business.” She stuck a few stalks of black, curly ting into the bouquet. “I’m surprised Chief Davis told you that, even if you two are dating.”

“Oh, he didn’t. Car-lee is much too professional.” Bitsy examined her nails. “Dan Curtis down at the station let it slip.”

“Let it slip? You mean you pestered it out of him,” Addy said.

Bitsy widened her eyes. “Can I help it if he told me something of his own free will?”

“Own free will my hind leg. You peck like a chicken, Mama.”

Bitsy put her hand on her chest. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”

“Huh,” Muddy said. “You’re the queen of the peckers, Bitsy, and you know it.”

Bitsy gave a musical little laugh. Miss Bitsy even laughed like a lady. “Muddy, the things you say!” she said. “Queen of the peckers, indeed. That sounds just awful.” She turned to Evie. “How
did
that knife get in your car, dear?”

“I don’t know. But I didn’t kill Meredith. I swear.”

“Of course you didn’t.” Bitsy patted Evie on the hand. “But it looks bad, all the same, no two ways about it.” A little line formed between her perfectly arched brows. “I don’t mean to be indelicate, dear, but do you think you should still be in the wedding? It’s Addy’s big day, you know.” She smiled at Muddy. “And Muddy’s, too.”

“She knows about the wedding, Mama,” Addy said. “She’d have to be dead not to know about it with you around. FYI, you should ask for a refund on those sensitivity lessons of yours. You got gypped.”

“Addy, you know I love Evie, but we have to be practical,” Bitsy said. “Think of the scandal.
We
know our girl is innocent, but there’s going to be all kind of talk. Maybe you better ask one of the other attendants to be maid of honor. Your cousin Bernadette would be thrilled if you asked her, and it would so please your aunt Pearl.”

“Bernadette!” Addy looked indignant. “No way, Mama. She put my cat in the dryer. Poor Boots was never the same after that.”

“Bernadette came by that honest,” Muddy said. “Pearl was mean as a snake, too. I remember this one time she talked her brother into eating some elephant ears out of the yard. Told him they tasted like green jelly beans. I looked out the window and your poor uncle Pete was making laps around the house, foaming at the mouth like a rabid dog. I had to chase him down and wash out his mouth with the garden hose. It was awful. Pete’s lips swelled up, and he was choking and crying, and Pearl just stood there smiling, like that horrible little girl in
The Bad Seed
.” She looked around at them. “Ever see that movie? Gave me the creeps.”

Bitsy’s expression grew pained. “Aunt Muddy, please. This is serious.”

“I am serious! Those elephant ears burned the pea-winding stew out of that boy’s mouth. He couldn’t eat for a week, and he had the runs. And Pearl did that to her own brother.” Muddy shrugged. “The apple don’t fall far from the tree, that’s all I’m saying. That Bernadette is the Bad Seed’s daughter. I’d think twice about having her too close to the bride, if I were you. She’s still single and that Brand is a hot-tay.”