Iris Avenue (17 page)

“Wow,” Dee said. “I’ve been living out on the farm too long. This town living is where all the action is.”

“It is, don’t kid yourself,” Hannah told her. “Rose Hill is not the sleepy little town everyone thinks it is.”

“Is she psychic? Did you believe anything she said?”

Hannah shook her head but didn’t answer.

“Is Caroline dumping Drew?”

“I think so, yes. And that information came from a source I trust more than any guide in the spirit world. That gossip came from Elbie Midkiff.”

“Then it must be true,” Dee said. “Elbie’s always right.”

Hannah left the veterinary office, crossed the street, and ran into Scott coming out of the bakery with a bag in his hand.

“What’d you get me?” she asked, as he swung the bag up out of her reach.

“Get your own donuts,” he said. “These are mine.”

“C’mon,” Hannah said. “I only want a bite.”

“I know better,” Scott said. “This whole bag is one bite to you.”

“Hey, I heard you found some dead guy floating down the river.”

“Something like that,” Scott said.

“You need me to look into that for you?” Hannah said.

“No, I think Sarah can handle this one,” Scott said.

“Tiny Crimefighter, you mean,” Hannah said. “She’s also known as the crime fighting kitten, or the pointy claw of the law.”

“It’s a county case,” Scott said. “And that’s fine by me.”

“Who was the guy?” Hannah asked.

“His name was Ray,” Scott said. “He was a bartender at the Roadhouse. It was probably drug related.”

“Hey,” Hannah said. “I was up at the Roadhouse the other day and there was some shady character who was worried I might be snooping in their dumpster. Maybe the murder weapon is in there.”

“What did he look like?”

“The usual nefarious biker gang member, tattooed and pierced all over, but he had these little horns on his head. He looked familiar to me, like I’ve seen him somewhere else.”

As soon as she said the words Hannah knew what was familiar about the man.

“I gotta go,” she told Scott.

“Thanks for the tip,” Scott called after her.

Maggie couldn’t help but overhear the argument Drew and Caroline were having in the café of her bookstore. Anne Marie sat at a table, sipping her chamomile tea, openly listening as if it was every bit her business. Maggie reflected that she at least had the good manners to skulk behind a bookshelf and eavesdrop.

“When were you going to tell me?” Drew asked Caroline.

“I knew you’d react like this,” Caroline said. “Even though you promised you wouldn’t get too attached. Exclusive relationships are so bourgeois.”

“But we made plans together,” Drew said. “I was going to move my practice out to the lodge. I hired an architect; I paid him to draw up the blueprints.”

“Send me the bill,” Caroline said as she shrugged. “It’s just money. When the universe commands, I obey. I’m supposed to take Anne Marie to California now. I’m being guided to help her.”

“Just like you were guided to take care of the monks?” Drew asked her. “When that turned out to be too much hard work, you bailed on them, too.”

“That was only ever supposed to be temporary,” Caroline protested. “I was a bridge to help them get where they needed to go.”

“I guess there’s no point in arguing with you,” Drew said, “when you can rationalize any selfish thing you decide to do.”

“I’m not the one being selfish here,” Caroline said. “I’m doing this for Anne Marie.”

“Lucky her,” Drew said. “Until you get bored and another whim sends you off in a new direction.”

“I don’t expect you to understand,” Caroline said. “You’re limited by your five senses at the expense of your sixth.”

“Get some real help,” Drew advised Anne Marie, who smiled and waved to him. “Go to a real doctor and get some medical advice. You have a mental illness, and you need medical treatment, not witch doctors and voodoo.”

“Ignore him,” Caroline insisted. “He’s closed off at the crown chakra. He doesn’t recognize any realm but the material.”

“But I do recognize a self-indulgent, spoiled brat when I meet one,” Drew said to Caroline. “Don’t bother to keep in touch.”

Drew walked out of the bookstore and Caroline looked momentarily stung. Then she made a point of laughing, but everyone in the café looked away from her in embarrassment. Maggie escaped to her office but Caroline found her there.

“I guess you heard that,” Caroline said. “What a typical left brain male.”

“Drew is the most sensible person I know,” Maggie said. “And I agree with him. You’re a user and a hypocrite. Always have been, always will be.”

“I can’t believe you just said that. I thought we were friends.”

“I wouldn’t call what we had friendship, considering you only remember me when you want something,” Maggie said. “And who was it who preached to me about the evils of cell phones, who said they’re killing all the honey bees?”

“Well, they are!” Caroline said. “Studies have shown that it’s true. Cellular waves interfere with the bees’ ability to navigate.”

“So putting up a cell phone tower on the protected property your family owns squares with that belief in what way?”

“How did you find out about that?”

“Everyone knows about it, Caroline. We all know you’re doing Knox a big favor by taking Ann Marie out of his way so you can get your cell phone tower request approved through his political connections. You can twist your spiritual beliefs to fit any self-serving thing you want to do. I wish I’d never wasted one minute caring about you. I don’t intend to waste one more.”

“Be careful, Maggie. Words can be dangerous weapons. Your toxic negativity bounces off my crystal shield back onto you. You’re probably being influenced by lower plane disembodied entities.”

“That’s right, Caroline. I think you’re full of crap so it must be the spirit cooties talking. Take your shield of craziness, get out of my bookstore, and don’t come back,” Maggie said, pointing at the door. “You are now officially banned.”

“You shouldn’t treat people like this,” Caroline said. “You’re creating horrible karma for yourself.”

“This is your family’s karma, not mine. I banned your brother and sister, and now I’m banning you.”

Caroline held her head up and tried to leave the bookstore with some dignity, although it was difficult with the loopy Anne Marie in tow. Maggie slammed the door to her office.

Mitchell, who was tending the café counter, went over to the dry erase board of shame, where Maggie kept the names of those she’d banned from the bookstore. Theo Eldridge’s name had been written so long ago it was faded, with parts of the letters missing. Gwyneth Eldridge’s name was the latest addition, written in dark black caps at the top. Mitchell added Caroline’s name up the side of the board in the only white space left.

“I heard she banned people but I’ve never actually seen it done,” a college student said to Mitchell. “Does she ever let them back in?”

“No,” Mitchell said. “Maggie’s what you might call a gifted grudge keeper. We’re just glad she doesn’t rule an unstable country with nuclear capabilities.”

Hannah came in and Mitchell filled her in. She went back to Maggie’s office and tapped on the glass. Maggie’s face was flushed in what Scott would have called a code red threat status.

“I came in to congratulate you on the Eldridge family banning trifecta,” Hannah said.

“I can see why they get murdered so often,” Maggie said.

Hannah closed the door behind her and sat down. She told Maggie all about the incident at the Roadhouse.

“And the reason this devil man looked so familiar,” Hannah concluded, “was because he had these snake tattoos down each arm.”

“Like the man in the blackmail photos we found in Theo’s safe.”

“It was him,” Hannah said. “He was in cahoots with Theo, Phyllis, and your brother.”

Hannah and Maggie had snooped around Theo’s house after he died, and had discovered his stash of blackmail photos, many of which they subsequently burned. The man with the snake tattoos had been a recurring player, but his face was never shown.

“We need to tell someone,” Hannah said.

“And explain we know this how?” Maggie said. “We’re lucky we didn’t get caught when we did it; why would we confess now?’

“This guy was in those pictures with Phyllis and your brother. He was freaked out that I might look in the dumpster. He probably killed Ray and threw the murder weapon in there. I told Scott about the dumpster, but Tiny Crimefighter’s the one in charge. We need to get this information to her.”

“As awful as I know this will sound, Hannah,” Maggie said. “I don’t care that some drug dealing loser murdered another drug dealing loser.”

“When I took my oath as a crime fighter,” Hannah said, “I promised to uphold the law whenever it was most convenient to do so. What you’re saying is this isn’t one of those times.”

“You’re the masked mutt catcher,” Maggie said. “You do the math.”

“I’ll have to put my super powers to work and figure out a way to get this information into the right hands without serving jail time.”

“Leave me out of it.”

“I’m off,” Hannah said, with her hands on her hips in her best super hero stance. “I have scanner grannies to prime and gossip to pump.”

After Hannah left, Maggie sat at her desk and thought about what Anne Marie had said during her trance in Maggie’s office. Could the serpent she warned Maggie about be the horned man? He certainly hadn’t reminded Maggie of any angel she’d ever seen. As much as she believed Anne Marie had experienced some sort of mental breakdown, Maggie had felt something very disturbing as the woman held her hand and spoke in that weird voice. Maggie shivered, just thinking about it.

Maggie found Jeanette re-alphabetizing the fiction section.

“You’re into all that new age stuff, aren’t you?” she asked her.

“I’m interested in it,” Jeanette said. “I like to think I keep an open mind.”

“You know that thing Anne Marie did in here the other day, that trance thing in my office?”

“I knew something happened,” Jeanette said. “But I didn’t hear what she said.”

“Do you think someone can be crazy and psychic?” Maggie asked her. “I mean, she’s obviously got a screw loose, but some of what she said was so specific to me, and it felt so weird in there, all of the sudden. It was like the barometric pressure in the room changed, or something.”

“I think the line between genius and madness is sometimes perforated,” Jeanette said. “Maybe that goes for being mentally ill and psychic, too. Maybe she’s both.”

“My mother said that the gypsies used to tell her grandmother’s fortune back in Scotland,” Maggie said. “She believed they had second sight.”

“What would your mother think of Anne Marie?”

“That she needs her head examined,” Maggie said.

Ava was looking out the window in her bedroom when she was startled by a noise behind her. It was Jamie.

“Sorry,” he said. “I called up the stairs but you didn’t answer. I heard you went to the doctor earlier today. I came up to make sure you were alright.”

“This part of the house is off limits,” Ava said. “There ought to be somewhere I can go to have a little privacy.”

“I’m not your enemy, Ava,” Jamie said, and to Ava’s consternation, he entered the room and sat down on the edge of her bed. “I’m here to protect you and your family.”

“I appreciate that, I do,” Ava said. “But Scott’s here most of the time. You don’t need to hover.”

“I know I don’t have to,” Jamie said. “I want to.”

He was giving her a meaningful look; it was the kind of look Ava had been deflecting all her life.

“Do you always make passes at the people you’re supposed to be protecting?” Ava asked him. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll report you to your supervisor?”

“I’m not trying to coerce you into anything, Ava; I’m just here to say what we both already know. You and I have a spark between us. I feel it every time you’re near me. I know you feel it too.”

“I’ve got enough going on in my life without you complicating it further, Agent Brown.”

“We didn’t plan for this to happen, but it did. You want this, you need this, and you know it.”

“You’re not the first man who’s only known me for ten minutes but thinks he knows what I need,” she said. “It’s a common delusion. It can be painful to realize you’ve fooled yourself, but you’ll eventually get over it.”

“I’ve never done anything like this before,” Jamie said. “I’m risking my job being up here right now, talking to you like this. I want to know you, Ava. Let me know you. You won’t be sorry.”

“You’re very sure of yourself,” Ava said. “I find handsome, overconfident men often turn out to be the biggest fools.”

“Is it Patrick? Are you still in love with him?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“I can see you’ve got Scott wrapped around your little finger, but he’s not right for you. He’s in love with Maggie Fitzpatrick.”