FurOut, page 10
“You’re just now realizing that jail isn’t a picnic?”
“I knew it was bad, but seeing it from this perspective drives home just how awful it is.”
Tizzy scampered across the floor and shoved herself through the bars. “You’ve been here less than an hour, Hazel. I don’t think you can count that as hard time.”
“Tiz!” I was more excited to see her than I wanted to admit. In other words, I was bored out of my skull. “There’s nothing to do in jail.”
“Because it’s not the YMCA,” she said. “I’d ask how you’re holding up, but you’ve already answered.”
“Dad said you were going to be our eyes and ears here. What have you learned so far?”
“Well...” Her cheeks puffed up, and her brown eyes grew watery with tears.
My heart clenched. “It’s okay, Tiz. We’ll get out of this somehow. Keep the faith.”
“It’s not that,” she squeaked. “Lupita is cheating on me.”
“No,” I hissed. “She wouldn’t dare.” I mean, I didn’t like the cat, but I’d never doubted her love for Tizzy. They’d formed a bond so strong that at one point, she’d become my familiar’s familiar.
“She dares,” Tiz said. “She dares in the extreme.”
“How do you know?”
Her little squirrel lips quivered. “She’s been disappearing all the time. Gone for hours. When she comes home, she always has a lame excuse, like Book Club. Book Club!” she reiterated.
“Book Club sounds reasonable.”
Tiz stared daggers at me. “Lupita hates reading.”
“Okay.” I waved my hand in a flourish. “Do go on.”
“I followed her last night, and I saw her meet Spike outside the community center building. They looked real damn cozy.”
“Spike?”
“Darwin Brewer’s tomcat familiar,” she fairly spat. “A tomcat! Not only is Lupita cheating on me, but she’s cheating on me with a dude.” Tiz started crying.
Then I started crying. “Come here.” I held out my arms to her, and she jumped onto my lap for a cuddle. “I’m so sorry, Tiz. You deserve better than this.”
“Damn straight,” Ford agreed. “If she doesn’t cherish you, then she’s a fool.”
His words of comfort made her cry harder. “Don’t be nice to me, Baloo. I couldn’t take it if I had to stop tormenting you.”
He chuckled. “You got it, Rocky.”
“Awww,” I cooed, and in my best fake Russian accent, said, “Moose loves Squirrel.”
“Can I move back in with you?” Tiz sniffled.
“Of course, you can,” I told her. “My home is your home. Always.”
I heard the soft patter of boots coming down the hall. Bex was almost breathless as she got to the cell. “Chief, bad news.”
“You couldn’t find my cell phone?”
“We’re still looking,” she said. “That’s not the bad news.”
“Spit it out, Bex.”
“A Beastmaster has arrived in town.”
Ford stood up. “Are you sure?”
“That’s what he says.” Her eyes were wide. “He’s over seven feet tall and makes Ford look like a little guy.” She shook her head. “I guess the werewolves called him. They want a judgment on the Rite of Arphilitian and don’t want to wait on the Grand Inquisitor’s investigation.”
“Pixie on a stick,” Tiz swore. “How much time does Ford have to make his case?”
Oh, Goddess. I forgot Ford was the one who would take the hit from the Beastmaster, not me. “That’s not fair. He can’t come after Ford until I’ve been proven guilty. What kind of justice is that?”
“The shifter kind,” Ford said quietly. He scratched his short beard. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not.” The pit of my stomach burned. “How much time, Bex?”
“The Beastmaster wants to hold a trial today in front of all the shifter factions here in Paradise Falls. Those under Mr. Baylor, Ms. Lowe, and Mr. Crandell. Jensen’s pack as the challengers will be there as well.” Bex nervously bit the side of her thumbnail. “They’ve made it an open trial, so the witches and warlocks in town can attend. From what I’m hearing, it’s going to be a full house.”
“Well, crap.” I met Ford’s gaze. “This is going to get ugly.”
“We have right on our side,” he said.
I loved my mate with every fiber of my being, but sometimes he could be naive. “I know from personal experience that doesn’t always matter.”
Ford shook his head. “We’ll make it matter.”
“Where is the trial taking place?” I asked Bex.
“The community center. It’s the only building big enough to handle the entire town. They are pulling out bleachers and setting up chairs on the gym floor.” She cringed. “It’s going to be a spectacle.” She tapped a bar on the cell. “You know, unless you all weren’t here.”
“I’m not running,” Ford stated. “If I do that, I’ll forfeit the town to these jackals.”
“But I don’t have to stay.”
“Explain,” he said.
“I could ‘escape’ and go search for evidence to clear your name and mine. Since the Beastmaster isn’t waiting for a summary judgment against me, it sounds like my incarceration makes zero difference to the outcome of your trial. The only way we’re going to save you and the town is by providing concrete proof that not only did I not kill that alpha piece of crap, but that he wasn’t on the level with the whole challenge in the first place. The key is finding the witch responsible for bringing his stupid ass here in the first place.”
Ford’s eyes darkened. “Where would you even start?”
“Golda Gedes,” I said. “Our local historian knows something. She was holding back when we interviewed her yesterday, and I think if I talk to her alone, I could get her to spill the beans.”
Bex nodded like it was a good idea, but she looked as if she wanted to puke. “How will you get around without being seen? And it’ll be obvious you're not in the cell when they come to get Ford?”
The familiar click-clack of heels told me who our next guest was. “It’s Tanya,” I told them. “We can trust her.” She might not always love me, but she loved my dad and would never do anything to hurt him.
“Hazel.” Her strawberry-blonde hair had perfect coiled curls, beautiful and shiny. “Your dad told me to tell you you need to get out now.”
“That’s the goal,” I said. “The problem is, once I’m gone, it’s going to be pretty obvious.”
“That’s why I’m here.” She looked rather pleased with herself. “I’m going to give you a little help in that department.”
“You are?” Color me surprised. “How?”
“By swapping places with you.”
I narrowed my gaze at her. “We don’t exactly look alike.” She was way more put together than I was, and my hair was super light blonde and straight as a rod.
“You’re in luck.” She waved her perfectly manicured nails in front of me. “A little known fact.” She shook her hand, and her nail color changed, but it wasn’t just the nail color; it was also the shape of her hands. Her fingers had become shorter, her palm more square. She shook her hand again, and the nail color and hand shape changed once more.
“Cool trick,” I told her. “I bet it won you a lot of beers in college, but I’m not sure how being able to change your nails and hands is going to help.”
She let out an exasperated sigh. “It’s not just hands that I can change.” She whispered the next part. “I can change the way I look from head to toe. I can do it on other people as well.”
“Seriously?” I gave Tanya a quick assessment. I’d never really seen her use much magic, just doctor stuff. I guess I’d always thought she didn’t have much power. I looked at Ford. He and Tanya had been friends in high school. She had been his ex-girlfriend’s bestie. “Did you know she could do that?”
He shook his head. “Not a clue.”
Tanya said, “No one knows.” She raised her hands, palms up. “Unless you count my mom. Oh, and Kent, of course. I don’t keep secrets from him.”
“Why in the world would you keep this a secret? What a cool freaking power,” Bex exclaimed.
Tanya sighed again. “Because I have a reputation as an attractive, stylish witch. If people were to discover that my power gave me the ability to change my looks, then everyone would always wonder if I was actually beautiful or if it was an illusion.” She narrowed her gaze at me. “And before you ask, this is how I look.” She jerked her shoulders. “Maybe I help the hair, but everything else is one hundred percent au natural.”
“So, you can make me look like you, and you look like me,” I summed up.
“That’s the gist of it.”
“This is too much like an episode of the Twilight Zone,” Tiz said. “Too weird for words.”
“Do you want my help or not?” Tanya asked. “Offer ends in four, three, two...”
“I accept,” I told her before she got to one. I looked at Ford. “Is that all right with you?”
He nodded. “It’s a shot.”
Bex opened the door to the cell, and Tanya walked inside. She quietly incanted a spell, and in seconds, she looked like my mirror image. Only, when I looked down at my hands, they weren’t my short, but clean fingernails—they were her long, ornately painted talons.
“This is sooooo creepy,” Tiz whispered. “It’s Hazel, but not Hazel, and damn, Hazel, you look just like Tanya, down to her snooty scowl.”
My husband was staring at me like I’d grown a third head. “Well?”
“You’ll pass for Tanya.” He glanced at Tanya. “You’re very good.”
She happily preened at the compliment. I looked at her hair. “Hey, how’d you get my hair so silky looking?”
She smiled. “Magic.”
Her voice still sounded like her, and I guessed that I sounded like me. “We’ll have to keep the chat to a minimum. Don’t want anyone recognizing us from the way we speak.”
Tanya nodded. “I don’t want to be in here all day, so do what you have to do, then get me out of here.”
I tipped my head to her. “You got it.” Next, I grabbed Ford by the shirt and pulled him close. “Just remember, mister. She might look like me, but she’s not me.”
“She may look like you, but no one has your scent, Hazel Kinsey. I would know you if you looked like a cow.”
“I can do that too,” Tanya crooned.
“I’m good,” I told her without looking away from Ford. “Please watch yourself today. I have a feeling that if it looks like you are winning, whoever’s behind this will have a contingency.”
He pressed his forehead to mine, and I was never so glad he didn’t go for the kiss. I didn’t care if it was me on the inside. I didn’t want my husband kissing Tanya’s lips.
“Love you,” I said.
“Love you more,” he said back.
“Not possible.”
“Okaaaay,” Tizzy said. “Waaaaay too weird. Let’s go while the getting’s good.”
As I was leaving, I hugged Tanya. At first, she was stiff in my arms, but after a second, she relaxed and hugged me back. “Thank you,” I told her. “Thank you so much.”
“My pleasure,” she replied, a little stunned. “I thought I was doing this for Kent, but now, I’m not so sure.”
Strange thing was, I knew she meant it. Tanya and I had moved from enemies, to frenemies, to friends, and finally, we’d become family.
“Keep the faith,” I told Ford. “I’ll find the proof to clear us, even if I have to zap someone to get it.”
His eyes widened.
I smiled. “It was a joke.”
As I slipped out of the jail, disguised in Tanya’s flawless illusion, I was more determined than ever to find the witch behind the wolves.
CHAPTER 14
Driving Tanya’s fancy Mercedes-Benz made me nervous. I was used to something more rugged, a vehicle that could take a beating. The only thing that would take a beating if I damaged Tanya’s car was my bank account. I had left the police station with the intent to talk to Golda first, but when I drove past Pierce Roberts' office, I decided to speak with him instead. His conversation with Sally Teeter might’ve been nothing, but it might’ve been something. If he was interested in the property adjoining the junkyard, I wanted to know why. With everything happening, it seemed suspicious. I parked the car next to the curb and got out.
Pierce Roberts, a thin man with sandy-blond hair and deep-set green eyes, was sitting in his office behind his cherry wood desk. He had a book open and was leafing through the pages. The pale blue walls with forest green accents gave the room a vibrancy I wouldn’t have expected from a man like Pierce. He had plants in his windows, giving his place of business a comfortable warmth. I’d never really thought about what magic he was good at, but maybe it was plants. His were always thriving, no matter the season. It seemed to me that someone good with house plants might also be skilled with trees. Big, nasty gnarly ones.
He looked up at me when I walked in, and I expected his normal scowl. Instead, he flashed me a bright, genial smile. “Tanya, so good to see you.” He got up and shook my hand. “Did we have an appointment? Not that I mind you stopping by without one. It’s always so nice to see you.”
I nearly choked. In all the time I knew Pierce, the man had never even said hello. I thought he was probably an asshole to everyone. But nope, it was just me.
I tried to make my voice a little higher to match Tanya’s—or at the very least, not sound like me. “I’m out running errands, and I saw you through the window. Just thought I would say hi.”
“Lovely,” he said, though he was giving me a funny look. “Is there something wrong with your throat?”
“Woke up with a frog in there.” I made a ribbit sound.
He laughed. “You are a delight.”
I struggled to stop my face from reflecting the many emotions and thoughts running through my head. “So,” I said nonchalantly, “Terrible business with these werewolves in town.”
“It’s disgusting,” Pierce replied. “I know you’re with Kent, and he’s a good man, but his daughter is a scourge on this town.”
I coughed to cover my surprise. “She’s not so bad,” I told him. “She cares about the town. That has to count for something.”
“I know it’s not PC to say this these days, but as far as I’m concerned, a witch who mixes with a shifter is borrowing trouble.”
Whoa, I thought. Racist much? The fact that he was comfortable saying this crap to Tanya concerned me as well. Her best friend in high school had been a bear shifter. On top of that, she’d tried to date Ford before I returned to town.
“She’s a good person, and so is her husband,” I chastised him.
“Oh, don’t mind me,” he said, as if finally reading the room. “I don’t mean anything by it. Some of my best friends are shifters.”
Said every bigot ever. Ugh. I really, really, reeeaaaallllly hoped this guy was guilty. I would love to lock him up and throw away the key. “So, I, uh, hear you’re looking to buy some property outside of town.”
His gaze grew shrewd. “Where’d you hear that?”
“A patient who was at a restaurant a day or two ago said that they overheard you talking to Sally Teeter about it.”
He eyeballed me suspiciously as he closed his book. “Why do you care?”
“Oh.” I shook my head. “I am looking to invest some money, and I thought you were looking at the property for commercial reasons.” I tried to make my smile flirty as I softened my tone. “You’re just so good with money.”
He relaxed in his high-back leather chair. Apparently, all I had to do was stroke his ego, and he was willing to believe whatever BS I told him.
“I wanted to find out who bought Adele Abbot’s old farm outside of town. I thought if I bought it, I could prevent the werewolves from taking up any more territory outside our town. Once that type gets a toehold, it’s only a matter of time before they start moving into town.”
I remembered Steve Crandell had said something similar at the Witch-Shifter Coalition meeting. Was that the “some of my best friends” Pierce had been talking about? Possibly. Did it matter? Probably not. Pierce was just a small-minded, unpleasant warlock. Even so, I had to ask, “Did you nurture all these plants yourself? They are beautiful.”
His cheeks reddened as he puffed his chest with pride. “Every single one of them.” He pointed to a fern on the far right. “I’ve had Frannie for eighty-nine years.”
“Wow. That’s impressive.” I meant it. I could barely keep a plant alive for a couple of weeks. He’d managed to keep his alive for nearly a century. “What’s your secret?”
“I’ve always had a gift for the green.”
“Even trees?”
“Yes,” he said. “But I’m not really an outdoor type.”
I faked a Tanya giggle. “You’re so funny.” Ugh. Gag me now.
Pierce grinned. “I’m here all day, five days a week, folks.”
His answers had seemed honest. The man was awful, but he didn’t feel like a liar. I tried to think of something Tanya would say in farewell and settled on, “Thanks for the chit-chat. Toodaloo.”
“Toodaloo,” he called after me as I exited the office back to the street.
After leaving Pierce's office, I headed straight to Golda’s house. The conversation with Pierce had left a bitter taste in my mouth, and it had been unproductive. Golda, on the other hand, knew more than she was letting on. If I had to pry it out of her, so be it.
When I arrived at Golda's, she greeted me at the door, her sharp eyes narrowing as she took in my appearance. “Tanya, now’s not a good time,” she said, her voice tense. “Can you come back later?”
Golda and Tanya were on the Witch-Shifter Coalition together, so I knew she’d be more likely to talk to her, or at least who she thought was her. I pressed on. “Golda, as the witch representatives in town, we need to talk about what's happening with Ford's trial at the community center. It can't wait.”
