Chapter 12

THE STUFF OF NIGHTMARES

Although absolutely nothing out of the ordinary happened on our drive home from the body shop, I was still on edge enough that I made Calvin remove the Durango’s license plate once we were parked in front of the garage, just to make sure the same evildoer hadn’t placed a sigil there as well.

But we didn’t find anything, despite my walking around the big SUV, fingers trailing across the smooth white paint, looking for something that wasn’t there.

“You might as well park it in the garage,” I told Calvin. “It’s not as if the Jeep is going to be in here for a while. And I’d just feel safer that way.”

My husband’s eyes narrowed slightly at that request, but he didn’t say anything, only got back into the Durango and pulled it into the garage. Luckily, we’d reclaimed the remote for the opener when we were at the body shop, so managing that task was easy enough.

Once the garage door was shut and we’d gone into the house, some of the tension that had been knotting my jaw and neck seemed to ease just a little. Maybe it had been silly to imagine the unknown worker of dark magic creeping onto our property and casting a hex on Calvin’s police-issue SUV, but at the same time, I thought it better to take whatever precautions we could. The house and the land it sat on were protected by the same sorts of spells I placed on my shop, and yet I knew all too well that they weren’t foolproof.

As far as I knew, nothing was.

But it did feel good to sit down and put my feet up while Calvin went into the kitchen to get us both some water.

He was barely out of the living room when my phone rang. Since it was inside my purse and I’d set the bag down on the floor next to the sofa, I didn’t have to reach very far to pull it out.

Josie, of course.

“Selena!” she exclaimed. “Are you all right? I just got out of a meeting and heard what happened!”

“I’m fine,” I told her, even as I allowed myself a slight smile at her words. Well, that explained why she hadn’t called me within five minutes of the accident. I did not doubt that if she hadn’t been in that meeting, she would have known about my crash right away. “And the baby’s fine. Calvin and I are home, and the Jeep’s at the repair shop. We don’t know yet whether it’s totaled.”

“How awful! Do you know what happened?”

“I’m not sure,” I said, knowing I needed to be circumspect here. It was all fine and well to discuss hexes and sigils with my husband, but Josie still wasn’t entirely on board with all the witchy stuff. Better to make it seem as though the accident had a completely mundane cause. “Mechanical failure, maybe. We’ll have to wait for the mechanic to look it over and see if he can find anything.”

The question was, would such an inspection even reveal anything out of the ordinary? A sigil designed to invite disaster might have worked on the Jeep…or it could have affected me and my handling of the vehicle directly, in which case there really wouldn’t be anything mechanical to find. If that turned out to be the case, then I’d have to take the blame for the accident. Most people would probably excuse the mishap by saying I was in a state where I really shouldn’t have been driving in the first place, but I doubted my insurance company would see things that way.

Well, I’d deal with that later. Right now, I had bigger things to worry about.

“That’s terrible,” Josie said. “Isn’t the car still under warranty?”

“It is,” I replied. “And, like I said, we’ll just have to wait and see what the mechanic has to say about what went wrong. But Calvin and I have decided I’m going to stay home after this. I only had one more day to work this week anyway, so I’ll just let Chloe take over a little sooner than we’d expected.”

Josie didn’t reply immediately. Was she trying to think of the most tactful way to say that she wasn’t sure I should leave my store in the hands of someone so young and inexperienced, especially one who also happened to have a murder charge hanging over her head?

While my friend wasn’t necessarily the most tactful person in the world, she seemed to realize saying something like that when I was already under a lot of stress probably wasn’t a very good idea. After that uncomfortable pause, she responded, “Well, it’s good that you have Chloe here to watch the store while you’re out on leave. Have you talked to her?”

“Not yet,” I said. “She and her parents were meeting with Alec Scurlock this afternoon, and I expect she’ll call once she has some concrete information to pass along.”

“It’s good that Alec is on the case,” Josie replied at once. “I’m sure he’ll be able to make all this go away soon enough.”

That was my hope, too, but it was way too early to say for sure. I settled for making a noncommittal sound, then said, “Thanks for the call, Josie, but I’m kind of beat after everything that’s happened. I’ll see you on Saturday at my mom’s house.”

“Of course,” she said. “You just let me know if you need anything.”

I promised her I would, and then I ended the call and set my phone down on the coffee table. Right then, Calvin came into the living room, a glass of ice water in either hand.

“Josie?” he said, and I nodded.

“I’m kind of surprised she didn’t call sooner,” I told him. “But yes, she just wanted to make sure I was all right.”

My husband’s expression was almost amused. He gave me one of the glasses of water and then sat down on the armchair next to the couch, probably so he wouldn’t jostle me and my poor, abused feet, which were currently propped up on a pillow.

“I’m glad she checked in,” he said. “Especially because I know she’ll spread the word all over town, and maybe that way, you won’t have to field so many phone calls checking to see if you’re okay.”

I wrinkled my nose, but at the same time, I knew he was right. Once word of the accident made its way around town, I had no doubt I’d be getting a bunch of calls from friends and well-wishers wanting to confirm for themselves that I truly had managed to survive the crash mostly unscathed.

“We’ll see,” was all I said, and he only smiled.

“The important thing is for you to get as much rest as possible,” he told me. “And I also think that I’m going to beg off work tomorrow, too. It’s only one day, and I know I’ll feel better if I’m here with you rather than at the station.”

As much as I would have liked for him to be at my side keeping watch, I didn’t know whether those measures were necessary.

“It’s perfectly safe here,” I pointed out, and I could see the way his jaw set from where I sat.

“Maybe it is,” he said. “But we both thought your Jeep was perfectly safe, too, and look how that turned out. Whoever is trying to cause havoc in your life, I don’t want to give them any openings. It’s much better to play it safe and hope they’ll give up once they realize they won’t have another chance to try to hex you again.”

I reflected that Calvin had come a long way over the past couple of years, or I doubted he would have mentioned hexes in such a casual tone. And he had a point. His deputies would understand why he wanted to be home with me. To tell the truth, it would have looked a lot stranger for him not to stay with his nine-months-pregnant wife after she’d been in such a terrible accident.

“Okay,” I said, and set down my glass of ice water so I could reach out and take him by the hand. His fingers were warm and strong and callused, utterly reassuring. That was the hand of the man who’d been at my side for almost the past three years. How could I possibly think it was okay to let him go to work when we had no idea who was lurking out there, just waiting for another chance to create some major havoc in my life?

“I think we’re both officially on leave now.”

He made a few calls — including one to Ben Ironhorse, a San Ramon tribal police deputy with a knack for hacking databases, just to see if he could discover anything about Bryce Arsenault — while I petted Sadie and pretended to watch TV, and a little while after that, my phone rang.

“Oh, God, Selena, I just heard!” Chloe said, sounding a little breathless and a lot worried. “Josie said you were fine, but — ”

“I am,” I assured her. “However, Calvin and I think it’s better if I stay home until the baby arrives. Are you okay with taking over the store tomorrow?”

“Sure,” my sister said stoutly. “Absolutely.”

I’d been expecting her to respond just that way, but still, it was good to hear that she didn’t sound at all worried about beginning her solo run at the shop a bit earlier than she’d expected. “How did it go with Alec?” I asked.

Although I couldn’t see her face, I had to believe her expression shifted at that question. “Oh, great,” she said, sounding much more upbeat. “He was very confident that the police don’t have much of a case. He’s going to file a motion to dismiss tomorrow.”

Just the kind of news I’d been hoping to hear. “Still no evidence?”

“None at all,” Chloe said cheerfully. “Sure, they found that garrote in my trunk, but it didn’t have any fingerprints on it, and they couldn’t find any DNA evidence that couldn’t have gotten on the thing because of the way it was just dumped in there with my other stuff. So, Alec is pretty sure that when he presents all the evidence to the judge, they’ll drop the charges — and you’ll get the bail money back.”

The cash bond I’d put up for my sister’s freedom was the least of my worries right then. However, I could tell she was concerned about it…or maybe it was more that Heather and Jordan didn’t like the idea of being so beholden to me. Either way, I wouldn’t be sad to have the money returned, even while it meant much more that Chloe had been exonerated.

Unfortunately, I knew some people wouldn’t look at the situation the same way. Having the charges dropped wasn’t the same thing as being proven innocent openly in court. Would people whisper behind her back, saying she’d gotten away with murder?

That wasn’t a very good way to start a new life in a new town.

I was getting way ahead of myself, though. Alec might have been hopeful that the judge would drop the charges, but until it actually happened, there wasn’t much point in wasting time on speculation.

“That’s great news,” I told her. “And your parents are still planning to head back to California on Saturday?”

“Or maybe Sunday,” Chloe replied. “It all depends on what happens with the judge tomorrow. If Alec can get the charges dropped, then they won’t have as much reason to stick around.” She paused there, as if weighing whether she should say anything else. However, she seemed to decide she should be frank with me, because she added, “Honestly, they’re not super-thrilled about me staying here in Globe, even though they know I’m doing it to help you out.”

“And I appreciate it,” I said at once. If Chloe hadn’t come to town, I would have had no choice except to close my store. Now I could take my leave without worrying about what would happen to Once in a Blue Moon.

“I know you do,” Chloe said. “But I’m glad to work there. It’s a very cool place, and Globe is super-cute.”

Part of me had to wonder whether she’d remain so enamored of my adopted hometown after a few months of living here with hardly anything to do other than go to the movies or hike, and whether it would be quite so “cool” after she realized she couldn’t just pop down the street to go to Ulta or the mall or wherever else it was that she liked to hang out.

Well, life was all about collecting new experiences. If, after the first six months, she decided she couldn’t hack it here any longer, I’d completely understand. While I wouldn’t have wanted to live anywhere else, I also understood that life in a small town wasn’t exactly what all those Hallmark movies made it out to be.

“I’m glad you think so,” I said. “And I’m glad you’re okay with watching the shop on your own. Since you already have a set of keys, there probably isn’t too much else you’ll need, but you know I’m always a phone call away, just in case.”

“And I’ll have Victoria upstairs and Archie next door,” she replied. “Everything is going to be fine, but I still like knowing your friends are so close by. I’m sure they can help me with anything that might pop up.”

If these had been normal circumstances, I would have thought the same thing. But with strange sigils appearing on my car and young men getting murdered for no apparent reason, I knew the current situation was anything but normal. Still, Archie would look out for Chloe because she was my younger sister, and Victoria would always be willing to help because that’s just the kind of person she was. I might have been far more worried about my sister if it weren’t for knowing my friends would be there to assist her if necessary.

“Oh, they absolutely will,” I agreed. “But I’m pretty sure things should be fairly quiet, even with tomorrow being the last day of the big sale. Just don’t let anyone push you into giving them a bigger discount than they’re already getting.”

“As if,” Chloe responded, and I had to smile.

She might have left California, but I guessed my little sister would always be a Valley girl at heart.

Despite telling myself more than once that Chloe would be fine, I couldn’t quite stop fretting about her being alone in the Airbnb tonight. Yes, it had been cleansed and she’d cast what felt like a very effective protection spell, but would it be enough?

“It’s fine,” Calvin told me during dinner, and I couldn’t help startling a little.

“Was I being that obvious?”

“Sort of,” he said, his mouth quirking at the corners. “But I understand. It’s hard to go back into a place where something like that has happened.”

“She was fine when we cleansed the house, though,” I replied. “She’s tougher than she looks. I suppose I’m just letting twenty years of not getting to be a big sister pile up on me all at once.”

My husband looked thoughtful as he spooned some chicken cacciatore onto my plate. Even though it had been reheated from frozen, it was still damn good, and I was doing my best to savor every bite.

“I get it,” he said. “And it makes me love you all that much more, watching you be protective of Chloe. But she’s an adult, and she gets to make her own decisions.”

Including going back to the Airbnb. I just wished I didn’t feel so hinky about the situation.

Most likely, I was only responding that way because of the accident this afternoon and the discovery of the hex hidden under my license plate. True, I had no way of knowing whether Jack Speros’s murderer and the person who’d scratched that sigil into the Jeep’s paint were one and the same.

On the other hand, I had no reason to believe that they weren’t. All day long, my brain had been picking away at the problem, trying to see if it could turn up the smallest detail that might point to the person behind all this magical mayhem, but I couldn’t think of a single suspect who controlled those sort of dark powers.

At least it didn’t seem as though Chloe had been targeted at all, which meant she should be perfectly safe. No, she’d have a quiet night at the Airbnb, and then she’d head into work tomorrow morning, with the only truly frightening thing she needed to face being all the last-minute shoppers who would crowd into the place to take advantage of the final day of our big sale.

“It’s true,” I told my husband, and then cut off a piece of chicken and popped it in my mouth. Thank the Goddess that my appetite hadn’t suffered much during my pregnancy, except for some queasy moments early on. True, the last couple of weeks I’d been getting full sooner than I would have liked and had cut back on my portions. Luckily, though, Dr. Carlisle said my weight gain was still right where she wanted it. “The last thing I want to do is hover.”

“You’re not hovering,” Calvin said. “You’re worrying, which is different but completely understandable.”

I couldn’t help smiling at those words. Some people might have said that Chloe wasn’t my responsibility, and maybe she wasn’t, at least in any legal sense of the word.

But she was family…and that made all the difference.

Despite all those reassurances, I didn’t sleep well that night. Some of my restlessness could have been due to the simple fact that the baby decided to start practicing its field goal kicking at around eleven-thirty, but I thought it was more than that. Although I couldn’t remember them clearly, my dreams had been disturbed as well, full of foreboding images that didn’t make much sense once my eyes flared open and I stared up at the ceiling of the bedroom, only faintly illuminated by the glowing numerals on the alarm clock next to my bed.

Was I restless because my subconscious mind wouldn’t leave me alone…or had the unknown user of magic pointed another hex at me, a slightly subtler one this time?

That thought wasn’t reassuring at all.

Well, a glass of water would do me good. No way was I going to walk through the dark house into the kitchen, but I could head into the bathroom and get myself a drink there.

As soon as I sat up and pushed my legs over the side of the bed, I heard Calvin’s voice in the darkness.

“Everything okay?”

“I’m fine,” I said, smiling a little as I thought of how many times I’d uttered those same two words today. “I just need some water.”

He shifted against the pillows and said, “All right.”

I pushed myself upright, still smiling. After all, my getting up in the middle of the night wasn’t that strange an occurrence, not when it seemed as if sometimes I had to haul myself out of bed to use the bathroom every hour on the hour.

But I loved that he was being so vigilant, so attentive. I could tell he blamed himself for not going with me to my doctor’s appointment this afternoon, even though I’d reassured him it was utterly routine and that he didn’t need to miss any more work than he already had…and would in the near future.

Besides, having him behind the wheel wouldn’t have prevented that crash. It was entirely possible he could have been hurt.

No, better that things had shaken out the way they did, even though I would be very glad if I never experienced another moment of terror like that again in my life.

The little nightlight in the bathroom provided just enough illumination for me to pour myself a glass of water. Our property had its own well, and the water was sweet and cold and fresh, easing the dryness in my mouth. I stood at the counter and drank the glass down, then wondered if I should pour myself another.

No, better not. I didn’t want to be up and down even more times because I’d drunk too much water to slake my thirst.

I set the glass down. As I looked up, I caught a flash of movement in the darkness behind me.

Calvin, getting out of bed after all?

Something moved past my head, dark and icy cold.

Spectral fingers reached for me.

A terrified shriek left my lips, and I ran for the bed as fast as my distended belly would let me, somehow knowing if I could get there, I’d be safe.

“Calvin — ”I gasped.

But he didn’t move, only lay under the covers as still as a corpse.

No —

I reached for the sheets and blanket and pulled them back.

My husband’s sightless eyes stared back at me, a red gash livid against his neck.

I screamed.