Chapter 11

Chapter

Eleven

B ad habits can get you killed…

While we waited for Robbie to show up and give us some guidance, because we were lost AF, I decided to take the gifts I’d bought over to Astrid and the kids. I had to do something to keep busy or I was gonna lose my ever-lovin’ mind, worrying about Brenda and the fact that someone had the clangers to come to my house and snatch her.

Tottington had gone all out, decorating the presents with what he called “whimsical items,” like Hot Wheel cars for Owen Jr. and tons of shiny hair clips and ribbons for Lacy, along with beautiful foil paper and more ribbons than Lacy had put in my hair—which was saying something.

We’d hit another dead end with nowhere to go from here. We had two frickin’ suspects, Brenda and Astrid, and that was it. A picture of a guy who looked a lot like Owen—a picture we suspected was cursed—a fingernail, a video of Brenda, and an electrical cord that was probably the murder weapon.

And now Brenda was missing, and we also suspected she’d been kidnapped by a witch. A witch we didn’t have a single clue about. Not who they were, or where to look for her or him, for that matter…nothin’. Not even a hint. How could we look for an invisible witch?

Shit was not looking bright.

As I pulled up to Astrid’s, I took some comfort in the fact that Robbie was coming to help. Witches had varieties, dark, light, good, bad. We were hoping she could give us an idea about where this witch had come from and where to go from here, because time was ticking away and who knew what could happen to Brenda while we tried to figure this out.

A spike of fear skipped up my spine, thinking about Brenda being kidnapped. She was a gentle soul. That worried the shit out of me. The only solace I could take was the fact that Brenda was a vampire, and she had to at least have strength on her side. I hoped like hell she’d fight back.

Pulling into the driveway, I was happy to see that more lights had been added outside and in the big picture window, a Christmas tree glowed brightly.

That made me smile a little. Maybe the grandparents from Arizona had encouraged Astrid to get it together.

Grabbing all the gift bags, I slammed the door shut and headed toward the front door, ringing the bell as I admired the big Santa, sitting in a chair on the front porch. I dropped the packages by him while I waited for someone to answer.

A well put-together lady answered the door wearing a fun but classy Christmas sweater and creased tan slacks. Her ornament earrings swung at her earlobes, hanging just beneath her chin-length chestnut-colored hair.

She smiled at me warmly. “Hi there,” she said cheerfully. “How can I help you?”

“Nina!” I heard Lacy and Owen Jr. call out. They ran toward me, both wearing little aprons and waving wooden spoons as Bode followed close behind in protective mode.

I squatted on my haunches, giving them each a hug and Bode a scratch on his muzzle. “Little dudes! Are you making cookies for Santa?”

Owen shot his spoon in the air with a superhero stance. “Yes! Do you wanna make some with us?”

I grinned at him, ruffling his hair as Bode nudged my thigh. “I should introduce myself first, don’tcha think?” I held out my hand to the woman I assumed was their grandmother. “I’m Nina Statleon. I met the kids the other day when we were looking for donations for…” What the fuck had we been getting donations for?

“The monkeys!” Lacy shouted, doing her best monkey impression as she danced around. “The monkeys, Gramma!”

“Yes!” I almost shouted, before I looked down at my feet in guilt for being such a liar. “The monkeys. The…er…white-cheeked ones. They’re almost extinct…”

Their grandmother clapped her hands together with a wide grin. “Of course! The kids told us all about you ladies.” She grabbed my hands, giving them a warm squeeze as she leaned into me. “I’m so glad you dropped by. You really turned the kids’ day around. Thank you for that. Won’t you join us inside while we make some cookies?”

“Yay! Cookies! Cookies! Cookies!” Owen yelled.

I laughed. “Somebody’s had some sugar, huh? You’re buzzin’, buddy.”

Lacy grabbed at my hand, tugging me toward the entryway, but I held back, swinging her up into my arms. “Listen, Munchkin, I’ve got some stuff to do to help Santa. You don’t want me to ditch Santa, do you?”

Lacy smiled at me, her toothless grin making me grin, too. She wrapped her arms around my neck and gave me a hard hug, placing a sticky, sugary-sweet kiss on my cheek. “Bye, Nina! Tell Santa I said hello!”

I dropped her back on the floor and she scampered off to finish her cookie making. Then I smiled at Owen. “You, too, big guy. Santa’s gonna need those cookies so he can make all his deliveries.”

Owen wrapped his arms around my waist and hugged me before running off behind Lacy.

Their grandmother beamed at me, standing in the doorway surrounded by the Christmas lights around the door. She gripped my forearm with a warm smile. “I’m Beth, by the way. Astrid’s mother. You made them so happy at such a dark time, I can’t thank you enough. Are you sure you can’t stay? We’d love to have you.”

I smiled at her in gratitude. “I can’t. I have somewhere to be.” Then I leaned into her and whispered, “Santa left some stuff at my house for them.” I pointed to the gift bags I’d set on the chair by the big Santa.

“Oh!” she cooed with obvious delight, her bright eyes so much like Astrid’s. “What a kind gesture. Thank you for thinking of them. We haven’t had much time to do any shopping since we arrived, with the police in and out and Astrid being in such a bad way. You have no idea how much we appreciate this.”

The police had been back. Maybe they’d found something else to take the heat off Brenda? “Happy to help where I can. She told us all about how the police had grilled her for hours. I hope they didn’t come back to do more of that.”

Now Beth’s eyes filled with worry. “No. It was nothing like that. We were with her. They’re just gathering evidence. I don’t know if she told you about Owen’s ex-partner, but they questioned him, too. But he was away when Owen was… Well, you know…”

I drove my hands into my hoodie as the wind picked up. “So they haven’t found anything else? No suspects?”

She shook her head, tucking her hair behind her ears. “They’ve been very close-mouthed about any information they have. They just keep telling us they’re investigating. But my husband Simon’s hired Astrid a good lawyer, so we can protect her.”

More nothing burger—this time with cheese on top. Damn. “That’s good to hear. How’s she doin’?”

“She’s exhausted…devastated. Not knowing about this other woman… It’s torn her up. She wants to believe what Owen told her about his profile being cloned and used by a catfish, but she has no proof. I almost think it’s hurt her more than his actual death. The not knowing is heartbreaking. For her. For us.”

So the police hadn’t even mentioned the catfish was true. I knew they were aware Owen had been catfished. With all their bullshit tech, they’d probably found at least that much.

I couldn’t deny they had solid proof against Brenda, but they could have, at the very least, told Astrid that her husband had never actually been chatting with anyone, and he def hadn’t been cheating. Not with Brenda, anyway.

If we could just figure out who’d done this, Astrid wouldn’t have to live with that, along with her husband’s death, for fuck’s sake.

Gripping her hand, I did something I don’t normally do. I gave her a hug. “I’m glad you’re here for her. I’ve got to hit it, but will you tell her I asked about her and if she needs anything, I think my friends left our number with her. Just call us. We’re happy to help.”

Beth hugged me back. “I don’t know where you ladies came from or why you were so nice to my Astrid, but you were a godsend. I believe everything happens for a reason, and you girls helped her hang on just long enough for us to get here. Thank you, Nina, and please thank your friends, too.”

I gave Bode one last scratch to his soft ears. “I will. Promise. Don’t forget the stuff here on the porch. Hope to see you soon,” I said, with a wave over my shoulder.

I skipped back down the steps, heading for the car—when I saw movement by the side of the garage.

Instantly, I was on high alert. Would a motherfucker come here and skulk around? I wish a motherfucker would…

I crept toward the garage, trying to keep my work boots from crunching on the snow. Peering around the corner, I saw a tall man leaning against the siding, digging around in the pocket of his plaid flannel jacket.

Without thinking, I rushed him, bracketing his body with my hands until he was pressed as close to the side of the house as he could get.

“Who the hell are you?” I growled.

“Who the hell are you ?” he boomed back, with a deep voice that rang in my ears.

Grabbing him by the collar of his jacket, I gripped it, twisting the fabric. “Maybe your worst nightmare, pal. What are you doing sneaking around back here? Answer fast, or I’m gonna reach down your throat with my nimble fingers and yank your intestines through your nose.”

“I’m visiting here!” he roared, panic evident in his tone when he obviously realized I was strong enough to hold him up with only one hand. “This is my daughter’s house!”

Oh.

Oh, fuck.

Yeah. That made sense, now that I looked at him. Owen Jr. had his nose.

I dropped him instantly with a guilty glance, straightening his flannel and patting him on his broad shoulders to make it all better. “There. All better.” Then I stuck my hand out. “I’m Nina Statleon…uh, sir. You must be Owen and Lacy’s granddad. Nice to meet you.”

He eyed me for a second as he blustered, shrinking back away from me, making me feel even worse than I already did. “You’re that lady the kids were talking about? The one who let Lacy do her hair?”

Looking at him, his dark eyes filled with storm clouds, his lean face still masked in anger, I nodded. “Yes, sir. That’s me. I’m sorry I… I’m sorry. That’s all. I was worried about the kids and your daughter, and with everything’s that’s gone on, I just… I acted before I thought. I was just looking out for them.”

Jesus, I’d threatened to pull his intestines through his nose. I could hear Wanda in my head. “Can’t you, just this once, not choose violence?”

I felt his big hand clamp down on my shoulder—then his deep laughter. “It’s all right, young lady. I’m Simon, by the way. Thanks for lookin’ out for my grandbabies and my daughter. What brings you here on a night so dang cold? Sure miss the sun in Arizona.”

“I’ll bet. It’s good you came. They need you right now.”

Relaxing a little, I took a couple of steps back as he fished around in the pocket of his shirt again, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it with the flick of his thumb on a shiny lighter. His expression was wry. “I was just hidin’ out here so the kids wouldn’t see me smoking. It’s a dirty habit, but it’s been damn stressful around here, with Owen’s death and Astrid is in such a bad way.”

Smiling at him, I held up a hand. “You don’t have to explain yourself to me, Simon. I get a good vice.”

Did I ever. I missed the hell out of my old vice, chicken wings.

He barked another laugh, a cloud of condensation puffing from his mouth. “Little Owen’s always saying how stinky my shirt is. He wrinkles that little nose up at me and gives me hell about it.”

Owen’s words rang in my ears. It’s stinky like that lady where daddy lived. She was stinky, too. She smelled real bad. So bad, I had to cover my nose with my arm .

Stinky like that lady where my daddy lived…

Shut the fucking front door.

Like a ton of bricks from the wall we kept slamming into, they all crashed around me, landing on my head all at once.

I had to go, and I had to go pronto.

Sticking out my hand, I grabbed Simon’s. “I hate to cut this short, sir, but I have to go. It was a real pleasure to meet you. We’ll check back in with you soon.”

I didn’t give him a chance to answer. I took off running to the car, stomping through the snow as fast as I could while my mind raced, trying to put the pieces of this puzzle together.

Jumping into Marty’s SUV, I dragged my phone out of my back pocket and started to text Marty and Wanda.

I think I figured this shit out. I don’t have all the pieces put together yet. I just need to ask a couple of questions. Meet me at ? —

That was the last thing I remember before Marty’s car lifted off the ground, the windows imploding, glass shattering everywhere.

And then everything went dark.