The Magick of Dark Root (Daughters of Dark Root) (40 page)

Eve blinked several times as I turned back to the cop.
 

“You see, I knew my sister really liked Leo. She’d been playing him pool all night, flirting like she does. But every time Leo came to the bar to order drinks, he looked at me. And there was chemistry there.” I looked at Eve once again. “I’m sorry, Evie, but I slipped him my number when you weren’t looking.”
 

I twirled my hair around my finger and looked away.

Eve glowered at me. She didn’t like to be cast in the role as second-best. I hoped Officer Braden interpreted it as a sign of her jealousy.
 

“So he came and picked you up later that night?” she asked, folding her arms. “That’s so typical of you.”

The officer shifted uncomfortably. “I didn’t mean to start any family trouble.”

Ruth Anne bridged her fingers together, cracking her knuckles. “These two fight over men like two birds fighting over a worm.”

The officer scratched his head with the end of his pen. “So, Leonard’s been staying here then?”

“He was here that night. Then I took him to the airport in Eugene. He had to go to Seattle for a business meeting. Asked me to take care of his car until he got back.”
 

“Seattle, huh? Did he say what hotel he was staying at?”

“The Marriot?” I took a shot in the dark.

“And what day did he leave?” The officer scribbled in his notepad.

“Um, Thanksgiving Day.”

“Have you heard anything from him since?”

“Not a word. I’m kinda worried, too. I’ve had men disappear on me before but never one who left me their car.” I bit on my nails and glanced out the window.

“Ma’am, I don’t mean to get into your personal affairs, but I wouldn't hang out with someone like Leonard Winston if I were you. He has a record.”
 

“A record?”
 

He paused, wondering how much he should tell us. “Aggravated sexual assault in two counties. Swindling. Embezzlement. He served nine months in Washington for identity theft. He’s been clean for the last two years, as far as I can tell, but with repeat offenders you can never be too careful.”

“If he’s so awful, why are you looking for him?” Eve asked as Officer Braden put away his notebook.
 

 
“His mother is concerned. Says he sends her a check on the first of the month like clockwork. When she heard he was last seen in Dark Root, she got quite upset. This may sound crazy, but his mother is concerned that witchcraft is involved. Your family’s reputation around here is pretty well-known.”

“That is crazy,” Eve said.

“So you aren't witches then?” Officer Braden asked, raising an eyebrow.
 

Ruth Anne shrugged. “It’s a show for the tourists. Keeps the town alive. Do we look like witches to you?”

The officer laughed uneasily. “Ma’am, I’ve never seen a witch before, so I couldn't say. But some folks can get real superstitious. I grew up near Linsburg. A lot of people believe this town was founded on witchcraft. The real kind.”

“And what do you believe?” I asked.
 

He laughed nervously. “I like to think I’m a bit more enlightened than that. But with the older generations, superstitions die hard. I’m telling you this more for your own protection than as an accusation.”

“Sorry to disappoint, Officer,” I said. “But we’re just ordinary people.”

“No disappointment here. You all seem like pretty nice folks. I’m just doing my job. The Marriot in Seattle, you say?”

“Uh-huh.”

The officer nodded uncertainly. I could tell he wasn’t buying our story. He handed me a card. “I’m going to check out his car on the way out, if that’s alright? If you hear anything more, please give me a call.”

“Witches honor,” I said, winking.

Officer Braden scratched the back of his neck. “And if we don’t hear anything from him soon, I will be back.” He nodded goodbye to each of us and left the house.
 

We stood in place, watching through the window as he checked Leo’s car inside and out, making a few notes in his pad. Then he drove away.

Aunt Dora flew in from the kitchen. “I don’t know who this Leonard is, or why ya girls are hidin’ him, but ya have to take him back to his mother’s. Right away!” She fixed us with a steely gaze. “Our family’s got enough trouble right now.”

“Yes, ma’am,” we all said, staring at our feet.

“Maggie!” Leo called down to me, a tint of fear in his voice. He had woken up and I wasn’t there.

“He needs ta go!” Aunt Dora repeated, then stormed off to the kitchen.

 
I had hoped to keep Leo with me until the solstice, to see what we could do to “heal” him, but with the cops and Aunt Dora on my back, we decided he needed to go home as soon as possible.
 

“When you do get the wand, you can go back and fix him right up,” Ruth Anne explained pragmatically, to lessen my guilt.

Being our last day together, I promised Leo a trip to town that morning for Minties, his favorite thing. His eyes lit up and he hurriedly dressed himself in slacks and a short-sleeved, polo shirt with an emblem of a soccer ball on it. I added a sweater to cover up the bruising that was developing on his arms.

It was a quiet ride into town. Leo didn’t speak, as if he knew this was his last day. Even the trees seemed more solemn, hanging their leafless heads along the road, lined up like soldiers coming back from war. I reached over and patted his leg from time to time.
 

On one such pat, he startled me by saying, “Sorry, Maggie.”

We found an open space in front of Dip Stix and I parked, both of us sitting in the seat for a long time before he unbuckled and opened his car door, a feat he had just learned to do.

We were unofficially saying goodbye.

We entered Dip Stix and Leo’s mood brightened as he saw the Minties by the cash register.
 

“We need to eat first,” I said, steering him towards the far corner booth in the back of the café.

“Hey, rock star.” Paul called to me from the kitchen when he heard my voice. “You here for pancakes?”

“Pancakes? Sure. Is Shane around?”

“He’s upstairs. Want me to get him?”

“No, don’t. We’re here because, well, Leo is leaving and he wanted one last trip into town.”

“I’m sorry to see him go,” Paul said, more to me than Leo. If he had ever guessed Leo’s true condition, he hadn’t let on. “A short stack and two forks coming right up.” A few minutes later, Paul emerged with a plate and a bottle of syrup.
 

Leo gobbled half the stack down before Paul even made it back to the kitchen

 
“Sorry, we didn't eat dinner last night,” I said when Paul saw our near-empty plate.

“No problem.” Paul hesitated a moment and finally said, “Mags, do you have a moment?”

“Okay.”
 

I whispered to Leo that I would be right back then followed into the kitchen.

“It’s about Eve,” he said, pouring more batter onto the hot griddle. It sizzled and popped as the edges turned a golden brown.
 

“I figured.”

“She’s still not talking to me.”

“Paul, you’re texting your ex-girlfriend. What do you expect?”

Paul's face turned green. “Oh. She knows, then?”

“Everyone knows. Welcome to small town life.” I leaned against the opposite cabinet, one eye still on Leo as he dumped syrup onto his plate and proceeded to lick it clean. Luckily, there were no other customers in the café at the moment.

Paul wiped his brow with the back of his forearm, then returned to cooking.
 

“You are only
talking
to your ex, right?”

“No. Yes. It’s complicated.”

“Complicated?” I pushed my hair behind my ears. “What does that mean?”

“It means sometimes people come back into your life and everything changes.”

“Why are you telling me this? I’m Eve’s sister, remember?”

“I know that. I was hoping you’d understand, since you went through something similar with Shane and Michael.”
 

“Eve overheard you say you were going back to Seattle. Are you in love with this other woman?”

“I was, a long time ago.” He turned off the stove and fixed me with his steel-blue eyes, eyes so blue they were almost black. I’d been taken in by those eyes once. It was amazing what power eyes had over the soul. “We were together seven years, Maggie. I’ve only been with Eve a couple of months now.”

“You’ve only been sleeping with Eve a couple of months. You two have been friends for a few years. And, you
love
Eve now.”

“Yes.”

 
“So, why would you give up your job here, my sister, and your friends to be with some ex-girlfriend?”

His eyes fell to my belly.
 

“Oh, I see,” I said. Paul had a kid. And though he loved my sister, his heart was being pulled elsewhere. “When will you tell Eve?”

“Soon. As soon as I figure everything out. I promise.”

“She deserves to know, Paul.”

“Yes. I just need to get things straight in my head first.”

Shane came in, his white shirt starched and his khaki slacks ironed. “Hello, Maggie,” he said tersely. We hadn’t spoken since Thanksgiving.

“Hello, Shane,” I said, just as formally. “Sorry I can’t stay but Leo and I have to go by Sister House today. We’re heading out tomorrow.”

“Heading out? Where to?”
 

“I’m taking Leo home,” I said.

“I assume you mean to his home?”
 

“Yes, in Linsburg.”

Shane laced his fingers behind his head, leaning back in a stretch. “That’s too bad. I’m going to be hiring soon and I was hoping your friend would apply for the job. I could use someone who knows his way around a syrup bottle.” His eyes twinkled with amusement.
 

“You’re unreal.”
 

“I’ve got applications in the back room. Let me know.”

I marched back to Leo, handing him a pocketful of wet wipes. “Let’s go.”
 

He stumbled after me, dizzy with sugar and covered in syrup, not even stopping for Minties on the way out.

Twenty-Four

GOOD RIDDANCE (TIME OF YOUR LIFE)