Kitty Takes a Holiday
Page 39

The three of us—Tony, Ben, and me—surrounded him, pinning him against his car almost. If Marks had reached for his gun, I wouldn't have been surprised. To his credit, he didn't. He appeared stricken, though. Frozen almost, like he expected us to pounce.
1 said, “I haven't hurt anyone. I didn't kill those cattle. I don't deserve what's been done to me, and I just want it to stop. That's all.”
His lips pursed, his expression hardening. We weren't going to get anything out of him. In his mind, he'd drawn some kind of line in the dirt. I stood on one side, he stood on the other, and because of that we'd never come to an understanding. I might as well pack my bags and leave.
Tony reached out to him. He moved quickly. Marks and I held each other's gazes so strongly I didn't even notice it until Tony held Marks's collar. Marks only had time to flinch before Tony had pulled out a pendant on a hemp cord that had been tucked under the sheriff's shirt.
Tony held the pendant flat in his hand, displaying it: a flint arrowhead of gray stone, tied to the cord.
“Zuni charm,” Tony said. “Defense against werewolves. He knows all about this magic.”
Was that why 1 wanted to growl at Marks every time I saw him?
Marks snatched the arrowhead away from Tony, closing his hand around it. He took a step back, bumping against the hood of his car. His armor had slipped; now, he seemed uncertain.
“It wasn't my idea,” he said finally.
The air seemed to lighten around us. At last, he'd said something that sounded like truth.
“Whose was it? I'm not out for revenge, Marks. I just want to know why.”
“We wanted you to leave. We're a quiet community. We didn't want any trouble.”
“I wasn't going to bring any trouble! I just wanted to be left alone.”
“But you brought trouble. That's trouble.” He pointed out to the backhoe across the pasture.
I shouted. I didn't mean to. It just came out. “You pinned rabbits to my porch before any of those cows died! You assumed I'd do something before anything even happened! You heard what he said about a curse coming back to smack you—you brought this on yourself! And then you had the gall to pretend to investigate, when you knew all along who was doing it—”
“Kitty, maybe a little more calm,” Ben said softly. I must have been really worked up if Ben was having to settle me down. My whole back and shoulders felt tight as springs.
When Marks spoke, his voice had changed. He sounded suddenly tired, defeated. “We—we knew it wasn't working right. You should have just left. Quietly, without a word. We wanted it to be quiet.”
“Well, you screwed up big time, didn't you?” I said.
“Can you blame us for trying?” he said roughly.
“Uh, yeah. Hello, I am blaming you.”
“We all know what you are! A—a monster! We don't want that in our town! Nobody would!”
“You know, I don't think I'm the monster here, really.”
Thankfully, Tony interceded. “Sheriff, I think I can help clean this all up. We can remove the curse, and remove the consequences of it.” He pointed a thumb over his shoulder at the site of the slaughter. “But the person who planned it, who worked the spell, needs to agree to it.”
He nodded. “All right. Okay. It's Alice. She planned it.”
“Alice?” My jaw dropped, truly astonished. “But she's always been so nice to me. Why—”
“Because she's nice to everybody, at least in person,” Marks said. “I don't think she could be mean to somebody to their face if you held a gun to her head.”
Tony looked at me. “Should we go talk to Alice, then?”
I still couldn't believe it. Sweet, friendly Alice. Alice who kept healing crystals on her cash register and hung good luck charms on her front door.
Then again, maybe she did know something about planting curses.
“Right, then. Off we go.” To Marks I said, “You want to come along? Back us up?”
“To break this thing right, everyone involved should be there,” Tony said. He had an authority about him, from the gentle way he spoke to the way he'd grabbed Marks's arrowhead charm. Marks had let it go; it lay on top of his uniform shirt now, exposed.
The sheriff hesitated, then said, curtly, “I'll meet you there.” He turned to yank open his car door. He revved the engine when he started it, and barely gave us time to get out of the way before he lurched the car into reverse, then spun in a U-turn, kicking up gravel all the way.
“I don't believe it,” I said, on general principle.
“She didn't really seem the type,” Ben said.
Tony said, “Those are the ones you really have to watch out for. The real mean brujas? Always the little old lady down the street. The one who feeds cats off her back porch.”
“Every neighborhood has one of those,” I said.
“Makes you wonder, don't it?” Tony grinned.
Sighing, I marched to the driver's side of my car. “Let's go and get this over with.”
Marks was already at the convenience store when we pulled into the parking lot. That meant he'd had time to warn her, to prep and get their stories straight. That made me mad. The whole town was against me, and the worst part was I shouldn't have been surprised. I was the monster, they carried the torches and pitchforks, and nothing would change that. Human nature being what it was.
At least I had backup this time.
I didn't wait for Ben and Tony, though. I wanted to break up their little witches' coven, and 1 wanted to do it now. While they were still getting out of the car, I stalked to the door of the store. Slammed it open. Sure enough, Marks and Alice were in conference, leaning over the counter by the cash register. They looked at me, shocked, though they should have expected me. Joe, standing behind Alice, quickly ducked for his rifle. I should have kept my distance, but I wasn't thinking too straight-
I went right toward them, closing the gap in a few long strides, and I must have had murder in my eyes because they both flinched back. That inspired me; let them think I wanted to rip their throats out.
I slammed my hand on the counter, making them jump, at the moment Joe cocked and leveled his rifle, mere inches from my skull. I could smell it, cold and oily-
The bell on the door rang as it opened again. “Kitty!” Ben called, at the same time Tony said, “No, wait.” 1 imagined Tony held him back from rushing to my rescue. I couldn't look away. I only had eyes for Alice.