Southern Witch - Would-Be Witch Part 26

Zach and I pulled into TJ's driveway. I smiled at Nadine, who waved as she collected a bunch of plastic toys from the front lawn.

"Hey there," Nadine said, leaning in Zach's window to give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Hot enough for you?" he asked.

"Hotter than a barbeque in h.e.l.l," Nadine said with a grin. "I'm so glad you talked TJ into coming home to keep an eye on things. I've got that upstairs bathroom sink that's leaking. It's just been waiting for him to have a chance to fix it."

"Always glad to be of help. Y'all stay out of trouble," Zach said.

I stood in the drive and watched Zach pull away.

"Well, it's good to see you, honey." Nadine said, her dark blond hair swinging stubbornly despite the humidity's fight to weigh it down. "Come on, let's go drink a gallon of iced tea."

"Got anything stronger?"

"Oh it's like that, is it?" She laughed and then said thoughtfully, "I poured TJ's last bottle of Jim Beam down the drain after he drove that riding lawnmower of his through my sunflowers." She shook her head. "He had the nerve to say he thought they were weeds! And that it was my own d.a.m.n fault for nagging him about the lawn and spurring him on to cut the gra.s.s at one in the a.m. when he couldn't see straight. Nagging my a.s.s. He's lucky I don't just-"

Three children burst out the front door, making as much racket as a fifty-member marching band.

"Crockett, where's your sister?"

"Tied up in the backyard," the boy said, running by without missing a step.

"Well, you better go untie her before your daddy gets home. You know he'll whip your b.u.t.t if he sees you torturing his baby."

Crockett considered this and seemed to weigh his options. Clearly seeing the wisdom of avoiding a confrontation with his father, who had a hundred and fifty pounds of muscle on him, he asked, "When will he be home?"

"Any minute so far as I know," she said.

Crockett turned and ran back into the house.

"He looks so much like Zach," I said with a smile.

"Yeah, they don't come any cuter, G.o.d help us." She gave me a sideways look. "You know, you could get your man to help you make one of your own."

"Zach's not really my man anymore," I said, but didn't even sound convincing to myself.

"That right?" she asked mildly. "Zach was over here one night telling us some story about you with that smile he always gets when he talks about you. And TJ said, 'Son, what are you doin' still in love with that woman?' Zach just grinned and said, 'h.e.l.l, that's the only good habit I've got. Not planning to give it up anytime soon.' "

I smiled and shook my head.

"So when are you gonna get married again? Zach thought by summer, but here it is fall, and you're still divorced."

Zach had thought we'd be remarried by summer? He'd never mentioned it to me. "Well, there have been a few hitches. Like me sleeping with Bryn Lyons." I clapped a hand over my mouth, not believing I'd let that pop out.

"Oh my G.o.d. When?"

"Kind of . . . yesterday."

"And Zach knows?"

I nodded grimly.

"Hmm. It's sure a good thing Zach's a deputy because I wouldn't want TJ going to jail for helping Zach bury the body."

"That's not funny."

Nadine grinned again. Then she laughed, making me laugh with her. "I'm so sorry, but between TJ and the kids, I guess I've gone crazy. Now," she said, fixing me with a pointed look. "What's your excuse?"

Chapter 25.

I had half a gla.s.s of iced tea and then, when Nadine was busy untangling a walloping fight down the block between her kids and four kids from neighboring houses, I wrote her a nice note and stole her Dodge Ram. I don't know why people pay for rental cars when so many friends and family members just leave their keys lying around unattended.

I had no business going to see Bryn Lyons, and, if Zach didn't die or turn into a werewolf, he was likely to kill me or Bryn, or both of us, if he found out. On the other hand, Bryn was in possession of my cat, my car, my spellbook from Johnny, and very possibly my Edie locket. Wild mustangs with demon riders couldn't keep me away.

I pressed the security buzzer determinedly.

"Can I help you?"

I didn't recognize the voice. "Where's Steve?"

"Sleeping. He pulled a double yesterday."

"Who are you?"

"Security for Mr. Lyons. Who are you?"

The new guy wasn't nearly as nice as Steve. "Tammy Jo Trask. I'd like to see Mr. Lyons and to retrieve my house cat, Mercutio. You might have seen him around. He's got spots like a leopard, but he's a lot sweeter."

"Trask. You're on the list, but Mr. Lyons is out."

"Can I come in and get my cat?"

"Sure. Report to Mr. Jenson."

"Okey dokey." The gate slid open. Easy as shooting fish in a bathtub.

I drove up to the house, and Mr. Jenson met me in the foyer.

"Hey there," I said. "I left this morning in kind of a hurry."

"Your undergarments are in the dryer. They will be ready shortly."

I just know my face turned red as a candy apple. "Oh . . . I was actually talking . . ."

"Mercutio has been fed. He is in the solarium pursuing the birds."

"What's a solarium?"

"Shall I show you?"

"Not right now. Did you happen to come across an old book in or near a cabbage-rose-print tote bag?"

"No."

"It might have been in Mr. Lyons's room with . . . the other things I left."

"I didn't see it."

"You know what else I lost? An antique locket. I asked Bryn to hold it for me a few days ago and forgot to get it back from him. Have you seen that?"

It was long shot, but you never make a fourth-down touchdown from your own twenty-yard line if you don't throw a Hail Mary pa.s.s now and then.

"A woman's locket? No."

"Well, I'll just have a quick look in Mr. Lyons's room for my book." I thought about Bryn's office nook in the closet. If he hadn't put my spellbook there, I could just borrow one of his. And maybe find my locket, too.

"I think Mr. Lyons would prefer for you to wait in the living room for him until he returns. May I get you something to drink? Something cold and carbonated, perhaps?"

"Mr. Jenson, if you and Mr. Lyons ever have a falling-out, I want you to know that I'll find room for you to live with me. I couldn't pay much, but I'd make you a torte every week."

Jenson smiled. "I will bear that in mind. And may I say that I understand why Mr. Lyons finds you so charming?"

"Thank you. I wish I could say it was mutual, but, between you and me, I have reason to think that Mr. Lyons has done something pretty low."

"To whom? You?"

I nodded.

"I shouldn't think so, Miss Tamara. Between the two of us, as you say, I have it on good authority that Mr. Lyons hopes to see a great deal of you. I don't believe he would jeopardize his friendship with you."

He hopes to see a great deal of me out of my underwear while siphoning power off me like some people steal cable. "You could be right. I'll have a seat," I said, going to the living room.

My "Cowboy, Take Me Away" ring tone went off, and I started searching for my cell. Turns out my tote bag was behind the couch, but there was no spellbook in it.

I pulled the phone out. Zach's picture was displayed on the little screen and I grimaced, glancing out the window at Nadine's Ram in the circular drive. I thought about ignoring it, then I thought about him bleeding and maybe needing me to drive him to Dallas.

"h.e.l.lo," I said.

"Where are you?"

"Me? Oh, I'm just fine. How's your chest?"

"Where the h.e.l.l are you?"

"I'm picking up my cat."

"You stole my brother's wife's car to go back to Lyons's place?" he asked, sounding like he'd asked, "You stole a car to drive to a nursery and murder babies?"

"There's a dog named Angus who lives here. I have to rescue Mercutio."

"Yeah, the safety of your cat was your top priority last night." He paused.

I didn't answer, because what was there to say to that?

"Nadine won't press charges if you return the car by the time she has to drop the kids at her momma's."

"Nadine won't press charges whether I return the car or not. No wife of a Sutton is ever going to send another one to jail. We've got a right to go crazy once a week. Just ask Nadine."

"TJ is my brother, Jo. I tell him you're messing around with Bryn Lyons, and I promise you he'll let me put you in jail for your own good."

I paced up and down on the plush carpet. "You can't arrest me for having an affair."

"I can't arrest you if I say that's the reason," he agreed. "Now, I've got a warrant to search Johnny Nguyen Ho's house. If you want to be there when I search, you should meet me."

"Oh, I went to Johnny's. He doesn't have the locket."

"Tammy Jo!"

"I thought he did. I swear it! And it sure was sweet of you to get a warrant."

There was a long pause, and I was grateful that he didn't say out loud all the curses he was thinking. Finally he said, "So you're staying at Bryn Lyons's?"

"No, of course I'm not. I'm getting my cat." And my underwear.

"And then where will you be?"

"Well, I'm not exactly sure. I'm having to fly by the seat of my Levi's just now."

"Girl, you're makin' me crazy. Why don't you come on home and behave yourself."

"I'm gonna. Real soon."

"Let me talk to Lyons for a minute."

"He's not here."

"That right? Guess G.o.d's not as p.i.s.sed off at me as He has been. All right, get your cat and get out of there."

"I'll talk to you later."

"Count on it."

I flipped my phone shut.

"Your ex-husband?"

I spun around to find Astrid standing right next to me.