Page 13 of Crown of the Fae King

“I’m fine. Out front. Someone ransacked my apartment. He wants to know if it was Pete.”

“Hasn’t left all day. Training that nasty woman. He’s ready to skin you and Rena alive for leaving.”

“We were fired.”

“Doesn’t seem to matter.”His smiley face assured me he wasn’t suffering too badly.

“Rena said you were leaving too?”

“Enjoying the show for now, then I’ll go. You take care.”

Wickham got back in the car. “Wasn’t him,” he said.

“Jericho just told me Pete hasn’t left all afternoon.”

Wickham growled. “Text. Why didn’t I think of that?” He turned the key to start the car. “Next?”

“I was thinking the landlord might have come by. When did you talk to him?”

“If he wished to check the condition of the flat, he surely wouldn’t have ravished the place. Or is he the type of man given to tirades?”

“No. He’s a kind old man. Wouldn’t hurt a fly. Definitely wouldn’t touch my underwear. And wouldn’t steal anything.”

“Then we’ll save him for last.” He rested his hand on the stickshift, but didn’t put the car into gear. “Next?”

I shrugged. “I’m serious when I say there is nobody. Except for Pete and Andy Weaver, I haven’t so much as had an argument in this town.” I bit my lips for a second, looking for courage. “What about you? How did you know about my…Hank? And could someone else have found out the same way you did?”

He shook his head. “Not possible. I was sent to find ye by an old man, now dead. The prophet and protector of the Muir Witch Clan. No one else was in the room. Besides, I’m the only soul on this earth with whom he would have shared his…prediction.”

“Prediction?” I shook my head and considered bolting. “Look Mister Muir, you’re from a different world. We don’t even use the same vocabulary. Are you sure I’m the one he was talking about?”

A big laugh barked out of him. “Aye, lass. I’m sure. Unless there is someone else in Hazelton, Idaho with a Hank?”

I made a face and shrugged. “There is now.”

6

The Howling

We drove around the streets of Hazelton with no destination in mind. I supposed we were hoping someone would jump out in front of the car and confess, but that didn’t happen. So we moved on to the west where, seven miles down the road, lay another tiny town called Eden. It took both towns to fill an elementary school and high school, located halfway between them.

The basketball games were as popular as rock concerts. If you didn’t have a kid at Valley, you were probably related to someone who did. And seriously, what else was there to do on a Friday night? The four bars between both towns were filled with old farmers who no longer had to get up to milk the cows, and a few old women looking for sugar daddies. Hardly a social atmosphere for the masses.

I suggested we pull into the quickly filling parking lot at the high school.

Wickham turned the car. “What are we lookin’ for?”

“Andy’s truck. Of course, if he’s here, I don’t want to go in.”

“If he’d found Hank, would he set it aside for a basketball game?”

I laughed at the idea of Andy finding my secret and accidentally opening it. “I doubt it. Might not come out of hiding for days. Maybe forever. Can’t imagine anyone deserving it more. This might not be a bad thing after all.”

“Do ye see his vehicle?”

“I do not.” Excitement bubbled in my chest at the possibilities.

“Right then.” He turned the car back to the street.

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