Page 88 of Wicching Hour

“I did a deep dive on complaints against him and found our latest victim had submitted one, saying he was rude and threatening, destroying her property and making her worried about him having her address.”

“Yeah,” I said. “That’s what I just watched.” I relayed what I saw. “I couldn’t see him, but I saw white hands and I saw him take a picture of her license. I’m sure hers isn’t the only one he has. His photo app probably contains his hit list.”

Hernández stared into space a moment. “The text was from someone named Joel?”

I nodded. “He wanted five hundred bucks, and it pissed off the cop.”

“Joel was the name of our one male victim.” She stood, closing the evidence bag. “I’ll talk with my captain. Nothing you’ve told me is admissible. I need hard evidence, and he’s left none at the crime scenes. I snagged that cup from his trash can this morning. I wanted your take on him. We should have enough to subpoena his phone.” She put on her sunglasses. “Okay. Thank you for your time. I’ll get out of your hair now.”

She walked off the deck and around the corner. I wished I could’ve given her more, but I didn’t have the smoking gun.

Declan sat down beside me. “You did everything you could. She’s smart. She’ll get what they need to arrest him.”

“Hopefully before he kills someone else.” I tipped my head onto his shoulder, suddenly exhausted.

His arm went around me. “We have about two hours before your aunt and her family arrive. Why don’t you go in and take a nap? You haven’t been sleeping well and we need you firing on all cylinders tonight.”

I never napped, but it sounded so good, I stood and was suddenly dry. “Thanks,” I said to Bracken before zombie walking into the studio and up the stairs to my bed. I flicked my fingers, blocking out the skylight, dropped onto my bed, and was out.

I woke to the sound of dishes clinking and hushed voices. The light had changed. I’d actually slept. Sitting up, I realized that one of the hushed voices I was hearing was my Aunt Elizabeth. I stumbled to the half wall and looked over. They were all here.

Declan looked up and grinned. “They just arrived.”

“Sorry. I’m sorry. I’ll be right down.”

Elizabeth and Robert looked up, both smiling. She waved away my apologies. “Your young man has been taking care of us. We’re fine. Honestly, I was so happy when he told us you were napping.”

Robert rubbed his wife’s back. “The way she worries about you working with fire while being perpetually sleep-deprived.” He shook his head, laughing. “You sleeping has made her day.”

“It has,” she confirmed. “Now take your time. We’re fine. We haven’t been able to spend quality time with Declan before. Robert and I are enjoying grilling him.”

They went back to talking amongst themselves and I went into the bathroom. Holy crap! I’d forgotten that I’d been in the ocean earlier and then just fell asleep salty. I jumped in the shower for a super-fast scrubbing.

There was no time for my usual hair routine, so I conditioned, blew dry just long enough for it to stop dripping, and used one of my black terry cloth headbands to keep it off my face. I put on black jeans, a long-sleeved black sweater, matching gloves, and black slip-on sneakers.

When I started down the stairs, Declan glanced over and raised his eyebrows. “You look like an adorable cat burglar.”

“That’s the point,” I said. “We have sneaky things to do.”

He gave me a hug and a kiss when I hit the bottom step. “I’m glad you got some sleep,” he murmured. “Bracken and I have it all under control.”

Elizabeth and Robert were sitting on the couch, Bracken in my chair. Frank and Faith sat at the end of the worktable eating chips and salsa—which I didn’t realize I had. I had a severe lack of seating options. It had always been fine because I was the only one here, with the occasional visit from Mom or Aunt Sylvia.

My mind flashed on the new flat Declan had created and my heart warmed. Soon, we’d be able to have a proper dinner party. Wait. I only had a set of six plates and bowls because that was how many had come in the box. There were seven here tonight.

Scanning the table, I saw seven matching plates and utensils. I pulled Declan to my side. “Where did the seventh set of dinnerware come from?”

“Bracken. He brought over one of his and then spelled it to look like yours.”

I grinned. “Tricky.” I smelled something spicy and delicious, but it wasn’t lasagna. “What are we having?”

“I called Mariana’s and put in a huge order. Bracken went to pick it up. I put out chips and salsa.” He pointed to the worktable. “Your aunt brought bacon-wrapped jalapenos. Sorry. Those are all gone. There was also chicken quesadilla over there.” He gestured to where Elizabeth and Robert sat, the plate empty. “I saved some of that one for you.” He pulled a plate from the microwave with a triangle of cheesy goodness on it. “I have the pans in the oven keeping warm. I figured we could do dinner buffet style. Put all the aluminum pans across the stove and counter, use some serving spoons, and let people take what they want.”

I pulled a thin rubber glove from my kitchen drawer, heated the quesadilla slice in my hand and took a bite. Delicious. “I should sleep more often. You two have it all figured out, and this is so much nicer than the frozen lasagna I had planned.”

Grinning, he gave me a kiss. “Good.”

“You sure are smiling a lot tonight,” I observed, taking another bite.

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