Page 69 of Eye for An Eye
“We should let it have him,” Jack said.
“No! No, please! I don’t understand—ACK! OUCH!—what’s even happening?” Ish howled as the dagger dragged him up the side of the wall, smacking his head into every shelf of the built-in bookcase. “Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Help!”
Jack started laughing. “I’ve never seen Karma kick in so quickly and obviously. I feel like we should make a video for one of those funny video shows. We could title it Dead End’s Stupidest Criminals.”
“Jack.” I tried to sound stern but couldn’t quite manage it.
Lizzie was openly laughing, clutching her stomach, and Jack was smiling his scary, too-many-teeth smile.
Ish was beyond being afraid of Jack, though, tiger or no tiger. He just wanted to get away from the dagger. “Help me!”
I ran to the kitchen and grabbed Susan’s big blue canister with the little girl in the yellow raincoat on it. Then I ran back to the library, dashed inside, and tossed salt into the air, aiming at the dagger.
The enchanted item faltered and then dropped to the ground, falling out of Ish’s hands. I quickly poured a ring of salt around the knife and stepped back.
Ish curled up on the floor where he’d collapsed when the knife released its hold on him. Then he burst into tears. “I want my mother! I’m tired of all this magic, and I just want my mother. I know she could be awful, but she loved me, and now I’m all alone, and I want to gohoooome.”
That’s when Susan showed up behind Jack, her godfather right behind her. Both of them stared at Ish, crying on the floor, and at me, and at the dagger in the salt ring.
Susan turned to Jack, her hands on her hips. “What in theworldis going on?”
“That’s a really brilliant question to ask your cousin,” I said. “I’m going out to the car to get my coffee. I can’t face another minute of this day without more caffeine.”
I marched off down the hall, ignoring Susan’s questions and her godfather’s curious look. Behind me, Jack explained, and Lizzie said something about checking her radio and followed me.
“I was hoping today would be calmer after the plant monster attack yesterday,” I told our newest deputy after we closed the door behind us.
“I can’twaitto hear that story,” she said.
“I promise I’ll tell you the whole thing. But first, let’s check out both Ish’s car and Mr. Butler’s van.”
We did.
And, sadly, we found exactly what I’d expected.
37
Tess
When we returned to the house, Susan was sitting on the floor next to her cousin, patting his shoulder, a grimace on her face. Jack leaned against the wall just inside the library, and Mr. Butler sat in a chair outside the large salt circle that still ringed the trove.
“Where have you been hiding?” Susan asked, her voice level.
“In the RV park,” he said, his voice thick with tears. “Somebody was leaving town for the week. I heard them talking about it at the gas station, so I snuck out there and broke into their RV the night I ran away.”
Lizzie pulled out her notebook. “Should we add criminal trespass to the charges, Sheriff?”
Susan sighed. “Calm down, Deputy. You’re not officially on duty until Monday. Let’s see how this plays out, shall we?”
Lizzie nodded. “Right. I get carried away sometimes.”
“Enthusiasm is a good thing,” Susan said. “Just maybe not so much at this very moment.”
“What I want to know is why have you been sneaking down to Dead End and visiting Granny G over the past couple of years? Why didn’t you just visit openly?” I asked.
“What?” Susan asked me. Then she turned to him. “What?”
Ish sat up and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. “Okay. I may as well tell you all of it. We knew for a while that Grandfather was planning to leave you everything. Mother and I thought if we could convince Granny to help us, we might …acquire… some of the treasure.”
