“So what would the purpose of a body on the pentagram be?” Chief Thomas asked.
“I don’t know. I honestly think it was probably just happenstance. Like, it was already there, so they used it. I felt the evil; that’s why we ran,” I blurted, and Chief Thomas’s mouth dropped open.
“You felt the evil? Is that so?” Cash said, turning to shoot a glare at me. “You know, you could have told me about some of this. This is quite a surprise for a Sunday morning.”
“Well, if you had called me yesterday, I would have,” I said indignantly.
“I was working. You know? Work? I don’t have a set schedule like you do,” Cash said hotly. “I was trying to finish things up so I could come down here and surprise my girlfriend, who is apparently running around on beaches with murderers and casting magick spells while I’m gone.” His voice had risen to a shout and both ChiefThomas and I sat back as silence – except for Cash taking a few deep breaths of air –filled the room.
See? This is why relationships suck. You have to tell your person what you’re doing all the time. I hadn’t talked to Cash since Friday, and all of a sudden he thought I was keeping a world of secrets from him. Completely annoyed, I hunched in my seat, turning my shoulder on him.
“Oh sure, go ahead. Be mad at me,” Cash said, waving his hand in the air, a disgruntled look on his face.
“If we could focus?” Chief Thomas said, raising an eyebrow as he pursed his lips.
“Listen, we were done with the magick lesson and, well, you know, I have extra senses,” I said, pointing to my head, and Chief Thomas nodded for me to continue. “So, I felt this, like, wave of evil press against us. It sort of rolled across the beach. And I just told Luna to run. So we ran. I forgot my shoes and everything, my feet got all cut up on the gravel.”
I slid my right foot from my flip-flop and lifted it to show Chief Thomas the bottom, where I had a few cuts from the gravel. He nodded and gestured for me to put my foot back under the table.
“And the next thing I know, Prudie’s in the coffee shop the next morning telling the whole town that a murdered body had been found where we‘d been practicing magick the night before.”
Chief Thomas sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, clearly frustrated with me.
“Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”
“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. “My last relationshipwith the town cop didn’t end so well, if you remember. I think that’s broken my trust of law enforcement.”
“Althea, I’m on your side. I was on your sidelasttime you guys found a dead body, if you’ll remember.”
“I know. I get that. I do like you and I know you’re an honorable man,” I admitted.
“Then you can’t withhold information from me like this. You could have seen something that would help us,” Chief Thomas explained. I blew out a long breath, leaning back in my chair and looking up at the ceiling for a moment, surprised to find I was dangerously close to tears.
“So you believe me?”
“Yes, I believe you. But I still want to know who this Horace guy is and what you were really doing last night,” Chief Thomas said sternly.
“Yes, I’m dying to hear more,” Cash said dryly, and I shot him a look.
“We went to that Pagan festival last night,” I began, and Chief Thomas sighed.
“Why wouldn’t you just say that when you got pulled over?” he asked.
“Yes, Thea. Why would you lie?” Cash asked. I swung on him.
“You know, you’ve got a lot of nerve coming in here and acting like this,” I began, feeling my temper kick up.
“Would it kill you to just be honest? What am I supposed to think about this?” Cash asked.
“I haven’t been dishonest,” I pointed out. “This happened last night. We haven’t really spoken yet. Stop acting like I’ve lied to you. It’s not like I’m hunting youdown asking you to account for every second you’re not with me. You’re being totally unfair,” I seethed.
Cash looked suitably taken aback and he nodded once, briefly.
“I’m sorry. You’re right,” he said simply and I felt my temper ease a bit.
Great, Cash was a guy who apologized easily when he was wrong, too? He was a way better man than I deserved. As far as I’m concerned, I’m always right and my apologies come few and far between.
“Can we stay on track here?” Chief Thomas asked, checking his watch. He was right; I wanted to get out of here and find Luna. Her non-responsiveness was making me nervous.
