I exhaled a sigh of relief. Never had more perfect words been said.
Chapter 27
And it just figures that all it would take for me to wind up forgiving Malene for keeping secrets from me was a brush with death.
It puts things in perspective, you know? As the police were taking away a super-groggy Wylie, Malene strolled up.
We took one look at each other, and I burst into tears. Malene did not, but I did see her wiping her eyes.
She wrapped her arms around me. “I’m sorry.”
“Me too. It’s okay that it’s taken me a while to know the truth. Better late than never, right?”
She sniffled and smoothed her hair as if to suggest that she wasn’t really crying, that crying was beneath an old spell hunter like herself.
It probably was.
“Better late than never,” she replied.
Norma Ray and Urleen joined us. “Urleen,” Norma Ray said, “I knew you should have brought a handgun for each of us. As it was, Clementine just about got herself killed.”
Urleen rolled her eyes. “Even if I had, you wouldn’t have been able to see which end was the trigger—not without finally admitting you need glasses.”
Norma Ray didn’t have an argument for that.
I decided to change the subject. “Looks like I may just have to suck it up and start learning how to spell hunt.”
Malene clapped me on the back. “About time.” She looked over at where Rufus was talking to the police. “And it looks like you’d have a great partner in it.”
I forced myself not to grin too much. “Sure does.”
“That’s if you tell him whatever secret it is you’re hiding.”
I scoffed. “I’ll tell him tomorrow. Don’t you worry.”
A few minutes later Rufus strode over, his shoulders back, his head high. “Everyone ready to leave? I think the police have all they need from us.”
“I thought you’d never ask,” I murmured.
The next morningI stood on Willard Gandy’s porch, sweating like a pig.
“You need to stop perspiring,” Lady said. “I can smell your stink from down here.”
I shot her a dark look. “You don’t have to be so rude about it.”
“I’m not being rude. I’m being honest.”
“There’s a fine line,” I murmured.
Lady scratched at the door. “Well, I’m a dog, so I don’t understand things like that.”
“Nuances.”
“Yeah, nuances. I only understand dog stuff—like how I’m eventually gonna get that cat who shows her butt.”
“Right. Because that’s important.”
Lady stared up at me. “I feel like you’re being sarcastic.”
