Page 38 of Coven of Corpses

“Don’t shoot your hate my way, I’m just trying to help you keep your job and avoid being arrested. Again.”

“I’ve never been officially arrested,” Cody muttered. “Just held for questioning.” He pulled off his gloves as he approached her. “Aren’t you a little out of your jurisdiction?”

“We have an arrangement with the Harriettville PD.” She glanced over her shoulder and lowered her voice. “Have you seen Tracey recently?”

A chill went up his spine and spread across his scalp. “Not since last night. I saw her here in the store, and she looked scared and out of sorts. I stopped in at the library today to ask her about something I found in my grandmother’s things, but she wasn’t working.”

“Yeah, I tried to catch her at the library, too. She’s not answering my calls or responding to my texts.”

Cody avoided saying something smart ass. Barely.

“When you saw her last night, did she say where she’d been?” Lucia asked.

“Nope. But her hair was a mess, one side standing up and with a leaf stuck in it. She had a small cut on her cheek, too. Said she and Heath and someone named Rita had been out in the woods and something happened. Then Heath showed up and she ran. There’s something off about Heath. Like, even more than usual.”

“Yeah, we got a call about him acting out at the library this afternoon,” Lucia said. “I haven’t heard what happened when the deputies arrived.” She looked off down the aisle. Cody could see the muscle in her jaw tighten and relax as she ground her teeth.

“You share with me, and I’ll share with you,” Cody said.

She scowled. “Share what?”

“What we saw out in the woods earlier.”

“What part of the woods?”

Cody decided it was time to get it all out in the open. He explained about the hex bags and his conversation with Clarabell and the strange man with the hood he and Demmy and Ollie had seen out in the woods.

“Felicia had a hex bag in her belongings?”

“Yep. But not in her room at Parson’s Pines. After they decided to move her to assisted living, my parents rented a storage unit I knew nothing about until this week.”

“So, she’s one, too.”

“She’s one what?” Cody took a step closer and lowered his voice even more. “Are you telling me my grandmother was a witch?”

“Mr. Bower?”

Cody turned to see his supervisor, Shanice, at the opposite end of the aisle. “Son of a bitch.”

“Want me to explain it’s my fault and official sheriff’s department business?”

He wasn’t sure, but he thought Lucia might be smirking slightly.

“No. Thanks. Probably wouldn’t help. Like, at all.”

“Offer stands.” Lucia was definitely smirking now.

“Again, I’ll handle it myself.”

“Mr. Bower? A word?”

“Yep. I’m coming,” Cody called. He looked back at Lucia. “We’re not done talking about this.”

“Oh, you’re right about that,” Lucia said. “When are you off work?”

“Ten.”

“Pretty late for you to be up at your age.”