Page 57 of Coven of Corpses

“Nope. Just the day off,” Demmy said, giving her a nervous smile. “That’s all.”

Cody had to bite back several smart ass remarks.

Lucia furrowed her brow. “You feeling all right?” She looked at Cody. “Have you finally worn down his sass?”

“Me? Hell no. You think I could make a dent in that armor of sass?” Cody stopped and looked across the table with wide eyes. “I mean, no, Deputy Durant. We’re both feeling just fine.”

Margie returned and set their food before them. Lucia looked from the soup in front of Demmy to the meatloaf slathered with gravy in front of Cody and her frown deepened.

“You want to order something, Deputy?” Margie asked.

“I’ll order in a minute, Margie, thanks.” Lucia gave her a smile and watched her walk away. Then she sat on the edge of the seat beside Cody, forcing him to slide over and make room.

“Please join us,” Cody said.

“All right. What’s going on?” Lucia looked between them before she pointed across the table at Demmy. “Talk. Right now.”

“We didn’t do it,” Demmy blurted.

“Son of a…” Cody muttered.

“Why do I get the feeling this is way more fucked up than usual?” Lucia said, lowering her voice.

“Because it is.” Cody looked over at Demmy who lifted one shoulder in a shrug then spooned soup into his mouth as if to indicate he’d rather eat than talk. Coward. Cody turned in the booth to look at Lucia. “We went out to the site of Parson Stone’s church this morning. While we were there, the witch showed up. We know who he is.”

Lucia’s eyebrows went up. “He?”

“Right, he.”

“Who is it?”

“A guy by the name of Baron,” Demmy said. “He’s a young guy, mid-twenties probably. A year or more ago he actually hired me to get chipmunks out of the hall closet in his house out in Hollow Hills.”

“So, he’s been here a while,” Lucia said. “That matches what we’ve suspected.”

“We as in you, Tracey, and Clarabell?” Cody said.

Lucia sat back. “And Gayle, too. So?”

“Thanks for giving us the heads up,” Cody said.

Lucia looked over at Demmy, then back again. “Have you two traded personalities or something? Why does it seem like Bower’s sass is coming out of your mouth?”

“You know what they say,” Cody said. “When two people live together long enough and all that.”

Lucia grunted quietly and looked between them, still a bit suspicious.

“Not Zenona?” Demmy asked.

Lucia shook her head. “She’s still dealing with losing Michael and everything that happened at Halloween.”

“We’ve checked on her a few times, but she doesn’t really open up,” Demmy said.

Lucia looked at Demmy, then she looked back at Cody. She leaned back at bit before saying, “I’m sitting here looking at Demetrius, but I could swear I’ve been talking to Cody.”

Cody sighed and looked over at Demmy. He had more soup and shrugged again. Fine, it was up to him then. “Funny you should say it like that…”

He explained about what Baron had said to them and then Heath arriving. When he got to the part about Heath being possessed by a demon, Lucia shushed him and looked around quickly.