Page 94 of Sweetwater and the Witch

“Sure, why?”

It had been a shot in the dark, Ravenna thought. And the more she thought about it, Fitch just wasn’t the most likely suspect in this case. Yes, he had motive. She had seen the rage in his eyes when the agents had led him out of the chamber, but he lacked the organizational and planning skills ittook to carry out such a complicated revenge. For that matter, he hadn’t had the skill set required to build a cult. And yet.

There were motives other than rage that could drive a person to a murderous revenge. Fear could do the job. So could envy. A combination of the two would make for a very dangerous para-psych profile.

“I want you to check out another name for me,” Ravenna said.

“Okay, but make it fast. I’ve got a meeting with the team.”

She gave him the name. Collins didn’t have to check the files. He knew the answer.

“Got out three months ago on a technicality and hasn’t been seen since,” he said.

“You should have told me,” Ravenna said. She clenched her fingers around the amber pen. Her chest got tight.

“Why would I do that?” Collins asked. He sounded honestly bewildered. “You’re no longer involved with the Bureau. How is Illusion Town, by the way? Getting bored with the matchmaking business? I knew you wouldn’t like it.”

Ravenna hung up on him. She had to think. But the scent of an exotic perfume distracted her. She wondered if she had left a window open. The rain had stopped, but the energy of the storm might have released the scents of a nearby garden. Or maybe Harriet had returned earlier than usual and the fragrance had followed her through the dust bunny door.

She got to her feet. “Harriet?”

There was no answering chortle. Not Harriet, then. The flowery scent was stronger now. It no longer smelled sweet. Instead it was infused with a dark, summoning vibe that triggered a memory. It was the scent that had clung to the clothes that Willis and Hatch had worn.

Not bad aftershave. Poison.

The acid energy of panic splashed through her veins. She had to get out of the house. She lurched through the doorway of the study, barely able to maintain her balance. A terrible lethargy pulled at her senses,threatening to drag her down into oblivion. Halfway along the hall she realized she would never make it to the front door.

She stumbled toward the basement instead. If she could get downstairs she would be able to escape to the safety of the Underworld. She was wearing tuned amber in the form of an ankle chain and a bracelet. She would be safe.

She was only a few feet from her goal when she saw Harriet lying motionless on the floor. She realized the dust bunny must have sensed the danger and had returned to the house but had been overwhelmed by the poisoned gas.

“Harriet,”Ravenna whispered.

Ravenna struggled to get to the dust bunny but the fumes were too strong. A fog of green-tinged gas filled the hall, overwhelming her senses. She tried frantically to rez her talent. A few small sparks appeared in the fog, but they winked out in an instant. She went down on her hands and knees and covered her nose and mouth with the hem of her pullover. She’d had some vague notion of escaping the gas by going low, but there was no escape.

Two monsters loomed in the fog that swirled through her home. Not monsters, she decided, men wearing gas masks. They had come for her.

“The boss said to grab her phone,” one of them said. The mask gave his voice a robotic quality.

She realized she was still clutching Ethan’s pen. She summoned what little energy there was left in her swiftly failing senses and managed to shove the pen into the pocket of her sweatpants.

Chapter Forty-Seven

The anticipation that had been built during the seemingly endless train trip evaporated in a flash when Ethan got out of the cab in front of the little cottage on Midnight Court. There were no welcoming lights inside. The sight of the darkened windows sent slivers of ice through his veins.

He was an engineer who made it a practice not to jump to conclusions, but he was also a Sweetwater with a hunter’s intuition. Something very bad had happened inside the cottage.

He took the small flamer out from under his jacket and went up the steps. The door was unlocked. When he got it open, traces of a familiar, deeply unpleasant scent wafted down the hallway. His heightened senses told him that no one was lying in wait.

He left the door open to air out the space, covered his nose and mouth with the hem of his shirt, and went through the house, room by room, flamer in hand.

He found Harriet in the hall. The dust bunny was dazed but alive. Ethan picked her up and tucked her under one arm.

He continued down the hall and went into the study. There was a page of notes on her desk. The last entry was a name. Next to it were the wordsfearandenvy. There were other descriptors as well:Delusional.Organized.High-rez hypno talent?

Harriet stirred and perked up. She opened all four eyes and growled.

“We’ll find her,” Ethan said. “But first we need some answers. We want to make sure we’re hunting the right witch.”

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