Chapter 15

A faint sprinkle of magic? Where did that come from?

It wasn’t strong enough to outright force me to do anything, but I was definitely the target and it attempted to influence me to do what Anna said. I had enough power to resist, which I did, but I couldn’t tell from whom the spell originated. Unless someone cast the spell from far, far away, someone in this room was using.

I looked at Rawlings, who seemed to want to avoid the current situation. I didn’t want to believe for a second that he had magic. If he did, I’m sure he would have kicked the women out, or at least told them to wait outside until we were done. He didn’t have any obvious marks, but his uniform could have hidden one on any number of locations on his body.

I looked past Anna at the woman standing in the doorway, Olivia Rooney, who blinked at me with quiet, polite indulgence. She followed Anna around like a good little puppy, willing to go along with anything the shorter woman said. If Olivia had magic, I wouldn’t be too surprised if she used it on Anna’s behalf. The coat she wore, a long, thick, fur-trimmed item, could hide a mark anywhere from her neck down. Her hands were buried in her pockets and only the toes of her shiny black shoes peaked out from under the coat. She smiled bashfully when I met her pale green eyes, but otherwise didn’t offer a word of greetings.

Finally, I looked at Anna, who stared at me with venomous impatience. To me, Anna was the worst kind of person. She would sooner accuse someone of the most horrible possibilities without the slightest evidence nor any possibility in reality. I always believed that she enjoyed the idea of catching someone in the act of sinning. However, if she was the Magus who cast that faint spell, then she was the one sinning, which made her a hypocrite. Like Olivia, Anna wore a long, thick coat that covered her from neck to ankle, though it didn’t have fur. Her shoes had pointed toes, probably so she could do real damage when she kicked someone, and a bright red scarf covered her neck. Even the festive color of the scarf couldn’t reduce the anger Anna projected.

Whoever cast the spell expected me to go with Anna, as she commanded. If I didn’t want the Magus to figure out that I was one too, then I had to comply. I stood up and thanked the Sergeant for answering my questions. He nodded and rapped his fingers on the folder in a meaningful way. Maybe Anna’s intrusion had worked to my benefit and Rawlings decided to get me a copy even though it could cost him his job. The idea certainly lowered the possibility that he was the Magus. Having a copy of the report would be good. With that thought, I turned to follow the women out of the office.

Anna pushed past Olivia, who looked up at me with an excited smile before following Anna. I followed both of them. We went out the exit next to the Sergeant’s office. Anna led us along the building to a silver Lincoln Town car. A man stood next to the car. He wasn’t wearing a chauffer’s outfit, but he might as well have had a sign over his head that marked him as such. He walked to the back door of the car and pulled it open. Anna stopped next to the open car door, turned to face me, and pointed at the open door. “Get in.”

I smiled and shook my head. “Thanks for the ride, but I have a car.”

Her head twisted in that way that said she was getting angry but trying to hide it. “Get in the car,” she said in an even, controlled tone.

Since we were behind the police station, there wasn’t anyone else around to draw the attention of, should I make a scene. Instead, I shook my head in disbelief and climbed into the car.

The Lincoln may have been roomy, but it didn’t have the space the limo had. Anna climbed in behind me, but before I could slide over to sit next to the other door, it opened and Olivia climbed in that way. Great! Squashed between the two of them. Sour on one side and something ... odd on the other. If it were anyone else, even my mom and sister, I wouldn’t have been so uncomfortable, but not these two.

The driver closed Anna’s door while Olivia closed her own. Yes, I was squished. I was accustomed to getting close to my girls. Emma had the most meat on her, but then she stands five-foot-eleven. Most of the rest have average or slim builds, meaning that any two of my girls would have left me enough room to move around a little in the Lincoln. Not Anna and Olivia. Both women were wide of hip, wider than the hips of any of my girls. Both women had full hourglass figures, which would have been interesting to explore, especially since they each had rather large busts for their size, but the sneer on Anna’s face and the knowledge that Olivia never did anything without Anna would make even the most amorous men limp.

I sat with my shoulders hunched. I couldn’t be comfortable between them, and I wasn’t going to make any effort to offer comfort to either of them.

The car backed out of the parking space and maneuvered out to the street.

“I heard you were back in town causing trouble, Mr. Connors,” said Anna.

I frowned. When in trouble, even alleged trouble, it’s always better to remain silent, to keep from giving your accusers more ammo. I held my silence.

“You caused a ruckus at Shirley’s and then blew up a man’s truck at the Corner Market,” she said. “I simply will not tolerate this sort of behavior in my town.”

Interesting. I didn’t know this town belonged to her.

“I don’t know why you’re here, Mr. Connors, but I would highly suggest you either stay at your house or leave town.”

Well, at least she wasn’t suggesting anything that I didn’t expect. The accusation, however, forced me to ask, “What ruckus at Shirley’s?” I couldn’t turn to see her face proper, so I didn’t try. I felt like I was talking to the driver rather than her.

“What ruckus?” she said, a touch of outrage in her voice. “You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

I shook my head. “Nope. You’re going to have to spell it out.”

“You went in there and used the dressing rooms,” she said in almost a whisper, as if she had difficulty bringing herself to say it at all.

I blinked and thought about that. “When you go to buy new clothes, don’t you try them on to make sure they fit?”