Chapter 44 — Married?

  As we entered, I heard a few voices out of view and by the register. That by itself wasn’t abnormal, but they sounded different from normal shop patrons, more gruff, clipped and low. I took a few steps in until I could see the counter. Two men were questioning Kate, and she looked uncomfortable. Her shoulders were hunched, and she stood behind the register like it was her last bulwark against them. Her knees were bent, making her appear smaller and on the verge of running.

  The shorter of the men had circled to the side of the register countertop, and had one hand on the countertop, the other on his hip. It looked like a relaxed posture but given his stance behind the counter, it wasn’t. He was speaking aggressively to Kate, his back to me. Seeing it all in the split second after opening the door made my ire rise. There was no good reason for someone to be cornering Kate in like that.

  “Hello gentlemen,” I interjected loudly. Kate gave Lana and I a quick glance, a soft exhalation of held breath showed me her relief. “Can I help you?” I said, rudely stepping well into the comfort zone of the one closest to her. He turned to look me up and down, eyes narrowing in what I took for recognition, but I couldn’t place him from my past. He took a step sideways back from me and the side of the counter to a more reasonable place for a customer to stand. As he moved next to the other, the taller of the two, I saw the way his shirt and jacket moved and assumed he had a firearm of some sort concealed under his stiff jacket.

  “Yeah, we just have a few questions,” The man said, flipping a legal looking badge open, then slapping it closed again before I could read it.

  “I didn’t really catch the department on your badge, can I see it again?”

  “Not to worry. You’re not in trouble or anything,” he said, not proffering me the badge again. “I understand you had a break in the other day and we had a few questions about it.”

  “And who are you?” I asked, trying to remain civil.

  “James Colt, and this is my partner, Seth Colt,” the shorter and more dominant of the two said. His stance, posture and confidence reminded me of those with a military baring, like Rex at home in his dojo. The taller of the pair was lankier and more ungainly compared to the first, but they both had strong arms and looked like they knew how to throw down.

  Kate took a few more steps back to be closer to Lana and me. I could see the muscles near her shoulders and neck were strained and tense, her face flushed. It pissed me off.

  “Same last name,” I said, stepping forward again. “Married?” I raised my hands defensively as their demeanors changed. “I’m not one to judge.”

  “—Were brothers, not that kind of partner,” the shorter one said, his face growing flushed. I’d irritated him which he more than deserved.

  “Brothers in the same legal department, working together? Care to elaborate, that seems a little odd and with the way you were treating my friend you better have a damn good reason for being here?” I felt like shit. I knew my face, neck, and arms were bruised and scraped. My clothes were torn and bloody. But my voice as I said those words carried all the threat, frustration, and anger I was storing up inside. I was about an inch taller than the tallest Colt brother and wasn’t in any kind of mood to banter. They got the picture.

  “FBI,” Seth the lanky one said.

  “I know some people at the FBI, what department?” Lana asked, in a tone that might be considered helpful, if you didn’t know her. “Maybe you know them?”

  James and Seth both looked at each other for a moment, then James lost his cool, “Look. We know you’re involved in the disappearances and missing persons in the woods. People have died, and we’re not the ones on trial here, you are.”

  Kate took another few steps back as James raised his tone. I took another step forward and adjusted my stance, ready for a fight if it came to that. Lana inched up next to me and, unknown to the other two, was the greater physical threat. I was beginning to get an idea of who these two might be, and they weren’t FBI. I looked out the front of the store and saw a black mustang parked just in view of the window.

  “Nobody’s on trial here, but you two,” I said. “The real FBI and the police cleared me. You can both leave now and never come back, or we’re going to have problems.” I wanted to take my frustrations out on them, but Lana and Kate could be hurt. They had firearms, though Lana probably did too, and I bet she was a quicker draw after seeing her last night.

  James held up his hands defensively, but his actions didn’t match his accusatory tone, “You were there when the attack happened at the Sugar Loaf Inn, you had an attack here yesterday, and an attack at a home a mile from here last night. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to put those pieces together.” He thrust out his chest like each word gave him a religious right to be in my shop. He knew how to fight as I saw him set his own feet. By the shape of his nose, he’d been in a few before. His brother looked to be the more reasonable and less hot headed of the pair. He stepped back towards the door, putting an arm on his brother’s shoulder to calm him down.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  “We don’t know anything for sure,” Seth, the tall one said, if that was even their real names. “There is time to figure it all out.”

  “Like hell there is. People are dying,” James barked.

  “Look, we honestly came for information,” Seth said to me. “We’ll go now.”

  “Like hell you will. Impersonating the FBI is a federal offence. I also saw your car casing the house this morning. You’re staying right here.”

  “Let’s all settle down,” Seth said. “Things are getting far too heated. We’re all good people here.”

  “That’s not certain,” James growled, his knuckles popping as he tightened his fists. I began preparing a spell that would shatter the man’s arm bones if he tried to punch me.

  “We were at the house,” Seth said, “because we’re tracking the murders. You’re right, we’re not FBI, just private investigators. We were only joking around.”

  “Joking at jail time,” I said, holding my ground.

  Everyone paused as Seth’s phone began vibrating loudly in his pocket.

  “Do you mind if I answer this?”

  “Go ahead, we have calls to make too,” I said, but I didn’t have a phone, Lana’s was still bricked, and Kate had probably left hers in her car.

  Seth answered the call and held it up to his ear as we all paused, the store falling to an unnatural quiet. His face fell. “What time did it happen?”

  A pause.

  “Are you sure?”

  Another pause.

  “Thanks for calling. You stopped James from doing something stupid,” Seth said, then closed his phone, letting out a large breath. “It’s not them.”

  James grit his teeth, grimaced, then stepped back a few steps, his aggressive posture diminishing.

  “What was that?” I said, “You came in real hot to give up now, what changed?”

  “More murders,” Seth said. “Last night, while you were with the police and FBI agents.”

  I growled at how much information they had beyond us but was glad the strange set of events had cleared our names in their eyes and hopefully would the FBI and police departments as well. “How bad,” I asked, knowing the answer.

  “Bad. At least twelve dead.” Seth said.

  “Shit,” James and I said at the same time. I looked at him irritated and saw he was doing the same.

  Without warning, the two men turned and began to leave in a hurry.

  “Hey—wait. You’re not going to leave after the crap you just pulled, were getting the police,” I said. At that both the men ran towards the door. Lana somehow conjured up her gun again, but by the time she did they were out the door and onto the main road.

  “Who was that?” Lana asked.

  “I have no idea,” I said, since Kate was present. But as I passed Lana to grab her staying over bag she’d left by the back door amidst the commotion I whispered, “Seekers.”

  Her eyes grew and she nodded, now understanding.

  “Whoever they were, I hope they don’t come again,” Kate said, visibly shaken. Her voice cracked as the adrenaline and fear keeping her upright waned.

  “I’m sorry Kate, do you need a moment—or to take the day off?”

  “I just need a minute. Nothing happened, they were just mean, and I was here alone… it… it made me worried. I’m so glad you arrived when you did.”

  “We’re going to have to change some things around here.” I said, “Get a phone, maybe cameras.” At Kate’s nod I added that we also might have to try a credit card reader. “We’ll have to see if the electrical of the building fries them, but with everything that’s happened the past few days, there’s no way around it.”

  Kate seemed relieved by the prospect. It made me angry. She was like my little sister and had lived a relatively sheltered life which made her seem even younger. I suspected the Colt brothers, if that was their real names, of being part of the order of the Grim brotherhood. After their actions and the story from Chris with the FBI, I now believed that every bad thing I’d heard about the group was true.

  I raced through my options for making the shop safer for Kate. I could move the shop or move my home. Or… work my butt off to shield the shop and separate it from my room and the basement ‘magically’ so that they were more protected and the powers I sued shielded to protect electronics in the shop. I knew Kate wasn’t alone, Fren was here and if anything turned south he would have immediately gotten involved. However, that might freak Kate out even more if it happened suddenly. I needed to learn more control since I wasn’t just living my life alone now. I had a business and… a relationship. We hadn’t really defined what we were. Friends, certainly, but also more—if last night’s conversation was anything to go by.

  “I’m… Well, we’re going to be downstairs. Let’s lock up the shop, give you whatever time you need to recoup, with how crazy it’s been we could even close today if we need. Monday’s not generally a busy day.”

  “No. I’m fine, but I’ll step out and get something to eat, to settle my nerves. I’ll go to Sarah’s,” Kate said with a determined nod. “Do you think those two were the men who tried robbing the store?”

  “Perhaps,” I said, Kate’s comment sparking some interesting ideas. “They were about that height. Maybe we should call it in. Get the police to investigate. They were driving an old black mustang. That’s gotta be easy to identify and track down.”

  I doubted it would be enough to drive them out of the area, and they were likely trying to help, but I didn’t want them to hurt us or someone else who couldn’t defend themselves in a misguided attempt at justice. I was sure they had weapons in their car and any search would cause a headache if nothing else. “Do you mind calling it in, I don’t have a phone as you well know, and Lana’s died the other day.”

  “Fell to the ‘Earths bounty’ curse huh?” Kate asked with a knowing smile.

  “Yeah, it was the weirdest thing,” Lana agreed. “It was working fine. Then I spent a little time over here and now its completely dead.”

  “I swear they are going to find out that the cell towers or something converge on this street and we’re all being cooked by microwaves or something,” Kate said, only half joking. I was glad she was feeling safe, and back to herself enough to do it.

  The opposite was actually true, at least since Fren was here. Living near him would extend life and be rejuvenating for the body. It was in a more indirect way than his healings, but anyone in here for long would feel better and would heal faster with the curated life mana all around. Kate had benefited and it was probably one of the reasons she liked this place. Most people would be instinctively drawn to it. Life, earth, and light energy gathered in the shop because of Fren. Those same powers fueled his magical reserves and fed his power.

  “I think I’ll go on a drive to clear my head, but I’ll make the call. Be back in a bit,” Kate said, stepping out the back. I watched at the door until she got into her car, started it, and began backing out, I waved and closed and locked the back door.