Authors: Maggie Toussaint
“Duke?” I hollered. “If you want these snakes, you’d better come get ’em. I don’t want to kill them. But I will. I’ll kill every last one of them if I have to. Come get ’em, and we’ll call it good. No harm, no foul.”
Duke didn’t materialize. Figured. A man made this mess and now he’d run off to leave me in cleanup mode. When I opened the passenger side door, I was just in time to see the tail end of a snake edge out the other door.
The snakes didn’t want to be in my truck. That was good news.
I scanned the woods one more time, stomping on the ground to make noise. “Last chance, Duke.” A snake slithered out of the truck going God only knows where. “If you put more than two snakes in the truck, they are still in there, but they won’t be for much longer.”
Tucking the gun in my waistband, I grabbed up a shovel and picked up the dead snake. The head fell off the shovel onto the rubber floor mat. Gross. Nothing about this operation was going smoothly. I flung the dead snake into the woods, stomping my feet as I walked, thankful I had worn thick boots instead of sandals or sneakers. I didn’t want to get rattlesnake bit, but from what I knew of snakes, they wanted to be left alone. If I made enough noise, they’d go the other way.
“You owe me a tire, Duke Quigley. Don’t think I won’t come after you.” That was nerves talking. I had no intention of going after anyone, much less snake-loving Duke Quigley. I wanted to stay far away from anyone that handled snakes.
Grimacing, I shoveled the snake head from my floor mat and tossed it into the woods. With all my yelling and stomping, I must have scared any other snakes away. Even with a flashlight, I couldn’t find any more of them under the seat or behind the seat.
I closed up the truck, locked it, and went back inside my house. The dogs sniffed me like I was coated in peanut butter, but I shooed them away. I needed hot tea to settle my nerves and time to think. I placed the Glock on the counter as I made tea.
First of all, was it Duke Quigley who’d put the snakes in my truck? I could find out easily enough. I phoned Bubba Paxton, preacher of the church that used rattlesnakes in their worship service. Bubba answered on the first ring.
No point wasting time on small talk. “Your snakes missing?”
“Good morning to you, madam dreamwalker. I heard about your news already.”
My blood iced. He knew about the snakes? “You know?”
“Sure I know. It’s all over town that you bear the prophetic sign. I can’t tell you how much I envy you. I wanted to be the one with the shock of white hair. Being the town’s chief dream-walker would have put me on easy street.”
I didn’t consider my ghastly hair color to be good news, but everything was relative. “I didn’t call about that. I just found two fat rattlesnakes in my truck. Besides the ones living in the wild, yours are the only captive rattlers I know about. Are your snakes missing?”
“I’m over at the church right now, but we don’t keep the snakes here. I’ll call you back in a few.”
The call ended, and I sipped my hot tea. The steam curled up from the mug into my nostrils. My icy hands clung to the warmth, but the heated beverage was no match for the chill in my bones.
Bubba Paxton called back a few minutes later. “My snakes are gone. You still got them in your truck? I’ll come right over and get ’em.”
“Nope. I shot one, and I saw one escape. I don’t know if there were others. My truck is now snake-free. How many are there?”
“Four. Did you see four snakes?”
“I only saw two. But that was enough. Bubba, you know what this means.”
“Sure do. It means I’ve got no snakes for Sunday’s service.”
God, save me from obtuse men.
I closed my eyes to keep the hot tears inside. “Wrong answer. Your snake handler tried to murder me.”
The sheriff was pissed I’d flung the evidence into the woods. His deputies located the snake head, but the rest of the body was gone. One of our eagle-eyed hawks must have feasted on the gourmet treat.
Wayne jotted down my summation of events. “Duke Quigley threatened you?”
I hugged my arms to my chest as Virg and Ronnie changed my tire. “He blames me for Carolina Byrd not paying us our final installments. The murder investigation stopped all activity on the lot.”
“You sure you didn’t piss him off some other way? That sounds kinda weak to me.”
“I don’t give a hoot what his motivation was. If one of those snakes had nailed me, you’d have another corpse on your hands.”
“I’m sure Duke would’ve called EMS if he played this trick on you.”
“Why are you so quick to defend him? He tried to kill me.”
“You piss people off. He made a mistake. That’s all.”
“That was no mistake.” Wayne thought this was my fault? My spine stiffened. “If you don’t treat it seriously, I’ll be forced to divulge other matters.”
His expression tightened. “What other matters are you talking about?”
“Things I know.”
“You threatening me?”
I didn’t care for the menace in his voice, but I wasn’t backing down. “I am. I’ve got a kid. If I’d driven her down to the bus stop this morning, she would have gotten rattlesnake bit. That first snake crawled out from under the passenger seat. This is a big deal.”
“I’m eaten up with big deals right now. The state archaeologist thinks we’re a hotbed of crime and rednecks. All this press and media attention confirms her suspicions. Looks like Bo Seavey will be lucky to ever work again. I’ve got Native Americans coming out the wazoo, and the remains of four people in our morgue. Now you’re playing Annie Oakley in your truck.”
“Just because there’s no body here, you can’t dismiss this incident. This was a pointed attack on me. This was personal. Duke Quigley came over here and threatened me with snakes. I’m telling you, he’s the guy.”
“You got any witnesses to back up these accusations?”
“No. But I swear they’re true. Duke threatened me. Like this.” I made a snake hand the way Duke had and lunged toward Wayne’s face with a hissing noise. He batted my hand away.
“It’s your word against his,” he stated.
“My word is good, and you know it. Plus I’ve got that snake head to show intent. Putting rattlesnakes in someone’s vehicle isn’t a kid’s prank. It’s a lethal threat. That’s not all. Bubba Paxton’s church snakes are missing.”
Wayne appeared to consider my words. “Dairy Queen lost his job over events that were out of his control. He had too much to drink, and he made a mistake.”
He sounded so sure he had it all figured out, sure that one of his drinking buds had messed up a little bit. That really stuck in my craw. “How can you take his side so readily? Don’t you believe me? I thought you liked me.”
“I want to sleep with you. That doesn’t mean my brain’s stopped working.”
“Depends on your point of view,” I mumbled under my breath. “Are you going to arrest him?”
“I’m going to question him.”
“That’s not enough.”
“You think you’re the sheriff now?”
“I don’t want your job. I want to know I won’t be murdered for driving my truck. I want to know I don’t have to check under my seats with a gun and a flashlight every time I drive somewhere.”
“You’ve made your point.”
“You’re wrong, Sheriff. You’ve got a murderer right under your nose, and your good old boy self can’t even see it. Gail is right. Sinclair County is a hotbed of murder and rednecks.”
Angel came to me in my dreams that night in her tousled sex-kitten guise. I waited through her tears. Indeed, I understood the soul-deep wrenching loss that drove her to weep. I’d suffered great loss, too.
When she paused for breath, I interrupted. “Who did this to you?”
She shook her head in a fresh flurry of sobs.
“Please,” I implored. “Tell me who caused your pain. I want to help you.”
“I will lose everything.”
I don’t know if it was the snake episode or the sheriff’s disbelief, but I’d had it with her deliberate evasions. “You already lost your life. Your baby, too. What else do you have to lose?”
“My baby,” she wailed.
I mentally kicked myself to the marsh and back for mentioning her child. Larissa was my Achilles’ heel, too. If something happened to her, I would be inconsolable. I would haunt the dreams of anyone I could reach, seeking justice for my family.
“Angel, where is your baby right now?”
She said a word, but it was unlike any word I’d ever heard. I had her spell it for me to make sure I had it right. Waking, I wrote the letters down and stared at the odd word.
Wetumpka.
Her baby was in Wetumpka.
Whatever the heck that was.
After Larissa climbed aboard the school bus, I hurried home with my leashed dogs. I’d debated carrying the Glock to the bus stop but decided against it. No point in making my daughter afraid of her own shadow. I was scared enough for the both of us.
Back inside the house, I bolted the door and tidied up the kitchen. Another mild January day beckoned, but I was reluctant to face it. I brewed a pot of tea and was selecting a cup when someone beat on the back door.
My gaze went to the gun drawer as the dogs barked. The knob rattled, and the person pounded harder on the door. Precious and Muffin danced around the back door. My heart raced. Was Duke Quigley back with more rattlesnakes? Was a murderer at my door? I fumbled for the gun.
“Baxley? You in there?” Verbena Harris said.
Relief whooshed out of my lungs. I’d known this woman all my life. She was seven years older than me, and I’d always coveted her innate sense of style. I left the gun in the drawer. “Coming.”
What did the owner of the Clip ’N Curl salon want with me? I wasn’t one of her customers. Maybe she’d heard about my hair disaster. With that thought in mind, I shushed the dogs and opened the door. “Hey, Verbena. What brings you out my way this morning?”
“I’ve got a request for you. A dreamwalker request.” Hope brimmed in her warm brown eyes. But when Precious edged forward to sniff our visitor, Verbena retreated, her hand going to her heart. “Can you shut your dogs up? I’m scared of them.”
A childhood memory surfaced of her baby brother getting mauled by a pit bull. I winced. “Sure. Give me a minute.” I herded Precious and Muffin into the downstairs bathroom and hurried back to the door. “Come on in.”
Even in her two-inch heels, the top of Verbena’s forehead still hit me at eye level. Mounds of tiered curls of soft acorn brown framed her round face, bringing her total height close to mine. In her curve-hugging pistachio green blouse, walnut-hued slacks, and tasteful makeup, she looked every inch a fashion plate.
“Would you like a cup of tea?” I gestured toward the table, feeling underdressed in my jeans and pink sweatshirt. “I was in the process of pouring a cup when you knocked.”
“Okay.” She clutched at her small purse, her eyes scanning the old-fashioned cabinets, the dull linoleum floor. “Tea like your mama makes, right?”
I nodded, glad I’d tidied the breakfast dishes already. “Please, have a seat.”
“This is some place you got here.” Appreciation rang in Verbena’s tone.
I carried the mugs over to the table. “I keep thinking I’ll find the time and money to fix it up, but I haven’t been able to swing it yet.”
“Your granny done right by you, same as mine done by me. I wouldn’t have my shop without Granny Lakeisa. You got yourself a nice house from your granny. Bought and paid for, too. And your roof don’t leak. When I worked at Terrell’s, the roof leaked right over my station. I hated working there.”
Was this a dreamwalking request? My insides pinged with anticipation. “What can I do for you?”
“I got a message to send. Tell Granny Lakeisa that the shop is making money.”
I nodded. “I’ll get with Daddy, and we’ll take the message to her.”
“You don’t need your Daddy for this.” She waved her peach-colored nails in my direction. “Goodness sakes, you are a chip off the old block. That hank of white hair proves it.”
My hand went self-consciously to my rogue hair. “Even so, I am brand new at this. I may not get the result you want.”
Verbena wrinkled her broad nose. “Yeah, yeah. Can you do it now? I’d sure rest easier if my granny knew right away.”
I chewed my bottom lip, considering. The smart thing to do would be to bank the request and attempt it later with Daddy. Except I wanted to accommodate Verbena, and dreamwalking had been a snap with Running Wolf.
I could do this. “I don’t know how long it will take.”
“I’ve got time. My customers can wait this morning. I can’t do hair today unless Granny Lakeisa knows I’ve done my part.”
The timing of her request suited my empty schedule. “I can’t promise I can find her.”
“Tab used to say stuff like that when I sent messages to her after she passed. You’ll find her. You got the hair for the job.”
“All right, then. I’ll try it.” I pushed my mug out of the way and interlaced my fingers. I closed my eyes, steadied my breathing, and entered the dreamscape. As with Running Wolf, the transition seemed so easy. I hugged the knowledge close, remembering this portal and set off through a sea of spirits.
One spirit intercepted me with a friendly smile. He walked with a swagger in expensive-looking black trousers, turquoise silk shirt, and matching turquoise fedora with a bright red band. “I haven’t seen you around here before. My name’s Joe.”
The gold chain glistened around his neck, a bright contrast to his dark skin. I knew enough not to talk to strangers. I stepped around him and kept going.
“You looking for someone? I can help.” Joe kept pace with me.
“No, thanks.” I pushed on alone. For the first time, I grasped the enormity of the spirit world. It stretched farther than the eye could see. I could spend the rest of my life wandering around in here and never see it all.
I assumed that I would appear in the spirit world near Granny Lakeisa. But as I passed through entire assemblages of spirits, none of them looked familiar. Maybe I should wait for Daddy. I had no idea how long I’d been out here, but Verbena was waiting.
I thought of the location I’d entered and navigated back to that spot. Just before I departed, Joe approached me again. “Have any luck?” He had an expectant smile on his face.