Touch & Geaux (Cut & Run 7)

“A big bad magnet.”

Digger snorted. “That’s where the teeth come in.”

Ty held one up and looked at it critically. “Gator teeth?”

Digger nodded. “They look it. They good luck, though.”

“Not for the gator we ate last night,” Nick said.

Digger waved him off.

“They are good luck,” Ty said.

“But gris-gris bags are only supposed to have one,” Digger told them. “And they’re supposed to have an odd number of ingredients. So throwing in an extra tooth to make it even, I’m assuming, is bad.”

“Or whoever put it together just tossed some things in,” Zane suggested. “And then planted it to scare us.”

Ty nodded and lowered the tooth.

“The fact they planted it at all scares me,” Digger added. He looked at Nick critically. “You didn’t hear ’em? See ’em?”

“I . . . I may have climbed a building last night. I don’t remember a lot.”

“We think they came in as housekeeping. I heard them from the shower but didn’t think anything of it.”

“Makes sense,” Digger said. “We had a f**kton of fresh towels in our room when we got back. Then we had someone knock again trying to clean the room.”

Nick frowned. “If that’s the case, whoever it was went to all our rooms, hunting for Ty. That’s a lot of trouble to go to for a scare.”

Ty bit his lip, wondering if he should even be pondering this while the cold buzz was still running through his system. He looked up and winced. “It wasn’t meant to scare us because it was too well hidden. A tiny bag behind your mattress can only scare you if you know it’s there. If I hadn’t woke up like I did, we never would have looked for it, we never would have found it.”

“A fair point,” Zane said. “I may not believe in this, but I do believe in you. If you say we should take it seriously, then we will.”

“I think we should,” Ty said. “I mean, shit, if this can shake loose a kidney stone, I don’t want to see what else this guy knows how to do.”

Zane laughed and scooted his chair a little closer so he could lean sideways against the bed. “First Edgar Allan Poe, now voodoo. Great.”

“I’m never inviting you two to a party again,” Nick grumbled.

“You and your goddamn coconuts,” Digger added. He shifted on the edge of Ty’s bed, jostling him and making a full-body shiver run through Ty.

“Did you call that detective from last night?” Ty asked as he continued to push around the little bit of moss.

“No, why?”

“Girl dies with a gris-gris bag in her hand. Next morning . . .”

Zane hesitated, sharing a glance with Nick. “You want to call the police and report this?”

“Maybe you two can sniff around. See if it’s connected. But you can’t bring me into it.”

“They’ll boot us out as soon as we show our creds,” Nick argued. “They were already all over us just for being there last night.”

“Can you try?” Ty asked.

Nick sighed loudly and looked away.

Ty carefully put everything back into the bag. He picked up the roll of parchment and pulled it apart, cold settling in him when he saw “Tyler Beaumont” written in beautiful calligraphy.

“Wait, is that like the paper Garrett took a picture of?” Nick asked, sounding shocked.

Ty nodded.

Zane craned his neck to look at the parchment. His face clouded over. “Yeah, okay, that’s enough connection for me,” he admitted. “Was that your alias while you were here?”

Ty nodded, rolling the parchment up as it had been.

“If that’s bat’s blood ink, you’re f**ked,” Digger drawled with all seriousness.

Ty shot him a glare, careful to leave out the roll of parchment and one of the alligator teeth as he put the bag back together. It wouldn’t make it a good luck charm, but it would lose most of its power. In theory.

He cleared his throat uncomfortably. He wasn’t ashamed of the fact that he put stock in this, but he still felt a little silly.

Ty pushed the bag away and began plucking at the fingertips of his gloves. His fingers trembled and he couldn’t seem to grab the purple glove to get it off.

Zane reached out to still his hands and took over peeling them off.

“We could just go home,” Ty said. “But now I’m hexed. It’ll just follow.”

“Ty, you’re not hexed,” Nick said.

“Disagreed,” Digger grunted.

Zane sighed. “We can’t go home. One, you’re in the hospital with a kidney stone. Two, there is a murderer out there and we have possible evidence in the case, and I don’t think any of us could just walk away with a clear conscience. And three, you really believe in that gris-gris stuff, so there’s no point in trying to run. Every little paper cut and stubbed toe you get will be the bag’s fault until we fix this.” Zane dropped the gloves onto the table and then pushed it out from between them and away, keeping Ty’s hand in his.

Ty relaxed back into the bed, holding Zane’s hand. He watched him in open admiration. Not many people would so easily accept that he was cursed after one little trip to the ER and because he said so. He was, but not many people would believe him. Or pretend to believe him. Except Digger, but f**k, Digger was certifiable so that didn’t make Ty feel better.

“Thanks, Zane,” he whispered.

Zane pulled Ty’s hand to his lips and kissed his knuckles.

“Ugh, gross,” Digger said with a laugh.

“And we’re leaving,” Nick added. They headed for the door, but Ty knew they wouldn’t go far. They could smell trouble just like he could. The door closed and Ty returned his gaze to Zane.

“I hate seeing you like this,” Zane whispered.

Ty laughed. Hard. He was folded up in a rolling hospital bed with an IV in his arm and a catheter in a less pleasant place, wearing hospital-issue socks with little rubber paws on the bottoms and a gown that didn’t close all the way in the back. And Zane hated seeing him like this?

“I hope so!” he said. He covered his mouth to stop the snickering, but his eyes watered as he watched Zane. His partner did offer him a weak smile, but he wasn’t hiding the worry in his eyes.

“Oh come on, Zane!” Ty said as he squeezed his hand. “Enjoy it while my meds last.”

“I’m not enjoying anything until you’re healthy and out of here.”