“Liz,” Aiden said, “I take it the talk with Monty didn’t achieve the desired results.”

“How’d you guess?”

“Monty made a comment along the lines of you and Belle being worrywarts. I informed him you had good reason, and that he was better off to listen than not.”

“And his reaction?”

“I suspect he thinks I’m defending you because I’m sweet on you.”

I snorted softly. “Just shows how little he knows either of us.”

“Indeed. We’re about five minutes away from packing up—do you need something?”

“Yeah—that charm I made for you. I want to add another spell to it that’ll hopefully protect you from the soucouyant and fire, the latter if only briefly.”

“Briefly might just save my life.” His voice was somber. “I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.”

He was there in eighteen. I locked the door behind him and then said, “How’d things go up at the farmhouse?”

He grimaced. “As well as can be expected. But the council will probably have to release a statement tomorrow—we’ve too many kills now for them to expect the press to sit on it.”

“Not to mention the efforts of the gossip brigade.”

“Yeah.” He pulled out a chair at our usual table and sat down. “The council is also unhappy about the prospect of replacing so many vehicles.”

“That suggests you’ve already talked to them.”

“The weekly council meeting is on tonight and I’m usually there to make a report. When I didn’t show up, they rang me—and that’s when I mentioned the two trucks and the car.”

I moved behind the counter to make him a coffee. “The soucouyant might have destroyed your truck, but Ashworth’s didn’t look that damaged. And what car?”

He raised his eyebrow. “Have you forgotten you’re currently without a vehicle?”

“Well no, but why would they replace ours?”

“Because you were in pursuit of the soucouyant on our behalf at the time, and that makes it their responsibility. Besides, it’s the least they can do, given how much help you’ve been to this reservation.”

“Well, I can’t say that it wouldn’t be appreciated. We do have insurance, but the car was so old, we won’t get much in the way of replacement value.” I dragged out a mug and tossed some instant coffee into it. “And Ashworth’s truck?”

“The whole undercarriage and all the wiring was basically burned out by the blast of heat. It’d be more cost-effective for the council to replace it than try and repair it.”

“I can’t see Ashworth arguing about that.”

“Then you’d be wrong. He apparently has a soft spot for the truck—he rebuilt it with his brother.”

Which totally explained his surge of anger when he’d heard it had been overturned. “So what’s going to happen?”

“The council will probably replace it. If the insurance company decides to wreck it—as we suspect they will—then Ashworth will buy it back and start the repair process.”

“Huh.” I made his coffee, then plated up several pieces of brownie and carried them over. I exchanged them for his charm and then said, “This will take about half an hour—can you wait? I don’t want you going home without it.”

You could ask him to stay the night, Belle said. We can bend the “no booty call in the home” rule this once.

And if I do, I’ll be forever plagued by memories of his presence in my bed when we break up.

Ah, she said. Good point.

“If it’s going to save my life,” Aiden was saying, “then I have all the time in the world.”

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