Thorn to Die

The Reaper sped across the shore, straight toward the canoe and its merry campers. Three shrill screams lit up the night. A loud splash announced their evacuation of the boat. Grammy cackled as the campers scrambled back into their boat, their oars flying.

In another minute, they’d be gone, no doubt, to tell the other campers of their horrifying encounter. I smiled and shook my head, wondering what they’d say.

“You’re evil,” I said with a splash of my hand.

She grinned and splashed me back. “Not evil. Just a witch.”

Chapter 14

The next morning, I’d barely had enough time to toss my hair up into a messy bun before a commotion downstairs drew me from my trundle bed on the floor next to a snoozing Momma Tula. Kat stretched his little legs and followed, no doubt thinking I was on my way for breakfast.

I paused at the top of the stairs. Two men in police uniforms were standing at the bottom. They had their backs turned to me and Grammy Jo stood next to them, holding a piece of paper in her hands.

“What’s going on?” I hurried down the stairs, nearly tripping over Kat as he tried to get in front of me. “What’s this about?” Ian was at the front door. He got a look at me in my skimpy pajama shorts and tank top and immediately turned away, as if he’d walked in on me naked. I marched right up to him and poked him in his chest. “What are you doing?”

“Serving a search warrant.” His eyes were glued to Kat roaming the floorboards. “Judge Nowak granted it this morning. This’ll only take a few minutes.”

“A search warrant?” Maybe I wasn’t awake enough, but confusion clouded my head. “What about the letter I gave you last night? Why aren’t you going after Angie Pine?”

This really was a witch hunt. He couldn’t just ignore that evidence and come after Grammy Jo. I wouldn’t let him.

This time he looked straight at me, his jaw muscles working. “I talked to Ms. Pine. She has a solid alibi for Allen White’s time of death. She was with a customer all morning, putting together a custom order for a funeral. It wasn’t her.”

“Okay, so if it’s not her, it’s definitely Andy Jenkings. He told me he was glad Allen was dead.”

“People say a lot of things.” He sighed and rubbed a hand over his short blond hair. “That doesn’t mean they’re killers. I don’t think Grammy Jo meant to hurt anyone, but I have to follow this through.”

I pointed outside. “Yeah, well you can follow this right out the front door.”

“I’ve got a warrant to search the premises. You can’t kick me out.”

I wanted to kick him right where it hurt, but stomped my bare foot on the floor instead. Kat squealed and ran for cover, making me regret my outburst.

“Hazy, this is just protocol.” He placed a hand on my bare shoulder, my skin burning under his touch. “We probably won’t find anything, but the lab just sent us a report this morning. Ricin was used to kill Mr. White. We have to make sure there’s nothing here.”

Ricin? Wasn’t that the kind of thing creepy anarchists made in their off-the-grid shacks and mailed to government officials they didn’t like? We didn’t have any of that stuff here. The thought made me relax a bit.

“See?” Ian must’ve seen the tension fall from my shoulders. “It’ll be okay. We’ll be gone before you know it.”

My aunts were bustling around in the back of the house, making snide remarks to the officers doing the search. Grammy Jo had migrated to the garden, her gloves and hat on. She’d spent many a stressful time in that garden. The day that Momma Tula had announced we were moving to Arizona with her boyfriend, Grammy spent eighteen hours weeding and hedging. It was her happy place, she’d tell me.

Raven stumbled down the stairs, her beautiful glossy black hair nearly covering her tired face. Blythe followed, curlers in her hair. She froze when she caught sight of Ian. “What’s going on?”

“These officers,” the words came out in a hiss, “are serving a warrant on our home. But they’re not going to find anything.”

Ian licked his lips, but didn’t open his mouth to say anything.

“Officers? There are more of them here?” Blythe jumped up the stairs. “I can’t be seen like this.”

“Oh, get a grip,” Raven grumbled. “They’re not here to see you.”

The two of them threw disgruntled looks back and forth as I awkwardly stood next to Ian. My cousins didn’t see eye to eye on most things; boys included.

“Larson!” An officer called from behind the house. “You might want to come and see this.”

Ian and I made brief eye contact before we both jogged for the back door, trailed by my cousins and aunts. Outside, two officers were standing next to a large potted plant. It

stretched nearly as high as my head, with large green glossy leaves and round flowering heads that resembled thistles.