It Never Rhines but It Pours (31 page)

“She’s lost it!” she yelled to Sarah, and slapped me across the face. “Snap out of it, Piper!”

I caught her arm as she started another slap. “I haven’t lost it,” I sputtered, rubbing my cheek. “I just know who kidnapped the girls.”

Chapter Thirty-one:

Never Trust a Witch

Sarah and Cecily stared at me, jaws dropped. “Who?” they said together.

I felt a moment of doubt. Was I wrong? Maybe I should walk them through my thought process instead of just blurting out a name. See if they reached the same conclusion. Then I’d know I hadn’t gone crazy.

“We’ve based all our thinking on one fact,” I said. “At least, we thought it was a fact. But what if it wasn’t? What if we had it wrong? It changes everything!”

“Piper,” Sarah said firmly, “if you don’t start making more sense, I’m going to clobber you!”

“We assumed that the Human Lie Detector Boy actually had a supernatural ability,” I explained.

“But, he did!” Sarah protested, “He told us …” her eyes got huge.

“He told us that Pravus was innocent,” I finished.

Cecily’s eyes flashed black and furious, “But if Pravus is guilty …”

“Then it all makes sense,” I said. “We couldn’t find the real killer, because we had already found the real killer. He lied to us.
He
killed those kids.
He’s
been watching us all along, and
he
is the one who kidnapped Megan and Cassidy.”

“And Carolyn,” Sarah said distractedly.

“And Carolyn,” I agreed.

Cecily’s canines elongated and she turned to me with an accusing look. “I wanted to kill him,” she said quietly.

I hung my head. This was all my fault. I thought I could read people. I thought I knew when people were telling the truth. I had trusted Pravus and now my daughters were the ones to pay. “I’m sorry,” I whispered. “You were right all along. I was wrong. We should have executed him at the beginning. I’m so, so sorry.”

A rim of white appeared around her eyes. Cecily reached over and patted my arm. “It’s okay. I forgive you. Just as long as you don’t stop me when we find him.”

“Stop you?” I said bitterly. “I’m going to rip off his head with my own bare hands.” Sarah stared at me in horror. “Okay,” I backpedalled. “Probably not my own bare hands. But I definitely won’t stop you again.”

The garage door opened and Annabeth stuck her head out. “Is everything okay?” she asked. “Did you find them?”

I slid out of the car seat. “No,” her face fell. “We didn’t find them, but I think I know who has them.”

“Pravus,” she said, her eyes glittering with hate.

I stopped and stared at her. “How did you know?”

“He’s a witch,” she said, as if that explained everything. “I thought you were a fool to trust him.”

Sarah and I looked at each other with humorless grins, “You can never trust a witch,” we sang together.

Cecily huffed. “Laugh all you want, slurpees. Some sayings are there for a reason.”

We entered the house and all flopped down in the living room. Harry was deep in a hand held video game and Floyd was sitting nervously in the armchair, jumping every time someone got too close.

“Want me to fix him now?” Sarah asked, pointing.

“Nah,” I shook my head. “We’ve got bigger problems to deal with first. Then …” I looked speculatively from him to Annabeth, “… we’ll just have to see.”

“So,” Annabeth sat down primly on the edge of the couch. How in the world did someone who turned into a two-ton gorilla manage to look so dainty and lady-like? “Pravus is the murderer and he’s kidnapped your children.”

“In a nutshell,” Cecily nodded.

Sarah made a face. “But how did he get us to go visit that kid? Or get the kid to tell us he was telling the truth? Something’s still not right.”

I shrugged. “We’ll get answers when we catch up with him. First order of business is to find him and the girls.”

“And Carolyn,” Cecily added.

“And Carolyn.”

Sarah wasn’t finished, “Did he spell Mom on purpose?”

“It seems likely,” Cecily said darkly, “to keep you distracted and off your game. Not a bad plan really.” I wished she didn’t sound quite so admiring.

I shook my head to clear it. “Annabeth, do you think that you could try to track Pravus and the girls by scent?”

She smiled, “I can try!”

Sarah was still going on. “And how did he know that we ran out of leads? How did he know that you found the freezer guy and that it was time to kidnap Megan and Cassidy? We’re missing something here.”

“Yeah,” I was frustrated. “We’re missing the fact that he’s an evil, conniving witch and has been lying to us from day one. And that he has my daughters. That’s all I need to know right now.”

“Let’s go then,” Cecily was eager.

“Whoa,” I held up a hand. “I need to get some things first.” I headed off to my bedroom without explaining.

I got the shotgun back out of the closet and made sure I had a box of rounds. I had originally purchased the steel shot rounds to scare off werewolves. It was cheaper than silver and a whole lot easier to find. I didn’t know if the steel would affect a witch the same way it did weres but figured that, if they were close to human in anatomy, the sound of a double barrel shotgun chambering a round would make them equally nervous.

I also got Mark’s nine millimeter Beretta out of the small gun safe in his bedside drawer. I wasn’t a good shot at any kind of distance, but if my target was less then fifteen feet away I was deadly. Especially if they were less than fifteen feet away and I had an entire clip to unload in them, then my odds of hitting something were vastly improved. Hey, I’m being honest here. A wise woman knows her limitations.

I also grabbed Mark’s ankle length rain duster that he’d bought for a Halloween costume last year. Dumping the guns on the bed, I changed quickly into dark jeans and tennis-shoes. If things got physical I would prefer to not have exposed flesh and flip-flops to contend with. Running in flip-flops is difficult, as is kicking anything, but the biggest downside is in their name. It’s the sound they make, and walking quietly is almost impossible.

Wardrobe changed, I tucked the nine mil. into a fanny pack and strapped it on my waist. Not very Dirty Harry of me? Well, I was hoping to retain at least some semblance of legality here and my concealed weapons permit was, by definition, for a
concealed
weapon, not one that might be seen by other people. I also felt really stupid tucking a gun into the back of my pants and had an irrational fear that I would shoot my butt off on accident. The fanny pack was the most comfortable and convenient way to be able to easily access a gun and yet have it completely concealed.

I then found a long duffle bag and wrapped it around the shotgun. Not legal at all, especially since it was loaded, but my options were limited here. This done, I took the rain duster out to Annabeth. I tossed it in her lap.

“What’s this?” she asked, puzzled.

I winced. “No offense, but I’m assuming that you have to … shift to smell better.”

“Of course.”

I saw Floyd’s eyes light up like an alcoholic at an open bar.

“This is for you to wear then.” I pointed to the duster. “It will help hide you better if anyone sees us tonight.” I gave her an apologetic look. “I don’t want to start more skunk ape rumors here in Melbourne.”

She hefted the duster experimentally in one hand. “Fine. I’ll wear it.”

I let out a breath. “Let’s do this then. I figure we drive back to Carolyn’s house and start there. Her car is there and from the lunch dishes and toys I think that’s the place they were taken from.”

“Perfect,” Annabeth slung the duster over her shoulder and told Harry to go visit the restroom before we left.

My heart caught in my throat. That was what I was supposed to say to Megan and Cassidy. Tell them to go potty, get their shoes on, to quit lollygagging and get in the car. I missed them so much it hurt. If I stopped to think I was going to break down and be no use to anyone. Get it together, Piper. I would have plenty of time to cry when we were all home safe again.

By the time we were all loaded into the minivan it was dusk. Cecily was moving with greater fluidity and I was grateful that she would be at the top of her game. Floyd had decided to come along and “document,” although he promised, on threat of having his arms torn off and made into a bowtie for his neck (Cecily’s words), that he would not publish any footage without our permission first.

His shock at finding that Cecily was a vampire was even funnier the second time around. It really was like deja vu all over again.

It was dark when we pulled up into Carolyn’s driveway. I turned off the headlights and we all stumbled out of the minivan. “Do you want to go inside to shift?” I asked. I had a moment’s worry that she would strip naked on the sidewalk like the last person I had seen shift had done. Not on the sidewalk, but out in public. Eww. I guess that weres don’t have a lot of modesty issues.

Annabeth gave me a tight lipped smile and entered the house through the still unlocked front door. Floyd made to follow her, but one look from Cecily and he settled back to wait with the rest of us.

“Harry?” I asked.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Can your mom understand us when we talk to her? When she’s a skunk ape?” That was a pretty important point, and one I should have asked Annabeth from the beginning. Well, better late than never.

“Oh, yes, ma’am,” Harry reassured me. “She can understand everything you say. She just can’t form words with her mouth as a skunk ape.”

I felt a tingle of something against my skin and then a waft of rotten eggs hit my nose. “Oh,” I gagged, “I forgot how bad that smelled!”

Floyd was eagerly filming the front door. Cecily, Sarah, and I were all covering our noses and mouths and trying to look like we didn’t want to puke. Harry was the only one unaffected. He had caught a lizard in the front bushes and was trying to get it to bite his earlobe and hang like an earring. Even through the smell, I had to smile. I remembered doing that as a child. Nice to see that both humans and skunk ape children liked to play with lizards.

I tried to look nonchalant as Annabeth came back out the front door. What I really wanted to do was run screaming for the woods. There is something about an eight-foot monkey that scares the living daylights out of you. Not to mention the smell. I thought I was pretty used to bad smells. After all, I had changed hundreds, if not thousands, of dirty diapers in my life. This was worse. I hoped that extended exposure would cause my nose to acclimate. Or just quit working. Either one would be good.

I held out Mark’s rain duster and helped fix it around her shoulders. It barely came down to her thighs and there was no way her hairy arms were going to fit through the sleeves. The hood at least covered her face somewhat, and it was better than nothing. The last thing we needed was the neighbors calling animal control. Or the National Guard. Fortunately, in nicer subdivisions like this one, people were private, kept to themselves, and ignored their neighbors unless absolutely necessary. Carolyn might get a polite letter from the Home Owner’s Association next week asking her to please check her trash since someone noticed an odor.

“Can you pick up their scent?” I asked hopefully. If she couldn’t this whole trip had been a colossal waste of time.

The giant creature nodded its head and gave a wheezy snort. “That means ‘yes,’” Harry translated, needlessly.

Annabeth started off at a slow shuffle, head down to the ground, snuffing loudly. Cecily, Sarah, Harry, and I all trailed behind at a distance. When she got to the street she picked up the pace, breaking into a lope. We had to trot to keep up and after a few blocks I began to wish that I had thought to follow in the car.

After another couple of blocks I was wheezing for breath, doubled over with a stitch in my side, and drenched in sweat. It might be dark out, but this was Florida, and the temperature had dropped to a balmy 82 degrees. Not the weather for running through neighborhoods following a skunk ape. On the plus side, since I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t really smell either. Things might be looking up.

Cecily looked cool and relaxed, as if she had just stepped out of an air-conditioned limo. Sarah and Floyd, thankfully, were as sweaty and panting as me. That made me feel better. Childish? Yes, but misery loves company. Harry had the resilience of the young and looked like he was enjoying himself.

Finally, Annabeth came to a stop and started sniffing the air in ever increasing circles. We were in a small subdivision that, like most housing developments in Florida these days, had at least half the houses foreclosed or up for sale. The housing bubble crash had hit Melbourne hard. Nicely manicured lawns were next door to overgrown weedy lots and boarded up windows. We were standing on the sidewalk in front of one such house. The sign out front advertised a foreclosure agency and the place was clearly vacant.

Annabeth pointed with one beefy paw.

“Here?” I asked.

She nodded and woofed softly.

“You’re sure they’re here?”

She gave me a look and a low growl.