Shanna Swendson - Don't Hex with Texas

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“There’s one problem with that: Everyone in the whole town is here. I already see at least two of my brothers and every single one of our suspects.”

In fact, Gene was walking right toward us, though his attention was elsewhere, so I doubted he was really aiming at us. The clock in the courthouse tower chimed, and he frowned and glanced at his watch. “The clock is five minutes slow,” he announced to no one in particular. “Someone should do something about that.” He changed course and headed off, apparently to do just that.

Teddy came up to us in Gene’s wake. “This is something else, isn’t it?” he said. “Who’d have thought this town would have its own criminal genius?” Then he frowned and looked at Owen. “Do I know you?”

“Teddy, this is my friend Owen, who’s here from New York. He was in the store yesterday when you were running around talking about your formula.”

The light dawned in Teddy’s eyes. “Oh yeah, I thought you looked familiar.” He shook Owen’s hand.

“Welcome. So, you’re friends with my little sister, huh? I’m glad to hear she has friends up in New York.”

“Teddy,” I groaned.

Dean then joined us. “Hey, it’s practically a family reunion,” he said, draping his arms around Teddy and me. “My favorite sister and my second-favorite brother.”

“Second-favorite?” Teddy knew the routine well enough to act affronted. Then he turned to Owen and asked, “Do you believe this guy?”

“Whoa, no forming outside alliances,” Dean said with a laugh. “I thought you and I were supposed to gang up on the new guy to make sure he’s good enough for our baby sister.”

“I think Katie’s smart enough to choose for herself.”

I stepped out from under Dean’s arm and blew a kiss at Teddy. “And that’s why you’re my smartest brother,” I said. “Now, we have things to do. You can torture Owen tonight at dinner.”

Once we were in the car and pulling away from the square, Owen said, “I’m glad my intentions toward you are totally honorable. It looks like you’re well defended.”

“They’re all talk. You have nothing to worry about, so you don’t have to keep your intentions too honorable.” I couldn’t help but smile when I saw the flush that spread across his cheeks.

We drove out to a roadside picnic area on a creek bank, complete with sheltered table. I hated to admit that my mother was right, but it really was the perfect spot for a romantic picnic. Mom had even packed the picnic basket accordingly, with dainty finger sandwiches, strawberries, and other foods that were perfect for feeding to each other. She’d also included a tablecloth and plastic dishes. I set the table, wondering if maybe, just maybe, he had some other agenda in bringing me out here. We could have talked work almost anywhere, but this was the perfect place to talk about us.

“It’s nice out here,” he said as he sat at the table. “I guess that creek over there is the same one that runs through town.”

“Yeah, that’s the one.” I passed him the plate of sandwiches. “Do you think the magical creatures are there?”

He took a few sandwiches and passed the plate back to me. “Maybe. They’ve probably moved out of town, but we wouldn’t see them at this time of day. They tend to be nocturnal.”

“I guess we’ll have to come back at night, then.” I could certainly go for that.

“If we need them, we will.”

I tried not to sigh in frustration that the conversation was stuck on work, but I couldn’t think of a way to bring up anything else. Life was so much easier in junior high when you could hand a guy a note that said, “Do you like me? Check yes or no.” Not that I’d ever had the nerve to do that kind of thing, even when I was in junior high. I picked up a strawberry and put it to my lips, trying to eat it as seductively as I could. The juice dripping down my chin to stain my shirt probably didn’t help the image I was trying to project.

Still, he did react. His eyes went wide and the tip of his tongue touched his lower lip, at the same spot where the juice dripped from my lip. Then he blinked several times, looked away from me, cleared his throat, and said, “So, how do we catch our culprit?”

With a sigh, I got out a notebook and started to take notes. I’d been a secretary—or administrative assistant—long enough that it had become habit, and it didn’t look like he was yet ready to move out of the business arena with me, no matter how much I tried to tempt him. “Do we keep trying to uncover him, or try to catch him in the act and then unmask him?”

“In the absence of any definitive clues, we might have better luck trying to catch him and unmask him. Unless he’s some freak prodigy, I don’t think we have to worry much about me not being able to beat him magically. Even if we’re equals, power-wise, which I think is highly unlikely from what I’ve sensed, I have years of experience and a lot more spells at my disposal than he could ever get from a correspondence course.” He frowned and stared off into space for a moment, then said, “We could always set a trap—give him something he can’t resist. But what do we use for bait?”

“I’m guessing it’ll take more than a hunk of cheese to trap this rat,” I said. “What we need to do is figure out what he wants, what’s really driving him, and then make that available somehow.”

“Or not make it too available,” Owen replied, his eyes a little unfocused as he brainstormed. “Make it a challenge. He does seem to want money, but what it looks like he’s really enjoying is getting the chance to one-up everyone, to feel special and know he’s the only one around who can do this.”

“Shows how much he knows, with you in town,” I quipped. “Maybe we can use that, though. How likely do you think it is that our culprit even knows there are magical immunes like me?”

I saw the spark light in his eyes and knew he had an idea. “Not very likely. That’s seldom in Magic 101. He may know there are other magic users, but he probably doesn’t think there are any in this town. I’d bet the knowledge would disturb him. He wants to be the best.”

He grabbed my notebook and pen and went straight to work, outlining a plan in his textbook-perfect handwriting. “See, we find something he can’t resist that he’s sure to try to get into, then magically ward it. That should intrigue him enough to stop and study it. I doubt they’ve yet covered wards, so he won’t know what’s going on. Then we can grab him. He’ll probably try using magic to defend himself, but it won’t work on you, and I can deflect it. He’ll think he’s outclassed and outnumbered.”

He looked up at me and grinned. “See, this is why I need you around. You make me think better.”

Then he blushed furiously and looked back down at the notebook. “Well, most of the time. When you’re not in immediate danger.”

At least he’d acknowledged that he needed me, even if he’d felt the need to throw in the part about me in danger. That’s what had tripped us up the last time, and I didn’t like the reminder. “Then maybe we should just lock me up in a bank vault, and you can come visit me when you need to brainstorm.”

He completely missed my sarcasm in his excitement. “That’s it exactly! You know he’ll want to hit the bank. Emptying the safe would be the ultimate magical robber challenge. I should ward the bank.

I’ll do it tonight, while he’s still probably recovering from last night’s activities and before he hits again. If I’m tired from what little I did, I’m sure he’s exhausted from making all those windows disappear.”

“Looks like another night without much sleep for us.” And it looked like we’d be spending more time alone together after dark. That was a big bonus.

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