Shanna Swendson - Don't Hex with Texas

“Present from Dean, or did you treat yourself?” Molly asked.

Sherri gave a canary-stuffed-cat smile. “I’m not telling.”

“I’m guessing the former, judging by the, um, healthy glow you two had when you got here,” I said.

Sherri snapped me on the shoulder with a dish towel. “Oh, you! Don’t be naughty. How do you know that getting this for myself didn’t make me feel all sexy?”

I tried to study her face without looking like I was staring so I could tell whether or not she was telling the truth. Unfortunately, she could convince herself that anything she wanted to believe was the truth, and therefore when she said it, she didn’t think it was a lie. I was fairly certain she could beat any polygraph test.

The timing of her getting new jewelry clearly out of her price range the day after someone had robbed the jewelry store was awfully suspicious. Maybe Sherri really was a witch, in more ways than one, and she was our suspect. Of course, it was equally likely that the culprit was now selling jewelry and other stolen items out of the trunk of his car, and that was how she was able to afford it.

“You must have bought that at Murphy’s,” Beth said, drying her hands and leaning over to get a good look. “I think I saw something like that there the other day when I went in to get my watch battery replaced.”

Sherri laughed for no apparent reason and tossed her head back. I thought she looked uncomfortable, but I couldn’t tell if it was the discomfort from having stolen it and her sister-in-law recognizing the source or from having it recognized as stolen property she’d purchased illegally. Wearing stolen jewelry in a small town wasn’t the brightest idea. It was too likely that everyone would know exactly where it came from.

After a while, she stammered, “Well, I mean, uh, it’s really not that unique. They probably mass produce these in China and ship them over by the boatload.”

“What are you girls looking at?” Mom asked, joining us.

Molly grabbed Sherri’s wrist and held it out for Mom. “We were just admiring Sherri’s new jewelry,”

she said.

“Oh, that is nice. I think that’s the one I saw in Murphy’s. I even thought about what a nice birthday gift it would make for you. But I guess I’ll have to think of something else, now that you already have it. Dean and I must share the same taste.”

Sherri held out her other arm and shook it. “I have two wrists!”

Beth turned back to the sink and plunged her hands into the hot water, then began scrubbing furiously. Molly drifted away, and I fought to keep my mouth shut. I had to struggle to keep up with Beth’s increased washing pace, but I didn’t mind because I couldn’t wait to get to Owen and tell him what I’d discovered.

When I finally escaped from the kitchen, I was surprised to see Owen looking perfectly at ease. He and Teddy were chatting, and while they shared a similar mind-set, I couldn’t imagine what they had in common to talk about. There was some chemistry involved in magical potions, but there weren’t too many other crossovers between Teddy’s agricultural work and Owen’s magic. I got close enough to overhear and found that they were talking about books. They both liked the same spy thrillers and mysteries and were exchanging reading suggestions.

I loved my family, but I wanted more than anything for them to go away—and soon. Granny left first, since she didn’t like to drive at night. Then Molly and Frank left to get their kids to bed, and Teddy and Beth weren’t far behind them, sneaking out with a still-sleeping Lucy before she could wake up and demand to be held by her new hero.

You could have knocked me over with a feather when, as she and Dean were saying their good-byes, Sherri said, “You two should come over for Sunday lunch tomorrow. We barely got to chat at all with so many people here tonight.” She was supposedly talking to me, but she didn’t take her eyes off Owen when she talked.

Based on prior experience, I knew she probably wanted a chance to get her hooks into Owen, but I couldn’t be bothered to stir up any jealousy. Even if she really was a witch of the magical persuasion, I doubted she could overpower Owen. And if she was the other kind of witch, she was so far from his type I doubted he even noticed she was a woman. Owen’s obliviousness had gotten us in trouble in the past, when someone managed to throw herself at him without him noticing her enough to even reject her and she turned against the entire company in order to get revenge.

“We’d love to,” I said, ignoring the dismay on Owen’s face. It would be the perfect opportunity to see if there was any other magically stolen loot in their possession. I tried to give him a significant look to show him I knew what I was doing.

“Then how about we see you at twelve-thirty? Don’t bother bringing anything. I’ve got it all taken care of.”

When the house was finally empty of everyone but us, Mom, and Dad, I suggested to Owen that we go sit out on the porch swing and enjoy the lovely evening. As soon as I was certain we weren’t being spied upon—at least not closely enough to be overheard—I shared my conclusions. “I have a new suspect for us,” I said.

“One of your family?”

“Only indirectly. Sherri was wearing a new bracelet tonight, one Beth remembered having seen in the jewelry store on the square. Sherri seemed uncomfortable and was really vague about how she got it. I know she and Dean can’t usually afford stuff like that.”

“You think she’s our rogue wizard?”

“Either that, or she knows who it is because she’s buying hot goods from him at a discount.”

“So that’s why you accepted the invitation.”

“Exactly. Normally, I’d avoid it like the plague, but we might be able to see what else they have in their house, and you might be able to tell if there’s any magic going on. I don’t suppose there’d be any way to expose her as the thief without revealing the magical angle, huh?”

“It might be difficult.”

“Rats. I know it sounds awful of me, but I’d have loved to convince Mom that she didn’t hang the moon. Frank and Teddy have such great wives, and I’m glad to think of them as sisters, but I don’t know what Dean was thinking. He wasn’t thinking with his brains, that’s for sure.”

“She’s not even that attractive. She just looks cheap.”

I desperately wanted to hug him for that. I’d forgotten where I’d left off on the list of things I loved about him, but that needed to go on the list. Too bad a hug would be totally inappropriate for the strictly business relationship he seemed to be trying to maintain.

“I guess we rig the bank tonight after everyone else is asleep. How will we make it so that the customers and employees can still get in and out but our wizard can’t?”

“I can set it to only block people with a certain magical level. Someone who can actually work magic has to be beyond a particular threshold. If we hear reports of people being unable to get in the bank, we’ll know there’s more magic in this town than we realized. But if I’m right, he’ll try to hit the bank tomorrow night, so we’ll have everything taken care of before customers become an issue.”

“I take it we’re crawling out the windows again tonight.”

“I’ll have to get some things from my case first. I really hope your parents are heavy sleepers.”

We went back inside and made a big show of heading off to bed. Once I was safely in my room for the night, I changed into black jeans and a black hooded sweatshirt, made a dummy out of pillows so that my bed looked occupied, and pulled Owen’s case out from under my bed. Then I read by flashlight until shortly after midnight, when Owen tapped on my window.