Page 24 of A Dead End Fourth of July (Tiger’s Eye Mysteries #14)

Tess

Sunday morning

We did not have zombies now

We called to warn Uncle Mike and Aunt Ruby, threw on clothes, and raced out to my car, since Jack's truck was low on gas. But by the time we got to their place, my family had the potential murderess wrapped in a blanket and seated at the kitchen table tucking into a plate of pancakes and bacon.

"Really?" I skidded to a stop at the sight. "She may have killed Cletus, Aunt Ruby!"

The pancake eater looked up at me with dark brown eyes that looked so very tired. "I didn't kill him. I swear it."

"Oh, okay then," I said, folding my arms across my chest. "Sure. We're fine now, since you swear it. We saw you running away from the tent last night."

This was a bluff, of course. She had long hair, but so did tons of other women.

"Tell her, Jack."

Jack sat down across from her. "Hello, Katie."

What?

"What? This is Katherine Sampson? You're Katie Sampson?" I asked, bewildered. "What in the world are you doing here?"

The woman nodded and ate another forkful of pancake. "Yes, I'm Katie. This is so good, Mrs. Callahan. Thank you again. I haven't eaten home-cooked food in so long."

"By all means, let's feed the potentially murderous goat-frightener," I said, giving up. "Any of those pancakes left?"

Aunt Ruby handed me a plate. "Help yourself."

When Jack and I were settled at the table with huge breakfasts and mugs of coffee, Jack took over the questioning.

"What happened?" he asked far too gently.

Katie drank the rest of her coffee and put the mug carefully down on the table.

"It's an old, ugly cliché of a story. Girl meets boy, girl falls in love, boy cheats on girl with her best friend.

Boy steals girl's savings, college tuition money, and the diamond ring her great-grandmother left to her.

Girl tracks him down with magic to get at least the ring back. "

I dropped my fork. "Diamond ring? Not an Art Deco ring, by any chance? With a twisted titanium setting?"

She met my gaze, and I could see I'd startled her. "You saw it?"

"Cletus McKee tried to sell it to me!"

She reached into her pocket, put the familiar box on the table, and flipped it open. The diamond shone in the early morning sunlight slanting through the windows.

"Of course he did," she said bitterly. "Because he's scum."

"He was scum," Jack corrected, staring intently at her.

I still didn't understand. "But your grandfather said your cheating ex was named Joe! What does Cletus have to do with anything?"

"His name is … was … Cletus Joseph McKee. Would you want to go by the name Cletus?" she asked in disbelief.

"He stole your money and your ring, stomped on your pride, and broke your heart. So, you followed him here and killed him," I said.

"No. He did all those things, so I infused a crystal with one of his hairs and a few of my tears, tracked him all over the country, always arriving just after he'd left, and then I tried to confront him at the festival."

"Where you shot him," I persisted. "Cletus told us you had lots of guns."

She stared at me. "Like he's a beacon of honesty? I've never owned a gun in my life. And when I found him, he was already dead!"

"Are you a witch?" Aunt Ruby asked, refilling Katie's coffee like she was an honored guest instead of a sketchy potential murderess.

"Is that really important?" I asked. I wasn't sure why I disliked the woman. Maybe because poor Bubba was sitting in a jail cell for what was probably her crime. Maybe because, despite everything, I felt sorry for Cletus.

Sure, he was a despicable conman, but he was originally a Dead Ender, and his father had been a bad guy. If my father, in his drunken days, had raised me instead of Uncle Mike and Aunt Ruby, would I have turned out like Cletus?

"Yes, I'm a witch," Katie muttered. "But my family doesn't know."

"Then what? Why didn't you call for help?" Jack asked her.

"Because I panicked." She hunched further down in her chair and pulled the blanket tight around herself.

"I walked into that tent ready for a fight, and I found Joe …

well, you saw how I found him. Then, no matter how awful it was to try, I was determined to search his pockets for my Nana's ring.

" Her face paled even further. "I never …

it was horrible. But I found my ring. Then, a guy walked into the tent, and I shouted at him to leave.

When he did, I ran out of there and drove off.

But my car has been breaking down all over the country, and it's held together with duct tape and prayers at this point.

It quit running about a half mile from here.

I walked until I saw your lights, but I didn't want to frighten anybody so late at night. So, I curled up in the barn."

"What did you do to the goats?"

She looked at me blankly. "What?"

"What are you talking about, Tess?" Uncle Mike asked.

I explained to Uncle Mike and Aunt Ruby about Frazzle.

"Oh," Katie said. "That annoying hobgoblin with the beard? Yeah. He woke me up. He was screeching about goats. I didn't really understand it. Then, your aunt and uncle came out and found me, and they were kind enough to feed me, and here we are."

"Here we are," I repeated. "Full of coffee and pancakes and ready to go talk to the sheriff."

Her shoulders slumped with resignation. "I know. Let's do it. Jack, will you go with me? My grandpa talked about you a lot, and I know you're a good guy."

"Why don't we all go?" Aunt Ruby asked. "We need to pick up Shelley for church, anyway."

"I didn't kill him, but I can't say I'll cry any tears at his funeral, either," Katie suddenly said, defiance in every line of her body.

"Somebody ought to," I said.

But I knew it was unlikely.