Page 6 of A Dead End Fourth of July (Tiger’s Eye Mysteries #14)

Tess

Idrove as fast as I could without breaking Dead End traffic laws, trying not to say very bad words under my breath since Shelley was in the car with me.

"I’m really sorry," she mumbled, looking out the window. "I didn’t mean to cause more problems."

"Oh, honey, no," I said, reaching out to squeeze her hand. "This is not your fault. I should have put the brooch away where nobody could touch it. Or I shouldn’t have bought it in the first place."

I sighed. "I may have to institute a new no-magical-items policy for the shop. They’re always more trouble than they’re worth."

"But they make good money," my little sister, the capitalist, ventured. She liked to help in the shop and was a wizard with numbers.

"They make good money," I admitted. "But if this brooch causes us to lose out on a great doctor for the new clinic, it won’t be worth it."

"Why would it make us lose out on the doctor?"

I braked at the stoplight and waved to Mr. and Mrs. Frost as they drove past us going the other way.

"Well, sometimes adults say things that aren’t … appropriate. And if the doctor is at all stuffy or particular, she might not appreciate it."

"Like hearing about Aunt Ruby dancing in her underwear?" Shelley giggled and made a face. "I might be stuffy, because I didn’t want to hear about that!"

"You and me both, sister," I muttered.

I took the next turn and pulled up outside town hall, relieved to see Jack’s truck was already there. "Hopefully, Jack got to her in time. Let’s find out … oh, no."

Sheriff Susan Gonzalez raced down the sidewalk next to us in a dead run and flew toward the front door of town hall.

"Why is she running?"

"I warned her about Aunt Ruby and the brooch. Will you please stay here?" I yanked open my car door and hopped out, only to see Shelley doing the same on her side. "Shelley! Stay here!"

"Nope! You might need me!"

"Argh!" But I didn’t have time to argue. I took off after Susan and hoped nothing too catastrophic had happened yet. She’d been fifteen minutes away when I called her, which is why I’d called Jack as a backup.

Before we reached the building, though, the door opened again, and Jack walked out with his arm around Aunt Ruby, who didn’t seem to be cooperating.

"I don’t understand why you had to drag me out of there, Jack! I was about to tell that nice doctor all about the time Mike got hemorrhoids, and we had to … oh! Hello Tess! Did you explain to Shelley that she must go to school?"

"We didn’t quite get to that," I said, glancing at Jack, whose blank face told me nothing.

"Did you know, Jack, once Tess and Molly played a prank on the Dead End High principal, and they—"

"Aunt Ruby!" I held a finger up to my mouth. "Shh! Remember, that was a secret?"

Jack’s grin lit up his entire face. "Oh, I don’t think so. What prank was that, Ruby?"

"Where is the brooch?" I interrupted, my face flaming hot. The last thing I needed was for Jack to hear about that. Especially after I’d given him grief over his high school pranks.

"Safe and sound," he said, holding out his hand.

I took the handkerchief-wrapped parcel and shoved it in my jeans pocket. "Great! But if it’s in here, why is she still—"

"Compulsively dropping truth bombs on us?" He shrugged. "I think those customers may have misled you about the piece’s magic."

"I don’t understand what the big deal is," Aunt Ruby grumbled, moving away from Jack. "I need to go back in there and finish that girl’s interview."

"That girl?"

"The doctor," Jack told me. "Who is probably thirty years old. And I think we’re better off letting Susan take the next phase of the interview," Jack said soothingly.

But Aunt Ruby wasn’t having it.

"It’s my job," she said, drawing herself up to her full height, which wasn’t that much taller than ten-year-old Shelley.

"I’m the mayor. I didn’t want to be the mayor, but somebody needed to kick that evil Ratbottom out of town.

Did you know he asked me out once? Mike was fit to be tied.

Nearly knocked that fool into next week. Of course, when we got home—"

"Ack! No! No talking about what happened at home," I pleaded. "How about we take Shelley and go home for some lunch?"

Aunt Ruby sighed, suddenly drooping. "Fine. I do feel a bit tired."

"I still need to go see the boys, but I can take you out to the farm," Jack began, but I shook my head.

"No. You go do what you need to do, and I’ll take Shelley and Aunt Ruby home. Sounds like my aunt needs a nap, and Shelley and I need to talk about school."

Shelley folded her thin arms over her pink shirt and stuck her bottom lip out. "I'm not going back to school. If you think—"

"I think it would be a shame if you grew up to be less than the full potential of whatever you want to be in life," Jack said firmly. "And education is part of that."

My sister opened her mouth to argue but then sighed. "Fine. We can talk. But I promise nothing."

Jack threw his hands up. "Why would I expect you to be any more reasonable than the rest of the women in your family?"

When he divided a stern look between me and Aunt Ruby, Shelley giggled.

"Okay, okay. But since Aunt Ruby doesn’t feel great, can I go with you, Uncle Jack? Pleeeeease?"

He raised an eyebrow at me, and I nodded. I did plan to talk to Shelley about school, but it didn’t have to happen today. And I’d be just as happy for her not to be around for more of Aunt Ruby’s embarrassing magic-induced revelations.

"You take Shelley; I’ll take Aunt Ruby. See you at home later?"

"Done." He leaned over and kissed me, and Shelley’s peal of giggles surrounded us.

I took Aunt Ruby’s arm and nudged her toward my car, while Jack and Shelley headed for his truck, with my sister talking at him about a hundred miles per hour.

"Okay, Aunt Ruby. We’re going to get you something to eat. Then you can have a rest, and we—"

"Don’t talk to me like I’m a child," she said irritably, yanking her arm away. "I’m perfectly able to walk by myself, thank you."

"I’m sorry. I was just trying to help."

She stopped and patted my arm. "I know, sweetheart. I’m sorry for being cranky. Remember the time you decided to help by cutting your own bangs for your school picture when you were Shelley’s age?"

I groaned. I’d hidden the lopsided results from Aunt Ruby and Uncle Mike and raced out the door for the bus with my hacked-off hair hiding beneath a ball cap.

Luckily, my teacher, no stranger to the hair-cutting antics of elementary school kids, had pulled a hairband from her own purse and fixed me up for the photos.

I’d looked like a red-haired Alice in Wonderland, but it had been a lot better than it could have been, as several candid shots in our family photo albums could attest.

"You’re a wonderful aunt," I suddenly said, putting an arm around her shoulder. "Thank you for everything you did for me when I was growing up."

"Why, Tess!" She stopped walking and turned to face me. "What a lovely thing to say. It was our pleasure. But now I feel like I might be in trouble."

"What do you mean?"

"I think I’m going to be sick."

And she was. Right there in the bushes next to the road.

Spectacularly.

"Aftereffects of the magic, probably. At least you did it before getting in my car," I told her, patting her back.

"Might not be the end," she told me, misery in her eyes. "I feel woozy and hungover. Like I had whiskey, which I haven’t had in decades."

"Do you feel like the truth-telling effects are wearing off?" I reached into the back seat for an empty plastic bag that had been riding around there for a while and handed it to her. "Just in case you get sick in the car."

"I—the truth-telling effects?"

I helped her into the passenger seat, climbed into the driver's seat, and explained about the brooch, wincing as her big blue eyes got wider and wider and tears welled in them.

"Oh, Tess! Why didn’t you warn me?"

"I tried! You wouldn’t listen, and then you didn’t answer your phone or my texts. I called Susan, but she was out, and then I called Jack and raced over here myself. There wasn’t much else I could do. I’m so sorry."

She patted my hand. "No. I’m sorry. Of course, it wasn’t your fault. But maybe think about putting a pause on all these magical items you buy for the shop, Tess. It feels like they cause a lot of trouble."

"I was thinking the exact same thing myself," I muttered, putting the car into gear. But before I drove off, I shoved the cloth-wrapped instrument of destruction beneath my seat.

She was sound asleep five minutes later, and so pale I started to worry. I told my phone to call Uncle Mike and quickly filled him in on today’s crisis.

He listened to it all without commenting, and then he sighed. "Welcome home, Tess. Guess you’re ready to turn around and go back to Atlantis."

"I’m considering it," I said darkly.

When we reached the farm, Uncle Mike stood in the yard waiting for us, his weathered face grim.

My uncle was tall and lanky, a retired engineer who lived in old blue jeans and, in the summer, ancient T-shirts advertising products that had gone out of business before I was born.

In the winter, he switched to flannel shirts.

He was kind and solid and had been the bedrock of my childhood.

Right now, though, his light blue eyes were troubled.

He opened the door and touched Aunt Ruby’s shoulder, but she never even stirred. When I came around to their side of the car, I patted his arm.

"I can help you get her inside."

"No need," he said gruffly, and then he bent down and lifted her into his arms the same way he’d carried me to bed when I was a little girl, reminding me of the strength in his lean frame. "Get the door for me."

I ran ahead to open the door, and he carried her into the house and down the hall to their bedroom. When he came back out, he pointed to the kitchen.

"Let’s have some iced tea and talk, young lady."

Oh, no. He pulled out the "Young Lady."

I’m in trouble now.