The Old Witcheroo Read Online Free PDF Page B

“I’m sorry, Dana. I’m so sorry, I—”
    But Officer Nelson wasn’t paying any attention to me. He’d noticed the small gap in the collection of officers keeping him from the boat, and took that opportunity to bum rush them, barreling through their bodies until he was beside the boat where Sophia lay.
    That moment, the moment he saw the woman he loved, all the life drained from her, will always be emblazoned on my heart’s memory. That bloodcurdling howl of her name as Dana Nelson fell on his knees beside the boat and raggedly sobbed was probably worse than anything I’ve ever witnessed.
    Bar none.
    * * * *
    Tucked into a cushy lounge chair on our patio at the back of the house, I shoveled Sno Ball number four into my mouth and washed it down with some white wine.
    Yes, I was stress eating. But I had to put something in my mouth to keep from screaming my hatred for the universe at the top of my lungs while I dropped to the ground on my knees and raised both fists to the sky in choked rage.
    Why would something like this happen to someone as kind as Sophia? I was a muddled mess in my head as I tried to make sense of something so incredibly senseless.
    The only thing I could consider was a jealous ex. Maybe she’d had a stalker no one was aware of? Maybe someone had followed her here to Eb Falls from wherever she came from, and had seen how happy she was with Officer Nelson and lost it?
    I turned over and over a hundred different scenarios and came up dry every time.
    “Dove?”
    “Yeah?” I asked, wiping another batch of tears from my eyes and Sno Ball frosting from my lips.
    Win’s way of hugging me from the afterlife enveloped me, rocked me, consoled my aching heart. “I’m sorry, love. Tell me how I can ease your suffering?”
    Bel buzzed in on Whiskey’s back and hopped to my shoulder, burying himself in my hair. “Shoot, Boss. This sucks Baba Yaga’s rank toes.”
    Whiskey was even somber, pressing his cold nose to my hand before letting his chin rest against my thigh with a blubbery sigh.
    “What Winterbutt said. What can we do to help you through this, Boss?” Bel chirped, snuggling into the lapel of my shirt.
    “Help me figure out who’d do something so awful to someone so nice,” I said, preparing to rise and do just that.
    But Win chastised me. “Stevie, love, you’re traumatized. Why not let this sit for just this one day? You’re in no shape to chase after another madman. Please, I’m begging you.”
    But I shook my head. “You know I can’t do that, Win. Did you hear Dana? Did you see him? He’s broken,” I choked out.
    Again, there was that haunting visual of him kneeling beside Sophia in the boat while his fellow officers struggled to pull him away, as they begged him not to taint the evidence.
    Officer Rigid had flown the coop right before my very eyes in that moment, and was replaced with someone very human, someone fragile and vulnerable, reminding me not everyone was as they seemed.
    “I did,” Win murmured, husky and low, his voice full of emotion. “I did see. I hated seeing him like that, but I saw. Yet, I also saw you . You’re distraught, Dove. You came upon something awful. This is different than finding Madam Z or Bart. You weren’t emotionally attached to them. But you knew Sophia. You frequented the library. Chatted with her on more than one occasion at Strange Brew. It’s different.”
    I thinned my lips and nodded, disgust rising in my throat like toxic sludge. “You bet it is. She was one of the nicest people in Eb Falls and she deserves to rest in peace. She can’t do that if her killer’s on the loose. We know a thing or two about catching a killer. So I’m going to use those things to find the animal.”
    Win didn’t respond, but he rasped a sigh, knowing full well there was no way he could stop me from pursuing this. I pushed open the sliders leading to our unbelievably amazing kitchen, with all its shiny appliances and marble countertops, with