Three Witches and a Killer: Wicked Western Witches Book 1 Read Online Free PDF Page A

around and put your hands behind your back,” Buck said, pulling his handcuffs from his belt.
    One of the women stepped forward. It was hard to be sure which one, on account of they both looked equally as dour.
    Staring the woman down, I was sure it was the one the preacher had called Martha.
    “But please, Sheriff. He is only here to do the Lord’s work,” Martha whined.
    Buck shook his head. “I’m sorry about this but assault is against the law. So is destruction of public property. I’ll overlook it if you ladies get that sign down.”
    Throwing me a dirty look, the one called Allison tore the sign from the tree.
    While Buck was busy handcuffing the preacher, Martha pulled something that appeared to be an old brown bottle from the apron she wore over her dress. The next thing I knew, she was splashing water in my face.
    “You hussy!” she hollered as I was wiping the water out of my eyes. “That will teach you not to interfere with the Lord’s work!”
    Before I could react, Buck was standing between the offending fanatic and me. He was doing his best to stop an all out battle while calling for backup on his portable radio.
    As he was holding the woman back, Buck twisting his head to look at me. “Don’t do it, Sadie. You know you’ll lose your PI license if you get an assault charge.”
    “Now you’re cursed!” Martha continued her tirade. “Death will follow you wherever you go.”
    Just then, Deputy Sallow came running up the cobblestone sidewalk. Buck’s backup had finally arrived.
    “Do you want to press charges against her too?” Buck asked me.
    It was tempting, but getting the preacher put in jail was probably good enough for one day. The more reasonable part of my brain, the part that wasn’t aching to toss the woman up, actually had some pity for the trio. It was obvious they actually believed the malarkey they were spewing.
    As far as their so-called curse, I wasn’t worried about that in the least. How much weight could a religious zealot put into a curse anyway?
    “I don’t think so,” I told him and then got on my tiptoes to whisper in his ear. “Maybe you should just teach them a lesson. Put the old man in time out for a couple hours and then let him go.”
    A discrete nod was the only sign he gave that he’d heard me. Buck was the coolest.
    I was just happy to put the incident behind me and get on with my day. This was my first big case and nothing could propel my career as fast as solving a murder mystery. All I had to do was get the Petrova family to cooperate.
     
     

Chapter Four
     
    When it rains it pours, according to my Aunt Sophie anyway. I was inclined to believe her.
    Due to the fact that I’d been dense enough to let my husband keep everything in his name, believing he would always do what was best for me, I was now down one very hot cherry-red Camaro. Although the jerk never paid a dime for the car, I had no way of proving it was actually mine. The result, he and his crooked lawyer got it in the divorce and I was left with a dull red heap of a car that I’d bought from a shady car salesman.
    Just thinking about it had me grinding my teeth.
    I’d intended to stop by the butcher and bring Mickey D some brains, but the hell with that. It wouldn’t hurt him to go a little longer without brains. It wasn’t as if he’d actually been born with them anyway.
    On second thought, maybe that was me. Either way, one of us hadn’t had any brains in that messy situation and I half suspected that I was that someone.
    I was way too trusting. That’s what Aunt Selena told me and as usual, she’d been right.
    If it weren’t for Dad lending me his Lexus for the day, I’d have really been pissed when my heap of a car wouldn’t start. 
    All that aside, it was amazing how leather interior, air conditioning, and an awesome stereo could calm the soul. Even my Camaro hadn’t been this good.
    It took all of three minutes to get out of Shadow Crossing’s city limits. It was a