Free Wicked Weaves by Joyce Lavene, Jim Page B

anything until Tony and Tammy the fairy were gone. I appreciated what Chase had done, but I was really embarrassed by it, too. We were about to have our first fight.

    Debby, maybe sensing the hostility in the air, despite the small of mocha and cinnamon, took her coffee and said she’d see me later.

    Being an assistant professor, I was used to bottling up my frustration and anger without showing a thing on the outside. “Let’s walk for a while, Chase.” My voice was a model of calm and control. I was very good at not showing emotion. You could ask any of my old boyfriends.

    “Come on, Jessie, you can’t really be angry that I warned off your brother, the leech.”

    “I didn’t say anything about that.” Not yet anyway. I was waiting for the right time and place, definitely not in here where everyone was listening.

    “I know you’re mad,” he continued. “Just say it, and we can talk about it.”

    “I’m not going to be mad on your schedule,” I ground out through clenched teeth. “Will you please step outside?”

    He smiled. Chase has this really cute way of smiling where he kind of tilts his head a little and his braid falls to one side. I can’t really describe how it makes me feel, but this wasn’t the time or place for it, either. I was mad, and no cute smile or hair trick was going to make me feel better.

    “I just wanted to help you.” He took my hand. “I’ve known you for a while, remember? Tony has been like this since I met you. He needs to grow up. It’s not gonna happen as long as you baby him. The guy needs to stand on his own for a while.”

    I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Even worse, while Chase was holding my hand, he started playing with my fingers, and it didn’t take long before I wasn’t thinking about Tony anymore. That really cheesed me.

    “You can’t solve my problems for me.” I wanted to snatch my hand back, but I wasn’t up to that. Instead, I glared at him, and we stood there like idiots looking at each other.

    “Okay. I won’t ever try to solve any of your problems again.” He grinned and brought his head close to mine. “Want to go back to the dungeon for a while? I’ve still got some time, and from the look of that crowd out there, you do, too.”

    I couldn’t even say how much I wanted to go back to the dungeon at that moment. I wasn’t even sure my legs would hold me up getting back there. Chase might have had to carry me. That made things even worse. “I forgive you. Maybe we could go back to the dungeon for a while.”

    But before I could throw my cup away, Detective Almond ducked his head into the coffee shop pretty much the way Tony did and spotted us. “I was looking for you two.”

    Everyone in the coffee shop stopped what they were doing to look at us. I dropped my cup in the trash; the urge to go to the dungeon left me. “I don’t know what else I can tell you. I think we went through it all yesterday.”

    “That was yesterday, Miz Morton.” He smiled in a way that made me wish I could follow my cup into the trash bin and hide out there for a while. “I think we might have a little something more to talk about today.”

     
 
Chase and I followed him across the street to the crime scene. Photographers snapped our pictures, wondering who we were, and TV reporters hailed Detective Almond, trying to get some answers.

    I looked around for Mary but didn’t see her. Queen Olivia was there with Roger Trent and Fred the Red Dragon. They were recounting their stories about what they’d seen before Livy found Joshua.

    I wasn’t sure what else I could say that would make any difference. I still wasn’t motivated to tell him things about Mary that could be bad for her. I looked up at Chase, and he shook his head. I felt like we were on the same wavelength. He wouldn’t say anything either.

    Detective Almond finally led us behind the privies and stopped at an area enclosed by yellow crime scene tape. “We think this is