Free KISS THE WITCH by Dana Donovan Page A

the
wheel and made quotation signs in the air with his
fingers.
    I nodded. “Yeah, me neither. You know I only
wish we had a reason to bring him in for questioning, maybe keep
him overnight. At least that way we would know he’s safe.”
    “ So, let’s go back and
arrest him.”
    “ On what
charges?”
    “ We’ll say he took a swing
at you.”
    “ Lie?”
    “ Yeah. Isn’t that a good
cop bad cop thing?”
    “ No. That’s a bad cop bad
cop thing.”
    He soured his face but kept his eyes on the
road ahead. It took another mile or so before he turned to me
again. “We could invite him.”
    By then, my mind had drifted off into
what-ifs. What if we had stopped the two men accompanying Ferguson
to the door and asked to see their IDs? Better, if we asked them
for their weapons permits. At least we would have their names and
possibly the names of their employers. No telling what Spinelli
might have dug up then.
    “ Did you hear me?” said
Carlos.
    “ What?” I blinked and
found myself recalculating our location based on the scenery change
outside my window.
    “ I said we could invite
him.”
    “ Invite who?”
    “ Ferguson. Invite him to
spend a night at the jail.”
    “ Why would he do
that?”
    “ Uh, hello. To keep from
getting killed?”
    “ Oh. Yes, Carlos. You do
that.”
    I’m not entirely certain, but I think that
later he did.
     
     
     
SIX
     
     
    I spent the rest of the afternoon with Carlos
and Spinelli going over the accident reports for Williams, Delaney,
Gerardi, Brookfield and McSweeney. We had no reports yet on our
latest victim, Howard Snow, as the house he was in when it blew up
was still too hot to bring in cadaver dogs. So technically, he was
not yet dead.
    From the way the reports read, one would
have no sense of foul play regarding the deaths of the five. I
mean, you cannot read too much into a drowning, an electrocution, a
couple of deadly falls and a train wreck. As the old adage goes, if
it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck then…. Well, you
know.
    It was just getting dark when I thought I
had better start home to Lilith and Ursula. Though I promised both
I would take part in their witch’s coven ceremony, I have to admit
I was not looking forward to it. Exactly why, I cannot say. It was
not because I knew we would be getting naked together. Frankly, I
am not that shy, and having seen Lilith naked a thousand times, one
might argue I have seen Ursula naked a thousand times, as well.
Although I would not put it just that way to Spinelli. And that
Ursula had seen me in the buff on that stark occasion meant that we
all could accept that aspect of the evening as no big deal.
    Boy was I wrong.
    I entered the house on a thread of
trepidation. I suspect that happens when one comes home to a house
lit entirely by candlelight. The sweet smell of jasmine and
cinnamon hung in the air in thin wisps. In the background, a CD
playing nature sounds mingled like forest whispers with the
incense.
    Naturally, I assumed I was late and that the
girls started without me. I expected at any moment I would hear
Lilith cracking the relative peace with a righteous volley of
pissing and moaning over my habitual tardiness. Instead, I heard a
voice like an angel’s, speaking so softly I thought it was only in
my head.
    “ What?” I asked, needing
to be sure.
    “ Come and be welcomed
worthy thane. Let our hearts be thy guide, our souls thy
light.”
    “ Ursula?” I stepped
closer, and my eyes began adjusting to the dim light. I saw her
sitting on the floor Indian style, naked, her palms flat upon her
knees. But for her hair tied in a bun the way she likes to wear it,
I would have thought it was Lilith. To see her completely nude,
however, I could not be entirely sure it was not.
    I eased my shoes off and kicked them to the
side. Her eyes followed them, first one shoe and then the other. I
have always realized the striking resemblances between her and
Lilith, yet I found myself utterly struck by the