Wickedly Dangerous (Baba Yaga, #1)(33)
“Is that from Bertie’s?” he asked. As if Nina would take her lunch break anywhere else.
“You bet your bippy,” the older woman said, a smart-assed grin creasing her narrow face. Her chin was pointed and her eyebrows sparse, and even when she was younger she’d been no one’s idea of a beauty, but Liam valued her more than any ten runway models for her loyalty and her brains. “Bertie’s special bacon cheeseburger with the bacon extra crispy, just the way you like it. I had a feeling you probably didn’t remember to stop and eat.”
Molly nodded in satisfaction. Nina and Molly had been mothering him since Melissa left. Since before that, really. Sometimes it got on his nerves, but he knew they meant well. Besides, if it got him a bacon cheeseburger from Bertie’s, it was worth it. They both stood there and waited until he’d taken three huge bites, savoring the moist ground beef, the sharp bite of the cheddar cheese, and the smoky richness of the bacon, almost moaning as the juices dripped onto the napkin spread out in front of him.
“Thanks, Nina,” he finally said, swallowing the last delicious mouthful. “You may have saved my life.”
She sniffed. “Hey, I was there anyway. It’s no big deal.” It was their unspoken agreement: she pretended not to care, and he pretended to believe her. Nina liked to believe that no one saw through her tough exterior to the warm heart underneath, and everyone at the station played along, just to keep her happy.
Molly put the memos for Liam to deal with down on the desk, their corners neatly aligned. “I’m glad you’re back, Nina,” she said, a tiny wrinkle appearing between her brows. “Dispatch has been hopping since you went out; I thought Deputy Lewis was going to give himself a muscle spasm trying to keep up.”
“Crazy,” Liam repeated, shaking his head. He pushed the second half of his lunch away, his appetite suddenly gone. “What the hell is going on around here?”
Nina pursed her thin lips. “You should hear the talk at Bertie’s. People are saying their feed supplies rotted overnight, or are infested with rats. Frank Shasta said he had a plague of snakes—just harmless garter snakes, but apparently they were everywhere. His wife Mildred got so freaked out, she went to stay with her mother until he could get rid of them.”
“Seriously?” Molly looked amazed. “That must have been a hell of a lot of snakes; Mildred’s mother is a crabby old harpy.”
Nina nodded in satisfaction. There was nothing she liked better than a good gossip, and lately, it seemed like there was a never-ending supply of weird news, bad news, and just plain oddness.
“Carter Hastings told me that he had a giant sinkhole open up in the middle of one of his fields. Nothing there one day, and the next, a hole big enough to lose a whole herd of cattle in. He said it hardly mattered, though, because all his best dairy cows had gone dry. The vet’s got no idea why. Poor Carter’s going to have to sell off a quarter of the herd at rock-bottom prices.”
“Huh,” Molly said. “I’ve heard of a couple of other farmers who had the same problem. The cows going dry, not the sinkhole. It’s like someone cursed the whole county.” She gave Liam a halfhearted smile and handed him three matching red message sheets. “And speaking of curses, here’s your special one: the mayor wants to see you in his office at two.”
A sigh escaped Liam like air from a balloon at the end of a party. “Did he say what he wanted?” Not that it mattered. Whatever it was, it wouldn’t be good.
She shrugged. “No. But he’s called three times to see if you were back yet, so I’m guessing it’s important.” She shoved the remains of Liam’s cooling burger back toward him. “You’d better eat that. Something tells me you’re going to need your strength.”
As she and Nina left the room, he muttered to himself, “I think I’d rather be chasing wolves.”
*
BABA SAT AT a small table in Bertie’s, drinking coffee and trying to pretend that she belonged there. To her amazement, it seemed to be working. One thing about small towns, she thought, word got around fast. People she’d met nodded to her as she came into the room; people she hadn’t met looked at her curiously, seemed to figure out exactly who she was, and went back to their food. It was an odd feeling for someone who was always a stranger everywhere she went. Odder yet, she almost thought she liked it.
“Sorry I’m late,” Belinda said, sliding into the seat across from Baba. “We’ve been going crazy down at the station, trying to keep up with all sorts of weird calls from normally sane people.” Dark circles shadowed her eyes as she gazed across the table at Baba. “I don’t suppose you’ve made any progress finding Mary Elizabeth?” Hope and despair warred with each other on her pretty face, the despair winning when Baba shook her head.
“I’ve got a couple of leads I’m following up on,” Baba said. “I’m sorry I don’t have anything more concrete to tell you than that. But we will get your daughter back, I promise you.” She found herself making the promise as much to the universe as to the deputy; she liked this woman, with her brave heart and her unyielding faith in the Baba. Barbara wasn’t going to let her down.
“Heya, Belinda,” a waitress said as she came up to the table. Lucy, Baba thought, recognizing the pouf of blond hair. “Hey, Miz Yager. I gotta tell ya, that cream you gave me for my bunions worked a treat.” She wiggled one wide foot, clad in bright red sneakers with zebra-striped laces. “First time my foot hasn’t hurt in two years.” She turned her beaming smile on Belinda, patting the deputy on the shoulder with a motherly air. “How ya holdin’ up, honey?”