THE WITCH HITS A GLITCH (A Rachael Penzra Mystery) by Shawn Elizabeth

Author:Shawn, Elizabeth [Shawn, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2011-09-16T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINE

Pink Clover

(Injured dignity)

“Do not trifle with me.”

The family met us outside in front of the hotel, their anxious eyes scanning our equally anxious faces, making it clear they were somehow expecting us to be the bearers of good news. My heart sank at the sight of them. I’d maintained the fantasy, deep down, that it had all been a mistake and Aunt Myrtle had just been up to one of her normal misadventures. She’d simply wandered off on some errand so bizarre no one else would ever guess her destination. It had happened before. Just last year she had decided she needed to get away from it all, whatever that meant, and had checked into a hotel, one six blocks from her house, without telling anyone. The entire family had been in a frenzy of worry. Two days later she showed up, looking very rested, and she couldn’t understand what all the fuss was about.

But I knew this was no innocent misadventure. Poor, sweet, dingy Aunt Myrtle was really missing, and at the rate things had been going, could quite possibly be in serious trouble.

“Nothing?” I asked, as I stepped out of the car. They all started talking at once, even Dad. The idea Dad even tried to get a word in edgewise when the Sisters were on a verbal tirade gave me a pretty good idea of how worried he was about his sister-in-law. If my easy-going father was that upset, it did nothing to set my mind at ease.

“I told her to wait in her room until we were ready and came to pick her up,” Ma wailed, wringing her hands together.

“Yes,” Dad backed her up. “I thought it was understood, but you know your aunt. She nodded yes, but I wouldn’t put it past her to have had her fingers crossed behind her back. Or in her case, inside her bag. Now that I come to think of it, she did have her hand in…”

“Don't think she just wandered off this time,” Uncle Wes muttered. “Been gone too long.”

“Myrtle has always been obstinate,” Aunt Fern declared. “Herbert always said that.”

“And now she’s paying for it,” Aunt Iris whined.

I thought managing to defer payment on such a large debt until you’re sixty-nine wasn’t a bad achievement. Being a witch, I believe in what goes around comes around, times three. Aunt Myrtle, if she was as naughty as it appeared, must have been moving awfully fast to have avoided punishment this long.

“The main thing is to find her,” I interrupted their discussion, which was rapidly moving away from the subject at hand. I knew it was just their way of handling the situation, but I wasn’t in the mood to listen to them place blame, argue, and waste precious time which could be spent trying to find Aunt Myrtle.

“We’ve looked everywhere,” Aunt Fern spat, sounding furious. She hated not being in control of any aspect of life. It was only right, in her mind, that her younger sister reappear the moment she began inconveniencing everyone, particularly her oldest sister.

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