Page 7 of Coven of Corpses

He seemed to be hearing only every other word, but he didn’t want to ask her to repeat herself. “Um, okay.”

“Trevor was sitting up against the back of the house, holding it in his hands.”

A distant part of him noticed, and appreciated, that Mac had referred to Trevor’s paws as hands. He forced himself to instead shift his focus and follow the flow of the conversation.

“What’s it used for?”

“Quite often a hex bag will have a malicious intent behind it.”

He took another step back. “Should you be handling it like that?”

“This bag does not have a malicious intent.”

“How do you know?”

“I can feel its energy.”

He had no idea what to say to that. “Oh?”

“Yes. I’m a practicing Wiccan. Did you not know that?”

“I… did not.” But, he thought, it did make a lot more sense. “Is this something Trevor brought here from somewhere else? I mean, he often brings shiny objects or other things to the yard. The other night he brought a pair of women’s underwear. No idea where he got them.”

“He is a curious creature,” Mac said with a smirk. “But, no. He dug it up from the flower bed beneath your bedroom window.”

“You think someone put it there?”

“That’s right. Someone planted this outside the room where you sleep. I believe they wanted to provide protection for you both.”

“Protection from what?”

Mac’s expression turned serious. “I don’t know, but my guess is something evil may have found its way to Parson’s Hollow. Someone out there knows about it and wanted to protect the two of you.”

CHAPTER THREE

“You could show a little more gratitude, that’s all I’m saying.”

Cody grunted. He tried to keep any attitude out of it, but… Well, Demmy’d told him more than once he shed attitude like a dog shed hair.

“Oh, so you’ve got a different opinion about that now?” Jugs stood in the middle of the aisle, fists on hips, feet spread. His eyebrows were up. Like, way up. So far up they’d almost joined his hairline.

“I didn’t say anything.” Cody grabbed another box off the pallet and slid it into place at the back of the shelves. “All I did was give an agreeable grunt.”

“That was in no way agreeable.”

Cody pulled off his gloves and rubbed a knuckle into one eye. The shelves were dusty, and his eyes were tired. Hell, his entire body was tired, including his knuckle.

“All I’m saying⁠—”

“I know. It’s all you’ve been saying for an hour now.” Cody pulled his glove back on. Well, yanked was more like it. “I’m thankful, okay? I’m glad your girlfriend told you it would be better for your relationship if you didn’t work together and you found this job. I’m grateful you thought of me when another junior level position in the stock management chain of command here at lovely Bulk & Beyond in scenic Harriettville opened up. I’m thankful beyond words that two weeks after my grandmother died, and with a house full of family, I’m able to come into work late at night and stock shelves like some kind of oversized underpaid elf. Thank you, Jugs old pal, for all the gifts you’ve bestowed upon me.”

Jugs glared. Cody dropped his chin to his chest. His heart pounded, and the muscles at the base of his neck felt stretched taut as a barbed wire fence. He closed his eyes and pulled in a breath. The smell of the store filled him: dust, cardboard, grease, fertilizer, and his own sweat. The automatic doors at the front of the store made a scraping sound as they opened. The old guy stationed in the greeter post called out a greeting. His voice croaked, making him sound like one of the giant bullfrogs that had lived in his Aunt Marlene’s pond on her farm.

When he lifted his head again, Jugs was gone.

“Oh, for the love of…”

He didn’t have the patience to track Jugs down at the moment. And anyway, he was too worked up to conjure the words for the apology he knew he needed to make. He turned in a circle, looked up at the metal roof and exposed duct work high overhead, and blew out a breath. Standing in place, head tipped back, he stared at the ceiling without seeing it. All he saw on the mental drive-in movie screen of his mind was every stupid thing he’d done in the past year. And that wasn’t just a trailer’s worth of scenes, that was a full-on feature.