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I’d just opened my mouth to say driving east sounded like a great idea when a gray blur bolted out of the hallway, sped past me, and rammed right into Boden’s leg as he was beginning to take a step in my direction. He stumbled, and, without thinking, I swung my overnight bag up into his jaw with all the force I could muster.
A startled “oof!” escaped his lips as he lost his balance and went down hard, his head missing one of the dining room chairs by mere inches.
Darn.
Still, I knew I didn’t have a moment to lose. “Get him, Archie!” I called out, and the cat descended on my unwanted guest’s face, scratching and hissing.
“Aiee!” screamed Boden, desperately batting at the attacking feline with both hands.
While he was occupied trying to fend off the cat, I hurried into the kitchen and got out one of my trusty extension cords, and tied it around his feet. As soon as Boden realized what I was doing, he tried to lash out at me — and actually landed a pretty good kick on one of my shins — but I only gritted my teeth against the pain and kept going.
Soon enough, I had him pretty well hog-tied, and did my best to ignore the threats and insults he hurled my way as I pulled my phone — somehow unscathed — out of his back pocket. However, before I could even enter my passcode, someone pounded on the front door.
“Selena! Are you in there?”
Calvin. I shot Archie a grateful look and a thumbs-up, and he gave one of his patented cat shrugs and headed back down the hall toward the office. I didn’t know whether he didn’t want to speak around Boden — although, according to him, I was the only one who could understand what he said, thanks to being a witch — or whether he didn’t feel like wasting time pointing out that once again, he’d been forced to come to my rescue.
I got to my knees and hurried over to the front door. Calvin stared down at me, looking positively wide-eyed for him.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” I said, although I knew I might have to reassess that claim once I was able to determine exactly how much damage Boden’s kick had caused. “Here’s your guy.”
I stepped out of the way so Calvin could get a good look at our perpetrator, still squirming and cursing on the floor.
Those amused crinkles appeared around his dark eyes. “I see you’ve put those extension cords to good use again.”
“They do come in handy,” I admitted. “Although I’m starting to think I should invest in a pair of handcuffs.”
A flash of white teeth. “I like the sound of that.”
Exasperated, I poked him and nodded toward Boden. “First things first.”
Still smiling, Calvin went and knelt next to the other man. “Boden Marsh, I’m placing you under arrest for the murder of Lilith Black. You have the right to remain silent….”
I listened, and felt a smile of my own touch my mouth.
Sometimes, justice was served piping hot.
18
All’s Well
It turnedout that the reason why Calvin hadn’t arrested Boden Marsh for Emily Porter’s murder as well was because she wasn’t actually dead.
After Boden had been carted away by a couple of San Ramon tribal police, headed for his arraignment, Calvin stayed behind at my apartment to fill me in.
“I got your text and went over to Emily’s house right away,” he explained. “When there wasn’t an answer, I went ahead and broke in so I could search the place. I found her on the floor in the master bedroom, tied up and barely breathing.”
“What did he do to her?” I asked, not sure if I really wanted to hear the answer.
“Strangled her and left her for dead,” Calvin said. His mouth tightened in anger before he went on, “But she’s a tough girl, and she hung on. If I’d been even a few minutes later….”
The words trailed off there, and I shivered, then said, “But you weren’t. You got there in time.”
“Barely. I called an ambulance and waited until she was taken away, then figured since you weren’t at her house, you must have gone back to your place.” He paused there and sent me an unreadable look. “What in the hell was Boden Marsh doing here?”
“Kidnapping me so he could take me on some sort of cross-country crime spree,” I replied. “Or maybe just trying to get me away so I could become the ultimate witch of his fantasies. I don’t know for sure…and I probably don’t want to.”
