in the kinds of supernatural threats we do our best to protect them from. We try to keep it that way.
“What do you know about the disappearances?” I asked quietly.
Mrs. Teller went back to her weaving. “I know I’ve been called out to bless a dozen staircases in the last two days,” she replied. “And I know there are people who are mighty scared.”
“We’re trying to figure out what’s going on,” I said.
Mrs. Teller nodded sagely. “Figured as much. Blessing those stairs might help keep the dark away, and I can send some folks away with gris-gris bags and jack balls, but this nonsense is gonna have to stop.”
“Mama’s trying to tell you that if you need us, we’ll be there to help,” Niella said, with a sidelong glance at her mother.
Mrs. Teller glared back. “I don’t need you to speak my mind for me,” she snapped. “But she’s right. I knew one of those men who disappeared.”
“You did? Was there anything unusual about him?”
Mrs. Teller shook her head. “He didn’t have ‘abilities’, if that’s what you mean. Nobody special. Just a friend. He’d been in a bit of trouble, but he was just getting everything straightened out and now –” She sighed. “If Niella and I can help, you just give a holler, you hear?”
I smiled. “I do hear you,” I replied. “And if we need your ‘abilities’, I’ll let you know.”
Mrs. Teller nodded. “Good enough,” she said, fingers still flying on her weaving. “Now best you get on. And you tell Teag for me that it’s been too long since he’s been ’round for a lesson.”
“I’ll be sure to let him know,” I said, giving a wave and heading off. The day was bright, but my thoughts were dark as I headed to Forbidden City to pick up lunch.
Teag was busy with a customer when I got back to the store. I carried the bags of food into the break room, and Maggie followed me. “A strange man came looking for someone named Sorren,” she said, a worried expression on her face. “I told him I didn’t know anyone by that name. Teag was in the back, so he wasn’t there to shoo this fellow away. Looked like a rough sort.”
“Did he say anything else?” I asked, glancing at the door.
“He said he’d be back. That there was a reckoning to be had. And that this Sorren fellow had better be prepared to finish what he started.”
“What did he look like?” I asked. I didn’t know whether to take what the stranger said as a pronouncement of fact, or a threat. And until I knew whose side he was on, I intended to be very careful.
“Big guy, about as tall as my husband, maybe six foot six or so,” Maggie replied. “He had a leather jacket on, funny with the heat to wear that, don’t you think? And it was pretty beat up, plenty of scratches. He looked like he’d been in a few fights himself. Had a scar that wound around one eye and down his cheek, and he was missing part of an ear. His hands were all scarred up, too, and he had several big silver rings that looked like they’d hurt if you got hit with them.”
Yikes. “Thanks, Maggie,” I said. “We’ll keep an eye out for him. If you see him again, make sure you yell for Teag or me.” I managed a smile. “Now why don’t you sit down and eat, and I’ll cover for you and Teag.”
I went up front to handle any customers while Teag and Maggie ate, then came back to finish my lunch after they were done. Mrs. Teller was right. There’s a storm brewing. And unless we figure something out, fast, we’re going to be smack dab in the middle of it.
THAT EVENING, BAXTER and I had some old people to cheer up. I closed up shop at Trifles and Folly, warning Teag and Maggie to be extra careful. The stranger who had been looking for Sorren didn’t come back, and I didn’t spot Coffee Guy anywhere near the store. I headed home to get changed and have a bite to eat. My little blue Mini Cooper slid into a parking space near the curb and I checked all around me before I got out, but there were no lurking strangers or ominous shadows.
I live in what Charlestonians call a ‘single house’. The house is turned with the narrow side toward the street, so the main door