when the doctors discovered the cancer, they told me it would be expensive to treat.”
Hannah stared at the wall behind me, her eyes taking on a faraway look. “I told Sadie, of course, and she took it upon herself to do whatever she could to take the extra stress from my life.”
Now the pieces started snapping into place. “She gave you the money.” My money, I wanted to say. Well, technically our money, but at this point I considered it mine.
Hannah nodded. “And a lot of it, too. I needed more than I ever could have imagined, and Sadie always helped me out. I would ask where she got it from, and she just said that she had taken out a loan.”
“Mmm,” I said.
Hannah’s face pinched with sadness. “I hated the idea that my own child had taken out a loan for me, but I couldn’t stop her from doing it, you know?”
I licked my lips. “I’m afraid that Sadie wasn’t completely honest with you.”
“No?”
“She was taking out a loan, but it wasn’t from a bank. She found, let’s just say…some shady men who don’t like it when the bills aren’t paid.”
Hannah looked horror-struck. “You mean she took money from the wizard mafia?”
Now it was my turn to look horrified. I dropped my voice to a whisper. “You know about them?”
“Of course,” she snarled. “Everyone does.”
“I didn’t.”
Hannah pursed her lips. “That’s because anyone can see that you don’t want to have a thing to do with your magic.”
“I resent that. And why the heck can everyone tell that about me?”
Hannah flicked her hand at me. “Shh. Keep your voice down.” She sipped her whiskey and sucked on her teeth. “I had no idea that Sadie had done such a foolish thing.”
“Not only that,” I added, “but she put our business up against the loan, and now they want twenty grand or they’re taking my business away.”
Hannah clutched my hand. “I’m so sorry. So very, very sorry. I hate that you’ve gotten wrapped up in this.”
I hiked a shoulder to my ear. “What can I do about it now? Nothing.”
“If I had known that, I never would have taken the money. I would have come down here and handed it back.”
I shook my head. “Please don’t say that. But are you well?”
Her lips tipped up into a sad smile. “It’s the only good thing that’s come out of this—that Sadie got to hear me say the words, ‘I’m healed.’ Have been for a year.”
“A year?”
Hannah nodded. “Oh yes, that’s when my treatments stopped.”
But Sadie had still been withdrawing money recently. Why, if Hannah was cured?
“Were bills still coming in?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No, they were done. All paid for.”
Why was Sadie still borrowing from the mafia?
“I’m sorry, dear,” Hannah said. “If I could take it all back, I would.”
My heart broke for her. “I’m curious.”
Hannah ironed a napkin flat with her fingers. “About what?”
“What did you do?” I leaned in. “You know, to make the entire town turn against you?”
“Oh, I—”
“There she is, Sheriff! There’s the woman who attacked us!”
That voice, the one that interrupted Hannah, I knew it well enough that I didn’t have to turn and look to see whose ugly face it belonged to, but I did so anyway.
I glanced over my shoulder to see Tuney Sluggs standing beside good old truck driver Buddy and his nasty friend, Buddy Junior.
Buddy Junior, the first guy that I’d knocked out, pointed an oil-stained finger at me. “That’s the woman who attacked me! I demand you arrest her right now!”
Chapter 16
Tuney Sluggs crossed over and wiped a hand down the stubble peppering his chin. He wore his uniform, complete with cowboy boots. There was no bathrobe and slippers today.
“That’s her,” Buddy sneered. “She did something to me and my friend—attacked us somehow, and the next thing I knew, I was knocked out.”
I rose. “Chief Sluggs, I’m afraid this is some sort of misunderstanding. I don’t know what that man is talking about.”
Buddy Junior stomped his boot on the floor. “It was assault, plain and simple. Now, arrest her.”
Shane came out from around the bar. “Whoa, Chief. What’s going on here?”
The chief glanced at the two men. “They came into my office complaining that they were assaulted in your bar.”
Shane glanced from Sluggs to me and back. “I was here that night. So was Clementine, but from what I understand, another woman knocked both of them out.”
Buddy Junior shook his head. “Wasn’t another woman. Was her.”
What, did he always forget