I took the coin out of the water, dried it off, and placed it back into the bag. Drew stuffed it back into his pocket. “I’ll need to return it to evidence.”
Rushing upstairs and to my room, I heard water running in the upstairs bathroom. When I passed it, I stopped and stared with my mouth open, truly shocked. After the things I’d seen over the last few months, I hadn’t expected to be shocked again. Ever.
Larry stood in front of the sink, water running, and a washcloth in his hand. And he was cleaning out his eye sockets.
Eww. It was disturbing, yet I couldn’t look away. How the hell could he see to know he was cleaning them thoroughly?
Owen stopped next to me. “That is not right.”
“Tell me about it.” We stared in silence as he finished with his eye sockets and wiped down all of his… uh, face, and even his teeth.
Just then Larry turned to us and we jumped. “Morning…well afternoon, guys.” Then he turned off the water, draped the washcloth over the faucet, and then left the bathroom, walking past us like it was completely normal for a skeleton to clean his eyes sockets.
When did my life take a turn to Crazytown?
Chapter Fifteen
“I’m more excited than I thought I’d be.” I had butterflies in my stomach, but I was thrilled to be doing something other than reading grimoires and raising the dead.
We walked down the sidewalk from the spot we’d had to park in. It was a good thing my date was the town sheriff, otherwise, we’d have been just as likely to find a parking spot in my yard, way outside of town.
Everyone in the county had turned up for this shindig. I hadn’t remembered it being this busy when I was a kid.
“You know,” Drew said as his knuckles brushed mine, sending a jolt of pleasure through me. “Your family were founders.”
I glanced at him out of the corner of my eye as we stepped onto the sidewalk lining Main Street, leaving his SUV in the police department parking lot. “I do know that. How do you?”
He shrugged. “I read the founders’ book.” For some reason, he didn’t quite meet my eyes.
Tipping my voice up into an innocent lilt, I gave him a megawatt smile. “You did?” I asked. “Whatever for?”
He snickered. “Don’t act like that. I can’t be interested in what’s going on in my town?”
We crossed the street at the town’s only stoplight, heading for the big gazebo in the park in the middle of town. All of the shops were designed in a square around it with the police station and fire station just down the road.
“Hey!” Carrie called. She had a bean bag toss game set up. “Play? Proceeds go toward getting new desks in the Kindergarten classrooms.”
“Sure,” Drew said, pulling out his wallet. “How much?”
“A dollar gets you three throws. If you win, you get to pick a prize from the prize bucket.”
I peered into the bucket and clasped my hands together. “Please, win me a prize,” I said. “I need this tiara.” There was a silver, plastic tiara in the bucket that would look amazing on me.
Drew grinned and tossed the little bean bag in the air a few times before turning to the table.
“Stand there.” Carrie pointed to a piece of tape on the grass. “The blue tape is for adults. Green is for kids. Pink is for toddlers.”
“Whoops,” Drew said. He was standing on the green and backed up. “Here we go. A tiara for my lady.”
I clapped as he threw and missed completely. “Aw, that’s okay.” I tried to give him a supportive and encouraging look, but it mostly came across as me just laughing at him.
“Uh-huh,” he said. “I’m just getting warmed up.”
He threw again and tipped the top bottle on the triangle. “See?” he said. “Third time’s a charm.”
“Right.” I squinted at the last beanbag in his hand. As he threw it, and while it sailed through the air, I twitched my finger and set it on more of a straight and true course.
Unfortunately, Drew had thrown it very wide, so when I corrected it, there was a noticeable curve. As the bottles clattered to the ground, both Drew and Carrie eyed me suspiciously.
I looked around the square, pretending they weren’t staring at me and trying to figure out if I’d helped him. With a small jump, I faked noticing they were staring at me. “What? Oh! You won! Yay!” I hurried forward and grabbed the cheap tiara from the prize bucket. “Awesome.”
Drew took it and carefully positioned it on my head, shaking his own as he did. “Cheater,” he said quietly.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, but I want to go over there next.” I pointed toward the next booth. “I think we’re expected there.”
“What do you mean?” Drew eyed the dunking booth suspiciously. “Why would we be expected?”
Luci walked around the large booth and clapped when he saw us. “Oh, lovely. Our first volunteer. Come around here and get changed, please.”
Drew turned to me with wide, panicked eyes. “What is happening?”
“Well,” I said carefully. “Luci here asked me yesterday if you’d be game to take a turn in the dunking booth, and I said sure, why not?”
His face went from shocked to scrunched up and suspicious. “Are you trying to get me to get you back?”
I shrugged. “Perhaps. Maybe I find it interesting to see what you think you can come up with to pay me back.”
He laughed low in his throat. Not quite amusement, more of a promise of retribution. “Oh, I look forward to coming up with something.”
“Come along,” Luci called. “I’ve got a little changing tent back here.”
Drew walked around the tank but kept his narrowed gaze on me, his eyes promising I was going to regret this.
Whatever he came up with would be totally worth it.
Two minutes later, he climbed into the tank and sat on the little pedestal in a pair of swim trunks. He shivered and crossed his arms around his wide chest.
He had a dusting of hair on his chest, not much, but what I could see of it was just beginning to go gray. Like the hair at his temples.
His stomach hadn’t begun to paunch, even though he was certainly old enough for it. Instead, he sat there, shivering, with the body of an older man who took care of himself. Thick, firm muscles. Broad shoulders.
Oh, geez. Now I was nervous about the fact that we might, in the near future, see one another totally naked. Utterly in the buff. My insecurities about my body flashed through my mind, but I shoved them to the side as I fished five dollars out of my purse.
“Come one and come all!” Luci said in a booming voice. “Dunk the sheriff for a mere five dollars! All proceeds go to helping the firehouse get new hoses!”
I chuckled and Luci gave me a dirty look. Not many of us even knew he was the actual devil, but at least a handful of townspeople would likely get a snicker out of the fact that the devil was raising money to help put out fires. Irony.
“I’ll go!” I called. Unbeknownst to either Luci or Drew, I sent a small spell to the water. Drew was cold now, and he’d be cold when he emerged from the water, but I made sure the water would be warm and comfortable. He’d want to get dunked to warm up. It was the least I could do after voluntelling him that he was dunking.