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"Right" Since I’d been going through the files, othereldritch signs The dead leaves were a dead giveaway "Give et another complaint"

"Will do"

I took a stroll down the dock anyway No sign of the kids this , but I stopped by a few of the restaurants and bars along the river and asked the ers to call me if the kids returned My phone buzzed with a reply fro to meet me for lunch at Callahan’s Café at twelve thirty After sending a confir by the Sisters of Selene, Pemkowet’s local occult store, to pick the Fabulous Casi queen, although his cross-dressing has to do with the shaure He’s over six feet tall without the wig, and the towering Marie Antoinette nuht ing up a purchase and the store emptied for a moment

"Hey, Miss Daisy" Casimir fussed with a display of charmed crystals that the last batch of tourists had disturbed "Whatever went down at Rainbow’s End last night, I hope you know none of ave a little shiver "From what I heard, that was no love spell"

"No, I know," I said "It was a satyr"

"A satyr?"

"A satyr in rut," I clarified "Any thoughts?"

Casiical beasties"

"Okay," I said "How about obeah? That’s a kind of ered hands went still "Not really, dahling, no It’s a little outside raphic purview" Beneath heavy makeup and false eyelashes, his eyes were shrewd "Mind if I ask why? Because I don’t think that had anything to do with the shenanigans at the club last night"

I shrugged Sinclair hadn’t given me permission to discuss it, so it was best to honor the eldritch code

"Never ertip "I can guess Is it causingproblems?"

"No," I said honestly "I’irl There’s a tie, and it ain’t necessarily during the early days of a young roer atfor trouble or you ht just find it"

"I’roup of tourists entered the store, and the Fabulous Casi the time on my phone, I decided to pay a visit to Mr Leary before lunch

"Daisy!" Casimir called after me

I paused in the doorway "Yeah?"

"I didn’t mean to put you off, honey" Beneath the ically placed beautyure out a way to help hiht--I’o on--get out of here!"

I drove across the bridge from Pemkowet to East Peood reason, since the communities are intertwined In terovernance, they are actually two separate entities, and there’s a little bit of rivalry on the local level, too I have fondpart in the annual Easties vs Townies battle that goes down every Halloween night, cos

Once upon a time, East Pemkoas a little more down-to-earth and hoe, but in the past ten years, it had beco down Main Street, I couldn’t help but notice the improvements, which included so Well, except for Boo Radley’s house

That’s e called it in high school, anyway I don’t knohat it was called before To Kill a Mockingbird ca Tudor Revival with cru white stucco and dark exterior ork, the kind that looked like it was integral to the structure, not just a veneer

According to local legend, Clancy Brannigan, the last living descendant of Talan, owned the place I’d never seen him, but the cashiers at Tafts Grocery clai back decades No one ever got to go inside the house, though The bill was paid in advance by a check drawn from a business account and deliveries were left in the shuttered, decrepit wooden gazebo in the front yard Generations of schoolkids had haunted the place, trying to catch a glimpse of our local Boo Radley, to no avail

Anyway