A Wishing Moon by Sable Hunter Page B

down. Her brain told her just to let well enough alone, but her heart demanded she see this thing through. She promised herself she would do just that as soon as the holidays were behind them—if she could stand to wait that long.
    Most of the food they were preparing was for Christmas Day dinner, but Angelique prepared a Seafood Jambalaya for their supper. Along with crusty French bread and a rum-raisin bread pudding, the meal was finally complete. Heavenly smells were wafting through the French Country kitchen when a knock sounded at the front door. Elizabeth went to answer it, with a knowing smile of recognition on her face.
    “ Detective Garrison, please come in,” she invited with a sultry warm hint in her voice. The man stepped warily through the door as if he were expecting to be ambushed. Arabella saw Elizabeth hide a smile as she appreciated his tall, sexy body and wavy, thick, brown hair. Uh-oh…trouble.

    * * * *

    “ Come into my parlor, said the spider to the fly.” Elizabeth just couldn’t seem to help herself. He liked her, she could read his thoughts like the morning newspaper. But he was a little afraid of her too—well, that could be remedied with a few kisses.
    Garrison followed her into the kitchen and accepted a mug of thick eggnog. “You ladies are very nice, and I wouldn’t want you to be hurt by the negative things people say when they don’t understand or don’t have all the information. I’ll have to admit, all the conjecture that is floating around about you and this case has thrown me a curve. So, I’ve come for some answers.”
    “ Sit, Mr. Garrison.” Nanette commanded. “Tell us what you would like to know.”
    By the look on his face, Elizabeth could tell that Nanette intimidated him. “Call me Tyler, if you’d like, all of you.” He met their eyes, one by one. “I need to understand what happened at the Townsend’s yesterday. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful for the information, but right now I have no evidence to point me in any direction, but at the five of you.” Clearing his throat, he continued. “Now, I have enough sense to know none of you are responsible, or at least that’s what my gut is telling me, but I need more help. I need something concrete to work with. I want to understand.”
    None of the rest of them knew what to say, but Elizabeth burst out laughing. “You are just too cute for words. I am grateful for your superior gut, Tyler. My family and I would not appreciate being labeled suspects, not after our willingness to assist you in your investigation.”
    He sipped his eggnog, appearing to be deep in thought. “First of all, tell me again how you knew where to find the bodies.”
    Arabella spoke up. “This whole thing started with me. When Rachel realized Kathy and Lea were missing, she came to me. You had told her it was too soon to file a missing person’s report and she didn’t know what else to do. She couldn’t stand just sitting around and doing nothing and she remembered my family has…uh…powers.”
    Detective Garrison interrupted Arabella. “Powers, you say. Do you know people in Wimberley say you are witches?”
    “ I am familiar with that description, yes.” Arabella admitted. “The label doesn’t offend us, Tyler. Most people have an erroneous definition of the word witch, but in our case it’s an accurate description.”
    They watched in amusement as the color drained from his face. Elizabeth took up the explanation. “Don’t faint, detective. We won’t stick you in the oven and Hansel you. We are not your HBO kind of scary, baby killing witches. We are the kinder, gentler, garden-variety, hedge-witch type.”
    “ There are types?” He found his voice.
    Nanette chimed in, “It’s okay, Tyler. Let me see if I can alleviate some of your worry. We are not devil worshiping Satanists. Nor are we Wiccan. We are a family who has unique powers that we were born with. Powers which can come to your aid, if you will allow us