Arcanum (Tales from the Tarot)

35. Chris

Chapter thirty-five

Chris

M apleton might have gone all out for its fall activities but Christmas was a very, very close second. A week before Christmas, the Chamber of Commerce hosted a candlelight shopping event, complete with a chocolate walk where people could sample gourmet chocolates and hot cocoa at the different stores. As a result, Arcanum was open much later than it normally would be.

Finished with my shopping, I checked my watch and headed toward the bookstore to see if Greyson was almost ready to close.

People bustled up and down the sidewalks, bags swinging from their hands. Arcanum must have been busy since a small group had clustered outside the window of the bookstore. Except they didn’t look happy or enchanted by Greyson’s frosty window display.

The closer I got, the sound of raised voices spilled out into the night as a patron practically ran out of the store.

Dropping my bags, I shouldered my way through the crowd. I yanked the door open and darted inside, nearly tripping over a pile of books on the floor.

Ted Berger of all fucking people stood in the center of the store, a path of destruction in his wake as he stalked toward Greyson, crushing spilled chocolates underfoot.

“Where the fuck is she, you motherfucker?!” Ted screamed.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Greyson yelled back.

Ted seized Greyson by the front of his shirt, his fist cocked back. Lunging forward, I grabbed his arm and spun him away from Greyson, putting myself between the two in the process.

“You want to fight someone? Fight me, you piece of shit! But don’t you ever put your hands on him again! Do you hear me?!” I squared off with Ted, waiting—and hoping—to see if he’d be stupid enough to take me up on my offer. I’d been dying to beat his ass as long as I’d known him and the feeling only grew with each interaction.

Ted sneered. “So you and all your little cop buddies can jump me? Nice try.”

“Do you see a badge?” I shot back. “No. So go ahead. I’ll let you hit me first. I know you’re fucking dying to.”

Ted snorted and spit on the floor. “You’re not fucking worth it, Brandt.”

“Not so fun when your opponent fights back, huh?”

“Chris,” Greyson said under his breath, like he was trying to warn me to stop provoking Ted. Fat chance.

“If I find out you helped her, I’m coming back here.” Ted stabbed a finger at Greyson. “Cop or no cop, you’re a dead man.”

“Did you seriously threaten him in front of me, you dumb fuck?!” I took a step forward, fists clenched, but Greyson grabbed onto the back of my jacket and kept me where I was.

“Let him go,” Greyson said quietly as Ted stomped over to a table and kicked it over. The lamp fell, shattering on the floor as Ted shouldered open the door. He shoved his way through the crowd of onlookers still gathered at the window, snarling and swearing at anyone who slowed him down.

As soon as he was gone, I spun on Greyson, throwing my hands out wide. “What the fuck?!” I could have been more specific, but the question pretty much summed up all of the others rolling around in my head.

He sighed and sidestepped me, heading to the door to lock it and give a sheepish wave to the people loitering outside. On his way back, he started picking up books instead of answering.

“What the fuck was that about?” I asked with slightly more clarification.

“Amanda. Apparently, he looked at her cell phone records and saw we’ve been talking.” He set a stack of books on an end table and picked up a small bookcase that had been knocked over. “Are you going to help me or stand there and interrogate me?”

“I’ll help if you start answering questions.” To encourage his cooperativeness, I walked over to a pile of books and stacked them neatly on another table since I had no idea where they were supposed to go.

He sank onto the arm of an overstuffed teal chair and sighed again. “I don’t know where she went. Honestly. That’s the way it’s supposed to work.”

I stared at him. “What are you talking about? Wait—you got her to leave? How?! We’ve been offering her help for… fucking years! How did you convince her to finally leave him?”

“I didn’t convince her of anything. She already knew she needed to leave, but leaving is not that simple, especially with a child.”

I folded my arms over my chest, waiting for the real answer, whether it was magic or not. Part of me would have felt better if it was magic. At least that meant that we hadn’t been beating our heads against the wall for the past however many years.

He scowled at me. “Perhaps it worked because I’m not the police telling her what she should do. I simply imagined another life for her.”

“What?” I blinked at him.

“She came to me last week. Told me she was ready. She wanted to leave before they had court for his domestic violence charge. I called Beatrice and Bea took it from there. That’s the last I saw her. I swear.”

“Bea took it from there,” I repeated, still trying to work out how two strangers had gotten through to Amanda Berger when people who’d known her her whole life couldn’t get her to see reason.

“It’s not that she didn’t want your help, darling. She needed to do it in her own time. And she appreciated that I didn’t judge her for how long it took.”

Sighing, I crossed the room. When I was close enough, I touched his shoulder, sliding my hand along the curve and up to the base of his skull, forcing him to look up at me. “Are you ok? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“I’m fine.” He gave me a tired smile. “Just another day, another mess to clean up. Small-town life isn’t as idyllic as it seems.”

“Shit, I could have told you that.” I smiled and kissed him softly. “As soon as we’re done here, let’s run to the PD so you can fill out a No Trespass Order.” He opened his mouth to protest, so I bulldozed over it. “I know! You’re not going to file a report for the threat or the damage. But at least ban his ass from coming back in here, so when he does , because he’s fucking stupid, I can arrest him.”

“Fine.”

“Fine?” I blinked and ducked down a bit, trying to catch his gaze. “Did you say ‘fine’? As in, you’ll do it without me yelling at you? Is that what I heard?”

He swatted my stomach lightly. “I said ‘Fine.’ Don’t make me take it back.”

“But seriously, do you know where Amanda and Jackson are? Because when that asshole goes to report them missing, it would be helpful for us to not be chasing our tails.” I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to read him the way he always did with me. Unfortunately for me, he had a much better poker face.

“I’ll give you Bea’s work number, but I guarantee she won’t tell you either.”

“That’s fine. Just as long as they’re safe.”

“They are now.”

“You know, for being one of the nicest people I’ve ever met, you sure do stir up a lot of shit.”

“It keeps life interesting. Can’t have you getting bored with me.”

“I don’t think I could ever get bored with you.”