“Interesting,” Baba said. “And no evidence of any kind left behind at the scene?”
“None.” Belinda nibbled on an already ragged nail. “You’d think they vanished into thin air.” A single tear tracked down her face, as if she’d cried so much already and it was the only one left. “I swear, I turned my back for less than a minute. I heard her giggle, like she’d seen something funny, and when I turned back around, she was just gone. The state police didn’t find anything more than we did.”
Chudo-Yudo raised the corner of one pink-edged lip to reveal sharp and shining teeth. Baba nodded back in agreement. There was something very wrong here. More wrong than three missing children. Otherworld involvement wrong, maybe. That would explain a lot.
“Huh,” Baba said, for lack of anything more helpful. “So, tell me about your child’s father. Is there any chance he was involved? Anything . . . unusual . . . about him?”
Sometimes if one parent came from the lands beyond, they eventually returned home, taking the child with them. Not that many there had children anymore, even on the rare occasions when they dallied with the mortal kind. These days, an Otherworld child was a rare and precious thing, a treasure to be prized above all else.
Belinda gave a sharp, harsh laugh, like a bullfrog as the night came down. “Not likely. Eddie didn’t want anything to do with Mary Elizabeth, not once the thrill of proving his manhood was gone. He was my “bad boy” walk on the wild side. When I got pregnant, I made the mistake of marrying him. Spent the next five and a half years putting up with his drinking and his lowlife friends.” She shook her head, as if in wonderment at her own stupidity. “I stuck with him for far too long, even after he started beating me, but when he drove drunk with Mary Elizabeth in the truck, I finally came to my senses and kicked him out. As far as I know, he’s not even in the area anymore.”
Well, that was a boring old Human story. But at least it sounds like the father wasn’t part of the problem. That wouldn’t have explained the other children anyway.
Baba plucked at the sleeve of Belinda’s uniform, trying not to make a face at the slick artificial feel of the tan poly-cotton blend. If it were hers, she’d work a little magic to turn it into something more comfortable and flattering. “I’m surprised he had the nerve to beat on a cop; you folks usually stick together, don’t you?”
Belinda gave another laugh, this one filled with genuine humor; her smile made Baba revise her original estimate of “just pretty” up to “almost beautiful, when her life hasn’t been ripped apart.”
“Oh, no,” Belinda answered. “I wasn’t with the department when I was married to Eddie. I got the job afterward.”
“So you’d be safe if he came back?”
“So I could shoot his ass and get away with it.”
It was Baba’s turn to laugh. Not because she didn’t believe Belinda, but because she did. Damned if she didn’t like the woman.
At their feet, Chudo-Yudo’s furry white sides shook with amusement too, and they exchanged glances.
“Very well,” Baba said.” I will help you.”
Belinda looked like she couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or not. “Because I said I would shoot my ex-husband?” Clearly, she thought that was a strange factor to consider in her favor.
“Because you’re willing to stand up for yourself and your child,” Baba clarified. “You’re no damned princess waiting for someone to come and rescue you. Although the shooting thing helped, I won’t lie.”
“That’s great,” Belinda said. “But what can you do that the entire sheriff’s department and the state police couldn’t?”
Baba shrugged. “We’ll just have to see. Something will come to me. It always does.” Her face grew even sterner than usual. “Now, about that price.” She tapped one finger against her full lips as she thought. “I think we’ll go with the traditional three impossible tasks. I find that usually separates the men from the boys. Or girls, in this case.”
Belinda’s eyes widened. “You mean you won’t even try to find Mary Elizabeth until I do three impossible things? That’s . . . that’s . . .”
Baba shrugged again. “You came to me. That’s the way this works. Even the Baba Yaga has to play by certain rules.” She didn’t mention that her favorite hobby was bending those rules until they resembled origami done by a drunken blind man.
Since some of a Baba’s power came from her connection to the Otherworld, there were certain conventions that had to be followed. Of course she’d start looking into the matter right away, but Belinda didn’t need to know that. And as long as the woman accomplished three tasks eventually, the principle would be considered fulfilled.