“Remind me to never ask this damned refrigerator for anything specific again,” she said to Chudo-Yudo. “I’m really not looking forward to spending the whole day watching a kid play with nothing more than a slice of pie in my stomach.”
“That’s the least of your worries,” Chudo-Yudo said, swinging his big head ponderously toward the back of the trailer. “You’ve got a guest.”
Her heart skipped a beat as she moved quickly toward the tiny but sumptuous bedroom. Maybe Liam had . . . but no, it was Koshei who waited for her, looking as handsome and relaxed as ever as he sprawled comfortably on her bed, tasseled pillows propped up behind him in vivid crimson and azure silk. Only someone who knew him as well as she did would have been able to detect the tension in his muscles and the shadows that lurked at the back of his bright blue eyes. Something told her this wasn’t just a social call.
He put down the leather-bound herbal book he’d been thumbing through and said, “About time you got back. The queen is asking for you.” He swung his long legs over the side of the bed and got up, giving her a quick hug before tugging her relentlessly in the direction of the wardrobe that led to the Otherworld.
“I can’t go like this!” Baba protested, gesturing at the simple tee shirt and black leather pants she wore.
Koshei shook his head, looking grim. He did give her a minute to change, turning his back although he’d never done so before.
“The queen isn’t going to care what you’re wearing,” he said when she was ready, glaring at the handle to the closet so it squeaked in protest and opened promptly onto the foggy path to the other side. “The Otherworld is starting to warp. We lost one whole section of the enchanted forest this morning. It was there, then it wasn’t. No one knows what happened to the creatures that were inside at the time.”
He suddenly looked very much like the warrior he was as he added, “The queen wants answers, and she wants them now. This woman Maya is throwing the entire Otherworld out of balance with her mischief and it is starting to show.” He gave Baba a hard look. “If you’re going to find this unauthorized doorway, you’d better do it soon. The Otherworld is running out of time.”
*
WHEN LIAM GOT to the sheriff’s department, hoping to find a way to set up the deputies’ patrols so he would be free to keep an eye on Davy’s parents’ house, he found a summons to an emergency meeting of the county board instead.
Hat literally in hand, he stood in front of a dozen hostile faces and forced himself to stay cool as he listened to Clive Matthews rant on about how Liam had been seen consorting with a known criminal, when he should have been out searching for innocent missing children.
“There has been no evidence Dr. Yager has committed any crimes,” Liam pointed out. “Her record prior to arriving in Dunville is spotless, and she was cleared of any involvement in Maya Freeman’s beating. All you have is rumor and innuendo, and the last time I checked, those things did not a criminal make.”
“There’s no smoke without fire,” a businessman named Harry Williams muttered. “You can’t tell me that so many people would be talking about her if there wasn’t something going on.”
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you,” Liam explained as patiently as possible, despite the rage that bubbled just below the surface. The rim of his sheriff’s hat crumpled under the pressure from his clenched fingers, and he forced himself to take a deep breath and loosen his grip.
“These rumors are just that: rumors. Maybe they are being spread by someone with a grudge against Dr. Yager. Possibly they are just the result of a town that has been dealing with months of stress and grief and fear, and is looking for a scapegoat. She’s a stranger in town and she’s different from the folks around here, and that makes her an easy target. But it doesn’t mean she has actually committed a crime.”
Matthews shook one stubby finger dangerously close to Liam’s nose. “Listen to me, Sheriff,” he spat. “Your job is already hanging by a thread; don’t make things worse by associating with a woman who is obviously trouble. I’m warning you for your own good. Some people are considering suing her for making them sick with her phony herbal cures. And the county will be revoking her permit to park in Miller’s Meadow.”
“As soon as we can find the damned paperwork,” someone else grumbled.
“Yes, yes,” Matthews agreed. “As soon as we can find the paperwork. And when I figure out who gave her permission in the first place, heads are going to roll.”