Read Online Hunting Witches by Jeffery X Martin - Free Book Online Page A

“All right, then! We’ll be back in a bit!” The men shook Mark’s hand vigorously as they left, like a preacher after a particularly short sermon.
    When they had left, Mark laughed. “That Rafferty is an affable character, isn’t he?”
    Nika waggled the fingers on both her hands. “Creepy.”
    “While we’re waiting for them to get back,” Mark said, “Bo gave me the name of the security company who installed the alarm system in the office.”
    “Oh, honey,” Nika said. “It’s so much money.”
    “We got an ‘old boy’s network’ discount because of Bo. It won’t be that expensive and we obviously need it.”
    Before Nika could protest any more, the phone was in Mark’s hand. That was settled, then. Mark was in alpha male mode. It was better just to let him handle it.
    When Tommy Clark came back, Mark wandered outside with them to shoot the shit. Nika went into the backyard. She had gotten her fill of macho bullshit for the day and chose not to listen to them yammer on about power tools.
    Late fall afternoons in Elders Keep felt like mid-summer other places. The sun was out and the birds and insects were having a shouting match, trying to drown each other out. Humidity was beginning to thicken the air, and Nika was covered by a fine sheen of sweat before she knew it. She put her hand against one the standing stones. It was cool against her palm. What to do with this section of the yard? She pondered planting different flowers around the base of each of the three monoliths. Perhaps a seasonal plan, like planting mums around one for fall, begonias around one for summer, tulips for spring. Nothing for winter, of course, the season of death. Leave the ground fallow. Let it rest.
    Then again, the stones were almost the same height. She could put a canopy across the top, something natural looking, organic. She walked backwards away from the stones, trying to gauge how tall and how far apart they were. She didn’t want to put anything up that would look like she was growing pot and trying to hide it from the cops. She had seen that in movies.
    The thought of iced tea ran through her mind, and it seemed like the best idea in the world. Nika turned to go back into the house and bumped off of Rafferty’s chest. She stumbled backwards. Rafferty scowled down at her. Nika stifled a scream. He was looking at her that way again, and she was sure something terrible was going to happen to her in her own backyard. A monster had gotten in, and she was powerless against it.
    “What do you want?” she whispered.
    Rafferty said nothing, but pointed towards the house. He kept eye contact with her, never blinking. She glanced at the back of the house, but saw nothing.
    “What about the house?” she asked.
    “Nika! Come on around!” Mark was calling her from the front of the house. “Glass is in!”
    Rafferty nodded.
    Was that it? Had he come around to get her? “Thank you,” she stammered, and she ran for the back door. She almost slipped on the linoleum dashing through the kitchen, and when she hit the carpet of the living room, she practically tumbled head over heels. That would have been silly; she could have flipped over hard and gone through the front window. That would have buggered the whole day.
    Mark and Tommy were standing outside, waving at her through the new living room window, like children on an amusement park ride. Plastic tarp littered the front lawn in shreds.
    Mark knocked on the glass, like he was trying to get a fish’s attention at an aquarium. “See?” he yelled. “Strong!”
    Nika smiled and nodded. “Looks good,” she said distinctly, before walking outside to join her husband.
    Admiring a recently finished piece of work never made sense to Nika. You do something, check it once and if it’s good, it’s good. Move on. Men didn’t function that way. The way Mark and Tommy stood in front of the recently installed piece of glass, arms crossed, nodding, as if it were a newborn baby,