Page 53 of Eye on the Ball

“He’s not dead,” I said before they could come to the wrong conclusion. We told them about the obfuscation spell and how Rose had broken it.

“That answers one question,” Susan said, her hands on her hips. “But not the other.”

“What’s the other question?” Shelley asked.

Tess sighed. “The other question is: Where is Ace’s cousin Probie?

28

Tess

Uncle Mike and Aunt Ruby took Shelley home after Susan promised to keep my aunt the mayor updated on all developments. While we waited for whoever was going to come get Ace, Andy and Lizzie blocked off the pitcher’s mound/crime scene, Susan barked orders into her phone, and I was standing there wondering if there was anything I could do to help.

Or if anybody would notice if I went home, made hot tea, and vegged out on the couch for the rest of my only day off in the week.

When Susan ended her current call, I waved at her to get her attention. “Hey. I’m unnecessary here, right? I’d like to go home.”

“I bet you would. Jack told me you delivered Rose’s baby! Way to go, Tess.” She smiled and nodded at my shirt. “You probably want to put on a clean shirt.”

I glanced down and groaned. I hadn’t even realized I was a mess. There was a reason nurses and doctors wore scrubs.

But then I laughed. “Susan. I delivered a baby!”

She started to hug me but stopped, looking at my shirt again. We both laughed.

“Sure, you can go home. This is up to the professionals now. I’m trying to get a med mage in here to see what can be done. At the very least, we need to get the poor guy up and out of the dirt.”

Jack, who’d been making calls, too, walked up, shaking his head. “Nobody I know is available. What about that witch Brenda told us about? Celine?”

“If she’s not the one who did this,” I said darkly.

“I’ll call her,” Susan said. “I’ll call anybody and everybody.”

An incoming thunderous roar alerted us to a herd of Truckmans, followed closely by a Riverton police car. I was relieved to see Deputy Reynolds get out of the car instead of Lawless. And then I was shocked to see Probie step out of the passenger seat of that same car.

“He’s back?”

“Clearly, but nobody told me,” Susan said, looking grim.

“Maybe I’ll wait around to hear this,” I said.

Mutt was in one of the lead trucks in the convoy. His face lit up when he saw me, and he headed over directly behind Reynolds and Probie.

Jack leaned over to me. “You want to tell me sometime why Mutt Truckman always looks at you like you’re Christmas morning?”

“Sure. It’s not much of a story, though.”

“So, he wasn’t an Owen?” Owen was my boyfriend before Jack came home to Dead End. He was a lovely man, and we’d parted amicably.

“No, definitely not.”

The deputy, Probie, and Mutt ran up to us. Mutt knelt down and reached for his cousin, but Susan put a hand on his shoulder and gently restrained him. “Not until the crime scene folks clear him, and that won’t be until we figure out how to transport him in the safest way possible.”

“Safe for who?” Probie snarled. “Our dead cousin is beyond worrying about safety.”

“He’s not dead,” Jack said, and the two Truckmans froze.

Deputy Reynolds, in full uniform even though it was a Sunday, pushed his hat back on his head and whistled. “If you hadn’t warned me, Sheriff, I wouldn’t have believed it. He sure looks dead.”