An Ordinary Fairy (31 page)

Shock spilled out of her soul and rolled over him.

“Oh, no,” she whispered.

“They’re all about your height and weight, and look at the directory name. ‘wb.’ Willow Brown.”

Willow backed away from the computer as a wave of rage flooded into Noah. She spoke through gritted teeth. “Jones is going to pay for this. Even if he’s not hurt anyone he’s still going to pay.” She paced the room again.

Noah let Willow’s anger settle while he perused two more folders. He had considered telling her about the sex doll in Chester’s closet, but thought better of it. By not telling her the moment he found it, he was protecting her again, which wouldn’t sit well.

Better that you rage at Chester.

Willow stopped pacing and stood with her arms folded across her chest, calmer, but looking both thoughtful and frustrated. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised,” she said. “Just look at me.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Look at me, Noah! I’m no bigger than a child. Look at my face.” She touched her hands to her cheeks. “Round little cheeks like a cherub. I never wear makeup. I’m as flat-chested as any of those girls. Do you know where I buy almost all my clothes? I shop in the girl’s department, because I can’t find anything to fit me in the women’s. I even wear training bras like a girl! If I didn’t have big pectorals I wouldn’t have any breasts at all!”

Noah shook his head. “No, no, no, don’t ever think that way, Willow. Perversion has its own evil beginnings, regardless of what anyone does. You did nothing to give Jones these ideas. He has a fixation on you, but you did
not
cause it. Evil lurks around, ready to latch onto any convenient outlet.” Noah stood and walked to her. She glared at him in frustration. Willow didn’t seem inclined to unfold her arms, so he stepped closer and encircled her in his arms anyway. He held her for a few moments and then stepped back. He took her face in his hands and lifted it, and proceeded to make a detailed study of it, frowning in concentration, turning her head this way and that, pushing it first back so her chin was pointing almost up, then forward until it nearly touched her neck. He continued to frown but Willow was softening.

“You’re right,” he said, as if he had confirmed some great secret of science. “They are round. Like your other cheeks.” Willow shook her head, unfolded her arms, grabbed his head and shook it, but she laughed.

“Noah Phelps, do you ever think of anything besides my butt?”

Noah considered this for a moment with the same concentrated frown as before. “Rarely,” he said with a smirking grin. He took her face in his hands again. “Willow, anyone with a brain only needs to spend thirty seconds with you to know you’re a mature woman, and one look into your eyes says it, too. You are not to blame for Chester Jones’s black, perverted heart.”

“Thank you, Noah. You always know how to bring me down to earth.”

“Except when you’re flying.”

“True enough.”

“Sweetheart, let’s get out of here and go see Jones’s mother.”

Willow nodded her assent and sat long enough to shut down the snooper program. They donned coats, hats, and shoes and left. Noah took Willow’s hand and led her to the truck in silence. He felt her relax as they walked deeper into the woods, which always brought out her fairyness.

Noah opened the door for her to get into the truck. By the time he climbed in, she had slid to the center.

“Feeling better?” he asked. She nodded. Noah started the truck and put it in gear. “By the way, I like women with big pectorals.”

Willow punched him in the shoulder.

“Ouch!”

Noah detested nursing homes. Most homes he had visited failed to preserve the dignity of their residents no matter how they tried, and he hated the pervasive odors.

Noah let Willow lead the way into the building, preferring to slink in behind her. She dashed down the central passage to the nurse’s station, flitting past the wheelchair-bound hall dwellers who drooled and spoke to no one and everyone. Whenever she passed one of these pitiable souls or a group of them, they grew still, their eyes following her movement down the hall, the haggard faces lit with serenity. Her magic billowed behind her as she strode the corridors, unaware.

After a brief stop at the nurse’s station for directions, Willow forged ahead, not slowing until Noah called to her. He needed her magic, too, and caught up and took her hand. Only then did she sense his discomfort.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know this would bother you.”

“It doesn’t bother me exactly. It’s uncomfortable. It doesn’t seem to affect you at all. The people I mean.”

She raised her eyebrows. “That didn’t occur to me.” Willow squeezed his hand. “We won’t be long, I promise.”

Mrs. Jones rated a private room in the VIP section. The open door revealed a typical nursing home space with tile floor, concrete block walls and harsh fluorescent light, tempered somewhat by the bright sunlight coming in a south window beyond the bed. Next to the bed sat a rocking chair, where a small white-haired woman rocked, reading a book. Wrinkles and age spots covered her face, but it retained a pleasant expression even caught unaware. A white sweater covered her print cotton dress.

Willow tapped on the door and the old woman looked up.

“Mrs. Jones?” Willow said.

“Yes, come in.” Inquisitive, piercing blue eyes regarded them as they stepped into the room. Recognition lit the old woman’s face. “Why it’s Willow Brown. How nice to see you.”

“It’s good to see you, too, Mrs. Jones,” Willow said. “I wasn’t sure you would remember me.”

“How could anyone forget such a sweet little face?” A wonderful smile of a hundred lines crinkled her features. “And who’s this handsome young man you’re leading?”

“Mrs. Jones, this is Noah Phelps.” Pride filled her voice, he was glad to hear. “He’s a friend who’s in town for a few days.” The old woman turned her deep blue eyes to Noah and smiled.

Noah removed his ball cap. “Pleased to meet you, ma’am.”

“Willow, come sit down and talk to me. And call me Janet.” Noah moved a straight-back chair for Willow to a spot next to the old woman. “Noah, you can sit on the bed.”

“No rules against sitting on the bed?” Noah asked as he settled on the too-soft mattress.

A sly smile crinkled the old woman’s features. “Not in this wing. My Anthony and I paid for it.”

The two women began a conversation about various mundane topics, mostly polite inquiries about health and weather and the local gossip. The older woman was high-spirited and soon they all laughed at her stories of nursing home life. Janet and Willow held hands as they talked. Reclusive Willow conversed like an old hand at nursing homes.

You seem at ease here.

Her hair shone gold in the bright sun, and she glowed, not in the fairy sense, but she looked … healthy, that was the word. Her beautiful skin seemed silkier; her cheeks had a rosy bloom, and her eyes were darker. Fuller lips graced her little mouth. Nature had applied its own makeup to her beautiful features in a way many women spent a fortune to attain.

At a pause in their conversation, Janet turned her gaze upon Noah. Several seconds passed before he became aware she was watching him admire his fairy.

Caught.

A smile spread across the old woman’s features.

“Noah, it’s clear to me you are no friend of this pretty young woman.” Noah understood her meaning and blushed. A glance at Willow revealed the same reaction. Noah tried to stammer a reply, but fell silent when Janet raised her hand.

“Well, Willow,” Janet said, “this has been a wonderful time but I believe you came here for more than just reminiscing.”

“That’s true, Janet. Noah has been helping me investigate some questions surrounding the Big House and the disappearance of my parents. We’ve been exploring the property and the house but we’re at a dead end and thought perhaps you could help.”

The old woman’s gaze was solemn now. She nodded. “Willow, I’ll help any way I can. I’m only a Jones by marriage. I’m not like all of them, except my Anthony, of course. He wanted nothing to do with the whole lot. All he wanted was a quiet life of farming.” She shook her head and squeezed the tiny hand she held in hers. “Willow, your parents were good people. They were kind to everyone whether they deserved it or not. Your mother could have been a good friend if not for my connection to the Jones family. I regret I didn’t cultivate our relationship.”

Noah picked up the conversation. “Mrs. Jones, Willow and I have found something on the property near the Big House that we believe may have to do with her parents’ disappearance.” He stopped to see what reaction this statement evoked.

Janet was thoughtful for a few moments, and then her eyes gleamed and she spoke in a quiet voice. “You found the cave! Where did you find the entrance?” Willow glanced at Noah, excitement written on her features.

“We haven’t—yet,” Noah said. “We hoped you might help us with that part.”

Janet looked perplexed. “How do you know there’s a cave if you haven’t found the entrance?”

“Noah has some special abilities,” Willow said. “He’s a dowser. He dowsed the property around the house and found indications of some kind of subterranean structure. Based on the lay of the land he concluded it might be a cave.”

“A dowser? Like a water witch?” the old woman asked. Noah nodded. “You would fit right in with the Joneses. They loved folk magic and all that weird stuff.” Willow cast a satisfied glance at Noah. “So you can find a cave but not a way into it?”

“No,” Noah said. “There’s no apparent entrance on the grounds.”

Janet shook her head. “I never knew where the cave was, or how to enter it, but I was sure it was near the house. I don’t know what’s inside but I know it is evil. Anthony would turn white any time the place was mentioned. He went in just one time but that was enough for him.”

Willow spoke gently to the old woman. “Janet, I don’t wish to intrude into your private affairs, but does Chester know about the cave?”

At the mention of Chester’s name Janet flushed red and fire came to her eyes. She spoke through gritted teeth. “Yes, sad to say. Anthony told him before he died, just over a year ago. We had threatened Armstrong, Anthony’s father, within an inch of his life if he ever told Chester about it. I was sure he would tell him anyway, but for once, the old bastard kept his word. Why Anthony told him I don’t know. It was a few days before he died and he was losing his faculties, so perhaps it was just a slip. I guess he realized he said too much before he told him how to get to the cave. A month after Anthony died, Chester came to me and asked many of the same questions you’re asking.” She paused. “Have you caught Chester on the property?”

“Not exactly,” Willow said.

“You will. He wants what’s in that cave. I wouldn’t be surprised if he hasn’t been all over those woods searching.” She shook her head. “He’s such a fool. Like his grandfather.”

“Janet,” Noah said, “do you think it’s possible the cave entrance is somewhere in the house?”

Janet nodded. “Yes, I think it could be. I wasn’t ever sure what happened to him, but at times Armstrong would disappear for hours and then show up again out of nowhere. In winter, there would be no tracks in the snow but he was nowhere to be found. I must confess I spied after I found out about it, but I could never find anything. I asked Clarisse, that was Armstrong’s wife, about the cave, but she wouldn’t discuss it.” She bowed her head as her thoughts took her far away.

Noah stood up. “Mrs. Jones, you’ve been a tremendous help. We won’t bother you any longer. Thank you.”

“Yes, thank you, Janet,” Willow said. She leaned forward and gave her a hug. “I’ll come back to visit soon.”

“I would like that.”

Noah and Willow rose and walked toward the door.

“Willow,” Janet said, “may I ask
you
a question now?”

“Of course.”

“When you came to live here forty years ago I was in my early forties. I remember thinking what an attractive woman you were. You seemed about thirty-five years old.” Janet paused. Noah could feel anxiety build in Willow. Her face flushed. Janet continued “Now I’m a wrinkled old woman who uses a walker and yet you look the same.” She stopped and stared at Willow. Noah could imagine the tension sparking through the air between the two women. The old woman’s eyes flicked over to Noah’s.

I want to hear this answer, too.

Willow stood silent and stared the old woman down. After several seconds of standoff, Janet relented and let out a sigh.

“Maybe Noah found a fountain of youth in those woods with his dowsing sticks,” she said. “It was good to see you, Willow. Please come back.”

“I will,” Willow said.

Willow swept through the hallways. She walked several feet ahead of Noah, who struggled to keep up. As she turned the last corner to leave the building, she shrieked and stopped. She stood face to face with Chester Jones, whose expression of contempt and loathing matched hers. Tiny Willow’s neck was craned back to see Chester’s face, but she didn’t back away. Noah moved close behind her.

The fairy and the ogre glared at one another in silence for several seconds. Neither appeared willing to move from the other’s path. Jones’s usual smirk appeared as he gave Willow an up and down looking over.