The Hexed (Krewe of Hunters) by Heather Graham

leading you where you needed to go.”
    After that Aunt Mina had faded out again, as she was wont to do, but Devin knew she would be back again, most likely asking Devin to change the channel to one of her favorite programs. She was especially fond of Monk, and thanks to cable and the internet, Devin was always able to find it for her.
    Aunt Mina wasn’t there when Agent Rockwell came to take Devin to the movie, as she had suggested, but just as he was closing the door behind them, she saw Aunt Mina hovering just inside.
    “I approve,” Aunt Mina told her with a wink.
    Devin rolled her eyes, but she doubted Aunt Mina saw, because by then the door was shut.
    It seemed that either by instinct or training, Rocky moved with natural authority and had the manners of a gentleman. He set his hand lightly at the small of her back to guide her, then opened the car door for her. She wondered if he even realized what he was doing; he seemed to be distracted.
    “Long day?” she asked him.
    He set the car in gear and flashed her a quick smile. “Tedious day. Fact finding, reading missing-persons reports. Frustrating.” After a moment he admitted, “Long.”
    “Do you usually solve cases in a day?” she asked.
    He opened his mouth, closed it and then said, “No.”
    She wasn’t sure why, but she wanted to set a hand on his arm and tell him that she knew he was going to get to the truth. She barely knew the man. There was just something about him that she liked. He had integrity. He was able to work with clear-cut determination and yet feel the emotional impact of the situation, as well.
    Or, she wondered, looking at the road, was Beth right? Had she simply not realized just how attractive the man was when they’d first met? In the dark, sitting next to him, she wished that they were on a date. Going to the movies...dinner. That exciting time early in a relationship when you met someone and made sometimes inane conversation, even exchanged bad jokes as you got to know each other, all the while wondering if you were going to end up together or out again at all—much less go home together.
    She was appalled by the thought. She never went home with anyone on a first date. In fact, for her grand old age of nearly twenty-seven, she was woefully behind. But she’d always wanted something real and serious; she’d just never been the type to go out and party, and hook up just to hook up—whether for fun, companionship or even to satisfy the biological instinct for sex. Sadly, her two “great affairs” hadn’t ended well. She didn’t even want to think about her last—there were many ways to betray someone, and her last lover had betrayed her both emotionally and professionally. Before that? Well, there had been her three-year college fling that had sizzled...and then just fizzled.
    She didn’t regret the way she felt about relationships, about them needing to mean something.
    Except for tonight.
    “You okay?” he asked.
    “Yes, of course.” She turned back to him. “So, you want to find out about the local Wiccans? As you probably know, there are a number of covens in Salem. Some—most—are very traditional. Wiccans just like everyone else. They eat and drink the same things you do, they wear what they choose and they don’t tithe their income to some mystical spirit. You could have one as your neighbor and never know.”
    He looked at her, smiling. “I swear, I am not against anyone believing whatever they see fit to believe. I just want to solve these crimes,” he finished softly.
    “But you really think that Gayle makes those pentagrams using a...a pseudonym?”
    “I do.”
    “Why?”
    “Body language.”
    “You saw that much body language in a ten-second conversation?”
    “When I asked, Gayle and Beth exchanged a glance. Beth was asking Gayle if she wanted to own up to being the artist. Gayle didn’t, so Beth kept quiet about it.”
    “All that from one glance?”
    “Yes. Aren’t writers