Nobody Can Say It’s You: A Hadley Pell Cozy Mystery by Jeri Green Page B
Authors: Jeri Green
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there in those woods.
“Somebody left Lou Edna a message. And it wasn’t good one. They are upset with her for some reason. Maybe it makes sense. Maybe it’s some reason that you and I would deem ridiculous. Button Dudley’s death may be connected. It may not.
“But Lou Edna’s really rattled. She claims she saw Button’s spirit out by Sadie’s. I don’t know what to think. It was dark. She’d suffered a fright. I told her that what she thought she saw was only a product of an overactive imagination. But then she told me someone had left a chicken bone with a string around it and red powder all over her steps. It’s some kind of curse, Bill. But it did its job. Lou Edna’s scared to death.”
“Only time and evidence will tell if there is a logical explanation that connects these things,” Bill said. “But I’m glad you told me. I’ll keep an eye out. Someone is using hoodoo to make her think she’s been cursed.
“Just the suggestion of something like that can shake a person. I’ve seen it happen over and over again. We think we live in a modern world, Hadley, but there is something primordial that still lives in our brains. It’s just natural that we respond to our mystic side. We can’t help it.
“I’ve seen grown men reduced to nothing because they thought they’d been hexed. These men would never admit to being superstitious in any form or fashion, yet who do you think is the first to make a charm bag and stick it in their pocket as protection against a curse. They are the first ones to cut a lock of their hair, put a stick and a nail clipping in the bag with a red string. And they’re the first to worry themselves sick if they lose that little bag. Their charm’s gonna be used against them, they’d say to me.
“The power of suggestion is a powerful thing, Hadley. Don’t underestimate it.
“I’ll keep my eye out and run by her place every chance I get. I’m not saying I believe in that stuff or that I don’t. I’m just doing my job, you understand.”
“Thanks, Bill,” Hadley said. “I knew I could count on you.”
Chapter Eleven
W hat made Button Dudley come running down Main Street like the devil was hot on his trail? Had he suddenly gone crazy, lost his mind, saw monsters in his imagination and tried to run away from them? Had he been poisoned by some toxic food or drink? Did he know Death was coming and simply wanted to go out its way? Was Button running to meet Death on his own terms? Whooping down Main Street in one final, futile blaze of glory before succumbing to the inevitable?
These were questions that kept nagging Hadley like the constant drip-drop-drip from a leaky faucet. She didn’t know the man very well. Nobody did. Button was like a lot of back hill folks. He minded his own business and kept to himself. He wanted no bother, and he bothered no one. Nothing wrong or suspicious about that. It was just the way some folks liked to live their lives.
He was a staple of the backwoods, like the rumors of stills and marijuana farms. But the fact that he’d dropped dead at her feet make her want to know the reason why he died?
And what was the significance of the star anise that had been transferred from Button Dudley to her sweater when he’d rammed into her just seconds before going to meet his Maker?
The Internet told her that star anise was an important magical herb that was used in death and dying rituals. Did Button foresee someone’s death or even his own?
It was also a good luck talisman, but it hadn’t been so good for Button.
It could be used to awaken and increase psychic powers.
Was she missing something?
Her inner voice said she must investigate. Her common sense said to leave it alone.
Button was an old man. He had lived a long life. His time on this Earth was over. He was dead. Kaput. The end. That’s it. Let moldering bones lie peacefully in their eternal resting place. That’s what common sense kept repeating to her.
But sometimes, you
“Somebody left Lou Edna a message. And it wasn’t good one. They are upset with her for some reason. Maybe it makes sense. Maybe it’s some reason that you and I would deem ridiculous. Button Dudley’s death may be connected. It may not.
“But Lou Edna’s really rattled. She claims she saw Button’s spirit out by Sadie’s. I don’t know what to think. It was dark. She’d suffered a fright. I told her that what she thought she saw was only a product of an overactive imagination. But then she told me someone had left a chicken bone with a string around it and red powder all over her steps. It’s some kind of curse, Bill. But it did its job. Lou Edna’s scared to death.”
“Only time and evidence will tell if there is a logical explanation that connects these things,” Bill said. “But I’m glad you told me. I’ll keep an eye out. Someone is using hoodoo to make her think she’s been cursed.
“Just the suggestion of something like that can shake a person. I’ve seen it happen over and over again. We think we live in a modern world, Hadley, but there is something primordial that still lives in our brains. It’s just natural that we respond to our mystic side. We can’t help it.
“I’ve seen grown men reduced to nothing because they thought they’d been hexed. These men would never admit to being superstitious in any form or fashion, yet who do you think is the first to make a charm bag and stick it in their pocket as protection against a curse. They are the first ones to cut a lock of their hair, put a stick and a nail clipping in the bag with a red string. And they’re the first to worry themselves sick if they lose that little bag. Their charm’s gonna be used against them, they’d say to me.
“The power of suggestion is a powerful thing, Hadley. Don’t underestimate it.
“I’ll keep my eye out and run by her place every chance I get. I’m not saying I believe in that stuff or that I don’t. I’m just doing my job, you understand.”
“Thanks, Bill,” Hadley said. “I knew I could count on you.”
Chapter Eleven
W hat made Button Dudley come running down Main Street like the devil was hot on his trail? Had he suddenly gone crazy, lost his mind, saw monsters in his imagination and tried to run away from them? Had he been poisoned by some toxic food or drink? Did he know Death was coming and simply wanted to go out its way? Was Button running to meet Death on his own terms? Whooping down Main Street in one final, futile blaze of glory before succumbing to the inevitable?
These were questions that kept nagging Hadley like the constant drip-drop-drip from a leaky faucet. She didn’t know the man very well. Nobody did. Button was like a lot of back hill folks. He minded his own business and kept to himself. He wanted no bother, and he bothered no one. Nothing wrong or suspicious about that. It was just the way some folks liked to live their lives.
He was a staple of the backwoods, like the rumors of stills and marijuana farms. But the fact that he’d dropped dead at her feet make her want to know the reason why he died?
And what was the significance of the star anise that had been transferred from Button Dudley to her sweater when he’d rammed into her just seconds before going to meet his Maker?
The Internet told her that star anise was an important magical herb that was used in death and dying rituals. Did Button foresee someone’s death or even his own?
It was also a good luck talisman, but it hadn’t been so good for Button.
It could be used to awaken and increase psychic powers.
Was she missing something?
Her inner voice said she must investigate. Her common sense said to leave it alone.
Button was an old man. He had lived a long life. His time on this Earth was over. He was dead. Kaput. The end. That’s it. Let moldering bones lie peacefully in their eternal resting place. That’s what common sense kept repeating to her.
But sometimes, you
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