“Your foster mother must have been an interesting woman,” Liam said, thinking that sounded better than saying nuttier than a fruitcake.
Baba’s lips twitched. “Oh, that she definitely was.”
Liam had a sudden thought. “Wait—do you mean you’ve never actually seen a movie? Not one?”
“Nope.”
The concept floored him. “You never saw Star Wars? Ghostbusters? Casablanca? You never saw The Princess Bride?” Good grief. That should be against the law. He should arrest her, just on general principle.
Baba rolled her eyes. “Princesses. Highly overrated, most of them. But no, I have never seen a movie.”
“You know, if you’re going to be in the area for a while, there is a theater in town that shows classic movies for a couple of bucks on Tuesday nights,” he said. “You should go sometime.”
One feathery eyebrow floated upward again as she gazed at him. “Are you asking me out, Sheriff?” Humor lurked in the depths of her clear amber eyes.
“Am I—what? No, uh, I mean, no, of course not. I just meant, uh, that you should go. By yourself. Or not.” Liam seriously considered taking his gun out of his holster and shooting himself. The woman was a suspect, for god’s sake. Or suspicious anyway. And besides, he didn’t date. Had he actually accidentally asked her out? Surely not.
As if things couldn’t get any more mortifying, his stomach chose that moment to rumble loudly. Baba bit her lip, clearly trying not to laugh.
“Sorry,” he said. “I skipped breakfast. I guess this is my body’s way of telling me to get back into town. Thank you for the water. Enjoy your visit to Clearwater County.” He tipped his hat at her, shoved his sunglasses back onto his face, and strode out the door with what was left of his dignity.
On the bright side, after this, those piles of paperwork were going to be a positive relief.
THREE
BABA WATCHED THE tall lawman walk away, his back rigid and broad shoulders squared—standing at the window long past the time when the dust from the squad car’s tires was just a memory. Outside, a small bird twittered until her glare sent it winging away to friendlier skies. Distant thunder growled over the hills.
“I think he likes you,” Chudo-Yudo said, laughter rumbling in his deep, white chest. He crunched on the bone again, slobbering a little because he knew it irritated her. It was boring guarding the Water of Life and Death day in and day out for centuries. It might be the stuff that gave the Babas their longevity and a boost to their magical abilities, but the rest of the time, it just sat there. A dragon had to find amusement somewhere.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Baba said, finally pulling herself away from the empty view. “He just thinks I’m hiding something, so he’s poking around.” She twitched a finger and the bone turned into a butterfly and flew away. Chudo-Yudo’s jaws snapped shut on nothingness and he let out an indignant whuff.
“Well, you are hiding something,” the dog pointed out. “Just not what he thinks you are hiding.” He scratched at an ear with his hind leg. “I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to eat him, before this is all done.”
“Maybe.”
“So, are you going to go see a movie?” Chudo-Yudo asked. “With the handsome sheriff, before I eat him?”
“He didn’t ask me,” Baba said, feeling grumpy for no obvious reason. “And even if he had, he’s too young for me.”
Chudo-Yudo snorted, sounding more dragon than dog for a moment. “You’re eighty-two, Baba. Everyone is too young for you.”
“Not Koshei,” she argued.
“Koshei is a dragon. Even when he looks like a Human, he’s still a dragon,” the dog said. “Wouldn’t you like to spend time with one of your own kind occasionally?”
“Humans are hardly my own kind,” Baba said, flopping down on the couch. “Not anymore. Not since I came to live with the Baba Yaga, and grew up to be one. Besides, Koshei and I get along fine. He shows up, we have sex, he goes away. Why would I want anything more than that?”
Chudo-Yudo stared at her. “If you don’t know, I suspect that answers the question.”
She jumped back up, skin too tight around her bones and the walls closing in like a narrowing tunnel under the earth. Or maybe the damned dragon-dog was just getting on her nerves.
“I’m going for a walk,” she said, thumping in her bare feet over to the wardrobe. A graceful woman, she could make an impressive amount of noise when she was in the mood. “Try not to break anything while I’m gone.”