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He didn’t wait for my answer. “Whoever controls your
soul controls your freewill. If your soul is halved, things could
spin out control pretty fast.” He took the folder back and smiled. “Got any coffee?”
    My mind was overflowing. My small coat rack,
kitchen and living room as well. While I put the coffee pot on,
Father Leonard spread his papers out on the kitchen table, Keisha
spread her protection spell to every window and door, and Em lit
candles and hummed under her breath as she scattered potpourri
everywhere. Cain and Abel hid under my bed.
    I was starting to think they had the right
idea.
    As I sat down to listen to Father Leonard’s
take on my soul situation, the doorbell rang for the second time. “Oh, for crying out loud,” I muttered. “Excuse me, Father. I’ll be
right back.”
    This time, it was Liddy on the other side of
the door, Hathor, her magical familiar in her arms. Tiny lightning
bolts were zinging around her head.
    Crud. Lightning bolts equaled high stress. “What happened, Liddy?”
    “Oh, Amy, I’m so sorry.” The lightning bolts
zigzagged strong enough, Hathor meowed and jumped from her arms,
running into the apartment and crouching behind my legs.
    My stomach fell. Closing my eyes for a brief
second, I wrestled for patience. “Just tell me what happened.”
    She reached into her coat pocket and held
out a yellow paper. “The health inspector.”
    My stomach dropped another notch. A big
notch. I didn’t need to look at the paper to know the details. “You
brought Hathor to the shop, didn’t you?”
    She gave me a solemn nod, a child who knows
she’s in big trouble. “She goes everywhere with me. I tried to keep
her hidden in your office, but…”
    “But what?”
    “She escaped. And she didn’t like the health
inspector much.”
    I glanced at Hathor, now preening herself as
if she didn’t know we were talking about her. The cat was a good
judge of character, but when she didn’t like a human, she let them
know in no uncertain terms. No uncertain cat terms. She
usually scratched the bejesus out of them. “Please tell me she
didn’t.”
    Again the solemn nod and big pleading eyes
from Liddy. “She didn’t know any better. Honest, Amy.”
    The health inspector wasn’t due for another
month. Why had he shown up early? I glanced at the yellow violation
paper and down at Hathor, who gave me a half-lidded look back. The
muscles in my stomach cramped. The health inspector had shut the
ice cream shop down for three days upon which time he would be back
to reinspect the place. He’d also fined me a week’s worth of
profits.
    I wanted to swear. Loudly. But I couldn’t
stand the hurt in Liddy’s eyes. Drawing her inside, I put my arm
around her shoulders. “It’s okay.” I raised my voice so the others
could hear me. “I’ll take the fine out of Keisha’s paycheck.”
    A hush fell and then Keisha said,
“What?”
    “You were the one who hired Liddy to watch
the shop.”
    She hustled into the living room, hands on
hips. “And?”
    I handed the yellow paper to her and watched
her eyes widen. “Oh, shit.” She slapped a hand across her lips,
checked over her shoulder for the priest. Sighed when she didn’t
see him. “Why is the health inspector visiting us in April?”
    I shrugged, helped Liddy get out of her coat
and threw it on the nearby chair since there was no more room on
the rack. “Em and Father Leonard are in the kitchen,” I told her. Once she’d disappeared into the other room, I did my best John
McClane voice from Die Hard as I glared at Keisha. “What
could go wrong? Business is slow. She’ll call if she needs
help.”
    Keisha narrowed her eyes at my sarcastic
tone and shook a finger in my face. “You need to work on that
attitude.”
    “Maybe you should have worked your
protection voodoo on my shop, instead of my apartment.”
    She started to smart off to me again, and
then dropped her finger. Her face scrunched in thought. “Maybe
you’re