Witchy Woman by Karen Leabo Page A

hotel, with its shiny black-and-white tile floor and a chandelier that probably weighed more than Nate’s Harley. Except for the wheelchairs that lined one wall.
    An elegant woman in a power suit appeared from nowhere to greet them. “Good morning. May I help you?”
    “I’m Tess DeWitt. I’m here to see my mother, Mildred DeWitt.”
    “Oh, Tess, of course. I didn’t recognize you at first. You haven’t been here in a while.”
    Tess didn’t bother to explain her prolonged absence. What good did driving all the way there do, when Morganna refused visitors? Tess had stopped counting back to figure out how long it had been since she’d last laid eyes on her mother, but she suspected it had been more than three years this time. In all the years she’d been here, Morganna had tolerated her daughter’s presence maybe half a dozen times, and then only for five or ten minutes.
    “I’ll check with your mother’s nurse and see if she’s receiving visitors today,” the woman said, as if Morganna were a duchess instead of a patient in a mental institution. “You may have a seat in the parlor.” She gestured with one long, well-manicured hand, then turned smartly on her heel.
    “Receiving visitors?” Nate repeated when the woman was out of earshot.
    “I probably should have warned you. Morganna doesn’t like me much. She would prefer for me to leave her alone, but I keep coming back, like a dog that doesn’t mind getting kicked if there’s even a chance he might get a pat.”
    Instead of offering words of sympathy or pity, which she would have hated, Nate simply asked, “Why doesn’t she like you?”
    “She blames me. I took it as long as I could. But when Child Protective Services launched an investigationof our home life, I told them everything. I guess I didn’t realize the repercussions. Suddenly we were swimming in social workers, investigators, lawyers, doctors. They took me away from her.”
    “That wasn’t what you wanted?”
    She shook her head. “I wanted someone to bring my real mother back, that’s all. In retrospect, I suppose the authorities did the best they could. And I was somewhat relieved to be out of that house.” She shivered even thinking about the gloomy nightmare her once-happy home had become. “But I hadn’t realized that I would be cut off from her completely, by her own choice.”
    “What if she won’t see you today?”
    As in answer to his question, a nurse dressed in old-fashioned whites and a cap appeared in the parlor. “Tess.”
    “Heidi. It’s nice to see you again.” Tess stood and took the nurse’s hands in hers. Heidi Pavel, Morganna’s primary nurse for several years now, smiled in greeting.
    But Heidi’s smile didn’t last long. “I’m afraid she won’t see you,” she said. “She’s actually having a pretty good day, in terms of lucidity, but she doesn’t want visitors.”
    Tess sighed. She simply had to get in to see Morganna. “Heidi, will you do me a favor?” she asked impulsively. “Will you go back to my mother and tell her I’ve found the Crimson Cat, and that I need her help?”
    Heidi looked puzzled, but she nodded. “I can try.”She turned and left, her crepe-soled shoes squeaking against the polished linoleum as she walked.
    “You think that’ll work?” asked Nate, who’d been standing by anxiously watching Tess’s exchange with the nurse.
    “If she remembers the Cat, she’ll be intrigued enough to find out how I became involved with it. If she doesn’t remember it …” Tess shrugged. “Then I was wrong. She can’t help us.”
    Heidi returned almost immediately, smiling warmly this time. “Apparently those were the magic words. Your mother said to send you back.” She lowered her voice. “What’s a crimson cat, anyway?”
    “Trust me, you don’t want to know,” Nate said.
    Nate followed Tess as she led him unerringly down a maze of hallways, enjoying the gentle sway of her hips beneath the cotton print skirt.