Magic & Mishaps

by Annabel Chase

  “She’s been avoiding us,” Leigh said. “She’s embarrassed about being considered a suspect.”

  “Why? She has an airtight alibi,” I said.

  “I know. I told her we didn’t care,” Cindy said. “She’s very sensitive, though.”

  “I told her the whole thing was ridiculous,” Leigh added, “but she said she preferred to stay home and watch Hallmark movies. She takes everything personally.”

  That much I noticed.

  “She’ll be back,” Pam said. “She tends to hold a grudge for about a week or so and then she’s over it. It’s a vampire thing. Hector was the same.”

  I didn’t associate Alec with grudges except the one he’d held against Granger, but that one was mutual.

  “Probably has to do with eternal life,” an elderly white-haired woman said. I hadn’t noticed her when I came in. She sat in a recliner in the corner of the living room with a crossword puzzle resting on her lap. An empty highball glass was on the small table beside her.

  “What does, Nana?” Pam yelled.

  “The grudges,” Nana replied. “Vamps can afford to hold them longer.”

  “Hector used to punish me with the wall of silence,” Pam said. “If I did anything he didn’t like, he would shut down.”

  “Minotaur shit,” Nana said, barely glancing up from her crossword. “Hector punished you by sleeping with other women.”

  “Nana, watch your language in front of company,” Pam chastised her.

  “What company?” Nana said. “These are the same losers you always hang out with.”

  I waved at the elderly woman. “I’m new. Nice to meet you, Nana.”

  She peered at me over her glasses. “I don’t know you.”

  “Nana, this is Ember Rose,” Pam said. “She’s not a loser. She’s a descendant of the One True Witch.”

  Nana pushed her glasses back to the bridge of her nose, seemingly unimpressed. “BFD. I’m a descendant of The Lady of Death and The Woman of Peace, the first lesbian banshee couple.”

  “Um, I don’t think that’s how genetics work,” I said.

  “I’ve been alive longer than that self-important aunt of yours. Don’t tell me how genetics work.” She returned her attention to her crossword puzzle with an audible huff.

  Pam flashed an apologetic smile. “She gets cranky after eight.” She cupped her hands around her mouth. “It’s almost time for your potion, Nana.”

  Nana glanced up. “It’s nine already?” She shook her head, muttering. “Days go by so fast.”

  “It isn’t quite nine, but sometimes we send her off early when the girls are here,” Pam said in a conspiratorial whisper. She stood and went into the kitchen to retrieve a vial filled with purple liquid from the cabinet.

  “Is she ill?” I asked.

  “No,” Pam said. “She has sleep onset insomnia, so this helps move things along.”

  “Like magical melatonin?” I asked. I could’ve used that with Marley.

  Pam laughed. “It’s been a blessing, to be honest. Before this potion, she’d be wandering the house all night. She woke me up more than once and scared the daylights out of me.” She shuddered. “Trust me. Waking up to see someone standing over your bed is frightening, even when it’s your own grandmother.”

  “Especially when it’s a banshee,” Cindy said. “They’re traditionally harbingers of death.”

  “Thankfully, she wasn’t wailing or I’d have had a heart attack,” Pam said with a shudder. “Have you ever heard one of us keen? It’s the sound of nightmares.” She crossed the room and administered the potion to Nana before returning to the table with the empty vial.

  “If she gave you a heart attack, then it would be a self-fulfilling prophecy,” Cindy joked.

  “Good thing you and Hector weren’t still together when Nana moved in,” Leigh said. “She definitely would’ve put a damper on your sex life.”

  Cindy giggled. “Yeah, that would put a whole new spin on Nana wandering into your room in the middle of the night.”

  Pam’s expression crumpled at the mention of Hector and I felt a pang of sympathy. She still seemed broken-hearted over him, despite his objectionable behavior. The description of the vampire reminded me of Wyatt Nash, which was ironic considering the whole vampire-werewolf species feud. I was so glad Linnea had met someone like Rick. The minotaur wouldn’t dream of betraying her. He was far too smitten.

  “Who brought the cards?” Cindy asked.

  “We can use Nana’s deck,” Pam said.

  “I’m a woman, same as you, imbecile,” Nana yelled.

  “Deck, Nana,” Pam hollered. “We’re talking about cards.”

  “Oh,” Nana said and went back to frowning over her crossword.

  Pam pulled open a thin drawer at the side of the table and rummaged through the contents until she located a deck of cards. “Crazy Eights?”

  “Suits me,” Cindy said.

  “You’re crazy all right,” Nana muttered.

  “I need another drink first,” Leigh said.

  “You girls drink too much,” Nana said. “Makes your skin dehydrated and your eyes puffy.”

  “No, Nana,” Pam said. “Men make our eyes puffy.”

  “You got that right,” Cindy said. “If I had a coin for every tear I shed over a man, I’d never have to work another day.”

  “Same,” Pam said. “I wish there was a spell that would make us more beautiful every time a man mistreated us. Then they might think twice before stabbing us in the back.”

  “I don’t know that wishing for physical beauty is the best revenge,” I said. “If that’s the reason they’d think twice, you don’t want a guy like that anyway.”

  Leigh scrunched her nose. “Haven’t you ever heard of a revenge body?” She shuffled the cards and distributed five to each of us

  “I got mine two summers ago,” Cindy said, running her hands down her sides. “It felt so good to deny access.”

  Pam kicked her under the table. “You didn’t deny access to anybody. You caved in about twenty minutes.”

  Cindy soured as she scrutinized her cards. “And then he broke up with me again straight afterward.”

  “Like straight afterward?” I asked.

  “He texted me on the drive home,” Cindy said. “Told me I was suffocating him.”

  Pam shook her head. “Classy.”

  “Men are the worst,” Leigh said.

  “You should all become lesbians like my ancestors,” Nana said, her voice now drowsy.

  “Believe me. I’ve considered it,” Leigh said, tossing a card into the discard pile.

  “Have you really?” Pam asked, surprised. “I would miss men too much.”

  “Miss what?” Leigh asked. “All we do is talk about how awful they are.”

  “And yet we keep going back for more,” Cindy said with a deep sigh as she drew a card from the stockpile.

  “It’s pathetic,” Nana said. She punctuated her comment with a gaping yawn.

  Pam craned her neck for a better view of her grandmother. “I’d better walk her to bed before she’s dead weight.” The banshee moved to help Nana off the recliner. It was awkward with the chair pushed back, but they managed.

  “I’ve never had any grandparents in my life,” I said. “I feel like I’m missing out.”

  “If you want to help an old lady to bed, you can always swing by my house after a night out.” Cindy placed a card in the discard pile.

  “You’re not old,” I admonished her.

  “These joints tell me otherwise,” Cindy said. “What’s the point of wings when the rest of me still aches after too much movement?”

  “It might be because you need more exercise,” I said. “Sometimes if we don’t move often enough, our bodies get the wrong message.”

  “My body gets nothing but wrong messages,” Cindy complained. “Anyway, you’re not missing out on grandparents with Nana. She treats Pam like dirt.”

  I looked to the empty hallway wher
e the banshees had been. “Really?”

  “I think Pam’s family is one of the reasons she’s had such troubled relationships,” Cindy agreed. “They made her feel so unloved that, deep down, she believes she’s unlovable.”

  “She has OCD, too,” Leigh said. “Go peek in her bathroom. It’s immaculate. You’d think no one lives here. I swear, after we leave she stays up cleaning our mess.”

  “What about the rest of you?” I asked. “Why do you think your relationships have been challenging?” Maybe this would be a learning opportunity for me, too.

  “Because men are garbage,” Leigh said. She drew another card from the pile, unable to discard.

  Or maybe not.

  “I think I have unrealistic expectations,” Cindy said. “I just don’t know how to stop having them.”

  “It isn’t unrealistic to expect a man to be faithful,” Leigh said.

  Cindy stared at her cards. “I don’t know. Maybe monogamy is a myth and I should just accept it.”

  “I don’t agree with that at all,” I said. “Good men exist.”

  “Name one,” Leigh said.

  I threw down another card. “I can name more than one.”

  “Not your cousin Florian,” Cindy said. “He’s with a different woman every week.”

  “Florian has issues,” I agreed. Though he wasn’t a bad wizard and he’d help a stranger in a pinch. He’d proven himself an amazing addition to my life as well as Marley’s. Men were complex creatures, same as women.

  Pam returned to the table. “For a frail old woman, she’s tough to position in bed.”

  “One of these days, you’re going to hurt your back,” Cindy warned.

  “You should hire a male healer to come and care for her,” Leigh said.

  “A hot male healer,” Cindy chimed in.

  “Why bother?” Pam said, studying her cards. “He’ll just disappoint me one way or another. I’ll do everything he wants and he’ll still decide I’m not good enough.”

  “Yeah,” Cindy said. “And my cards suck, too.”

  “I’m always dealt a bad hand,” Leigh said. “Same as in life.”

  And here I’d thought Rochelle was the only Eeyore in the group. It seemed that the Wonder Women weren’t so wonderful after all. They were more interested in reliving their failures than preparing for their successes. The Power Puffs were all about achievement, whereas these ladies were steeped in defeat. I needed to find a group that fell somewhere in between—a Goldilocks group…or did I? Granger seemed to think that I was some kind of Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz. That I was trying to find a place for myself that already existed in my life. And maybe he was right.

  “I’m out,” I said, discarding my last card.

  “Figures,” Pam said.

  The three women threw their remaining cards on the table.

  “Still a loser,” Cindy said. “Big shock.”

  Pam surveyed the table. “Another round?”

  “Why not?” Leigh asked. “I’m a glutton for punishment.”

  “If nothing changes, then nothing changes,” Cindy said.

  I pushed back my chair. “I can help with that. If I leave now, then one of you has to win.”

  Pam’s eyebrows shot up. “Good point.”

  I didn’t need to sacrifice time with my daughter for this. Granted, she wasn’t awake too long after I left, by why leave the tucking in to Mrs. Babcock when I could be there to show my daughter that she was loved and important, especially right now when she was dealing with her own issues? I didn’t want Marley to grow up feeling like these women. As her mother, my job was to help mold her into the true Wonder Woman that she was. Not be a broomstick mama necessarily, but find the right balance between meeting her needs and my own. And simply being present was a good start.

  “It’s been fun, ladies,” I said. “Have a good night.”

  Pam’s phone trilled and she snapped it up. “Hey, what’s up?” Her face paled as she listened. “Thanks for letting me know.” She set down the phone, her jaw unhinged.

  “Pam, what’s wrong?” Leigh asked.

  “That was Hector’s friend, Lamont.” She swallowed hard. “Hector’s been arrested for Bonnie’s murder.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Pam was too rattled to drive to the sheriff’s office and the other women had drank too much, so I was the only option.

  “This makes no sense,” Pam said, once we were in the car. “What possible motive could there be?” She clenched her fists in her lap. “Why wouldn’t the sheriff have questioned Hector when he was rounding up other vampires?”

  “Probably because he didn’t have a clear connection to Bonnie. Rochelle was a close friend. The other vampire was present the night of the murder. I mean, did Hector and Bonnie even know each other? You said you and Bonnie met after your breakups.”

  Pam fell silent and stared out the window.

  “Pam?”

  “We ran into Hector about six weeks ago,” she admitted. “Just Bonnie and me. We went to a bonfire on the beach and were the last two standing. Hector showed up out of nowhere.”

  I cast her a sidelong glance. “And how did that go?”

  “I nearly threw myself into the fire. When Bonnie realized who he was, she yelled at him for hurting me.” Pam’s voice softened. “She even punched him. You should’ve seen Hector’s face. He couldn’t believe it.” She hugged herself. “He can’t have killed her. I mean, he was an infuriating womanizer, but he wasn’t a monster.” She paused. “I would’ve seen it, wouldn’t I?”

  “You’re in love with him,” I said. “Love blinds us.”

  I parked the car and Pam and I hurried inside. I intercepted Sheriff Nash as he headed into the interrogation room.

  “What is it, Rose?” he asked. He wore a neutral expression, so I couldn’t tell whether he was annoyed to see me here.

  “This is Pam,” I said. “Bonnie’s friend and Hector’s ex-girlfriend.”

  “I remember,” the sheriff said. “Are you here to hang him or defend him?”

  Pam drew a shaky breath. “I guess it depends on what he says.”

  “Can we watch from a safe distance?” I asked. “If Hector tries to feed you any lies, Pam can set you straight.”

  The sheriff scratched the stubble on his chin. “If you promise to only chime in if absolutely necessary, you can watch from interrogation room two.”

  I pretended to zip my lip and the sheriff’s mouth twitched.

  “I’m only buying that if you use a spell that actually seals it,” he said.

  I narrowed my eyes at him before leading Pam to the room. “There’s a magic mirror so we can watch them without being seen,” I explained.

  Pam stepped up to mirror and peered into the next room where Hector sat in a chair at the table. His inky black hair brushed the tops of his shoulders and he wore a tight black T-shirt with jeans and cowboy boots. Deputy Bolan was already in the room in mid-conversation with the suspect.

  “What happened, Hector?” Deputy Bolan asked. “Was it self-defense? Bonnie tried to seek revenge on behalf of her broken-hearted friend and you struck back?”

  “So he went to Palmetto House and left her a husk?” I said under my breath. Unlikely. The sheriff needed a better theory than that.

  “I would never drain a woman dry,” Hector said. “You would’ve found me in the fetal position outside, rocking back and forth like a madman. I can’t handle that amount of blood, man.”

  On cue, Sheriff Nash entered the room and offered the vampire a glass of blood. “You mentioned you were hungry.”

  “Yeah, man,” Hector said. “You grabbed me before I had a chance to eat. My stomach’s been rumbling.”

  “It’s B positive,” the werewolf said. “I’m told that’s your favorite.”

  Hector accepted the glass. “Sure is. Thanks.”

  The sheriff waited until he took a sip and then said, “Bonnie Rydell’s blood was B positive.”

  Hector spit the b
lood all over the table and started to cough. Deputy Bolan bore the brunt of the oral explosion. To his credit, the tiny leprechaun remained composed. He simply lifted the hem of his shirt and wiped his face.

  “I have an anti-bacterial wipe,” Pam said. She dug through her handbag and produced a travel-sized packet.

  I knocked on the magic mirror and the sheriff opened the door. “For the deputy,” I said and held out Pam’s packet.

  Sheriff Nash tossed it to Deputy Bolan, who used the wipes to clean off the rest of the blood. “I missed the deputy’s question. Did I hear you say you killed her in self-defense?”

  Hector made a face. “No way. Bonnie had no reason to seek revenge. Pam and I have been long over. Those girls only met after we broke up.”

  Pam’s fists tightened as she watched her former flame. I couldn’t imagine what she was feeling right now. If Hector was guilty, Pam would likely blame herself. Bonnie wouldn’t have crossed paths with the vampire if it weren’t for Bonnie and Pam’s friendship.

  “Then why were you at Palmetto House the night of the murder?” the sheriff asked.

  Hector slapped his hands on the surface of the table. “I wasn’t,” he insisted.

  “Do you have an alibi for that night?” the sheriff pressed.

  Hector tipped his chin toward the ceiling and swore. “No. I was home alone.”

  “Well, that has to be a lie right there,” Pam said bitterly. “If that’s one thing I learned about Hector, he’s never alone.”

  “No overnight guests?” Deputy Bolan asked. “No lady friend to entertain?”

  Hector raked a hand through his thick, dark hair. “No, man. I’ve been good.”

  “Why the change?” Sheriff Nash asked. “From what we’ve heard, you like to play the field. Keep your options open.”

  “I used to,” Hector admitted. “But I’ve changed.”

  “Why have you changed?” the deputy asked. “You’re a vampire. Why limit your options when you have an immortal life ahead of you?”

  Hector pointed at him and grinned. “See, that’s what I used to think, but I met someone who changed my mind. She made me see things differently.”

  I glimpsed Pam out of the corner of my eye. “Maybe you don’t want to listen to this.”