by Lynn Cahoon
“No, she’s probably home. I’ll swing by before I come in and make sure she’s okay.”
Mia rubbed her chin where she had a sticky patch from some box that had broken containers of fruit. She needed to go into the bathroom and wash her face. Who needed makeup anyway?
“Are you there, dear?” Her grandmother’s voice brought her out of the thought.
“Sorry, I was thinking about something else.” She put her hand down to her side and started walking to the bathrooms. “Did you find out what was in the satchel?”
“No one is concerned about the way your makeup looks. And yes, I know what was in the satchel. It was a love potion. I think Pricilla was trying to get Dorian back.” Grans laid on her horn. “Look, I’ve got to go. Expect food to arrive at eleven thirty. No need to call for pizzas.”
“What do you mean?” Mia asked but then she realized she was talking to a dead phone. Somehow her grandmother had known that the coven would show up to help; Mia thought about it and realized Grans had to have called Kev last night. That was the most probable answer. She opened the door to the bathroom. She needed some water on her face and the spot of dried juice or whatever was driving her crazy.
She put her phone back in her pocket as she made her way into the bathroom. She glanced at the necklace Isaac had given her last Christmas. She hadn’t thought about him since he’d driven away. What was wrong with her? She should be wanting to call Isaac. She should be missing him. Missing his stupid jokes. Missing sleeping next to him. Instead, she was glad she didn’t have to pacify him while she spent long hours at the warehouse. She finished up and headed back to the group she’d been leading.
Kev stopped her mid-way to the group. He put a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, crazy what happened to Dorian, right?”
“It was odd, that was for sure.” She looked up at him. “Did you know him?”
“I saw him come in yesterday. But I just knew him from coven business He and some of the other old guys ran some sort of board to keep us in line. You don’t think this is about the coven, do you? Maybe the dude just had a heart attack?”
“Maybe. But why would it come back on the coven? Is there something else going on besides the power struggle?” She studied Kev closer. The man was sweating even though the warehouse was cool, almost chilly.
“Baldwin always blames everything that happens on our club, as he calls it. He thinks we’re out there killing stray cats and drinking each other’s blood. He doesn’t get that we’re one with nature. We don’t kill animals or people.” Kev glanced at his watch, then around the room. “Look, I’ve got to go do something but I’ll be back before we finish up here. If anyone asks, I’ve run to my apartment.”
“Is that really where you’re going?” Mia didn’t want to be covering up for the guy, especially when he was acting so strange.
“Sure. Of course, it is.” He glanced over at Christina’s group a second time. “Just tell anyone whose looking for me that I’ll be back. They like knowing where I am.”
Weird. But she didn’t press as Kev headed to the door. This is exactly why I don’t join. This one clearly had boundary issues and the members were up in everyone’s business. Thinking about the coven and how Dorian had been a leader in the group, she returned to her working team. This is how she got things done. Divide and conquer. It worked in the kitchens she managed as well as volunteer activities like this. People needed to be kept busy.
As they finished up opening the last of the boxes and sorting them to the areas where they’d be stored, someone tapped on Mia’s shoulder. When she turned around, a young woman, probably Christina’s age, was standing there, looking around. “Can I help you?”
“I was just looking for Kev. He’s my ride.” She looked a little frantic. “Did he leave?”
Mia smiled at the young woman. This was probably what he’d not wanted her to know. That he and the young woman were dating. The guy was a jerk. “He’ll be right back. He needed to run an errand.”
“Did he tell you where he was going?” The girl pressed.
Mia shook her head, trying to calm her down. “Actually, no, but he said he’d be back before we’re done. He probably didn’t want to worry you. Besides, if he’s not here when we’re done for the day, I’ll drive you home.”
“I can get a ride. That’s not the issue. I just want to know where he went.” Her eyes darkened and Mia saw the anger behind the friendly mask.
“And I’m telling you. I don’t know.” Mia felt like there was a battle brewing between them. Like the girl thought she was lying. And then the moment passed.
The young woman shrugged. “No biggie. I’ll just get a ride home with one of my friends. Sorry for bothering you.”
Mia watched as she walked away. And for the second time that day she had the same thought. Weird. Totally weird.
By the time Grans got there with the food, they were close to being done with the food storage system. After lunch, they could do the sweep and clean for Saturday’s event, then Friday would be about the final touches and setting up the system on a rotation basis so Tasha could make sure the food she was giving out stayed good as well as giving out the oldest food first.
After Saturday’s event, Mia planned on spending some time with Grans and Christina and then getting a massage late Sunday before they drove home Monday. She could smell the eucalyptus candle that the masseuse at the Lodge loved.
Mia grabbed sacks of sandwiches out of the back of Mary Alice’s SUV.
“I tried to leave some with Dorian’s children, but his daughter told me that it wasn’t necessary. That they knew how to feed themselves.” Grans blinked in the bright sunlight. “I was just trying to help. Those two are about as prickly as a porcupine.”
“Sorry about that.” Mia watched as her grandmother grabbed the rest of the bags. “Don’t worry about the soda and ice, I’ll send Christina out to get it.”
“Sometimes it’s hard to grow old. To not be able to do as much, or have people think you can’t do anything.” Grans glanced up at Mia. “I don’t mean you, of course.”
Which meant she most definitely meant Mia. “Christina likes to help. She feels like she’s not doing enough, so I like to give her as much support as I can.”
“She is a tad needy. What’s going on with you and her brother? Have you gotten tired of him yet? I get asked all the time at church if you’re ready to settle down yet.” Grans held the door open for Mia and they walked into the warehouse. All talking stopped as the crowd watched them walk inside. “I see they’re hungry.”
“It’s been a long day.” Mia set up the table then called the volunteers over. One man, younger than Kev, paused to talk before loading up a plate.
“I’m Cal. I work over at the Lodge with James in the kitchen.” He spoke in a low voice, like he was afraid someone was listening.
“Nice to meet you,” Mia turned to introduce him to Grans but she’d disappeared into office. “My grandmother was here, but I guess I’ll have to finish the introductions later. Thanks so much for coming today. It means a lot. We should have an up and going food bank sooner than later. I couldn’t have done this all myself.”
“No problem. I enjoy doing community service for Magic Springs. My grandparents helped found the town. I feel a little obligated. Some people do it for the prestige they think they get from doing the work.” He glanced over toward the girl who’d pressed her about where Kev had gone earlier. “Bethanie over there thinks the sun rises and sets on her command. I hope she wasn’t bothering you early.”
“Nothing I couldn’t handle.” Mia watched Bethanie, who was now in deep conversation with a tall, dark and handsome. “What’s her story?”
“She’s the daughter of the new coven leader. Of course, her daddy didn’t get a place on the board, but now that Dorian’s gone, he’ll probably get elected. Most of the coven doesn’t care about the
politics of the group. They just want to be left alone.”
Mia sighed. “I understand what they feel like. I’m not even a member and I feel drawn into the games.”
“Your grandmother is well respected in the community. When she started dating Dorian, we thought there would finally be a power couple in charge. Silas doesn’t keep women around much, unless they’re his offspring. So far, Bethanie is the only one of his kids to join the coven. I hear the rest of them don’t want to deal with his lack of parenting skills.” Cal’s stomach growled. “Sorry, I’m starving. I did a fast last night so I could cast this morning before coming here. I’ve been working on making sure we have an excellent ski season. So far, the spell is just out of my reach, but I guess we’ll know if it’s working when we get our first blizzard.”
Mia watched him step up to the table and fill a plate with food. She wasn’t used to being around magical folk. Even Grans kept her magic separate from family life. And in Boise, well, there Mia could pretend to be a normal girl, without all the problems that came with declaring her special talents.
As she ate her lunch with Grans and Christina, she tuned out their chatting about the warehouse and the preparations for the cook-off. She focused on Dorian and the stuff she’d found out. It wasn’t like she could call up Officer Baldwin and tell him about all the suspects she’d unearthed. He already was looking at Grans. Pricilla was feeding that line of investigation, she knew it. In Mia’s mind, Pricilla was one of the top suspects. Too bad Dorian hadn’t been able to tell Grans anything before he’d been dumped into Mr. Darcy’s body. Or had he? Mia jumped into a pause in the conversation. “Grans? About your discussion with Dorian that was interrupted?”
“When I called his spirit? You don’t have to be so cryptic. We are in a room filled with witches.” Grans held up a bite of potato salad. “Hodges does a good job with their deli foods. Have you been in the store recently?”
“No. Okay so, what did Dorian say before he was sucked into Mr. Darcy?” Mia glanced down at her own mostly uneaten lunch. She hadn’t taken any potato salad. Usually she tried everything, just in case it was good and she needed to dissect it for a possible recipe for her files later.
“Oh, I thought I told you that.”
Mia set her fork down. “No, you were kind of vague about the whole thing.”
“I must have been upset. It’s hard to accept that a spell you worked so hard on could go so badly.” She ate the last of the salad. “Anyway, he said that it wasn’t who it appeared to be. That I needed to look.”
Mia leaned forward. “Look at what?”
“I have no clue. He was telling me something and then Mr. Darcy jumped on the table and Dorian was drawn into him. A living body is so much more welcoming than just a candle. You must have been taught that in your witch lessons.” She pushed away the sandwich. “I’m not hungry. I’ll start cleaning up. Maybe one of these younger ones will take the leftovers home. I have a lasagna in the oven for dinner.”
Grans got up from the table and went over to start cleaning up the lunch remnants. Mia didn’t think there was much left to pawn off on anyone, but she was sure her grandmother would find someone to take the extra food. She focused on her clipboard and made a few additions to assign out.
“I have to say, this has been a most enlightening week with you. My brother is an idiot if he thinks he can ever do anything without you finding out. And if he did, your grandmother would turn him into a toad or something.” Christina finished her sandwich. “You’re so lucky.”
“One, we don’t turn living people into animals.”
“What about poor Mr. Darcy? The cat looks freaked out most of the time.” Christina pointed her fork at Mia. “All I’m saying is you have a perfect way to keep your man in line.”
“I said living people. Dorian, well, he was a ghost, not a live person.” Mia realized Christina wasn’t listening. She’d put her ear buds in and was rocking out to the music Mia couldn’t hear. “Oh, well, I guess I should have figured that I couldn’t hide this side of me forever.”
“And why would you want to?” A man asked from behind her. She whirled around. He held out his hand. “Silas Miller. I’m so glad to finally meet you Mia. You look so much like your grandmother did when she was your age.”
“Mr. Miller. Nice to meet you. Don’t tell me you came to help out at the food bank?” Mia glanced around the room. Most people were ignoring the presence of the powerful warlock. Others were watching Mia carefully, probably to see what she did in front of the new coven leader.
“Actually, no.” He laughed and for a second, Mia didn’t like him quite so much. “I’m not much for manual labor. I’m here to pick up my daughter. Have you met Bethanie?”
Mia scanned the room and came up on the girl standing way too close to the hot guy she’d seen her with before lunch. “She’s over there, wrapped up cozy with that guy with the tats near the door.”
“Yes, I see her.” Silas’s tone went dry. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to go collect her.”
Watching him stroll over to a surprised Bethanie’s side, Christina stepped up to Mia and whispered, “Somebody’s in trooooouble.”
Chapter 7
Friday morning, Mia went to the warehouse by herself. She didn’t have a lot to get done, but she wanted some private time.
Instead, when she arrived, Office Mark Baldwin sat in his police cruiser, an upscale SUV, in front of the building. He got out when he saw her pull up.
“Good morning. I didn’t expect to see you here. I was waiting for Tasha to arrive.” He glanced at his watch. “The sign on the door says the food bank opens at eight, but it’s already almost nine. Is there a problem?”
“It’s not opening until next week. The paper in the window explains the summer closure due to Tasha’s health.” She pulled out a key. “Luck is on your side though. I have a key.”
He followed her to the door. “And why do you have a key?”
“Are you always this suspicious? I’m in charge of getting the food storage system up and running for Tasha. Since I’m heading home on Monday, I wanted to make sure that I had everything in place and that the instructions were clear. I’d hate to have to come up and do this again in a year.” She glanced around the shiny clean warehouse. So different that the one she walked into on Monday. “I have a saying, I guess it’s a personal motto: everything has a place. You just have to keep it there. It’s especially important when you’re working with a food storage system. Food can go bad, then you’ve got trouble.”
He glanced around the room. “I can’t believe you got all this done since I was here on Wednesday.”
“Many hands make light work. Tasha needs to find an assistant or two to help. I know volunteers are hard to come by, especially when you have an ongoing need.” She picked up her clipboard and put a new list on the front. “Anyway, you didn’t come to admire the new and improved food bank. What can I help you with?”
“I didn’t check to see if Tasha had a security system. One that might have recorded who came inside and poisoned Dorian.” He glanced around at the ceiling. “Looks like there’s a few cameras up in the rafters and I saw a few outside when I was waiting. We might have just got a break in this case.”
“Well, I haven’t seen any type of monitors or security set up, but I’ve been busy with boxes.” She pointed to the office. “It’s got to be in there.”
Baldwin strode to the office and because she was curious, Mia followed. He stood by Tasha’s desk and glanced around. “Nothing I can see. Unless it’s tied into the computer and she checks it that way.”
“The woman didn’t know how to use a spreadsheet until Tuesday when I showed her how to keep her inventory lists.” Mia shrugged. “I’m not sure she’d know how to access security feeds through the web.”
He sighed. “After talking to her this week, I’m afraid you’re right.” He gla
nced around the room and then opened a closet door off to the side that Mia hadn’t seen before. “Well, I found the security system. But it looks like it hasn’t been active since the warehouse was used by the timber company that donated it to the city.”
Mia peeked around Baldwin’s large frame and saw a set of components. All dusty with a small monitor that had a crack in the screen. She didn’t know a lot about security systems besides the code she used to set the one at the restaurant when she left. This looked like it had been set up years ago and then deactivated.
Baldwin moved out of the room. “Do me a favor and have Tasha call me when she comes in. Looking at the cameras, they look as old as this system, so I think they’re just for show. It was worth a shot anyway.”
“You’re not any farther on finding out who killed Dorian?” Mia followed him out of the office and toward the door.
“No. And no, I don’t think your grandmother is top of my list. But she’s not off it, either. The guy didn’t seem to have any enemies.” Baldwin took of his baseball cap with the logo for Magic Springs Police stenciled on the front and rubbed the top of his head.
“That’s not true.” Mia blurted out before she could stop the words.
He put his cap back on and studied her. “What part of what I said isn’t true? And how do you know this? Don’t tell me you’re one of those nosy civilians who thinks they can solve crimes like on the television. You know you can get killed doing that kind of stuff. This isn’t a movie.”
“I just heard some things.” Mia didn’t make eye contact. She had a horrible poker face and she knew it. “Dorian was the leader of the coven. Silas Miller wanted control. And Pricilla, well, she was mad he left her for Grans.”
Baldwin chuckled. “I should have known you’d drink the Kool-Aid. One, the group of misfits that call themselves a coven is no more harmful than the local Elks Lodge. These people are mostly deluded. I have to admit that I didn’t know Dorian was part of it. He seemed more intelligent than to fall for that kind of malarkey. And yes, I know Pricilla was mad at him for leaving her. A woman scorned and all, but she has an alibi for the night he was killed. She was at the winery working. One of her staff members remembers seeing her in the office working on her computer.”
