Patagonia gave a meow and raced through the lobby, bobbing and weaving around the studio. She seemed excited, and after a few moments, I guessed why. The room was full of sensations. The emotions in the room were heavy with determination and an inner strength. The smell was a mix of chemicals from the mats and the acrid and sweet aroma of sweat, both new and old. It wasn’t unpleasant though it should have sent me running from the room. It was tempered by a subtle spell that was being woven.
The magic had a light and crisp smell with hints of lemongrass and ginger. It was gentle and soft and seemed to caress my muscles. I felt the urge to strip my clothing down to my undergarments and flop myself onto a mat and stretch.
The source of the magic was a small, quiet woman at the front of the room. She had been watching me since we first entered but hadn’t said anything. Patagonia did a few more laps around the room then stopped in front of the woman, who ran a hand under Patagonia’s chin to scratch.
“And release. Why don’t you take child’s pose and do some deep cleansing breaths while I talk with our guests? Focus on breathing in all the good in the world, the love and positive energy. And then breathe out all the bad in you: your resentment, your anger, your pettiness.”
Without using her hands, she smoothly went from sitting cross-legged to standing. She was shorter than I expected, and her thick black hair reached well past her waist in a chunky braid. She gestured for us to follow as she entered a window-lined office in one corner of the studio.
The spell shifted slightly, and I fought the urge to stay and ditch some of my negative emotions with the rest of the class.
The woman sat behind her desk, and Patagonia jumped onto the cluttered surface to rub her face on the woman’s neck.
I reached out for Patagonia and put her in my lap as Vanessa closed the door behind us. “I’m so sorry. She normally doesn’t do that.”
“It’s okay. Familiars like me. I’m Mary Anno, owner of the studio. How can I help you?”
“I’m Ella, and this is Vanessa. I met Dave Anno last night?” I lifted my voice in a question, hoping she would volunteer how they were related.
If Mary and Dave had been human, I would have guessed them both to be in their thirties and would have assumed they were married or siblings. But since they were both mages, they could be virtually any age, and I didn’t want to embarrass myself with a ridiculous guess.
She nodded. “My husband. You must have been one of the people who came after Ned’s death.”
“Yes, I came with my boss.” I pulled out a card and handed it to her. “I’ll be taking care of things here while they hire someone new. I wanted to introduce myself. I’m sure I’ll be here awhile. The office was a mess.”
She grimaced. “I should not speak ill of the dead, but…” She shifted uncomfortably. “Hold on.” She stood and went to the door of the office and leaned out. “Stacey, will you take over for a few minutes? Why not run through some warrior poses?” She retook her seat. “It’ll be good for Stacey. She needs to build her confidence.” Mary’s magic was in the air.
I twisted around in my seat to watch the class. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a healthy group of women in one place. Must be one heck of a class you run.” I turned to face her.
Though she tried to hide it, she radiated pride. “It’s all their doing. How can I help you?”
While I really wanted to know about why someone might want to kill Ned, I wanted to hide my primary purpose. “I’m trying to sort out the business here, but it looks… complicated.” I let the implications land heavy on the last word, so she would hear it in whatever way she wanted.
She nodded. “We’ve been here for eleven years and have a long-standing contract with the property owners, which really annoyed Ned. He wanted us out, though I never understood why. We always paid on time, never caused trouble, and in the nine years he was here, we never complained or asked for repairs once.”
“What did the other tenants think of him?”
She paused for so long that I thought she wasn’t going to answer. When she did, she carefully measured out each word. “We’ve never had an issue with any of our neighbors. I mean sometimes they didn’t put all their trash in the dumpster and the birds got into it, or they let their stores get a bit dingy, but nothing serious.”
She paused again. She was apprehensive, and my guess was that she was debating how much to share. “But there was something weird going on. Nothing I could put a finger on or prove, but… please be careful, Monza Ella. If they know you are looking into his murder, they will go after you too.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
In my elegant way, I replied, “What? No… I mean… huh?”
She looked between Vanessa and me. “Oh, did your assistant not know?”
“No… I mean, yes, she knows everything, but…” Literally five minutes into the investigation and already our cover was blown.
Mary’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh, I’m not supposed to know, am I?”
I exchanged a look with Vanessa, but she seemed as confused as me. “No, you aren’t supposed to know.”
She laughed. “I need to explain. I was a seer until a few years ago, then I was in an accident. Or rather, that is what the marshal wrote it off as. I believe it was an attack, but I’m not sure. I survived, but my brain and magic no longer work the same way. That’s when I started teaching here full-time. I used to freelance for mages who couldn’t afford a full-time seer, which is most of them. I still have the gift, but now it’s all mixed up, so I don’t know what is a prophecy and what is yesterday’s news.”
“Wow,” Vanessa said. “I know you. I was in Europe, but I heard about the attack. You were found wandering around at night, right? But I heard that you had a spell go wrong.”
She waved a hand in the air as though she could dispel the rumor with the simple motion. “That was the marshal’s official finding, but I know it isn’t what happened. But I don’t know what did happen, so I can’t contest the ruling. I have things to tell you but not right now.”
She stood and went to the office door. “I need to return to my class. Stacey is going to have a rough day, especially with her toddler, who is sick, but Stacey won’t know that until tomorrow. I don’t want her all tired out from running my class. I have one class after this, then I will be able to meet with you.”
We left the studio. The brisk autumn air felt great after the heat inside. At least until a newspaper slapped me in the face.
My car was still there, and no hoodlums were loitering nearby, so we walked halfway down the sidewalk and entered the liquor store, Rambler’s Refreshments. I was no expert, but it seemed like a pretty standard layout for that type of store.
There were glass-front refrigerator units all along the walls of the store with aisles that ran back and forth. Above the aisles were curly-fonted signs marking where the whiskeys, ciders, vodkas, gins, and other libation varieties were located. In the center of the store, located right near the checkout counter, at eye level for optimal viewing, was a glass display case with what I assumed were the high-ticket items.
Maybe they were meant to be impulse items, though I couldn’t imagine who would pick up a three-thousand-dollar bottle of wine on a whim.
No one was behind the counter, so I looked around the store. Vanessa, on the other hand, grabbed a mini shopping cart and started wheeling it around the store, grabbing bottles and six packs.
“What are you doing?” I hollered to her.
She stood on her tiptoes to see over the schnapps and waggled a bottle at me. “Shopping, obvs. I’m sure that Tiffany has some crazy stuff planned, and I want to have plenty of alcohol on hand. I think I saw a bakery a few doors down. We should stop there too.”
“Good idea. Grab me some hard ciders. The crazier the flavors the better.”
She nodded and rolled off.
“Good morning, ladies. Can I help you find anything?”
A man on the tail end of middle age waddled be
hind the checkout counter. His face was swollen up like he had been stung by only slightly effective bees. His face was flushed, but the red reached its peak at his nose, which glowed like Rudolph’s.
I stepped over and handed him a card. From that distance, I was sure the cause of his ills were of the liquid variety. I resisted the urge to gag at the overwhelming smell of tequila. I had never been able to stomach the smell.
“Hi, I’m Ella, and that’s Vanessa, my assistant. I assume you heard about the property manager, Ned’s, untimely death?”
He grabbed the card and gave it a good once-over before using it to pick at a piece of pepper lodged in his teeth. “Yar.”
I took that be an affirmative and pressed on. “I’ll be handling things until they hire—”
“Great. There’s something wrong with the crapper in the back. Maybe you can go take a look at it.”
“Uh. I’ll pass that on to management. I’m mostly here to deal with rent.”
“I’m all paid up on that. Hey, if you’re interested in buying those, I’ll give you a real deal.”
I stared at him, confused at the sudden change in topic until I realized he was looking past me. Turning around, I saw Vanessa was standing in front of the glass case.
She pointed at a bottle. “How much?”
“Three thousand, but I’ll let you have all three of them for six thousand. That’s buy two, get one free.”
“Can you open this up? I’d like to see them.”
I mouthed at her, “What are you doing?”
She shook off my question and raised an eyebrow at the man.
He reached under the counter and seemed to not find what he was looking for. “The key is in back. I’ll get it, but no funny business. I have cameras everywhere.”
He moved slowly, like an arthritic penguin, until I finally heard the door slam in the back corner.
“Vanessa, you are not paying six thousand dollars for liquor.”
“You don’t understand. Look at this.”
I stepped over to see what I was missing. It was a large bottle. I think champagne makers called it a magnum. It was nearly black though I could still see the liquid inside. On the outside wasn’t a label but rather a hand-drawn image of a dragon in gold. The neck of the dragon coiled around the bottle’s neck, and the flames shooting out of its mouth seemed to shimmer. No other information was present, just a dragon.
And slowly, I could sense the magic. I normally couldn’t sense magic contained in a potion, which was what paranormal alcohols were. At least not until they were activated, but I could sense this magic. Either my senses were developing, or more likely, the magic inside the bottle was much stronger than anything I had encountered.
The magic was deep and fruity. It fittingly reminded me of a wine, with its raspberry notes and heady flavor. “What is that?”
She peered around, making sure we were still alone before whispering her reply. “Dragon-heart wine. It looks just like how I’ve heard it described. Look. The dragon’s breath moves.”
It was subtle, but if I really stared, I could see the flames dance. It was gorgeous, and I was sure the wine inside would be amazing. “But you don’t need three.”
“You don’t understand. I have never even seen this before. It’s like a legend. You might know someone whose roommate’s brother’s ex-girlfriend’s dad had a bottle at his hundredth birthday, but no one I know has ever actually drunk it. We have to buy it. I just don’t understand why it’s here. Everything else in here is human. I think he’s human. How did he end up with three bottles?”
“Maybe it’s a knockoff?” I asked weakly, but considering the magic contained, did it really matter? Something special was inside that bottle. It was calling to me, and already my resolve was weakening. I mean, it was only six thousand dollars.
A door slammed, and I shook my head to clear it. The magic inside was obviously even stronger than I had guessed to affect me while still inert.
No wonder Vanessa was willing to spend so much on the bottles. The price still made me gasp, but Vanessa never seemed to be bothered by price. Mages in general were rich, a benefit of being able to use magic to manipulate the world and humans. I had inherited quite a bit from my dad, and I received a nice stipend from the Golden Pyramid Casino or Bear when I worked from them. A fact that buoyed my steps as I thought of the check Bear would have for me after working this case.
The man unlocked the cabinet and gingerly handed the bottle to Vanessa. She flipped it over, and on the underside was a wave stamp pressed deeply with an ornate design. She ran a finger over it, and I sensed a quick flash of magic, a match to what I had sensed inside.
She gave me an affirmative nod. This was dragon-heart wine. “I’ve not seen this before.”
“I’m the only importer in America, actually North and South America. The previous store owner had it set up, and when I opened, a guy showed up and insisted that I take over the contract. I think he might have been a Russian mobster, very scary. I wasn’t too sure about it, but they always sold. At least until these three.” He grabbed the two bottles still in the case and hauled them out then shuffled behind the counter.
“When the first two didn’t sell, I tried to refuse the third. I told him that I couldn’t afford more. That night my truck got four flat tires on the drive home. Not all at once but first the front left, which I put the spare on. Then a mile later the front right. I have a buddy with a tire store, and he brought me a whole new set. Then a few miles down the way, the brand-new rear left tire blew. I decided just to have my wife pick me up and get the truck towed in. When they arrived, the back right tire had gone. At first, I figured the guy had messed with my tires, but how could he have done that to the new tires?”
He put down the two bottles and reached under the counter to take a swig from a flask. Sweat bloomed on his forehead, and he wiped it away with his sleeves. Whether he was always a talkative guy or whether the liquid was causing him to ramble was anyone’s guess. My opinion was that it was a bit of column A and a lot of column B.
“I’m getting a bit nervous at this point. That night, our fire alarm went off a few minutes after I fell asleep. I got up and reset it. About half an hour later, it happened again. I took it down and stuck it in the car in the garage. Then thirty minutes later, another one went off. That kept up all night. Around four, I got up and unplugged every single one. You know what happened next?”
Without waiting for an answer, he plunged on, gesturing wildly and sloshing some of the tequila on his arm. “The garbage disposal started up. My wife about hit the roof. She was screaming that we were haunted and needed a priest. We got up right away and packed up the car along with her little dog and went to a hotel. I got to this here shop in the morning, and that creepy Russian mobster was waiting for me. He mentioned that I didn’t look like I slept too well and suggested that perhaps going back on our deal was bothering me and I should reconsider turning down the wine.”
The effort of telling the story seemed to wear him out. His hand shook as he took a long drag off the flask, and his face was now a waxy yellow color. The sweat that had been a slight sheen on his skin was now running down his face and turning the collar on his shirt dark.
A chill went down my spine though I wasn’t sure what it all meant.
The man’s eyes were turning red, like he had been swimming in a pool for too long, and he mopped at his forehead again. He still attempted to muster up a smile for Vanessa. “I’m not feeling so great. I might need to head home. But how about this, sweetheart? You give me a kiss right here, and I’ll give you all three bottles for four thousand flat.” He turned his head and tapped at his cheek.
“Uh…” Vanessa hesitated. “Okay, but you have to close your eyes. I’m very shy.”
He complied, leaning heavily on the counter and closing his eyes.
Vanessa bent over and grabbed Patagonia off the ground and lifted her up to his cheek, where Patagonia stuck out her tongue and licked up the si
de of his face.
She dropped Patagonia down onto the ground as the man opened his eyes. His color had improved, and his eyes practically glowed as he turned a love-stricken smile on her. “I think I’m in love.”
She pulled out a wad of cash and started counting it out. “Oh, I’m not sure your wife will be so thrilled.”
He stood up straighter. “That’s right. I forgot about her for a second. Your kiss is just so magical. I mean, it was a bit unusual, and your breath smells a lot like tuna, but… I really think we could have something special.”
Patagonia meowed loudly and sashayed toward the door. She gave a little wiggle with her butt, and I wondered what she had done to bewitch the poor man.
Vanessa handed over the cash and wrapped each arm around a bottle. “I think you’re delusional. Probably have a fever. Why don’t you close up and have your wife come pick you up?”
He nodded. “Sure. Right. Whatever you say.”
I grabbed the third bottle and followed Vanessa to the door. “And if you have any information for us about the property or Ned or any concerns, please call.”
He trailed behind us, a bit like a lost puppy. “Please hurry back.”
We barely made it outside before the door locked behind us and the open sign flipped to closed.
Vanessa chuckled. “I need to have Patagonia kiss more men. He was willing to run off with me.”
“How in the world could he have confused that with a kiss?”
Patagonia meowed and gave out a hissing chuckle.
We would need to drop off the wine before continuing, so I started toward the car. That’s when I noticed something odd.
The interior of my car was black. No, something black was in my car. I let out a primal screech when I realized that my car was full of flapping and fighting crows.
Casino Witch Mysteries Box Set 2 Page 23
