Everyone watched me like I was a circus animal ready to perform. Even Patagonia watched me with teal eyes though her attention was centered on the doughnut fragment that I was still clutching between two fingers.
I uncorked the potion, taking a sniff. The smell inside reminded me of mushrooms, and the aura of magic was Colleen’s mixed with an unknown magic worker. The unknown aura reminded me of smoke, not the stale, musty scent of a hotel bar but rather pipe smoke. It was woody and elusive, something I could imagine from an old wizard in a library, surrounded by leather books containing centuries of knowledge. I would need to keep an eye out for the mage that matched the aura.
Patagonia crawled into my lap, and I held the vial near my mouth as I prepared for the vision of Ned’s death. As it began to play out, I took the potion. The sensation of drinking felt as though it was happening at a great distance or in someone else’s body, as I was deeply immersed in Ned’s final moments.
Then the world in my mind started to shred. Images, emotions, and details peeled away and revealed a vision that was similar but different.
No longer was Ned calmly drinking from a mug at a desk. Instead he was pacing the room, ranting into a phone, his emotions a mix of anger and unmitigated terror. He was storming around his office, making it more of a mess than it was already. Grabbing stacks of files, he threw them in a box then stopped to rant around the room.
“After all this! Now they want to hang me out to dry. Well, no one pulls the wool over my eyes.” He jabbed a finger into his chest for emphasis. He stormed around the room, moving a few more files, grumbling under his breath then pulling a large book out onto the desk. It was similar to the book I had seen where he kept the financial records but different. The cover was a dark maroon.
He opened a drawer and pulled out a bottle of amber liquid and poured a generous slug of it into his mug then picked up the phone and dialed a number.
He was smugly satisfied as he spoke roughly to a voice on the other end of the line. “You need to get over here now and help me with the books.”
There was a long pause as the other person spoke. Ned grabbed the mug and took a long drink. “Well, I have news for you. Those books were cooked. They’re fakes, and your handwriting is all over them… it doesn’t matter. When it comes out, I will gladly point to you as my accomplice… you’re writing is all over these books, and the rent you are paying is way lower than anyone else’s in the building. You are going to look guilty as sin and—”
He cut himself off in a fit of coughs, pounding a fist on his chest as his face slowly turned red. That was when I noticed the aura of magic in the room. It must have been building for a while, but I hadn’t noticed. It was muffled somehow, like looking through a hazy window or listening for a sound with a buzzer going off. I strained to pick it up, but something was blocking it. I couldn’t clearly sense the aura, but whatever it was had an edge of offness about it. Something unpleasant. Whenever I felt that I might have nailed down the aura, it seemed to shift, and I was sure I was wrong.
Ned dropped the phone, gasping and gurgling until the noise stopped completely. He thrashed at his desk, knocking items everywhere, but only briefly before he stilled completely in the chair. His eyes stared straight ahead, his face purple.
A thin, tinny voice came through the receiver, but I couldn’t make out the words. The vision faded, and I shuddered hard. That was more like what I had come to expect. The rush of fear when he knew he was dying tightened my throat, and once more I felt sick.
Opening my eyes, I nodded, trying to convey the message that the potion had worked. I tried to speak, but the words couldn’t make it out.
Bear kneeled next to me, handing me a bottle of water, the lid already removed. He patted my back. “There, there. Take your time, Ella.”
Patagonia nuzzled my neck as I brought the water to my mouth with a shaky hand. After a few sips, mostly getting the water into my mouth, I was able to speak. “Definitely not an accident. There was magic at work, but I can’t tell you what. And he was definitely involved in something illegal. I know what to look for: an extra set of accounting books and an unknown and unknowing accomplice. This person didn’t realize that things weren’t on the up and up.”
Colleen nodded. “I am glad it worked. I will get another dose for Edward’s vision, but perhaps you should wait awhile before you take it?”
I shook my head. “I will take it whenever it is ready.” I paused, surprised by how sure I was that I was willing to push on through the discomfort to find the truth. I had fallen into all this, the visions, the murders, even the whole magical ball of wax. But somewhere along the way, I had come to find meaning and satisfaction in the work. It felt good to realize that. I smiled wryly. “I mean, that is why I chose to be a Monza, right? To right the wrongs?”
For once, Colleen looked unsure then checked her watch and stood. “I must get going. I need to meet with a few other people.”
“When can we… talk more about… stuff?” I felt as awkward as if I were trying to ask her on a date. I wanted, no, I needed to know if she was thinking of taking me on as an apprentice.
“Tomorrow morning,” she said, avoiding my eyes. “I’ll arrange a time.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
After Colleen and Bear left, Vanessa and I destroyed a lasagna we baked. Nothing was left in the metal foil container by the time we were done, and I finally felt steady enough for us to return to the mini mall.
Their parking lot was fuller than I had previously seen, from a battered old minivan to a fancy black town car with blacked-out windows. Apparently, everyone in town wanted to go shopping.
After I parked my car and triple-checked that all my windows were fully up, we walked to the martial arts studio. But as we got closer, we slowed down. The doors were locked, the lights off, and a large Closed sign hung in the window. It didn’t appear to be a normal closure, as a small crowd of women stood around in yoga pants and carried mats.
I had hoped to talk to Mary Anno, the confused seer. She had said she had information for me, and it would have been a lot more convenient if she just told me who the killer was, and while she was at it, she could tell me if the same person killed Edward and perhaps killed my father. And why I couldn’t remember my mother. And if she was dead or alive. I sure had a lot of unanswered questions in my life.
“What’s up? The studio’s not open?” I addressed the general group though I focused on a few of the ladies who I recognized from the first time we had come to the studio.
A blond woman with short hair, big round eyes, and arms that could do some damage looked up from her phone. “You work for the management, right? Are you Ella? This was pinned to the door. Open it, and tell us what it says.”
I took the envelope from her and found myself opening it before I even realized it. She didn’t appear to be a mage. She was just good old-fashioned used to being in charge. The other women crowded around, hoping to find some answers to their questions.
I scanned the letter and repeated what I felt was relevant to them. “It appears there’s been a family emergency and they needed to leave for a few months, but they prepaid their rent on the space, so they are definitely planning on coming back.”
The crowd murmured disapprovingly but started to head toward their cars, no longer interested in me.
Vanessa came to read over my shoulder. “Is that all it says?”
I passed her the note to read. “No, the second half is for me. Let’s go to the office and find the books I’m looking for.”
Vanessa trailed along behind me, reading the note before trotting to catch up. “I don’t get it.”
“Neither do I.” Irritation tightened my voice. Why couldn’t Mary have waited to talk to me in person so I could ask questions?
Vanessa started reading the note aloud. “‘I’m pretty sure I remember what I was going to tell you. I think the Taj Mahal is a good example for you. How he started with a focus but got distracted by the job. I kno
w that will help you with your problem.’”
“Clear as mud.”
“So is that the answer to who killed Ned?”
I unlocked the door and flipped on the light. “I have no idea. I don’t even know the story of the Taj Mahal.” I crawled under the desk to see if the second set of books was hidden there.
Vanessa closed the door behind her and, opening up a file cabinet, thumbed through the folders. “What does the second set of books look like?”
I crawled out from under the desk and grabbed the one with the tan cover that he had kept out. “Just like this but with a maroon cover.”
“And the purpose is…?”
I tapped the tan cover. “This is the set that he would show the property owner’s accountant. It should show what they are expecting to see. Then he would have a separate set for his own use that showed what was really going on.”
“But if this set”—she gestured to the book out on the desk—“is balanced, then how can he steal any money?”
“Oh, there are a million ways, and every crook seems to have their own slant.” I was nerding out on accounting, my first passion before I found I could work magic, but I would always have a soft spot in my heart for auditing. “So maybe he writes in that expenses are really higher than they are, and he grabs the difference. Or he tells the tenants that rent has gone up but enters the old amount, then writes fake reimbursement checks that he cashes himself. Oh man, there are just so many ways.”
I started to get excited. Once we found the maroon set of books from my vision, I could compare them and see what kind of scam he was running. This could blow the case wide open. That would prove to Colleen that I knew what I was doing and would be the perfect apprentice. I spotted the rent check I had gotten from Linda Harris. Grabbing it, I flipped open the book to where he had been recording rents.
I looked at the amount on the check then did a double take. “This is for one hundred and fifty dollars. That can’t be right. I mean, this isn’t the nicest place, but surely rent must be more than that.”
“Some of the rooms in the hotel are more than that a night. You must be reading it wrong.” She came around to look at the check herself. “Huh, that’s weird. Maybe it’s just part of the rent.”
I pointed to the memo line. “October rent in full.” I found the page in the book. “That’s even weirder. He recorded that she paid eight hundred dollars in rent.” I flipped through the book, double- and triple-checking. “Looks like everyone’s rent is eight hundred dollars. Then why is her check for one fifty?”
I got a tingling in the back of my brain. Something was off. I recognized the feeling from my time auditing. I was hot on the track of something, but what?
“Maybe she had a deal going with him. Maybe he paid the balance of the rent if she… you know.” She waggled her eyebrows up and down in a suggestive manner.
“Something is off, but he’s dead, and I came to her to get a replacement check. Wouldn’t she give me the correct amount? I need to see if there are any other checks around for rent to compare—oh!”
I found the pages for the rent for the commercial spaces and found the amount being paid. “Remember when we talked to Ellen, she said they signed up because he gave them such a great deal? Three hundred bucks? Look!” I jabbed my finger at a box with a handwritten number inside.
“Nine hundred dollars. So this is great news. You thought he was keeping two sets of books, and this proves it, right?”
I screwed up my mouth. “Yes, but… this is backward. Normally he would record a lower amount, not higher. How is he making up the difference between what people are paying and what he is giving to the property managers? And why?”
“You got me. Hey, speaking of Ellen”—she edged toward the door—“why don’t I hop on down there and grab some snacks to eat?”
“Fine, fine. Just be back fast. Five minutes tops. Got it?”
“Got it,” she shouted as the door slammed behind her.
Patagonia jumped onto the desk and over to the check that was sitting out. Probably hoping to chew it up again.
I snatched it out from underneath her and turned around to place it on top of a filing cabinet. I took a moment to admire the handwriting. Each letter and number was round, like it was made from a balloon. It was the kind of writing that my chicken scrawl would never approach, even when I took the time to carefully form each letter. Some people just had the gift of adorable writing. Linda had that gift.
There was a crash, and I turned around to see Patagonia glaring at me and the bookkeeping ledger on the ground. It had landed on its end and stood up like a tent or the letter A. Patagonia must have shoved it off the desk in a fit of annoyance.
A note lay face up. It had probably been wedged between two pages of the book and was dislodged when it fell. The same round, cute letters stared up at me, and I grabbed it. It was a short message jotted on the back of a receipt, and a strip of tape told me that it was likely left on the door of the office at some point.
Ned, I came by to help you with the bookkeeping, but I must have missed you. Linda
She had been the mystery person helping him with the books. From the conversation I had seen in the visions, I knew that she hadn’t realized that he was keeping a second set of books, and this note supported that idea. Otherwise she would have been a bit more discreet about admitting she was helping with the books. He probably kept the note as proof that she was involved, and it was probably part of his assurance that he would take her down with him if she didn’t come over and help him the night he died.
I stood up quickly and raced out of the office. She probably came over that night and took the other set of books. She must have known he was murdered, and it was likely that she had skipped town already.
I jogged around the building and slowed as I saw Sally in a car, luggage and boxes packed all around her. She was in the front passenger seat, something that I didn’t think was technically allowed because of her slight stature. When she caught sight of me, she waved excitedly and yelled through the closed window, “We’re going on vacation.”
She was still in her pajamas, the ones I had seen her in the other day, and she shivered, her lips a little bit blue.
I wasn’t a parent but felt sure that her mother should put a jacket on her or at least wrap a blanket around her shoulders.
I waved back and gave her a little smile.
Linda, her mom, locked the door to the apartment and rushed toward the car but slowed when she saw me. After a few moments, she put on a fake smile that did nothing to cover the unease in her face or her soul. Waves of nervous energy filled the air around me, and I almost choked on it.
She looked like a rabbit caught in the corner by a large cat. I stepped as close as she would allow me. “I know that Ned got you involved in something illegal, and I also know that you are innocent. Please help me find out who killed him.”
It was a gamble because she could have been the killer, but as I spoke, her fear almost overwhelmed me. When I said she was innocent, her emotions backed up that it was true. She was relieved, and she believed me. She might have thought about denying knowledge of what I meant except for the tears that flowed down her face.
She turned her back to the car and tried to dab away the tears before Sally could see them. “I’ve been so scared, but I didn’t think you would believe me if I told you. I didn’t want to skip town, but it didn’t seem like there was any option.”
I nodded, trying to look like I understood while my thoughts spun.
Her spirits were lifting. “I’m going to grab some stuff from inside, then I’ll explain what I can. I still need to head out of town for… other reasons, but I’ll be available by phone.”
She popped back into her apartment, and I decided to sit in the car with Sally. There was something in the little girl that drew me to her. She seemed too tiny, though weren’t all kids at that age?
I got into the car and closed the door. It seemed to have gotte
n significantly colder. Perhaps a storm front was blowing in. “Don’t worry. Your mom will be right back.”
“Mom can’t go anywhere without me.” She shivered again.
“Why don’t we start up the car and get the heater going?” I had seen the keys on the seat, and I twisted around to grab them from underneath me. I got the sudden prickling on the back of my neck that indicated I was being watched.
I looked around but saw nothing ominous. The black town car rolled by, using the back alley as a shortcut from the parking lot to the casinos on the Avenue. A chill wind picked up a pile of leaves and slammed them into the car’s rear window. Then I spied Vanessa, who had turned the corner of the building and was looking for me. She was chewing on something and carrying a large paper bag. I saw another upset-tummy spell in my future. “That’s my friend Vanessa. I bet if we ask nicely, she will share a sweet with you.”
Sally turned in her seat and waved wildly. “I don’t think she sees me.”
I put the key into the ignition and turned. The car roared into life, then time stopped.
The moment stretched out, each microsecond taking an eternity to experience. There was a noise that built into a roar and light that became brighter and brighter until I couldn’t see anything. The pressure built, compressing me tighter and tighter. The air in my lungs was forced out, then it reversed, and I felt as though I was being ripped apart.
My mouth opened in a scream to release the fear that had come over me, but nothing came out. The light, the noise, the pressure were all that existed for an eternity until two things happened: a burning pain in my left wrist flared, and the sensation of a cold small hand slipped into my right hand and squeezed. I barely had the realization that Sally was there with me and we were in trouble when everything went black.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I was in a deep black hole. I was trying to crawl out, back toward the surface. I pushed and pressed to reach the surface, but it was a long haul, and every movement brought me more pain, both physical and emotional. Something was very wrong though I didn’t know what.
Casino Witch Mysteries Box Set 2 Page 29
