by Mara Webb
“As I was saying, I was floating next to my body, he walked in, pulled out a gun and shot me in the head.”
“Who Nicholas?” I said, “Who?!”
The ghost of Nicholas turned and looked at me.
“It was Sean.”
19
“Sean?” I said. “Sean? You said Sean…the Sean or a different Sean?” In all of our interactions he had been perfectly pleasant, what on earth would have motivated him to shoot a dead man? “There has to be a mistake.”
“No mistake I’m afraid. It’s coming back to me now, I watched him shoot me, panic, roll me over and place the gun in my hand.”
I thought back to my discovery of the body. Sean had run in and grabbed the gun, smearing his fingerprints all over it. At the time I thought he was compromising the crime scene through ignorance, but that interaction with the gun was deliberate. He was putting his fingerprints on the gun on purpose.
With no forensic team to check under fingernails for residue he would have had days to wash his hands and clothes, removing all traces of his bizarre crime.
“But the gunshot didn’t kill you, so what did?” I asked.
“Beats me. Oh look, we are almost there,” Nicholas said, gazing from his mirror prison out of the office window at the approaching island. “I loved that woman you know. It seems unlikely and I know how it looks to everyone else, but to me it was real.
“I may have been trapped in this mirror, but I have heard some of what has been going on since my death and it is devolving from the romantic trip I had planned. I’m sorry for that, I’m sorry you were caught up in all this. I’m sorrier that I had to watch my fiancé and my son kissing on my desk within an hour of you finding my body too, but what can you do?”
A horn blared out from the control room, echoing throughout the yacht and out into the air. We were about to reach the marina of the destination island that Nicholas was so determined that we all see. There appeared to be a series of cars waiting for us, my initial thoughts flickered between luxury cars transporting us to a fancy hotel, and a group of police cars to take us all away for questioning. It really could be either at this point.
“Nora?” Ryan shouted from outside.
“I’ll call you later!” I muttered to Quin.
“Wait! I’ve figured out how he di—” Quin began.
I hung up.
Ryan was standing in the middle of the murder deck with our suitcases.
“Sorry if I have creased everything, I can fix that for you later. I just threw everything into the luggage to get us out of here as quickly as possible. I’ve managed to get us a plane home, it’s a charter flight leaving tomorrow but Rick assured me that our accommodation has been taken care of ahead of time. Apparently, Nicholas had included it as part of this big surprise,” Ryan said.
I slipped my cellphone into the bag that Ryan had balanced on top of my suitcase and wheeled our luggage to the outside area of the murder deck. We were drawing closer to the gangplank that would allow us to step off this stupid boat and the rest of the guests had gathered with their things to make a speedy exit. All except Stephanie and Leslie as they were still trapped with each other.
“What happens next?” I asked.
“Well,” Ryan said as he waved to the marina staff that were helping to secure the yacht in place. “Leslie will be arrested now that the justice department is freer to come and go with the group. The yacht being on lockdown prevented them from doing as much, that’s why they held people in the brig. Although Rick gave me the impression he was taking his Captain authority onto land under some bizarre law so that he could prevent anyone being taken away by police until the surprise was revealed. I don’t know what could be so important.”
We were guided off the boat carefully and as my feet stepped out onto steady ground I could feel my lungs fill deeply and relief wash over me.
“Ms. Wildes, Mr. Hughes, this way please,” a stranger said, gesturing to one of the cars. He had been holding a sign with our names on it, took our luggage and lifted it into the trunk and we climbed inside the spacious backseat area. The driver rolled the partition up as if he could sense that we had something that we needed to discuss in private.
“Nicholas’s ghost appeared to me. He doesn’t know what killed him, but Sean is the one that shot him after he was already dead. For some reason that feels like the biggest mystery to me, why would he do that?” I said.
“Sean?” Ryan gasped. “People do strange things, I…I don’t know what to tell you. We still don’t have a cause of death so it’s hard to know if he was trying to cover for someone, or maybe there was some unknown animosity between the two of them. Oh my… what…?” Ryan stopped talking, his attention caught by something ahead of him.
I leaned over to see what it was that Ryan was reacting to.
As we turned a corner the car began to slow down until it eventually stopped beside an incredibly lavish looking hotel. I wondered how such an expensive building had been justified on a tiny island like this, but I guess rich people like to get away on vacation just like everybody else. This way they wouldn’t have to mingle with regular people.
Ryan wasn’t gasping in admiration of the hotel though; it was the set up on the grounds outside that had caught his attention. There was a small stage outside with a white tiled floor that had posts on each corner to support a canopy that hung above.
Each post had a lace curtain elegantly tied back to it like some bizarre, mattress-less four poster bed. There were delicate string lights twirling around the frame of the roof and tall, thick pillar candles scattered across the ground around it. A chandelier hung from the center of the roof canopy with more candles and palm trees cast shadows down over the stage and the chairs that surrounded it, allowing the flicking candle flames to be more visible.
The sun was shining, but the way the lights had been placed made it feel like sunset. A red petal path led up to the stage through the seats and the walkway was lined with large bouquets of lilies. The ocean was lapping gently back and forth against the sand in the background. This was the setup for a destination wedding, and I was beginning to understand what all of this was about.
We climbed out of our car and turned back to see the faces of the other guests as they too realized what was going on. Leslie and Stephanie had travelled in the same vehicle as they were still handcuffed together, Leslie seemed to have the most muted reaction out of everyone which I found surprising. “Did you know about this?” Stephanie started screaming at her handcuff companion. “You knew all along didn’t you, there was no way you weren’t walking away with every penny this family has.”
Jonny stepped out of the final car and his jaw fell open as he took in the sight. His sister was struggling to get herself free from the shackles and pulling Leslie all over the place as she did so. “This was it, wasn’t it,” Jonny cried. “You were going to marry my dad when we all got here. He invited all of us to be at your stupid little wedding and you didn’t tell me.”
He looked crushed, but I knew he was right.
“He wanted it to be a surprise!” Leslie protested, fighting against Steph who was shaking her around harder now. “I didn’t think it would all be set up like this when we arrived. He had been planning this for weeks.”
“Weeks?” Jonny said. “Weeks? You told me the day before we got onto this yacht that you wanted to end things with him and get back together properly, but all along you knew that this was happening? Do you get off on being cruel? It’s just one unnecessary lie after another. I just wanted you to love me, is that so hard for you to do?”
I instantly had memories of Nicholas when he first appeared to me in the mirror, he had said something very similar.
“Leslie, has this ever happened to you before?” I asked.
Monty and Rose turned to face the young woman at the center of the whole mess, I saw the exact moment when Monty figured it out too. He clicked his fingers in the air like somebody that had just thought of that m
issing answer in a crossword. I had read about different types of innate magic as part of my studying, one of these types was the Siren. I suspected that this was the type of witch that Leslie was.
“I…I don’t understand the question,” she stuttered. That was when it became clear to me that Leslie had known about her involvement in Nicholas’s death the whole time, she had pretended to be oblivious, but this was clearly something she had experience with.
“You’re a siren, aren’t you?” I asked.
“I knew it,” Monty whispered to his wife. I saw her begrudgingly slip him a folded five-dollar bill.
“What does that mean?” Jonny asked. “What have you done?” He was looking at Leslie and trying to figure out what it was that she was being accused of.
“It means that she lures men into falling in love with her, no matter how stupid or inappropriate that love is. For example, dating a father and son at the same time and everyone is just okay with it for some reason,” I explained. It was important to me that I said that out loud because I felt like no one else had been with me on feeling thoroughly creeped out by it. “Nicholas fell for you as soon as you willed it to happen, you used your powers to trap him into a relationship and then drained him of his finances until you killed him.”
“You murdered my father?” Stephanie screamed, tugging harder to pull herself free but failing.
“No! I swear I didn’t lay a hand on him,” Leslie cried.
“You didn’t need to. He was an empath. You must have been hooking up with Jonny or something and he started to feel that he was losing you, he was so in love with you because of your magic that he felt overpoweringly heartbroken. That combined with his rapid consumption of salty snacks caused him to have a massive heart attack brought on by his own magic. You killed him by not truly loving him back.”
The justice department appeared either side of the Leslie-Stephanie knot and released Steph who ran to her brother and through her arms around him. Leslie was placed in a new pair of handcuffs that were just for her.
“Does that mean the will is invalidated?” Steph shouted towards Ryan. She may have been devastated by the truth of all of this, but she wasn’t going to miss a trick where money was concerned.
“It raises some questions yes, I’ll look into it,” Ryan replied.
“Could I please see the Bride and Groom?” a voice from behind us called. We all turned to see a man in palm leaf patterned swim shorts and an open, short sleeve shirt. “Just a few bits to sign before the ceremony.”
Ryan took the man to one side to try to explain why the wedding wouldn’t be happening as I stood there thinking. Leslie was taken away by the justice department, disappearing into thin air. In the distance I could see the marina and watched Dominic get dragged off the yacht and also disappear with two officers.
Only one last question remained.
Why had Sean shot Nicholas?
20
Quin was still in a huff that I hadn’t brought him any saltwater taffy back from my vacation and had made it very obvious that he would not forgive me quickly. I had been back at the house on Charm Close for a few days now and had to suffer through multiple performances a day of “you’re right, a snack would be great right now. We don’t have any in though, because apparently when I’m out of sight I’m out of mind.”
You would think that after explaining to him that, as a familiar with magic powers, he could summon whatever snack he wanted, but Quin insisted I was missing the point. Apparently ‘a snack gifted was better than any snack he could magic up.’
I had tried.
I had also tried to make it clear that there was not a gift shop on board the yacht or at the hotel on the destination island, his attitude was not attenuated by this either.
It had been an unusual way to end our first vacation together, watching multiple members of our travel group be taken away for legal reasons. I hadn’t expected that there would be so much crime on board, so much violence and bitterness. At least I was free of some of it back on land with my bitter cat.
Ryan had been roped in, at Stephanie’s request, to question the validity of the will that Nicholas had written. Due to the strong magical nature of the problem the issue would not be going to a human court room. I wasn’t sure what outcomes were likely, but I felt that maybe having Stephanie do a few weeks of manual labor would do everyone the world of good. She was so used to getting handouts she had become insufferable.
I had been in touch with O.W.L to apologize for my slow replies and confirm that I had received my assignment. It would be a long form essay question about innate magic and the pros and cons of each.
They always assigned so many books for us to read that it was hard to guess what the next project would be focused on, but I had read about innate magic a month or so before the yacht trip, so it was fresh in my mind. I had another week before the paper was due, so decided to spend the day entertaining myself in town.
Ryan was tied up with paperwork again and had text me to apologize for another absence, I replied with my condolences that he was still involved with the nightmare family and the put my cellphone into the backpack I was preparing for the day.
I had arranged a meeting with the curse-breaker witch I was training with, I would meet her at the café in town. Not Quin’s café, because if I hear him mumbling about taffy one more time this week, I might drive him out into the country and leave him there. Molly’s café was open and would serve up a lunch that didn’t come with a side of attitude.
“I’m heading out, when are you guys due in?” I asked the seven cats on my sofa.
“There is a party booked in for a midday cat cuddle, it’s a new promotional thing, my idea!” Delphi purred.
There were so many animals suddenly chatting over each other that I started to step back slowly towards the front door. I could hear them arguing about which one of them was in charge of the pitch pipe for their ‘meow’ version of the national anthem as I slipped my boots on and edged outside. Living with one familiar was hard enough, but seven?
Forget it.
As I walked along Charm Close and turned the few corners that separated the house from the town center, I thought about all the vacations that would have been better than that one. An overnight stay in a haunted house? Sleeping on a bench in a graveyard? Being bitten by a million mosquitoes? All preferable. The next time we took a trip away we would need to plan it ourselves. It was the only way to minimize the chaos.
There was a small travel agent on the high street with posters up in the window advertising package trips to European destinations. I pined over the photos of the Eiffel Tower and The Colosseum, hopefully Ryan and I could coordinate some time together to travel like that.
When I walked into Molly’s café, Cecily was already there. She had been helping me learn all the techniques of private investigating and ancient language comprehension that I needed to work with her part time, and I knew she was dying to hear about the yacht trip. I had mentioned in a text there had been a murder and two attempted murders on a three-day vacation, it was juicy gossip.
Molly smiled at me as I walked in, already holding a plate with a fresh-out-of-the-oven cinnamon bun on top. I could see the heat rising and the frosting melting down the sides, my stomach rumbled aggressively at the thought of eating it. Cecily had a pastry in front of her and seemed to have started without me.
“Nora!” she shouted through a mouthful of Danish. “Tell me everything, you solved a few good ones it sounds like. I want to know about every puzzle piece that got you there.”
I filled her in on the empathy powers of the millionaire yacht owner, the fake-drunk son and his weird relationship with his girlfriend who was now engaged to his father…it took a while.
“So why did that guy shoot him?” she asked.
“I was hoping it would be something fantastical and exciting, but Sean had fallen under Leslie’s spell. He had become so infatuated with her that it seemed totally rational to get one f
inal shot at the man that, in his eyes, was the reason they weren’t together.
“He had been planning to kill him for over a year, he just didn’t do it fast enough. He started working for Nicholas years ago but when Leslie came into his life as Jonathon’s girlfriend, he became twisted with desire.”
“He’s arrested too then I guess?” Cecily said. I nodded. I took the last bite of my bun and closed my eyes in delight as I chewed it, savoring the flavor. “Well…sounds like you are one step closer to applying for your license!”
“That would be great! I’m thinking my next vacation should be a bit more expensive than ‘completely free’ as I was nearly sent to the bottom of the ocean with no air,” I said. “The sooner I can get some extra work, the better. Cecily and I looked through a book she had brought with her about the process of applying for a private investigator license, it was a process supervised by the justice department and many of them were familiar with my crime-solving skills around town.
Ryan text me to say that Stephanie was now trying to claim that Jonny wasn’t even a real Blatham-Ford, that a paternity test would guarantee her full inheritance of everything. They were all horrible and I felt sorry that Ryan had to deal with it. I decided I should treat him to something delicious after work, not food I had prepared of course, goodies baked by someone else.
“One for the road?” Molly asked as she saw me eyeing up the display counter by the register.
Every time I came over here to browse, I felt like I knew everything would be good quality, so I was really just looking for which treat had the biggest portions. The carrot cake slices looked the thickest, so I ordered two slices of it. Molly carefully lifted each piece from the cabinet and lowered them into a takeout box.
“What’s this?” I asked her, pointing at a flyer by the card machine. Molly input a few numbers to the machine and handed it to me for payment.
