by Jane Hinchey
“Dot!” An authoritative voice rang out from the direction of the café. “What have I told you about using your broom inside?” A Rubenesque nurse approached, a steely glint in her eye.
“Jiminy Cricket,” Dot cursed, doing a hasty one-eighty with her walker and hightailing it toward the double doors, slightly faster than a snail's pace.
“I’m so sorry about Dot.” The nurse stopped in front of me and held out her hand for the broom.
“Is she always like that?” I asked, handing it over.
“Mostly, yes. She has it in her head that if she could manage to get on her broom and actually fly it, then she could fly through the walls and be free of this place.”
“Ah.” I nodded in understanding. “But she can’t ride it?”
The nurse shook her head. “No. And even if she could, it wouldn’t matter. It definitely cannot fly through walls.” The nurse snapped her fingers, and the broom shot across the room and into a cupboard behind the reception desk. A sparkle of magic dust hovered in its wake.
“Can I help you?” The nurse drew my attention back to her. She was dressed in scrubs with a multi-colored paw print pattern. Odd. She quite looked like she belonged in a veterinarian’s office, not an old folks’ home.
“I’m from the Magic Bounty Hunter Bureau,” I said. “Sent here to investigate some unfortunate… incidents.”
The nurse snorted. “You mean deaths. Might as well say it as it is. You need to speak with Eva Argent, our Executive Director.” The nurse swiveled on her heel, and I instinctively followed, Banks by my side.
“Although it is strange that you’re here,” the nurse said conversationally over her shoulder as we walked. “Since a Bounty Hunter has already arrived.”
I stumbled. Quickly regaining my footing, I hurried to catch up.
“There’s another Bounty Hunter?” I pressed. Why on earth had Baba Yaga sent me here if there was already a Bounty Hunter on the case?
The nurse glanced at me. “Why, yes. He’s already made quite an impression.”
“He?”
But we’d arrived at our destination. My powers of observation were slipping, for I’d failed to notice the row of closed doors we’d walked past until we stopped before one now that had the words Executive Director emblazoned in the wood. Like, quite literally, they burned with flame. Enchanted, obviously, or the whole door would have caught fire.
With a cursory knock, the nurse pushed the door open, ushered me inside, and closed it sharply behind me.
The woman sitting behind the desk looked up. I assumed she was Eva Argent—the honking great name plate in front of her said so. She had dead straight white hair cut into an angled bob, eyes as black as night, and skin that looked strangely translucent. She was also impossibly thin. I figured I could easily wrap my fingers around her forearm and have my finger and thumb meet.
“Can I help you?” she inquired. Her voice was soft and melodic, belying the icy cold visage of her person.
“Yes.” I cleared my throat. “I’m Midnight, Magic Bounty Hunter.”
She cocked her head and studied me intently, from the top of my purple hair to the tips of my booted feet. I got the distinct impression she found my appearance lacking. “Right.”
“But the nurse,” I waved my hand toward the closed door, “just told me that someone from Bounty is already here? So, I’m assuming there’s been some sort of mix-up?” I crossed my fingers behind my back, hoping against hope that Eva Argent would send me on my way. The disappointment was crushing when her next words were, “Excellent. The two of you should get this cleared up in no time.”
“Right.” Darn it. No reprieve, then. She stood and made her way around her desk, heading toward the door.
“Come with me,” she said. Her feet glided across the tiled floor with barely a sound. Her movements were so graceful it was as if she were floating, but my eyes assured me her feet were, in fact, in contact with the floor. Odd.
“Siren,” Banks said to me, and I glanced down at him as we followed Eva out of her office and down the corridor.
“Good to know.” I pondered Eva’s siren status when she pushed through the giant wooden doors and into a common sitting area. At the far end of the room, a crowd was gathered. Standing head and shoulders above the stooped residents was no other than homicide detective Jaxon Lincoln.
“Oh, hey, it’s Jax!” Banks declared and trotted ahead of me, darting between the walking frames and wheelchairs to wind his way around the man’s feet.
I stopped and, for the briefest of moments, let my eyes drink him in. The Silver Fox was something to behold and then some. Dressed in jeans and a long-sleeve T-shirt that clung in just the right way, he had my stomach clenching and heat scalding up my neck. I fanned my face as the hot flash intensified, quickly followed by a spark of anger. Of all the people. Of all the places. It had to be him. Here. Now.
He was talking with the residents currently gathered around him, leaning down to catch their words when he caught sight of Banks. I saw the confusion cross his face, then recognition, before his head snapped up and his green eyes zeroed in on me.
“You two know each other?” Eva asked from beside me, her eyes darting from the Silver Fox to me and back again.
“We’ve worked a case before,” I ground out. “You didn’t say New Orleans PD was here. Isn’t this a little out of their jurisdiction?”
Her brows pulled together in a frown. “He’s not NOPD. He’s with Bounty. Like you.”
I shot her a look before slowly turning my attention back to Jax. He was extracting himself from the crowd of bodies surrounding him. Banks, the little ingrate, was tucked against his chest, no doubt purring up a storm.
“Midnight.” The deep baritone of his voice sent goosebumps dancing over my skin. I refused to acknowledge how many nights I’d spent fantasizing over that voice. Or the man it belonged to. My anger pushed up a notch.
“Jax.” If I could have frozen him with that one word, I would have. As it was, my magic surged, and it took all of my control not to unleash it and turn him into a toad.
“You seem surprised to see me?”
My eyes rounded, then narrowed as perspiration dotted my upper lip. I could only be thankful the hot flashes didn’t stain my skin red. They merely turned up my internal thermostat to a thousand degrees. This situation wasn’t helping.
“I mean,” he shrugged one broad shoulder when I didn’t respond, “I thought you would have heard that I’ve joined Bounty?”
I sucked in a deep breath through my nose, annoyance conflicting with desire as the scent of him reached my brain. He always did smell good. Like dark chocolate and musk, making me want to lick him. I schooled my features and narrowed my eyes.
“No.” I hadn’t heard. Why would I? I’d thought I was out, but Baba Yaga had seen to it that I was unceremoniously dragged back in. She had to have known about Jax, of course. Was this her idea of a joke? I silently seethed, plotting all the ways I’d make everyone pay for this humiliation, Jax included. Was Aunt Tilly in on it too? Had she found out about Jax becoming a Bounty Hunter and plotted with Baba Yaga to throw the two of us together again?
“Ah.” He nodded in understanding. “So, this has come as a shock to you.”
I simply stared at him, lost for words. I couldn’t believe he was here, in front of me, and we were having a benign conversation about him joining Bounty. One part of my brain had a million questions, like why had he left NOPD, why join Bounty, why not SIA? None of them came out of my mouth because the foremost question on the tip of my tongue was why hadn’t he shown that night? Why had he stood me up? And the humiliation of it, of having to ask, coupled with the hurt, was too much.
Ignoring him completely, I turned to Eva. “Perhaps you could show me where the bodies were found?”
“Certainly. Come this way.” She crossed to a pair of French doors and pushed them open with a certain degree of dramatic flair. The doors opened into a garden that was a veritable
oasis of lush, green lawn. Neat and obviously well cared for garden beds surrounded the perimeter, and a huge water feature dominated the center of it all.
“Oh, this is beautiful,” I said under my breath, stepping into the garden. Several outside tables dotted the lawn, with white rattan chairs pushed beneath them. I felt a little like Alice in Wonderland because the garden was divine and appeared to go on forever.
Eva led the way across the lawn to a garden bed marked off with yellow and black tape. The earth had been turned over, the plants were disrupted.
“We found them here,” she said. “Let me show you.” With a snap of her fingers, a hologram image appeared.
“They really were planted,” I said, eyeing the image. Three bodies buried upside down up to their waists, legs straight up in the air.
“What are you doing in my garden?” A loud voice boomed, making me jump. Eva waved away the hologram and faced the ethereal beauty crossing the lawn in long strides. Only as she got closer, I saw she wasn’t so young, nor so beautiful. Her face was lined and weathered, her hair gray, her eyes sparkling with possibly anger or maybe confusion, I couldn’t quite decide.
“This is Flora, Goddess of Plants.” Eva introduced her. “Flora, this is Midnight and Jax. They’re here to investigate the murders. And how many times do I have to remind you, it’s not your garden. It belongs to everyone.”
Flora dismissed Eva with a flick of her hand, then shoved both hands into the pockets of her denim overalls and rocked on her heels. Had to admit, I never pictured a Goddess getting around in overalls before.
“So, you two are going to get to the bottom of this, are you?”
I couldn’t get a read on what she was thinking, and while I was pondering, Jax said, “Tell us what happened.”
“I came out before breakfast, as I do every morning, to take a stroll around the garden and plan out what needs to be done for the day. Despite this lot,” she jerked her head toward Eva, “hiring a gardener, the fool is useless. Only good for mowing the lawn. When I noticed my hydrangeas had been pulled out and in their place?” She stopped and sniffed. “Well, in their place was Claude, Irving, and Janet. Boots up. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“What did you do?” Jax asked.
“Well, I picked up the hydrangeas that had been tossed onto the grass and quickly re-planted them. I think I’ve managed to save them. They hadn’t been out of the dirt for long.”
I nodded. “How long do you think?”
“Judging by how dry the roots were, I’d say an hour or two.”
“And what time is breakfast?”
“Eight,” Eva supplied.
I chewed my lip while calculating in my head. The bodies had been planted in the garden between five and six in the morning, give or take.
“Thank you, Flora.” I smiled at the Goddess. “You’ve been very helpful. And you have a beautiful garden.”
She preened at the praise. “The aphids have been a problem this season, but I’m keeping on top of it.”
“Have you tried a mixture of peppermint, clove, rosemary, and thyme? I found that worked a treat in my garden.” I suggested. Flora’s eyes lit up and she hurried off, repeating what I’d told her over and over as if to make sure she didn’t forget.
“Who removed the bodies?” Jax asked Eva, crouching by the garden bed, his fingers digging into the soil.
“Carbonne, the groundskeeper. They’re in the Waiting Room,” she replied. The Waiting Room was the supernatural term for the morgue.
“What are you doing?” A sharp voice rang out, and we all turned to see a small woman pushing a walker across the lawn toward us. “That’s where the hydrangeas go. You’ve got no business messing with that.”
Eva rolled her eyes. “This is Daisy McGubbins,” she said under her breath. “An Earth Sprite and as bad as Flora when it comes to protecting the garden.”
“The two of them get along okay?” Jax asked, dusting off his hands and standing.
Eva nodded. “Surprisingly, they do. Both alphas of the garden, but I think they have a healthy respect for each other, recognize that they both love the garden, and share responsibility for it.”
“So, you have two avid gardeners and three planted residents,” Jax said.
“You think one of them did it?” Eva’s brows shot up in surprise.
“Don’t you?” Jax looked at her.
“Ridiculous,” I muttered. “Both of these women would know that a dead body is better off as compost. If they’d killed them, they’d have buried them deep, where the roots would have access to the nutrients of the decomposing bodies. They’d have never stuck them upright like plants.”
I could feel Jax and Eva looking at me. I ignored them both, instead keeping my attention on Daisy McGubbins as she approached, her walker carrying a basket laden with gardening tools. On her head was a battered hat, and her weathered skin was a testament to many hours spent outdoors. I stepped forward to greet her.
“Daisy? My name is Midnight. I’m here to find out what happened to Claude, Irving, and Janet.”
She blinked and narrowed her eyes. “Your hair looks ridiculous,” she snapped, bustling past me. “And we know what happened to Claude, Irving, and Janet. They were murdered.”
“How do you know that?” I mean, they could have died of natural causes. Unlikely, I admit, but we couldn’t rule out the possibility.
She shot me a look that clearly said she thought I was an idiot, then turned her attention to Jax. “Who are you? Get away from that garden bed.”
“Ma’am.” He dutifully stepped away. “Jax Lincoln, at your service.”
“From?”
“Bureau of Magic Bounty Hunters.”
She sniffed. “Figures. SIA isn’t interested in a bunch of old fogies like us.”
“Did you want them to be?” Jax asked.
“They have better uniforms.” Something across the garden caught her attention, and she stiffened, then yelled, “Clarence! You’d better not be digging another hole!” And she was off at a startling speed.
Eva leaned in to tell us, “Clarence is a Wombat Shifter, and as you’d imagine, he loves to dig holes. We set him up with his own field, so he won’t disrupt the garden, but sometimes he forgets himself and…” She trailed off, and my imagination filled in the blanks. I could just imagine Clarence digging giant holes in the garden. A hole big enough to bury a body? Most certainly.
Banks rubbed his head against my shin, drawing my attention. “Isn’t it time to, you know?” He jerked his head and flicked his tail. He was right. I had a unique ability, a magical talent of reanimating the dead. Albeit briefly. But it was a skill that was very useful in my line of work. Who better to tell you who the murderer was than the victim themselves?
“Could I see the bodies?” I asked Eva, then shot Jax a sharp look. “Alone.”
Jax jerked, his brows pulling down before he quickly recovered, and his expression smoothed. “Good idea. I’ll get statements from the residents. We’ll meet up after to compare notes.”
“You think we’re working together?” I bristled at the audacity of the man. “Not in this lifetime. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.”
3
“Argh!” I tossed the talisman I’d been holding across the room, getting no satisfaction as it hit the bricks with a crack and fell to the floor. Laid out before me in the Waiting Room were Janet, Irving, and Claude, and I’d gotten nothing from them. Nothing. I hadn’t even managed to resurrect them, not even for a second, and that was a first for me. A very worrying first. Had I lost my ability?
Outside, a storm had rolled in, thunder boomed overhead, and rain poured from the heavens, adding a surreal and spooky vibe to the afternoon.
“Still nothing?” Banks asked from his position on the windowsill.
With my shoulders slumped in defeat, I joined him at the window, resting my forehead against the pane, my breath fogging up the glass.
“I’m brok
en,” I whispered.
“Nonsense.” Banks did his best to reassure me. “It’s probably something to do with whatever spell killed them.”
“A spell crossing over into the afterlife?” I snorted. “I hardly think so.”
“Well, it had to have been some sort of spell, incantation, or magic that killed them. There’s no other explanation. I mean, look at them. No obvious signs of foul play. And for you not to be able to get a read on them now? I’d say whoever did this still has a hold on them.”
“You’re suggesting a reaper is responsible?” I lifted my head and studied the bodies once more.
“A death dealer for sure,” Banks said with confidence, but I wasn’t so sure. A death dealer would only have to hang out at a retirement home and simply wait for the residents to drop. There was no need to hurry the process along.
“Oh. Sorry. I didn’t know anyone was in here.” A stilted male voice startled me, and I swung around to see a tall, slim man standing in the doorway.
“Vampire,” Banks whispered.
My hand automatically went to my pocket, where my array of weapons awaited activation. A set of handcuffs spelled to look like a tape measure. A crossbow spelled to look like a mousetrap, toothpicks were arrows, and a pepper shaker was a flashlight. All a girl needed to get the job done except for my shotgun, which was in the jeep. That one wasn’t Bounty issue, therefore not spelled to alter its appearance.
The man took a step inside, his eyes on the bodies. “My name is Alfred.”
“Hi, Alfred. I’m Midnight. This is Banks. What are you doing here in the Waiting Room?”
“I came to see…” He trailed off, and I caught a glint as a flash of lightning reflected off a fang. Was he… drooling?
“Are you hungry?” I asked.
His head snapped up, and his eyes bored into mine. “No. Why?”
I shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe the way you’re looking at your friends as if they were a snack.”
