by Vella Day
“No! It can’t be. You have to get it away from me.” Mauricio kept swinging his arms—or at least he tried to—but after two or three attempts, he froze.
Oh, my goodness. It worked. The spell actually worked!! I just stood there, staring at the statue-like man. Thankfully, Jaxson was a quick thinker. He instantly called Steve and told him it was a go.
I then snapped out of my shock. I rushed to the adjoining door and yanked it open. “He’s ready.”
Levy and his group of four only had about a minute to perform the ceremony that would rid Mauricio of his ability to kill people by turning their hearts to near stone.
Within seconds, they’d circled their prey and lit the candles.
“You two need to leave. Your presence might interfere with the spell,” Levy said.
No way I wanted to go, but there wasn’t any time to argue. As quickly as we could, Jaxson and I left. I figured, we didn’t have long to wait—a minute at the most.
“You both have to head back to my office,” Steve said. “We don’t need Mauricio seeing you out here.”
I guess it would be hard to explain how we could be standing in front of him one minute and were in the hallway the next. Jaxson wrapped an arm around my waist and escorted me to the stairwell. He probably figured the elevator might not arrive in time.
We said nothing until we were outside. Thankfully, the fresh air revived me.
“That was almost scary how well that worked,” Jaxson said.
“I know. It was like the powder knew who to go after. I’ll have to thank Bertha the next time I see her.”
“Let’s hope Levy and his coven are as successful.”
“The question is how will we know if it worked? Not that I don’t love being with you twenty-four seven, but it would be nice to have proof that Mauricio can’t harm anyone.”
“We’ll figure something out,” he said.
“That’s why we need to work on part two of the plan.”
“I thought you’d figured that out.”
“Only some of it.”
Jaxson nodded and chuckled. “That’s my girl.”
When we reached the sheriff’s office, Nash was with Elissa in the conference room, along with Gavin and Rihanna. Morgana was sitting by herself across from them looking rather lost, and I felt sorry for her. Nash waved us in.
As soon as we stepped inside, we were instantly bombarded with questions. We pulled out two chairs, ready to begin. “For starters, I think everything worked.” I explained how Mauricio denied any involvement in Daniel’s death.
“He’d never admit to anything,” Morgana said. “The moment he found out I wasn’t there, he probably assumed it was a trap.”
That might explain his evasive answers. “He did say one curious thing.”
“What’s that?” Morgana asked.
“That you helped arrange for the sale of the Mercedes between Sandra and him.”
Her eyes went wide and then narrowed. “That little snake.”
I had to assume that meant he lied. “Why would he tell me that you knew about the car?”
Morgana leaned back in her chair. “You know, I always had the sense that he fancied my sister.” Morgana admitted that she basically stole Daniel away from Sandra.
“Interesting.” That wasn’t quite what Sandra said. She had broken up with Daniel long before Morgana came into the picture, but now might not be the best time to talk about that discrepancy.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if my sister decided to turn the tables on me and try to take Mauricio away from me. If they ended up an item, he’d say anything to protect her.”
“I thought you two broke up after you met Daniel. That meant Mauricio was fair game.”
“That’s true, but I didn’t leave Mauricio until I was sure that Daniel and I were meant for each other. I really don’t know when—or if—he and Sandra got together.”
I decided not to bring up the photo Iggy saw in Mauricio’s room. It shouldn’t have surprised me that my familiar chose that moment to crawl onto the table.
“Something doesn’t add up,” he said.
Only Jaxson and Rihanna could hear Iggy—or so I believed. “What is that?”
Morgana shot a gaze over to Iggy. “Did you just talk to your pet?”
“He’s not a pet, but yes. And he can talk back, but only witches can hear him.”
“Oh.”
I looked down at Iggy. “Go on.”
“Ask about the photo. The timing is off.”
I wasn’t quite sure what he meant, but I turned to Morgana and asked her about it. “There was a photo of you and Mauricio in his cabana. You two were kissing.”
“And you were wearing the ring Dad gave you,” Gavin threw in before she could answer.
Darn. I was hoping to keep that tidbit out of it.
Morgana’s face heated. “Your dad and I were at a party, and Mauricio happened to be there. I can’t remember why or who’d invited him. When I was alone, he came up and kissed me. It meant nothing. At least to me.”
“Who took the picture?”
“Good question. He probably paid someone to snap it so he could use it as blackmail if need be.”
“Nice guy.” Or not. He was brave—or stupid—to have a photo of Morgana and him in his cabana where Daniel might see it. Hopefully, he put it there after Daniel had died. Right now, I wasn’t sure who to believe, but we had more important things to deal with. “What are the odds that Mauricio is in his car at this moment driving back to Miami? I’m betting he’ll want nothing to do with Witch’s Cove after what just happened.”
“If that happens,” Jaxson said, “we may never know if the spell was successful.”
Nash shook his head. “He probably is unaware you stopped time, so he has no reason to rush home. But if he figures it out, we have no legal right to detain him, and I bet he knows that.”
“You don’t think he’ll go looking for Morgana?” Rihanna asked. “He believes she left the hotel because someone was following her.”
I turned back to her. “What do you think? How much does Mauricio care about you? You are his employer, and he needs you to stay alive so that he can remain in the States.” Or so I believed.
She blew out a breath. “I hope you’re right. There was a time when I thought he loved me, but when I met Daniel, I told him we had to stop seeing each other.”
Clearly, she didn’t love Mauricio then. I thought it best not to say that either or comment that what she said didn’t match what Mauricio told us. The lies were mounting, only I didn’t know from which side.
Morgana’s cell rang, and she picked it up to check the screen. “It’s Mauricio.”
“Don’t answer it,” Nash said.
She set it down. “I’ll have to at some point.”
For a while now, I’d been thinking about how to get Mauricio to slip up. “I have an idea. At the moment, Mauricio probably doesn’t know that his power to kill is gone—assuming Levy and his coven did their job.”
Everyone turned. My ideas have always been out there, but they’d mostly worked in the past, more or less like I’d planned.
“Tell us what you’re thinking,” Jaxson said in a very reassuring voice.
“My plan depends on whether Morgana can sound like Sandra over the phone.”
She almost laughed. “Are you kidding? We used to prank a lot of people by pretending to be each other. What do you need? I’m in. Mauricio’s lies have to stop.”
From her enthusiasm, this woman had nothing to do with her husband’s death. “For starters, call Mauricio and tell him you’re Sandra.”
“I can do that, but what would I say?”
“We need Mauricio to believe that your sister drove up to Witch’s Cove to arrange your kidnapping. He knows Elissa was taken. Why not you too?”
“Why would Sandra kidnap me?”
Why indeed? I looked around. “Any ideas?”
“With Daniel gone, maybe Sandra is convinced t
hat her sister plans to win back Mauricio. Sandra then decides that she can’t let that happen,” Rihanna said.
My little cousin had a devious mind. “I like it.”
“Playing the devil’s advocate,” Morgana said. “Why wouldn’t my sister just hire two thugs to murder me?”
“A warlock’s kill leaves no trail. That’s why she’ll need to ask Mauricio in person to take you out like he did Daniel.”
Morgana’s eyes lit up. “Oh, I see the plan coming together. How does this work exactly?”
“You, pretending to be Sandra, will ask Mauricio to meet you at the Water’s Edge Motel, where you will then say that you have Morgana held captive, and that the two of you are in room 4. Tell him the motel is some dive at the south end of town on the west side, and that he can’t miss it.”
She held up a hand. “The only flaw is that Sandra might not have been involved in Daniel’s death, which means Mauricio will know she’s lying. That will put her, or rather me, in danger.”
“We’ll make sure nothing happens to you,” Nash said.
“I’m not sure I want to tempt fate like that.”
I could almost see my plan crumble right before my eyes. “I thought you were on board.”
“I am, but this is plain crazy.”
“Don’t worry, Morgana,” Nash said. “He can’t harden your heart. Glinda and her other witchy friends took care of that.”
Nash delivered that speech with a lot of conviction, and I hoped he was right.
Morgana’s jaw clenched. “Unless he’s in love with Sandra, he’d never go along with this plan. He cares for me too much—or at least he used to.”
Then why tell lies about her now? “We need something to lure him with. Something that would transcend his affection for you.”
“I bet Mauricio could use more money,” Jaxson said. “A lot of it.”
“I like it. What if Sandra tells him that once Morgana is dead, Sandra will inherit the house. When she does, she’ll sell it and give half of the money to Mauricio.”
Morgana sat up straighter. “Heck, I might kill someone for that amount of money.” She looked around. “Only kidding. And for the record, Sandra will not inherit the house. Neither Mauricio nor Sandra know that though.”
I wasn’t about to ask who she did leave it to. “Then are you willing to call him and be convincing?”
Morgana blew out a breath and nodded. “Yes, but what happens when he comes into the room and finds Sandra isn’t there? Or worse, calls my sister to ask her a question?”
I forgot about that. I really need to think these things through. “Let’s hope he doesn’t, but if he knows he’s been set up, he might come anyway to take you out. Either way, we’ll win.”
“Glinda’s right. You’ll be safe. Steve will tie you up,” Nash said. “When Mauricio frees you, you can beg for your life. Tell him that Sandra left for a few minutes, but that she’d be back soon.”
“Assuming he doesn’t just kill me.” She waved a hand. “I know you won’t let that happen. What if he tells me Sandra is unaware of this plan?”
I blew out a breath. “Let’s hope he and Sandra don’t communicate.”
“Fine, but how will I know if he tries to do this spell on me? Will he have to say a chant or something first?”
She was nervous about this, and I couldn’t blame her. I pulled out my phone. “Levy will know the answer to that. Hold on.” I called, asked him about the spell, and then put my cell on speaker.
“The book says the spell Mauricio would use is a short one—a few words at most—but it must be accompanied by a series of fairly intricate hand signals. I think the ancient witches who created this spell didn’t want it getting into the wrong hands, so to speak.”
“I can see why. So, we’ll know he is attempting to kill Morgana if he starts waving his hands?” I asked.
“Yes. Why do you need to know?” Levy asked. “Mauricio is now harmless.”
“If we see him do some hand signals, we’ll know he’s trying to evoke the spell, and we can catch him. I’m assuming he has no idea his powers are gone?”
“He won’t until he tries to kill someone again.”
After chatting briefly, we disconnected. Nash then outlined that he and Hunter would be in the adjoining room, assuming this rundown motel had a door connecting the two rooms. Thankfully, he didn’t mention his ability to shift into a werewolf and tear a person limb from limb.
Just then Steve, Misty, and Hunter came into the conference room. Nash looked up at them. “We’re working on a plan for Mauricio to incriminate himself.”
All three claimed the remaining seats. “Fill us in.”
Nash told him the plan. “We’ll need to plant a camera in the room so we can make sure Mauricio’s hands remain still.”
“That’s easy. Glinda, if you want to watch in real time, all you need to do is download an app on your phone so that our two phones can communicate.”
“I can do that.”
He showed me what to download and how to use the app. It seemed simple enough.
“Misty, Morgana, Hunter, and I will head over to the motel to make sure the place has two rooms next to each other. When we’re set up, we’ll have Morgana, pretending to be Sandra, call Mauricio.” Steve looked around. “Great plan, people.”
I had to smile. “I just hope Mauricio isn’t on his way back to Miami already.”
“He’s not. I saw him go into Dolly’s.”
Oh, no. “I’ll text her and tell her not to engage in any conversation with him. I love Dolly, but she can’t be trusted.”
Steve nodded. “You do that.” He turned to Morgana. “You need to come with us. We’ll have to make your kidnapping look real.”
“Oh, great.”
“Besides watching, is there any way we can hear what’s going on?” I’d already removed my com. Even if I hadn’t, I don’t think they’d extend very far.
“Yes. The camera will have audio. When I’m done setting it up, I’ll call you, Glinda. There won’t be anything to hear until after Mauricio shows up, but it will be recording the whole time.”
“Okay, thanks.” I hope he had a lot of minutes on his phone plan or it could cost the city a lot of money.
Chapter Seventeen
Once Steve, Hunter, Misty, and Morgana left to set up the motel room sting, I turned to Elissa. “Have you given any more thought about who might have orchestrated your capture?”
“No, but if Mauricio worked as a medical examiner, he could have learned of my inquiry and worried someone would tie him to the deaths, assuming there are more than one. He might have hired those men.”
That made sense. “Then why leave you alive?”
“I have no idea.”
“Personally, I think Mauricio is more afraid of you than he is of my mom,” Gavin said. “You are a witch, after all.”
That would imply Mauricio might not have been behind Elissa’s capture. “Why? My necklace didn’t pulse until after your mom had been taken.”
“I know, but we had already told Sandra you are a witch, and that we were there to find the person who killed my dad.”
“You might be right. Sandra might have called Mauricio and told him to be leery of me. Let’s hope Levy is as good as we think he is, and Mauricio can never harm anyone again.”
Rihanna smiled. “Trust me. He is that good.”
While we waited for Steve to contact us, Elissa left another message for Dr. Chris Williams about whether Mauricio worked for him. She said the information was time sensitive and to get back to her as soon as he could.
In the meantime, I grabbed more coffee since the next hour was going to be nerve-wracking. I really wished we could have heard Morgana’s phone call to Mauricio in real time, but she needed to be situated in the motel before she contacted him. Having the right room number was equally important.
When my cell finally rang, my heart lurched. The caller ID said it was Steve. “I’m here.” I kept my voice l
ow, though I doubt it mattered. Mauricio wasn’t there yet.
“We’re at the hotel room now. Click on the app you downloaded, and you will see an image.”
I tested it. “It works.”
“Great.”
“I assume Morgana playing Sandra, called Mauricio, and he’s coming?”
“Of course, and he seemed to believe her. Since he should be here any moment, we need to get in position as soon as I hide the phone. Talk later.”
“Okay.” Some scratching noises and a bit of static came across the line. Steve’s chest appeared for a second. Then I could see him hiding the phone behind what looked like the coffee maker.
“Good luck, Morgana. Thanks for doing this.” That was Steve’s voice. Unfortunately, it was a bit muffled.
A door opened and closed, and then nothing. Only then did it occur to me that if we said anything, the sound would travel to the hotel room from my phone to his—at least I assumed it worked that way. I should have studied the app more thoroughly.
“Look for the mute button,” Jaxson coaxed.
We both tried to find it, but we failed. “We’ll have to keep quiet,” I said, and everyone nodded that they understood.
I swear it was at least fifteen minutes before I heard a knock on the motel door. Uh-oh. If Morgana was tied up, who would open it? Mauricio was a smart man. If he cared for Morgana—or needed to kill her—he’d figure a way in.
“Sandra?” That was Mauricio. Steve must have left the door unlocked. Good thinking on his part, but it might clue Mauricio into the fact that this was another trap.
“Mmm…mmmm.” Steve must have gagged her.
I couldn’t see all that much since the camera phone was pointed away from her.
Footsteps sounded. Part of Mauricio’s image appeared. He leaned over and removed her gag.
“Morgana! Where’s Sandra?” he asked.
“Thank goodness you came. She left. All she said was that she’d be back. Sandra must be looking for someone.” Her words came out rushed and sounded very sincere to me.
“Tell me what happened. When she called me, she was talking nonsense about wanting to kill you.”
Nonsense? Did Mauricio assume this was another set-up and he wasn’t going to say anything or was he telling the truth? I looked over at Jaxson. This wasn’t how I thought this conversation would go down.
