“No, not yet. She’s not quite used to the early hours, but she’ll be joining me in the shop later. You should come by and get some cupcakes. I never see you in there.”
“Yeah, sorry about that. My work keeps me really busy during the day, and sometimes all night too. Plumbing emergencies don’t care what time of day it is, and I spend my days doing contract work. It’s a good thing Ginger is so understanding. A lot of women wouldn’t like my limited availability.”
I could only imagine how crazy it made Amanda. I bet she accused him of cheating on her all the time. But, how did I know he didn’t? Ginger really liked the guy, but that didn’t mean I shouldn’t be suspicious.
“She’s great. I’m glad you guys had such a good time. It’s just too bad things ended the way they did.”
“Yeah,” he said and scuffed his work boot against the ground. “How is Ginger doing after all of that? I feel so bad that she’s now wrapped up in it. Your family has been through enough.”
“She’s doing okay. I don’t know that it’s hit her yet that she is involved. Joe hasn’t really questioned her much or anything.”
“He’s probably trying to work every other possible lead. I’m pretty sure everyone knows that Ginger didn’t do it.”
“A lot of people around here don’t know who she really is, Lupin. To some, she’s an outsider. My cousin from another town, to be exact. I don’t imagine it will be long before suspicion turns to her.”
“You’re right. I’ll do whatever I can to help,” Lupin said. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I have to be at a job in fifteen minutes. I just stopped here to get some tape.”
“I understand. I need to get to the bakery too. Maybe we’ll talk again soon,” I said.
“I’m sure I’ll see you the next time I come by to get Ginger,” he said and gave me a salute before walking off.
He didn’t seem like a murderer, so I put the thoughts out of my mind. I went back to the bakery and finished the baking for the day. Ginger showed up a few minutes before my mother and Tom got there.
We stocked the cases and made the coffee. Tom was happy to have me there. It meant he got to spend most of the day in the back with my Mom. The two of them really had become good friends.
Ginger and I stayed out front and helped customers. I worked the counter with her, and she’d occasionally go out and see if people needed anything.
At the tail end of the morning rush, Angel Lawson came into the bakery. I got a bad vibe from her aura as soon as she walked in, and Ginger must have felt it too. She inched a little closer to me as Angel stomped up to the counter.
“Good morning, Angel. What can I get for you?” I said.
“You can get your man-stealing cousin to stay away from Lupin,” she shouted. “Do you know how long it took for me to convince him to go out with me in the first place? He was holding out for something, but I wore him down. I was finally going to get the reward for all of my hard work, and your cousin breezes into town and steals him.”
“Angel, I don’t think you coming into my bakery and screaming at us is going to make Lupin like you more. You should go. This little piece of gossip is going to spread like wildfire.”
“I won’t let anyone come between Lupin and me,” Angel snarled. “He will be mine. I don’t care what I have to do.”
And then she left. There were only a couple of customers in the bakery at the time, but their heads had swiveled around so they could get the best view of the drama. I wasn’t sure if Angel had been a suspect in Amanda’s murder, but in my opinion, she certainly was after that.
Chapter Ten
I needed more dirt on Angel. I decided to go the law-abiding route at first. I’d need to talk to Joe about her. I also needed more specifics on the case. Because of the demon and him working late the last night, I didn’t know much.
Amanda had been found in the woods and the attack was brutal like an animal. I hoped that I could get more out of him than that.
Despite my warnings, Ginger was going out to dinner with Lupin. I’d have Joe over while she was gone, and we’d be able to talk freely. While I waited for him, I made us dinner.
Joe’s favorite food was fried chicken. It was something that mere mortals found difficult, but I was a kitchen witch. That fried chicken was going to get me a marriage proposal, I just knew it.
I took some frozen chicken out and used a little fire magic to thaw it. Once that was done, I coated the chicken pieces in flour mixed with seasoning. Then, I dredged it through egg wash and coated it in homemade breadcrumbs mixed with my special recipe seasoning. The combination of herbs and spices I used was locked away so tight in the Cookbook of Shadows that you needed a secret spell to access it. Even trying to look at it without my permission would result in a curse. Not a super bad curse or anything like that, but it wasn’t a recipe I wanted anyone messing around with.
After the chicken was prepared, I used a little more magic to get the pan of oil the perfect temperature. I wanted to make sure the chicken got golden and crispy on the outside but stayed perfectly moist and tender on the inside.
Once the chicken was fried, I used magic to suspend it in time so it would be perfectly hot and tasty when Joe arrived. While I waited, I made some biscuits from scratch and boiled some potatoes to mash.
Right before Joe rang the doorbell, I whipped up the potatoes with butter, herbs, and cream. The timing on the biscuits and potatoes was perfect, but if it hadn’t been, I would have frozen them in time too.
I opened the door for Joe, and a smile spread across his face. “You made friend chicken,” he said and rubbed his hands together with anticipation. “You are the absolute best, Zoe Magnolia. I’m so lucky I get to love you.”
“I won’t argue with that,” I said. “You hungry? Let’s go eat.”
While we ate, I tried to think about the best way to bring up the case. I decided to sit on it until we were done eating. I didn’t want to go so far as making Joe’s favorite meal and then ruin it by talking about work. Plus, I assumed that, as usual, he didn’t want me involved in the case.
When we’d finished eating, I packed up the leftovers while Joe did the dishes. “You don’t have to do that,” I said as he got started.
“The cook doesn’t do the dishes,” he said with a smile.
“I know, but I could use magic. It would be a lot faster.”
“Well, I can’t use magic, and it’s my job. So they’ll get done the old-fashioned way.”
“Suit yourself,” I said with a shrug. “I do appreciate you doing that.”
“I appreciate the fried chicken. I’m hoping if I do the dishes, you’ll keep making the chicken.”
“You’ve got a deal. What else do you want to do tonight? Should we go out or stay in?”
“I’m up for staying in,” he said. “It was a long day.”
I joined him at the sink and started drying the dishes. There wasn’t any rule against the cook doing the drying. Plus, it gave me an opportunity to bring up the case.
“I wanted to talk to you about the case,” I said.
“I figured you would,” Joe said and handed me a plate. “I hadn’t told you much, but I didn’t figure that would be okay with you. Not with Ginger involved.”
“So, you understand?” I asked.
“I understand, Zoe, but I can’t officially endorse you being involved. I hope you can understand that.”
“I do, but I still have to help my friend.”
“I wouldn’t expect any less from you,” Joe said affectionally. “What do you want to know? I’ll answer you if I can.”
“You never told me much about the actual murder,” I said.
“Well, without going into too much gory detail, we found her body in the woods near the park. You know where the park officially cuts off and just turns into the woods?” Joe asked.
“Yeah, that’s where the trails end,” I said.
“We found her a few hundred feet from the outermost trail. An early m
orning jogger saw her and called it in,” he said.
“And you said it looked like a large animal attack?”
“It did. It looked like a bear or a wolf got to her, but it would have had to have been a big one. Like a shifter, but that’s not something I can put in an official report.”
“I wonder what she was doing out there,” I said, but I really already knew.
“She was probably stalking Lupin. He’d had to call the police because of her in the past, but it had been a while since that had happened. The victim was dressed for a date too. At least, that’s how it seemed. Her clothes were torn up in the attack, but she was wearing an expensive cocktail dress and high heels. We’re not sure why she was out in the woods dressed like that.”
“Maybe she thought she’d interrupt their date and Lupin would ditch Ginger for her. Neither of them mentioned seeing her, though. So, something must have happened to interrupt her plan.”
“The problem is that it looks like Lupin, and possible Ginger, were involved. Like maybe he snapped and couldn’t take the harassment anymore. I’m trying to kill the rumors that Ginger could have been involved without making it look like I’m biased. I would hate to have higher authorities take me off the case,” Joe said.
“Anything you know about her that might help.”
“Other than that she was unbalanced, not much.”
“You know, Angel Lawson came into the bakery today furious because Ginger had gone out with Lupin. Angel was supposed to go on a date with Lupin later in the week, and she thinks Ginger stole him.”
“What is up with this guy that he has women falling all over him?” Joe asked.
“He’s all right,” I said. “He’s got nothing on you, but apparently a lot of not-so-stable women adore him.”
“What does that say about Ginger?” he asked with a smirk.
I slapped his arm playfully. “Hey, be nice.”
“You’re right. Sorry, I couldn’t resist,” he said. “That does make Angel a person of interest. Perhaps she’s trying to eliminate the competition. It would be best to keep a close eye on Ginger if there is a crazy woman out there gunning for women who Lupin takes an interest in.”
“I wonder if she knew Amanda at all,” I mused.
“Well, Amanda worked at the mall, and Angel used to as well. It’s been a while, but I’m pretty sure they both worked there at the same time. I didn’t think Angel was a strong suspect, but I had started looking into her because she was friends with Lupin.”
“Huh. Amanda worked at the Clinique counter in the department store up until she got fired for harassing me and Ginger. Do you know where Angel worked?”
“There is a high-end clothing store near the department store. I can’t remember what it’s called. You’d have to look it up again, or I will. Angel was a commissioned salesgirl there.”
“That’s very interesting,” I said.
“Can you let me investigate this?” Joe asked.
“I could, but… I don’t know. If I promise we’re not going to try and communicate with the dead, will you just trust me?” I asked.
“Oh, I trust you either way, babe. The thing is, I don’t believe this thing will end without you trying to contact the dead,” he said with a chuckle.
“Well, at least you have a sense of humor about it,” I said and kissed him.
Chapter Eleven
The next day, I couldn’t get the mall off my mind. I decided it would be a good idea to take Ginger clothes shopping. Of course it had nothing to do with investigating Angel’s job at the clothing store.
It actually had everything to do with that.
It wasn’t hard to talk Ginger into going to the mall. I’d thought she’d be reluctant because of the thing with Amanda before, but the siren song of fashion was too much for her to resist.
Joe had said Angel worked at a clothing store next to the department store. We went inside the same doors, but we skipped the department store and went out into the main part of the mall.
We were in luck. There was a clothing store on either side of the big store, but one was a men’s clothing store. “I think that’s the one Angel used to work in,” I said.
“We’re here to investigate, aren’t we?” Ginger asked. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I was afraid if I told you that, you wouldn’t want to come,” I said.
“It’s fine. At least I get to do some shopping instead of trying to contact the dead,” she said. “After we’re done interrogating some poor mall employee about Angel’s work history, can we go to the food court?” Ginger asked.
“Sure,” I said. “And I promise I won’t interrogate anyone.”
We went in and Ginger started looking around while I went right up to the counter. The woman behind the register was older, and her nametag said Greta. It also said Manager.
I hoped she was the same manager that worked at the store when Angel was employed there. I also hoped that she would give me information.
“Hello,” I said.
“How can I help you today?” Greta asked. “Do you need a dressing room?” she asked even though I wasn’t carrying any clothes.
“No, thank you,” I said. “I actually wanted to ask you about a former employee of yours. Her name is Angel Lawson. I don’t know exactly when she worked her, but she was friends with Amanda Scarborough who worked next door at the department store.”
“Oh, those two,” she said bitterly. “I can’t discuss a former employee’s employment records or anything, but I can tell you that those two were a disaster.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I mean that they were supposed to be adults, but they caused trouble like a couple of teenagers. One day they were best friends and the next I thought they were going to kill each other,” she said.
“Oh. That does seem odd for adults,” I said.
“I’m not sure what was worse either. When they got along, all they did was make fun of mall shoppers and do stupid pranks. Security said they couldn’t get enough proof to bust them for the pranks, but I always thought that security was just too lazy to do anything about those menaces. As far as them talking about customers, I’d hear them outside of the store whispering nasty things about people walking by. But they would do it in a way that everyone could hear them. I was glad when Angel quit. It saved me the trouble of having to fire her.”
“Do you know why she quit?”
“I don’t have an official reason. Not that I could tell you if I did. What I’ve heard through the gossip grapevine is that it was about some guy. I don’t know who, though. Is she in some kind of trouble?”
“You haven’t heard?” I asked.
“Oh, about Amanda being dead. Yeah, I heard that this morning. Did Angel have something to do with that? Not that it would surprise me, I guess.”
“I don’t know anything official. I was just curious. It happened in my town.”
Just then, more customers walked in. “Can I help you with anything else?” Greta asked in a way that let me know she was done with our conversation.
I didn’t blame her for not wanting to talk about it in front of her customers. “Nothing else, thanks,” I said.
I rejoined Ginger who was looking through a rack of sweaters. “All of this stuff is really expensive,” she said. “I like it, but I don’t know if it’s worth it right now. I might need to go somewhere a little cheaper.”
“Okay, let’s go to the food court and we’ll figure something out,” I said.
We left the store and found the escalator. At first, Ginger didn’t want to ride it. She said she’d rather take the stairs. We found the stairs, but the door was locked.
“You can do it,” I said. “Just think, there is Chinese food up there. I know you’d love some tempura vegetables.”
“That does sound amazing.” She looked around. “Since no one is looking, would you hold my hand?”
“Yeah,” I said with a giggle. “Of course.”
<
br /> With her hand strangling mine, Ginger stepped onto the escalator. She almost lost her balance for a second, but I wouldn’t let her fall. We got to the top, and she hopped over the part where the stairs go back into the floor.
We made our way to the food court. Ginger stood there in awe for a second. It wasn’t the biggest food court I’d ever seen, but there were still quite a few choices.
“Do you still want to try the tempura vegetables?” I asked.
“Which one has that?” she asked.
I pointed to the Chinese place. “That one. You can try some fried rice too,” I said.
“Okay. Let’s do that.”
I went up to the counter and Ginger stayed slightly behind me. I ordered two orders of vegetable fried rice and tempura vegetables. We also got two diet sodas.
Ginger watched as they scooped the rice up from the steam tables behind the glass protector. The guy behind the counter then poured the frozen vegetables into a fryer and dropped it into the oil. A few minutes later, we had our food.
I let her pick where we sat. She chose a table on the outside edge of the seating area. There were fewer people there. In the middle and closer to the restaurants, there were a lot of mothers with young children. Ginger seemed almost frightened of them. It was funny.
We sat down and started eating. Ginger loved the food. I suspected that if we hadn’t gotten interrupted, I would have had to go back up to the front and get more.
“You ladies are back again awful quick.” A voice said from behind me.
“Hello,” Ginger said and popped another fried carrot into her mouth.
I turned around to find the security guard from the parking lot standing behind me. He had his hands on his hips, and even though Ginger had greeted him cheerfully, he didn’t look cheerful.
“Hello,” I said and gave him a small wave.
“I hear you two are in here asking questions about that dead girl,” he said gruffly and took another step toward me.
At that point, he was towering over me and standing way too close for my comfort. I tried to move my chair away from him, but the bottom part got caught on the table.
A Howling Good Time (Wicked Witches of Destiny Cove Book 3) Page 5
