Dark Chocolate and Death

by Samantha Silver

  “That’s so lovely to hear,” Mom said. “And Andrea, you’re not having too much trouble at the bakery?”

  Andrea shook her head, and I knew that our parents would absolutely have believed anything she said. After all, Andrea was easily the best liar of the three of us. “Nothing like that has happened at all. Besides, anyone who did try to say that you deserve to be here would get their butt kicked pretty quickly.”

  “Haven’t we taught you that violence isn’t the right way to solve your problems?” Dad asked.

  “Well, I figured I’d make an exception in this situation,” Andrea shrugged. “Besides, like Ashley said, it hasn’t come up yet.”

  “I’m glad to hear everything in Pacific Cove is going well,” Mom said. “We spoke to our lawyer today, and he’s going to call you in the next couple of days to officially transfer all of our money to your accounts. It’s not much, since most of our family’s net worth was tied up in that company, but hopefully it will be enough to pay for Meg’s classes and help the rest of you as well. We only wish we could’ve helped you more. At least the house is paid off, so that will be transferred into your names as well.”

  “You don’t have to do that,” I protested. “I can always find a job. Besides, you’re going to need that money … in fifteen years,” I stammered out, preventing myself from revealing the fact that we were totally going to find the person who framed our parents. After all, whether or not they admitted it, I still didn’t believe that they were guilty.

  “Yes, we do need to do it,” my dad said. “Ten years is a long time, and that money will do nothing to help us during that time. If it can help give my daughters a little bit of a boost in life, then I want you to have it.”

  “We love you guys so much, you do know that, right?” Ashley said, tears welling up in her eyes once more.

  “Of course we do,” Mom replied. “And we love you too. More than anything. Now come on, the three of you need to head home and take care of yourselves. We’ll be alright here; don’t worry about us.”

  “That’s right,” my dad added, his voice turning suddenly a bit gruff. I had a sneaking suspicion he was also trying to fight back tears. “We love you girls. No matter what, know that we love you.”

  “We know,” I said, now choking back tears of my own. We stood up and hugged once more before my parents headed back toward the wall with the invisible door, which opened as soon as they approached. They stepped back out and the door closed behind them without a sound.

  Just like that, my parents were gone once more.

  The three of us stood there, looking at the door, until a moment later when the shifter who had brought us here cleared her throat.

  “Are you ready to go?”

  Andrea nodded, and the three of us followed her silently back out to the sunshine. As my eyes got used to the light—even though the sun was starting to set by now—I couldn’t help but feel like the weather was so inappropriate compared to how I felt right now. My mood was dark and solemn. I had seen my parents, but they seemed different. For the first time in my life, they seemed, well, defeated. It was like life had finally taken its toll, and I supposed it really had. Because, for the next ten years, they were going to be stuck in that dark glass monstrosity, unless we helped them.

  We had to help them. We just had to.

  Chapter 20

  “Do you believe them?” Ashley asked me and Andrea as we made our way back to Pacific Cove, the first time any of us spoke.

  “Believe them about what?” Andrea asked.

  “That they did it,” Ashley said. “They admitted they were guilty.”

  “That’s bull,” Andrea replied. “There’s absolutely no way they did it.”

  “Oh,” I said, the conversation reminding me of the slip of paper my mom had snuck me. I pulled it from my pocket.

  “What’s that?” Andrea asked.

  “I don’t know. Mom passed it over to me when I held her hand,” I said, unfolding the slip of paper gingerly. It was absolutely tiny, less than half an inch on each side. The writing on it was a very dark red, and I had a sneaking suspicion it was written with her own blood. Did they not even supply prisoners with anything to write with? That was particularly cruel. I read the words, and my breath caught in my throat.

  We’re innocent. I swear.

  Four little words. Four words that gave me so much hope that we were on the right track. I looked up at my sisters, all three of us having read the note, and for a second it was like none of us knew what to say.

  “Well, there’s the confirmation,” Andrea said. “They didn’t do it.”

  “Why did they keep saying they did, then?” Ashley asked. “Why would they lie like that?”

  “Maybe they had to,” I offered. “After all, there was still a shifter guard in the room. Maybe part of their plea deal is they can’t tell anyone they’re innocent, or something like that. They had to sneak out a message.”

  “Right,” Andrea said. “Regardless, now we know. We absolutely have to find out who did this.”

  I nodded. “Absolutely.” I was more convinced than ever that my parents were innocent, and we were going to get to the bottom of this. “On that note, Ashley, did you find out anything about the bank statements we gave you from Charles’s place? I can’t help but feel like that murder might be linked somehow.”

  Ashley shrugged. “I did a bit of digging, but I’m afraid I haven’t found anything. That’s the thing about those secretive bank accounts; they do keep secrets extremely well. That said, what was the name of Amy Perkins’s uncle? The one who had an alibi for the time of the murder?”

  “Carl,” I said.

  “That’s right. Anyway, I did find out that his alibi is complete bull. He was in Pacific Cove that morning.”

  “Really?” I asked, my eyebrows rising. This was definitely new information.

  “Yes. In fact, he had spent the entire night here. I asked around, and it turned out that he was spotted at The Wicked Wand that night. He was looking for Charles, but no one there had seen him.”

  “Well, that changes things,” I said, raising my eyebrows. “Not only did he lie to us, but he was looking for our victim only a few hours before he was murdered.”

  “That’s right. And the bartender said that as he was heading home, just after five, he saw Carl still moping around town, looking for his brother. That’s right around the time Charles was killed.”

  “It is,” I said, nodding. “I think we need to look into Carl Perkins a little bit further.”

  It was nighttime now, and Andrea gazed out over the land. “We could always go back to Western Woods and see if he’s home.”

  “Alright,” I nodded, but Ashley pursed her lips.

  “Are you guys sure about this?”

  “Well, we need to talk to him,” I said. “After all, he lied about his alibi, and he was here in town looking for Charles just before Charles was murdered. Are you coming or not?”

  “Fine,” Ashley finally replied after a moment’s hesitation. “But only because I know the two of you are going to get in trouble without my sensible head there to keep you out of it.”

  I grinned at Ashley. “What would we do without you?”

  “Probably end up locked up in Spellcatraz, I expect,” I heard my sister mutter in reply. The three of us left the house once more and made our way back to the portal, where the shifter had gone home for the night. Pacific Cove wasn’t an important enough town to get shifters guarding the portal twenty-four hours a day.

  A couple minutes later we were back in Western Woods.

  “How are we going to find out where he lives?” I asked. “Should we go back and see the girls at their house? Come to think of it, I’m not entirely sure how to get there, either. I could text Amy, though.”

  “No,” Andrea said, shaking her head. “I don’t want to bother them with this. Besides, it’s late now, they’re probably all asleep.”

  “Well, luckily for the two of you, o
ne of us thought the spell Amy used to guide the two of you was useful and thought that it might come in handy in her work,” Ashley said. “I went to the library this morning and found a spell that doesn’t allow me to track people, but does allow me to go to their registered address.”

  I had to admit, I was a little bit ashamed that I hadn’t thought of that. After all, wasn’t I supposed to be the brainy witch training to be a Healer? But then, that wasn’t me anymore, was it? I was starting a chocolate company now; I had no reason to spend all of my free time at the library.

  Ashley closed her eyes and pointed her wand in the air straight above her. “Mars, we come in peace, but we seek the home of Charles Perkins, please.”

  The version of the spell Ashley cast was a little bit more clunky than Amy’s. Instead of cool little footprints that told us to follow them, a spark of red light shot out from Ashley’s wand and curved through the night like a flaming arrow, landing somewhere in the distance.

  “Isn’t that going to give us away?” Andrea asked, eyeing the curved spark suspiciously.

  “It’s only visible to members of our coven,” Ashley replied. “Come on.”

  She held her wand out, and as we moved, the spark followed. All we had to do was head in the direction of the curve above us, and we would find our way to Perkins’s house.

  Luckily, it was dark, so there weren’t too many paranormals out and about. A couple of vampires that we walked past gave us a bit of a strange look, but that was it. After ten minutes of walking, we followed the curve all the way to a small, low-rise cottage with a cute shingled roof and Swiss-style shutters that were plain but well-maintained. The lawn in front was small but tidy, and everything about this cottage screamed ‘someone professional lives here.’

  Unfortunately, all the lights were also out.

  “The spell doesn’t know if the person is home, just where they live,” Ashley said with an apologetic shrug, obviously coming to the same conclusion as I just had.

  “You never know, maybe he’s in the back or something,” Andrea said, making her way to the front door and knocking hard. We waited about thirty seconds, but there was no reply.

  Ashley turned to leave, but Andrea grabbed her by the arm.

  “Hold up, Ash. Just because he’s not here doesn’t mean we can’t find out something that might help us.”

  I looked at Andrea, my eyes widening. “You cannot be suggesting what I think you’re suggesting.”

  “Why not?” Andrea shrugged. “He’s not here, and we might get lucky and find something that might suggest he was inside the factory in there. Something that would prove he’s guilty.”

  “But that’s illegal!” Ashley hissed, even though there was no one within earshot.

  Andrea rolled her eyes. “Please. Don’t tell me you’ve never done anything illegal in your life. Like you never hung out by the beach when we were at the Academy and smoked greengrass with all of your friends.”

  “I never did such a thing,” Ashley replied, crossing her arms in front of her.

  “That’s right, you didn’t have any friends,” Andrea teased, sticking her tongue out at Ashley. “Anyway, come on. This is, like, barely a crime. It’s not like we’re going to take anything. We’re just going to have a look.”

  “Right. I forgot the name of the crime is ‘breaking and entering and also taking,’” Ashley said.

  “Fine. Stay out here then. But Megan and I are going in.”

  “Uhhh,” I started, and Andrea glared at me.

  “Don’t tell me you’re going to bail on me, too. Don’t you want to prove that Carl Perkins killed his brother? Get at least some of the people in town off our family’s back?”

  I had to admit, it was tempting. I really didn’t want to break the law, but I also didn’t trust Chief Enforcer Lupo to enforce it right now. After all, he seemed to be relishing in the family’s embarrassment; I couldn’t trust that he was really devoting his full attention to this investigation.

  “Ok,” I finally said with a nod, to confirm my own resolution. “I’m in.”

  “Good,” Andrea said. “Now, Ashley, succumb to the peer pressure. Come with us.”

  Ashley sighed. “I guess one of us has to make sure the two of you don’t do anything dumb. Ok, I’m in too.”

  Awesome. We were all either going to catch a killer, or end up in jail. I was pretty sure there was no middle ground here.

  Chapter 21

  Andrea immediately pointed her wand at the lock on the front door, but Ashley put a hand over Andrea’s to stop her.

  “Hold on. Have you checked for wards?”

  “Nobody wards their own home,” Andrea replied, but sure enough, before doing anything else, she cast a spell to check for wards. Luckily, nothing glowed when she cast the spell, meaning there were no wards on this property.

  “Good,” Ashley said with a nod. “Go ahead and unlock the door. I’m going to cast an obfuscation spell so any nosy neighbors don’t realize what we’re doing.”

  Ashley and Andrea both muttered their spells as I looked around to make sure we were definitely alone. I didn’t want us to end up caught, after all. But sure enough, I didn’t notice anyone, and a moment later we slipped inside the house.

  I pulled out my wand and cast a small light-emitting spell. “Mars, in war you delight, I beseech thee to give me a little bit of light.”

  I didn’t want the wand to become so bright that the light could be seen through the windows as I made my way to the living room and carefully closed the blinds. I could hear Ashley and Andrea coming in behind me, and a second later I spotted them as well.

  “I’m going to go upstairs and check out the bedroom,” Andrea announced. “Maybe there’s something there.”

  I nodded as I made my way toward a small desk in the corner of the living room that appeared to act as Carl Perkins’s study. He had a laptop there, and I opened it, the blue light of the screen filling the room and half blinding me until I found the button to turn down the brightness.

  I was extremely pleased to find I didn’t even need to cast a spell to figure out the password; Carl Perkins evidently didn’t bother with security. As soon as it opened, I found myself looking at the desktop.

  While my sisters looked for hard evidence, I was going to search through Carl’s emails looking for proof that he was the killer. Maybe he had even admitted it to someone, maybe Amy’s father, and that was why he had given Carl an alibi.

  I realized I didn’t really know anything about Carl Perkins, but as I looked through his things, I started to get a more accurate picture of him. He actually worked for the Enforcers in Western Woods, but obviously he wasn’t an Enforcer himself—only shifters were allowed to do that job. Instead, he worked in their laboratory, testing evidence and going to crime scenes and casting spells that the Enforcers in Western Woods thought needed casting to help them solve crimes. He was also in charge of putting up any wards that the Enforcers deemed necessary, since shifters were incapable of casting them themselves.

  Scanning his emails, almost all of them seemed to be evidence-based. There were requests to do some tests on a certain knife that had been used in a robbery, there was a request to go to a certain address and cast a protection ward after a vampire had accused a witch of stalking him during the day, that sort of thing. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything that would link Carl Perkins to his brother Charles.

  His position working for the Enforcers also meant that Carl received a weekly newsletter that summarized a number of the investigations that all of the local Enforcer precincts were investigating. I supposed it was in case someone in another district knew of any information that could help out. After all, the Pacific Northwest didn’t have that many paranormal communities, and because most of them tended to be small towns rather than large cities, I supposed the rumor mill could sometimes be enough to get someone on the right track when it came to solving crime.

  I figured it was unlikely that there was going to b
e anything that might link to Charles in the Enforcer reports, but to be completely honest, curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to see exactly what the Enforcers in the area had to deal with on a weekly basis, so I clicked on one of the weekly newsletter emails, dated from the day before Charles Perkins was murdered.

  There was an announcement to be on the lookout for a vampire with a history of violence who had left a paranormal town in Montana and who was thought to be on his way here. Another announcement, this one from Werenatchee, Washington, announced that the local wizard who had taken to riding his broom naked around town in the middle of the night had been caught—it turned out he had been sleepwalking, or, well, sleepflying, and had no idea what he was doing.

  I giggled at the story as I saw an announcement from Pacific Cove, and I clicked on that one, wondering what was up in our little town.

  Pacific Cove Enforcers want to make it known that a male—presumed to be a wizard, but not confirmed—has been following female paranormals, likely with malicious intent. In two of the cases the victims (one witch and one fairy) were followed to their homes, where they called Enforcers, and by the time Enforcers arrived, the suspect had disappeared. He has been described as likely being a wizard, being likely in his fifties, and not belonging to the coven of Mars. He’s of medium build with gray hair and has a scar in the shape of a crescent on his neck. If you see this man in your communities, a warrant has been put out for his arrest, so please have him arrested and alert Deputy Enforcer Ming of Pacific Cove so that she can start the transfer proceedings.

  I gasped as I read the description of the person the Enforcers were after. A scar in the shape of a crescent on his neck? That absolutely described Charles Perkins. He had to be the predator the Enforcers were after.