"Why?" she asked as if I were nuts. "These are my best slippers."
"They are nice,” I said with a smile. Clearly she didn't care if anyone saw her in her robe and slippers, but from the looks of it, she did have a full set of pajamas under the robe. "Thank you for helping me last night."
"It's my job,” she said. "You're my family. Now, I'm going to make coffee and grits. If that hunky cop is coming over to see you, you might want to brush your teeth... and your hair.... and maybe a bit of lipstick? At least some gloss. Chop. Chop."
"Aunt Emma..." I started to protest.
"Nonsense. Go get ready. There are new toothbrushes under the sink in the guest bath."
I'd thought she was being a little nutty about me putting in so much effort for Mitch's arrival until I caught a glimpse of myself in the bathroom mirror. I probably only had a few minutes to get ready, but I did as she said. After I brushed my teeth and hair, which I could do nothing with so it went back into a neater bun, I slicked on some gloss from my purse. It had just the slightest hint of cherry red color. There was also a travel-sized deodorant I kept in my purse for emergencies, so I used that too.
"Much better," Aunt Emma said as I emerged from the bathroom.
She shoved a cup of chicory coffee into my hands and went back to the kitchen. The scent of frying bacon and simmering grits filled her house.
I was on my way to sit at the kitchen table and keep her company when the doorbell rang. Aunt Emma Sue didn't have regular doorbell, though. Instead hers played the theme from the movie Jaws. I couldn't help but roll my eyes and chuckle every time I heard it.
"I'll get it,” I said.
When I answered the door, Mitch grabbed my hand and pulled me into a hug. It caught me off guard, but I just sort of melted into him. He smelled of fresh laundry and something vaguely spicy. It was like a hint of apple pie spice. The scent was complex yet sweet, and I just stood there and took a deep breath of him.
His hand went up to my head, and for a moment he stroked my hair. Then, the spell was broken. Mitch let go of the hug and held me at arm's length so he could look me over. I felt completely vulnerable caught in the gaze of his blue eyes.
"You're all right?" he asked.
"I am. I'm okay. I don't know that I will be once I tell you what you came here so I could tell you," I stammered.
"Coffee, Detective Landry?" Aunt Emma called from inside.
"Yes, please,” he said as he stepped over the threshold into her house.
I followed behind him, making sure to lock and deadbolt the front door, as we went into the kitchen to join my aunt. She gave him a cup of coffee and refilled mine.
"Well, I'm going to go change into something a little less... fuzzy. I'll let you two talk, and then we can have breakfast."
"Thank you," both Mitch and I said as she walked out of the room.
"Anytime."
She had a slice of bacon in her hand, and I watched as Gumbo jumped down from the coffee table and followed her down the hall. That left Mitch and I alone and me nothing to do but confess that I'd broken into the courier's office the night before. There was no way to tell him about the danger I was in without spilling the whole thing.
He sat across from me at the kitchen table. His grimace grew more pronounced as I explained the details of my burglary. Still, it never really turned into a frown.
"Are you going to arrest me?" I asked when I was done telling the story.
"No,” he said and took a deep breath. "I guess I should, but I can't do that. Did you actually get any usable information on the case?"
"No. The printer was in the other room. I didn't get a chance to really look. We were chased out."
"And you found the death talisman in your car?"
"Yes."
"Then there is no reason to mention it at all. I will take your statement about finding the talisman in your car, but we can write it up like you were there for the restaurant next door. I can have one of my magical police officers meet with you later. They'll bring you a police amulet to keep watch over you. In the meantime, I think you need to take it easy and lie low."
"I can do that,” I said.
"Are you going into work today?"
"No. Jenny is covering. I'm going to lie super low. I don't think I have it in me to be there today,” I said.
"Good."
"I'm worried that being around my friends might bring a curse down on them. I hope it doesn't curse you,” I said.
"I've got a police amulet,” he said and offered me a soft smile. "Now that I know, one of the witch officers gave me a more potent one."
"And that coffee has a protection spell in it," Aunt Emma called from the other room. "So do the grits. Y’all should have some."
"Well, I can't very well turn that down, now can I?" Mitch said. "But it will have to be quick. I've got to get back to work. The sooner I solve this thing, the sooner you're safe."
I got us each a bowl of grits and garnished them with cheddar cheese and crumbled bacon. Mitch took a refill on his coffee, and though I thought better of having a third cup, I did too.
As he was leaving, Aunt Emma came back into the kitchen and started another pot of coffee. I walked Mitch out to his car, and we exchanged a brief hug. I didn't want him to go because I felt safe when he was there, but I knew he had to leave. The only way to make me truly safe was to catch the killer.
"I shouldn't be here,” I said when I went back into Aunt Emma's house. "I'm going to bring a curse down on everyone I'm around."
"I assure you that there are enough protection charms and spells on this house to keep anyone else's evil out,” she said.
"I'm not going to take that chance. I'm going to go home and ride this out there. I have Gumbo, so I should be fine."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Aunt Emma said. "But you're a grown woman. I can't tell you what to do."
"I'll see you soon,” I said and kissed her goodbye. "Let's go, Gumbo."
He ran into the kitchen where Aunt Emma slipped him another piece of bacon. When he was done munching on that, I scooped him up, and we left.
Back at my place, I huddled with Gumbo in my bedroom. Once we were inside, I poured salt across the door and over the windowsills. I'd collected all of my black tourmaline from around my house and put it in various places around my bedroom. The last thing was to put juniper berries in each corner of the room.
Gumbo kept looking at me like I was crazy as I did various protection spells and then moved to drawing protection sigils around the room.
"What are you doing?" he asked as I sat down on the floor next to him and started doing a protection spell.
"I’m doing a protection spell on you,” I said. "To keep you safe."
"That's my job, and thanks, I can protect myself."
"I can do protection magic too. I'm not as accomplished as you, but I've been working on it,” I said.
"Okay, Jinx,” he said.
"Hey, that was mean."
"Just let me do the protecting, okay. Besides, I think you've got enough going on in here. Pretty soon we're going to be protected from stuff we need like oxygen. We have to leave this room eventually. I'm not staying in here with you forever. I think I'd rather be cursed by the killer."
"You're a jerk,” I said.
"It builds character," Gumbo said before settling down for a nap on the bed.
I was going to argue with him further, but watching him snooze reminded me of how tired I was. The three cups of coffee had done little to fight back the bone-deep fatigue that had washed over me like a black wave. It became obvious that I hadn't slept well the night before, and all of the magic I'd been doing had wiped me out as well. I needed some carbs, but I didn't want to leave the room. Instead, I decided to settle for a nap.
When I woke up, it was getting dark outside. I checked my phone and there were no missed calls or texts. I began to feel the creeping dread of completely loneliness, and almost started to wish I'd stayed at Aunt Emm
a's.
Just as I was thinking of pulling on my shoes and going back over there, I heard a knock on my front door. I froze in place and felt sweat break out across my brow.
"Don't get that," Gumbo said.
"Why, do you think it's the killer? Should I call the police?"
"No, I don't think the killer would knock on your front door, where all of your neighbors can see them, and then wait for you to answer. I don't want you to get the door because it's probably your dumb friend."
"Glad to see your nap put you in a better mood,” I said and headed for the front door.
"Too bad yours didn't make you smarter or prettier,” he shot back.
I whirled around and glared at him.
"Sorry, I was joking," Gumbo said as he followed me out of the bedroom. "Don't worry, Fern. You are the prettiest princess of them all."
"I don't know why I put up with you." I couldn't stop the slight smile from breaking out of my face. "You really are a butthead."
"Because I keep you alive,” he said and started cleaning his ear with his paw.
Before I could say anything else to him, the knocking on the door started again. "Coming!" I called out and hurried to the door.
I looked out the peephole and saw that it was Jenny and Newman. After opening the door wide, I pulled them both in.
"Sorry to leave you standing out there for so long,” I said breathlessly.
My heart was pounding in my chest. I felt like I'd just run a mile, but it had to be a panic attack.
"It's okay," Jenny said. "We're okay. You're okay."
"I'm sorry,” I said. "I couldn't handle it if you two were killed waiting on my porch."
"I'm going to go make some potion tea," Jenny said. "I might add some rum to it too."
"Hi, Newman,” I said when Jenny walked out of the room. "How are you?"
"I'm doing fine,” he said. "Why don't we go into your living room and sit down?"
"Okay,” I said weakly. "So, you're hanging out with Jenny?"
"I don't know if it's so much hanging out as I went by the shop today to check on you, and she put me to work. We would have been here sooner, but you guys have a ton of special orders. We were working through as many of them as we could. She wanted to make sure you didn't get behind."
"That's really great of you guys,” I said.
"We got as many orders done as we could, and then we did a bunch of prep work for other orders," Jenny said when she came back into the room. "We might even be ahead now."
"You guys are the best. You really shouldn't be here right now, though. I'm afraid the death curse that killer is trying to put on me will affect you guys too."
"Dude, if someone is trying to put a death curse on you, we're definitely not leaving you alone," Jenny said.
"Yeah, we're not leaving you," Newman added.
"Oh, good gawd," Gumbo groused from the other room, but they couldn't hear him.
He hissed and retreated into my bedroom. I finally relaxed enough to start drinking my tea. The magic Jenny had used in it was potent, and I felt waves of even more relaxation ripple through my body. They eventually reached my head, and it felt like the vice grip of fear around my brain let go.
"I've got ice cream,” I said with a chuckle. "We should light some white candles and eat ice cream."
"I'll do the candles," Newman volunteered.
"I'll get us ice cream," Jenny said. "You just sit there and relax."
So, we had a candlelit ice cream feast in my living room. Not only did Jenny bring us bowls of chocolate ice cream, but she brought everything she could find in my kitchen that could be a topping. All in all, it made a terrible day into a pretty good evening.
Newman fell asleep in my easy chair, and neither of us had the heart to wake him. Jenny took our bowls to the kitchen and brought back a bottle of wine and two glasses.
"I can drink this myself if you're too tired,” she said.
"I think I can manage a glass,” I said.
We sipped wine and watched a movie with the sound down low so it wouldn't wake Newman. It was nice to sit around with friends and not dwell on negative things, but the truth was that I wasn't out of danger.
Chapter Eighteen
In the morning, Newman was the first to wake up. I think he tried to sneak out of my house, but he woke me up. "You should go into the bakery with us today,” I said.
"I didn't want to be weird about being here when you woke up,” he said.
"It's not, but you can come into the bakery with us this morning."
"Let me grab my emergency bag from my car,” he said. "I've got clothes and stuff in there."
"You can use the guest room shower,” I said.
After everyone was ready for the day and we'd had some breakfast, the three of us headed into the bakery. I went to unlock the door for us to go inside and recoiled like a wasp was on the handle.
It was worse than a stinging, horrible wasp, though. There was another death curse talisman hanging on the front door of the shop. Instead of inciting more fear, the sight of the thing ticked me off.
Whoever was trying to intimidate me wasn't going to win. I'd had enough. I called Mitch to let him know, but I was determined to deal with the issue myself.
"There's another death curse talisman on my bakery door,” I said with Mitch picked up the phone.
"Are you alone?"
"No, Jenny Mae and the new guy, Newman, are both with me,” I said.
“Good. Do not go anywhere alone,” he said. “I’ll have a patrol car drive by the bakery several times today. That way if the killer is watching, they’ll see a police presence.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“Is there any sign of a break-in?”
“No, the talisman is on the outside door. I’m sure if they’d gone in, they would have put it inside to increase my terror,” I said.
“You’re right, but don’t be terrified.”
“I’m not,” I said. “I’m angry.”
“Just don’t…”
“Please don’t tell me not to do anything stupid. It might make me cross with you.”
“Okay,” Mitch said with a chuckle. “Take care of yourself. We’ll talk soon.”
As soon as Mitch and I hung up, I marched inside the bakery and got Judge Nyx’s number off the caller ID on the phone. I dialed his office, and when his voicemail picked up, I left him a message.
“Yes, Judge Nyx, this is Fern Moonfall from the Blue Moon Bakery. I just wanted to let you know that I’m not hiring your friend. I make my decisions based on what is best for my business. I would hope that someone in your position would understand and that no further measures would be taken to try to press me into making my decision based on your input. Thank you and good day,” I said and hung up.
“What was that about?” Jenny asked. “You don’t think Judge Nyx is the one leaving the talismans, do you? All that just to get you to hire his friend?”
“I don’t think so,” I said “but I’m covering all my bases. I think he was trying to intimidate me before, and I won’t put up with that. I don’t care how powerful you are, you won’t be blackmailing Fern Moonfall.”
“You go, sister,” Jenny said. “I like it.”
“I thought you wanted me to listen to him so I didn’t ruin the business,” I said.
“Yeah, but this is far more entertaining.”
“Newman, if you didn’t figure it out already, you’re hired,” I said.
“Got it, boss,” he said with a huge smile. “So, what first?”
“We have a birthday party to prepare for. We need to make a dozen butterfly cupcakes that really fly. That’s going to take some serious magic,” I said. “Jenny, you and Newman get started on the batter. I’ve got something I need to do, and then I’ll be back to help you with the cupcakes.”
With that, I scooped up Gumbo and headed outside. We were going to burn the death talismans. Normally that would be an invitation for further bad luck, but I
was in a mood. I was over it all.
Interestingly enough, the flame as the talismans burned was blue. Red would have been a warning, but blue meant that my magic was stronger than the person who was attempting to curse me. I took that as a good sign.
I was convinced I could succeed.
Chapter Nineteen
Later that morning, an older woman came into the shop asking for Newman. He went out front and his face blanched when he saw her.
“Mom, what are you doing here?” he asked. “Please tell me you’re just here to order something?”
I’d thought that Newman’s parents might be okay with him working for me. It had just been his grandfather and extended family that were pressuring him to become a warlock, but the expression on her face told me why he was so worried.
“You shouldn’t be here,” she said in a voice loud enough that every customer in the bakery turned to look at them.
“We should take this outside,” he said meekly.
“Yes, the sooner I get you out of this… place, the better.”
Newman followed his mother outside, but much to my dismay, she stood there using her back to keep the door open. The whole shop was drawn into their conversation.
And that wasn’t all. Their tiff drew in people off the street as well.
“You’re getting mixed up in dangerous business,” she said. “You’re better off in warlock academy.”
“Everything is fine. I want this job, and I can handle anything dangerous. Not that I need to,” Newman said and glanced back at me.
It wasn’t true, but he was trying to protect me. Newman was trying to cover for himself a little as well.
“How can everything be fine when a killer is still walking free and endangering the children of this community?” a shrill voice from the crowd asked.
Murmurs began to run through the crowd and they grew louder as the people whipped themselves into a frenzy. I heard my name several times, and then the people outside began to accuse my customers of supporting a murderer.
Some people just sat there glaring at the crowd gathered outside, but others were embarrassed. The got up and joined the people outside.
“Do you see what you’re doing?” Newman’s mother asked. “You’re helping tear this community apart.”
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