“Did Natasha’s coffee cup, the one that had the poison in it, come from Baz and Vivienne’s booth? It looked like one of theirs.”
“It did.”
“Did either one admit to giving the coffee to her?” It would have been so easy to tamper with the liquid at that point.
“No. Baz wasn’t even there when Natasha picked up the coffee. Vivienne was, and though I haven’t talked with her yet to verify, I ran into Evan, who had the booth next to the Lucases’. Evan saw Natasha fill the cup herself when she returned from her trip to the restroom, a destination that we know from you she never visited. It was only a ruse to meet up with Baz. She was making small talk with Vivienne the whole time, about the Extravaganza being such a wonderful place to spend time with old friends. Kind of tells you what kind of person Natasha was, doesn’t it? That she’d go straight to Baz’s wife, silently flaunting what she’d done.”
I agreed. “It tells you everything.”
“When we tested the carafe from the Lucases’ table, it showed no signs of cyanide.”
So the cyanide had made its way into Natasha’s cup between the time she poured the coffee to when she drank it while watching Missy being judged. It was a small time frame. Perhaps fifteen minutes. “Could Vivienne have slipped something into the cup before Natasha left the booth?”
“Evan said no. Vivienne had kept her distance the whole time.”
Couldn’t say I blamed her.
Nick added, “There is the chance that she could have somehow slipped it in after that, however. According to Ivy, while the judges looked at Titania, Natasha’s cup was left unattended for a few minutes while she held the cat.”
“Does the Wisp have video surveillance?” It would make it so much easier to see who’d been near Natasha’s booth during that time frame.
“Not inside the venue. Only outside.”
A dead end.
We passed in front of Terry’s house. The shades on all the windows were still pulled. Archie’s cage was empty. He rarely slept outside, but after his near birdnapping, he was probably being extra careful by staying inside.
“Did you learn anything from your interview with Baz?” I asked, opening the side gate.
Nick paused in the front yard. “What happened to the flowers?”
“I’m assuming it was Cookie.”
“Cookie?”
“Harmony and Angela’s goat? She’s on the lam and loving every minute of it.”
“I feel so out of the loop.” He closed the gate behind him and followed me to the porch swing.
“Did you hear about what happened to Archie?” I asked.
“That, I know about. How’s he doing?”
“No harm done and he has a new dramatic story to tell, which probably makes his ordeal worth it. Any leads?”
“Nothing so far. It’s odd that no one saw anything.”
Nick was right. It was strange—the area had been jam-packed with Extravaganzers.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“No one saw anything.”
“I know . . . Oh.”
“It has to be considered that witchcraft was involved. Magic.” I bit my lip. If it were true, why would a Crafter try to steal Archie?
“Or,” he said, “people are just unobservant.”
That could be it, too.
“I’ll have an officer get copies of the surveillance videos outside the Wisp, but I have to admit Archie’s case hasn’t been a top priority.”
No. That belonged to Natasha, then Chip.
“Did Baz admit to you to having an affair with Natasha?” I asked, giving the swing a push with my toe.
“He said only that they had a close friendship.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Slimeball.”
“He sure comes across that way.” Nick dragged a hand down his face.
“How was he involved with Chip? Why was he hiding in Chip’s bedroom?”
“According to Baz, while at the Extravaganza after Natasha collapsed, Chip asked Baz to stop by his apartment later that day to talk about something important.”
“Baz arrived at the apartment just after Chip got out of the shower. Then you apparently showed up, and Chip asked Baz to hide in the ‘mouse-infested’ bedroom while you were there. One of the mice bit him and he’s convinced he needs rabies shots. He’s rather melodramatic.”
Pepe and Mrs. P were bound to enjoy the shoe-tossing Baz undergoing rabies shots because of them. “He’s big into movies and theater.”
“He mentioned that’s how he met Natasha. At some Audrey Hepburn movie marathon at the playhouse.”
Poor Vivienne. “What did Chip want with Baz?”
“He wanted to blackmail him.”
“What?”
“After you left the apartment, Chip told Baz that he was going to reveal Baz’s affair with Natasha to the world and intimate to the press that Baz had something to do with her death if he didn’t pay up.”
I recalled the conversation Chip and I had.
I had asked, “How well does being in commercials pay?” He’d given a laugh but there was no humor in it. “Not enough.”
“Planning to rob a bank, then?”
With a small smile, he’d said, “You could say that.”
“The bank in question had to have been Baz,” I said to Nick after telling him about the exchange.
“Baz told me he was willing to write a check then and there. He just wanted to be done with it all, but Chip suddenly took ill. Started having trouble breathing, then had a seizure.”
“Just like Natasha.”
“Exactly.”
“Why didn’t Baz call for help?”
“He says he panicked and hightailed it down the fire escape because he didn’t want to be tied to the situation. He didn’t think Chip stood a chance for surviving and Baz didn’t want his name linked with Natasha’s, even in death.”
“Well, of course not,” I said. “Because of the prenup.”
“The what?”
I quickly explained that situation, including Glinda’s involvement. “However, Vivienne already knows about the affair. Glinda told her yesterday at the Extravaganza.”
Nick closed his eyes and mumbled under his breath. “I wish I’d known. I’d have brought Vivienne in for questioning as well.”
I ignored the wish. As a Wish-Halfcrafter, he couldn’t be granted any wishes. “There’s always today.”
“Yeah.” He glanced at his watch, frowned.
“It’s interesting to me that Baz doesn’t know Vivienne knows.”
Nick nodded. “Maybe she’s toying with him, letting him think he’s off scot-free.”
“Or she’s waiting for the hard evidence, which is locked inside the Wisp. Any chance the Wisp will reopen today?”
“What evidence?”
I told him about the spy pen.
His face brightened. “I need a copy of that footage. How about this? I’ll call you when I have a free minute today, and you can meet me at the Wisp. Bring your laptop. You can burn a disk for Glinda, then give the pen to me for evidence.”
“Sounds like a plan. So, what about Baz? Do you believe his story?”
“Not yet.” He glanced at his watch. “I’m waiting for approval of the search warrant of his property, which should come in any minute now. Had to wait until the fingerprint report came back and confirmed Baz had been in Chip’s apartment.”
“Did Baz happen to mention why he was following me last night?”
Nick’s face hardened, his eyes going cold, his jaw clenching. “He did what?”
I told him about my trip to see the Elder—and how Baz had followed me into the woods.
“No, he didn’t mention that. Looks like I need to have another chat with him. So Chip is a Crafter? That explai
ns why he took a sudden turn for the better after a visit in the ICU from his ‘grandmother’ in the middle of the night.”
“Cherise,” I said, smiling at her conning the hospital staff.
“He’s doing well enough that his breathing tube has been removed. The doctors said he’ll probably be discharged early. Maybe even today.”
“Cherise can work miracles.”
“I’m a believer.” He stretched his legs.
“I plan to explore the Extravaganza side of the case today,” I told him. “Try to see if Marigold Coe is willing to talk to me. If she was a victim of Natasha’s, she might have sought revenge.”
“That’s true, but what would Marigold have against Chip? Why was he poisoned?”
“I haven’t quite figured that part out yet.” I faced him. “Oh, at some point, do you think you can get me Natasha’s sister’s phone number? I need to talk to her about Titania.”
“The cat? Why?”
“Because she’s currently upstairs curled on my bed with Missy. I took custody of her at the Extravaganza yesterday, and I need to find her a new home. Chip couldn’t take her, because he’s allergic. And as far as I’ve learned, Natasha’s sister is her only close relative, so she’s next on my list to ask.”
Nick studied my face. “I see,” he said, humor in his undertones.
“You see what? Is it my hair?” I touched my head. “Silly stripe.”
“No, it’s not the hair, though I’ll come back to that in a minute. You want to keep her. Titania.”
I didn’t even bother to deny it. Not with Nick. “Am I that obvious?”
“Probably only with someone who knows you as well as I do.”
He did know me well. “Despite what I want, I have to do what’s right. Titania doesn’t belong to me. She belongs to whoever is Natasha’s beneficiary.”
As much as I might not like it.
“I’ll get you the number,” he said. “I’m sure it’s in one of my files.”
I slid him a smile. “Feel free to take your time.”
“I’ll be slower than molasses.” He motioned to my hair. “So, new hairstyle?”
“Kind of. It’s from a spell that makes Wishcrafters visible in photographs. Ve commissioned the spell and there are some kinks to work out still. I’m surprised you’re not striped, considering that the press hasn’t left the Wisp.”
“I dodged them, going in and out the rear doors.”
“Smart, otherwise you’d look like Pepe Le Pew.”
Shaking his head, he smiled and said, “You had quite the day yesterday.”
I hadn’t even told him about the bombshell the Elder had dropped. I didn’t want to get into another guessing match right now. I’d had enough of that with Mimi and Harper last night. “Just another day in this crazy life of mine. Today’s shaping up to be another doozy.”
He studied me with those dark eyes of his. “I don’t like missing any part of your days. I don’t like not kissing you good night or good morning, either, for that matter.”
I knew the feeling. “And I’m not fond of missing yours.”
Were we finally going to talk about moving in together? It should have been such an easy conversation, because I wanted to live with him. Truly.
My only hesitation was that I wasn’t sure I wanted to do it at his house, which he didn’t want to leave.
The problem was I’d fallen head over heels for my new house, as dilapidated as it might be at the moment. Yes, renovations had only started two weeks ago, but with every change made it felt more and more like home. And the funny thing was, those changes felt that way because Nick and Mimi were helping me make the decisions. They were leaving their stamp on that house as much as I was. It felt like home because they had made it feel that way.
They were my home.
It was such a huge realization that I almost gasped.
The simple truth was I’d rather live with Nick and Mimi in his house than without them in mine. I’d use my house as the As You Wish offices, and that was that.
Decision made.
Except for one small detail: Nick hadn’t actually asked me to move in with him.
Smiling at my innate ability to solve a problem that I had created only in my own mind, I gave the swing another push and hoped he’d finally bring up the topic.
“We should do something about that. About missing each other,” he said.
Suddenly nervous, I wiped damp palms on my shorts and ventured, “We should.”
“It would be easier to do that if—”
His phone buzzed, cutting him off. He pulled his cell from a clip on his belt and looked at the message that had just come in. “The warrant is ready. I need to go. You’re sure it’s okay for Mimi to stay here for a while?”
“I told you—”
He gave me a long, lingering kiss. “Right. Family.” In two steps, he was off the porch. “We’ll pick up this conversation later?”
“All right.”
Maybe then he’d ask me . . .
And I knew exactly what I was going to say.
Chapter Sixteen
The village was slowly coming to life at just past nine as I hustled along the sidewalk, headed to the pet shop to pick up a few things for Titania. I’d showered, eaten, walked the dogs, and fed all the pets without seeing hide nor hair of Ve, which was unusual, as she was an early bird like me.
Her bedroom door had remained closed all morning, but about an hour ago I’d heard her speaking to someone behind the closed door. I didn’t know whether she was on the phone, or if she was with the Elder, or was with the mysterious woman again. I’d shamelessly tried to eavesdrop, but she had been talking quietly, and I hadn’t heard any other voices.
Thinking of the Elder made my stomach ache. As of right now, I was still clueless as to her identity, and I didn’t like the knowledge that I should know who she was. It was entirely frustrating, so for now I pushed it out of my thoughts and focused on the day ahead.
Mimi had been still snoozing when I left, even when both dogs had jumped on the bed with her and settled in for a morning nap. I couldn’t help admiring her sleeping skills. I wished I had them.
Before I left, I had stuck a sticky note to the kitchen countertop letting both Mimi and Ve know where I was going, laced up my sneakers, and headed out, trying to ignore the baleful look Titania was giving me as I closed the back door. I hated leaving her behind, but I certainly couldn’t take her with me to run errands.
I crossed a side street and weaved around a couple of displaced Extravaganzers walking their dogs around the village square. I said hello as I passed but didn’t stop to make small talk. I wanted to pick up the things I needed for Titania, then get on with my day.
Located a block away from As You Wish, the Furry Toadstool was the center shop of three connected storefronts on the bottom floor of a three-story weathered brick building with ivory trim, arched windows, and elaborate cornices. Along with the shops, the structure offered office space on the second floor and apartments on the third. Purple and pink flowers spilled from window boxes set beneath every window, and charm oozed from the rafters.
Beautifully designed store shingles attached to wrought-iron brackets hung above each shop. And although the storefronts had similar architecture—two bowed display windows separated by a recessed entry door—they distinguished themselves with different colored awnings in jewel tones. To the left of the Furry Toadstool, the Snuggery, which sold furniture and home decor, had an aquamarine awning, and All That Glitters, a jewelry shop to its right, had an amethyst covering.
I stepped onto the sidewalk in front of the shops and skirted a large urn that yesterday had been overflowing with colorful annuals and dripping with ivy, but now had only half-eaten blossoms and chewed stems.
Cookie had obviously been by here, too, the sneaky li
ttle goat.
The pet shop had an emerald canopy, and as I stepped up to the store’s left window to watch two puppies play, sunlight filtered through the fabric above my head and cast a green hue on the glass. The dogs rolled and tumbled in a bed of thick shavings, and I couldn’t help enjoying their antics. Tension seeped out of me as I fought the urge to bring both puppies home.
A big stainless steel bowl of water sat below the opposite window, which displayed a variety of leashes, dishes, and clothes that the shop sold. But it was the two signs taped to the glass that captured my full attention. One was a discreet FOR LEASE sign that reminded me that Reggie would be gone soon, heading off to Florida.
My stomach dropped as I read the second sign, a notice for a lost dog. BIG REWARD was written in all caps at the bottom of the page.
Lady Catherine.
Her dour-looking image stared at me from the poster, and I couldn’t believe my eyes. I’d seen her only yesterday. I quickly glanced around, hoping the beautiful whippet would suddenly appear. No such luck.
Peering into the store, I saw Marigold Coe inside at the counter, talking with Harmony Atchison, and an image of Lady Catherine hanging out with Cookie somewhere in the Enchanted Woods made me smile until I realized that possibility was highly unlikely. Reggie Beeson was nowhere to be seen.
I went inside, and the mixed scent of wood shavings, kibble, and sweet puppies filled my lungs. There was something so welcoming about this shop, an air that made it seem as though all you needed was a pet in your life to be happy.
I wasn’t sure if that vibe was given off by Samuel Beeson’s lingering magic, or if it was simply true.
I knew my life was better with Missy in it, and even Tilda.
As I approached the counter, I noticed Marigold’s green eyes were red rimmed, and Harmony rested a consoling hand on her shoulder as she held a box of tissues. A stack of Lady Catherine’s Lost posters were sitting on the countertop.
“I just saw the sign,” I said. “What happened?”
Marigold plucked a tissue from the box and dabbed her eyes with it. She blinked as she looked at me, then tipped her head to the side. “New hairdo, Darcy?”
Gone With the Witch Page 14
