by Linnea West
She looked toward her mother, pleading with her eyes for her to come up and take charge. It was too much, too soon. Maybe if Mariah hadn’t been present, Maggie could have handled this crowd. But it was not working and she didn’t want to ruin the investigation just because she couldn’t stand up to her high school bully.
Esmeralda rose up slowly from the floor. A hush fell over the room as she leaned on her walking stick. She might be getting older, but she seemed just as formidable as always. Slowly moving toward the front of the room, the only sound was the tapping of her walking stick on the stone floor.
Maggie’s mouth was suddenly totally dry again and the pit of her stomach felt like it had an acid monster doing somersaults in it. She glanced back and forth from Mariah’s smug face to her mother’s determined one. There was no way that Esmeralda would let Mariah continue to call the shots.
“What a forward-thinking idea,” Esmeralda said, smiling sweetly. Her voice dripped with a sweetness that everyone knew was more than a little forced. “While I understand your point of view, I don't think it is up to you to decide. You are not in any sort of leadership position here, no matter how highly you may think of yourself.”
Esmeralda stopped and gave Mariah a side-eye which Mariah dished right back. Neither one was going to back down from the fight. Maggie had a strange realization that excluding general temperament, her mother and her enemy had a lot in common.
“I never said I was in charge,” Mariah said, shifting her weight from one leg to the other. Now she was almost leaning toward Esmeralda, almost like she was trying to physically intimidate her. Maggie edged back a tiny step, but Esmeralda held her ground. “I just thought someone needed to take charge. Since you were a little busy with the drama queen back there and your daughter was totally failing at running things, I decided to step up. I am absolutely not going to spend all night here while Maggie plays detective.”
The room went quiet again as everyone could feel the fight that seemed to be brewing. Maggie didn’t know what to do, but she hated that she was at the front of the room. At least now everyone was looking back and forth between her mother and Mariah instead of at her. Maggie took the opportunity to study the room.
Ned was still sitting on his stool at the front of the room, although now he was off on the side. Instead of his normal guru position, he was leaning forward with his hands on his knees, his long white beard flowing almost to the floor. Maggie tried not to stare, but Ned really didn’t look good. She couldn't tell if it was guilt or disgust at the situation, but Ned looked like he was almost going to throw up.
Ann was still at her spot at the front table. Her face was frozen into a half-smile, but her eyes were darting around the room. Maggie found herself playing a game of “I’m not staring at you” with Ann as they kept meeting each other’s eyes before looking away. Neither one wanted to admit that they had been staring at the other.
Nancy was still slumped down on the floor, so low to the ground that Maggie could hardly see her. Her wrinkled, warty face looked red and wet and from the way her shoulders were heaving, Maggie could tell that she was still softly crying. She seemed to be genuinely distressed.
Abby, on the other hand, was sitting on her stool, her arms and legs both crossed. Her eyebrows were furrowed so deeply that Maggie almost couldn’t see her eyes underneath them. It was telling that someone she worked with every day had died and she didn’t seem to be the least bit sad about it.
The rest of the potion making class members seemed to be equal parts upset and anxious. Nobody else stuck out in a bad way and Maggie was pretty sure none of them had to be added to the suspect list. In fact, she was still pretty sure that Ned was the culprit, no matter how unseemly that was. There just wasn’t another explanation, although she wished that Mariah hadn’t been the one to try and call him out.
“You have very strong opinions,” Esmeralda said. “I always like a strong female, but I want to make something clear. No matter what you think or how strongly you think it, you do not get to have a say in what happens here tonight. Maggie and I are the ones leading the investigation and while we may solicit ideas from all of you, no one else gets to determine what happens.”
For a moment, Mariah looked a bit shell shocked. Her eyebrows flew up so high they were almost swallowed by her hairline. It was obvious that she was not used to being told no, even in the civil way that Esmeralda had just done so.
But once the moment had passed, she glared even harder at the two witches. Maggie could almost see the wheels in her mind turning and she was pretty sure that the moment Mariah came up with her next idea, there was an almost audible pop as the light bulb turned on.
A smile emerged on Mariah’s face, curling up so far that it contorted her face into a mask of evil happiness. Maggie wasn’t sure what the banshee was thinking, but there was no way it was a good idea.
“I have an idea,” Mariah said, speaking slowly and softly. While normally she sounded mean, now Mariah sounded downright menacing. “Make him drink it.”
Her eyebrows were no pointing down into such a hard v-shape that Maggie wondered if banshees were known to contort their faces. If Mariah sprouted devil horns at that very moment, it wouldn’t have surprised Maggie a bit.
Ned squealed and fell sideways off of his stool, apparently being thrown off-balance by the idea. He managed to somewhat catch himself before he smashed all the way onto the floor, but as he stumbled to get his balance back, he stepped on his robe and ripped it up the front. Before, he looked solemn in dark blue robes with silver moons and stars around the bottom. Now the rip revealed that he was wearing long red underwear underneath. It was a piece of information that Maggie had never wanted to know, but now would never be able to forget.
“You want me to drink poison?” Ned screeched. “She’s sadistic!”
“Ah ha, so you admit you poisoned her,” Abby said. She stood up so fast that her stool clattered to the floor. Without even taking notice,, she moved around the table and, stepping over Linda’s dead body, walked up the center aisle, jabbing the air with her pointer finger. “Case closed, we can all go home. He has made an admission of guilt.”
“I did no such thing,” Ned said. “I simply said I wasn’t going to drink the poison.”
“But I said you should drink your potion, not the poison,” Mariah said.
“No, you just said I should drink it,” Ned said. “I assumed you meant the poisoned potion.”
He glanced down and noticed for the first time that his robe was torn open. With a small gasp, Ned grabbed the hole and clutched it closed. It was no use, of course, since everyone had already seen him in his long underwear.
Mariah rolled her eyes and snickered. She had not changed a bit since high school. If there was ever a chance to get the upper hand, Mariah would take it even if it meant humiliating someone.
“You think I want to stand here while you go drink something that definitely has poison in it?” Mariah asked. “What would that prove? I mean, it would prove you’re an idiot.”
A loud tapping made everyone jump. Esmeralda stood with both hands on the top of her walking stick and it was very clear that she was not happy. Normally, she was able to be light-hearted, but the death problem and the strange sensation of magic that they had felt earlier had taken its toll. She was not a happy witch now.
“Enough,” the older witch said. “I am tired of these shenanigans. A woman is dead. Have you all forgotten that? You are so wrapped up in snarkiness and making sure you can leave soon that you aren’t respecting Linda. Someone in this room poisoned her and we need to get to the bottom of it. No one is happy about it, least of all Maggie and me.”
Mariah slowly uncrossed her arms as she looked around the room. Maggie fixed a steely glare in her direction that felt very daring to her but went mostly unnoticed by her enemy. Sensing that the feeling of the room was changing, Mariah made her way back toward her spot beside Ann. She made sure to walk slowly with a smirk on her face tha
t dared anyone to question her motive.
A sense of relief started to flow down Maggie’s body, starting from the top of her head. Her scalp was tingly and she could feel all of her muscles start to relax. She hadn’t realized how much she had been tensing all of her muscles.
But the feeling was short-lived. Esmeralda was backing slowly toward her. As everyone was watching Mariah, she leaned over to Maggie and whispered in her direction. Esmeralda’s hazel eyes were blazing. The older witch was not happy about how this situation was playing out.
“Okay, it’s back to you honey,” Esmeralda said. “I settled the crowd, but I really need you to step up and take the lead.”
Without waiting for a response, Esmeralda backed up even more, leaving Maggie front and center by herself. Maggie gulped and cleared her throat. It was now or never.
Chapter Seven
Taking a deep breath, Maggie made the split-second decision that it was not worth it to try to do any more questioning tonight. It was not going well at all and they had learned next to nothing. They would continue the questions tomorrow after everyone had time to rest, especially Maggie. At this point, it might have been a tragic accident, not a murder.
“Here’s the plan,” she said, trying to sound stern. “We will go table to table to talk to you and dismiss you. You are to go straight home and we will talk to you in the morning. You may not leave your houses until we have talked to you and give you the go-ahead to get on with your life.”
“Ugh, some of us have businesses to run,” Mariah said. “We can’t just stop living our lives because someone hated that old coot.”
“Then we will be at your house first, bright and early,” Esmeralda said, stepping up beside Maggie. She wasn’t going to let Mariah take the lead anymore tonight. Turning to Maggie, she dropped her voice so that only her daughter could hear. “Let’s start with her first so that we can get her out of here.”
Maggie tried not to smile too widely as she snorted out a laugh. She was still trying her hardest to be the lead detective on this case, no matter how badly she was doing. Turning toward where Mariah and Ann were sitting, she started to walk their way only to be interrupted by a loud sob that erupted from the shapeless mound on the floor that was the mourning Nancy. With one glance at the crone, her plan changed.
Walking by Mariah’s table, she beelined toward Nancy. As she walked by, Maggie glanced toward Mariah, who noticed the slight turn of her head and snarled at her. She was quickly silenced by one look from Esmeralda. Together, the two witches knelt down next to Nancy.
“Is there anything else you need to tell us, Nancy?” Maggie said gently.
Nancy looked up. The wrinkled lines on her face were all damp from tears. The crevices were so deep that tears zig-zagged their way down her face, each time taking a different route like it was some sort of maze. Her thin lips quivered as she looked up at Maggie. She opened them and tried to speak, but nothing came out. She kept trying until finally the fourth time, she managed to speak.
“We had our problems, but Linda and I were always friends when it came down to it,” Nancy said.
“It’s hard to lose a friend,” Esmeralda said. She leaned forward and took Nancy’s hand in her own. “Will you be okay tonight by yourself?”
Nancy took a deep breath, seeming to inflate herself a bit from the shriveled up cloak that she appeared to be. She used the back of her hands to dry her cheeks.
“I think so,” she said. “I would like it if someone could walk me home, though.”
“That can be arranged,” Esmeralda said as she nodded at the sad, old crone. “Why don’t you go wait by the front door and I will find someone who can bring you home?”
Maggie stood up and offered a hand to Nancy, who accepted it gratefully. Once Nancy was upright, Maggie offered her hand in turn to her mother, who grasped it in one hand and her walking stick in the other. Pulling her up, Maggie was surprised at just how much her mother needed her support. By comparison, pulling Nancy up had been easy. Maybe there was something wrong with her mother and that was why she was pushing Maggie to be the leader? Maggie did not like that thought at all and she quickly pushed it as far back as she could before looking around for someone to take Nancy home.
Spotting Lance, a quiet werewolf who had been attending the class, she headed toward him. He had been a watchful, unwilling participant in all of the hubbub. He had no ties to Linda besides occasionally shopping at the cauldron/kitchen store and he didn’t have anything to add to the investigation. He was the perfect person to help.
“Lance, do you have anything to tell us that might be pertinent to the investigation?” Maggie asked. She suddenly felt very official. Somehow she was okay taking charge when she knew the person she was talking to would respect her position and not demean her for it.
“No, I didn’t see anything,” Lance said. He looked around and then leaned forward conspiratorially, putting one hand aside his mouth to whisper behind it toward Maggie. She leaned in also, trying to ignore the stink of dog breath. “Is my potion safe? I really need this good luck potion because I have a date coming up and she’s kind of out of my league and this would really up my chances of making a good impression. But, like, I don’t want to kill myself by accident, you know?”
“I understand,” Maggie said. “I can’t say for sure, but I would venture a guess that your potion would be safe. Of course, you do have to use your own discretion.”
Lance sat back down on his stool as he absentmindedly nodded at her. Looking at all of the stoppered bottles of yellow, shimmery liquid on his table, he stroked his furry chin, trying to make a decision. Leaping up off of his chair, he gathered the bottles up and started putting them into a cloth tote that he produced from under the table.
“You know what? I don’t have to decide now,” he said. “I’ll bring them home and think on it a bit. If I decide against drinking it, I can just pour it out.”
“That sounds like a well thought out plan,” Maggie said. “I do have one favor to ask you. I need you to walk Nancy home. She’s really shaken up and just needs someone to make sure she gets there safe.”
Lance’s packing up slowed as Maggie spoke. She understood that Nancy could be a bit overbearing on a good day and today, she was almost inconsolable. But someone had to help her and both she and her mother had to stay behind to make sure the preliminary investigation was done well. Lance licked his werewolf chops like he was trying to stall for time.
“Do I really have to?” he finally asked. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a bad guy and I feel for the lady, but I just need to get home before my mom goes to bed otherwise she gets all worried and seeing how Nancy’s been a blubbering mess on the floor for a while, I’m not sure she’s going to move as fast as I need her to.”
Maggie tried not to laugh out loud. She hadn’t thought she would find a kindred spirit in Lance, but here was another fully grown adult who lived with his mother. Perhaps they should start a club for support, although Lance didn’t appear to be embarrassed in the least at his living situation.
“I’ll see what I can do,” she said.
As she walked toward the door to talk to Nancy, she could see her mother talking to a few of the other class attendees who had simply been unlucky enough to be at a good luck potion making class that ended disastrously. Esmeralda was just saying goodbye to them as Maggie got to Nancy. She was standing at the door, clutching her cloak at her neck and sniffling.
“Good news,” Maggie said. “Lance has agreed to walk you home. He really needs to get home so that his mother doesn’t worry. Do you think you’ll be able to go at a somewhat fast pace for him?”
Nancy looked up at her with a scowl, her eyes almost hidden in the wet wrinkles of her face. At first, Maggie thought she was upset about being hurried along.
“Who do you think I am?” Nancy demanded. “Some old lady that lollygags around the sidewalk? Pshaw. If I did that, I’d be a prime target for muggers and thieves. I speed walk everywhe
re I go. It keeps me in shape besides. Lance better make sure he can keep up with me.”
Nancy yelled the last bit over Maggie’s shoulder back toward the tables. Maggie turned to look at Lance. She wasn’t sure if werewolves could blush, but she was pretty sure that Lance’s furry cheeks were red. He shoved the last few things in his bag and scurried toward the front door. As soon as he got to the door, Nancy took one look at him and shoved the heavy door open, rushing out at such a clip that Lance had trouble keeping up with her. Maggie stifled a laugh as the werewolf and the crone disappeared into the fog together.
“Umm Maggie, could I see you over here?” Esmeralda said.
Maggie turned around to see her mother sitting next to Millie. The zombie was looking a sick shade of green as she swayed back and forth on her stool. Esmeralda was holding Millie’s arm, bracing her so that she didn’t fall off of her perch. Maggie rushed over to see what was going on.
“I’m afraid Millie is feeling a bit sick,” Esmeralda said. “She drank her good luck potion before Linda was poisoned and while she is pretty sure she hasn’t been poisoned, she isn’t feeling very good.”
“I’m not going to die, but I can’t help but feel sick to my stomach about this whole thing,” Millie whispered. “I can’t believe I was stupid enough to drink this potion. Even if it isn’t going to kill me, it has not given me good luck. I feel like I’m going to vomit. I need someone to help me home.”
Maggie started to look around for someone else to escort Millie home, but no one else stood out. When she looked back, Esmeralda had a twinkle in her hazel eyes that made Maggie think she wasn’t going to like her mother’s idea.
“Ned needs to be taken to the police station,” Esmeralda said. “I figured he could help me get Millie home first and then we could continue on to the station. You would need to stay here and finish dismissing everyone to go home.”
